~Remembering a Big Man with an Even Bigger Smile..

A quick and simple card made for a friend on the passing of her husband.
Supplies
Stamps: SU! Garden Silhouettes and Close As A Memory
Paper: SU! Kraft
Ink: SU! Craft White, Palette Hybrid Ink Noir and Burnt Umber.
Accessories: Sheer Polka Dot Ribbon from Wal-Mart Copic Marker Glitter Pen.

~Hugs & Kisses..

Since the clear-top hinged tins filled with PaperTrey Holiday Treats covered chocolates were such a big hit at Christmas, it was a given I would be making Valentine's Day tins using the Sweet Love set. The printed papers are from my local scrapbook store which has recently changed hands. I'm looking forward to all the new products they will be offering and their new website. The covered tea tin, of course was filled with special Valentine dog treats for Zoë.

~Classical Elegant Notes..

Every time I pull this Stampin' Up! Elegant Notes set off the shelf I think of my multi- talented niece. She is not the typical teenager with earplugs in her ears and an iPod hanging from around her neck listening to rock and rap. Her iPod is full of Rachmaninoff and Schumann, Beethoven and Satie, Oboe Adagios and Piano Concertos with an occasional U2, Coldplay or Beatles track stuck in here and there. She is a straight A honur student who serves on her highschool's Senate, plays the piano and the oboe, and holds an after school job. As a Christmas gift I made her a box of thank you cards using this set. I embossed soft white Arturo cards from Ellen Hutson's online store using my rectangular Nestability dies. The text stamp from Elegant Notes was inked with SU Soft Sky and stamped in the center of the rectangle. Half of the cards were stamped with the treble clef and half with the base clef in Buckaroo Blue as an overlay. The Thank You sentiment was also stamped in Buckaroo Blue. The finished cards placed in a Clearly Creative Box from Papertrey and tied with Martha Stewart's Cloud Piped Nylon ribbon.

~criss-cross my heart..

won't you Be Mine..
the December My Favorite Things stamp set offered by PaperPretties arrived just in time to headline my batch of Valentine's Day cards and gifts.

This is an adapted version of the criss-cross card which I paired with Stampin' Up's Ginger Blossom Designer Paper, Groovy Guava, River Rock and Whisper White cardstock.
My Copic markers added colour to the box of chocolates tucked into the outer flap on the front of the card. Thank you Kim! ~HUGS~

Baby Brother's Birthday Bash..

My little brother just turned sixty!! and what better stamp set to help him celebrate than MFT's Let's Hear It for the Boys! . I'd recently finished a criss-cross Birthday card for my Mom and had such fun making it I wanted to try my hand at a file folder card.

I love making cards when they come together so easily. Unfortunately, I was so excited that I neglected to put the romote in his hand and the bowl of popcorn in his lap. This card IS my brother.

{ Happy Mother's Day, Mom }

When I ran across this Hallmark card image this morning I had to laugh. Mom is always fussing that she can't figure out how to make that darn DVD player to work so she can the DVD of those good looking Il Divo fellas or her Boxed Set of the entire collection of the West Wing television series, or that her email is all messed up and she can't find the latest pictures my sister and niece have sent her. (She doesn't ask me about her cell phone very often because we both have to ask my niece how to do that.) It seems you aren't alone, Mom, lots of Mothers apparently have the same issues. Why else would Hallmark made this card so don't feel bad. You've spent years raising us, taking care of us, doing for us and loving us. We enjoy doing these little things for you.

This is the card I made for my wonderful mother in celebration of Mother's Day.
The paper is Basic Grey from the Perhaps collection and SU Pretty in Pink and Whisper White. The flower stamp is from Stampendous and the sentiment is an old PSX stamp which i purchased several years ago. The twill tape is from the Martha Stewart collection at Michaels. I stamped the flower image with black Versamark Ink and heat embossed it with black detail embossing powder. The white detail on the flower was achieved with bleach.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom
I love you!

{ the Lockhart puppy meets the Challenge }

I've been exploring SCS beyond just looking at the most recent daily gallery postings and am amazed at how much I've been missing. Motivation is often an issue for me, coming up with an idea completely from scratch. So I was thrilled when I took the time to look into the Wednesday Card Sketch Challenge. This was the result of Beate's email answer to a question I had about dimensions in particular layout I'd seen posted in the daily gallery. After reading more about the Challenges, I decided the Sketches Challenge would be a good vehicle of motivation for my creative inspiration.

So , with that, I pulled out a stamped image I've wanted to wanted to finish for a long time , but hadn't because I wanted it to be special. The Lockhart Stamp Company, in my opinion, has some of the highest quality stamps out there. The fineness of the detail is exceptional and the images possess a contemporary elegance ranging from whimsical to classic in design. You can purchase the Lockhart stamps from Ellen Hutson, LLC along with a wide variety of papers, inks, "tools, toys, and treasures". The card I had inquired about ended up being SC118, the identification number assigned to that particular week's Sketch Challenge. I was off and running and when I finished my card was pleased with the result.

{ the 4 sistas }

My favorite ladies have been sitting on the shelf patiently waiting for me to return to them. The sistahoodbellas reminds me of my family from left to right - my sister Sally, my Mom, me, and my niece, Nina - a bit of a stretch of the imagination for all except Nina, but age is a mental state and we are all forever young.
The image was coloured with Lyra Rembrandt Polycolour oil based pencils from Dick Blick and gamsol. I've used the Prismcolour Pencils that most card colourists seem to prefer, but I have personally seen little difference in the two brands. The paper is a combination of SU and Basic Grey. The embellishment is covered in the same Basic Grey mat paper and topped with a little pink Prima. I cut the scalloped edge with my Create-a-Cut. This particular bella stamp, sistahoodabella can be stamped as a group or the individual images can be inked and stamped separately or in pairs. I've enjoyed having the many options. The set also comes with two sentiments.

{ proud winner of Beate's candy }

Not long ago the famous and fantastic Beate offered blog candy to celebrate the 125,000 hit on her Fresh & Fun blog. I ended up the lucky winner from a long list of 298 comments.
My package of goodies came today! I plan on mounting the "Reason to Smile stamp" set this evening and putting together some cards over the weekend. The May Arts ribbon is fantastic! I never imagined so much! I’ve wound it all on chipboard cards for safe storage. I was really pleased with the SU Designer paper. I didn’t have any of it. This will give me an opportunity to work up some cards before I place another paper order. And the Primas.. I love the colourful flowers! Such a nice package of candy!! Thank you so much, Beate! After i took the picture I realised I forgot to include the pretty card she included. You can see it here.

{ friends, flowers, & April Blogger RAKs }

I originally made this card for a special friend and ended up liking it so much I decided to use it for my Blogger's April Birthday Card. The card for my friend is still setting on my worktable. I need to get it in the mail so she will have something to set on her windowsill before the flowers of spring give way to the flowers of summer.

This was my first attempt at masking. I was surprised it was so easy (maybe that's because I didn't do anything intricate). But now I'm ready to tackle something a bit more difficult.Who knows, maybe it will show up on my Bella Swap cards.

The red ric-rack was cut with my Create-a-Cut. I was one of the best tool purchases I've made in sometime. Be sure and check out Ellen Hutson's Store for all sorts of unique tools, stamps, paper and all things up to date and in demand.

{ bleached doodles }

I've always wanted to try the bleach technique, but kept putting it off. Earlier this evening, I'd put away nearly all my groceries after a trip to the store to pick up a few things in preparation for my sister and niece's visit. My laundry soap and new container of bleach were still sitting on the cabinet waiting to be carried to the laundry room. I decided this was as good as time as any to attempt stamping with bleach. Besides, I wanted something new to show my sister when she came. The fine detail was lost, but the appearance, after I over-stamped the image with black ink created, a shadow effect. The flowers were stamped on BasicGrey's new Blush paper, cut out and applied with fat pop-dots to give the card even more dimension. I used Stardust Stickles to add some sparkle to the card which in the picture doesn't show up. It ended up being a fun, quick, and easy card and I'm looking forward to using the bleach technique on more of my cards.