Fabulously Long Notecards

My darling friend Kristin asked me to make some of my Fabulously Long Notecards for her to give to her children's preschool teachers. I pulled from my insane paper stash SU!, Daisy D's and Crate Paper for inspiration. I double matted the white cardstock and used color accents from each of the respective sheets of DP. I used my Cricut to cut the scallop circles as well as the monograms. As you can see I'm experimenting with my new photo studio in a box. I've got to figure out how to increase the lighting and make the images brighter. But it's so nice to have a nice clean, plain background!!

Here are the details on the long notecards:

Measurements:

Layer 1: 9 1/4 x 4
Layer 2: 9 x 3/4
Layer 3: 8 3/4 x 3 1/2

Designer paper strip: 1 1/2 x 4

Scallop circle (Mini Monograms - Cricut cartridge) 2 1/4
Letter: 2 1/4

"L" notecard:
Cardstock : PaperTrey Lavender Moon, SU! Whisper White and Chocolate Chip
DP: Daisy D's - Bambino Collection
Fibers: 1/4" Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon

"C" notecard:
Cardstock: SU! Certainly Celery, Cameo Coral, So Saffron, Whisper White
Fibers: purple stitch ribbon from ACM

"P" notecard:
Cardstock: SU! Soft Sky, Really Rust, Whisper White
DP: Crate Paper - Blue Hill Collection "Rain"
Fibers: Floral ribbon - Michael's House Brand






I hope that everyone has a great long weekend!!

Mother's Day

I hope that everyone that celebrates Mother's Day had a great day!!

I made this from the SU! Carousel Notes that are in the most recent mini. (until May 31st!) I paired it with the blue polka dotted designer paper from the Summer Days Simply Scrappin' kit. I cut the giant circle with my Cricut and hinged the two together with a blue brad from Basic Grey. I cut a smaller circle out of SU! shimmery white cardstock that I also with my Cricut. I stamped the Amuse chandelier with Versamark ink and then sprinkled them with my silver SU! embossing powder and heat set them and popped this circle up on dimentionals. I ran the Guava double stitched ribbon behind the white circle and tied it in a fluffy bow on the side. The sentiment is Happy Mother's Day from the $ bin at Michael's and the other sentiment is "you light up my life" from Amuse.

I gave this to my Grandmother (The Doctah - to those of us who know and love her) and she teared up. So that's how I know it's good ;) Funny thing about this sentiment, is that when I was a little girl, she had a faux terrarium (sp?) that was a music box and when you opened it played 'You Light Up My Life'. I didn't even think about that until after I had finished the card...which *almost* made me tear up as it made me think of things from another lifetime ago.

But I digress....

It's late in posting for Mother's Day but between other projects, my studio 'reno' and my most recent illness this is the time that I've got!!

I hope that everyone has a very creative Memorial Day weekend!!!

Teacher Gifts

My most faithful supporter, my cousin Jodi, placed a number of orders with me in the last few weeks...so I've been busy...to say the least! One of the orders was for an end of the year class scrapbook for her son's 1st grade class. I do not have pictures as the book has other people's children in it so it is clearly not appropriate to post those. However, the book turned out very snappy and my cousin LOVED it. She called to tell me that it literally took her breath away when she opened it. I was BEYOND pleased.

But one of the other things that she did ask for was notecards, a bookmark and matching pen for another one of the teachers. I went with my new favorite size...4 1/4 x 9. I used SU!'s tempting turquoise, whisper white and chocolate chip. I also pulled one of my favorite pieces of Basic Grey designer paper. I used my Cricut to cut the scallop circle as well as the circle with the teacher's monogram 'm' in it. I accented the M with some SU! 1/4" grosgrain ribbon in real red.

Thank you to my cousin Jodi for LOVING my products!!

I hope that everyone is having a very creative start to your week! (unfortunately me and mine are headed to the dr this morning as I believe I have a sinus infection...WEEEEEEEEE!...the fun never stops!)

Thirty-Five!!

For those of you who know me know that I LOVE my birthday. I love celebrating, I love being with my friends and family and I love opening presents!! (c'mon...who doesn't?) In years past it was ALWAYS gift cards to Bloomingdales. Well...becoming a Mother changes you to your core. It's a fact. It is earth shattering to your former self. For better or for worse...you are never the same. I know that my children have made me a better person...in a THOUSAND ways.

With that said...just because I choose not to shop at Bloomie's anymore doesn't mean that I don't love shopping!! I love that I'm slowly making a business from this most fun and rewarding 'hobby' of paper crafting and scrapbooking. And I LOVE finding new and exciting tools, stamps, papers, embellishments and alterables to further my new found 'career'!

Yesterday was my 35th birthday. And this year, being a big one, my husband has gone above and beyond the call of duty and is totally redoing my studio. He picked everything out with the help of my darling friend Nita and he's put it together, figured out the layout and how it'll work best for my needs, he's found beautiful and functional pieces from IKEA and I'm thinking we'll be done within the next week or so and then I will be able to move in and take lots of pictures to share!!

But until then I've got my new stash for you!! Yesterday was my husband's last day at his old job so he was out early. He worked up in Concord which is right near Westford where INK ABOUT IT is. He graciously agreed to meet me there after he got out of work and take the kiddies home so that I could shop...alone!! It's about an hour from my house so zipping over there on a regular basis is unfortunately not an option. So it needed to be an event. I had birthday money burning a GIGANTIC hole in my pocket and I knew that my next few weekends are booked. If I waited, I would have spent my money elsewhere and not gotten nearly as great stuff as I did! I know, I sound very materialistic but I DON'T CARE!! It's my birthday and that's what they're for! ;)

I finally have a set of 14 Copic markers that I'm DYING to use, a Scor-pal, a variety of adorable Amuse stamps, a new set of clear blocks, Hero Arts acrylic cards, acrylic albums, chipboard albums, gorgeous papers, watercolor crayons, a beautiful variety of embellishments from Primas to brads to felt flowers, Fun Flock in 3 colors, glue pens to replenish my stash, clear Sakura gel pens, library cards to embellish, ink pads, bone folders, crystals, and white gel pens. I mean I simply went nuts! But the stuff was so great and I'd been waiting a long time for some of it. I'm thrilled with what I got and can't wait to move it into my new space to use it!!

And my darling brother got me this!!

I also went out on Wed night with my girlfriends to a shwanky bar to have wine, snacks and wonderful conversation. We laughed and laughed and laughed until it was FINALLY time to go home. My fabulous Mommy friend Nita arranged for a sweet table at the bar for us and in all her wonderfulness wrote a toast for me. No one has ever done that and it was so funny and touching and meaningful and I will cherish it and her always. I was deeply touched that all of my friends/family came out during the week when we're all so busy to celebrate. It was a GREAT night and I have great pictures to prove it!

Last night, on my actual birthday, I spent it with my husband and brother eating awesome sushi for dinner and Ben and Jerry's for dessert.

It was the BEST birthday so far.

I hope that everyone is having a creative week and HAPPY FRIDAY!!

Happy Birthday Friend!

This past Saturday we went to a birthday party for the son of a work friend of my husband's. He turned 3 and his Mom did an amazing job. Luckily it was a great day weather-wise so we were able to be outside and play, play, play!! I was super happy with this card!! It's 9 1/4 x 4. The base is a medium olive from a mixed solid pack that I purchased a long time ago. I paired it with SU!'s East Coast Prep patterns. I used SU!'s retired Toy Box set that I picked up from my friend Joanne! It's super cute for boys!!

Thanks Suzanne for inviting us and for throwing a great party!!

I hope that everyone is having a great Mother's day!

You Light Up My Life!

I was fortunate enough to have an overnight with my college girlfriends last Saturday. It was the best. Just the 6 of us. We've never all done that...ever! But we're all Mothers now and need it more than ever!!

So we went and shopped, and had quiet meals out with grown up drinks and no screaming and no wondering if we have any lollypops or stashed toys just so that we can sit for 5 minutes longer before meltdowns hit, and we shopped some more!


We hit Marshall's first (my favorite place to shop! weird I know!). I love to paruse through every single thing. Because there's LOTS to be found...if you have the patience to search. And you can get a TON of great stuff. So I helped my girlfriends...as well as random strangers find new spring and summer clothes. It was a hoot. We were in the dressing rooms for what felt like minutes but really a few hours had passed!! I could be anywhere with these women and the time would literally zip by. And then we went to lunch and then to Hyannis to Colorful Creations. 3 of the 6 of us shopped till we dropped...again!! While the other 3 sat in the guest chairs at the front of the store and sipped coffee and chatted. I was like a kid in a candy store!! And I shopped fast. If I took my time (as I love to do when I shop) I would STILL be there looking at all of the beautiful and inspirational things that they sell!!

But I did manage to do a decent bit of damage!! The first thing that I've used from CC is my new Amuse chandelier stamp and coordinating Hambly chandelier paper. The sentiment is also from Amuse.

I was finally able to purchase all of the new coordinating papers, ribbons and some ink from the new line at Papertrey Ink!! I've been drooling for some time now! I started with what I was drawn to the most which is the Berry Sorbet. It is seriously delicious to look at. It is a beautiful weight paper and the ribbon matches perfectly. They did a wonderful job on this line. Not that I'm surprised ;) I used the matching ink to stamp the chandelier and then I colored it in with my Pantone marker in cyan. I know it's not matching in anyway but I love how funky it looks! I then took my Sakura pen and doodled all around the chandelier as well as the chandeliers on the designer paper to make them sparkle!! I did the same treatment to the sentiment. I added 3 black mini-brads from Making Memories and a double corner punch. One is the same as the background paper and the other is a polka dotted paper which is actually from the package of brads!! It was part of the label actually!! I just made this to play around...so fun when there's a few minutes to do just that!

It was great to spend an entire 24 hours with my most darling friends and now every time I use my new goodies I will think of that weekend.

I can't wait to do it again!!

I hope that everyone is having a very creative day!

Simply Beautiful

My darling childhood friend Erica has asked me to make some Asian inspired notecards for her Mom. I knew JUST where to head for the perfect paper! The Paper Source!! Red, black and gold was my assignment and it literally took me minutes to find the perfect paper. And it's so beautiful that I honestly had to do minimal work for these. With a base of SU! Whisper White and mattes of Real Red and Basic Black I was good to go. I used SU!'s retired 1/4" black grosgrain ribbon with a small piece of gold trim tucked in the knot for some extra zip. I sat and stared at these for a long time thinking...it needs something else. But the paper is just so beautiful that I didn't want to disrupt it by putting anything on top of it. So...I ran it by my DH...who always tells me what he likes and what he doesn't and he agreed that it didn't need anything. So while they are very simple...they are simply beautiful!!

I can't wait to give them to my friend for her Mom!!

I hope that everyone has a very creative weekend!! Happy Friday!

Religious Thank You

Our fabulous pre-school teacher, Miss Melanie, asked me to make up some thank you notes with a cross on them for her to send out. I believe she teaches CCD so she needed some TY notes to send for gifts she's received for end of the year. I have to say that being a 'nice Jewish girl' made this a definite challenge for me as I wanted them to be both beautiful and appropriate. This is my first project using any kind of religious symbol so I wanted to make sure I got it right!!

I chose to use the Gina K set "He Is Risen". Miss Melanie is always wearing earth tones so I started with that as my general theme. I have this awesome DP from Frances Meyer that when cut it is a bit different on each card...which I love because it's not the exact same every time. I paired the DP with the following SU! colors: chocolate chip, so saffron, close to cocoa and more mustard. I grabbed my 1/4 " more mustard grosgrain ribbon from SU! as an extra embellishment on the top tied around the cocoa and DP layers. I stamped the cross in Versamark and clear heat embossed it to make it stand out. I attached it to a piece of Cosmo Cricket (love notes line) designer paper with pop-dots. I stamped the 'thank you' sentiment on the front so Miss Melanie would have more room inside to write.

I delivered these this morning and they were well received!!

I hope that everyone is having a very creative Tuesday!

Playtime!

I've been doing lots of work lately and still have about 8 projects on the horizon but tonight I just felt like playing!

I have a bunch of new stamps from The Paper Source that have been waiting for ink for almost 2 months now. (sad...I know) The one I chose tonight is called 'Bundle Of Silk' and it's just so simple and beautiful. I have this paper from a matte stack from Making Memories. It pulls together some of my favorite colors; (all SU!) Really Rust, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip and Cool Caribbean ('07 retired). I sat for a long while at my table wanting to add more to the front of this card but...I LOVE the paper and I didn't want to cover it up so I left it as is. I used RR as the card base followed by the cocoa and chocolate as mattes. I was going to use the Cool Caribbean as another matte but it just didn't vibe right when I layed it out so I chose to accent the blue with the stamp (stamped in Chocolate Chip) and use my new Cricut cartridge - Mini Monograms - which has a circle scallop. I cut the circles out in 1 1/4" scallops and stamped them after they were cut. I then took my ink pad and just ran it around the outside of the scallop to give it a little more dimension.

The sentiment is simply 'thank you'. I stamped it on SU! very vanilla and matted it on a scrap of the Cool Caribbean.

More tomorrow!!

I hope that everyone had a very creative weekend!

Aren't We Cute?

I've been in mass production mode lately so I don't have anything new to show you *yet* so I thought I'd share this SUPER sweet photo of me, my husband and our kiddies.

We went out recently to celebrate my in-laws 40th wedding anniversary. It was a great night! And we got some outstanding family shots before we headed out for the evening. Kiddies in jammies and my daughter holding her fancy 'puppy in a bag'.
They just crack me up.

I hope that everyone is having a very creative week!