Two scary monsters...

are such ghoul friends! 

To view the video CLICK HERE!

Ghosts and Goblins!
Spooks Galore!
Scary Werewolves,
At your Door!
Jack o' Lanterns shining Bright
Wishing you a Haunting Night!

These little monsters are just way too adorable to be truly frightening! I'm sharing a tip in this video on how to stack these three fellows with ease!

To view the video CLICK HERE!

It's not that long until 

It's Halloween! Now is the time to start thinking of cards and crafts if you want to be ready by the end of October!

This is the first of my Halloween cards and it's wicked good if I do say so myself! I used a spider-webby font for the inside sentiment that I found on the website 1001freefonts.com
Yes, they do have at least 1001 free fonts there! You can find the Halloween Spider font here!

To view the video Click Here!

With summer coming to a close...

I had to do an ocean themed card! I used some techniques I learned from a couple of wonderful women on this card. The first is the background, that lovely, bubbly background! That came from a copic/prismacolor class I took with Amy Shulke. Right now she has a FB page, a Patreon page. and a website but will soon have everything combined into one website. I'll update this post when the new site is up and running! Here are a few examples of my work from her classes.

Recognize the background?

The multilevel card front I saw on a video from Elena Cazares. She is new to card crafting videos and if you like to do coloring book pages or digital images she has some great ideas on how to use them for cards! No more "this was fun but what do I do with it now?" !

Anyways... Here's my card for the week! I also came up with a technique to make translucent seaweed!

To view the video CLICK HERE!

Do you have a friend...

Of a certain age with a birthday coming up? Boy, oh boy, do I have a card for you to make for them! I get the biggest kick out of the Young at Heart stamp set! I made this card with 3 dancing divas (of a certain age!) having the best time with their glasses of wine! 

I altered the stamp a bit by giving all 3 "girls" a wine glass! Can't have only one drinking by their lone self! And I tried out the jumbo sponge dauber that I got from scrapbook.com and I liked it very much! It's nice and wide with a small pored sponge that makes it great for blending in large areas! And the handle on it is very comfortable to use!

To view the video CLICK HERE!

Do y'all know the song...

Cracklin' Rosie by Neil Diamond? Or am I showing my age? lol
This card was inspired by that song and I couldn't keep it out of my head while making this card!

I used the Crackle background stamp from Stampin' Up! to provide the texture on the roses and the new this year, very cool Woven Heirloom bundle. The bundle comes with 3 components, a stamp set, a cutting die for the frames AND an embossing folder to emboss the frames!

To view the video CLICK HERE!

Anyone know a good plummer?

LOL I bet you can guess how my day has been going. And to top it off, the leak HAD to be in a pipe going to my kitchen sink.

The card for this week uses some printable digital papers I found at Granny Enchanted. The great thing about printing your own designer style paper is that you can print only what you like and what you need for the project you're working on. No worries about where to store all those leftover papers from that expensive paper pack you bought. The papers I used are in this paper pack (<- click here 😃 ).

To view the video CLICK HERE!

Well ... another month gone!

Where does the time go? It feels like it was just Christmas time (and not Christmas in July)! 

This weeks card is a little shabby, a little sparkly and a whole lot of fun to make!

To view the video CLICK HERE!

Peacock...

That's all I'm going to say! If it has a peacock it must be good, right? I got the stamp and die set I used on aliexpress.com. It's nowhere nearly as good as the Stampin' Up! sets and it's a good bit smaller. The store I got mine from no longer has it but if you go to the website and do a search on Royal Peacock several choices should pop up. 

I got that one to use until I could get the Royal Peacock bundle from Stampin' Up! and thought it would make a nice addition to the "real" one. A lot of people must have liked the Royal Peacock set because I tried to order it several times and couldn't get it and I'm a DEMONSTRATOR! I finally got it on this last order and even now I wasn't sure I would get it - they said it was "low inventory". 

Now if I could only get a Purple Posy ink pad I'll be a happy camper!

To view the video CLICK HERE!

I'm back to doing flowers & lace!

This weeks card is a very feminine card with pastel colors. I used that beautiful watercolor look floral branch from Butterfly Wishes as the focal point of the card. In the video I show how I did the multicolor stamping of it! And keeping with the pastel theme my lace is die cut from the new colored vellum from Stampin' Up! 

To view the video CLICK HERE!

Good Morning Magnolia!

I know, I know it's not morning! We WILL be using the Good Morning Magnolia stamp set from Stampin' Up! though! I recommend getting the bundle, you'll save a bit when you get the stamp set & the coordinating die set at the same time. 

Before I show you the card, I wanted to talk about how I clean my silicone mats. I've found that a damp paper towel or a baby wipe works best for everything from inks to glitter! I've seen people swear by swiffer dusting cloths for glitter and it works great on a table top but not so good on the silicone (it kinds sticks to it). So that's it! That's why I love the silicone mats so much, they are just so low maintenance!

And here's this week's card! I talk about a few ways to do this card in the video. You can stamp it, you can use black embossing powder or you can max it up like I did and use the Shimmer Black Stampin' Emboss Powder that Stampin' Up! has just come out with!

To watch the video CLICK HERE!

I got a new crafting mat!

Whoo hoo! Actually I have 2 new ones, they came as a 2 pack! And they're clear,  well almost clear anyway. If you follow my videos you know I've been using a pink silicone baker's mat and that has lasted for well over 2 years but my kitties use it as a landing pad to get onto my table and the claw slits have started adding up. It makes my craft area look so much neater! I found them HERE on Amazon and they're a nice big 25" x 17" size.

Oh, you want to see this weeks card? Ok! We'll be playing with some Magnolia things today! This will be one of the last videos with that old pink mat!

To see the video CLICK HERE!

This Wednesday's card...

Has a slightly surprised looking cat pop up with balloons and a happy birthday greeting!

When I first saw how to make the mechanism for the pop up, I thought "how in the world is that going to work?" But it does!

To view the video CLICK HERE!

This week I was in a watercolor mood!

Maybe because so much water is falling from the sky! I am seriously over thunderstorms! Anyways... we'll be using our Stampin' Up! inkpads to do a watercolor effect card with the To A Wild Rose stamp set! And to keep all that water corralled some nice gold heat embossing adds some sparkle too!

To view the video CLICK HERE!

This week.....

We're tossing the templates and doing a lattice edged card using just a ruler. pencil, eraser and a paper scrap! 

I've seen a lot of videos that require that you download a raggedy looking template, try to hold it in place on your card base and snip thru both the template and the card! That just seems like a recipe for disaster to me (!) so I found a way around it 😃. Since we'll be concentrating on the lattice I *cheated* and used premade flowers that I got from scrap-flowers.com! And, Hey! if you liked that sentiment & tag set I used, you can find that HERE!

To view the video CLICK HERE!

I'm keeping with my New Years Resolution...

And using some of my beautiful precious patterned papers! I got out some of my older papers from Heartfelt Creations and added a coordinating rose from the To a Wild Rose bundle from Stampin' Up! and made not one but three all occasion cards in different colorways! 

They are very simple and quick to put together but still look beautiful and will go thru the mail easily! It will probably take longer to pick out your papers if you are anything like me! 

To view the Video CLICK HERE!

Woo Hoo! Today is the day!

Drum roll please!  The new 2019-2020 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog is now live! CLICK HERE for the PDF!

CLICK HERE for the Intro Video!

It's getting close .....

To new annual catalog time with Stampin' Up! I can't tell you much about it right now (shhhhh it's a secret! lol) but I found lots of good stuff to be happy about 😃 and some retiring items to be sad about 😢. Check here on June 4th for the PDF of the catalog so you can see what's happening in SU land as soon as it goes live!

This Father's Day day is a 2 plus 2! I'm using A Good Man stamp set and it has some GREAT images in it! We'll be using the boy or girl version (that's the first 2) and then I'll show you how to get a watercolor effect using actual watercolors (who'd have thought? lol) and your SU dye-based ink pads. If you want to give watercolors a try I highly recommend the Prima Confections Watercolor sets. They aren't what I would call "artist grade" but on the plus side, they aren't very expensive, you can lay down good color with them, they provide a good color range and they are a wonderful way to see if you like that sort of thing for under $20! I have the Tropical Set and the Classic Set! 

For the video how-to Click Here!

A friend and I...

went to see the movie "Poms" today! What a good movie! Diane Keaton was great, as I expected she would be. I laughed and I cried! If you want to see a chic flick I highly recommend this one!

This weeks card is another fisherman Father's Day card. Our fisherman is out at the crack of dawn hoping to catch the big one!

To see the video click here!

It's raining! It's pouring!

We're kicking off the rainy season here in south Florida in grand style this year! I do believe it's raining weed seeds in with all the raindrops! Boy, do I have a lot of gardening to do in between rain storms!

This weeks Father's day card celebrates all the car enthusiasts! Here's a fun card using the Stampin' Up! Geared Up Garage bundle!

To watch the video click here!

It's the Wednesday before Mother's Day....

But it's already time to start thinking about Father's Day cards! I usually dread making cards for the guys because... well ... There's no flowers and lace! My two favorite things for cards! This  year it was a lot easier. I had the Best Catch stamp & dies and the All Geared up sets and came up with 2 cards right off! There's a brand new set called A Good Man coming in Stampin' Up!'s Annual Catalog that's really nice too! My preorder (with A Good Man) should be here any time now! As soon as the AC goes live I will post the pdf of it here and on my Facebook page! 

Today's card uses the Best Catch stamp & die bundle. I also promised to share where I got the stencil for the waves and here it is! <------- click there! 😃

To watch the video click here!

Happy Wednesday y'all!

I think there should be some kind of law against discontinuing stamp sets. At least, the stamp sets I like! Stampin' Up! recently posted all of the discontinued stamps, dies and other stuff so I have 12 pages (small print) of things that I need to get rid of 😲. They aren't the only ones either! The beautiful script background stamp I used in today's card has gone off to stamp heaven 😇 I did find one that will work by Stampers Anonymous on amazon.com. If you want to check it out you can find it here. It's just a little smaller than the one I've used. I also used a really pretty fern leaf stencil that I found here on aliexpress.com. This storefront had some other nice basic stencil designs (some of which I couldn't resist and bought!) as well as some die sets for excellent prices!

Today's card is a Mother's Day card for all the friends that are mothers! I have a lot more friends that are mothers than I do actual mothers and I bet you do too! 

To watch the video click here!

It won't be long now...

till Mother's Day AND the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalog will go live in June! I'll post the pdf file here for the catalog so ya'll can see it soonest (soonest? most soon?). I'll be placing my pre-order this week, most of it will be all the new in-color things, ink pads, markers, papers, that sort of thing but I will be getting a couple of the newest stamp sets! It's all very exciting! One thing I'm sad about is they are discontinuing the Stampin' Trimmer 😒 so I guess when my reserve cutting blades are used up in the trash it will go!

This weeks card uses a cool technique where you ink up your embossing folder! YES! I said embossing folder! What a beautiful background it makes! I made a mistake and used a retired embossing folder but any nice floral folder (think roses!)
will work!

And guess what! I found the Mother's Day stamp set on aliexpress.com! I doubt you'll get it in time for this coming Mother's Day but it has the nicest sentiment's in it! I found it here!

To watch the video click here!

So, my friends....

What are your Easter plans? We'll be having family dinner here and it will be our first egg hunt for my grandson. It should be fun! I sent my husband to the local Dollar Tree for some of those plastic eggs and some kind of little toy/treat to put in them and what do you think he found??!! They had Paws Patrol figures!!! If you have any small children around you know what they are!!! My grandson loves them and can tell you all about each of the characters (at 2.25 years old!) And they were a DOLLAR each! What a score! I can't wait to see what he thinks of them!

On the crafty news side... The Stampin' Up! Annual catalog will be coming out in June for all of you - I got to have a look now 😄 and they did a great job on stamp sets this year! I felt like they kinda "phoned it in" last year and was disappointed but this year it's going to be hard to keep within my budget! As soon as I'm allowed to I'll put up the PDF here and on my fb page so ya'll can see what's available right away!

Here's this weeks card! I used the Tea Together stamp set (which will still be available in the coming year!) and I think it's just darling for a Mother's Day card. Of course you can always switch out the sentiments and make it for other occasions too!

To view the video click here!

The first half of the year is just loaded...

With card giving occasions! It seems like we just get past Christmas when Valentine's Day comes along. Following that is St. Patrick's Day (if you give cards for that!) then Easter, Mother's Day and Father's Day! Add in a few weddings, baby showers, and birthdays and you have crafting excuses (like I need an excuse to hide out in my craft room!) for MONTHS!!! 

I've been trying to keep the Mother's Day cards interesting but mailable this year! Wish me luck! I can feel myself breaking out in nice big dimensional flowers! This first card has some nice dimension but should still go thru the mail just fine! 😄

The Leafy Borders and flowers came from Heartfelt Creations, the inks, cardstock and various tools from Stampin' Up! I found the Happy Mother's Day die set here and the Mother's Day sentiments stamp set here.
*** It appears the MSE Mother's Day sentiment stamp is no longer available. How can they do this to us? It was probably the BEST Mother's Day stamp set! A solution to this great problem would be to find a pretty font in word and print it out!

To view the video click here!

As I was looking thru the cards I had on hand ...

I realized I didn't have any "Get Well Soon" cards! As we all know, when someone is sick you want to get a card to them as quickly as possible so there's no time to think up and make a card. This one is bright and cheery and I finally got around to making a pocket card which I had been thinking about for quite some time!

I'm also checking out what all the hoopla is about with using make-up brushes or "life changing ink blending brushes". Go ahead, do a search on youtube on life changing brushes, you'll see what I mean! I've found them to be wonderful for a light colored background and they make blending with dye based inks soooooo easy. The brushes I used I found here on amazon.com. At $8.99 I figured it was worth trying them out!

Watch the video here!

I have one more Easter card for this year!

I called it God's Love because, well, isn't that what Easter is really all about? I've promised to post several links here in the video so here goes:
Ivy vine dies - these are great "filler" for flower groupings!
Atomizer/Spritzer - spray a really nice fine mist!
2" double sided tape - it comes in various widths 5" double sided is also nice and Stampin' Up! also has 6 x 12" sheets if you don't need a big roll.

To view the video Click Here! 

Kitten update - they've been turned over to a feline rescue center where they have either people to continue bottle feeding my babies or a surrogate mamma cat if available. When they are old enough they will be adopted out. Much better than being backyard cats I think! I would have kept the darlin's myself but I already have 3 indoor cats a 6 feral cats we feed plus a dog! They really were the cutest little things and I was getting attached to them!  

It's been an interesting week here....

On Monday we had a cat trapper come out to round up our pride of feral cats my husband feeds to take them off to be spayed and neutered. We got all 5 and were feeling very responsible, but then my neighbor found 3 kittens in her back yard 😲 She showed me a picture of the adult cat that had been hanging about her yard and darned if it wasn't one of "ours". So here I am playing mama to 3 little kittens. Mama cat comes back tomorrow but I don't know if she'll accept the kittens or if she will even be able so I have a call in to a rehab/adoption center for the babies and just waiting to hear back from them now.

Aren't they adorable? There's a 3rd white with black spots that I didn't get a good picture of! Don't worry, I'm getting to the card now! It's a Z-fold card this week!

To see the video click here!

It's been quite the day for me!

I was feeling pretty pleased with myself... I figured out how to set up my videos to publish at a certain day & time on youtube. That went well BUT it turns out part of the video was missing! It was up in it's partial state for most of the day! My friend Cin from Cinders Papercraft let me know. Good thing too! I usually give it a check but I had my mammogram & bone density scan done today and was out and about! In addition, I haven't been able to get onto facebook all day, I don't know what's going on with that! So no post for my facebook crew. It's nice to see there are no problems here!

Now that I'm done with my ravings 😊 here's this weeks card!

You can find the video here!

I have a little something special (and free) for y'all!

I signed up for emails from Free Pretty Things for You and these darling tags/ banners were the freebee today!

You can find them here. Print them out as they are or do a printscreen/copy/paste to word and resize them to suit your project. Fussy cut the banner or use the whole tag. Stamp the sentiment of your choice. There are quite a few ways I can think of to use these! 

I'm so very excited I have something to share with y'all! 

I got a call from Heartfelt Creations and they gave me a coupon code that I can share with all my friends. So my friends... here's the deal... it's a $5.00 one time use coupon that must be used by March 31st just in time for their new collection (Cherry Blossom Retreat) or anything else you may want! Use the code 16147 at check out!

Enjoy!

I've started thinking about....

Easter cards! I've combined the He is Risen stamp set from Stampin' Up! with Heartfelt Creations Flowering Dogwood Branches stamp & die sets to make this card! There's some dimension going on but it is still an easily mailable card! A little coloring with a blender pen & Stampin' Up!'s dye based ink pads help complete this card! If you have those blender pens & some ink pads you really don't need to invest in a whole buncha colored markers AND you can be assured you will always be color coordinated! 

Click here to follow along with the video!

I'm back with a beautiful butterfly card that is very easy to make!

This is one of those cards that are great to have on hand for quick card giving occasions or you could even make a set in different color blends to give as a gift! I made it a birthday card but there are so many other possibilities with a simple change of sentiment! It will even go thru the mail with no problem!

Click here to follow along with the video!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Are you ready for spring yet? I'm in south Florida so we don't have spring. We have "tourist season" and "oh my gosh it's hot"!!! I really do miss the spring flowers since I've moved here but since there's no snow I guess it's a fair enough trade off. I thought I'd give ya'll some pretty tulips to make today. I kept this card all occasion with no sentiments so you can add your own for what ever occasion you'd like to use it for!

Click Here for the video!

My Stampin' Up! stuff got mixed up with Heartfelt Creations stuff again lol! HC is killing me... they came out with diamond shaped lacy dies (I love, love, love lacy dies) and the newest collection is centered around PANSIES! I love pansies too! So, of course, I had to order both and the pansy collection is on it's way. 

Today I'm using the Floral Fashionista stamp & die set and Stampin' Up!'s Tea Time stamp set and my FREE die set to go along with it. The coordinating dies are part of the Sale-a-bration and you can get them for FREE with a $100 order. Did you notice I capitalized FREE? I get so excited to get FREE things!!! 

Here's todays card and it's loaded with lace and flowers!

To see the video click here!

This weeks card.....

was inspired by this gorgeous paper pack I found. I'm always on the look out for papers that have purple as an element since that's my favorite (and only!) daughter-in-law's favorite color. Most of the ones I come across are either juvenile or just not terribly pretty but this pack is just so elegant! I found it here on amazon. It's always a bit of a gamble ordering papers online but I lucked out on this one! I did a special fold card on this one to showcase the papers!

To view the video click here!

This is a public service annoucement....
If you haven't had your flu shot yet it's not too late. I'm sure glad I had mine and it was just the beginning of the month that I got it. There must have been a germy person at Trader Joe's last week when I went because next day I wasn't feeling well. Not out right, I just can't get out of bed sick, but sick enough to know it the flu. So I made stuff. 😃 Not cards... I made homemade ramen noodles, homemade spaghetti, baked bread. It was a carb explosion! Must have been what I needed, those carbs. 

I did manage a card to share too! Lots a lace & flowers! I did some stenciling (or masking if you prefer) which I haven't done for a while and I finally used my new lace embossing folder SU came out with and boy is it pretty! I sprinkled it with some tiny hearts in Lovely Lipstick and a few dainty vellum roses later it was done!

Click here for the video!

We've all been there...

Everyone starts out as a beginner! I've geared this card making video to all of those people just starting out. I've tried not to miss anything. I hope I didn't. After a time of repeatedly doing something it's just too easy to go on "auto drive" and forget that what's natural to me might be a totally new revelation to someone just beginning. 

BUT just because this video was made for beginners that doesn't mean that there may not be ideas that even a seasoned card maker might find use for! I also give a lot of opinions about various products, why I like them, why some have been discarded. In any case, I think this card will be one that both beginners or experts would be proud to give!

Click here for the video!

I'm losing control!

LOL I've been trying to keep the Valentine's Day cards on the simple side and easy to send thru the mail but I couldn't control the urge to break out the lace and flowers! It sooo sentimental with two lacy hearts entwined on the front! There's a great tip in this video too! How to make a banner! Mine is a tiny little strip but it can be adjusted to fit any size sentiment. 

See the video here!

Happy Wednesday my crafty friends!

It is just BEAUTIFUL here in south Florida! We had a "cold" front come in. By cold, I mean cool lol. It tickles me to hear the weather people describe what we get as a cold front! According to Alexa (yes, I have one!) it's 69 degrees out right now. I've been enjoying my Christmas cactus for the last week now, it's just gorgeous! Tons of blossoms on it! And here I thought I had killed it over the summer. I got a little carried away with the watering 😒 but it came back around!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I have a card to share with you too! I tried to keep it fairly simple for those people that don't want lots and lots of lace and flowers but it's still romantic enough with some hearts and simple rose cut outs. 

To see the video Click Here

It's Sale-a-bration time!

Today Sale-a-bration and 2019 Occasions goes live! Here are the pdf's for them so you can see what's new in the Stampin' Up! world!

Sale-a-bration


2019 Occasions 

Hi there all my crafty friends!

I'm back from my bit of time off with some Valentine's Day cards. I hope your holidays were as nice as mine. Christmas was a lot of fun since my grandson is now older and has *sorta* figured out the whole Christmas thing and he also had his 2nd birthday so there was more gift giving and a party! 

Somewhere in that time I managed to make some cards to share too! I got some of the newest sets from Stampin' Up! during the demonstrator preorder from the Sale-a-bration and 2019 Occasions catalogs. They start officially tomorrow, Jan. 3. I'll post the catalog pdf's as soon as they go live! They came out with some lovely stamp and dies sets and getting a little something extra with Sale-a-bration is always good!

Here's the first of 2019 Valentine's Day cards!

This would be a great any occasion card just by switching out the sentiments and I think I may use this as my anniversary card for my husband (shhhh, don't tell him) next month! To see the Youtube video click here!