Too Long....

   I've been away from my blogging for a few days now. It's been too long because I have been working on so many things. I finished painting my bureau and adding the glass knobs. That was a huge project... I painted the bureau in the basement... Bad idea.. Lighting is terrible. At least that's what I told my husband when he noticed the drips here and there... So he helped me bring it upstairs and sand a bit more and cover the blemishes.. I absolutely love how it came out.. I'll post pics tomorrow..
   I haven't had a chance to take any pictures 'cause I was cleaning house for today's Memorial Day barbecue with family.. It was really a nice time.. Hope everyone had a chance to remember those who have served our country..

Sunflowers make me smile!!

   I also finished a card. I really like how it came out.. I had purchased the designer paper at Tate's in Bath. I believe it was K& Company's paper. I bought the black ribbon there , too. I am not sure where I got the sunflowers.. It was a little sprig of them.. I cut them up and applied with glue dots. 
  I love Just Rites new stamps. They are called "Kindness" ... good name. Spellbinders make nestabilities that match this set. Really very pretty. I used my enamel accents to make ahhh accents with black and white dots. I even outlined the stamp.

Ummm... What shall I do??? What shall I do???

   So I am off to work on my next project... I took a watering can my Mom gave me 'cause it leaked. I applied silcone gel to the bottom.. Voila! No leak. Now what shall I do to make it look pretty... Just check back and see.... Thanks for looking...

Embrace Life

   I took a short "detour" from my scrapbooking commitment to work on my first love: cardmaking. I just had to use the new stamp set I got from my trip to the New Hampshire Creative Memories Convention. I thought this set was a hoot. And it seemed to represent my family of sisters when we go off on a road trip to do something for the "sheer fun of it"!!!

Whoopeeeeee!!!!

 The set is called "Girlfriends" by Art Impressions. There is a front and a back. I put the back inside the card with the sentiment.
  I used silicone gel to raise certain elements of the stamp. I had wicked fun coloring with my Copic Markers. I used Martha Stewart's border punch to give the card a little more fun to it. The stamps I used were Stampin Up's Embrace Life and the tree is from SU's Lovely as a Tree set.

This is a Mark Twain quote... I liked it.

   I had to off set the car because it seemed to express the excitement "The Girls" are having on their shopping trip.
   The flowers complete the "girlieness" of this card.

   The second stamp to this set is the back of the first stamp. I loved how using it on the inside shows the girls moving on.. I had to check back to the front of the stamp I had colored to make sure it matched. A little tricky at times.
   Anyway, it was fun to make and helped me with my cardmaking fix. I can now go back and continue working on my scrapbooking goal. Ohhh, I bet I'll be sidetracked again, though.

Whirlwind Weekend!!

Wow! I've had a whirlwind weekend... Russ and I went to the Fryeburg Flower Show in Fryeburg. It was a perfectly beautiful day. We ooohed and aaahed over all we saw. I  was hoping it would be a little bigger show, but it was nice. I got ideas for my garden that we are working on right now..

Sebago Lake

Flowers everywhere...

Garden ideas..

    We had a scenic trip going and coming back. Sebago Lake was breathtakingly pretty. Had to get a few shots of northern Maine.
   We ended the day by going to the coast to New Harbor to have dinner on Shaw's Wharf. The views of the Atlantic Ocean are as pretty as a lake view. The food there is fab.. We had broiled haddock and my mom had a crabmeat roll.

Oceanview!

Yummy!

Mom's crabmeat roll....

Another page done!!

   I still had time to finish a few pages of my Disney Album.. My goal is to get it done by November when we go back to Disney to add some more memories.. We will be staying at the Boardwalk Resort. Can't wait.. I'll be wicked busy til then...

Finally Scrapbooking on Disney!

   I've been so focused on my cardmaking that  have not done any scrapbooking for a long while. I started scrapbooking first and then took up cardmaking. I've done some digital scrapbooking with Heritage Makers and really love that medium, too. I tend to mix hand done scrapbooking with digital. I do think digital scrapbooking takes less time...sometimes. Anyway, this is the page I've finished using Mosaic Moments technique and ideas.

Our Disney trip in 2008

   I love using the 1" squares with the larger sized pictures. In fact, I will take shots of flaura and fauna to use just to fill in around larger pictures. I purchased a punch that is a one inch square, so much easier.
   I am going to do another page in the same color on the other side, but not the same configuration. I'll post that next time.
   Hope you had a Happy Mother's Day!

Tate's of Bath,Maine!

    I just wanted to share pics of one of my favorite places to visit when I am in the city of Bath. Tate's of Bath is a great place to go for all kinds of crafts. I love their ribbon, lace, and other baubles that they sell . The prices are more than reasonable. The selection is awesome.

Embellishments

Ribbon for $.99

 

 

 

 

I plan of visiting the shop as often as I can as they seem to add new items quite often.  They carry some cardstock from DCWV and other designer paper, too.

A few baubles                  

Lace by the bolt for around $3-$4.

More ribbon and lace

Great assortment

 They  also carry jewelry supplies that I tend to use in my cardmaking or for my shadow boxes that I am working on.







   I highly recommend Tate's for those of you looking to add to your supply of embellishments. You will really be surprised by what you can find there for a reasonable price. Happy Hunting... 

Four Step Card for Mom!

   I've been working on a birthday card for my mom. Her birthday is coming up and we are all getting together to celebrate her day. I started by playing with some of the "goodies" I got recently at the Manchester Creative Keepsakes Convention in N.H.
   I was anxious to try out the new Spellbinders Labels die. I don't know what number it is, though. I used dimensionals to lift them a little. Pearls were added to give it a regal touch. I also, tried out Spellbinder's poinsettia nesting die cuts. I love them... They looks great as a regular flower. ( I bought the stamp that makes them looks like a poinsettia.) A mini punch from McGill that looks like a "splat" helped to make the center more interesting. I used Tim Holt's Worn Lipstick distress ink to give the edges of the flower more depth. Dimensionals were used here to again lift the layers.

Gotta love that flower.. My first one!!!

Inside the "four-step" card.

   I made my leaves because "Hello", I didn't have a large enough leaf punch. I will be rectifying that soon.. Anyway, I punched out an oval and used my ragged scissors to make the leaves more lifelike. The edges were distressed with peeled paint ink from Tim Holtz.
   The inside of the card is a "four-step " card. I had seen my sister's three-step card on her blog and absolutely loved it.. She has great directions for hers at Calla Lily Studio Blog. Be sure to check hers out.
   Well, I wanted to try out this fold,but didn't want my card to look exactly like hers, so I began to browse through some blogs. I found this "four-step card" on Smiles, Laura's blog. She has great directions with a visual to go along with it. You can find her directions here: Smiles, Laura .  Her directions give you a card that is 4x5 inch card. I wanted mine to be a little bit bigger, so I kinda added a cover to the front and back to enlarge it. I had to be creative in doing this and was a little worried it might not look right, but I think it looks great. It even give the steps a back when you look at it from the side. Not bad...
   The inside of this card took a little time to embellish. The flowers are from that poinsettia die cut. I just used two of them instead of the whole set. The fern leaf is a punch from McGill. The stem of the large flower is a die cut from Sizzix. I used mini peg stamps for the flowers and mini leaves around the Hero stamp that says "Mother". These stamps can be found at Outlines Rubber Stamp Company  . I bought the oval stamp that the word "Mother" is on at JoAnn's fabric store in their dollar bin. Gems adorn the top and bottom. The butterflies are from Martha Stewart's punches collection.

Happy Birthday, MOM

   The poem I found online, but it says so much that is true for us.
   I have already made another flower to use on another birthday card. They are fun and easy to make. I am also playing with an Outline's stamp where you add gems all over it.. It's really quite the bling...
   Hope Mom enjoys this card. I had wicked fun making it..

Manchester Creative Keepsakes Convention 2011

   FABULOUS! That is the word I would use to describe this year's convention. I was overwhelmed by all the vendors and ideas that I saw in Manchester, New Hampshire yesterday. We all had great fun just ooing and awing at the exhibits and demonstrations we saw there. I had never seen Nestie Bling before. These are gems or pearls arranged to fit your Spellbinder's die cuts. The examples were breathtaking. I bought some of those. Also, at the JustRite Stamp exhibit, they had major bling... They take gems or pearls and add them to stamped designs to make jewelry or to embellish a card or scrapbook page. Just lovely.

How much did I spend?

I am not telling....

My favorite places were at Heartfelt Creations where they had stamps that fit Spellbinder dies. Their examples were breathtakingly beautiful, am I using enough adjectives?
   I also, liked the PKGlltz exhibit. There they used acetate to add glitter to and preprinted acetate to add to your designer paper for a lovely effect. Here is their website, if you want to browse a bit. PKGlitz The Outlines Rubber Stamp exhibit was another favorite. Their cards were amazing, too. I plan on shopping at their site for stamps and bling. Check out their website at www.outlinesrubberstamp.comOutlines Rubber Stamp Company 

Whoopee! The Girls Stamp

The Girls!

   One of my favorite items I purchased was the front and back side of "The Girls" stamp set. Had to have those two stamps to make a card or maybe to scrapbook a page of the day. "The Girls" are my sisters. Rochelle, Chris, and our friend, Kathy. Cute, huh?
Click on the slideshow pics to see a larger slideshow with captions. Enjoy...our day in pics.