I played around with these Mayberry papers and stamps today - the colors are so fun, and with all of the hot weather, it just seemed like a good time to embrace the humidity. Maybe it’s working because I heard it’s supposed to cool down this week! The hexagon comes from Hero Arts and was stamped in Winter Sky ink from A Muse.

And in case you’re interested, I updated my For Sale page with some more items today.

Sooo not ready for Monday…
Suzanne

Summer Card Camp 2 started yesterday and I have this card to share for the Week 1 challenge, which was to make a card using a given color combination and one of three sketches. I took a little bit of liberty with the color combos: my “yellow” is the gold sparkle, and the mint/aqua color is my blue. But the rest of the colors are there: orange, pink and white. The papers come from the American Crafts Dear Lizzy collection, and the glittery embellishment is from Crate Paper - it was originally in the shape of a geotag, but I took it apart, paper punched it into a circle and then reassembled it.

I mounted everything onto white cardstock that was diecut using the Lil’ Inker’s stitched squares and added some enamel dots to finish it all off.

Thanks for looking and have a great day,

Suzanne

Hey there! Just a quick note to let you know that I am sharing a card that I made over on the Neat and Tangled blog today. Here’s a little peek for you…hope to see you there!

Suzanne

I am back with a card for Day 3 of Pattern Play, this time trying to use up some hard to use patterns. I tried breaking up this bold pattern using Kristina Werner’s technique tonight.

I used some Amy Tangerine papers from American Crafts and rounded the top edge of the paper before trimming it into 4 sections. Then I stamped and diecut the feathers and sentiment from A Muse Studio’s Make a Wish set, later adding some gray twine and pearly rhinestones. This patterned paper is double-sided and the green paper is the coordinating paper on the backside of the rainbow pattern:

I love the bright colors on this so much!I am going to have to try this out some more, because I had all kinds of ideas of how to break up the pattern.

Thanks so much for stopping by - hope you have a great day!
Suzanne

I love sketch challenges, and since I recently got some Mama Elephant stamps, I thought I would try their challenge out tonight:

First, I chose my colors and knew I wanted to try color blocking on the banners, which is an awesome fit for this week’s CAS-ual Friday’s challenge:

I added some of my favorite paper right now - the glitter paper from American Crafts. Then I added the Mama Elephant sentiment and a button…

That’s about all for now! Have a great day!
Suzanne

Every now and then a new die that totally blows my mind comes out, and this is one of those times. I am super duper excited to be a part of this special blog hop for Laurie Willison of Soapbox Creations, who designed this awesome Card Hanger Die for use on gift bags. She is so sweet and talented, and I am in awe of her on this day. (I am also mildly impressed with myself for having kept this a secret for as long as I did!)

As card makers, we spend a lot of time and put BOATLOADS of love into our cards, and then we get a gift ready for a party… but what happens to the card? Usually, it gets put in an envelope and hidden away, and if you’re like me and have a tendency to use bulkier items like ribbon and flowers on your cards, they don’t always fit nicely into an envelope. With this new card hanger die, you can proudly display your cards on the outside of your gift bags as a decoration!

I’ve made a few projects for the hop today to highlight several other reasons why I love this die. It gives you the ability to match your wrapping to your card. Do you see how I used Laurie’s die to cut from papers matching the patterned papers that I used in my cards? (I also love that it helps me to reduce my patterned paper stash a little bit more!)

You can also hang your card two ways. Laurie talks about this in the video that is available on her blog today, but I thought it would be fun to show you both ways. Above you can see how I trimmed the gift bag so that the card actually slides into the bag, but below you can see how the entire card is hanging on the outside of the bag.

I also used the die to create the large yellow flower on my card below. The center of the die is shaped like an oval, which is easily put together to make a large bloom:

Of course, all of my gift bags are brightly colored, but a safe bet is keeping a stash of kraft or white gift bags handy and ready to decorate. Adding the die to several bags is SO easy, and you can be ready with a gift in no time.

Please check out Laurie’s blog for more info on how to purchase this die. Don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance to win one of these card hanger dies. One winner will be randomly chosen from the comments on the 4 blogs in this fun hop today! Be sure to leave some love for my Kansas girls here:

Thanks so much!
Suzanne

What a happy post this is - I am over-the-moon excited to tell you that I am this week’s Guest Designer at the Muse Card Club!

I didn’t get a chance to play along with the first Muse challenge, but was totally inspired by Amy Kolling’s use of flowers in her Muse card last week. Since Raspberry Fizz is my all-time favorite color to craft with, I started with a piece of cardstock and went through my patterned papers until I came across the matching American Crafts XOXO stash. As it turns out, I did not use any stamps or bling or ribbon on this card!

The top edge of the card was cut using an oval Nestabilities die. It was pretty easy to do, but in case you’re still not sure, I made a quick video for you:

The photo of my card has been removed because the card is out for publication. Thanks so much for looking!

I hope my card inspires you, and that you’ll interpret my project in your own special way and join in on the fun this week! Will you choose the layout? The colors? The hearts or flowers or arrows? The patterns? I can’t wait to see what you make!

Many thanks to Jackie and the Muse Card Club for having me this week! I feel so blessed to be a part of this new journey and a member of this fantastic card club!

Suzanne

I found Stamping Mecca!

Last week, I wanted to see some of the new Hero Arts stamps (they just released a new catalog and you don’t want to miss it), and I saw that a stamp store in Concord, NH posted on Facebook that they had ALL of the new release. I was excited, very excited! I wasn’t quite sure if they really meant “all” of it, but I was willing to drive up there to see for myself.

It was my very first trip to the store, which is called Art Plus, and they are located 58 miles from my house - kind of “far” for people here in New England, but for stamps, I will almost always do anything. Anyway, it was utterly fantastic, and YES she had ALL of it! I worked up a sweat while I was looking at everything, no joke.

I learned that Karen and her dad have owned the store for about 20 years, and they are one of Hero Arts’ online shippers. That means when folks order online, she may or may not be one of the stores that ships all of your items to you (Hero Arts does not ship from their warehouse to you); lucky for me, this also means that she literally had EVERYTHING Hero Arts carries. Ev.er.y.thing! It was amazing to see everything in person - I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many beautiful stamps in one place, and I will surely be back!

If you’re local, I highly recommend a trip to this store, and even if you are not local, Karen is super sweet and very happy to help you over the phone/e-mail. In fact, there was a die that I was looking for, and she had already sold out of it; however, I was thrilled to hear that she would ship it to me when she was restocked. Not only did she ship it super fast (it arrived yesterday), but she also emailed me to let me know it was coming. I have added the store’s site to my sidebar for safe keeping, so you can easily access her info in the future. She carries other products too, but I was really only there to see Hero Arts and she was ready to close for the day. I almost asked her if she hosts stamping sleepovers, LOL!

This Go Out and Play stamp is one of their new stamps, and I used it to make this card for the Hero Arts contest this month. I am trying out two new things for this challenge: the color combo, and repeat stamping with a stamp-a-ma-jig so that the single image is inked up in 4 different colors, which all were inspired by the American Crafts papers that I used. I am also psyched by how well the image fits into the Lil Inker stitched rectangle die.

Thanks for stopping by!
Suzanne

Hola from the middle of Hurricane Sandy… Here is a card that I made for Neat and Tangled Stamps and for this week’s CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge.

I have a bunch of tips on how to work with patterned papers from 6×6 paper pads on the Neat and Tangled Blog today, and I hope you’ll head on over to check it out. All of the details about my card can be found there too.

Hope you’re dry and safe!
Suzanne

P.S. In case you missed it, my blogoversary giveaway can be found here.

Yippee!!! For another CAS-ual Fridays Challenge! This is my first time posting on a Friday as part of the group. “Get your party on!” because it’s time to make a project with an element that extends beyond the base.

For my card this week, I used American Crafts papers because I thought the colors were party perfect, and the stamps were provided by this week’s sponsor. Trust me when I tell you that you will want to run on over to the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge blog to find out more because there may be some prizes involved! *wink wink*

The images were heat embossed in white over the patterned papers and the panel was mounted onto a raspberry fizz cardstock base. The element that I designed to hang off the left side of the card is the bright yellow paper tab which was cut with an A Muse Studio pinking border die.

I can’t wait for you to see what’s in store on the challenge blog, including the rest of the team’s creations! Thanks for stopping by and have a fun weekend!