Sweet Baby

This is a sweet and simple baby card, left blank so I can add the sentiment at a later time.

True Love

Today is my 9th anniversary... Happy Anniversary, Love!!

Butterfly Love

To love abundantly is to live forever...

Love Cards...

More simple cards using up my stash, because it's easier to use the pieces on cards than it is to put them away where they belong. ;)

Using up the stash

Another card, just using white cardstock and some random pieces from the stash:

Green and Brown

I made a whole bunch of cards in the last month, several of which are blank, so I can stamp whatever sentiment I need on them. This is one of them...

Another card

Another Technique Tuesday card. I am loving the Copic Markers! The best part about these cards is that they really take very few supplies - and I can use up some of my stash a little at a time! Inexpensive is good... =D

A pile o' cards

So I picked up the items I had on display at the LSS last time I was there. I knew I still had a couple layouts there and some other items, but I didn't realize just how many cards I had on display. Look at the pile!

There are 68 cards here. And two I know that are there but I couldn't find. I had at least 70 cards on display at the LSS. Crazy!!!

26

Yes, 26.

That's how many layouts I have completed in the last week. I scrapped with Julie and Kristin last Saturday, and with Erika yesterday. I'm on a roll!

Wanna know what I did today?

No.... not scrapping.... I canned! It's been over 5 years since the last time I canned (when we lived in Iowa!) and I'd forgotten how fun it is! Erika came over and we canned. She canned salsa and I canned apple butter and orange marmalade. I make apple butter every year, but this is the first time I've ever made orange marmalade. I sort of did my own thing with it, but it's good! And would you like to know what I did with the orange peel? If so, just take a peek here and see. Oh. My. Goodness. This is the most heavenly thing to do with an orange peel ever!! Amazing. And the best place to store these little confectionary marvels? In your belly. :)

I also dehydrated apples and made some orange infused syrup and roasted a pumpkin and started drying pumpkin seeds for toasting. Then I left and went to church to teach a Christmas card class for our ladies' night out. It's been a busy day!!

Have I already blogged this?

This is a card Sheila asked me to put together as a fourth for my transparency card class this week. She really wanted me to use the file folder cut on the diagonal as a template and see what I could do with it. It's not my favorite card ever, but I am happy with how it turned out, especially working with someone else's idea, which I usually have a really hard time with. I love the other cards for the class Wednesday, but I don't have any pictures of those, so you'll just have to stop by the store to see them or use your imagination. They're transparency gatefold cards. =D

Cards with scraps...

A while back I decided to use up the scraps in one of my SPS kits. I also had some DCWV cards that I had and decided to use up... the results are simple, but sometimes simple is good. I put some of them up in my etsy shop just to see if simple cards are what people are looking for (still trying to find my niche... I think I've got an idea I haven't seen from anyone else, but those will have to wait until the September release, provided I get them finished. Worked on them some more last night, so hopefully they'll be done pretty soon. I'm down to the embellishment phase, which is the most fun. Also the most time consuming...) but here's a look at what I did with my scraps:






So it's not new craftiness, but unless you check my etsy store, it's new to you! =D I'll see if I can't dig up a few more new things to share with you (I'm pretty sure I've got some layouts I just haven't taken pictures of yet) until I actually get to my own crafting again. In the meantime, enjoy the cards!

And now for something completely different...

I love the two sided cardstock I get from R0ShamBo. I had this little scrap of blue/brown already folded to make a card, and I decided to play. I came up with something completely different than I normally do, but I think it's fun!

Using up the stash...

I've had a few partially made cards sitting in my stash for a while, just waiting to be embellished. I had 5 of these gold/navy squares made up, so I took a few minutes the other day and made a set of these little thank you notes. They're incredibly simple, but I think they turned out kind of cute!

Last Night's Class...

I had a full class last night and most of the attendees I'd never met before! It was so wonderful to meet new people and have new faces in class along with the regular attendees. Here are the cards we made using Tres Jolie papers, Heidi Swapp ghost butterflies, and paper ribbon from Little Black Dress Designs. The paper ribbon is really cool and was a lot of fun to play with!

Building up the stash...

I got a little time to play last week, so I started building up my card stash. I wasn't in the mood for a full-blown crafting session, so I stamped this scalloped circle with 'thank you' (I think it's from an Inkadinkado clear set) and sat in front of the TV while I colored. I love my Copic markers, and this was a chance to play with them again. Nothing too fancy, but it was a relaxing way to spend the evening. I used premade cards from a DCWV set I got a while back, and I used the same wide ribbon on each of the cards. They're all different colors, but they worked well enough that I could use the same ribbon and use up some of my stash! It's nice to add to the card stack now that I used all my Thank You cards for Protocol and will need more soon! Here's a closer look at the four color schemes:

Vintage Photo Cards

The challenge this week was to make a card with a photo, so here are a few for you to see! All of the pictures are old family pictures we have, and I scanned them in and printed them for the cards. I love these old family photos, especially the ones with writing on the back. The picture of the couple on the last card has written on the back, "Why girls leave home." Isn't that great?! I love it.

I taught these four cards as a class this week at Keepsakes and I have to admit that I like how some of the girls' cards came out much better than mine! For one, I printed the pictures a little differently so they weren't as yellow. That helped! Then on the last card some of the girls chose to use pink crackle paint instead of the brown and it was absolutely perfect! I really wish I could have sent my sample home with them and swiped one of theirs to keep instead! Oh well. I'll just have to keep it in mind if I decide to make any more of these in the future!

Good Luck!

Tonight was Petra Academy's graduation. It's sort of funny, but the three years I taught there we didn't have any seniors, so we didn't have any graduations. The last two years, though, we have, and I have been so happy to attend the celebration for these students. This year *my* kids graduated. I don't know why I think of this class in particular as *mine*, but I do. Perhaps because they were 10th graders my last year (Latin is only taught through the 10th grade, so it was their last year in my subject). Perhaps because I feel like I prayed through so many ups and downs with these students, even more than the other classes. I don't know, but it was an honor to attend their graduation. I will continue to pray for them as they go off to college and wish them all the best in the years to come. Good luck!

Masculine Cards from Scenic Route

I am really no good at making masculine cards. I don't know why, I'm just not. But I decided my stash needed a few more masculine cards, so while I was playing with my Scenic Route paper I made these two:



I think that first one is my favorite masculine card ever! At least that I've made so far... This particular sheet of paper lends itself well to masculine cards, and the stamp makes them nice for whatever occasion I need. Now I just need to stock up!

Scenic Route Love

I love Scenic Route. I think I've shared that before. More than anything I LOVE the scrap strip paper that have with just about every line. I can't pass by it without getting some for cards. Well, one of the last times I was at the LSS I picked up this sheet from the Grafton line:

I had so much fun with it! These papers make it SO easy to whip out cards in no time! Here are four of the ones I made up the other day, and I'll have two more from the same set to show you tomorrow. I used a stamp from this Inkadinkado stamp set:

I love the stamp because it means I can make up cards in advance and just check off what the occasion is when I go to use the card! It makes stockpiling cards a little easier.