It's Been a While...

and I have been busy with out-of-town company, baseball games, supervising yard work and not doing much crafting...beginning with SIL Nancy's visit for memorial Day, and ending with Emily and Chris's visit on Monday, it seems I haven't had a chance to settle.  Things may be slowing down some, especially since I've take some pressure off myself to try to do it all--and do it perfectly.  I have missed my blog, and all of you, though, and am happy to be getting back into things.
I have my long promised pictures of my new studio space..well, the space isn't new, but the organization of it is.  I hope you enjoy it...and I'll be making use of it to make a couple of graduation cards for parties this weekend.

A ladder's eye view of my work station.

A ladder's eye view of my window and some Jet-Max cubes.  Pinky over-sees all.

My work station with my lovely Flamingo Chair.

Pinky guarding my paper storage closet.

Here's where I store all my paper.  The bins below are where I keep my scrap heap, organized by color.  Paints, inks, glitter and such are above, and stamps are to the right.

My Cricut Station.

Stevie, who keeps getting in the way.

My project board and ironing station.

My flamingo futon, which allows the studio to moonlight as a guest room....I just finished making all the pillows.  I'm hoping they will keep the cats off the futon.  My ribbon wall is above it.

My ribbon wall.

More storage.

I'll be back sooner, I promise, with some crafty goodness.  Until then, be blessed!

Summer Begings Blog Hop Day 2

Hello!  Welcome to Day Two of the Summer Begins Blog Hop!  You should have arrived from Kathryn's wonderful blog, Creations With Kathryn, which is also the first stop on the hop.  If you want to begin at the beginning, just head back there for her amazing project!

I decided I wanted to demonstrate how you can use the same basic idea--in this case, the toucan cut from the Life Is A Beach cartridge--to make two different projects.  I showed the first yesterday, and have this one for today.

For this card, I cut a piece of orange glitter cardstock to fit an A2 card base.  I then cut the leaf three times, at 4.25 inches (black), 4.0 inches (dark green) and 3.75 inches (lime green) and layered them.  I adhered this to the glitter cardstock.  I cut the toucan, with all his layers, at 2 inches.  I added a tag from my stash, which I paper pierced, and a googly eye on the toucan.  The ribbon, which shows up yellow, but is really lime green, is from my stash, as well.

I hope you've enjoyed my summery cards and have seen how just changing sizes or papers can change a project.  From here, you should head to Yolanda's blog for the rest of the hop.

Have a wonderful Sunday--and be Blessed!

Summer Begings Blog Hop Day 1

Hello!  Welcome to Day One of the Summer Begins Blog Hop!  You should have arrived from Kathryn's wonderful blog, Creations With Kathryn, which is also the first stop on the hop.  If you want to begin at the beginning, just head back there for her amazing project!

I decided I wanted to demonstrate how you can use the same basic idea--in this case, the toucan cut from the Life Is A Beach cartridge--to make two different projects.  Here is the first one, and I'll have another one tomorrow.

For this card, I cut the toucan at 1.5 inches, with all his layers.  I cut the leaf at 3 inches, and backed them with a tag I cut at 4 inches.  I added the lettering with a stamp, and didn't like it, so I went over it with orange Stickles.  I added some white faux stitching and a googly eye on the bird...he also has some Stickles on his beak.  The base of the card is a piece of lime green cardstock that I dry embossed with the Forest Branches Cuttlebug Folder.  The lime dotted ribbon is from my stash.

Make sure you check out the June challenge on the page above.  The prize this month is a set of four Mini-Monsters Cuttlebug Folders.  I'd love to have you submit an entry to win.

From here, you should head over to Yolanda's blog to continue the hop.  Until tomorrow, be Blessed!

Butterflies and Goodbyes

I got the sad news that my friend, Celeste, has to step down from the One By One DT the other day.  I know how busy she is, but I will miss her so much!  She's crazy about butterflies, so I made this card in honor of her. Please be sure to stop by her blog, Touched By A Butterfly and her new Etsy store.  Thanks so much, Celeste, for your friendship and your creativity.  Be Blessed!

Yay for Fun Visitors!

June is going to be a month of fun visitors for me!  My sister-in-law, Nancy, was just here for Memorial Day...she's a scrapper and I was able to share a couple of fmaily albums with her.  I'm all excited to start on others now....We had a great picnic with her and other family members, and then a fun dinner at another in-law's home before she left for Texas and home.

Next week, Carl's younger sister, Lisa, will be here to visit. We're doing dinner, and then will go to Angelica on one of the weekend days for more time with Lisa.  During some of the same time frame, Kate's buddy from High School, Emily, will be here with her family.  We're doing a cookout here with Em and her fam, as well as her mom and sister.  I love company!

Today, I have another card that I've made from an embellishment from a swap.  This one is by Edie Johnson....and I think the bear is just too cute for words!  I mounted her on a piece of brown cardstock that I dry embossed with the Heart Blocks Cuttlebug folder.  Since I may send this with Brian on his submarine, the inside says "Miss you!"

More fun tomorrow--be Blessed!

Has Any One Seen

my mind?  Regarding yesterday's post... I am now aware that Father's Day is the 19th, not the 12th.  *sigh*  If anyone sees my brain wandering around, please send it back to me.

I'm still making some fun things for my studio...I can't wait to show it to you all when I get finished.  Soon, I hope.  In the mean time, I'm still making cards from my huge stash of embellishments from swaps.  One thing that is frustrating me is the lack of a way to identify who made many of them....they are all in a plastic bin, so I can't even tell what swaps they came from, and, if there is no signature (or the siggy is a Cricut Board Name), I can't let you know who made most of them.  if you're in swaps, people, please sign your name IRL to the items!

So, in addition to making the cards quickly and easily from these embellies, I'm also working hard to make my cards flat.  I mail most of the ones I send out (seldom do I hand one to someone...) and flat is cheaper and better for the Post Office.  Also, since I'll be making a few to send along with Kate's guy, Brian, on a submarine, I need to make them take up as little space as possible.  So, flat and lightweight are my key words here.

This card meets neither of the above criteria.  Isn't that just like me?  The tag at the base of this had a smaller lifeguard stand, but I jazzed it up by making a larger one (from the Life's a Beach cart) and added a toothpick pole to the umbrella.  I put it over the one that came on the tag with foam dimensionals.  I added the white faux stitching, too.  I adhered the tag to a plain blue A2 card base, added a cute little sun (also from an inchie swap) and the word *Summertime* with self-adhesive letters in red.  I think this will make a cute card as a thank you for a summer party or as a thinking of you card for someone who needs a boost.

I'll have another card for you tomorrow....be blessed!

Father's Day Card

It dawned on me only today that this is Father's Day weekend. Even though Carl is Kate and bill's step-father, I still usually make a card for them to give him...well, Kate to give him, since she lives here and Bill doesn't.

When Kate was younger, she loved ducks.  For a while she had quite the collection, and even duck sat for a weekend, which, I'm happy to say, discouraged further desire for a duckling of her own.  Personally, I like ducks very much, especially with a nice sauce and a glass of good burgundy.  Anyway...

In the spirit of reminiscing, I made this duck card for Kate to give Carl.  The inside says, "You're Just Ducky!"  The cut is from the Camp Out Cricut Cartridge and all the paper is from my scrap heap.  

Be blessed!