What's the Buzz?

One of my oldest and dearest friends recently started a new venture - bee keeping! She struggled for the first year (she even lost her hive!), but this year she had her first honey harvest. Very exciting!

To commemorate the occasion I made this little card! I love this stamp (a "Used Stamp Sale" find) from a long-gone company called Stampa Rosa. It has so much fine detail that I didn't want to add too much to the card.

The sentiment is Hero Arts CL488. I don't know the source of the honeycomb paper; it was from my scrap stash. There "bee" some sparkle here on the wings, but the light quality just didn't allow me to capture it.

I will be entering this in the current Simon Says Stamp challenge, which is "Anything Goes".

You, go, Susy! So proud of you.

Thanks for checking in today - have a great one!

One More Bling Thing

Happy Cyber Monday!

We had a glorious long holiday weekend - gratitudes, family, sunshine, fall colors (yes, we DO have them in California!), prayers (especially for those still struggling with the wrath of Sandy), bocce ball, yummy food, friends, and the Christmas tree is up (but not decorated). Hope you are all doing well.

I have one last "Bring on the Bling" card for the Hero Arts current contest. This little gem has lots going on.

The stamps are Hero Arts CL148, CL383 and 331065. I also used the Small Tag Frame (DI006), a MS punch and a Cuttlebug embossing folder.

Now, get shopping!

Thanks for checking in.

One more for TDay!

Since I was traveling most of October I am very late this year with making Thanksgiving cards. That means I am also late with Christmas cards. Ah, well....I am still going to relax and enjoy the holidays.

One last Thanksgiving card for someone very special. I have been playing with my new Sizzix Circle Flip-Its Die. Such fun, especially considering that I used to make this type of card with regular cutting and scoring. It is such a great interactive format!

As you may know, I am a huge fan of Lockhart Stamp Company stamps and this one is perfect for fall and coloring. I've taken several classes from Karen Lockhart and she is simply amazing! This sentiment is an old Stampin' Up favorite.

I'll be hooking this up for the Simon Says Stamp Thanksgiving/Thank You challenge. 

Yep, you caught a glimpse of my metallic purple nails for Thanksgiving - they go great with turkey and fixin's.

I'm unplugging for the rest of the week. Wishing all of my American friends a blessed holiday. Gary and I continue to send prayers to all of nasty Sandy's poor victims and wish them our very best.

Thanks for looking in here!

Give Thanks!

They are saying that today is the busiest day of the holidays for airline travel. I'm so thankful that we are sticking close to home. The San Francisco airport already has 2.5-hour delays this morning due to weather. Bummer!

I continue to play with - and love! - these leaves I cut (Tim Holtz Sizzix die) from watercolor paper and colored with Distress Inks. Each leaf is totally different.

I also stamped a leaf on the envelope for some continuity.  The sentiment is an SRM sticker.

I will be adding this to the current Simon Says Stamp Challenge which is for Thanksgiving/Thank You cards. Did you know that my dear blogging pal, Barb, is a Designer in the Spotlight. Check it our and send her some extra love!

This simple little card wraps up the week. I sure hope that your weekend is wonderful and (for my American readers )not too full of stress preparing for Thanksgiving week.

Bringing It Back

with Bling!

I had made this card last week for the Holiday Card Workshop, but it just didn't tickle my fancy.

So, I made another one - inspired by the current Hero Arts Contest "Bring on the Bling!"

Me likey this WAY better!

I am off to a card class this morning taught by my dear friend and teacher, Bibianna. You can catch her over at the Memory Box Blog. She is super-talented and a real doll. Can't wait.

A card-making get-together

This weekend we visited our dear nephew and niece and their two sweet kids. I did some card-making with our grand-niece, Grace.

Grace is a fun and bright "almost-12-year-old" for whom I have been making special cards for years. She is now old enough to make some with me. Great fun!


















We made a fun Thanksgiving card using Inky Antics Honey Pop stamps (11122MC Turkey). There is a cool pop-up surprise inside.






Grace fell in love with my Cuttlebug, which we used for this cute Christmas card. We used Sizzix/Hero Arts 657765 and 657781 to add lots of detail and dimension. The sentiment is Hero Arts CL343.

There is nothing I'd rather do than share my love of card-making. Thanks for the great day, Grace! You're a girl after my heart. 

Holiday Card Workshop - Day 7

I had to take a couple of days off from class to make my 25 Thanksgiving cards (which I will share later) and catch up a little with life.

I have just completed my Day 7 class project using reverse stamps. I used Hero Arts "Starry Nights" (CG224) for this background and CL357 for the snowflakes. The vellum ornament is from JustRite's "Deck the Halls" (CL-02150) and I die cut it with Die-Namics "Christmas Ornaments".

I always shy away from using vellum - it scares me, but I really like how this turned out. One must adhere it carefully so that the adhesive doesn't show.

Thanks for checking in on my class progress - you just might all be invited to my graduation ceremony! Ha!

Have a good day and I'm sending warm wishes to all those caught in the nasty Nor'easter.

Holiday Card Workshop - Day 6

Yesterday in class we learned so many wonderful tips! The super-amazing Shari Carroll demonstrated a "Stained Glass" technique. She used a stamp that I don't have and it wasn't available locally, so I improvised with this great tree from the Hero Arts "Swirl Christmas" set (CL469).

Oh my, but I do love the result! I wish it photographed better, as much of its magical shimmer is lost in the photo. You will have to take my word for it - dynamite!

I used Distress Pens with Perfect Pearls for the tree, the sentiment is Hero Arts 354, the background is CG211 in Hero Arts Soft Lilac Shadow Ink (which is very subtle) and I also used a Cuttlebug Embossing Folder and Spellbinders Labels 17.

This month's Hero Arts Contest is "Bring on the Bling", so I will enter it there. I wish you all were taking this wonderful class - I have learned such great things!

Have a wonderful day! My heart continues to be with those suffering the wrath of Sandy.

Kinda Grungy & Kinda Cute

We had some Bonus Days in the Holiday Card Class this weekend so I stayed busy while enjoying some unseasonably lovely weather here in Northern California. We are so climate-blessed!

I am normally not a grunge-type of crafter (sorry, Tim), but my best crafting buddy and I got together to make some "Grunge Flowers". I used one for a unique Christmas gift tag in non-traditional colors.

Making these flowers is a real learning experience - ya just got to get in and get inky! There are things that I will do differently next time, but I still like the results and plan to make more after the holidays.

The  second project uses a non-holiday stamp to create a holiday card. I love this set called "Spiffy Scooters" by Paper Smooches and had fun paper piecing it. The sentiment is Hero Arts CL40.

A fun weekend and a super-fun class. Thank for peeking in!

Holiday CArd Class - Day 5

This is such a fun series of classes! I keep thinking that I should be doing a million other things, but I've found that if I don't immediately implement what I've learned I will more than likely forget it. So I've been getting up very early (like 2:30 AM) to get it all done and have time to craft.

Today I've used a resist technique with Perfect Pearls. I have used this product previously only in a mister spray, but I wondered what else they could do. I love the way it adds a touch of glamor - it is much more brilliant in person.

I made a set of four thank you cards - perfect for a little holiday gift. Since I already had the shimmer, I decided to go all the way and bling these babies up! Perfect for this month's Hero Arts contest.

I used Hero Arts CG387, CL588 and D1006 (Small Tag Frame). I added Stickles and some vintage rickrack and embellishments from my stash.

Hope you are having a great weekend! It's unseasonably warm here, so I am washing the ink off of my hands and heading outside. Still praying for all those suffering Sandy's wrath.






Before closing, for those of you I don't see on Facebook, I want to share something my Dad made years ago. It just wouldn't be November without getting it out. We sure miss Dad, but know he is in a better place.

Holiday Card Class - Days 3 & 4

Yep, this is a "two-fer". I combined the techniques from two different classes to make these little cards. I used the "Score Line Dry Embossing Technique" that Kristina Werner shared on Day 3 and the "Winter Copic Coloring Techniques" that Sandy Allnock (the angel behind "Operation Write Home") shared on Day 4.

I colored this vintage Santa (sorry - I've had this set for years and don't have the info on it) with Sandy's kind directions. It was quicker than it looks. I added a little Glossy Accents for the eyeglasses.

I cut out one of the images to show more of the background, which is colored with Evergeen Bough Distress Ink (from my dear blogging buddy, Brenda - Thanks!) - it results in a completely different look, don't ya think?

On the larger card I flipped the background over to make half of the score lines, which resulted in both "mountain" and "valley" scores, which adds extra interest. I also decided not to add embellishments/sentiments to these jolly fellows to allow the image to be the true focal point.

Hope you are having a great weekend.

Holiday Card Class - Day 2

It is really Day 5 in the class, but.......As my Dad used to say, "A day late and a dollar short." Ha! I say, "Better late than never!" I hope to catch up with my homework this weekend, but we have promises of spectacular weather, so who knows?

I used two techniques from the class on this card. One from the amazing Kristina for coloring the leaf and the other from the super-talented Lisa Spangler for making the sections with a background stamp. I probably should have selected a stamp with more solid areas, but I really love this stamp (Hero Arts CG330).


I am so happy with the way this leaf (from a Tim Holtz Sizzix die) turned out.

Hope you have  a glorious Friday!

Holiday Card Workshop - Day 1

I decided that the best way to get crafting after a month of travel was to take Kristina and Jennifer's Holiday Card Workshop. It is already day 4 of the class and I am only on day 1. Tardy for class! The good thing is that you can go through the class at your own pace.

For this card I used the techniques, including masking and making a "cheat sheet", that Jennifer demonstrated. I didn't have the Eclipse masking paper she used, so I used a roll of removable painter's tape from my garage. What a fun single-layer card that is easy to reproduce in quantity. Love it!

The stamps are Hero Arts 657781 (with matching Sizzix dies) and CL343. I quickly touched up the snowman with some Prisma Color pencils - easy!

This is going to be a great class........I may not "graduate" until Spring, but what the heck!

Have a great day!