Year of the Pig!

Hi, Bloggin' Buddies!

I'm just popping in to share a sample of what I made for a few special friends who celebrate the Lunar New Year. This is the year of the pig, or boar. I had fun with this, using the traditional deep red and gold.

The terrific die is a fairly new one from Spellbinders and the embossing folder is an old one from Elizabeth Crafts that I found at a garage sale. The sentiments are from Mama Elephant's "Lion Dance" stamp set and, finally, the adorable party pig (colored with Copics) is from Simon Says Stamp "Birthday Farm Animals".

I love learning about different cultures and traditions and it warms my heart to be able to say a special "Happy New Year" in this manner.

Hope your year is wonderful, no matter how you celebrate it!

Crabby Goodness

Hello, Bloggin' Buddies!

We just returned from a trip east visiting with beloved friends and family. One stop included visits with wonderful folks in Maryland. I got to check off a "Bucket List" item, eating Maryland crabs! Here in California we eat Dungeness crabs, so I wanted to try them. Here we are at a fun place in Baltimore, cracking and grinnin'!

I made a couple of crab-themed cards to show our appreciation for the great hospitality we were shown.

For this first one I used this super-cool "Rocky the Crab" die from Elizabeth Crafts. I put Rocky on a wobbler so he could really rock and roll! How can ya
not smile with this guy?!

The background is Distress Inks on watercolor paper embossed with Impression Obsession's "Shells" background stamp. The "Scripty Thanks" die, is a real favorite of mine from Lawn Fawn. I added a little twine to reflect my "knot-ical" skills!

A fun trip with lots of great memories! Have a "smile like Rocky" day! Thanks for the visit!

Feeling Slightly Crabby

Hi, Bloggin' Buddies!

I haven't posted in quite awhile - lots going on (most of it good!).

I just finished a project that is simply too cute

not to share. A group of us (we call ourselves the Crusty Crab Club) gets together every year to attend a crab feed and this year I made some favors and the centerpieces.


These little treat bags, which contain 4 Hershey's Nuggets, were fun to make and pretty easy. I love the results. I used an adorable Elizabeth Craft die and some beautiful Stamping Up Designer Series Papers. The result is just too dang cute!

As it turns out, these were completed just in time for the current challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog which is all about treat bags and boxes. You've got plenty of time to play along.

Thanks for the visit! Have a super-great 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.

Pit Stop

As we drove home from Southern California Saturday we saw lots of wonderful fruit stands. The Santa Clara valley is just full of ripe cherries. Yum!

So, keeping in mind the current challenge at Simon Says Stamp,  "Let's Get Fruity" I came home and played around with some Glitter Ritz. The cherries are from Elizabeth Crafts and this perfect paper is from Cratepaper's Farmhouse Collection - love it!

The result is a clean and simple design with lots of shine. Now I must go and scrape the glitter off of my face - it gets everywhere - and wash some cherries!

Happy Monday and have a glorious week!

It's Washi Day!

I simply can't help it - when I say "washi" I automatically think of "wash day". My grandma had each day of the week (except Sunday, of course!) dedicated to one household task. I believe that Wednesday was washing, Thursday was definitely baking day and Friday was housecleaning, to get the place ready for the weekend. What a life! I'm sure that she didn't have a crafting day, unless you call mending and ironing "crafting". She did not have it easy. Bless her heart.

Back to the card! This card gets its special look with come colorful washi paper. Beautiful stuff. I used a peel-off from Elizabeth Crafts and added some solid color with glittery gel pens. Can you believe that gold paper?

This makes an elegant and easy card that is easy to mail. Thanks for looking and have a great day. And get that laundry done!

All Occasion Challenge at Moxie Fab World

Our dear pal, Cath, over at Moxie Fab World is at it again! She is sponsoring "All Occasions Week" with a different challenge every day. Check it out an play along! The first challenge is for an all occasion card. I decided to use my most all-occasion stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms. It is so versatile because you can actually check off in the appropriate box depending on your message. Love it! And it goes perfectly with this cool outline sticker from Elizabeth Crafts. I placed the black outline onto sticky tape (such as Score Tape). Next, I put some very fine white glitter onto the sticker and tape and rubbed it in, then dumped of the excess. The image was colored with gel pens and an aqua-painter. See, I said it was cool. This card is finished off with some Heidi Swapp paper, Copics pens and a flower, button and ribbon from my stash.

A nice break from all the holiday stuff, eh? Enjoy!