Everybody needs a good quilt!

My grandmother was a huge quilt maker. We easily have 20 some quilts in our house that she made me or one of the kids during her lifetime. When I was pregnant with my youngest child Robert. I was so very upset that he would not have a Grandma GG quilt (GG stood for Great Grandma - smile). My Grandma had a stroke the month before I got pregnant with Robert & was in a nursing home facility. My wonderful mother in law & sister in law threw me an awesome baby shower & my mom (of course) came along. One of the last gifts was a gift that had a card in my mom's handwriting which I thought was odd because I had already opened a gift from my parents that was a beautiful glider rocker. So I open the card & it says "Love Grandma." Odd again but I thought maybe the gift was for the baby...it was it was this wonderful quilt that I had actually started the blocks for about 10 years before when I thought maybe I too could make a quilt (insert loud laughter here). My grandma had finished it before her stroke & was waiting till the right time to give it to me (insert lots of tears here - smile). So my Robert has an awesome quilt from Grandma GG too. She passed away almost 2 years ago & this card is made in her honor.

I have seen some really intricate quilt cards & at some point I hope to have the time to do one. But this is my basic to start one. Because it's that how your 1st quilt should be? The base of this card is always artichoke. n on a layer of pear pizazz I cut 6 squares from the Springtime Vintage Designer Paper, glued them down then ran the whole thing through the Big Shot with the square lattice embossing folder (I love all embossing folders don't you - want to hear a sneak peak? There is an new one in the Summer Mini Catalog that comes out May 1st - be on the lookout in April for a visual sneak peak). Then I ran some chantilly lace ribbon around the middle. Stamped the Happy Easter words from the Easter Blossom stamp set in always artichoke on pear pizazz cardstock, then punched them out with the extra large oval punch. Placed one small pearl under the S & placed it on the card with dimensionals. Just as easy as that.

My husband Craig's grandmother is a HUGE knitter so I will need to come up with an awesome knitting card for her. This summer she is going to teach our girls how to knit. Can you tell we are covered well? Get it covered & blankets...I know don't give up my day job. (smile)

It is amazing all of the different was your creativy can come out in cards. If fact as I am typing this I am wondering how it would come out if I used some of our fabric in place of the designer paper...I will have to try that.

Happy Friday!

Next Redo!

My next redo of a awesome swap also comes from Stampin' Up Leadership. In fact you have already seen it. But as a reminder here it is.

This card was in the running to be my Mom's birthday card. But she doesn't like any green so I picked a card that had no green. Then she was at my house & I showed her a few cards that I had laying around & she pointed to this one & said " I love that card." So I told her it could have been her birthday card but it's not (it wasn't her birthday yet so I couldn't tell her which one was). Since my Mom liked it so much I thought that I would redo it & make it into a Easter Card. So that is what I did. (smile)

For the base of this card I used blushing bride, which I must confess is a very underused color by me. Then I took a piece of very vanilla cardstock & stamped the lined image from fast & fabulous (level 2 hostess set) in old olive, then stamped the solid image in blushing bride. Don't you just love 2 step stamping. So easy with clear blocks. Then I punched a strip of old olive with the dotted ribbon punch (love this punch) & adhered it to the very vanilla piece. Then I ran the very vanilla with the old olive piece on it through the Big Shot with the square lattice embossing folder. Then I stamped the Happy Easter words from the Easter Blossom stamp set in old olive on very vanilla, punched it out with the extra large oval punch & sponged around the edges. The I took 1 piece of old olive 5/8" grosgrain ribbon with 1 piece of chantilly lace ribbon on top & glued them behind the Happy Easter punch. Then popped the oval up on dimensionals on the card. Then a little pearl under the S of Easter & your done.

So this will be one of my Easter cards for my family. Luckily with Easter being so late this year I have time to actually get some cards made. So far I am at 8 (smile).

Happy Wednesday!

Swaps Remade!

So I am posting a few days later than I hoped...big surprise right? We were having Prom dress drama on Sunday. Tis almost that time of year here & this year I have two kids going. My oldest two, my twins, are both juniors so that is double the cost...Yay! (smile) But we now have ordered an awesome tuxedo & bought a beautiful dress (our 2nd one by the way - yes we took the 1st one back). I won't show you pictures of it yet because I am going to make a card in it's honor. It is melon mambo, basic black, basic gray & whisper white - sounds interesting right? Just wait till you see it. : )

Ok so here is today's stamping. My scrapbook event this past Saturday was a springtime/Easter theme & we used the Easter Blossom stamp set. I just love this stamp set...Do you want to hear something funny? At first I didn't think I like this set at all...Until I went to Leadership & saw all these cute things to do with it. So this week's posts are all going to be using the Easter Blossom stamp set.

Today the card that I remade was a swap I got at leadership (sorry I don't know from whom).

Then I was looking for a cute & fast card to send to a friend that needed a little pick me up, so I redid it in 2 different colors.

Here it is in the same original colors, I just changed the ribbon & did some sponging. So the base is pear pizzaz (sorry I know the pictures stink - see previous post for explaination). The I took soft suede & ran it through the Big Shot with the vintage wallpaper embossing folder & sponged the edges with soft suede ink. Then another layer of pear pizzazz, Then I took a piece of very vanilla & stamped the flower image in soft suede & more soft suede sponging. Then I used some of the crumb cake seam binding ribbon (if you don't have this ribbon in all available colors you should order them right now - love them). I then stamped the words in soft suede ink on very vanilla & punched them out with the decorative label punch then more sponging. I punched one piece of soft suede with the decorative label punch, cut it in 1/2 & glued it behind the very vanilla piece (with a little sponging around the outside). Then I popped it up on dimensionals above the ribbon.

Here is the same card just in different colors.

This time I used baja breeze cardstock & ribbon. I personally like it a lot like this. What do you think?

Thank you to whomever swapped this awesome card with me at Leadership. If you know please email me so I can give them credit.

Time Flys!

The say time flies when your having fun. Well it certainly flies when just about everybody in your house is sick too. First it was my daughter Kayla, sick with strep throat then a reaction to the antibiotics, next my son Robert had a slight pneumonia, as he was getting better I finally convinced my husband to go to the doctor where the gave him antibiotics for a severe sinus infection, then recently it has been my turn. Hopefully everyone is now on the mend. I have threatened my other two teenagers about getting sick. (smile)

In everyone being sick I did get some stamping done. But boy had I lost my creative mojo. So I turned to a few of my favorite demonstrators & favorite swaps to see what I could come up with. These cards is what I will be sharing with you for the (hopefully) next few days.

Today's card is a straight up copy of a card designed by the wonderful Dawn Griffin. She is one of the demonstrators whose blog I check out whenever I can & especially when I have no creative mojo. You can click Here to see her awesome card, directions for it & to check out the rest of her great blog.

Here is my copy of it. Hopefully I did her justice.






















I just love everything about his card. The colors are pink pirouette, early espresso & very vanilla. What's not to love with those right? There is tons of sponging on it which I so love. It's such as soft vintage look. Just love it (did I mention that?). The stamp set is Easter Blossom. Perfect for any spring or Easter card. The designer paper is the Springtime Vintage package in the occasions mini catalog. Both are items that we will be using at my Springtime/Easter themed Scrapbook in a Day Event tomorrow. This class will still be available to order from me until April 31st when the occasions mini ends.

Speaking of end...don't forget that Sale-A-Bration ends on March 31st. Don't let all of the great Sale-A-Bration specials get away from you.

Coming up tomorrow (hopefully) two great cards made based on two awesome cards by Kimberly Van Diepen.

Spring!!!

I am so ready for Spring to be here. We have had some "decent" weather this week in Central Illinois. By "decent" I mean not below freezing during the day & no snow. So to help wish Spring in here are a couple of cards using the wonderful stamp set Easter Blossoms. Which we will be using at my Sprintime/Easter Themed Scrapbook in a Day Event. Are you registered? Registration ends on Saturday. If you haven't got yours in contact me ASAP.

This first card uses 2 of my favorite colors. Concord Crush & Daffodil Delight. Just perfect for Easter. I can't believe how late Easter is this year. Hopefully that will give me a chance to get Easter projects all done....we will see. : ) The girl was stamped using whisper white staz on ink. Then all of the white accents were colored with the white gel ink pen. Just love it!

This cute card may turn into cards for my 2 beautiful girls. They are pink & purple lovers. Alexis' loves purple best then pink & Kayla is the other way around. Doesn't it just scream girly girl and NO BODY is more girly girl than my daughter Kayla. The great color combo on this card is the wonderful concord crush, pretty in pink & whisper white. Love Love it. The tulip embossing folder was used on this card...isn't it everywhere. It is one of my favorites & that is hard to say because I love all of the embossing folders.

I hope your Thursday is going well & that the weekend arrives quickly for you.