As Promised... Just later than I thought- ;^)

Here are the cards I made from the June SIM kit (Stamps in the Mail) - a little late, but I was moving and I'm just barely catching a moment here and there to have some fun and make some cards! ;^)

{ In case you are wondering my cousin, Marie, is a SU! Demonstrator and SIM is one of the fun stampin' programs she offers... so go check it out! }

These two were a little difficult, just because lining up the strips of DSP can be frustrating, and then they still look crooked to me ;^) Oh well, the cards are cute anyway!

On this card, I -"did what I wanted" as close to the sketch as possible and I absolutely LOVE it! I tried this sketch with the card below first and completely messed up the white over piece so this is what I came up with for it.... not as good looking, but it still works.

I "played" with the sketch a teeny bit on this one too, and I like how they turned out.

And last but not least, there is this gorgeous number... ;^)

Marie made some of the sketches herself, the one just above is from ihearttostamp.com, and the first one is noted as sc220, but I can't remember where that is from... maybe you could help me out with that Marie?!? (Thanks)

I hope you enjoyed this little post of things I made...

;^)

Something Crafty...

Wow, it looks like it's time to post something I have MADE...
so I'll work on that and get back to you as soon as possible...
;^)

I hope your summer went really well, and that whether there are actually seasons at your house or not, you are having a fun September!

Be back soon.

SRT 2009 is over today ;^)

Well here's my final SRT 2009 post, and the list of books I have read this summer, with links if I reviewed it.

Tower of Strength by Annette Lyon ~ Review
A Crimson Frost by Marcia Lynn McClure ~ Review
Saphyre Snow by Marcia Lynn McClure
The Light of the Lovers' Moon (E-book) by Marcia Lynn McClure
Of Deadly Descent by G.G. Vandagriff ~ Review
Tangled Roots by G.G. Vandagriff
Poisoned Pedigree by G.G. Vandagriff
Code of Honor by Betsy Brannon Green ~ Review
Shadow of the Crown by Jeri Gilchrist ~ Review
All the Stars in Heaven by Michele Paige Holmes ~ Review
Shelter from the Storm by Anita Stansfield ~ Review
The Silence of Snow by Anita Stansfield
One Last Chance by Jerry Borrowman ~ Review
Lemon Tart by Josi Kilpack ~ Review
English Trifle by Josi Kilpack

It has been fun! ;^)

LDS Publisher Contest page

Finish Line?

And here is the last one on my List, although I may try to sneak another one in here ;^)

Lemon Tart by Josi Kilpack

Reading this culinary mystery is comparable to baking/cooking with kids in the kitchen...

There's a lot of energy, every time you turn around something else you weren't expecting is happening, and it ends/you run out of time quite abruptly!

It's a fun one to read, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good mystery!

;^)

I like to read ;^)

Hello again! It only took me a few hours to read the next book on my List! I just might get to finish this for the summer... how fun!

One Last Chance by Jerry Borrowman

This book caught my attention with the first sentence and kept it. There were moments where it seemed to drag, but that may have been the un-numbered interruptions brought by my 3 children ages 5, 4 and 1 - which is normal, it just made the book seem longer.

I appreciated Artie and his showing how you can have more than one kind of friend and even supposed friends and that they are not always necessarily the best choice that will lead to making better choices, but that you are never stuck and you CAN change and really be the person you want to be/are meant to be.

I felt it ended rather abruptly, but then Artie had gotten to the point where he had learned what he needed to and that's usually where the story ends right? I think I'll read this one again just to see what I think the second time around...

;^)

Next!

Here I am once a again, with another review from my SRT 2009 list of books.
There may end up being spoilers as this one comes together, so if you haven't read it yet, be warned! ;^)

Shelter from the Storm by Anita Stansfield

I have long been a fan, with many years invested in the reading and acquiring copies of, everything written by Anita Stansfield.
I absolutely loved The Sound of Rain (the first book in this storyline), and wished that the 3 books could have been printed together in one book - that way I wouldn't have had to wait for the next part at all.
So imagine my surprise to find out the story... continues! What a surprise and it was great!
I know it's fiction, but I really enjoy "watching" Jayson create his music, I may have mentioned this before, but I generally "see" the story the I am reading unfold like a movie in my head and there were times I could almost hear Jayson's music. Also, in this particular book the struggle and difficulty he has with a particular situation in the story, and how he can't figure out why it is so hard and why it is affecting him so completely is just so real.
This is definitely a book I enjoyed and a book I would read again, this set is one to read! ;^)

AND!!! This past week I was delightfully surprised again with the discovery/news that there is another chapter to Jayson's story... The Silence of Snow, on it's way to stores. Excellent! ;^)

SRT 2009 Update

2 more down and 3 to go! Although, the reading has been a bit of a challenge with the unexpected move, so I may not finish my list this month... ;^)

I had the pleasure of reading Shadow of the Crown and All the Stars in Heaven in the past couple of weeks. Neither one turned out to be what I was expecting, and I loved that! Although, I don't generally have a book pegged before I finish reading it, these 2 just happened to follow a different story line than I was expecting... ;^)

I would recommend both books to someone looking for a good read!

;^)

Here I am!

We moved back to AZ on Friday... which mostly explains where I've been for the past month! Well, the past three weeks anyway. The 4th week was spent making these for a swap:

Oh, it's a chocolate lovers swap ;^)
FUN and YUMMY!

And once we find a place to live I'll be able to get my "stuff" back out and create things again ;^)

2 more...

2 more books down... and a few more to go - I still have to find a way to get copies of some of them into my hands, but I'm working on it!

I had originally posted that I was going to read Poisoned Pedigree, but the gal I was borrowing it from had remembered the wrong title and it turned out to be Of Deadly Descent that I read by G.G. Vandagriff.

~ Alexandra Campbell's father has been killed and left behind a sizable estate, that may not belong to her and her mother. So she takes a trip to France that leads her to England while looking for evidence of a cousin who was lost during World War I. She finds that he didn't die and she may actually have relatives who are the rightful owners of the inheritance...
This book is intense! I got to a point in reading where I thought I knew who had done it! But then the book convinced me that I was wrong and it was driving me crazy trying to figure it out. Then I was surprised at the end to find out I had been right... like I said, this book was intense.


I was also delighted to be able to read Code of Honor by Betsy Brannon Green.
Warning, this has a spoiler... so if you haven't read it yet.. stop here!


At the end of Above and Beyond I started to wonder and I was just seconds away from writing Betsy to ask if I was right or not, but managed to contain my curiosity and wait for the book... and my suspicions turned out to be correct! I had thought it a bit odd how much Savannah and Rosemary looked alike when their hair colors were the same and started thinking that maybe they were related and I was wondering why it seemed like Mario was really after Savannah herself... and I wondered - is he her father? And it's true he is! How crazy is that?
This book is not what I expected, but we get to see the characters switch roles and switch back and turn us around and back again... it was fun.
I really enjoyed this one and I hope that these characters appear again somewhere in future books... the only thing I would have changed is adding in one more heart-stopping kiss for Dane and Savannah somewhere in the last couple of pages ;^)

Some Father's Day Cards

Here are the other cards... I made my own "variations" off of Card Pattern sketch #19 and here's what I came up with:

CP Sketch #19

Here's my take on the sketch for the week:


The 'image' is the same as my card from last week if you are thinking it looks similar... I really liked the font and used it to make all 6 Father's Day cards that will go out in the mail in the morning. I have posted the other cards separately so as not to be confused with my "pick" for the week ;^)

The Old Olive and Brilliant Blue cs are SU!, the rest is misc.

Happy stamping and have a good week!

Cutting it close...

Wow, this week got away from me... 2 sick kids... one of them sick AND teething... plus I am still sick myself - it comes and goes, because I found out last week I'm not just sick - I'm pregnant - with our 4th... I am surprised to say the least, baby is only 1! But my girl wants a sister, so we'll see if this is her ;^)

Anyway, on to Card Patterns and Sketch #18. I have had this idea in my head all week and just barely managed to get it made, although it did not turn out quite as I was thinking and it proved to be rather tricky to put together for some strange reason, because it really should have been rather easy...



I simplified the sketch a little bit since it's for a masculine audience ;^) It is a combination of SU!, CM, craft store, and computer-since I seem to not own a Father's Day stamp... don't know how that happened! And the cs is all scrapped from other cards in the past...

Happy Friday! ;^)

SRT 2009 - Update

This Post is where this started... and here are 2 reviews of sorts ;^)

Tower of Strength by Annette Lyon
This book was very appropriately named. The main character shows a great amount of courage and strength while facing trials a young woman does not usually face and she grows to a point where she can allow another to help her be strong... This is a wonderful story!

A Crimson Frost by Marcia Lynn McClure
This is a piece of an email I sent to the author about this book... "You certainly have a gift for putting to page such delightful stories that simply thrill your readers and keep "us" coming back, sometimes begging, for more of your magic. Ransom Lake has always been my favorite hero by far, yet I find that were they to step put of their books for a moment and line up, Broderick would definitely be found next to Ransom. Which of course means A Crimson Frost is fabulous and has won its own place in my heart."

Hmmm... what should I read next??? ;^)

CP Sketch # 17

Hello... I've been missing from the CP sketches for a couple of weeks ;^) Actually I have been sick and just didn't get to make any cards. I am feeling a bit better now, and I needed a set of cards so I made this out of this weeks sketch...

It's a mini card, only 2 1/2 x 4 inches. The butterfly mini punch and the pen I used are from CM and everything else is SU! I threaded ribbon through ribbon on the side element... what do you think?
If the rest of the set turn out differently I'll make a different post for them ;^)

Summer Reading Thing 2009

Ok... I know this isn't a card... or crafty! HOWEVER, I really do enjoy reading and I'm joining the Summer Reading Thing over on the
LDS Publisher Contest page so here is my reading list for the summer.
Also, not all of these books are out quite yet... and I may add more, or take some away if I can't get my hands on them to read ;^)

SRT 2009 runs from June 1st to Aug 31st... Happy Reading!

>Tower of Strength by Annette Lyon< Read and Reviewed
>A Crimson Frost by Marcia Lynn McClure< Read and reviewed
>Of Deadly Descent by G.G. Vandagriff< Read and Reviewed
>Code of Honor by Betsy Brannon Green< Read and Reviewed
>Shadow of the Crown by Jeri Gilchrist < Read and Recommended
>All the Stars in Heaven by Michele Paige Holmes < Read and Recommended
>Shelter from the Storm by Anita Stansfield < Read and Reviewed
>One Last Chance by Jerry Borrowman < Read and Reviewed
>Lemon Tart by Josi Kilpack < Read and Reviewed

Last minute additions...

>Saphyre Snow by Marcia Lynn McClure < Read!
>The Light of the Lovers' Moon E-book by Marcia Lynn McClure < Read!
>The Silence of Snow by Anita Stansfield < Read!
>English Trifle < Reading

Better later than never...

Wow I usually get this done a lot earlier! I have had no time this week... it's been crazy! I wanted to make a card that had a stamped interior as well as exterior, but ran out of time to get to that one, so I made this card instead. So here's my take on CP's Sketch #14.

I used some SU!, some CM, and some Misc. ;^)

Mother's Day Cards

I scheduled this one out... cause I don't want anyone to see "their" card before I mail it ;^) (It happened with a birthday card in March...)

I used CM, SU!, and any Misc. crafty item I happened to need ;^)

My 5 year old watched me add color to the flowers for some of these cards and very sweetly asked if she could make a flower too. Such an easy request, so I stamped her a flower and she went to work. She did a great job and thought it came out so beautifully and we made it into this card... what a wonderful little helper I have!

This next one is my favorite out of them all, it's gorgeous!

I'll explain later... Ok, it's later ;^)

5-9-09

Ok, the picture above I posted to let one of my sisters let me what she thought of it... which is really funny because my other sister is the one who commented on the blog... too funny.

Anyway, I created the card based off the Card Patterns Design Team Call sketch. Every thing I used is SU! product except the white and light colored cs... I put links in my previous post showing where I got the ideas for the bows, so check there if you are interested!

CP Sketch # 13

This week there is another fun sketch over at Card Patterns!
When I saw the sketch I knew I wanted to do something similar to the set of Mother's Day cards I made -they will post on the 11th- and below is the card I came up with for Sketch #13. (There was another picture of it posted before, but with some help/advice I came to the decision that this picture best represents my idea.)

The stamps, ink, ribbon, and bravo burgundy & old olive cs are all SU! I used a SU! Blender Pen and the stamp pads to color (or paint as my 5 year old calls it) the flower.

{Oh and thanks to Marie for introducing me to blender pens! They are great}

The white & tan cs are misc., as is the brad on the cutesy little bow. For the bow I took This idea that I found Here ... but "tied" it together with the brad... it was a bit frustrating while I was trying to make it work, but I love how it turned out!

Sketch # 12

Here is my take on sketch # 12 from Card Patterns (- the Design Team did some amazing things with their cards... go look!)

It must be time for a lot of ribbon going through the elements... last week, this week, we'll see what I come up with next week! ;^)

The stamp set is Priceless by SU! and so is all the Lovely Lilac cs and ink, the black ribbon and patterned paper too!
I don't know where the tan and white-ish cs are from... and the brads are from Michael's.

Little cards...

Some 2 x 3 "post cards" I made for my V.T. gals for April...

Made from Colorbok paper, an eyelet, a brad and black pen!

Easy! ...Except for cutting out those flowers...

Win a prize...maybe

Marie is giving out some Boot Loot !

It's easy to enter to win the loot,

so take the link and go check it out!

I love Boot Loot :^D

And a very Happy Birthday to Emma.
She's 6!
;^D

Drum roll, please...

This week we have sketch #11 over at Card Patterns
and I had a lot of fun with it!


See what I mean?!? Now I just need a cute little guy to send it to ;^)

The card is plain white cs, the rest is all SU! - except the brads which came from Michael's ;^)

A recipe swap

A while back Marie made the suggestion that I should check this out (well that anyone who likes to be crafty should check it out, and you really should because while it may intimidate you at first it is a lot of fun!), and I finally got to go do it... that is I went and signed up on the Splitcoaststampers (SCS) site where I decide it would be fun to get involved in a recipe card swap and here's the card I made and sent for it...

The lighting on this picture is AWFUL! but will have to do since I don't have enough of this paper to make another one and retake it... ;^D

Another Stamp Camp

I was looking for some patterned paper in my supplies and ran across a stamp camp kit that was only half-way finished... what a find!
All supplies for this are SU!

CP Sketch # 10

The sketch this week, and Marie's take on the sketch gave me the idea to do this:

Front of card

Inside of card

I started out with a piece of blue "marbled" cs and cut it down to make the card and left the front edge a half inch shorter than the back. Then I cut out the oval window and frame and used a SU! Background Basics set to make the butterfly background with Brilliant Blue classic ink (SU!) on the blue cs and a VersaMark stamp pad on the brown cs - which you can't really see in the picture, but it's there on the brown frame and brown background, but not on the smaller ovals... any Brilliant blue cs is also plain/no stamps...
I used a CM Mini circle maker to punch the circles after I'd stamped them, and I put it all together with the cute little flowers.

It was a lot of fun to put together!

Supplies:

From SU! - Brilliant Blue Classic Ink & CS

CM - Mini Circle Maker & Oval, blades and cutting mat.

Marbled blue cs, and light brown cs

Flowers from Wal-Mart

March S.I.M.

S.I.M. for March came the beginning of April and I started working on them the day I got my package... I worked through 3 of the sketches (pictured below) and had to stop to wait for some pictures to be developed to finish the last one. The sketches wouldn't copy over for me... so I added the info by the picture for the 2nd sketch. I think maybe the sketches for the other 2 were designed by Marie (is that right Marie? ;^)

I love this card!

Sketch #2 - from kgiron.blogspot.com SSSC08
This card is so pretty!


This one was very easy to put together and I really like the effect of the scalloped bottom edge although you can't see the effect really well in the picture.

Fun Stuff!