I haven't posted a memory box in a while. There is a good reason for that~~Close To My Heart no longer sells these boxes, so I am using the ones I do have very sparingly. I am going to a wedding shower in April for a very special couple. The bride-to-be and her family have been friends of ours for close to 30 years. Julianne (the bride) and Jenny are the same age. And Julianne's brother and Matt are the same age. And actually, Julianne's mom and I are the same age, too--LOL!!!! We spent many hours together thru the years on the soccer field, at restaurants and at campgrounds, too--including the campground in Disney World! Julianne's wedding colors are black and white with a touch of pink. For the first time, I am using Creative Memories scrapbook paper as the white in this collection is a true bright white. The paper is pretty and worked well for this memory box and coordinating card. And the diecut butterflies made with the SU embosslit were the perfect embellishment for the flower print paper. If I can get a hold of more of these boxes, I will defintely be doing a Memory Box class. Have a nice day and find yourself a little stampin' time.

Have A Happy Day

Now this is a card that has "happy" written all over it! And not only is it a pocket card, it is a gift card holder, too. The color combination of Pear Pizzaz and Daffodil Delight, together with the butterflies and the beautiful Daffodil Delight Satin Ribbon will make a wonderful first impression for the recipient. The gift card will be an added bonus--lol! Sign up for my card class scheduled for April 2 to make this card along with two others and that birthday bag I posted earlier. The fee is $12 or free with a $30 Stampin' Up order. Call or email me to reserve a spot so that I will have your supplies ready. Since I do not have "card clubs" you do not need to be a club member to attend a class or classes. Feel free to sign up for one or more than one class. Have a good Saturday.

Sale-a-bration Coming To An End

I was thinking that Sale-a-bration will be ending soon and that thanks to both my loyal customers and new customers, SAB has been very successful this year. During SAB, one of the most popular stamp sets for my customers was the Level 1 hostess set, Birthday Bakery, from the Idea Book and Catalog. I have used that stamp set for a number of items including the 3x3 gift card here. I used the stamp that says, "Your birthday's in the bag" and tied it to a craft bag I decorated using various SU stamps. And in the bag is a cake mix, prepared frosting, candles and sprinkles. (We will be making this set at an April card class, date still to be determined.) As a reminder, if there is anything you need to stock up on, Sale-a-bration runs thru March 31st and is the perfect time to purchase those SU items. For every $50 you spend, you receive a free item of your choice from the SAB catalog. If you have any questions, email or give me a call. In the meantime, find yourself a little stampin' or scrappin' time.

My Cricut Card

Today was Cricut Sunday and my turn for the project. In an earlier post, I posted a photo of a little bird house I made with my Big Shot. At last month's Cricut Sunday, Laura found a birdhouse svg file that could be cut using Sure Cuts A Lot and my Cricut. Well, with the lawsuit Provocraft has against SCAL, I did not think it was a good idea to let everyone create this really cute bird house and then not be able to get the SCAL program in the future or have it not work with our Cricut machines. So I decided to go back to a Cricut basic~~making a card. I used the card feature on A Child's Year cartridge for the card base, cutting it at 5 1/4". The front of the card is scalloped and it cuts out the three bunnies. I then lined the inside top of the card with chocolate chip cardstock and matted the card on a piece of chocolate chip cardstock measuring 5 1/2" x 4 1/4". I used a SU stamp for the sentiment and finished it off with the matching satin ribbon. We then made coordinating candy tubes filled with Skittles, tied with ribbon and a little tag. The tag was also cut using the A Child's Year cartridge. Both layers of the tag were cut at 1 1/4". Quick and easy and a pretty Easter greeting for child or adult. Have a wonderful week and find yourself a little stampin' time.

A Baby Card

As I was downstairs cleaning up my scraproom for Cricut Sunday, I got distracted and started making cards instead--LOL! I realized that I have not made a baby card in quite some time, so I came up with this idea. The card is quite simple and the combination of Perfect Plum and Pink Pirouette is perfect for welcoming a little baby girl into the world. I made the daisies using the daisies Big Shot die from SU, but you could also make the daisies with your Cricuit or other die-cutting machine. Tomorrow I will post the card we are doing at Cricut Sunday as I am in charge of the project this month. Needless to say, it has something to do with Easter. Have a great evening.

Punch Potpourri

I have had the two-step bird punch since it was first released and use it often. As a matter of fact, it is probably my most favorite SU punch. Recently I received the Level 1 Hostess set, Punch Potpourri, which has a bird image that coordinates with the punch. For this card, I stamped the bird in Baja Breeze before punching it out. I used some Peach Parfait and Very Vanilla cardstock together with Baja Breeze Designer Series paper. I did not yet add a greeting to the front as I will use this card for whatever occasion it comes in handy. The stamp set I used also has butterfly, flowers and heart images which coordinate with the Butterfly, Boho Blossoms and Full Heart punches. This is a perfect Springtime stamp set! Have a great day.

Fun & Fast Notes

I came across a stamp set that is current, yet I have not used it in a very long time--and it is a great set! The stamp set, Fun and Fast Notes, contains 8 stamps and is on page 70 of the IB&C. I used Daffodil Delight cardstock, marker and ribbon on both cards. The little bird on the card to the left was colored in using my Chocolate Chip and Cherry Cobbler markers and then blended the colors a little using the blending pens. (The robins in my backyard were my inspiration.) The background papers on both cards happen to be non-SU paper. But then, SU cardstock and ink work beautifully with products of so many other companies. And I also want to say that I can stay in the lines when coloring because I embossed the images with black embossing powder first! Have a nice day and find yourself a little stampin" time.

My Orchid Bloomed!

When we lived in West Dundee, IL many years ago, we lived near Oak Hill Gardens which is a local grower of house plants and orchids. Every once in the while I would go over there and walk thru their greenhouses. We had a couple of orchids from them that grew and bloomed year after year. When we moved to Phoenix, the plants we brought with us did not flourish down there, so I gave up on orchid plants in the house. Last year my husband gave me an orchid plant for Mother's Day. When he gave it to me there were a good 6 orchid blooms that were opened or would open and the plant was beautiful bringing many weeks of pretty orchids in my kitchen. Since then, I would water the orchid as the leaves stayed green. And then a couple of weeks ago I noticed that buds were growing. I was so excited to see that and on Saturday I saw that two of the orchid buds opened. I wanted to share my orchid success with my readers, so here are a couple of pictures I took today. Aren't these orchids just beautiful? Now that I have succeeded with this orchid, I sure hope my hubby surprises me with another one--maybe for Easter? LOL!!!!

We gained an extra hour of daylight today which meant I woke up with the sun shining and it was still shining when we ate dinner~~sooo nice! Next week is Cricut Sunday and I am in charge of the project. So today's first goal was to gather, cut and sort the supplies for the project. Once that was accomplished, I played with the Stampin' Up treat cups and ways to use them. Last year I made a yellow sunflower with brown M&Ms. The sunflower was cut using the Sweet Treat Cricut Cartridge and the software. Today I used a scalloped circle from SCAL for the flower together with raindrops from SCAL for the leaves. It is cute, but not sure about the yellow M&Ms for the center or the ribbon. But that's what playing is all about and things don't always turn out as you envision them. So, I will play more during the week and see what I can do to make it prettier. I haven't used my Cricut for a while, so when I flipped thru the A Child's Year handbook, I was reminded of all of the wonderful possibilities available just from that one cartridge for my cards and scrapbook pages. If you have a Cricut that hasn't been used for a while, dust it off and find yourself a little scrappin' time!

Pawsitively Prints Designer Paper

One of Stampin' Up's line of products revolves around Build-A-Bear. I have never really paid much attention to the stamps or dies as I do not know anyone who is remotely interested in Build-A-Bear. While talking to a friend of mine the other day, she reminded me that I was the one who started her and her little girl on Build-A-Bear many years ago. Well, that little girl is now 9 and her mom mentioned that when they go to Denmark in a couple of weeks they will be going to the BAB store in Denmark so Emily can get an authentic Denmark outfit for her bear. When in Japan, they visited the BAB store there, too. So that phone call prompted me to really look at the BAB stuff. I decided that of everything BAB, the one thing I would surely use is the Designer Series BAB Pawsitively Prints paper--and I will be using the paper for sure now that I have seen it in person. The colors are Tempting Turquoise, Poppy Parade, So Saffron and Pear Pizzazz. And there are no bears on any of the prints. These are two cards I made using the paper which is absolutely adorable. I also see some really cute scrapbook pages using this paper pack come Spring. Have a nice evening and find yourself a little stampin' time.

Favor Box

I received a little paper flower yesterday and needless to say, I had to make one myself. My scallop punch, paper, a brad and a light misting of water is all that was needed. I made the cute little favor box using the Bitty Box and Envelope die from SU. A Ghirardelli chocolate fits nicely inside the box. In case you are wondering, the finished box measures approximately 2 3/8" x 2 3/8". Today is the Recipe Box Class, so time to get ready for that. Have a nice day!

Wonderful Brother

Actually, I have two wonderful brothers! And the first one to have a birthday will be the one who gets this card--LOL! That means Larry will be the recipient. Again let me say that the Elegant Soiree designer series paper from SU is so very pretty--and can be used for any occasion. The two cards I posted using Elegant Soireee are both birthday cards, but I also see retirement, thinking of you and even love you cards using this paper pack. And now that I have the Baja Breeze seam binding, I see a very feminine card on the horizon. I just love it when I find a paper pack that is so useable. And when I scrap my Florida pictures, I will have a two-page layout to share with you using this paper. In the meantime, find yourself a little stampin' or scrappin' time and have a great weekend!

Easter Wishes

I finally purchased a stamp set I have been wanting for quite some time. Easter is just around the corner and it is perfect when creating Easter greetings~~as you can see from the card here. The stamp set is Crosses of Hope and consists of three cross images and the "God bless You" sentiment. Not only is this set perfect for Easter, but for many other special occasions, too~~Baptism, Confirmation, First Communion~~and so many more. I used Baja Breeze ink, designer paper and the seam binding ribbon that is available in the Occasions mini. I will tell you that I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the seam binding ribbon. It is very soft and lightweight and now I am going to need it in a few other colors, too. Have a peaceful evening.