Beach Finds

It has been a little on the cool side in the mornings when I walk, but nonetheless there are still plenty of little finds on the beach.  The starfish was one of my first finds.  Then there is the sand dollar I found yesterday.  This sand dollar is buried under a layer of sand.  It was low tide and again, when I found this I was excited. I did not want to disturb it so I just took the impression the sand dollar leaves when it gets covered with sand.   And finally~~a dolphin photo.  There have been so many dolphins out this year.  I took quite a few photos, but mostly they end up being fins!   This is the best photo I took of the dolphins so far.  Have a great day and find  yourself a little stampin' time!

Colored Pencils

In an earlier post, I mentioned that Regina and I went to Claire's stamp store in St. Augustine.  Well, I purchased a few cute stamps which I couldn't resist.  There were couple of sample cards and the images were colored using Prism colored pencils.  We went back to Regina's and she pulled out her Prism pencils and we started to play.  I need a lot of practice so I went to an A C Moore store here in FMB and used a 50% off coupon to purchase a set.  Plus I needed Memento black ink and white card stock, so added those to the cart.  That night after everyone went to bed, I started stamping and coloring images.  As usual, I did my fair share of filling up the trash basket!  Anyway, this page turned out pretty good, so I decided to stop while I was ahead and post it.  When I get home, I will create cards using these images and post them.  I am also curious if pencil coloring on SU's Whisper White is going to make a difference.  The waves are calling, so time for my morning walk on the beach.  Have a great day!

So Many Hearts

Here is another cute card for Valentine's Day or any occasion you want to share your love.  The DSP behind the hearts is retired as this was going to be a test card.  It turned out cute enough to be "real" and easy to create, too:  place a few heart framelits on Whisper White cardstock, run it thru the Big Shot and then add a stamp or two.  I wish I would have stamped the sentiment in black, but too late now!  The little stamped hearts are from the SAB set, You Brighten My Day, and the sentiment from And Many More (Annual catalog).  The white layer is adhered using dimensionals.  And the inside is as cute as the outside of the card, but I did not take a picture of the inside before I left for sunny Florida!  I used the heart strip framelit (the Mini Treat Bag framelit set) to create a border at the top of the card liner and an itty bitty strip of the DSP at the very bottom~~cute! cute! cute!  Have a great day!

Pretty Butterflies

Here is another card I created prior to vacation and one we will be making in class in February.  The large butterfly is from the new thinlets set in the Occasions Mini.  After die cutting the butterfly and tracing the negative space I watercolored Shimmery White card  stock for the bottom layer of the butterfly.  I added a couple Beautiful Wings embosslit butterflies after stamping the sentiment from Blooming With Hope.  And then I had to try it again in a different color,  Crisp Cantaloupe.  Both are very pretty.  Have a great day!

Success!!

I have been trying all week to get a photo to upload to my blog and this afternoon it worked!  This is a card I made prior to leaving using Lawn Fawn stamps and dies.  I colored the stamped images using Copic markers.  And as the card says, "life is good"!  We didn't hit 50 degrees until we were at the Florida state line, but right now it is about 78 so no complaining.  Started out visiting my friend, Regina, in the St. Augustine area.  We walked the beach together, me in my winter coat as it was cold and windy, but there was no way we weren't going to do that together.  She took me to this great little stamp shop, Claire's, in St. Augustine.  We all had dinner together two nights.  Logan and Brandon were very entertaining and well-behaved and are happy with their new home and school.  And then it was time to go further south.  As soon as John and I pulled on to the expressway I missed Regina.  When we got to the condo we rent, I walked in and right to the balcony to see the beautiful Gulf!  This is a great year for dolphins in Fort Myers Beach. I take like 50 photos a day of them (almost all are deleted) but there is that elusive one of the dolphins jumping out of the water that I have not yet gotten!!  I might have to buy a postcard with that perfect dolphin photo.   I wish you were all here sharing this pretty place with me.  Miss you all and if I can be successful again, I will be posting again.  Have a heat day and weekend!

Hearts, Hugs & Kisses

Lately, I have seen a few versions of today's card on various websites.  I thought it was very cute so last night I got to work on my version.  The lines and the hearts for the tic tac toe are from the Work of Art stamp set.  I used Crumb Cake and Melon Mambo cardstock and ink.  At first I was just going to use the hearts, but I added the "hugs" and "kisses" (from a retired set) to fill in the grid a little more. I added the retired Melon Mambo ribbon and wrapped a linen thread around it.  This was created in time for Valentine's Day, but it would be a great anniversary card or just a love you card for no special reason at all!

Big Day & Scraps

Once again it is very cold here right now, the actual temperature is -5 with a wind chill of -26!    Needless to say, it might just be another stay inside and play day!  Today's card came about thanks to a scrap of DSP that was on my island.  I looked at the strip of paper, decided to use that along with Crisp Cantaloupe, white cardstock and a stamp from the Sale-a-bration set,  Big Day.  Since the DSP had circles, the circle theme was continued by using the Decorative Dots embossing folder, scraps from the Neutrals black polka dot DSP and circle framelits.  Fun little card!  Have a great day and stay warm!

Just Because Butterfly

The only butterflies we will be seeing for quite some time are the butterflies on this card!!  As I type, it is -2degrees with a wind chill of -23!  To create today's card I used the medium butterfly thinlet included in the new Butterflies Thinlets Dies (Occasions Mini).  After deciding where I wanted the butterfly on the Calypso Coral cardstock, I ran it thru the Big Shot (placing a piece of wax paper between the thinlet and the cardstock).  I adhered the Coral onto a white card base and after getting rid of all the little schnitzels of the butterfly, I placed the pretty diecut just where it was cut on the cardstock.  I only glued the center of the butterfly to  the card.  Since everything is white, "just because" had to be white, too.  So out came the Versamark, white embossing power and heat gun.  The smaller butterflies were in my saved case of little extras from the Beautiful Wings embosslit.  Then I had the not so brilliant idea to add white antenna to the butterfly using a gel pen~~won't be doing that again!    Have a great day and keep warm!

Treat Bag Card

What a cold, white morning we have here!  My outside surroundings are beautiful and I am very happy that I can stay home this morning.  Today is the start of Sale-a-bration and the Occasions Mini is now live, too.  So, today's post was made using the Big Day stamp set, an SAB choice, and the mini treat bag from the Occasions Mini.  This time the treat bag is also a birthday card.  It fits in our standard card envelope and can hold not only a pullout note but also a gift card.  I stamped the image which is on the front of the mini treat bag  twice in two different colors and then cut the "celebrate" from the Tempting Turquoise tag and adhered it over the Rich Razzleberry one using dimensionals.  The striped paper is from the Sweet Taffy collection in the annual catalog.  The words stamped on the insert of this card are also from the Big Day stamp set. Such fun products in these newly released catties.  Have a great day!

Love Is Kindness Hello

I stamped the Love Is Kindness image on white cardstock, coloring it in using Old Olive and the newly released Pink Pirouette Blendabilities.  I then had the brilliant idea to cut it out.  Well, it did take a while to hand-cut but it was worth it.  By layering the cut image on a white background, you can't really see the little section I missed.  A  strip of the new washi tape is a nice decorative touch under the "hello" and behind the bouquet of tulips.   I really like the word thinlets.  I know I can cut words using my Explore, but when you just need one or two, the thinlets are much quicker to do.   Plus, I do like the font used for the thinlets.  Have a great day and bundle up if you go out!

Happy New Year!

Today's post is that of a mini treat bag created using the new and beautiful Designer Series Paper, Something Borrowed.  And more beautiful than the paper is the Sahara Sand 7/8" Lace Trim.  Both of these items are in the Occasions Mini.  The heart (retired punch) needs something more~~a little bling, maybe?  Or a few pearls?  At any rate, the paper is pretty, the ribbon prettier.  Have a great day and find yourself a little stampin' time!