Love Blooms In Me

Wonderful Weekend Blog Candy

WOW! Can you believe the summer is over? Lordy where did the time go???? I know I didn't get much of anything done these past few months...well ok, maybe a few things, but not nearly enough! Where I grew up we didn't start back to school until the Tuesday after Labor Day and that weekend was always filled with thoughts of all the fun we had all summer and the thrill of seeing old friends again after a long summer. Of course there was all the last minute shopping for the perfect "first" day outfit! A girl can never be too Perfect on the first day!! What are your plans for this long weekend? We don't have much in the way of plans. I'm trying to talk Barry into going for a nice long ride near a scrapbook store that my friend Gretchen told me about. That sounds like a good plan, I think! We're also going to do a little swimming at the pool. Our community pool closes for the season, but the pool at Evan's apartment is always open and it's nice to  swim at too.

Because it's going to be a nice long weekend and I won't be online much, I'm giving away some nice blog candy! A wonderful bag of Prima Flowers called a Bitty Bag. It has LOTS of flowers of every color. Just leave a post about the end of the summer and I'll draw a number Monday night and post it Tuesday morning!

I do have one card to post today. I made this last night with a set that I just keep reaching for. If you're thinking about getting this set, I say DO! I really enjoy all the pieces in it and it really makes beautiful cards. I made this card using the color challenge on SCS. Purely Pomegranate, Pretty In Pink and Old Olive. I also had a challenge for myself...not to use any printed paper on this card. Instead I used a Floral stamp in Pretty In Pink for the backround. I love how this turned out. I feel like the butterflies are leaving the page!

 

Have a fun weekend and come and visit my blog. Tell all your friends to come and visit too!

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

Oh My Gosh was yesterday busy or what?!? The designers for Flourishes rolled out our creations for Make A Wish Set and I hope it was a huge success! I know late last night I remembered that I didn't upload all the cards I made using this set to SCS, so at 11 PM I was uploading the last two. They're the one's already posted here with the shooting stars.

Well on top of that fun, I really got busy making Halloween cards. I got my new set of Paper Tray stamps and finally opened them. There is one card that sealed the deal for me to get the stamp. I'm not too much of a Halloween stamper, but the card that Nichole used for her pumpkin card is the best! So here are my two humble cards that I cased from hers.

Don't you love it! I used SU craft paper and plain black. Yesterday my fingers were so orange! SU Pumpkin Pie Orange. I used Black stazon and Old Olive for the rest of the colors. I can't get enough of my Martha bat punch either. I have to give these little guys eyes. It's scary not having eyes! Ribbon is from my stash.

Do you feel "spooky"???? Another card using the new set. I stamped some purple with bats, spiders and "boo" first. I found the bottom paper from Bo Bunny and thought it went well. The pumpkins are done using a masked image so they look like they are lined up. I stamped the spooky a little high and added the spiders to fill in the area. A little glitter and some ribbon and it's done!

One last Halloween card using all stickers! Honest no stamping, not even in the inside. I found this really cute set of stickers for $ at Joann's. Dumb me, I only bought one set. I have to check and see if they have anymore. I used a new piece of BG that has the sky already printed on it. The stickers are all 3-D with lots of details. There was one corn and one sticker that says "Halloween" left over, so they went on the inside of the card! The paper on the outside of this card was also made from scraps.

So that's my Halloween cards for today. I hope you like them. I also got new stamps in the mail for the September Flourishes projects, so you'll have to come back again. I won't be showing those off for another week or so, but they'll be worth the wait. Now what to do today.....

TODAY IS THE DAY!

I know you've been just holding your breath to see what the designers from Flourishes have come up for the Stamp For A Cause day! I posted the first two yesterday with Make A Wish stars and these are the rest.

I used the wishing well stamp colored in with both my SU markers and Copic. The paper is one of the brand new from Basic Grey.

The second card was using the same stamp, but a Fabriano Watercolor Card and envelope. They are for sale at the Flourishes web site. I used a perfectly cut piece of cardstock for the center of my card that was cut using the new Spellbinders that you can now pre-order at Flourishes. I think this card is simple but elegant!

Thanks to Jan Marie and all the other designers are Flourishes for supporting this wonderful cause. You can help also by buying this set at

Stamp For A Cause. Remember that for each set you buy $7.00 will go to help make a child's wish come true! 

Can you ever have too many birthday cakes? This last card is also from the Make A Wish set. My cake is just waiting for you to many a birthday wish!

Have a great day and come back tomorrow when I have some Halloween cards to post!

STAMP WITH A CAUSE

Last night was stamp club. To say it was bit loud would be an understatement! I was so used to last year's club when most months only 4 or 5 of us showed up that I forgot how much noise 12 girls can make. I made one new card, but skipped the other project. It was a cute card box with some 3" cards, but by the time I got to that project it was really time to place my order and go. I did get to drive my friend Gretchen home and see her new stamp room! OK, she has the stamp room most of us dream about. A whole wall full of cabinets and pretty glass jars filled with each color of ribbon! And in the middle of this wonderful room she has a large table to craft on! I think I need to keep dreamin!

These are several cards I made using the Gina K stamps, Make a Wish. They are really so much fun to play with and you can see the whole set and learn about the "cause" at Stamps For A Cause.                               

This Card was make using some new paper from Sweetwater. It pairs up with the stars so beautifully. I used some hardware from SU to tie all the ribbons into place.

The second card is made using the same stamp. This time I teamed it up with some pretty ribbon that I bought at Recollections. If you don't have one of these stores in your area you are missing an eye candy treat. They are scrap book stores owned by Michael's but they aren't anything like your usual M's.

Have a great day and come back tomorrow for some more of the samples made using this stamp set!

OH MONDAY MORNING

Remember that old song Monday, Monday? OK, so I can sing all the words...does that make me old or something, or does that just show that my brain is still working??? Tell that to your kids when they make fun of you singing in the car to all the oldies!

I hope everyone had a really nice weekend and got lots of crafting done or at else got a lot of shopping for future projects done! That's my next favorite thing to do, after looking at all the new stuff I have! We took a nice ride on Saturday to see a LSS that I don't get to very often. It's on the other side of town and usually they have lots of the newer products in stock. What a shock when I walked in and they were remodeling the store! Nothing New!! They're having the "grand" reopening 9/24! I really felt so bad that I talked Barry into driving me all that way. Well, not a total loss. I did get some pretty white ribbon with snowflakes.

I really tired to work yesterday and did manage to get one card done, but it's still too much summer for me to really get into fall cards. This is a card I made on Friday using some new paper from the scrapbook store near me. They seem to be getting lots of new things in each week. I think I'm going to get some more of this paper for holiday cards. It's got a nice "country" feel to it and I think will look wonderful with snowman scenes. The card is made by a paper company called Sweetwater. I've never seen the product before, but they have a really nice line of papers and card stock stickers as well. The stars are cut out from the star paper and glue to card stock. The stamp "thanks" is from the $ Bin at M's. The buttons are from Daisy D. They have several collections with fall colors that matched up well with this paper.

Don't forget the girls at Flourishes are working on a special project with the Make A Wish stamps. You'll get to see the finished project on Wednesday right here. Each time you buy that fun set from ginak, Make A Wish will receive $7.00! And they do such good work! Wednesday I'll be posting lots of cards made using their set and they'll be a banner ad on SCS. Check it out on Wednesday!

Thank Goodness It's Friday!

What a long week! I'm so glad that it's Friday. Not that it really matters when you don't work outside your home...it's a mind game kinda thing. I still have lots of work to do today and tomorrow for that matter. Still haven't cleaned up the studio yet and still don't have room for the beds in there yet, but I did find some nice new paper at the LSS yesterday. That's gotta count for something! Here is a card I made for a wonderful customer using the new Red, White and Blue paper--so cute! It's new and just came into the store. It's from My Mind's Eye. I think I have most of there papers. I used Be Happy a retired SU set of stamps and a "found" ladybug button. See, cleaning two shelves out did pay off!

I do have some big news to share. Yesterday I got the new Gina K Designs stamps call Make A Wish in. Our design team from Flourishes will be making some samples in order to support this wonderful cause. I'll be using some pretty, pretty Basic Grey papers that can be found on the Flourishes website to make my samples. Come and check them out next Wednesday. A big Banner Ad will be on SCS that day!

Well, folks, we made it through another week with Barry working and he got his first paycheck today, so as Martha says "that's a good thing"! All my chickens are doing fine and the grandkids go back to school next week...so most things seem right with my world. Have a wonderful weekend with your special ones and hurry back safe and sound! I have several friends who need us all to keep in their prayers this weekend, so please take just a moment and say a prayer for us all!!

Blessing to each and everyone of you!

MOJO BACK?

Yesterday I got on a roll with making cards and I did manage to get 5 cards done! Yea for me! On good days I get that many done early in the day. Yesterday I was finishing up the last one at 8 PM. OH well, I'm so happy to have them to share with you today. I used a Stampin Up set that I got at stamp club last year and still didn't even have it cut, but I wanted something a little different and this set called Friendships Flower did the trick. It has 4 nice verses to it and several flowers. Speaking of flowers, I was able to use some many of the new prima flowers I got this summer on these. Pretty, isn't it!

Another pretty!

I wanted to use all the new stitched ribbons that I've bought. Note to myself: buy the rest of the colors! This ribbon is wonderful! I'm having such fun digging into the pile of buttons I have also!

This card was done using one of my favoirte stand by sets from STampin Up. Because of You is such a nice little set of stamps that I don't understand why it was retired!

Last of the cards using some more of the buttons and flowers. I hope you've enjoyed all of them today! Now I need to nap!!

PURPLE COWS

When my boys were little we would pile them in the car early in the morning and go for a "ride". Now that ride could be anywhere from a few minutes to a few days! We've always love to travel and in the early years of marriage it was by car. Like most Moms I needed to entertain them on the trip. You know after the toys weren't fun anymore, so we would look for Purple Cows! The boys still say "mom there are NO purple cows"! What got me to thinking back all those years is that I had an order for some Purple cards. Unlike most little girls, purple was never one of my favorite colors. I'm not sure I even own a purple shirt, but I do love to create and I knew I could do the purple cards justice. Check them out. I love how they turned out!

Aren't they pretty! For the first one I used some paper from a scrap book kit I had purchased from QVC and the Priceless set from SU. The second one is done with BG paper and Doodle That. I cut the paper short and instead of cutting more, I cut it even shorter and spaced it out!

I love how this one turned out. This card is made using My Mind's Eye papers and lots of pretty chipboard. The letters and butterfly are from K & Co. I stamped out several flowers from Doodle That stamp set and cut them out. The Red is Rose Red just to give the card so depth. I found the cut piece of rick rack in my ribbon stash. This card meaures 4.25x4.25. I love making these square cards.

Well that's my latest cards. I'm going to try and find my desk again. It just seems every time I try and clean, I find something else that calls out to me!

Have a great day and hurry back tomorrow!   

Senior Pictures

I can't seem to get my act together today with stamping, so I'm just going to add some pictures of my grandson Justin. These are his Senior pictures. Boy, oh boy, I can't believe he's going to be in 12th grade this year! Time sure does fly!

He's so cute in the causal picture. He now has a pretty, new to him, Mustang and a girlfriend! Life is good if you're 17!

Thanks for looking!

Guess which one Grandma loves the best?

WHAT A DAY!

You might have noticed I was M.I.A yesterday. You know when it rains it pours...well just because it's been 100 or better all week here in Dallas, my air conditioner broke in my car. The compressor had to be replaced. Now I could suffer with the heat, but Barry's parents are coming soon and it's a bit too hot to put the older folks in my car at this time of the year withoout air! I might as well just have driven them to the hospital! Well, to make a long sad story shorter, $854 later my car is nice and cool, but not my bank account! Barry didn't even get his first paycheck from work yet and I had to spend money.

I did get a little stamping done yesterday. I had to make a few cards for Barry's friends. He likes to send them birthday cards that are made by me. This is one I think turned out just so fun. I got the idea from several cards I've seen made using this set and combined all the elements into one card. Enjoy!! The stamp set is from My Favorite Things. It's full of fun stamps to use for "manly" cards. I stamped the little golf tee's on the fabric ribbon with black stazon.

Another card I made yesterday was using some of that SU Cuttie Pie paper. It's so fun and fresh looking. I used lots of black to make it the whole card stand out. 

We are babysitting for Madelyn tomorrow afternoon and evening. We'll do something fun with her and take her out to dinner so her parents can take Justin out for his birthday without having her around. It makes it nice for them and we don't mind having her around at all! Other then that Barry and I are planning a "do nothing" kinda weekend. I really think he needs to sleep late and rest. Evan comes home on Sunday night from my sister's place in Upstate New York. I can't wait to see all the pictures of the family who were there. So dear friends have a great weekend!

I must thank Dottie for the wonderful card I received in the mail yesterday. It was such a nice surprise. I guess you can figure out that I love sharing with my friends, but getting something back makes it all worthwhile. It's the unexpected that makes life good!

One last thing, will everyone who reads this say a prayer for a dear friend of mine who has been ill and will be going back to the hospital on Tuesday. I'm praying all goes well with her and that she'll be home soon and back to creating wonderful projects. The word for her and for each one of us today is HOPE!