Love You Dearly

Miss me? :) I have a little card to share with you today. It's a quick and easy Paper Smooches card I made ages ago but never shared. It's a shaped card made with Reverse Wonky Rectangles and stamped with hearts from Falling for You and a sentiment from Pretty Phrases. This would make a sweet quick and easy gift set, too!

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The past week has been a blur, especially the last four days. Moving day went really well but it was exceptionally hot and it thunderstormed in the last quarter of the move. Luckily, the truck was able to back up right to the porch and they were racing across the ramp with everything. Still, that didn't make for any wonderful smells in our new home which hubby had cleaned from top to bottom before we moved in! I can't get it clean enough and the washer and dryer have been running non-stop. Hubby and I have been working 18 hour days trying to get as much done as we can to make the house feel like home. He and our son love it. Me? Not to much. We thought our son might have a hard time adjusting but it turns out it's me. Almost everything feels wrong and awkward. Well, it'll probably take some time, right? Hopefully. It's just my personality to want everything perfect... like right now! I'm so demanding. :)

I haven't felt crafty at all. The tiredness might have something to do with it and also the fact that I didn't have internet for three days so I got hooked on reading The Help. Thanks to Lindsey and Meg for recommending it. It is so good. Now I'm recommending it to all of you!

Oh, and don't forget to play in The Moving Challenge! Click on the link or on the photo on my sidebar for all the details. Gorgeous baker's twine from The Twinery is up for grabs to three random players!

Sources: Cardstock: Gina K Designs 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Paper Smooches Falling for You & Pretty Phrases; Memories Black ink; SU Pink Pirouette, Riding Hood Red & Cherry Cobbler inks; Spellbinders Nestabilities Reverse Wonky Rectangles; QuicKutz Epic Six; SU Basic Rhinestones

Right at Home + The Moving Challenge

Happy Wednesday! This will be my last post until I'm in my new house. Hubby is picking up the keys as I type this. I couldn't be more excited! The next couple of days will be a flurry of packing and cleaning the new house from top to bottom. Plus, we've both gotten colds over the last day so it's another thing we have to deal with on top of everything else. Fingers crossed that our little man will stay healthy. I decided to really break in my Hero Arts Whimsical Houses set for one last entry in the Hero Arts August Contest in the Technique Category: Making a Scene.

I kept things fairly simple with this card. My cold is making my head kind of foggy so I was in no mood to colour or paper piece. Instead, I stamped the different elements in various ink colours and fussy cut and X-acto'd them for a fun little scene which is, of course, inspired by my new house!

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The Moving Challenge is taking place right here on my blog. I would like to see projects inspired by the little photo of my new house! Isn't it cute? :D

The Twinery sent me an extra little pack of twine that I don't need so I'm going to share it with three lucky winners which will be drawn randomly from all entries for this challenge. I haven't decided how to award the different colours but it'll probably involve asking my son, "Who do you think should get the individual Blossom... Honeydew... and Charcoal bundles?" LOL

InLinkz for this challenge will officially open at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, September 1st and run 'til 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, September 22nd EST so you will have three whole weeks to participate in this challenge. You can enter as many times as you like but you must use a separate blog link for each entry. I'm not requiring that you use any specific products but it would be great if you linked to my blog or this post so your own followers can play along if they're interested. :)

I will be around via email and catching up on comments but this blog will be quiet for a few days. Big hugs to you all!

Sources: Japanese Linen Avocado cardstock; SU Naturals Ivory cardstock; Hero Arts Whimsical Houses; Memento Tuxedo Black & Rich Cocoa inks; SU Riding Hood Red, Tangerine Tango, Old Olive & Garden Green inks; Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels One; QuicKutz Epix Six; Stampin' Dimensionals

C♥NGRATS

Today, I have a very special card to share with you. A good Canadian friend of ours in Italy has just gotten engaged! He's spent the last 11 years in Italy and had moved over at the same time my husband moved over, two weeks after we had met when I was visiting my sister in Indianapolis. Do you remember that story (the other part is here)? Well, our friend met a sweet Canadian girl online about two years ago. She lives in British Columbia so that is a heck of a long distance relationship. A nine-hour time difference makes it very difficult to connect! After several vacations here and there, they decided it was time to make things official. He took her to France on vacation and proposed to her in the gardens at Château de Versailles. Isn't that romantic? Well, they are getting married later this year so she can move over to Italy and they can finally be together!

Do you love the bling on the girl's hand? ;) I used some of my new Hero Arts goodies, the larger 'bathroom people' and the Tree Trunks to make this sweet little outdoorsy scene. Our friend is very sporty and outdoorsy so I thought it would be cute for them to be sitting on a nurse log in the woods. I stamped the background twice, cut out the trees from the second sheet and layered them over some grass which was die cut from Basic Grey's Oxford Collection. I had a hard time figuring out how to incorporate the sentiment but finally settled on using the Typewriter Letters to make a banner. I did have the 'O' stamped and cut but decided to use a red heart instead. My son did not like that idea at all. He said, "No, Mommy! Use the 'O'. Make the guy holding the heart!" LOL He also commented, "That guy not really sitting, Mommy. The girl is but that guy not really sitting, Mommy." Oh, how he cracks me up!

I hope this card shows our friend how happy we are for him! Of course, I'm linking this up to the Hero Arts August Contest in the Technique Category: Making a Scene. Now, I better go do some packing before hubby comes home and tells me to stop crafting. :Þ

Yesterday, when I said I had a challenge all ready, I thought that today was September 1st, which it isn't! So you'll have to wait two more days for the challenge details. I'll even have prizes and InLinkz set up. I hope you're excited! :)

Sources: SU Bashful Blue cardstock; Gina K Designs pure luxury white & red cardstock; Basic Grey Oxford paper pad; Hero Arts Plaid Person, Polka Dot Person, Tree Trunks & Typewriter Letters; Tim Holtz for Ranger Walnut Stain & Antique Linen distress inks; SU Bashful Blue & Riding Hood Red inks; a•muse|studio grass border die; Stampin' Dimensionals; The Twinery baker's twine in Honeydew; SU Basic Rhinestones; SU Heart to Heart punch

Fleas Navidad

Isn't that the cutest sentiment? I love it. Kim Hughes is so clever! Santa Paws is one of my newest sets from Paper Smooches and before this blog goes completely dormant for my move, I just had to make something before I went crazy from all work and no play! I was literally going stir crazy from not creating for a few days and hubby asked why I was so grumpy. I told him it was because I hadn't made anything in a few days and he said to me, "You're going to have to get used to that." Then I gave him the look. You know, the ultimate evil eye. I could see that he was going to argue with me but, after pausing, said, "Okay, okay, go make something!" LOL

Click on any photo for the full size.

Instead of making a card, I made a set of six Christmas cards! A good friend of mine is having a birthday a few days before mine and she loves dachshunds. Last year, she searched high and low for dachshund holiday cards and actually found some. As soon as I got my hands on Santa Paws, I knew I was going to make her a few this year. This friend is also a client and buys my cards to give away but has admitted to sometimes keeping them for herself. LOL I hope that having a set of six of these cuties will allow her to give away at least five. ;)

Yes, cutting out six dogs and six Santa hats is a lot of fussy cutting but it's less work than colouring all six dogs and hats. I was most definitely not going to fussy cut the white parts of the Santa hats so I used a white gel pen to add the white detail. I used Echo Park's Wintertime Collection and one 12" x 12" sheet made great backgrounds for the entire set.

I've decided that I can't leave you all with nothing to do, aka not visit my blog for a week or two, so I'm going to host a challenge right here for three weeks. There's probably no way I will stay away from my crafty stuff for three weeks but I thought it would be fun to have the challenge run for three weeks anyway. More on that tomorrow! :D

Sources: Gina K Designs pure luxury Moonlit Fog cardstock; Echo Park Wintertime Collection; Paper Smooches Santa Paws; Memories Black ink; SU Riding Hood Red ink; Uniball Signo broad white gel pen; Stampin' Dimensionals; SU Basic Rhinestones

Jane's Doodles {Sneak Peeks}

This is my second post of the day.
For details on the Last Days of Summer Blog Hop hosted by PSA Essentials and sponsored by The Twinery and more, please CLICK HERE.

Today, I'm sharing a couple of Jane's Doodles cards which combine previously released stamps with sneak peeks of new stamps that will soon be available to order!

This first one is a 3" x 4.25" mini that uses a pop of patterned paper for the 'flower pot' that holds the flowers from Garden Friends.

My second card is a standard-sized A2 card and it features Little Miss Mia with another beautifully hand-written sentiment and the cutest little flag which I stamped three times to create a banner.

Little Miss Mia is partially coloured with Copics and partially paper-pieced. I love the way this combination looks!

The designer papers used on this card are from Echo Park's Life is Good Collection. They were a gift from Jenny Johns who so generously sent them with an Ippity set I ordered from her. More on that later!

Sources for Thanks a Bunch: Gina K Designs 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Basic Grey Oxford Collection; Jane's Doodles Garden Friends, Party Time and Big Sentiments; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU Riding Hood Red ink; Copics

Sources for Classy and Fabulous: Gina K Designs 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Echo Park Life is Good Collection; Jane's Doodles Little Miss Mia, Party Time and Big Sentiments; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Copics; SU Basic Rhinestones

Hello'ween Kitty

Happy Last Days of Summer, everyone! Some of you may be sad that summer is coming to an end but I'm not. I'll be in my new house on Labour Day weekend, I'll be celebrating my birthday at the end of September with a giveaway and fall is my favourite time of year! I've made this card using The Twinery's baker's twine and a cute little Hello Kitty stamp from PSA Essentials as part of the Last Days of Summer Blog Hop. Be sure to check out The Twinery Blog for more information, inspiration and prizes from all 11 participating sponsors!!

To make this 3.5" x 4.5" card, I started with a basic black base and die cut a couple of nesties from designer paper and white cardstock. I stamped the image, coloured the bow and embellished it with a little rhinestone which I coloured with a Copic marker to match. I crocheted three foundation chains in Stone, Denim and Charcoal. Then I tied them together at both ends with tiny bows in Mandarin baker's twine. To finish, I adhered the ends to the card and popped the white panel with foam tape.

I will be back later with a post for Jane's Doodles which includes sneak peeks from two of three soon-to-be released sets!!

Sources: Gina K Designs pure luxury black and white cardstock; Little Yellow Bicycle (Orange Ledger, Frightful Collection); PSA Essentials Hello Kitty Trick or Treat; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Four; QuicKutz Epic Six; SU Basic Rhinestones; orange Copic marker; The Twinery baker's twine in Stone, Denim, Charcoal and Mandarin; Stampin' Dimensionals

BOO

This mummy dog is so not scary. It's waaay too cute to scare anyone! Can you believe this was a publication reject? Me neither. ;) I just had to show it to you since Pink Cat Studio is on hiatus for the summer and because I'm super excited about Halloween this year. For the past two years, we took our son trick-or-treating in my parents' neighbourhood but this year we'll be in our very own neighbourhood! We went to visit our soon-to-be house last Friday to take some measurements for area rugs, a chandelier, etc. and the current owners told us that we need to make sure we buy at least $100 worth of candy. Last year, they bought $75 worth and ended up having to hand out other things in their house, almost reaching for cans of tuna at one point. Yikes! Does this mean our son will bring home $75 worth of candy? LOL

This card was simple to make despite the layers. I started with a black base, cut a piece of vellum and attached the punched borders to it. Then I used my paper trimmer to create an orange frame which I then stitched on to the card to hold the first two layers in place. The mummy dog was printed, coloured with Copics, fussy cut and adhered with foam tape. This is one of my favourite Pink Cat Studio digis to colour! How 'bout you? Have you gotten into the Halloween spirit yet?

Sources: Gina K Designs pure luxury black onyx cardstock; SU Basic Gray & Tangerine Tango cardstock; SU vellum cardstock; Pink Cat Studio Mummy Dog; Copics; Martha Stewart Boo & Ghost border punch; Gutermann white thread; sewing machine; Stampin' Dimensionals