SOME SPRING PHOTOS

Hi all~ I didnt get to do much papercrafting this weekend, as we had a cousin of my husbands stay with us. Her family has actually bought a home about 45 minutes from us, and they closed this past week. She stayed behind to start some painting, so we had her come and stay at our house to give her a little break. We all had plenty of laughs and good time with family.
Anyhow, while we were all at the table I snapped these photos of Theresa Lauren eating one of her favorites~ applesauce. I always serve it to her in one of my vintage glass ice cream dishes. It makes a simple thing special for her ( and me).
The sunny day, the color of her shirt, and the Hyacinths in front of her ~ not to mention the little butterflies on her hairband~ all blended together to make such a pretty spring vision. As a proud Mama, I had to share!!!

Many thanks for stopping by...

Artful Legacy Easter Bunny Card

This week for my projects for the Artful Legacy Design Team, I chose to use the stamp AG401, Bunny With Flowers. He is just so cute sitting in the grass near the daffodils, I had to make 2 things with him.
I made an Easter card and a belly band card that holds a treat.

First up is the card. Its a 5 by 5 inch square. Made with some older cardstock that I had in a pretty periwinkle type of purple. The patterned paper I have also had for some time. Its from Paper Pizazz and called Easter Eggs, although to me it looks like jelly beans.
Pink Cardstock is from Stampin Up, white is from PTI, as I love that white when I am going to color with my Copics. I edged the image with a blue chalk ink cats eye.
The pansy border punch and the butterflies are all Martha Stewart. I like to adhere the butterflies only in the middle and then bend the wings so it gives the card a 3-D look and makes them "fly". I have also used Stardust Stickles on the tail and the butterflies.

A peek at the inside shows more of the jelly bean paper and pansy punch. The sentiment is stamped in Melon Mambo ink from Stampin UP and says "Somebunny Loves You". That stamp is from Great Impressions.
Ribbon is from Michaels and is a pretty watermelon pink color.

The next card is a treat holder. I saw this tutorial on SCS and thought it was so cute. This bunny was done in grey tones, and adhered to a belly band made to go around the card. I made it with the patterned paper.

When you slide it off, the small 3 1/2 square opens up to reveal a place for setiment on the left side and a treat on the right. A tea bag would be nice, or a Ghiradelli Square would fit perfectly.

A close up of this cutey!!!

A view of the inside~

The sentiment is from Artful Legacy. Punch is Doily Lace from MS. Cardstock is Stampin Up. Ribbon unknown.

Many thanks for stopping by.... Hope you are enjoying the springtime weather.

A SPRING SURPRISE~

Hi all~
Just a quick note tonite.
I am such a warm weather person, and so look forward to Spring and Summer each year.
So this weekend, to celebrate Springs much anticipated arrival, My sweet Husband surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of Tulips. They are such a pretty watermelon pink color in real life.
He also got a smaller bouquet for the window ledge in our master bath, so I get to enjoy a bit of spring when I am upstairs also.
One year, in summer, he brought me home several big Magnolia blossoms and put them in little glasses of water all about the house. He had picked them himself on his lunch hour. It was my first year living in the south, and I was enamored with their sweet fragrance. Little did either of us know~ until we saw them hopping around~ that little green tree frogs love to hide in the Magnolias large leathery leaves. They didnt jump out of the flowers until about the 2nd or 3rd day, and they were in the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. We had a time chasing after them to put them back outside.
Now he goes to the store, and buys me flowers~LOL.
Many thanks for stopping by...

RECIPE BOOK CLASS

I have been meaning to post this for a couple of weeks, but better late than never~
These are some photos of a recipe book class that I designed and taught last month.
I am loving the retro kithchen themed things in the scrapping world right now, so when I had to think of a class, it was a no brainer. As I've said before, vintage is my thing.
I also wanted to make it so it could easily be adapted to a gift, and be expandable. For these reasons, I chose to go with binder rings rather than using the Bind It All, so the recipient could later add as many pages as needed. I also made it so one side of each page could hold recipe cards or clippings, and the other could highlight some recipe favorites that would remain in a prominent spot.
Along the way, I sprinkled in some vintage and retro images from various sources, such as my own stash, Crafty Secrets, and different collage sheets from assorted places. The book measures about 81/2 by 5 1/2. The ribbon is all different scraps including some old lace and retro fabric torn into strips.

Cardstock is Bazzills Witch Hazel, Passionata and Brocade. Each pocket page has been adorned with a white textured piece of paper that has been punched with one of the Martha Stewart large punches. I thought this one reminded me of trimming on an apron.

Some of the patterened paper is from Recollections, like the waffle pattern you can see inside the covers.

Flowers are Prima, recipe cards are from Michaels.

I also added a stamped mason jar about 3 1/2 inches high to each pocket page. This can serve as a journaling spot about the featured recipe or memories of making it with a favorite family member. Some of them had a ribbon added, but I think I like the plain ones better.

How adorable are those kitties at the table???

Backing some of the recipes is paper from a collection by Making Memories called English Garden. It happened to be out on my desk for something else and it worked perfectly.

My class loved this boook and to date the women have made about 9 more on their own to give as gifts. 2 went to bridal showers, and 1 was a birthday gift to a cooking friend. I would call that class a success!!!

Hope everyone got out to enjoy the first day of Spring yesterday. It was quite beautiful here, with temps in the low 70's.

Dont forget to go to http://artfullegacy.blogspot.com/ to enter their first blog candy giveaway. It ends tonite!!!

Many thanks for stopping by...

MY BEAUTIFUL IRISH MOM

I hope that everyone became a bit Irish yesterday and enjoyed the day. We went to a local Irish pub and I had Shepards Pie and my husband had Corned Beef and Cabbage, and some Guinness of course!
This photo is of my beautiful Irish Mother in New York. Love you Mom!!! Although I am totally enjoying the Southern way of life for the last 6 years, there are times I miss my Northern roots. One of them is on ST. Patricks Day. I grew up about 15-20 minutes from NYC, so provided the weather was cooperating, we would go see the parade. Just watching all the people in that city is amazing.

It is the biggest St. Patricks Day parade anywhere, with over 250,000 people just marching in it, never mind all of the spectators. My high school, St. Francis Preparatory School always marches. We would get the day off from school to go and cheer them on. It was so much fun.

Then, when I was older, we would go to the parade and then try to get into a Pub for a drink and a bite to eat~ but NYC being the crowded city that it is, that wasnt always the easiet thing to do.

My oldest son Stephen who lives with my parents, is keeping up the tradition and went into NYC yesterday afternoon.

Many thanks for stopping by....

Erin Go Braugh!

BE JOYFUL IN HOPE...

For my 2nd card as a DT member for Artful Legacy Rubber Stamps, I chose the stamp "Be Joyful In Hope".
I love this stamp as it holds so much meaning and can be applied in many different situations in life, and therefore in cardmaking. Its a great stamp to make several cards with for your card stash~ ready and waiting to be sent to a friend at a moments notice.
The stamp is quality red rubber, deeply etched and delivers a perfect impression every time. I have stamped it in Memento Brown ink, edged the circle with chalk ink. Then I used my Nesties and cut it out with a circle and followed that with 2 different sized scalloped circles. Cardstock is from my stash. Designer paper is my new 6 by 6 inch paper pack from MY Minds Eye. Its called Home and has so many pretty colors in it. Ribbon is my favorite black plaid, this time made by Offray. Stampin Up edge punch was also used.

This is an A-2 size card and has been left blank inside.

Many thanks for stopping by and make sure to visit all the other design team members. Leave us a little love so we know you've been here! http://artfullegacyrubberstamps.blogspot.com/.

HAPPY ST. PATRICKS DAY

Did everyone have a great weekend?? I did, I spent some time with my friend Sharon (OKIslandstampqueen) making an adorable little giftbag that looks just like a designer handbag. More on that at another time.
But I also had to say goodbye to my son Michael, as his spring break ended and his Dad took him back up to school. In six short weeks though, the semester will be over and he will be back! Yeah!!!
On to the card. I made this for my Mom and Dad for the holiday this week. My moms maiden name is Sullivan, so this is a holiday she enjoys celebrating. I pretty much went with the traditional colors for the holiday of greens and a touch of purple.

The card is a 6 by 6 inch gatefold card. I have done gatefolds before, but this one is a bit different than the previous ones I have made. Its great as it gives you some more room to play on. I will do a quick tutorial later this week.

Here it is slightly open. The ribbon keeps it neat and tidy when closed.

In this photo, I have opened it up a bit more, revealing the inside.

Here is the whole inside of the card. See? lots of room to play or even add a photo or 2 if you wanted.

The cardstock is Stampin Up, designer paper is an old one from my stash by Karen Neuberger for Paper Adventures. It is called Moments Floral. That sounds kinda backwards to me, but thats what it says.

Flowers are Prima, crystals are from Joannes.

The large stamp is from Peddlars Pack and the individual shamrock is an old one from PSX Company. Ribbon is from Michaels.

To add a little 3-D interest, Ipunched a couple of butterflies with my Martha Stewart punch and layered them in opposite corners.

Many thanks for stopping by...

Enjoy the week~ think of it as a fresh start!!!!

MT FIRST DT POST!!!!!!

I am very excited to show you my first post as a member of the Artful Legacy Design Team!!!
Christine asked us to use some of her stamps that signified Spring or the upcoming holidays. I chose to make a St. Patricks Day card. I think it came out really nice. The stamps are quality red rubber and mine came as unmounted on cling foam- my favorite kind of stamp! The detail is amazing. I used the Shamrock Corner stamp and I saw this sentiment and thought it was just perfect. It has been colored with Copics, and stamped with Memento Brown ink. Cardstock is all Stampin Up and the patterned paper is from my stash.
Flowers are Prima Hydrangeas and the little pearl is from Recollections.

Hope you like it, and make sure to visit Artful Legacy at http://artfullegacy.com.
Many thanks for stopping by...

MORE KITCHEN VINTAGE

Good Sunday morning to everyone. Its finally going to be a nice day here~ warm, although still not our average, but I'll take it. Maybe I can even go and take a bicycle ride this afternoon.
I am still loving my retro kitchen themed things. So today I am sharing a card with you I made yesterday.
Here is just a little slice of it... It IS another easel card, although I promise you I do know how to make other types of card styles. But this type just lends itself so well to showing off more of the pretties~

How darling is this little girl??? She makes me think of a little farm girl from long ago, helping mama (on her book to make her taller) prepare some fresh food from the garden. She was actually a free digi image from a site called Digital Two For Tuesday. How very generous to share her precious little self!

The cardstock is Creamy Caramel from Stampin Up, and patterned paper is from the 6 by 6 Basic Grey Nook and Pantry paper pack. The card measures 6 by 6 inches.

She is colored with Copics and her 2 sets of scallops are done with my Martha Stewart Scallop edge punch.

The ribbon is from a now gone LSS. Sentiments are stamped in Memento Brown and are from Rubber Tree Stamps, and American Art Stamps. I have had both of those for quite some time.

I worked very hard yesterday cleaning out my wood monted stamp drawers to see what was buried in the lower sections of them. I found some really neat stuff that I had forgotten about.
Flowers are Prima, buttons??? not sure.

To me this is a card that can be used for many different occasions. I like the versatility of the sentiments.

Maybe a card to send someone just because...

Off to list it in my Etsy shop and enjoy the nice weather.

Many thanks for stopping by...

KITCHEN KITSCH NOTECARDS

Hi everyone, hope you are having a great day. Lately, I have really been into stamps and embellishments, etc. with a kitchen theme. I am quickly sucked in by their lure, and before you know it, they are in my mailbox!
And when these things have a vintage or retro feel "OH MY GOD!!"
I recently taught a class and it was a retro cookbook. (more to come on that later). So now I actually needed these kitchen things instead of just wanting them. HOORAY~
I found these great stamps at Stampers Dream online store and they are actually made by Gooseberry Patch, the ladies that make all those great cookbooks and country kitchen stuff. I did not even realize this until I got them and read the package. They are clear acrylic and stamp very well. I ended up not using these stamps for my class, but love playing with them. I made these 2 sets of notecards, they are just a little bit different. They will be for sale shortly in my Etsy Shop.

I used Nanas Kitchen for my paper, and Gina K pure Luxury white cardstock to stamp on. I stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with my Copics, which I have shown below.

Martha Stewart seam binding ties the yellow and pink bows, and the green ribbon was from my stash.

Martha Stewart Doily punch was used, and Stampin Up cardstock is the base of the card.

The mixer and the bowl notecards have either a round background or a square background. The canisters have only a rectangle shape.

The bottom left of the inside of each card has a little set of measuring spoons, stamped in brown. Same for the envelopes.

Below is one of the sets.

And here is the other.

Off to make Sloppy Joes for dinner.

Many thanks for stopping by....

ANOTHER BIRTHDAY???

Yes , its true. Dont worry, this is still a papercrafting blog, but because family is so important to me, I do blog about them also from time to time.

Today is my oldest son, Stephen Richards' 25th birthday. I cannot even believe that I have a child who is 25! When I had my sonogram, I chose not to find out the sex of the baby, I preferred to be surprised. Since I did not have any brothers, I secretly wished the baby was a boy. Well, I was over the moon when the Dr. said those famous words "Its a Boy"

He is a wonderful son and has always made me very proud of him. Stephen, we love you and have a great birthday and an even better year!!!!!!

Many thanks for stopping by...

Stephen has always been fascinated by sharks~ so this is for him~
Glitter Graphics