SPRING FLOWERS

For the Artful Legacy design team this week, I chose what might possibly be my very favorite stamp from them. Its called AG627 Basket Of Flowers. Its quite a large stamp and is filled with exquisite detail!
When I first stamped it in Memento Brown ink, it was so pretty on its own, I hesitated to even color it in. So I decided to go very soft and use only pastel colors. Its just such a pretty spring image, yet I can also see it filled with Autumn tones of deep yellows, rusts and browns! The card itself is a 6 by 6 inch Bazill cardstock base. The next 2 layers are assorted scraps. Pink layer framing the image is SU Pretty in Pink. Image itself is stamped on PTI Selct White CS.

The ribbon is a one inch pink satin from Michaels.

This beautiful sentiment is also Artful Legacy and is called AL8 186 Christs Resurrection. It also has a "Happy Easter" on the same stamp a bit lower. I chose to use this on the inside of the card.

Punch is MS Doily Lace Border punch. Below are the Copics I used for this card.

I am off to enjoy some absolutely great spring time weather~ do I see some beach time in my near future?

Many thanks for stopping by...

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/.