Tilda's Ice Cream Cone

Hiya folks! We've had gorgeous weather here on the East Coast that's been leaning a bit toward crisp fall temperatures. I'm not quite ready for the cold so I'm going to imagine hot sunshine for an excuse to enjoy a yummy ice cream cone with Tilda!

These vibrant colors are found on Bo Bunny's "Vicky B" collection. I love the brightness of orange, pink and lime!

 

This sweet Magnolia Tilda was colored with Prismacolor pencils and layered up for that 3D effect. The crochet flower -a gift from a dear friend- adds a great touch of texture. You can imagine the butterfly and ladybug charms coming to life and flitting around this lovely little garden!

An extension of the "garden" is found inside along with an area for a sweet sentiment!

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a gorgeous day!

Cheers,
Susan

Sweet Anniversary Music Card

Hi folks! Today is our 16th wedding anniversary and I'm still deeply in love with The Man. Awww....

Instead of loading up even more sappy stuffs, I'll share this sweet little Tilda with you.

 

 

The paper is My Mind's Eye "Indie Chic: Citron" with Bazzill solids. This MME collection has one of my favorite color combinations of teal and coral. The music notes are washi tape glued to card stock and then rounded here and there to show movement.

Tilda was colored with Prismacolor pencils and layered for a 3D effect - even the wings are layered! I used another Willow Folk crochet flower (as on yesterday's card) but the cards were actually made weeks apart. :-)

The inside coordinates with the front - I just love love love this swirly floral paper!

Tonight were off to a lovely dinner and a little sweet music of our own. *blush* I hope everyone has a fantastic loving weekend!

Cheers,
Susan

Peeking into a Fairy Meadow

Hi folks! I have a new card to share today, made with what's possibly the last of my Graphic 45 Once Upon A Springtime collection.

 

 This little girl was lucky enough to be welcomed into the fairy meadow to play, but a fairy elder is keeping a close eye on the fun and games!

I used a Jolee's resin frame that I've planned on painting for ages, but this as-purchased color worked perfectly. The crochet flower is from my friend Nicole at Willow Folk. She has a great selection of colors and sizes in her shop!

Inside there's plenty of room for fairy sweet wishes!

Thanks for stopping in today.

Cheers,
Susan

Stepping Out Of My Comfort Zone With Finnabair

Hiya folks! Tuesday and Wednesday I took three workshops with Anna Dabrowska, aka Finnabair at The Queen's Ink in Savage, Maryland. It was an amazing experience and I learned great new skills.

I want to share all my projects, but it'll be out of order. The first day workshop journal still needs a little work on front for my satisfaction, so I'll save it for later.

So onto the Wednesday morning "Imagine" collage workshop, for which we needed to bring a photo to work around. I brought a recent photo of myself and made a personal collage!

I hope you can see the green, blue and gold shimmers

on the shadowy side. Here are a few of my favorite details:

I 

  
Under the watch swirly thing is a message to myself: Create, Live, Love

 

This little plaque says Live the life you've imagined.

 It's an extra special sentiment for me since I've recognized that 2013 has been spent

fantasizing more about finished products than actually finishing them.

Or in some cases, not even starting them. 

I learned SO MUCH in these workshops and really stepped out of my comfort zone. I've never liked getting messy and really hated the cleanup. Wow, after these two exhausting and exhiliarating days, my eyes have been opened and my mind freed to let it roll!

Thanks for visiting today. I'll share the other two workshops soon!

Cheers,
Susan

Sunset Key Album

Hello hello! I want to share a custom album I made in May for a special customer who made great memories during her Key West vacation. The papers are all Graphic 45's Tropical Travelogue.

Front Cover, personalized 

Front cover detail

It's a chunky (well-embellished!) album

 More front detail

 Pages 1 and 2, with 5 tags and photo mats.

Can you see the raised fishies?

Pages 3 and 4, with 6 tags and photo mats

 Pages 5 and 6, with 4 tags and photo mats

Page 5 detail - love the stamp designs G45 uses.

This one was mounted on chipboard and the edge

detail was done with a MS 1/16th inch hand punch.

Page 6 detail. I found a variety of neat little sprays in the

wedding section at Hobby Lobby.

Pages 7 and 8

Pages 9 and 10

 Page 9 detail

Page 10 detail - I think this is my favorite page embellishment

And the back cover!

Thanks for visiting today! 

Cheers,

Susan

On The Boardwalk

Hi folks! I'm excited to share today's card with you. If you have a Tuesday Morning shop nearby, you know great deals can be found regularly.  Late last year I found 25-packs of Graphic 45's On The Boardwalk papers for $2.99. The packs were 25 sheets of a single design and they had all the designs available. I think there were only 2 designs I didn't buy. I sent off half to my extremely creative sister and (apparently) hoarded the rest for months.

Until now. 

When I pulled the papers out I was first inspired by the "on the boardwalk" film strip and started there. I made the umbrella and used a Distress Stain(ed) bamboo skewer for the umbrella handle.

I love all the dimension on this card! It's a thick one, though. The lovely lady is attached with 1/4" (6.35mm) of pop dots, not to mention the 1 1/4 inch (3.18cm) high umbrella. All I can say is this card had a mind of it's own!

I used a heavy layer of Picket Fence Distress Stickles on "beach" and Frosted Lace Stickles on the Coney Island disc.

 

Thanks for your visit today. It's a beautiful day here in Maryland and I'm getting ready for a community yard sale on Saturday. My dining room is FULL of stuff we've been carrying around but not using for years. Ugh. I'm not sure how I'll be able to look at it all week. :) By the way, how the heck do you price stuff for a yard sale?

I hope you have a great day!

Cheers,
Susan

Happy Winnings and the Last Easter Card

Hello hello! We worked in the yard today and are all tired and happy this evening. I hope your weekend was great!

Last week I was lucky enough to win a prize over at the oh-so-inspiring Linda Cain's blog, FRIENDS in ART. I expected to receive the Retro Cafe Art Theater Shrine kit and was spoiled to receive so many goodies! Here's the photo she posted - I'm too excited to make my own photo at the moment!

Thanks so much, Linda!

I also want to show you my final Easter card of the year. When I made this card for someone, I also made a blank for myself, as a way to use up paper and add more to the shop. All the important info is on that post, so I'll let you wander over there if you are so inspired. :)

I bought this stamp specifically for that large Easter card order and I'm so glad I did. I adore her hat so much!

Thanks for visiting today! Tomorrow I'll take you to the beach with Graphic 45!

Cheers,

Susan

Destination: Paradise!

Hello, hello creative friends! Since I didn't make a lot of paper projects last year and yet didn't stop buying (is that considered hoarding?), there's a lot hanging around. Here's how the leftover scraps of Graphic 45's Tropical Travelogue inspired me this week.

 
I cut out the lady and set her outside the window frame, as if she's showing off her fantastic South Pacific view.

I wanted to clip the "destination" tag and the "paradise" ticket together but the chipboard ticket was too thick. I used a Cricut spatula to cut the thickness in half. It seems so simple but I was pretty thrilled to think that one up. It's the little things!

Here's a view of the inside. I really like the fold on the left - you'll see a lot more like it.

I ordered a sheet of the floral background paper to use as gift box top - hopefully it will arrive today, 'cause you know there is more fun stuff in that order!

Thanks for visiting today! I hope you have a creative weekend. :)

Cheers
Susan

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men...

...Often go astray.    (Thank you, Robert Burns)

Hello hello! How about another Easter-themed card? I wanted to share all of them before Easter, but, you know, life got in the way. *wink*

This is made with Bo Bunny's Vicky B paper pad. Lovely bright colors! Looks like Tilda is having fun painting all the eggs.

The stripey panel on the right is permanent - it doesn't pull out or anything. I'm not sure what I was thinking except I knew I wanted to see the stripes. As a result, I had to make the gift box rectangular instead of square. No big deal!

I'm not sure if you can see the glossy effect on the top left circle panels (front and inside). I covered the circles with Glossy Accents and set coordinating Dew Drops (remember those?) in the wet GA. It's a neat effect!

Thanks for visiting today. I'll try to share all Easter cards this week -- two left on the computer and more still on the camera. Yikes! Anyway, fun fun fun!

Cheers,
Susan

Tilda and her Lamb

Hello hello! Is it Easter yet? No? Good, since I still have 4 more Easter cards to share with you. Phew!

How pretty is this little one? She's taking her favorite lamb for a walk and she just might be passing your house right now. :)

I used Basic Grey's Marjolaine 6x6 pad for this card and it's matching gift box. I can't get enough of the blue-green combination and this pad has (had!) some really nice ones.

Tilda and Lambie are layered and popped off the page. Flowers are Prima, Recollections, Wild Orchid and my wholesalers. Love all the flowers!

Thanks for visiting today!

Cheers,
Susan

Tilda's Collection of Easter Eggs

Hello folks! Easter is coming up and Tilda already has a collection of eggs, ready to hide for her friends. The papers on this card are Pion Design's "Fairytale of Spring".

Tilda is colored with Faber-Castell's yummy Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils. I'll be using these a lot more! The bench is color with Prismacolor pencils (still a favorite!).

There's a tag tucked in on the right side, with loads of flowers to pull the tag out.

Large panel for Happy Easter wishes!

The card and matching gift box set

Thanks for visiting today! I have a few more Easter cards to share over the next week or two. Yay!

Cheers,
Susan