Oh my, this has been a long road!!!

Hey y'all......I'm almost there!  "There", being back to normal, whatever that may be.  We gave up on the "short sale" home that we were trying to purchase.  Bank of America was taking way too long to approve the sale, so on October 19th we bought a brand new home and we are closing on it today at noon!!!!

My husband's children and spouses as well as his niece and her crew will be moving us out of this tiny apartment and into our new home on Saturday.........I don't know what we would do without them!!!  The builder has given us some really nice incentives for buying this home.  We got a Samsung 60" flatscreen TV professionally mounted on the wall, a stainless steel side-by-side refrigerator with water and ice in the door (SS stove, built in microwave and dishwasher were already included), they are fencing in the backyard, a screen enclosure with bronze kick plate and door for the lanai with a paver patio, 2" faux wood blinds throughout and they are paying all of our closing costs!  And would you believe that the azalea bushes (white) at the front of the house are full of blooms that are starting to open...go figure!  At any rate, I'm really stoked.....can't ya tell!

My land line and DSL won't be installed until Tuesday (OMG...hope I don't go into withdrawal), so it will be about a week before I get back here to continue the story of this adventure.....so I will see you then!!!

I finally have me a little craft area and I made a card!!!

Hey y'all!!!  I'm so sorry it took SO long..................but better late than never, right?  I've finally got me a little craft area set up in this tiny one bedroom apartment, but one of the boxes of craft supplies that I had intended to bring here to the apartment got put into storage and there's no way I'm going to try and find it as the storage is packed to the brim.  I don't have my stamp pads, embossing powders or folders, embossing/die cut machine, heat guns or a lot of bling, but I do have a lot of my paper, rubber stamps, some bling and my wonderful Cameo, so I can make some basic projects!  I just can't wait until we get back into a home with room to spread out!  I've already designed the craft area that I'm going to make using my JetMax Cubes that I have been collecting for several years and it will be so functional!!!  Here is a photo of my little space here in the "temporary" apartment!!!

Hey, it's certainly better than nothing...LOL

So, for my first project in months, I've made a very simple "thank you" card for my realtor and friend.  I took a Lori Whitlock card and changed a few things....like for the border at the top, I used a Martha Stewart border punch and the "Thank You" sentiment was made by me writing "Thank You" using a black thick Sharpie, scanning the image and then making a cutting file out of it!  I also used some "Peel-Offs" and "Liquid Pearls".  Here are some photos............and boy it felt good to do this!!!

Card Front  (you can also see the liner I made for the inside of the envelope):

Close-up of Motif:

Inside View:

Designer Signature Label (for back of card):

Thank you so much for your patience and for stopping by for a visit...........I hope to have more for you to see soon!!!

Supplies

Papers:  Bazzill Smooth White (for card base), Colorbok Textured White Cardstock, Colorbok Patterned Papers

Tools:  Silhouette "Cameo"

Accessories:  Martha Steward "Arch Lattice" Border Punch, Ranger "White Opal Liquid Pearls", Color Box "Dark Brown Fluid Chalk", Peel-Offs "Silver Stickers"

Hey y'all......please don't give up on me!!!!

Just 6 days (July 21st) after my last post, we found out that we had a buyer for our house and it would be a "cash sale".....which is really good and REALLY fast!  We accepted their offer and closed on August 6th!!!!!  In our contract they agreed that we could stay in the house "rent free" until August 30th, but because my husband's children, granddaughter and fiance and one of our niece's and her family were helping us move, we had to do it last weekend while they were all off from work.  We have moved into a little one bedroom apartment while we are dealing on a "short sale", so we put most of our belongings into storage.....including most of my craft stuff!  I feel like I am going to go into "withdrawal".  The only bright spot is that when we get moved into our new home, I will be creating a whole new craft room/area......that's what keeps me going!!!

After I get this apartment organized, I will be back with more details......so please don't quit stopping by!!!

Hugs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Pam

Summertime is so busy!!!!

Hey everyone!  Trust me, I am still alive and well!  We have had company and we went on a camping trip, plus we've been trying to get our house sold, so I've had no time for crafting and I have to admit that I'm starting to feel withdrawal pains...LOL!

The only thing I've a had a little time to do is observe some of the beautiful wildlife of South Africa via Ustream and Africam.com.  The animals are really stunning!!!

 I've got to share some images of a waterbuck bull that I saw at the Djuma Waterhole via Ustream this morning.  He was so handsome that I named him "George Clooney"!!!  Here are three shots of him that I captured.

Isn't he absolutely gorgeous!!!!


Hopefully we have a buyer for our house and can get moved really soon so that I can get my craft room set up to start creating once more.  If the deal does not go through, then I'm going to go ahead and pack up my craft room after I weed out the items I'm no longer using and redo my room and only unpack a portion of it so that when we do get the house sold I won't have so much packing to do.  We want to move closer to family now that we are getting older.  Plus with my husband's health issues it will be better to be closer to doctors and hospitals.  It's just the moving that is a problem....God only knows that I dread it!!!


Till next time my friends!!!

This one is for my friends at Africam.com!!!

I have been visiting the africam.com site for a couple of weeks now and I love seeing all the animals of South Africa.  I've been going on the chat and all the nice chatters are helping me learn how to identity the animals and teaching me about them.  At any rate I wanted to share this photo with them.  I took it back in 2004 when I took a digital photo class and it's one of my favorites, even tho I can't stand spiders!!!  I was actually trying to take a macro shot of a Black-eyed Susan, but the Green Lynx Spider was a definite bonus.  Doesn't he look just like a kiwi???

Please click on the photo to see an enlargement!  Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave comments!!!

Shower Card for Julie!!!

I'm going to a shower tomorrow for our great niece so I made a card to put her gift in (money..she can buy whatever she wants).  She is expecting a boy and instead of "It's a boy!", I decided to use "It's gonna be a "little dude!!!".  I hope she likes it!

Thanks for stopping by to visit.  As always, I would love to hear your comments!

Honestly, I have been busy!!!!

I just have not been posting lately.  If you do not keep up a blog, then you have no idea how time consuming it can be!  So in this post, I thought I would post photos of several projects that I have been working on.... all at one time!!!

SILK WALLPAPER COVERED FRAME

A few weeks ago I started working on a "photo frame" idea that I could make using my Cameo, some thin chipboard, poster board and some gorgeous silk wallpaper samples that my son (who is in management with Lowe's) acquired for me a while back....OMG, I just love them!!!  The inspiration for this frame came from a wooden frame that I saw online (and of course I forgot to save the link and now I can't find it) that had something like seven different layers all graduating inward to the photo...I loved the look and decided to try to create one using paper materials!  What do you think?  My husband loves this!

Front View:

View from the back:

SKETCH PROJECT

One of the other things I've been working on is playing with sketches using a Sharpie Liquid Pencil in my "HotPaws Pen Tool" for my Cameo.  All I can say is WOW!!!  If you don't have one of Sue Reynold's (HotPaws) Pen Tools you are missing out big time!!!  Check out her video!  And here is a link to her site where you can purchase one of them.  I have them for my Cameo/CraftRobo and my Pazzles Inspiration.  Here is a sketch project that I did of a wheelbarrow that was sketched by Douglas Larson at Lettering Delights.  You can find his sketches here....aren't they wonderful!!!

RECIPE BOX


Last but not least, is a Recipe Box that I made for my sister-in-law that had a birthday this past Sunday.  This box was designed by Lori Whitlock.  I absolutely love her designs and the fact that she does videos showing you, step by step, how to assemble them!  Here is a link for blog post and here is a link for her video............check them out!  Here is my finished project:

Front view of box:

Dividers

I want to add that the tiny "brown line" above the decorative border of the box top is vinyl that I cut with my Cameo and so are the "decorative edges" on each side corner of the box bottom!!!  Those "decorative vinyl edges" help add stability and strength to the box.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit.............please don't forget to leave me comments!!!  Come back soon!

Supplies (for recipe box)

Papers:  Bazzill, GA Pacific and  s e i "Desert Springs"

Tools:  Silhouette "Cameo", "HotPaws Pen Tool" for Cameo

Accessories:  Scor-Pal

I'm still "coming up roses"!!!!!!

I hope y'all don't get tired of roses.  I had to play a bit more last night, using some thinner cardstock, plus I made this one about 1.25 inches in diameter and I like it much better!  It's also easier to work with!  I used  "Plasma Blue" 80 lb. Canson "Effects Papercraft" that I bought from Michaels several years ago.  It's iridescent and I think it's some of my favorite paper that I own.  By the way, the lovely paper I placed my rose on is some Colorbok that I bought at Walmart!  At any rate, I just thought I would share this with you....so thanks for stopping by for a little visit.  Please let me know what you think of this one!

I forgot to add that the FREE cutting file for this rose is in the previous (May 4th) post, in four different formats.  Enjoy!!!

OK, let's talk about "paper flowers"!!!

Hey y'all, I know....I've not been here lately, BUT I have been very busy!  I came across a thread at the Makes the Cut Forum and that got me started on paper flowers like you would not believe!!!  Check this out:

and here is a close-up!

These are what is called "fringed flowers" in the world of quilling and Cecelia Louie designed a cutting file for those of us with digital cutters.  When I saw this, I just had to purchase it.  If you are interested, you can find it at her Etsy site here!  The file includes a really nice PDF with very good instructions and  DXF, STUDIO and SVG formats.  Thanks Cecelia!  The "plate and stand" that I used is a free fill download by Sue Lough in the UK and you can obtain it here!  I did alter the plate a bit for my project, but I love her file...thanks Sue!

OK, so now on to "My Paper Roses"!  I "googled" paper flowers looking for a really good rose file.  I found videos showing how to make them, but not a file that I really liked, so I proceeded to make my own and I'm sharing it with all of you.  When you download the file there will be a link to a video by "shabbybeautiful" that I used for my inspiration, in fact here is a link to her video!  Here are the first two roses I made using my file.

For the largest one I used Bazzill smooth white cardstock and for the smaller one (which I brushed with some yellow pigment ink in the centers with a stencil brush) I used Colorbok Textured White Cardstock from Walmart....it is a bit thinner.  I'm also going to try this with some other thinner cardstock I have in my stash and some 24 LB white paper from Epson.  Why don't you download my FREE file and give it a go....just put your own "spin" on it!!!  Just click on the file format of your choice below to download the file!

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I would LOVE to hear your comments on these roses and my file! Enjoy!!!

Happy Birthday Miss Holly!!!!!

A very special young lady in our family will be turning 23 on April 3rd and I designed and created this card just for her!!!!  We are all very proud of Holly's achievements in the Special Olympics!

Here's the story behind my design for her card.  A few weeks ago I had seen a card with a window, but the window had been made with a die.  Since I own several digital cutters, I decided I would use the software for one of them to make a cutting file of the window along with a window box.  So, I used my Silhouette Studio Designer Edition software and made files to cut with my favorite cutter, my Silhouette Cameo!!!  Holly is our great niece, her grandmother is my husband's sister, Merrylene.  At any rate to make a short story shorter, I decided to make a birthday card from Miss Holly that would be from all of us and got to thinking how it would be cute to use my window cutting file to have Holly looking out a window, kind of like she's looking out to see who's coming.....thus this design!  The window is actually VERY similar to the windows on their house and I then made shutters to match.  For the outside of the house, I used a textured wall paper sample from some sample books that my son got for me and I also used a silk wallpaper sample for the "wall" behind Holly.  The grassy areas as well as the picket fence are Silhouette America cutting files.  The tiny flowers and butterflies were made using punches.

For the inside of the card, the left side is left totally blank for room for everyone to sign the card and here is a photo of the right side:

A dear friend of mine out in CA (Sue, aka/HotPaws) even helped with this card, as she quickly designed the "Happy 23rd Birthday" in a circle while we were talking on the phone the other night and then I added "Holly" and the flower, which is another Silhouette America file.  I sure hope Holly likes it!!!!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit and I would LOVE to hear your comments on my design!

Finished Card Size:  A7 (5"x7")

Supplies

Papers:  Bazzill

Ink:  Tsukineko "VersaMark Watermark", Tim Holtz "Black Soot" & "Vintage Photo" Distress Inks

Tools:  Silhouette "Cameo", Ranger "Heat It"

Accessories:  Martha Stewart "Classic Butterfly" & "Hydrangea" Punches, "Girls are Weird" Font, Stamp-n-Stuff "Star Dust Transparent" embossing powder, Recollections "Pearl" 

Easter Card for my Grandsons!!!

Yesterday, Splitcoast Stampers had their weekly Sketch Challenge (SCS376) and since I was going to make an Easter card for my grandsons, I decided to do it for the challenge......here is my take on it:

The adorable little "hatching chick" is an image I found through Google Images and turned him into a digi stamp!  I also went into my Silhouette Studio Designer Edition software and did a print and cut of the image, cut it with my Cameo and then hand colored with my Copic & Neopiko markers!  The "flower medallion" is a free cutting file by Monica Bjork called "Laced Frame 27" and you can find it here .....while you are there check out all of her files....they are wonderful!!!  The banner that I cut with my Silhouette "Cameo" is a Silhouette America file and I think it is one of the free ones that comes with the Silhouette Studio software...it is just called "banner 2" and I altered it by adding the "Happy Easter" using the "Stencil STD" font.


I hope my little grandsons like this card!  Thanks for stopping by and I always love reading your comments on my designs.  Hurry back!


Finished Card Size:  A2 (5.5"x4.25")

Supplies


Papers:  Bazzill, GA Pacific, DCWV "Nana's Nursery Baby Boy" Stack
Ink & Embossing Powder:  Tsukineko "WaterMark", Recollections "Signature Sparkle" Embossing Powder
Tools:  Silhouette "Cameo", Ranger "Heat It"
Accessories:  Martha Stewart "Hydrangea" & "Classic Butterfly" Punches, want2scrap "Bling", Stickles "Golden Rod" & "Crystal", "Copic Sketch" & "Neopiko" Markers

A VERY special young lady & a FREE file...........................

turned 21 on the 7th of March!!!  Jennifer is our youngest granddaughter and I just cannot believe that she is already 21!  She is on the Dean's List at Florida State University and we are SO proud of her.  This is the card that I made for her special day.

I designed the card base using my Silhouette Studio Designer Edition software and at the end of this post I will have links to a free download of the card base if you would like it!  I used a couple of Silhouette America files, which are paid for files, so I cannot share...but if you would like them you can get them at their store.....here are the file names:     happy_birthday_card_C20091116151828_19007

                          beautiful_label_C00397_20509

The font that I used for "OMG...she's legal!", which was done with my Cameo and a Silhouette Sketch Pen is "Boris Black Bloxx" and if you Google it, you can find a free download for it!

Here is another photo showing the card with envelope.  I scanned my designer cardstock so that I could make a liner (which I cut with my Cameo) for the store bought envelope!

For the free file, just select the format that you use and you will be taken to the download.

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I hope y'all can use the free file and I would love to hear your comments on this design!  Thanks for stopping by and come back soon!!!

Finished Card Size:  A7 (5"x7")

Supplies

Papers:  Recollections "Modern Bouquet" Paper Pad, Bazzill

Ink:  Tsukineko "VersaMark Watermark"

Tools:  Silhouette "Cameo"

Accessories:  Martha Steward "Classic Butterfly" Punch, Stamp-n-Stuff "Star Dust Transparent" Embossing Powder, Mark Richards "Nailhead Metal Stickers", "Crystal" Stickles

Oops, I forgot to post these last year!!!

In the month of November, there were two blessed events in the Conner family....the births of Mackenzie Rose and Conner Ryan and I made each one of them a "door sign" and because "Christine from TX" asked me a question regarding the "door sign" that I made for Taylor back in 2008 I happened to think that I had never posted these on my blog.  Christine, these were actually done using poster board for the base!  If it's not quite thick enough, you can always use more than one layer.

Here is the one I made for Mackenzie Rose:

This one was done using my Pazzles "Inspiration" and there was at least 7 different layers.  If I remember correctly on this one the bottom layer is just black Bazzill, then a layer of poster board that I heat embossed with "Star Dust Transparent" embossing powder, then a layer of rose Bazzill Bling, then another layer of black card stock that is heat embossed with the "Star Dust Transparent" embossing powder, then a layer of pale pink Bazzill, ending up with the darker pink "Mackenzie" that I designed in the Pazzles Pro software.  To "dress" it up, I cut her birth date out of some silver vinyl on my Graphtech "CraftRobo" and then I added, would you believe, nail art!!!  Then a little bit of bling and a few store bought miniature roses!

Here is the one I made for Conner Ryan:

And here is a close-up of the "little golfer boy"!

Now for this one, the base is made of poster board which I then covered with the patterned paper.  The design as done using my Pazzles Pro software and cut on my Pazzles "Inspiration" digital cutter.  My design for this one started with the "little golfer boy" which was a Precious Moments coloring image that I found online and turned into a "digi stamp" that I can cut on my digital cutters and then color.  I colored him with my Copics and Neopiko markers and I added some freckles too.  Isn't he absolutely adorable!!!!  All of the extra elements are store bought stickers!

Christine from TX, if you more information, email me so that I can email you back!  Y'all thanks for stopping by to take a look!  Please don't forget to leave your comments as I love reading them!!!

Get Well Soon!!!!!

This is the card that I made from the ovals I created in my March 2nd post.  My inspiration was the "Sketch Challenge" at Splitcoast Stampers the week of February 29th (#SC374).  For those of you that are not a member or familiar with Splitcoast, you can go here to join!  They have different types of challenges every day and by doing them you will learn so much!

The banner that I cut with my Silhouette "Cameo" is a Silhouette America file and I think it is one of the free ones that comes with the Silhouette Studio software...it is just called "banner 2" and I altered it by adding the "Get Well Soon" using the "Stencil STD" font.  It includes a "mat" and after I put it together, I kind of curled it so that it would "bow up"....you can see what I'm talking about in this photo!

At any rate, it was a lot of fun putting this together and I rather like the look.  How about you?

Next, I will be posting a photo that I made for our youngest granddaughter's 21st birthday....so come back soon.  I would love to hear your comments on this card as well!

Finished Card Size:  5.25"x5.25"

Supplies


Papers:  Bazzill, the Paper Studio "Mirabelle" Paper Pack
Ink:  Tim Holtz "Forest Moss" & "Vintage Photo" Distress Ink
Tools:  Silhouette "Cameo", Pazzles "Inspiration", Sizzix "Big Shot"
Accessories:  Spellbinder's "Beaded Oval" & "Classic Oval", want2scrap "Half Pearls", Recollections "flowers"

Oh my, I'm afraid that I've been playing again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really need to stop playing and make a very special birthday card for a young lady that is turning 21 next week and I 'm going to do just that!  Yesterday I started making a "butterfly background" using a Silhouette America butterfly file (you can purchase this cutting file for $.99 from the Silhouette America Store and the file name is: butterfly_C00147_23067) that I removed the antennae from and that lead me to design a "Butterfly Stencil & Overlay for an A2 Card".  I cut the stencil on my Silhouette Cameo out of "quilter's plastic".  I ordered mine online at Joann's (yrs. ago) because I was able to get 6 sheets (4 with grids and 2 plain) for $7.99, which is only $1.25 a sheet and the sheets are 12x18 inches so they go a long way.  You can find them here!  I also use those when I want to make my own cutting mats.   I used a stencil brush and Tim Holtz "Forest Moss" Distress Ink to ink mine.   I did one sheet and then cut two ovals out of it to use with my Spellbinders Beaded Oval die and I used embossing powder which I heat set to give mine more dimension!  I did that three times.  Here are the two I made that I will later on use on cards.

Sample 1

Sample 2

Here's what my cut stencil looks like:

I'm sorry that I cannot share the file with you, but since I used a paid for Silhouette America file to make the stencil, I'm not sure that I can give away the file.  I just mainly wanted to show what can be done by making your own stencils with your digital cutting machines!

I would love to hear your comments about this technique!!!!

Hey......do ya want the bug????

The "node bug" that is!!!

Today when I was reading posts at the Makes the Cut Forum, I came across a post entitled "Bug Bite" and figured someone had gotten bitten by a really bad bug and to my surprise she (Sharon, aka/daffeydil) had posted a picture of a cutting file that I had designed during one of Klo Oxford's free live classes back in November of 2010!!!  I believe the class was regarding "node editing" in the Pazzles Inspiration Studio software and some of us in the class starting joking like "well, I did not node that"...LOL  One of the gals in particular was Paula (aka/massofhair) from the UK and we still to this day get a big hoot of it.  At any rate, that's how the "Node Bug" was created!  When Klo went to the UK to do some classes there, Paula even sent me a "Node Bug ATC" she had made for me..........I still have it!  I thought maybe some of you might like the cutting file to use on maybe some kind of "get well" card or even a scrapbook layout, so I decided to share it!!!  Just click on the format you prefer to go to the download and then consider yourself "bug bit"!!!

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Enjoy!