For a new neighbor...

Do people still give "welcome to the neighborhood" gifts, food, anything?  I made this card for a family who recently moved in (just two houses down the street), and will probably make a fresh batch of cookies to go with it...or maybe some pumpkin scones...mmMmmMMmm...yummy!

Now if I can manage to deliver them before my family devours every last crumb, I'll consider it a success!

Breast cancer awareness

Such an ugly disease...cancer.  I have several friends/family members who have faced cancer of various kinds and they all suck.  This card is for October being breast cancer awareness month.  May researchers find a cure soon!

World Card Making Day 2014

Wow. LONG time no blogging! Life is busy with four kids and for 2 1/2 of the past three years I was working full time (which meant not much crafting.) I'm back at it now (at least occasionally), and yesterday I made time to just play. SO much fun.

A "joy-fold" card - love these!

Burlap on a card - fun! (just wish it smelled like coffee)

My "brick wall" card...

A birthday card (with dimensional butterfly)

My personal favorite...lots of layers, dimension, fussy-cutting, and BLING!

Playing with "Vintage Vogue"...

This is the main set I've been playing with recently. If you looked at my craft area right now, you'd see all sorts of these flowers stamped and cut out just waiting to be placed on different projects. :-) Here's a few more of the cards I created with this set...

My personal favorite is the "Thank You" card...which is your favorite? Why?

Because I Care cards...

One of the stamp sets I pulled out to play with recently was "Because I Care" (a hostess set from SU). I made three cards with it...all with the same layout, but slightly different color schemes. I stamped the main image with StazOn ink, then colored with my favorite aqua-painter and ink pads. I played with one of my new toys (a Martha Stewart border punch) on this project, as well. Which one is your favorite? I posted a close-up of mine...

Ramblings on a really rough month...

April was a really rough month at our house. Our oldest daughter has been struggling with depression for some time now, and in April spent eight days in a psychiatric hospital, followed by three more as a "partial patient" in an attempt to diagnose, treat, and teach her how to better manage the emotions she's dealing with. On top of that, we had three birthdays to celebrate (and Easter, too)! How do you celebrate when your life is in the midst of a storm? Carefully. I'm definitely not an expert at this, but I'm learning to recognize the truly important, and focus on one day at a time (sometimes one minute or hour at a time).
We all deal with life's ups and downs differently. I eat...and craft...and cry (in no particular order). Crafting is one of the few "positive outlets" that I have, so I refuse to let that go completely. A few of the cards I've made recently were for family, so I thought I'd share them here.

The turquoise card uses Stampin' Up!'s "Natural Beauty" set, and I simply watercolored the bird image a bit. The flower strip was made using an EK punch.

The birthday card was made for Brenna's birthday (I still have a hard time believing that she's actually 17!). I used the Vintage Vogue set from Stampin' Up!, along with a Nestabilities die, and some vanilla seam binding. This is one of my personal favorites. :-)

4-Drawer Easel Card

When my friend Jennie made and posted her gorgeous 4-drawer easel card on her blog recently (http://inkypuddles.blogspot.com/2011/03/4-drawer-easel-card.html?spref=fb) I knew that I wanted to make one. Most of the projects I create are definitely on the feminine side, so I tried to make one that was more masculine for our son, Cody. Here's what I came up with:

It isn't nearly as elegant as hers, but Cody LOVES it! The directions I used can be found at http://inksomething2.blogspot.com/2010/04/tutorial-for-4-drawer-easel-card.html