My thoughts are free to go anywhere...

This is just a quick post with the next in the Sister Card line-up.  As I was trying to figure out what the post title would be I realized that the sentiment I used inside this latest card also applies to each & every one of you...

My thoughts are free to go anywhere,

but it's surprising how often

they head in your direction.

- author unknown

The design was inspired by a card by Susan Stringfellow that I saw in the January Cards magazine (page 55 if you have it & are interested in taking a peek). 

Products used:  Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Spring Moss) & Bazzill (white); 

Patterned Paper: Papertrey Ink (Beautiful Blooms); 
Embossing Folder: Provo Craft; Ink: Colorbox (Olive Pastel); 

  Alphabet: American Crafts Thickers (Cherry Subway); 

Flower: Prima;  Font (inside): Brandywine;  Other:  brad (unknown).

On a related note... my sister, Terry, called this afternoon.  She thanked me for the latest card and said "I think I'm going to but them in a book."  YAY!  Anyone who's ever made a card & put love it them knows that a response like that makes your heart sing.  And it re-emphasized for me that the quotes I choose are important. 

Thanks for swinging by...

Colleen

SU! Club - January '11

YAY!  My first official SU! club is behind me.  I was WAY stressed out.  Pure silliness because these girls are my friends.  But I'm afraid they won't tell me if they don't like something so I keep telling them to let me know when they don't like something.  (I'm counting on you, Stephanie!)  It's one thing to teach a class at the store to people who chose to take the class; it's another thing to have people blindly show up at your house and trust that you'll make something they'll not throw out when they get home. 

So... we made 3 cards and a little gift box.  And we ate & laughed & gossiped.  Here's what we made (the pictures aren't very good; I had to take them at night and therefore, they're not that great)...

Card #1 is our butterfly card with both dry & wet embossing...

Close-up of the butterflies:

   Products used (everything is from SU! unless otherwise noted):

Embossing Folder: Elegant Lines;  Stamp sets: Butterfly Prints;

Punch: Butterfly Extra Large;  Embossing ink pad: Versafine;  

Embossing powder: white;  Inks: Pretty in Pink, Sahara Sand; 

Cardstock (I think these are the colors!): Pretty in Pink, Certainly Celery, 
Bashful Blue and White (Bazzill);  Other: Big Shot, pop dots.

Card #2 is our valentine card...

Close-up of the scallop:

Products used (everything is from SU! unless otherwise noted):

Stamp set: Valentine Defined; Punches: Scallop Trim Corner, Scallop Trim Border, 

Scallop Circle (1 3/4"  ) Extra Large, Heart to Heart Extra Large;  

Embossing powder: clear;  Ink (I think!): Rose Red;  

Cardstock (I think!): Rose Red, Whisper White,  White (Bazzill)

Ribbon: Whisper White Taffeta;  Other: pop dots.

Card #3 is our Bird Card (and my favorite from this batch)...

Products used (everything is from SU! unless otherwise noted):

Embossing Folder: Elegant Lines;  Stamp sets: Clearly for You;

Inks: Old Olive, Marina Mist; Cardstock (I think!): Marina Mist and 

French Vanilla (Bazzill);  Ribbon: Old Olive Satin; Other: Big Shot

Gift Box.... this was fun to put together.  I got the idea from a bunch of brilliant Demonstrators who think outside the box (ha! get it?) with the SU! big shot dies that are available.  This one uses 4 envelopes daisy-chained together to make a box.  So clever.  

Close-up of the label on top:

Products used (everything is from SU! unless otherwise noted):

Patterned Paper: Designer Series Paper Pad In Colors (Poppy Parade);

Ink: Crumb Cake; Cardstock : Kraft (Bazzill);  Punches: Decorative Label, 

Heart to Heart Extra Large; Ribbon: Whisper White Taffeta; 

Bigz Die: Scallop Envelope;  Other: Big Shot

And then I made this little gift for Stephanie, our first hostess.  

Products used (everything is from SU! unless otherwise noted):

Stamp set: Valentine Defined, Tiny Tags; Punches: Jewelry Tag Medium;  

Embossing powder: clear;  Embossing Pen:  Versafine;  

Ink (I think!): Rose Red;  Marker: Brown Slick Writer

Cardstock: White (Bazzill);  Ribbon: unknown;  Other: frame from Michaels.

Whew!  Next Club (in March) will be a 2-page layout requested by the next hostess.   I already have it planned in my head & have to get a few things ordered to make it happen.  Looking forward to it!  

For the next sister card, I used the Bird Card from above but removed the "for you" from the front.  I added a quote by Henry Van Dyke inside "Use the talents you possess - for the woods would be a very silent place if no birds sang except for the best." 

Products used (everything is from SU! unless otherwise noted):

Embossing Folder: Elegant Lines;  Stamp sets: Clearly for You;

Inks: Old Olive, Marina Mist;  Cardstock (I think!): Marina Mist and 

French Vanilla (Bazzill);  Ribbon: Old Olive Satin; 

Font: Black Jack;  Other: Big Shot

All righty... that finishes up the projects that are good enough/finished enough to print!  :0)  Thanks for swinging by. 

... like a snowball rolling down a hill

The momentum is building like a snowball rolling down a hill so I got a few things done within the past week or so.  Several more are a work in progress but not done just yet.

Here are the latest creations.

Sister Card # 2 - The scan is really bad; the colors are much softer IRL and are closer to a soft blue/tealish color.  The snowflakes are glisteny (yea... that's not in Merriam-Webster, I know) and the edge of the word block is all shiny.  The outside reads "Winters must be cold for those with no warm memories."  On the inside, I wrote "Thanks for the warmth."

 Products used:  all PP:  Heidi Grace; cardstock:  Recollections; 

punches:  Martha Stewart (snowflake) & EK Success (label);  

fonts:  deadly english & calibri; pen: Sakura Gelly Roll.

ink:  ColorBox robin's egg & Maya mist Iridescent Pearl.

Next up are a few pages I did for page kits for the LSS.

A Day With The Girls...  I'm actually anxious to get this one back after it's done being needed at the store.  I have several more embellishments, a subtitle and (dare I say it!?) journaling to add.  The scan is awful because I was in a hurry and hadn't loaded the good scanning software I have on my new computer (which I've had for nearly a year; goes to show how much I've been scanning in the past year.  oy.) These pictures were taken celebrating our friend, Beth.  Bittersweet day for all of us she left behind in PA.  Sniff.  (Sorry for the tiny photo... these 2-pagers are hard to fit on here.)  I was glad to hear that the kits sold out in 2 days.  Whew... no need for the panic attack. 

Products used:  All PP & diecut:  My Mind's Eye; 

punches:  Martha Stewart & EK Success; 

alphabet:  American Crafts; ink: ColorBox creamy brown

True Love... I actually made this one up last year for a page kit but for stupid procrastinating reasons (who ME?!), I never got the photo printed & the kits up to the store.  And since it's all Valentinesy (Merriam-Webster is going to shut me down), I just held onto it til now.  I plan to frame this one and give it to my sister, Terry.   

Products used:  no clue since I did this a year ago.  

I'm pretty sure the PP is from several different manufacturers and 

I know I used the AccuCut machine for the scallop border, 

artisan shape and scallop square.  I'm pretty sure I used the Slice for the tag.  

I know the brown cardstock is Bo Bunny & the alphabet is American Crafts.  

And I know that's my awesome sister & brother-in-law.    :0)

Big weekend of crafting ahead of me and lots to prepare for so I'll be posting more over the weekend.  Thanks for stopping by... 

And thanks for all the support & encouragement after being blogless for so long.  It gave me a lot of extra bounce in my step last week!

A New Year, A New Self-Challenge

Two Year Anniversary!!  Sadly... two years since I last posted here.  Ack!

But I'm back and have challenged myself to something new this year in order to get back into the swing of things, stay motivated and spread the love.  Just as for all of you, family is everything.  I would do anything I could for my brothers & sisters and they've gone way beyond for me in more ways than you could imagine.  My sisters are always doing little things for me and it's never ending.  So, this year, I decided to make a commitment to put my crafty talents to work and mail each of them a card every week for the entire year.  That's it, no requirements, no boundaries, nothing.  I think they'll like seeing something in the mail that isn't a bill or catalog (well, okay, we're catalog lovers), a sales ad (okay, we like those, too) or something sent to their alter ego "Resident".  I call them "Sister Cards". I'm looking forward to when they realize that one will be arriving every week.  :0)

To help me keep track of things, I'm scanning all of them so that hopefully I won't repeat a quote or sentiment (I can't begin to guarantee they all won't start looking alike, though!).  I'll share here each week.  As luck would have it, I've been slapped with a nasty flu/cold/virus/whatever that nearly everyone else has.  I got it on December 29th and I'm still not feeling great.  So, I started out the year a bit behind.  So, even though this is week 2, I'm just posting week 1 now...

The outside.  I used Scenic Route papers on Kraft cardstock, some jute a flower and a custom brad I made from pages torn from an old book.  Since I was using a Winnie-the-Pooh quote on the inside, I found appropriate text for the flower center.  :0)

The inside... My sisters are always people I can "be sure of" and that's why I chose this quote.

I thought this would be a good way to start the year!