Well I hope you liked the latest posts to my blog. I'm off to Arizona on friday, so I won't have anything to post for awhile. But if you'd like to check out a new card of mine visit the "Graphic 45" gallery @ G45paper.com (I've posted a few cards there recently).
My niece is graduating from college, so we're "road tripping," it to AZ for that! Have you ever seen "National Lampoon's Vacation?" I imagine our trip being like the Griswalds' :)
My poor husband, Greg, has to take a 2 week Math Class for school (he's a teacher), so he's staying here in CO., and my 2 kids and I are going with my parents, to my sister, Terre's house in AZ. I'm so excited!!! :) It's been 6 years since we've been to AZ. I can't say I'm gonna love the heat, but I'm glad I get to see my family. We'll also get to see my brother's, Israel & Bob, and my Tias while we are there!!!! :)
I'm also visitng my former District Manager (from AVON), Cheri, so that'll be fun too! Cheri and her husband relocated to AZ awhile ago, so it'll be nice seeing them again. My son used to go with me to all the AVON meetings, since I stared selling when he was 1; he was so used to seeing Cheri, he started calling her 'Grandma Cheri.' :) He asks about her every now and then, why we don't see her anymore, so it'll be nice seeing her again, for him too!
After AZ, I have to catch up on my AVON deliveries and I also have a meeting to attend, so it might be August before you here from me again. :( But I will return......

Gnome & Garden

When I found this stamp set in "Oriental Trader," I HAD to buy it. Call me crazy----I love gnomes. And my sister, Terre, gives me such a hard time about it. She says, "only little old ladies like gnomes." Well, I'm not old, but I do like gnomes, I have them all over in my flowerbeds. :)

So Sis, this card's for you! :)

I love this mini stamp set I got from Michael's (for $1) :) Obviously they were too small for what I wanted; so I looked at them and drew what I wanted onto my paper, cut it out and here is the finished result! Hope you like it.

This lady bug card was originally a project we made at a Stampin' Up party; but since then I have made more. I made mine using the Large Standard Circle dies from Spellbinders. It works, but the lady bug is smaller, because you can't choose what size to make it, like you could using a circle cutter.

So, you cut 1black circle & 1 red circle, same size. (cut the red one in half). Cut a smaller white circle and a small black circle. Glue small black circle to large black circle (head & body). Then glue the white circle, centered on black circle (body). Attach wings using 2 black brads at top of body. Spots are cut out with a paper punch and glued onto wings. Antennas are made using waxy flax, and are glued to the back of the head. Glue on some wiggly eyes, and stamp a message, and you're done!

This is a birthday card I made for my friend, Jenn. We don't live in the same town anymore, (she moved), and I don't get to see her that often, so I wanted to make her a special card for her birthday. Jenn loves pink, so this is perfect for her!

Pottery Painting

I recently went with my husband's cousin, Diana, to our local pottery shop, "Angelo's," for a "girl-friends painting night."


I have never painted pottery before, so it was a little hard with the pieces I chose, because you have to draw & paint something onto them. The coffee cup trivet will match my kitchen (it looks like a coffee shop)!

For the jewelery box, I got the bright idea to paint leaves & rosebuds. (I'm learning how to do "one-step painting," and that is all I can do so far). Anyways. . . as I found out, it is very hard to do on ceramics; because it soaks up the paint almost instantly!


Oh well! For my first attempt at painting it could've gone a lot worse I suppose! :)

Darth Vader Wall Hanging

My 6 year old son LOVES Star Wars----ask him anything about Star Wars and he probably knows it. Seriously, it's kinda scary! In fact, his whole room is Star Wars.
So, I got this idea to make a wall hanging for his room. It has a front and back with a layer of batting in between, so really it could be a quilt!
But then I decided to make it really "stand out" so I hand-stitched around all the flames and lettering---boy was that a LOT of work!!! It looks really awesome though, now that I finally have it done.

The first picture is the completed wall hanging. The second is a close-up of the flames (bottom right corner). This was NOT a small project, it's about 4' long and 3' wide. :( Let me tell you, that is a LOT of stitches!!!

Tools: Crop o dile, C.T.M.H. "extreme happiness" stamp set

Ink: Chalk ink (brown) & (white), C.T.M.H. (sunflower, cranberry & olive)

Paper: scraps

Accessories: eyelets & hemp

This card was made using C.T.M.H. new "Hawaiian themed" stamp set---LOVE it! For the water, I used some dark blue scrap paper, tore the edges and used white chalk ink to make it look like waves. The flower and leaves are stamped on white card stock, cut out & chalked, and then assembled.