Gerda Steiner Designs

Look at this adorable little Easter freebie from GSD! So cute. I made this little tag for the Easter Egg Hunt. Go to Gerda Steiner Designs store and you can download these cute little bunnies for your Easter cards too. :) Thanks Gerda!

It's only been 38 1/2 years.....

December 9 will be our 39th wedding anniversary. Believe it or not, I finally made my wedding scrapbook! I've only been scrapbooking/paper crafting for 21 years now (OMG, has it been that long!??? Wow) and I never really planned on doing a wedding album, as we didn't have a big wedding or anything.  We married in the pastor's living room and my sister-in-law took some pictures for us and I've just had them in a little Hallmark book all these years. But heck, why not make a scrapbook, right!? I love looking at the pictures, even though there are only a few. They just make me happy. So I shared the album cover in the facebook group, but had requests to see the inside pages, so I figured I may as well share them here on my blog as well. I hope you like it. It was a labor of love and I enjoyed every second of creating it. Please enjoy, and comment if you would like. 

I used the Simple Stories, Snap! collection for the album and page protectors and inserts. And for the embellishments, papers, and other goodies, My Mind's Eye, the Gingham Foundry collection. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me (link in sidebar; remember to include your email address in the narrative of your email as the link won't share it). 

Thanks for coming by the studio to see my latest creation. I'm so in love with it! Seems silly, but I am. 

Just playin' with hot foil

Before we left for California, I bought a Glimmer Hot Foil System. It had been in the box under my desk just waiting to be crafty. I had such amazing success with my first pass I am officially hooked! Using Pinkfresh Studio, Perfect Sentiments hot foil plate and die, this was my very first attempt! 

And here are each of the sentiments die cut. 

To say I was pleased is an understatement. For a first attempt, this was gorgeous. Of course, now I have to foil all the things. ALL the things! I went to the Pinkfresh Studio website and checked out some videos there, and then went to youtube to find even more. Having roughly twenty billion dies in my craft room, the fact you can use regular dies with this process is a game changer. 

The pictures just can't possibly do justice to these images. This fancy label die (a 2 pc die) by My Favorite Things in silver on black - ...

then this gorgeousness in gold. I can't wait to use it on a card. I'm so sad you can't see how pretty these are. 

And this one is using one of the Folk Edge rectangle frames from Pinkfresh. So subtle and yet so pretty. I'll be in my room foiling if you need me. ;) 

Don't be afraid to experiment! What have you got to lose except maybe a small piece of foil. LOL 

Happy to be home

We arrived home yesterday just after noon. It was so good to pull into the driveway and have everything looking exactly as we had left it. No snow, thank goodness! LOL And everything in working order. It was a really nice, sunny day, but very cold. Which we expected. It's supposed to warm up next week and then spring will be here. Yay. 

We left La Mesa just before 9 a.m. on Monday and the weather was gorgeous. Clear skies, bright sunny morning, and perfect. Too bad we weren't able to bring it home with us. Can't have perfection every day I guess. 

Our first night on the road we stayed in Lodi, CA. It wasn't anything special (nothing against Lodi at all!) but we were only there to get something to eat and spend the night, so we weren't expecting anything either. But then, when we left in the morning, we were greeted by Santa in the parking lot. I figured that had to be a good omen and, sure enough, the day's travel was easy as could be and completely uneventful. Thank you, Santa!

Then, somewhere close to Weed (a small town in California if you are not familiar), we came upon this super cool cloud formation. Randy decided it was the vapor trail of the Mothership coming to pick up a few Believers in Aliens and Potheads from town. Silly guy. 

And here we come to the souvenir store in Weed. The signs just seem to shout at you "TAKE MY PICTURE", so of course, we always do. Hahahaha!!

Believe it or not, as many times as we've been through here, I do not own a I 💓 Weed tee-shirt.

Next stop, Madras, Oregon. We have stayed at this place a couple of times. (This is a stock photo, not mine, so the plants were not yet in bloom, but the weather was very nice when we arrived.) It's really a great place and we recommend it. They have a full breakfast with everything you can imagine and a large dining room and pool. I love this place. If you ever stay here, I also recommend Abby's Legendary Pizza up the street a ways. SO GOOD.

But then we woke up to this. Really, Mother Nature? Thanks a bunch. My poor little car is freezing out there!

And off we go, in the snow. Our last leg of the trip and we had to find snow. Ugh. It lasted way longer than we anticipated, and the icy roads were a little touchy here and there, but thankfully, it warmed up as the morning wore on and thawed the ice for us. No accidents or traffic incidents. Thanks to all for your safe travels vibes. We really felt them! 

As we got closer to the Columbia River, the snow was mostly just blanketing the ground so it wasn't causing any driving problems. Then we get to the bridge that crosses from Oregon to Washington over the Columbia. Oh great, CONSTRUCTION!! ON the bridge. Which meant one lane closed because all the big trucks were on one side. Now, I've had a fear of heights, bridges, cracks if I have to walk over them, since I was a tiny little kid. This situation made me quite nervous. I mean, how many times do you see signs on bridges specifically telling you NO STOPPING ON BRIDGE....and here are all these heavy trucks stopped. 😱 I just knew they were too heavy and we would all fall into the river. Thank goodness we made it across without having to brave the ice waters of the Columbia. 

And then this welcome sight. We're home!!!

Oh yes, I'm so glad to be home and sleep in my own bed. I even unpacked the day we got home....and that is very unusual for me. I really hate unpacking and usually put it off until I absolutely have to do it. But, I think it was a great Feng Shui move and helped my sleep too not having that chore undone. 

All the crafty supplies are unpacked and put away so I can begin playing again. I know it was only a couple of days, but I really do miss it when I literally can't do it. Hubby is also anxious to get in the shop and cut some of the exotic hardwood he bought in Carlsbad. He even has a project in mind already, thanks to one of the grandgirls who called with a special request. Ahhh yes, we are so happy to be back in our element!!

Remember to turn your clocks ahead this weekend. Spring is just around the corner!!

With sympathy

This will be my last post until we get back home from California. We hit the road again on the 7th, so my crafty supplies will be packed up in the next couple of days while we gather everything into the car. It's always amazing to us how slow the time goes in the first month, and then how quickly it goes in the last month! We will certainly miss the wonderful weather, but hopefully won't have to wait too long before spring comes to our door at home. :) Meanwhile, here is my final card until we get home. 

We recently received the sad news that one of hubs' cousins, who had been suffering from a lot of health issues, including lung cancer, over the past several years, has passed away. I'm sure it's a blessing for his immediate family that he no longer suffers, but he will, of course, be missed. 

For this card, I used the Pinkfresh Studio, Choose Hope, stamp, die and coordinating stencil set. After I stenciled the image, I perked it up even more with copic markers. I used the My Favorite Things Basket Weave stencil with sno cone ink and a blending brush for a soft background behind the roses. The image is first stenciled with inks then the darker on the roses is copic marker. The metallic pearls are also by Pinkfresh Studio in the Sparkling Champagne color. They give just enough embellishment. I didn't have a sympathy stamp with me in my limited craft supply, so I used a tiny alphabet by Heidi Swapp to stamp out the word. 

Here we go. This is a better view of the sparkle added with the Spica pen. It's not 'in your face' glitter, just a very soft accent that provides a little shimmer. 

Product List:

Pinkfresh Studio, Choose Hope stamp set

Pinkfresh Studio, Choose Hope die

Pinkfresh Studio, Choose Hope stencil set

Pinkfresh Studio, Sparkling Champagne metallic pearls

My Favorite Things, Basket Weave stencil

My Favorite Things, Fishtail Foundations sentiment die *retired 

My Favorite Things, Fine Finish Edge Die

My Favorite Things, Black and White Stripe 6x6 paper pad

My Favorite Things, Smooth White cardstock

My Favorite Things inks, sno cone (background) jellybean green (leaves) *discontinued color

Distress inks, worn lipstick, peeled paint (roses, leaves)

Copic Xpress it blending card

Copic Sketch Markers, R27 R46

Copic Atyou Spica pen, clear glitter

Foam tape, tiny alpha stamps

My Favorite Things, Color Challenge #184

Such a pretty combination to work with, I had to use it with some greenery. I decided on this Winter Wreath stamp by My Favorite Things. One of my crafty friends has been ill for awhile and I'm hoping to cheer her up with this card. I like how it turned out.

I tried to get an angle where the glossy berries would show up, but that was not successful. 

In this one, you can see the striking blue beads I embellished with. These were white but I used the coordinating copic color to the challenge palette and love how pretty they are. 

Product List:

My Favorite Things, Winter Wreath stamp and die

My Favorite Things, Winter Songbird stamps and dies (foliage)

My Favorite Things, Skinny Strips sentiment die

My Favorite Things, Smooth White cardstock

My Favorite Things, Limelight dye ink (background halo)

Pinkfresh Studio, Choose Hope stamp set (sentiments)

Copic Xpress it blending card

Copic Sketch Markers

   B39 B91 B95

   W1 W4

   YG17 YG21 YG23

Foam tape, glossy accents, blending brush, flatback pearls colored with copic marker