Masculine Card Swap

I made this card for a Masculine Swap I was in. Donna was going to send cards to soldiers, so the name of the game was to make 25 identical cards that were not birthday or holiday cards that were masculine in nature. I chose one of my older, retired sets because it showcase my love of horses as well! This was done with Equestrian Dreams stamp set from SU, certainly celery & Close to Cocoa SU cardstock, gold eyelets that I used for holes to tie the twine in. I LOVE my paper piercing tool and used that on the corners as well. I was very pleased with the cards I got back in the mail from the swap as well. I'll definitely try and case a few so I can post them as well. It's harder for me to come up with "male type" cards, but I definitely have a bunch to use as inspiration now.

January Crop time!

I went to my very first crop this past weekend. So much fun!

Here are a few things I made. I'll share more later.

OK to WOW

Hello! I've joined a swap (several lately!) called Ok to WOW. Hopefully no one from the swap reads my blog. Does anyone? haha

I made the following two cards for that swap, so if you did join it, don't look any further! The object of the swap is to make a card that is ok. Then make the same card layout and make it WOW. Hopefully I achieved that!! I think they turned out pretty cute, what do you think?

I'm so in love with the Happy Heart Day stamp set from SU. I've made so many cards with it lately.

I used Real Red, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, and Black cardstock. Colored in using my SU markers, Real Red, Bashful Blue, and Creamy Caramel.

Inky Antics

One of my sweet friends (who isn't stamp crazy, therefore, I doubt she reads my blog) is having a c-section on Wednesday to have her second child. I made this card for her and I love the way it turned out.

Everything is StampinUp! except for the stamp itself. It's from Inky Antics, and I just fell in love with it.

I used Groovy Guava DP on top of white card stock. Cut the hole using my Coluzzle. If I did this card again, I wouldn't have cut the Kanga out as well, I would just paste it in, but live and learn, right? I used Blue Bayou double stitched ribbon to add a little color. I also used the watercolor crayons to color the picture in. (I love to watercolor using my AquaPainter!) The words come from the So Many Sayings stamp set. The inside reads, "Sharing in the happiness of your wonderful news!" from the Cheery Chat set. I just love it!

I've decided to add a little "life" to my blog as well. So let me start by saying, that I am Gretchen, from KY. I have a wonderful husband, Steve and we have a beautiful daughter, Elizabeth. She's 4 and full of life. She's an angel when she wants to be and a BEAST when she doesn't! lol I must say that I thought the "terrible twos" were a breeze up until about a month before she turned 3. The threes were a little more trying, but the 4's are very unpleasant! The tantrums, oh my! Elizabeth and I have been watching "Jon and Kate Plus 8" for awhile now, and I always tell her to look how good 8 kids are being compared to one! *grin* We do love that show though!

Hope you all have a great day.

Happy Heart Day!

I've been enjoying this stamp set recently. I love the cuteness of the set and hope to come up with lots of ideas to use it.

Birthday Fun

This is a card using all SU products except for the sparkly paper that I stamped Celebrate on. It's for my friend's sweet girl Madelyn. She just turned two. I was hoping the little girl would not only slide across the card, but would also flip as if doing cart wheels, but something is not quite right. I'll keep working with the technique.

I used the retired set Kids at Play. So Saffron, Brocade Blue, and white card stock. The grass came from the Unfrogettable stamp set. I used SU markers to color the little girl in. I also used Wonderful Words for the saying.

Cute!

We are gearing up for Christmas here. The company Christmas party is tonight. The child is being shipped up to the grandparents so Steve and I can get everything ready to visit 1000 people in 4 days. We have to be back to work on Wednesday, which will be the first time I've worked the week after Christmas in at least 9 years. Wah! Oh well!

Have a very Merry!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas my friends and family. I hope you all have wonderful holidays!

I was determined to use the Holy Triptych set this year for Christmas but was having trouble coming up with something I liked. One of my sweet friends came over and showed me the Polished Marble technique and slowly the card emerged from the haze of my brain. =)

I love the swirl from the Baroque Motifs set and I love to emboss. Wah la! I used Tempting Turquoise, Elegant Eggplant, and Glossy white as the card stock.

I pray you all have a safe and wonderful holiday. This is the first year that our daughter is old enough to start understanding it all. I am teaching her that it is a celebration for the birth of Jesus and we plan on singing Happy Birthday to him on that day. She's also very aware of Santa this year and I love seeing it all through her. I can remember such great memories of growing up and the excitement of it all each year. My brother and I were spoiled with love and gifts and we actually got a long for a few minutes during this time.

Peace be yours.