Viva La Diva!

Good Monday Morning! Usually on Monday's I say uck!, but this week is fairly low key for me--nothing major going on which is nice. The kids have evening activities to go to a couple of times, but that's it (love it)!! Hopin' your week is low key too!

I made this card today with another Dirty Girl challenge over on SCS again. I know, I know...I'm doing alot of them, but if you finish them all(and there's a ton) you get entered for 4 gigantic prize packages, so I'm tryin'! I like to incorporate a couple in each card, but I still have 7 more to go and finish up by Aug. 1st (hope I make it)!! If you're not a fan club member on SCS and are interested, you can read about it here. This challenge was to use pink & black colors and faux stitching on your card. I LOVE pink and black together--tres chic, I think, especially paired with my (French Diva) Tilda with her beret! At least I think she's frenchie lookin' :)

I created this card layout after many different attempts, but I'm pleased with the final layout. I stamped and then colored her with my Copics and added dots to her shirt and skirt w/ my white Inkssentials pen (and highlights). I also added some pink stickles to her hairbows and diamond glaze to her shoes. I used my oval nestabilities to cut her out and the scalloped oval. The b&w floral dp is by Imaginisce, the pink argyle dp is from SU and the polka-dots dp is by Doodlebug Designs. I made the corner elements by punching out 2 scalloped squares w/ my Marvy punch and then cutting them in half and attaching them w/ dimensionals. The scalloped border is with my handy dandy Fiskars border punch (threading water)-gotta love that thing!! The sentiment is from Hero Arts. I wrapped my favorite black satin ribbon (Offray) around and tied it off--this time I added a centerpiece to the knot. I layered 3 Primas and placed a polka dotted brad in the middle and attached it with glue dots. For the faux stitching element, I used my Inkssentials pen again to "stitch" around the edge of the card. Tres Chic indeed!!! Hope you like!

Remember, if you're interested in ordering the Magnolia stamps you can contact Diana Crick of Scor-Pal at magnolia.us@shaw.ca. If you haven't joined the Magnolia-licious Yahoo Group yet, whatcha' waiting for--you can join up and look at the list of Diana's inventory for you to browse and drool over. Can't wait until her webshop is up & running...very soon!!

I am also selling a bunch of my retired or unused SU stamp sets, some of which have never been opened. If you are interested in buying any, please email me at sjdean@smartneighborhood.net and I will hold them for you on a 1st come basis. I can send you a paypal invoice or I will accept personal checks--if you are sending a personal check I cannot send the stamps until your check has cleared. If you're not sure what each set looks like, you can check out www.ebay.com and they have pictures of them all. I'm charging a flat shipping fee of $2.50.

-Mixed Bouquet (gently used) $10

-Olive You (gently used) $4

-Fun Filled (gently used) $5

-Paint Prints (brand new) $5

-Shape Ups (brand new) $4

-Letter Patterns (mounted but never used) $8

-Polka Dots & Paisley (gently used) $10

-Winged Things (gently used) $7

-Double Line Doodles (brand new) $12

-Two-Step Stampin Christmas Foliage (gently used) $8

-Year Round Fun II (brand new) $14

-Fun Filled (gently used) $4

-Happy Heart Day (gently used) $7

-Collage Alphabet (only a few have been used) $18

-Collage Alphabet Numbers $5

-Doodle Alphabet (gently used) $14

I'm off to work on card orders and hopefully to complete another challenge! Enjoy your day!Suzanne

The Queen of "Cut & Pops"

Happy Friday everyone! I know ya'll love the weekends as much as I do! Yes, once again it is after midnight and I am typing this (crazy, you're thinking, uhhuh...come on & admit it)!! I knew I wouldn't have time in the morning to get it done and then I'd stress because I really wanted to get it done--lol!

I have 2 cards for ya today, both of which I made yesterday. I actually made 4 cards yesterday, that's a record for me! It usually takes me between 2 & 4 hours to complete 1 card--I'm pretty slow I guess, how about you? But that includes figuring out what I want to do, products I want to use and playing around with the layout until I like it--I'm pretty meticulous and somewhat of a perfectionist so that always makes it more difficult. If I have to make multiples, the others always go much faster of course.

The first card I made is for the Ismaki Challenge #25 that you can see here. I really like the sketch they came up with this time, really different. I also love the fun colors in this dp from Memory Box (summer)--fun & bright. My stamp is from Magnolia (yes, again)--this is another one that I'd forgotten about. Love the cake she's holding. I used Diamond Glaze (next to stickles, its my fave) on the icing, candle and her shoes (so they look like patent leather)--love that shiny look. I cut her out after coloring her w/ my Copics--I feel like the "Queen of Cuts" because I cut and pop-up everything. I love to have depth & dimension on the card--layers give cards so much for interest and I just love it! The flowers are from Prima and most of the ribbon is Offray. The sentiment is from Hero Arts--I like that pop of black mixed in with all the other brights. Just a cute, fun birthday card!

The second card I think I'll give my brother this weekend for his birthday (maybe)--I have such a hard time letting my "babies" (creations) go! Does anyone else have this problem? In my last post I told ya'll how much I love eating my Maryland crabs (gonna have some this weekend) so I just had to break out this set from Gina K called "Just Be-Claws" (even the name is cute)! This set is not one of her new ones, but new to me because I just ordered it. I know most people color their crabs red, but live blue crabs from this area are actually a bluish-gray and don't get red until ya cook em' (just some local tidbits for those not in the know) and I wanted mine to be "alive" not cooked--lol!! The dp is from Fiskars (Kimberly Poloson) that I've had for awhile, but hadn't used yet & cs is from SU (blue bayou & river rock). I stamped my crab twice and colored him w/ Copics. I cut out both claws and popped them w/ dimensionals (see, told ya I like to cut & pop) on top of the second colored image. Crabs are always wet and shiny, so I had to apply Diamond Glaze to him (he was askin' for it, I swear)!! I used my circle & scalloped circle nestabilities and just layered. I wrapped 2 pieces of raffia around the bottom of the card and attached the circle w/ sentiment on it w/ glue dots. I love it but I might have to keep it for myself & find something else for my brother, cuz' he'll probably just toss it--OH NO, a crafter's worst nightmare--the HORRORS!!!! Maybe I'll just pick him up a card from Target instead--lol!!

Alright, scrappers--hope you all have a wonderful, sunny weekend! I'll be back on Monday with some new stuff!!

Suzanne