A Ghoulish Caribbean Party!

Happy TGIFriday!  I am so happy to see the weekend arrive, the past 10 days have been rough with being sick and deadlines and meetings.  I feel that I may be able to breathe a little again LOL.  But we are painting and putting in floors in the basement this weekend so no rest for the weary.   For anyone who is impressed with what I get done...please don't be...I'm no superwoman or energizer bunny trust me.  I simply am someone with an overactive brain and a never-ending to-do list LOL..ask my hubby.  He is NOT always on board with my projects but he know's I will take matters into my own hands and he will admit he likes to be "involved"...so I gotta keep him rolling when I can ;)  Anyone who has a creative mind or just likes to be busy understands me...if you prefer to NOT be busy all the time, well then I can't help you .  I think the universe's way of slowing me down is giving me sickie germs...gets me to take at least 1 day off.  So I had my one day off and now its back to business for the next month or so :)

I have sooooo much to share with you today!  A HUGE photo shoot, party set up I did featuring SCACD stamps and other goodies.  So after you are done reading thru this post, hop over to my OTHER BLOG HERE and see the details and photos of the rest of the party stuff ok?  I promise it will be a good time ;)....and no sadly I'm not serving any alcoholic drinks !

Hope you have a wonderful weekend & I'll see you back here next week...that's right I'm posting and crafting again folks.  So you gotta put up with me and my monologues for a few more years hahahaha!

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Ghoulish Caribbean Halloween Party!

I love Halloween...every bit of it...the creepy, the cute, the elegant, the scary...I've always loved it.

That being said I have two teenagers now who aren't real "into" it anymore...so that means I don't decorate the outside in haunted house fashion much anymore.  But I'm dying to have an Adult Ghoulish Party at some point...ahem...so I dreamed up these things for the future party I will have...ya feelin' me? LOL!

And I've combined it with the awesome NEW SCACD Releases today!

I'm only sharing details and pics of the SCACD release items today on this blog..but no worries...

hop over to my other blog when you are DONE here to see the rest of the goodies & photos 

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SCACD RELEASE & BLOG HOP

Today Susana Loves Stamps is releasing another new round of these unique, fresh and edgy rubber stamps due to the response we got to the premier MechAnimals stamps.  Along with the new MechAnimals there are some fabulous new Far East and floral inspired rubber stamps being released today as well.  So go check them all out!!

 SCACD Digital is also releasing today a fun little gaggle of digital ghoulies that scream fun and sweetness!  You can check them out HERE! 

For those overseas you can purchase all the rubber stamps at Quixotic Paperie

A few of the items I made for the "party"!

When you are DONE hopping & reading this post pop over to my

other BLOG HERE to see the rest of the party setup and details :)

If you want of course..I'm not forcing your hand..but yeah go check it out LOL!

For the party I created a Halloween Bash Invite (more on that below), hand stamped matching paper napkins and two luminaries.

I used the new Jellyfish Dreams from the "MechAnimals" Collection and embossed it on vellum with black Stewart Superior Detail embossing powder (that stuff is great for real detailed stamps like this)  To this stamp spoke of Pirates of the Caribbean.  It's my favorite Disney World ride and one of my fave movie series (let's all think of Johnny Depp for a brief moment yesssss...ahhh much better now)...so I totally went with elegant, ghoulish, creepy, grungy party theme all mixed in one...and I think it worked.  Papers are by Authentique "Irresistible" (15% off now, I need more).  I distressed all the papers and inked them well.

And yes those pearls are supposed to be crooked, they actually are pearl brads to hold vellum on and I wanted it to be a bit haphazard to go with the grunge/antique theme.  Then some twine on the top to tie it off.

This envelope invite is actually a Silhouette Cut file for the Cameo...real easy to cut and put together especially if you had to do a ton of them.  I used Scor-Tape to hold it all together.  The inside got more distressed papers and then I typed up my invite info on my computer and printed it on vellum.  Then stamped some spider & cobwebs over it after distressing.  

I love luminaries...they are fun and easy to make and so many varieties you can create. 

I went with simple and easy but graphic so it makes a huge impact.  I used two of the new SCACD Susana Loves Stamps "Sugar Skull" and "Zen Skull" stamps, embossed in black again right on sheets of 8.5x11" vellum.

These stamps are a great size...they'd be great on cards, scrapbooks, make pictures, door hangers, t-shirts...all kinds of fun things..don't limit to using them just on paper!  

The skulls come with accessory stamps that can go in their ole' eyeballs to make them more fun too :)

And if you buy both skulls you get the sentiment free!!

I grunged them up a bit and then added some fun details...the bottom trim I made by using a Memory Box border die to cut the middle of strips of black card stock so you get one solid piece of trim to attach.  Then tied twine around the middle.  Now do NOT USE CANDLES in these...I use battery operated tea lights or battery pillar candles...you do not want a fire people..so use caution!

Then I bought simple white paper napkins, chose a soft gray ink and stamped the "Jellyfish Dreams" stamp again on each one.  Simple and easy to do and personalizes your napkins for your party.

An evening view!

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And my last project is from the Far East & Floral Release by Susana Loves Stamps.  This dragon is called "Creative Sparks".

I based my project on Oriental hand painted art...bright, brilliant colors and lots of pretty shine.

I embossed the stamp with black embossing powder (Stewart Superior Fine Detail).

After embossing I painted it with different colors of Smooch...smooch bottles have those tiny, pointy brushes that are perfect for fine detail work like this.  And its metallic so it really POPS!  I matted it on black cardstock and royal blue foil card stock...then popped it in a black frame (left off the glass insert for photographing purposes).

Ok everyone, I'm last on the hop today...but if you missed anyone or would like to start from the beginning of the hop, go on over to 

Alex's Blog Here!!

Lifting Off!

Happy Monday to all of my friends out there!  I am in beautiful and sunny South Carolina, my favorite place on earth it is!  The weather has been fabulous and we spent the day on the beach yesterday which was nice—I like to just sit and read and I’ve got my Ipad Kindle loaded up with a bunch of great books for this summer.  Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan, some books by Barbara Freethy, Beach Lane by Sherryl Woods (love this Chesapeake series), One Summer by David Balducci and a new one by one of my fave SC authors Kathryn Wall (I’m going to meet her Tuesday night, yay) in the Bay Tanner Series “Jericho Cay”!  I’m sure I’ll read more than this but this is a great start, LOL!  Last year I read 13 books at the beach, hee hee, and yes I am a fast reader and I read very LATE into the night!

If you follow my blog you know I read A LOT---the 2 questions I get asked the most?  When do you have time to read?  Very late at night, I read before I go to bed every night no matter how tired I am as it helps me relax a bit and sometimes I’ll read until 4 am if the book is really, really good.  And then sometimes during the day on the weekends if our schedule allows it.  How do I get everything I do done? (that’s the 2nd question)  Welllllll, I’m not really sure and I have no easy answer for it really.  I work a lot, I’m a bit Type A and I like to be busy and moving until bedtime, LOL.  I have no magic answers or magic schedule and there are days that I want to pull my hair out and yes I do get stressed.  But I always remind myself that I’m happy to be alive, happy to work in such a great community and doing something I love and happy that I have the supportive family I have.  And oh yeah----I DO RUN ON BATTERIES LMBO

And of course I can’t EVER travel without a few fun things happening right?  I mean I have a curse me thinks that allows weird, strange and crazy things that follow me around for sure!  So we left for SC on Friday and took a pit stop at my parent’s to drop my dogs off and then ventured onwards to Florence, SC where we stopped for the night.  But at a NC rest stop I was in the potty and washing my hands when a woman came out with her pants at her ankles (no she was NOT special needs or older, she was around 30ish).  Best part?  She had NO underwear on---OMG!!  I was so stunned I just stood there and then I bust out laughing and ran out of the bathroom.  My friend Andi on FB suggested that maybe she was “air drying” LMBO but I’m not really sure what the heck she was up to---but I do know that I like toilet paper wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much, hee hee!  Then last night Riley and I were eating Alaskan King Crab legs for dinner (yum) and Riley put his shells in the basket BUT decided that there was a BUMP in the basket that he just haaaad to push down, LOL.  Why you ask---cuz that’s what crazy boys do I guess!  Yep he pushed it and the crab legs flew up thru the air and landed on the table beside us which surprised the heck outta the people sitting there of course—LMBO—omgoodness.  This is why you want to AVOID being near us when we eat or pretty much anywhere the Dean family goes, hee hee----strangeness FOLLOWS us.  But its all good and always fun

Here are a few pics for ya to giggle at (if you get this by email, pics are only viewable at website)



NewsBitz: 


-7 Kids College Fund has the new and super fabulous Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps in stock HERE!


-Check out the NEW CMC Challenge that just started this past weekend HERE!  Its a fun one and our sponsor is Tiddly Inks.  I love Christy Croll who is the artist and her digi images are so much fun to use and color!  Everyone is welcome to join in the fun--the more the merrier!

-And oh yeah, guess what I got CHIBI'd!!  LOL---that's right and she's below for you! If you want to get one visit Kristy's site HERE!  She does an awesome job and I just adore mine--too cute!  Red is my fave color and she included that in my shirt---kinda looks like me in cartoon form 'eh?  LOL!  Thanks Kristy!

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Flying Dreams!!

Today I’m sharing a project with you that I did while I was on the Splitcoast Stampers Dirty Dozen team in early 2010.  I’m thankful that I have a stock pile of projects from that time to share with you every now & again, lol.  These projects were not allowed to be shown at my blog until 6 mos after my term ended.  Helps me out when I’m on vacation since I only was able to get a few projects done before I left home!  This was one of my faves and features stamps by Paper Trey Ink.



The stamp set from Paper Trey Ink is called “Up, Up, & Away” along with the matching PTI dies to cut the balloons and clouds out.  The theme that particular month for the Dirty Dozen was “Invitations” and I created different invites using only tutorials/templates from the SCS site.  This one is called “Free Standing Pop Up Card”—a really fun & easy project to make and so many variations too.  I decided to make a Graduation Invitation with this stamp set---the air balloons remind me of dreaming, aiming high and heading off to new adventures.  The papers are by GCD Studios called “Homespun Chic” and I loved the yellow and aqua color combos. I stamped the hot air balloons right onto the patterned paper.  I die cut the clouds and then softly inked the edges with my Inkssentials Blending tool and then added Stickles to them for sparkle.



I made my card so that the insert pulls fully out, so you can flip the front around to reveal the invitation part.  I used another PTI set called “ for the “For the Graduate” sentiment and then used my computer to print off the invitation details.  I added a few more hot air balloon and cloud die cuts to match the front.  Don’t you think this would be such a FUN invite to receive?  I’d love to get something like this myself, LOL!



And then the insert slides down in the box part and it all folds flat so you can mail it easily!  A fun and creative way to make some invites for a summer party perhaps?

Ok I hope you enjoy your week!  I will have another post on Wed for you but if you want to keep up with me and my CRAZY family on vacation (lol ) you can follow me on FB. I regularly update it with pictures and such while I’m away and traveling (yes my family is used to this)!

Pinkalicious Party Happiness!!

Hello everyone & Happy Tuesday To Ya!! I tell ya the weather has been absolutely beautiful here in Virginia--I've had my windows wide open & letting the lovely breezes float in! Course my dogs bark at every fool thing that they here, but I'm used to that-LOL! Did I tell ya that when we went hiking down to the creek on Sunday there was HUGE copperhead snake on the path & Riley almost stepped right on it--EEEKKKK! If you were a reader last summer, than you remember my copperhead incident on my back steps---I HATE SNAKES & copperheads are nasty & poisonous too--yucky. Made me very nervous walking the dogs down there, but we didn't see anymore dangerous wildlife while we were there--scary I tell ya! LOL! Anywho, onto sweeter things for ya today, hee hee.....

Today is Try It Out Tuesday for Susana's Custom Art & Card Design and I've challenged the DT to create a party invite (summerlike in nature)! I decided to create a pinkalicious birthday party invite and candy favors! I used a Victoria Case for SCACD stamp "Follow Your Heart" which I just adore cuz' she's such a cutie--the sentiment was computer generated. The dp is some yummy papers from Dream Street papers--love the colors & patterns!

My invitation is a pocket invite with a pull-out insert. I left the insert blank cuz I'll probably turn this into a birthday card for someone later on--but you could print the info out on your printer and then cut out with the Curved Rectangle Nestabilities (I also inked the edges). Very easy to make too and fun for the receiver!
The scalloped border is where the insert pulls out--just a fun decorative element. My image is colored with Copics and then I stickled one balloon & put diamond glaze on the other.
These fun candy favors are made using a tutorial for "origami diaper pouches"--they come together so easily & no adhesive required. I made mine small by using a 6x6" square, but you can make them any size you'd like--really great when you use double sided paper too! I added some fun buttons from PTI with gluedots. The candy has simple wraps on them to coordinate with the rest of the papers--these are sooo easy to put together, so doing many of them would be a breeze!
You might have to click on this to make larger to see, but I sprayed all of my projects today with a FABULOUS new product! It's Shimmerz Spritz (by Shimmerz) in "Baby's Breath" and it is just beautiful IRL--such a soft subtle shimmer and NO GLOBS (like some of the other brands)! The baby's breath is great for any color paper or image, but I'm going to order the Cotton Candy for a soft pink as well. Susana has these in stock at her store right now--& you will lovee them, so go check 'em out! I literally was spraying everything yesterday, LOL--it really is beautiful!

Now make sure and stop by the store blog "Follow Your Heart" to see the rest of the DT's lovely invitations today--you're sure to be inspired!!


**Don't forget to stop by H&M Stamps for the huge blow-out SALE--all stamps $8 or under, so stock up now!! ***


hugz,
Suzanne

Watercolored Rain!!

Hello & Happy Wednesday Friends!! Doesn't a three day weekend just make the week go faster, LOL! We had a fabulous Memorial Day weekend--really fun and relaxing! We went to see "Night at the Museum 2"-which was better than the first IMO!! Then on Monday we headed down to DC to the Smithsonian of American History & had lunch down there too. Great weather all weekend until Monday night-nasty storms & lots of rain, blech (rain today & yesterday too)!! News on the weight loss front--lost 2.5 lbs & have lost 1" around my waist and hips, .5" around each thigh (in the past 7 days)--so that totals 5 lbs lost so far! Woohoo---the fat is starting to move, hee hee! Slowly, but surely its a comin' off ..... :o)

So I'm a day late for the Try It Out Tuesday challenge for Susana's Custom Art & Card Design (due to electric & internet issues) but I got it done. I challenged the DT to only color their stamped images by watercoloring only--fun challenge! We all get so used to whipping out our Copics but sometimes it's good to mix it up! I used one of the new Victoria Case for SCACD stamps "Singin' in the Rain"--isn't she a cutie & perfect for watercoloring! I watercolored using my SU reinkers and then added some diamond stickles on the puddles, polka-dots & umbrella!

The papers are from Paper Trey Ink as is the Get Well sentiment (Around & About Sentiments). I cut out & popped up the umbrella for more dimension & added some Bella Baubles (String of Pearls). Perfect for a get well card!! Make sure and stop by the store blog "Follow Your Heart" to see the rest of the DT's absolutely beautiful watercolored projects!!

The second card today is just a fun card/invite I made thinking of summer parties & barbecues to come--this would be a perfect invitation for either! Not hard to mass produce, simple, fun & elegant! I used Lockhart's Itty Bitty stamps (hamburger, hotdog & pizza) and they're actually watercolored, lol! Very hard to do on these little images (pizza toppings were done with Copics though)! I paired them up with PTI's kraft and red cs & twill ribbon. The background was embossed with my Cuttlebug embossing folder to add some more texture! Perfect for a simple invitation!!

I hope you're having a fabulous day & I'll see ya back here tomorrow!!


hugz,

Suzanne

Knights & Princesses!!

Hello & Happy Saturday everyone! Hope you're getting a good start on your weekend already! We actually have nothing special planned other than some shopping for a couple of new rugs and possibly a stop at Joann's & Michaels (hee hee)! Not such a nice weekend here in VA--doesn't feel very spring like at all Hope better weather is on its way real soon!!

Blog Candy #1 is still open until tonight at midnight--you can enter HERE.
Blog Candy #2 is open until Sunday at midnight--enter HERE.
Blog Candy #3 will be up tomorrow to end my weeklong Blogaversary!!

My first project today is a Medieval dinner invite I made using some of the Whiff of Joy Medieval Collection stamps. I love this castle image and have lots of plans for it to use with some of my knight & fairy stamps. I made a revised tri-fold invite for a dinner party. This dp is from Paper Pizazz and I thought it was very appropriate for these stamps :o) I stamped some swirl stamps from Verve on top of the paper to add some more character to the paper.

On the inside, I colored w/ Copics the "Great Hall" scene and added some stickles to the fire and some silver spica glitter pen to the metal areas on the image (cups, plates, chandelier). I printed all the writing onto cream cs from my computer. I ink distressed all the edges using my Inkssentials Distress tool. This would also make a cute kids birthday card or invitation by switching out the "great hall" image for the "dragon" & "knight".
So many possiblities!

Second card today uses this cute "Princess Anya" stamp from The Greeting Farm--love these gals! I kept it kinda simple so she was the main focus of the card and I love this dp from DCWV "Whimsy" stack. Colored with copics and I added stickles to her dress, wand, and crown. That lovely ribbon is Doodlebug Boutique Trims--so fun! Just a fun, pretty card to give!

I also have a new video tutorial up on my sidebar under "Other Video Tutorials" about tying bows & flat knots if you're interested. You can also see it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dNjNeg36vc

Have a great Saturday & don't forget to stop by tomorrow to enter for one final BLOWOUT BLOG CANDY!!!

hugz,

Suzanne

Game Night!!

Happy, Happy First Monday of January! Ahh, the kids are back in school & hubby is back at work---it was nice having everyone home but its nice having quiet in the house too, LOL! We managed to get all of my Christmas decorations (all 8 trees) down yesterday in one day---hubby helped me big time (love that man). I took the opportunity to deep clean along the way and everything is back to normal (I guess, hee hee)! Hubby is taking down the outside lights for me tomorrow and then it will be all done--isn't he a great hubby?

I have to tell you I LOVE my project that I have to share with you today---the stamps, the colors, just everything, LOL! These awesome gameboard stamps are brand spankin' new from Karen Lockhart and you can purchase them today at Susana's Custom Art & Card Design. The entire collection will be available for sale at 7 am (PST) today and you will LOVE them all!

I really wanted to showcase these gameboards in a special way--so I created these fun "Game Night" invites altering the usual "criss-cross" card into a longer, leaner pocket card. (dimensions for these are 5.75x9"--scored at 3" & 6" and then cut the sides diagonally). These are super-easy to make and mass produce for any event!

This fabulously fun dp is Basic Grey's "Offbeat"--which I think is cool & retro looking! I paired it with SU's baja breeze and pumpkin pie cs. I colored the game pieces with Copics to match too! For the inside info I printed the info directly onto my cream cs and then stamped another NEW Lockhart stamp on the bottom in baja breeze ink--isn't that popcorn stamp cute (I gots lots of ideas for that stamp, bwwahhhhh)?

I also coated the gameboards with Angel Wings Shimmerz so they have a fun shimmer to them too---they're also popped up on dimensionals.

So what's your favorite gameboard of the three? Mine has to be Parcheesi--I love to play that game! Growing up my mom and I always played boardgames or cards in the evening and this was our most favorite game to play. I'm gonna have to look on Ebay for some vintage gameboards that I can hang down in our game room now!

So don't forget to check out the New Collection by Karen Lockhart--here! And visit my other DT sistah Lynn's blog for her project here. We also have new Web Candy up on our "Fans of Karen Lockhart" site on PaperCraft Planet thru Jan.10th to celebrate!! Lots of goodies including a hand-colored and signed *NEW* Karen Lockhart stamp for ya!! Hope to see ya over there!!

See ya tomorrow,

Suzanne