Let's get down to business here.

We only have a week and a half till Mother's Day - probably one of the biggest card-giving events of the entire year!

You'd think that knowing that, I might have gotten started on this a little earlier, but noooooo. It snuck up on me again. RATS!

Anyway, I'm in full production mode now. I really DO work well under pressure! Here's today's card:


I absolutely LOVE those puffy sticker letters! I have to figure out where to get my hands on more of those.

Here's the inside:




I don't think I've totally mastered the inside of my cards yet but I'm working on it. It's good to have goals, right?

What I'm getting at is that you'll be seeing a LOT more cards in the next week for Mother's Day. I have several orders already; and I know there will be last-minute requests as well. I'm going to keep on trucking here. In the meantime, if you see one that you simply must have, let me know!

Gotta go; must plot the next card.

Love Shelley!

Well, it's been five days now since it snowed.

So I thought I would celebrate by making some Christmas cards!!!

Yeah, I know I'm nuts. I wanted to try using the biggest die I have in this shape and folding it in half. As it turns out, it is kind of on the small side, but I think it would be perfect as a gift attachment. There's plenty of room inside for a little message.

Enough Merry Merry for now - I am going to spend the next little while working on Mother's Day confections. Did you know it's only 11 days away?! Stay tuned...

Love Shelley!

I seem to have a problem.

I CAN'T STOP MAKING BABY CARDS!

But just give me a minute to explain:

I was out at a scrapbooking store on Saturday with my friend Carol and we spotted a card sample that was unbelievably cute - it was a wee little onesie! We oohed and aahed, and then found out that it was a die cut card, and that the store HAD THE DIE.

Without further ado, Carol helped me pick out some baby-themed patterned paper, the nice lady at the store let me use the die for a few minutes, and next thing you know, I'm back at home making baby cards. Do I know anyone who's having a baby in the near future? No. Do I have any orders for baby cards? No! Can I resist making these cute little baby cards? NO!

Just look at this:



The card opens at the top, and snaps closed at the bottom with a wee little magnet. Yep, it's pretty much the cutest thing in the world. There are little score lines at the shoulders that look like seams, and to get the card to fit into the envelope, you just fold the little arms inward.



So far I've only made this little girly card, but a boy card will follow pretty soon, I have no doubt.

Unless somebody stops me.

Love Shelley!

An award-winning card!

Hey, check it out! I'm an award-winning card maker!!

I entered a contest at a local scrapbooking store a couple of months ago, and one of the cards I submitted won. I am now going to be interviewed by George Strombolopoulos, plus I get a year's supply of waffles.

No, not really. In fact, when I entered the contest, there wasn't even a category yet for "Best Get-Well Card," so I'm thinking the owner fixed it so that everyone who entered won a prize. So sweet!! I'm trying not to let my new-found fame go to my head, but seriously:




Would you have voted for me? Please have your people call my people and let them know.

Love Shelley!

PS: TOTALLY COPIED THIS ENTIRE CARD FROM HERE.

At long last!

Man, did I ever have a hard time finishing these sympathy cards. I knew I wanted to use this double-sided cardstock for the main card, and I picked out a die to cut them out that would still fit in a standard envelope. So far, so good.

Then I started 'accessorizing' it, and it still looked so naked! Probably because there were ZERO layers on top of the card itself - practically unheard of around here.

I sewed the button to the two flowers. Boring. I added the scalloped circle underneath. Not much difference. I inked the edges to give it some contrast... eh. Things got better when I added the chocolate ribbon and offset it to the side. Finally I put it up on pop dots to give it just a little more jazz. That worked out really well - now what about the bottom area of the card?

I stamped the sentiment on some very subtly patterned paper. I loved how it looked, and then when I die cut it, it looked even better. I lightly sponged the edges, then decided to try this new crackle glaze I picked up yesterday. TURNS OUT IT KIND OF MAKES THE INK RUN. When I originally did this stamping, it was very crisp, and a cooler shade of brown. The crackle gave it much softer edges and actually warmed up the colour of the ink. Luckily, I love it. But this has been a public service announcement: dye ink is water-soluble.

And here's the inside! Wheeeee! I don't have a lot to say about it because it's not too spectacular. But the layered shape gives it enough interest that, along with sponging the edges, I didn't even think it needed anything else.
Now if you will excuse me, the cookie dough should be just about ready to eat I mean bake.
Hope you had a great weekend!
Love Shelley

And now for something completely different.

When I started working on this page tonight, all I could think of was how many things I was happy about. It was truly a stellar day. I gaily stamped the little skull, then coloured/highlighted/shaded him in; then I painted that chipboard 's' in a bright and cheery shade of red and put my favourite polka dots on it. I thought I would write a little bit about just how great of a day I had had.

It didn't end up exactly how I had envisioned; but that's okay. I still think it turned out. If you want a closer look, just click on the picture, but be warned: there is a little bit of salty language on this one.

Tomorrow: back to that batch of sympathy cards I've been working on. I should be able to show them to you very soon.

Love Shelley!

You might be a redneck if...

Well, the dishes are still on the table, but I finished a batch of cards! I've been working on these all day, sneaking away for a few minutes at a time to put them together.

Then after supper I saw my golden opportunity. Mike had fallen asleep in the big chair and the kids found an old car to play with outside, like a couple of miniature hillbillies. Since nobody needed anything from me, I scampered into the craft room to finish these up.




I'm happy with how they turned out. When I bought the paper, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it but the colours are perfect with these flowers and those (swoon) buttons. Man, do I love pretty buttons! I must have been a magpie in a previous life or something. Little treasures like that just make my heart flutter with joy (and my eyes light up, and my nostrils flare...) That sounds a little extreme but sadly I'm not really exaggerating.

The inside looked a little bare with just the white layer of cardstock, so I cut some flowers out of the leftover patterned paper and put them along the edges. I think it's nice without being overwhelming. Especially for the person who's writing in the card - it's nice not to have to start with a completely blank slate.
I'm glad I got these done. Now I'm going to go put my kids to bed - they asked if they could sleep in the car but I said no. I think I made the right decision. There will be enough time for that when they're drunken teenagers.
Love Shelley!
PS: I think these pictures are a little better - I took them in Cameron's room, which is on the west side of the house; and there was still quite a bit of daylight. Let me know what you think!

OCCUPIED!

This card is for a 65th wedding anniversary. I looked it up to see if there were any specific gifts, flowers, or colours for that, but no - only for the 60th and 70th, nothing in between! Can you imagine?? You make it to 65 years but that's not special enough to get its own prescribed gift? NOPE, you have to wait until 70 now. Sounds pretty dicey to me.

Anyway. I thought the silver paper was a nice elegant touch, but I didn't want the card to be too stuffy-looking, so I put a couple of buttons in the middle of the flower. Personally, I figure that to get through 65 years of marriage, you probably have to have at least some sense of humour and/or whimsy. Right?




I decided to try taking my pictures in the bathroom to see if the different light would make any difference. (There are no fewer than ELEVEN bulbs in that room - you could perform SURGERY in there.) But alas, the pictures are still total crap. The flower on the card is actually a nice deep red, not the cheap-looking orange you see here.

And there's the inside! Predictable message, but you work with what you have. I echoed the black cardstock and foil paper on the inside - I think it makes it a lot fancier; not only that but the extra layers make the card a lot heavier and now it just screams "quality."
Even if I did take the pictures in the john.

I CAN colour, just sometimes I choose not to.

Also, did I mention that I'm in LOVE with this paper?

I made this card for someone who wanted a special card for her sister's birthday. The inside has the same two layers of distressed cardstock/patterned paper; and then tomorrow when she picks out a verse for the inside I will add that and send it along to her. I love it when the inside of the card looks almost as pretty as the outside!

And also, don't worry, I'll probably get sick of the whole pink/green/spring colour combination soon and move on to something completely different, like skulls, or Christmas cards. I hope. Right now I'm just riding out the addiction; it's really the easiest way.

In other news, when a blond kid wears a blond fake mustache, it makes him look like a very small, creepy old man.

I'm sorry you had to see that - but if I can save just one person from making the same mistake I did, then it will be worth it.

Hope you had a great Easter!

Love Shelley

Can you keep a secret?

I spent this past weekend at a scrapbooking convention. I had big plans, going in. Since I would have a table to myself, stores available on-site to buy anything I needed, and no kids or husband around demanding my attention, I felt confident that I could knock off at least twenty cards, maybe even more!

Well, it kind of didn't work out that way. I spent a lot of time browsing (and shopping) at the stores; lots of time visiting with people and watching demonstrations; and a shockingly HUGE amount of time staring at the stuff on the table in front of me, facing a total creative stall.

Finally I was able to come up with a card. Yep, ONE card. Want to see it?

Okay, you asked for it. Here it is:

Dudes, I really hope you like it.

Convention fee: $60

Hotel: $126.50

Food: $50

Shopping: $$$

One card produced: PRICELESS!

Love Shelley!

One-of-a-kind, like your mom!

I made only ONE card today and (ta DA!) here it is. I've been hoarding - no, saving these letter stickers for something special, and what's more special than Mother's Day? Of course there are only two "m"s in the pack, so I could only make one card. To me, that makes it even more special. I believe I'll charge four hundred dollars for this one.



So I'll tell you a secret - when I sat down with these pretty papers, I was planning on making some thank you cards. I'm not sure how or when I changed my mind but I'm kind of glad I did! I cut the scallops at the bottom by hand, and by the time I was done I was ALSO kind of glad I was only doing one. There are those cute little flat-back pearls again, and the stitching on the front is actually fake. Shh, don't tell!




Here's the inside. I apologize for the dark and blurry pictures. I truly suck at getting good pictures of these cards - good thing I'm not depending on them for advertising! Anyway, I rounded the bottom outside corners to match the scallops on the front. Then just a layer of patterned paper, and a layer of very vanilla cardstock. I sponged ink around all the edges to give it a little depth. Obviously the cards looks much nicer in person; but I guess you'll just have to take my word for it! : )

I'm taking off for the weekend tomorrow morning, so look for more cards starting either Sunday night or (more likely) Monday!

Love Shelley

Look, no pink!

Today I worked on a batch of thank you cards. Most of these were for orders but I still have four left that will be going in the box at work for sale. I wanted them to be pretty gender-neutral because I know that a lot of the ones that were for orders will likely be going to guys. Maybe I should have laid off the flowers and scallops but I just couldn't help myself. Bahahahaha!




Here is the inside of the card. I used scraps to decorate the inside. I really like this - I picture neat rows of small handwriting inside, detailing why the thanker is thanking the thankee, and why they're just so darn great.

Okay, back to the drawing board! I can't decide what to work on next: more thank you cards, or some manly birthday cards. I think I'll go sit in the craft room, look around, and wait for inspiration to strike. Back soon!
Love Shelley