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