CASology Challenge: Royal

This week's cue at CASology is:

And here is my card:

I'm sure you're all scratching your heads wondering how on earth I got from "royal" to this?????!!!!!!  Soooooo, I'm going to show you in pictures:)

The word "royal" brought to mind a three day cruise on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship I went on this past December with two of my bff's:

That's me on the left in blue, Deb in the middle and Susan on the right ready for a day at Royal Caribbean's beautiful private beach- Coco Cay.

Now the day before we spent a full day of sightseeing and shopping in Nassau, Bahamas and kept seeing these pretty shell ornaments for sale:

Being a crafty(and frugal!) gal I scoffed at the thought of buying these when I knew with a bit of glitter and ribbon from my stash we could easily make some ourselves.

Soooooo, the three of us spent hours at Coco Cay beach collecting just the right shells:

And don't worry!  We put that cute little starfish back where he belonged:)

When it came time to ferry back to the ship Deb and I stowed our treasures in our beach bags.  On the other hand, Susan filled her empty, covered frozen drink cup with her finds and sailed through the metal detector with cup in hand.....and watched as Deb and I sadly had our shells confiscated when our beach bags went through a security check!  I don't think Susan is ever going to let us live this one down:)

With this anecdote in mind and an older set of shell images from Stampin' Up I decided to create this card to send to my cruisin' buddies to let them know I'm thinking of them:)  And to remind them it's time to start planning our next trip!

Other Supplies Used:  Papertrey ink rustic white cs, Stampin' Up bermuda bay and soft suede cs, Hero Arts ocean dye ink and soft brown shadow ink and sentiment, Martha Stewart glitter

Happy weekend everyone!

Made With Love (Moxie Fab World Card Set Challenge)

It's been too long since I played along with a Moxie Fab World challenge:

I've had this idea for awhile for packaging up a set of floral birthday cards and yesterday I set about trying to make it work:

I embossed my fave floral image from Hero Arts (Tall Flowers) on four panels and colored with copics.  The dotted paper I used to cover the card base fronts is from Echo Park Dots & Stripes collection.  The whimsical birthday sentiment from Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler set was embossed on banners die cut using a WPlus9 die.

I inserted a piece of woodgrain pp from Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe collection into the bottom of a clear card box and a "flower pot" die cut using Cricut Kate's ABC's cart.  Now when the cards are inserted into the box it kinda looks like a pot of flowers on a deck:)
Other Materials Used:  Papertrey ink white and summer sunrise cs and clear card box, Stampin' Up soft suede cs

I apologize for the darker photo but it's overcast this morning and the weather report doesn't show it getting any better over the next few days:(  Hope everyone's week is going well!

Simon Says Stamp: Flower Power!

I recently received some happy mail from my sweet blogging friend Maureen:)  Enclosed in one of her beautiful creations was some really cool die cuts!  I knew right away how I wanted to use one of them and today I had some time to play:

Don't you just love how that bow looks like it was made from ribbon??!!!  Maureen die cut it from some paper that looks and feels like velvet! Thanks again, Maureen:)  The chevron embossing folder, label die and flower image are all from Stampin' Up.  Sentiment is from Hero Arts.
Other Supplies Used:  Die-Namics die, Papertrey ink white cs, Ranger squeezed lemonade, peacock feathers and shaded lilac distress inks, Pebbles Seen & Noted pp, Queen & Co black pearls

I'm going to pop this into the current Simon Says Stamp challenge: Flower Power!   Thanks for all the positive feedback!

Hugs & Kisses

Earlier this week one of the owners of the winery where I work asked if I could make him a couple of Mother's Day cards....um, no pressure there!!  

I decided to give him a choice of two cards for the one he plans to give to his wife.  This is the first choice:

I loooooove these roses and matching dies from Papertrey Ink's set The Sweet Life.  I stamped the three layers of the flowers in Ranger spun sugar, worn lipstick and barn door distress inks and the leaves in Stampin' Up green galore and Hero Arts green hills.  The vase was cut from Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay cs using Cricut cartridge Kate's ABC's.  After die cutting an oval using Cricut George & Basic Shapes cartridge I used the negative space to sponge Ranger antique linen distress ink on the card front so I could ground the vase.  Sentiment is from Hero Arts. 
Other Supplies Used:  Papertrey ink cs, W R Memory Keepers corner rounder

And this is the second choice:

This is one of my fave flower images from Hero Arts that I embossed and then colored with copics.  Sentiment is also from Hero Arts and was die cut using a WPlus 9 heart die.  Butterfly (colored with a copic) is from Recollections.
Other Supplies Used:  Papertrey ink white cs, Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay cs, Queen & Co pearls
Since this one includes an element with wings I'm going to pop it into the current Simon Says Stamp challenge: Things with Wings.

The second card is for his toddler son and infant daughter to give to mommy.  The only I instructions I received were:  "My son likes trains and the baby.....well....she likes milk".  LOL!

This one was such a joy to put together:)  Luckily I still had the Cricut New Arrivals cart my stampin' sis Denise let me borrow so I was able to die cut this cute train!  The sentiment that I split up is from Hero Arts and the ampersand was die cut from Cricut Keystone cart.  You'll notice my "go to" Hero Arts sun and Bo Bunny pp:)
Other Supplies Used:  Papertrey ink cloud dies and white cs, WPlus9 heart die, Echo Park striped and dotted pp, Stampin' Up graph pp and red and gray cs. Making Memories black brads, Michael's black cs

Since I'm working on Mother's Day I'm taking my mom shopping and out to lunch tomorrow:)  I hope everyone has a fab Friday!

You're Tee-rific!

One of our nephews has a birthday coming up and you all know how much I don't really enjoy making "man" cards :(  Lucky for me he's a golfer AND I have a really fun Paper Smooches stamp set featuring some golf images AND I love making little scenes:

When I first pulled out the set I was a little stumped as to how I was going to make it work as the golf hole wasn't the same scale as the cart.  Of course the hubster was walking by my desk at the same time and noting my puzzled expression pointed out that I would need to put the golf cart in the foreground and the hole somewhere in the background - duh!!!  I swear the guy needs to get his own craft room!

Did a little copic coloring and a lot of paper piecing on this one.  Used my ole standby sun image from Hero Arts Kiss From the Sun and cloud die from Papertrey ink.  And some fave old Bo Bunny dotted pp for the sky.  I even remembered to add a little "sand trap" to the scene :)

Other Supplies Used:  Stampin' Up certainly celery, old olive and gray cs, Papertrey ink white cs, Making Memories silver brads, silver gel pen

Looks like more rain in the forecast tomorrow so I plan to spend some more time in my craft room:)  Thanks for all your sweet comments!

For the Moms!

Quick post before I dash off to work this morning.  Wanted to share the card design I came up with for this year's Mother's Day card:

I'm always late to the party when it comes to alot of the cardmaking trends:)  I finally bought a MFT rolled flower die and found some good felt to use with it.  The patterned paper is from the Basic Grey collection called True Love that came out before Valentine's Day!  And the wooden butterfly (colored with a copic marker) is from Michael's Recollections line.  Wasn't going to get the Memory Box Lorelai Leaf die but decided I "needed" it once I had the rolled flower die - LOL!  Sentiment is from Hero Arts and the little flourish from Papertrey Ink.

Other Supplies Used:  Papertrey ink white cs, Spellbinder Nestie, Michael's clear gems

This year I'm going to "cheat" and use the same design but different colors for both moms.  This one will go to my mother-in-law and I've picked out some pretty yellow pp with red and pink roses from Crate Paper for my mom's card.

I'm sorry I haven't been very diligent in commenting on everyone's blogs - please know that I've been taking peeks at what you all have been up to but don't always have the time to leave a comment.  I truly appreciate the time you take to leave comments on my posts :) 

Hugs!

For Baby Vivienne!

Happy Monday my crafty friends!  Wanted to pop in and share a card I made for a baby shower I attended yesterday:

One of my friends and coworkers is going to be a grandmother for the first time next month :)  Her daughter Kym and son-in-law decided they wanted to know the sex of the baby - it's a girl!! - and have even picked out the name Vivienne!  I don't know if I had more fun putting together this card or shopping for the shower gift - soooooo many adorable little girl clothes out there!!!! One of the outfits I bought was a sundress with a chevron pattern :)  I told Janet (we were calling her "Granny Janny" all day at the shower!) she's gonna be one broke grandmother!!

Supplies Used:  Cricut Baby Steps cart (thanks to my stampin' sis Denise for letting me borrow it!),  Paper Smooches Christmas Sampler set (the word "For"), Amy Tangerine sketchbook pp, Papertrey ink white cs, Copic marker T0 (to edge the die cut pieces), Ranger glossy accents, Queen & Co pearls, W R Memory Keepers corner rounder

We've been having some amazing spring weather here in the Northeast - makes it tough to stay indoors!  Hope you have a fab week!