Stampfest by the bay in Clearwater, FL

I went to Stampfest in Clearwater, FL yesterday. My poor friends had to be at my house by 7 am. so we could get down there just before the doors open. I don't think anyone really minded.
Of course my first stop is always at Marco's Papers. I look forward to this every year to stock up on my mirrored card stock.

I walked past all the other booths since I was on a mission and went to Inky Antics. Stampers Anonymous looked like they were still getting organized, since we were let in early. I fell in love with Inky Antics honeycomb paper and stamps that go with it. My friend Donna in WI sent me a set for Christmas. Of course I need more, it's very cute. On to my 3rd booth of course was Stampers Anonymous, Ted is just a down right nice guy. We talked and I could have stood there all day watching him demo. But I was considerate (more than I can say for some others) and I moved out of the way. Well I had a cloud of smoke following behind me and I wondered what the heck. I finally figured it out. I slid my credit card in my cell phone case and put it in my pocket. So yep; you guessed it my credit card was smokin after checking out at S.A.. LOL It was such a great day with all the wonderful ideas vendors have displayed.

Here is one of the cards I made with the Honeycomb paper. Yes I cased the card that was on the package since it was my first attempt. Also a great picture of Ted Cutts from Stamper Anonymous.

WOW more Metal Embossing

I did this with Maria Luisa just before Christmas. I showed her how to cover the box with Tim Holtz product and she in turn showed me the top. I made this for my friend Judy. She's the only one I know that plays cards. The box is a card older.

I coverd the box with Tim Holtz paper and put a layer of Polyurethane to seal the paper. On the top I did the awesome Metal Embossing. Maria Luisa even embedded some stones in the project. How cool is that. The inside of the box was also finished with Tim Holtz paper, along the edges I used his tissue tape.

Christmas 2011

Well Christmas is over and all the kids are gone. We had both boys and their families here for the holidays. The house sure is empty without them.
With the help of Maria Luisa at the Crafty Lady in Inverness, FL I was able to do a metal embossed jewelry box for each daughter-in-law and each son received a dresser box with their initials on it. Maria Luisa holds a special place in my heart. I know each box will be treasured forever. I would not have been able to get these done without Maria Luisa's help.
The boys helped us do some big jobs around the house, since we are planning on putting the house on the market. It may take forever to sell but we are in no hurry.
We were also able to get some long awaited family pictures done. It had been four years since we've been all together in the same place. Our sons live on opposite sides of the U.S. We had wonderful weather here in Florida while they were here. We were in the pool at 10p.m. Christmas Eve it was so much fun.

My friend Judy's birthday card from me.

I wanted to make something a bit special for my very special friend Judy.
I had these little suitcases. I think they can be used as a gift card holder. I turned it into a card for her.
I just used Tim Holtz grungeboard and cut them into the shape of a tag. The first page I covered with T!m paper and I also used crackle paint. Oh how I love that stuff.I ran one through the Vagabond with an embossing folder then I used Tim's distress inks to give it some color.
I'm such a Tim fan I used many of his products
. I was hoping Judy would like it. Anyone that knows T!m will be able to pick out his products. It sure was a fun project. I have a couple more of these little suitcases I'll have to figure someone else to make one for.

Took a break

I took a break from Christmas cards just for a bit. I made Halloween cards for the grand daughters. Fast, simple and easy but oh so cute.
I also had the urge to do a couple more Christmas cards. My daughter-in-law, Christel came out and worked on some cards for them.
The card with the cute stockings is a stampset from Stampin Up and I got the idea from Mercedes Weber. She did an awesome job on it. I changed it just a bit with the middle stocking. The card with the silver background I saw in the internet somewhere. I can't remember who did it. Sorry I can't give credit to the right person.

Between the cards Gene and I flew to Minnesota so see Doc's at Mayo Clinic. We're back in Virgina now. Boy did it get cold in MN. Freeze warning one morning. Leaves were starting to change colors. While in Minnesota we stopped at Mall of America to check out Scrapfest. I did some major damage on my credit card at Archivers.

We'll be heading back to Florida next week. I'm looking forward to that since I miss my friends at "The Crafty Lady" I have some projects I need to get done before Christmas.
Check out my cards and please feel free to leave a comment I love to see what you think.

Christmas cards

Well now that I'm done with fullfilling a card order I can get back
to making Christmas cards.
I found the tree card on Splitcoast stampers but they used black. I just can't associate black with Christmas so I used red instead. I used Stampin Up's Holiday Happiness, SU Petals-a-plenty embossing folder, Real Red card stock, shiney silver card stock from Marco's Papers and SU Real Red ribbon.
Red Rhinestones I picked up at Michaels.

The Snowman card I saw at Stampfest in Florida, I can't recall the name of the vendor.
I fell in love with it. It uses the Tim Holtz snowman die, the snowflakes from from the same die. Sizzix embossing folder, blue Bazzil card stock from Michaels. I don't think I
changed it too much. I added words to the front of the card and used a Stampin Up punch.
I have several other cards to make yet.
I took a break from helping my husband, Gene build a shed so I better get moving.

Week of stamping with a good friend

My friend Donna from Wisconsin came to visit for a week. We did some shopping and went to Hersheys in PA. We did some stamping and stopped in D.C. to check out the Memorials.
Here are some of the cards we made. I got the idea for the fish card from GinaK, although I added the flower to the top corner. There are a few others that I found on the internet but I did add my flair to them in some way.

Our friend Cheryl didn't make it on this trip so Donna brought a picture of her and we put her on a stick and brought her to alot of the places we went. It was a little strange but, we have a blast. Maybe we had too much fun with her on a stick. We even took her to a stamping store.