Miss You

 Hello my crafty friends!  First of all I would just like to say that you have my Mom eating out of your hands!  She was just lapping up all the wonderful comments about her yesterday (especially one about us looking like sisters!) LOL  You guys definitely made her day, thank you!  Now for today's card, it is one of those long skinny kind I really love making as they are just so different!  Gold Elements One it is and that fantastic corner in the set.  I used it three times across the card, using just the inside die without the triangle cutting die to give me this pretty decorative insert across my card.  I cut it out of a pale lavender card.  Behind the cut out, I covered a piece of white card with a self adhesive sticky sheet and then covered it with Rock Candy Dry Glitter for a white on white sparkly bling effect.  I mounted my lavender piece above it with mounting foam for dimension.  I left a thin white mat top and bottom as the length of this card didn't allow me to do that on all four sides.  I added a further mat top and bottom which I pierced and added score lines above and below the piercing for a different effect.  I stamped my sentiment and cut it out with the smallest die in the Gold Labels Four set as it is very pretty.  I inked it slightly with Milled Lavender distress ink for a shadow.  I tied a double bow out of white silky crush ribbon and added it in the left hand corner.  I tucked my tag under the edge of a pearl embellishment on my bow.  At the other end of the card, I added some pearl swirls as a balance.  The finished dimensions are 5" x 11 1/2" in size. 
Just a quick reminder that Julia Watts has shows today on Create and Craft tv at 2pm and 7pm.  Be sure to tune in to see her great demos!   All for now, Sue x

Birthday Wishes

 Morning all!  Since I have posted pics of Mom's party today I thought I would post another card using a birthday sentiment today, seemed appropriate!  I started with a piece of Graphic 45 decorative backing paper for this one.  I used the corner from the Gold Elements One set to cut a decorative corner out of the opposite corners on my backing paper.  Next I used the Radiant Rectangle set to cut a large lacy frame for the centre of my card.  I cut this out of milk card using the largest three dies in the set together.  I cut another piece of the same backing paper and covered it with a piece of sticky self adhesive sheet and then cut the next smaller rectangle size in the set.  I peeled the backing paper off and micro beaded this piece.  I cut a pretty milk coloured piece to set on top of it using the same outer die and just adding the next smaller die in the set.  I glued it on top of my micro beaded piece and mounted it with foam upward from my frame.  I stamped my sentiment and cut it out with the oval from the set.  I inked it lightly with Milled Lavender Distress ink and mounted it in the middle of the focal element.  I tied a messy bow with the lavender seam binding.  I added some white tulle and a bit of natural jute to my bow.  I found a pretty flower in my craft stash and used it in the centre of my bow.  I added a double mat of milk card and pierced the inner layer to finish my card.  The finished dimensions are 7" x 10" in size (yes, it's a big 'un!) LOL
Scroll down to see pics from my Mom's birthday party.

 Here is my Mom walking into the party!  It was at the local café where she meets up with a bunch of people every morning for breakfast.

 My Mom didn't know at this point about the surprise we had for her.  We sat her down and she put on her obligatory tiara (they make everyone wear it on their birthday!)  We wanted to make sure she was seated before we brought my brother out, who was waiting in the kitchen. 

 Unfortunately, the picture is blurry, but this was her face when she realised that her youngest son (from Calif) was walking into the room carrying her birthday cake!

 After she composed herself a bit, I took a pic of them both! 

 Check out her cake!  Death by Chocolate if you ask me!  The Fire Marshall wouldn't let us put 90 candles on her cake so we had to settle for just the 9 and 0 candles.  Turned out nobody remembered to bring matches! 

Mom got some beautiful cards that were given to me to bring to her from some of my blog followers.  She is showing off this one from Rose in Chester (blog friend) that is truly lovely!

 The gang got her a fruit bouquet.  That is a 90 carved out of pineapple on the top!

 Here we are together.  That is my younger brother Rob, the greatest guy in the world!

 This is Fred and Ann, they are snow birds that live in Minnesota for half the year.  Fred is a real character, he always tries to steal my food when I'm not paying attention.  He has the fork marks to prove he is too slow! LOL

 
 My Mom holding a picture of Leah we gave her for the house.  She met Leah (Sam Poole's daughter) at Thanksgiving last year and was quite taken with her and wanted a picture to keep!  That is Earl in the background.  Earl used to sit at a table by himself at this café every morning for as long as I can remember.  People started to join Earl every morning and he invited my Mom to join their table.  So now everyone meets every morning and it is kind of like a revolving table, people eat, chat and leave and others come.  There are about a dozen or so people that show up every day during the winter, a few less when some of the snow birds leave in the summer.  It is a big round table and they always make room for whoever shows up!   My Mom loves it and it is the highlight of her day.  I truly love this bunch as they look after my Mom so well when I am not there!




Someone brought my Mom some beautiful roses, aren't they pretty!

Debby (blog friend) made her a card and sent it to her.  She was showing it to me here.  She was over the moon with all her handmade cards!

Rosemarie (blog friend) gave her a beautiful handmade padded sewing box.  It is six sided and when you take the top off, the sides open outward.  It really caught her off guard as they feel open!  She loved it!











This is my favourite pic!  She loved her poster!  I love the pair of hands holding the balloons! LOL

It was truly a great day, she loved her breakfast party, then we too her out to dinner to a chain called Chili's.  She wanted to have baby back ribs for dinner and that is where she wanted to go!  They surprised her with all the wait staff singing to her and bringing her dessert.  It wasn't the usual happy birthday song, but it started with the line   "I don't know, but I've been told, someone here is getting old!"  She was howling with laughter.  I couldn't get the camera out fast enough, the dessert was demolished in record time between us all!

Happy Birthday Mom!

All for now, Sue x












 

Friends Forever

 Good Sunday morning!  What a fun and special day I had yesterday for my Mom's birthday!  She loved all the well wishes everyone sent via my blog too!  Thank you so much for those.  I want to take a few more pics today before my brother heads back to Calif., then I will get some of the pics up on the blog later in the week to share with you!  Today's card is one of those cards that I try to make using those smaller dies in the sets that often get overlooked.  As I start my task to make samples for shows, I always try to get different looks and styles to show a wide variety with each die set and try my best to use some of the smaller "worker" type dies that are often included.  You may only purchase a die set because you like the largest main focal die, but find that some of the smaller dies are quite useful in and of themselves.  This was the case for this small flower die from the Ornate Squares set.  I thought it was rather pretty and easy to use all by itself.  I cut three small apertures in a row with it across the bottom of my card.  I picked out three shades of lavender to use behind it and cut the flowers in each of the varying shades.  I mounted the aperture piece on foam for dimension, then placed the flowers so they were recessed into the openings across the bottom.  I cut a piece of white card for the top of the card and embossed it using the Awesome Blossom Embossibility folder for an all over floral look.  I joined the two pieces and then stamped a strip of white card with my sentiment.  I matted it with a pale lavender card and cut forks into the end.  I cut two more of the same flower in white then offset them for a completely different look and added them to the end of my sentiment strip.  I added 3mm pearls to the centre of that flower.  I matted the entire card with lavender and added a white pearl swirl across the embossed portion of the card.  I matted it with a double white pierced mat to complete the card.  More of a clean and simple style for me, but still quite pretty I think!  Finished dimensions are 7" x 8 1/2" in size.

Time for the Comment game winners for the week too!  This week's names drawn are:
Margaret Lycett!!!
Laura Matthews171!!!
Fame01!!!

For the extra qualifying post of April 20th, the winners are:
Corrine!!!
Dinx!!!
Margaret McDonald!!!

For the extra qualifying post of April 22nd, the winners are:
Selinei!!!
Lynn (Delphinoid)!!!
Sharica!!!

Congratulations all!  Please email me at americansue1@gmail.com to confirm your address and claim your prizes.  All for now, Sue x

Happy Birthday Mom! The Big 9-0!!!

 Hi bloggers!  No, this isn't the birthday card that I made for my Mom's 90th birthday today, but the sentiment works for the day so I thought I would post this card.  I have struggled with this decision but have decided not to post the card that I made for my Mom for a couple of reasons.  Mostly though, I made it for my Mom and it was tailored to suit her likes and it would hurt my feelings if there were any comments left that they didn't like the card.  I realise that everyone has different tastes and not every card appeals to everyone (rarely in fact!), but the daily cards that I post are not personal (well not at least in the same way) to me so that is fine.  I do hope you understand.  I love today's card, but I did mean to take some better pics of it before I left as you can see some bits in the pics that I did not see the day I photographed it!  Boy is my eyesight getting really bad.  It wasn't until I looked at the close ups that I even noticed them (so just ignore them, okay! LOL)  I started by cutting the Grateful Lattice out of white card and layering it up on a piece of very pale yellow called "custard."  Next I used the Scalloped Borders and put two of the decorative inserts together to form a pretty white border.  I cut one more out of custard card, using the dotted cutting edge from the set.  I layered them up and used mounting foam to attach them to the left side of my card.  I stamped my sentiment and cut it out with the oval from the Radiant Rectangle set.  I very lightly inked it with Mustard Seed distress ink for a soft highlight.  I matted this on to the rectangle with the delicate corners from the same set.  I mounted this in the centre of the lattice background.  Using the Delicate Aster die set, I cut several of them out out both white and custard card and used two of the smaller sized dies in the set.  I mounted two together to form each flower, slightly offsetting them to give a fuller appearance.  For the centres of the flowers, I used our new large sized micro beads (what an oxymoron, huh!) and dyed them using sunshine yellow alcohol ink, then adding a bit of pearl mixative to give them a more pastel look.  I glued the large beads in the centres of each flower using Cosmic Shimmer dries clear glue.  I cut a few leaves from the set and inked through the die with Forest Moss distress ink.  I arranged the flowers and leaves around a messy bow tied from white seam binding and some white tulle.  I paper pierced the edges to complete the card.  I just love this custard card, so soft and spring-like!  Finished dimensions are 7 1/4" x 7 1/2" in size.  We are having a sort of surprise party this morning for my Mom at the local café we go to every morning for breakfast.  She knows that there is a party, but what she doesn't know is that my younger brother is flying in from California for the weekend to be with her!  I do hope she is sitting down when he walks through the door today!  I will post some pics this week of my Mom at her party so you can see how lovely she is!  All for now. Sue x

Please Know I Care

 Hi guys!  This is one of my favourite cards from the last shows.  I really like the Filigree Delight die set and I love the way it looks when it has been gilded!  I started by using Scotch double sided tape in long strips covering the four edges of a piece of black card.  I cut the excess bits off where it overlapped at the corners and lightly smoothed it with my finger to make sure there was good contact all the way around.  I gilded the edges with some gilding flakes that we carry from LaDore called Blue Tiger.  However, it is a rather expensive product and we now carry the Cosmic Shimmer brand of gilding Flakes that are a fraction of the cost.  At the time I made this card, we did not have them yet.  There is a colour called "Summer Meadow" that is virtually identical to the one that I used here.  To gild the edges, I simply placed the gilding flakes over the tape and rubbed them to make contact.  Using a stiff brush, I brushed away any excess (putting them back into a reusable tub for later).  Next I cut a piece of milk coloured card and embossed it with the Dotted Flowers Embossibility folder.  I taped it into place in the centre of my gilded edged background piece.  I covered a piece of black card with a sticky adhesive sheet and cut the Filigree Delight.  I peeled the backing paper off and gilded it with the same flakes.  You can quite easily gild the card stock first, then cut it which will be thinner and a bit easier to cut (a great tip from Beverley!)  This card was actually made before I learnt of her tip so it was done the other way!  I mounted the gilded die cut with mounting foam pieces for dimension.  I cut the tag from this set out of black card and cut it in half.  I used half of it at the top of the focal element piece as an accent.  I stamped my sentiment on milk card and cut it out with the oval die in the set.  I dusted it lightly with Black Soot while it was still in the die.  I mounted it in the centre of my Filigree Delight gilded die.  Three small black pearls were added below the sentiment and to the corners.  I tied a double bow out of black silky crush ribbon and made a rose out of a green-blue card, to match some of the colour in the gilding.  The rose was mounted in the centre of the bow as an embellishment.  I stamped another small phrase and cut it out with one of the small tags from the Charmed, I'm Sure set.  I tucked the edge under the rose and added two black stick pins.  A double mat of black card with the inner mat paper pierced, finished the card.  I really liked this one, I hope you do too!  Finished dimensions are 7" x 8" in size.  All for now, Sue x

Birthday Wishes

 Morning all!  You just had to expect something made with teal card to be showing up here at any time, didn't you?  I can't go too long without playing with it.  In fact, when I first tried out my set of Radiant Rectangles, this is the card I started with.  I just wanted to see what they looked like when cut and I was not disappointed.  I love the beautiful cut away areas they give you so I decided to make it the focal point on my rather simple card.  Not to mention that there is such a pretty impression made on the outside of the die too.  You may not always use the leftover bits, but when you do they are rather spectacular.  In the centre of my teal card, I used the die just inside out the largest one to cut this pretty decorative frame in my card.  I did use the next size down to emboss the design too, but it is not as visual until you see the close up.  I cut the next die in the set in black card and mounted it with foam in the centre.  I stamped my sentiment (from the Creative Expressions set called Classic Sentiments) on coconut white card with a Black Archival ink pad.  I covered it with a double sided sticky adhesive sheet and cut it with the oval die in the middle of the Radiant Rectangle set.  Once cut, I peeled off the backing paper and covered it with clear micro beads for texture.  I mounted this piece in the middle to complete my focal element.  I used some leftover bits of black silky crush ribbon and cut them into small circles.  With my heat tool, I melted them slightly then glued them together to form small flower embellishments for my card.  I glued a flat back white pearl in to the centre of each flower and attached them to my card with sticky glue dots.  I added a white mat to show through the cut out areas and then finished with a double black mat.  I used Cosmic Shimmer black PVA glue to create faux pearls all the way around the edge of the card.  I added a couple of flat back pearls to the corners to finish it off.  Finished dimensions are 7" x 8 1/2" in size.  All for now, Sue x

You're The Best

 Hi bloggers!  I was having a bit of a play with the Engraving Board here.  Lovely fun stuff to use with either dies or embossing folders like I have done here.  I cut a piece of the gold core engraving board and embossed it with my A4 Basketweave embossing folder.  Using a fine sandpaper block, I sanded away the embossed area of the design, which exposed the gold core and left the black in the deep recesses of the embossed background.  I did a bit of matting and layering with some white and black card to help pop the design.  I cut a piece of silky crush ribbon down the centre and wrapped it around the bottom of the card, securing the ends around the back of my background.  Next I used the largest sizes of the Adorning Squares and cut a decorative piece for my focal element.  I used the smaller square to emboss the very centre for a bit more detail.  I used the largest outer die to cut a black piece to go behind to show off all the detail.  I stamped my sentiment by using a Clear Perfect Medium pad and heat embossed it with Cosmic Shimmer Gold detail powder.  I used the smaller square again to cut out my sentiment.  While still in the die, I lightly inked it with  Black Soot Distress ink for a shadow.  I mounted the larger square and the smaller square in opposite orientations for an interesting effect.  I tied a double bow with the white silky crush ribbon and added it to the side of my focal element with a bit of black tulle behind it.  I made a gold rose using the soft gold card and following the tutorial on the top of the blog.  I added it to the centre of my bow and two black crystal stick pins as accents.  I finished the card by added some flatback pearls to the corners and  a double mat of the soft gold card and pierced the inner mat with my piercing ruler.  A really easy card to recreate, but with very decadent results!  Finished dimensions are 7" x 8" in size.  All for now, Sue x