More Birthdays

Hello - May is a month that has many birthdays so I made yet another birthday card. This one I made for my son's girlfriend - she will be 23 on May 16th. I really love the Penny Black Betsy Bluebell collection and had lots of fun making this card. I used copics to color (see list at end of post) and layered using various design paper and cardstock. I used my oval nestability and ribbon for accents. I cut out actual ribbon and glued it on to the birthday gifts as well. I cut out the flowers in the background from the design paper. I like the bright colors - it speaks spring/summer to me and we are in such dire need of spring/summer weather! (or I guess I should re-phrase that and say I am in much dire need of warmth!). On Sunday we had an amazing warm sunny day - it reached 19 degrees - I washed off my outside deck and we even ate our dinner out there for the first time this year. On Monday it went right back to cold, windy, ugly weather again!! I was not impressed to say the least. I hope you have a great week and I just found out that there is a new scrapbooking store that opened in town - pretty exciting!! Bye for now!

Your Stamping Friend Debbie
Copics Used: E25, E37, E00, E02, E30, V09, V15, V0000

Another Birthday Card

Hello - this card I made is for my girlfriend's birthday that is coming up in May. (Don't worry she doesn't know about my blog!). I made this with a stampin up stamp that I have actually never even inked before - it was brand new. I can't remember when I bought it - I know it was a long time ago. I am actually looking through a lot of my older stamps and trying to make use of them. I colored the image with my copics and used my new nestability die for the fancy circle. I added green and pink brads in all the holes around the circle. I used a Magnolia swirl die to put in behind the main image and layered with various cardstock and designer paper. She is a dear friend and I am sure she will like this card. I am excited to give it to her.
Thanks for stopping by for a visit. Hope you have a great weekend - I plan on spending some time in my craft room.

Your stamping friend, Debbie

Happy Birthday Card

Hi - I am back! I haven't been in my craft room since before Christmas and just haven't been in the mood to work on anything until I had a friend over last week to help her with coloring and that was all it took! I was totally inspired once again and have not been able to think of anything else - I knew it was in my blood - lol!!. I was a bit worried when I felt the way I did - I really was hoping I would get my creative desire back. I guess sometimes that happens when we lose interest. I know I went quite crazy before Christmas making cards and I probably just burnt myself out a bit. Anyways my niece's 10th birthday is the beginning of May and I made this adorable Magnolia card. As this was my first card since some time - I didn't keep track of any of my copics used. I used paper from my paper stash and my nestability die cut for the circle. I added some ribbon, flowers and jewels as embellishments. Thanks for stopping by for a look!

Your stamping friend, Debbie

A Goodbye for now

Hello everyone - it has been a long time since my last post but I have made a somewhat difficult decision to close my blog for the time being. I am finding that my life is kind of going in a different direction right now. After Christmas I made some new year's resolutions and one of them was to make more time for some of the other things that I want to do. I love to read books and so that is one of the things I am planning on doing more of this year, I love to work on jig-saw puzzles - another thing I want to do more of and a long lost passion of mine is cross-stitch - I have many pictures that are half done that I want to complete. My husband and I have committed ourselves to doing more exercise so both of us go 3 - 4 times per week to Bikram yoga and in the winter we ski and in the summer we hike and I also work outside of the home. I still have a great passion for card-making and scrapbooking and I will still continue to do both but I will not be posting to a blog anymore. I found what happened to me was that I felt I needed to have a card made at least one a week if not more and it became more like a job than a hobby for me. I don't want to feel pressured and that I have to make a card so by not having a blog that takes away that pressure and gives me the freedom to just create whenever and not have to worry about getting it posted. I just want to thank everyone who has followed me and all the wonderful kind comments that I received. It was fun to try it out and to have the blog for the 6 or so months. Maybe once I retire or some other time I may be inspired to start again but for now I am happy with this decision. I will definately continue to follow the blogs that I do now follow - it gives me great inspiration to see what everyone is doing. I admire all of you who can be so committed to your blogs but for me at this point in my life it is not the right thing to do. Thanks for your understanding.

Your stamping friend, Debbie

A Merry Christmas Snowman - Paper Cupcakes Monday Challenge

Hello everyone - (I have to edit this post very quickly to say a big "oops" - apparently the challenge was to use "traditional" red and green colors with this image - I didn't follow instructions very well - I do apologize) this has been a very stressful week for me and I am so glad that it has come to an end and a new week is beginning. My dad went into emergency with a blood clot in his head last Tuesday night and they had to operate the same day. It was quite a scare for our family but thankfully everything went well and he is now home again on the mend. I am actually excited about this upcoming week as both my oldest son and my daughter are coming home for a few days - they won't be home for Christmas but I am just thankful that they will be home for a few days before. We are having our family Christmas dinner on Saturday night. This is the first Christmas my husband and I will be home alone - I know I won't like it - but I knew that one day it would happen. They are all adults now and have lives of their own. This card was made for Paper Cupcakes Monday challenge - we are all to use the same super cute image - A Merry Christmas Snowman 2 illustrated by the very talented Nina May of Paper Cupcakes digi stamps. (Again I do apologize for not following the challenge as far as colors) I wanted to make a colorful card so I found lots of different colorful DP and layered them. I colored the image with my copics and added a button, some twine, a quikutz corner die and a few dark red brads. I used some Tim Holtz black Soot distress ink around some of the edges as well. I hope you enjoy your week. Thanks for stopping by for a visit.

Your stamping friend, Debbie

Paper Cupcake Challenge - Ornaments

Hello everyone - once again an extremely busy week - I think from now till Christmas I will be lucky if I can post once a week - in one way it is good that I am on the design team for Paper Cupcakes because when my life gets this busy it forces me at least to post for the once a week challenge. I know in January my busyness will slow down and then I should be able to get back to posting more regularly. This weeks challenge at There's Magic in the Air is to make an ornament. This challenge really scared me at first because we had to make something other than a card and I was really afraid to step out of my comfort zone - but again challenges are good as they force us to try something we normally would not do and we sometimes surprise ourselves and realize that we can really do it. My ornament was made with these adorable love penguins - in a past challenge I did use this image for a card. I made the image much smaller this time and colored it with my copics. I actually used a couple of creative memories circles for the actual ornament and a SU punch for the top of the ornament. I added the snow on the bottom half which I also ran through my cuttlebug to give it texture (swiss dots). I used DP for the background and a sizzix die cut for the heart. I added some jewels and pearls and a black/white gingham ribbon. I think this could also be used as a tag as it opens up. Thank you for stopping for for a visit and maybe you can get a chance to play along yourself. Check out the wonderful creations the rest of the DT have made here. Hope you have a great Monday and a wonderful week (in case I don't get another post until next Monday). Bye for now!!

Your stamping friend, Debbie

Cute Card Thursday challenge - Blast from the Past - I used Challenge #138

Hello - I know I don't post for a whole week and than all of sudden I post twice in one day - my life is kind of like that right now - and especially since we were away again. After we got back yesterday and I cleaned up my house a bit I really just wanted to be in my craft room and make a card - it relaxes me to do that - so that is why I ended up with a couple of cards for today. Who knows when I will get a chance to be in my craft room again - hopefully soon though! This card is made with an older Magnolia stamp - I think I have had this one for a couple of years but I really like this Tilda. I decided I wanted to make a card using traditional Christmas colors so I just went through my Christmas paper stash and found all these different colorful papers. I colored the image with copics and layered everything together. I added a new magnolia swirl die (I love this die - first time I used it). I also added some ribbon, did some faux stitching and added some white gel pen highlights. That pretty much does it - thank you for stopping by to visit - Have a great week! I might be back again sooner than later - hoping to get back in my craft room this evening - maybe. I love making Christmas cards at this time of year!! Oh I have entered this card in Cute Card Thursday Challenge - Blast from the Past - I am using Challenge 138 - Anything Goes - I figure this card will work for that.

Your stamping friend, Debbie