by Susan Itell | Sep 18, 2017 | Uncategorized |
Good morning and here’s to a new week! I have a fun post for you today as it is filled with pictures that will make you smile…make you giggle…make you just say life is great! John and I went away to a county fair near where we live!
I have never been to this fair – it is the Frederick County, Maryland fair. I simply could not get enough of all of the amazing animals that we saw but more importantly my heart was filled with joy seeing so many children and adults having nothing short of good old-fashioned fun!
I know this has absolutely nothing to do with stamping… but this is what I love about having a blog– I am able to share part of my life and my happiness with you! With pinkie still being by my side…my time creating is a little back-burnered right now but taking pictures was a blast!
You all know that I adore my animals and they are huge part of my life… and you also know that I have a pet pig named Daisy Mae! My entire family (with the exception of me naturally) thinks Daisy is huge… but after seeing these pigs in Daisy is very petite!
Enjoy these pictures I have for you showcasing the amazing animals that the children in our area proudly showed. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to see children and their parents have such pride and just a wonderful time together.
This MAMA had 13 piglets….these piglets are 4 weeks old. I love the way they snuggle with each other.
Everyone needs a friend….RIGHT!?!?
This super sweet girl was 14 years old and she was snuggling with her pig Wilbur….Wilbur will be leaving to go (you know where) – he has proudly (made the weight)…YEEK….I was sicken to hear that….but I guess that is a part of the journey. This pig has had to gain 1.5 pounds per day since June 1st to “make the weight” – heck…we really shouldn’t feel bad putting on an extra 5!
Friends to the end….(these girls have some big hocks)
LOVE THIS PICTURE….this pig was just snoozin’ away….Pigs are really SUPER smart……and SUPER clean!
This is a pretty pig…she looks like Daisy. (but bigger)
Poor Piggie….he isn’t as “pretty” as the others…..(and YES – PIGS get sunburned)
Can you say A D O R A B L E – just too sweet! (she is tired) – Love the ears….
Movin’ onto Sheep….now I thought Hannah and I were a little nuts about horses…but these sheep people….they are serious…ENJOY!
Time for GOATS.…Not to offend anyone… But this is one animal I would never have!
True, they’re super cute but they climb over everything!
Now here we go…help me out – John wants to get a couple of Alpaca’s…..I say no….he really wants them…
(he has a client that raises them)…they are cute……What do you think???? YES or NO?
Now this totally TOUCHES MY HEART-STRINGS…..not only is this cow adorable (3 years old) – this little boy MELTED my heart….he talked and talked….and then talked and talked to me (I was in hog heaven) and every time I would ask him a question he would look at me and say yes ma’am… No ma’am… Yes ma’am!
Just look how proud he is of his cow!
I simply cannot explain how amazing this time was seeing these amazing animals and these amazing children.
Now I just had to take this picture because I swear if I ever was involved with cows I could see this being me holding a cow waiting for one of my kids.This poor lady looks like she is just waiting for someone to come get this cow! TOO FUNNY!
Poor Girl….she is saying, “TAKE ME HOME…I NEED MILKED”
Now to the food….Every fair has great local food…..Just look at these potato chips… We didn’t– I resisted…..
And here are turkey legs… They looked amazing… I resisted….
And there was the pit beef sandwich… We both caved in and enjoyed! SUPER YUM!
You can see it was a wonderful afternoon and as I came home my joy tank was filled to the brim!
In closing here is a picture of my boys as we drove In the driveway…
I love my sweet Oscar and Colin…There is just nothing like the love and joy you get from an animal!
I hope to be enjoyed and smiled a little glimpse of my weekend….Let’s all have a great week!
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by Susan Itell | Sep 11, 2017 | Fall Cards, Uncategorized |
Hello and here is to a NEW week……Hen peckin’ pinkie here! Now I have a WOWZER for you today (and I hope that you feel the same) I am trying to focus a bit more on “techniques” to teach you and I hope that you are a sponge and soak this up!
I will be limited on words but I have some great pictures for you! Please feel free to leave a comment – I do hope that you try this as it if not only FUN but it is something that you can do with so many framelits…..
This bundle, Colorful Seasons is truly one for ALL seasons. I know that this has been blogged a bunch when it first came out…..so I waited until I had a WOW and I really like this fun and modern layout.
The layout is one that you can use with soooooo many colors and soooooo many different themes but here are (2) key products to make this a fun process.
1 – The Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets – why? – I adhere the card stock to it and then trimmed off the excess. This made it so easy to adhere it all to 1 piece. I first added the adhesive sheet to a piece of printer paper (that was 5 1/2″ X 4 1/4″) because it was super thin and I knew that I needed to cut through the cardstock, the printer paper and the adhesive sheet with the die cut.
2 – The Grid Paper – After I exposed the sticky side that was on the printer paper….I could use the grid paper to line up the card stock to ensure the lines would be straight….
You can see that I made (2) of these cards….and I tried to make the color scheme very different and unique….To me, it still is super clean but there is a fun and unique twist.
The other learning curve is the embossing. I love to heat emboss and I know that the WOW is always there with you as well, it is magic! The key is to heat emboss 2 times .I tried 3 and it was a mess…the details of this die cut were just too intricate. Trust me on this one. Below is a collage that I put together for you.
You will see that in the last picture they are warped…no worries – just put them in a book and they will get flat in no time. By doing many layers of embossing…the effect turns into a totally different look and feel of how we regularly emboss…making it an embellishment of metal fun!
I know that I am jumping ahead but can you see that I put vellum behind the leaves? Yep, I did. I truly wish that you could hold this in your hand as the vellum is stunning …I used tear -n-tape to adhere/anchor it to the color block card stock fun.
Adhering it this way it was not only easy (as we all know that the trick with vellum is the adhering part) so you do not see your adhesive. Having this wee bit of vellum really is stunning behind the leaves. It just gives a softness that does make a statement.
The fabulous sentiment, “just breathe” is also on vellum and heat set with the copper. I matted it with the vanilla (cause’ John said so) to make it show and pop! I carefully added some adhesive on the backside of some of the letters – again to hide the adhesive but the copper adhesive dots were the big help to hold the vellum.
For this card I used fun foam to raise the whole panel (the die will easily cut through the fun foam). Fun Foam is so inexpensive and you use every little piece to the end (just like stampin’ dimensionals)…I highly recommend you having a couple of sheets i your craft room…..you’ll be happy to have it on hand.
Let’s move to the other color combination. The colors I used are in the line up at the end of the post. You can clearly see the sky is the limit with color options…Have fun! ****(I noticed after I published this ,,,I have the wrong green listed – it should be Tranquil Tide…..NOT Emerald Envy)
In the second picture, you will see that I adhered this card panel to the card base making it flat. I couldn’t tell which one I liked better, do you have a preference…? They both work great but I think that I like the effect of the whole panel raised as it makes the vellum more noticeable!
Let’s chat about an envelope… I decided to do something total different and heat emboss the envelope. I was super happy with the end result and the envelope laid perfectly flat..to my surprise!
I was scratching my head as what to do for an envelope flap..so – why not, jazz up the front!
Now to another fun tip… As I am sure you have many embellishments that you simply do not use. As you can see in the picture below, I took VersaMark and applied to the embellishments and sprinkled the embossing powder over top and heat set them. Presto… a fun embellishment that works perfectly with this card.
There you go, a fun card that I hope that you can see….is doable and different. Please let me know what you think and which one is your favorite.
My thoughts and prayers are with all that are affected by the hurricane. Our Country sure has dealt with a bunch as it is so scary!
Enjoy the day and I hope this post has inspired you to take something that is very simple and add a fun twist to make a WOW! It was not only FUN but it was a great experience learning a different technique…
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by Susan Itell | Sep 9, 2017 | Thinking of you, Uncategorized |
Good Morning….HEN PECKIN’ PINKIE here…Before we get to this simply beautiful card (if I do say so myself) I want to say a big thank you for your sweet comments, emails etc….about my “bump wrist” I am doing fine but I admit, I am not a good candidate to be in slow mode. This “pinkie” is not the best for a card maker…..Oh well…..I will be fine!
Ok…I love this stamp set, Count My Blessings. I blogged about it before and I will blog about it again as I just think it is lovely. The “sketchy images” make it a breeze to add a bit of color and BE DONE! The below picture from the catalog was my inspiration for todays project.
I was proud of the end result that I did and I will say…it was FUN to make but it was even better to have the feeling inside that I stuck it out to make that background…and it really was not bad at all! Gotta love your stamp-a-ma-jig! That darn piece of plastic IS your friend, it is just one of those things that you really need to learn how to use….as it does come in handy!
Because it truly is a pain to type, I will let my pictures tell the story! Please leave me a comment and let me know how you like it….I was super happy with the end result and I will make more with a variety of colors to have on hand! A classic in my eyes….
To create the backdrop, I simply used the “jig” and Pear Pizzazz was the focal color of the day! I did use Very Vanilla as my base….I love it for Fall….Layers of paper, simple bits of color….creates a classic!
I know the last time I used gold for some splatter accents I had emails about it. I purchased it from Amazon, here is the palette that I like to work with but if you do not want to invest this much, I am sure any “gold” paint will work.
Enjoy the day….I hope that this “brighten your day”….you know what I call it….”a keeper”
p.s. – I hope that you know it is “killin me” not to type my heart out….it truly is a pain….(in both ways)
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by Susan Itell | Sep 6, 2017 | Uncategorized |
Happy Hump Day! Silly Susan has a new PINK friend for the next 6 weeks – I broke my wrist. I wish that the story of how could have been more exciting but….the truth be told – I tripped over Daisy (my dear piggie) while I was walking Colin out (a horse) to a field!
All is good and my wrist will be fine but I am in that “figuring out” stage with PINKIE! So far PINKIE and I are not feeling the “peanut butter and jelly love” but it has only been less than a day!
I do have a super FUN post for you tomorrow (I am really excited with it) as it is Tic-Tac-Toe and I needed to have that completed before PINKIE came to live with me!
This one hand “pecking the computer” is for the birds but I will figure it out and find a groove! See you tomorrow…
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by Susan Itell | Sep 4, 2017 | 3-D Projects, Christmas, New Product, Uncategorized |
Good Morning and Happy Labor Day! Today I have for you the other great way to use the Tags & Trimmings Bundle from the NEW Catalog! I was thinking to myself when I was playing around with this framelit….Why does this bundle make me smile… why does it make me excited to use….and why is it on my “tops of must have’s”?
Well let me answer that. It is super unique and fun! It is MUCH BIGGER (the stocking) than you think making it quite the “fun statement piece” to your crafting fun!
I will do my best to walk you through this but I am going to say….I might need to “cave in and do a video” as I think it would be a huge help. Videos are not my strong suit but I do think that there are tips that might help! I hope that the pictures will shed some light into this fun bundle.
Below is a collage of pictures that will show you the size and the way that the pillow box “works” with the stocking. In hindsight I should have used a different color of card stock to show you but we’ll get through it!
You can click on the picture to make it larger but here are some “key points” of each picture.
- #1 – showing you the size proportions….the overall size dimensions of the pillow box is roughly 2 1’2″ X 4″ and I have laid a gift card on the stocking to give you a visual of the size of the stocking….it is much bigger than you think…roughly 2 1/2″ X 6 1/4″ (that is from the corner to the end of the toe)
- #2 – To make the stocking into a pillow box stocking you use (1) stocking and just (1) on the pillow boxes…you adhere the pillow box TO THE STOCKING….this is why you only need 1
- #3 – The is the flip side that I think gives you the visual of the “connection of the 2”…you would be putting a wee bit of adhesive to the rectangle piece and also to the other long side…..put it together and SMILE!
- #4 – You can see how the box is finished and it is directly behind the stocking….a BRILLIANT way to have a place to put a gift, a check or even a note wishing someone a wonderful holiday and then they can proudly hang the stocking and think of you each time the see it!
Whew….I hope that that explanation gave you a better idea of the “how to’s” – Let’s move on to more pictures….(we all love our pictures as “visuals” are our friends)
Clearly the sky is the limit as to how you can decorate these. The framelits in this bundle we so well designed that the guess work has been eliminated for to let your creativity go wild! The gem I used the fun paper from the Merry Little Christmas DSP pack and then I used the Garden Green to give the greens an off set. The neutral of this is Very Vanilla.
Here you can see the details a bit better. When I stated that this was so well thought out….just look below and you will see what I mean. The snowflake is in the bundle as well as the stitched star. There are many framelit elements that can be used with many other projects/cards you will make!
I have yet to master the “how to do” with the hanging of the ribbon (probably the right way) but here is the quick way I did it….I punched a hole and knotted the ends of the ribbon and it worked! A gold faceted gem in the center of the star was the perfect amount of bling!
I used the stamp from the stamp set of the bundle to add a sentiment to the front of the stocking. Don’t you think that these are jut too cute for words? I am excited to hear your feedback.
Before we get to the next example I want you to get an idea of the size again…I have had emails form people saying that they still have a stocking punch….well that is GREAT but this is totally different – these are sooooooo much bigger and being that you can make them into a 3-D project makes them fun!
Now here is another way that you can use them! You will read in the pictures some of the tips and why’s but wouldn’t this be adorable as a table favor or to give to co-workers for their desks. Again, the sky is the limit with how you can use them and how to decorate them.
This guy is the traditional holiday colors of Real Red and Garden Green – the Quilted Christmas DSP Stack is a perfect compliment to this. Wrapping Hershey Nuggets seems to be a “peanut butter and jelly” thing for me during the holidays….they make a PERFECT compliment.
Enjoy these pictures…I think that they show you the fun you can have. I am just giddy over the pom-pom die that goes under the band of the stocking….do you agree – these framelits are just so well thought out!
I know that I mentioned it above….but I had a bunch of people email me about the size of the pillow box. Below you will see the one that we used to have (you see….I do keep some “keepers”) as I started to sell it with retired inventory but then I changed my mind as it is a fun size as well.
The one that I blogged about on Saturday is roughly 2 1/2″ X 4″ – the perfect size to slip in a gift card. I hope that this helps and you can see the retired one is much bigger.
WHEW….this was a BUNCH to try to put together for you and I hope that I was able to accomplish the “scoop” on this bundle. I hope that it helps you see the versatility of this bundle. Please do not hesitate to email me or leave a comment if you have any questions.
I knew that I was going to love this and true, it is more steps to make but I think we all can agree, it is super cute and to me…it is a work of art and love. I am excited to continue to learn ways to put this together but I think that once I get on a roll with them….I will be ROLLING!
My Dad does not put up a big Christmas Tree anymore….but you bet that he will be getting several of these to enjoy. They just are too cute and the sky is really the limit in decorating!
Enjoy the holiday and please be safe if you are traveling! Thanks for hanging in there for this long post…..
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by Susan Itell | Sep 1, 2017 | Uncategorized |
Happy Friday to you…Happy new month…Happy Holiday Weekend…Happy new catalog day…happy DOUBLE PAW PRINTS…happy NEW STAMP SET for one lucky person! (keep reading because YOU might already have a ticket)
It’s just a great day to be happy!
I know, I know…this is a BUNCH to take in.You all know the drill…..you can NOW SEE the catalog on your screen and better yet…you can click on the image below and POOF….happiness and fun (I would treat yourself to another cup of coffee)
We all love when a new catalog is launched and I feel the love and excitement!
Have fun taking is all in. 😀
If you have placed an order with me in the past 6 months, you should have already received your catalog (along with some goodies) so if your mailbox is lonely….please email me and I will be happy to make sure you smile!
Stampin’ Up! does a fantastic job when they create a video for all of us to enjoy. Treat yourself to this fun and inspiring 1 minute video that will make you smile! It might be September 1st….but there is a whole bunch of Holiday going on today!
Here is the exciting scoop I have for you in celebration of this NEW CATALOG TIME!!! I know that everyone likes to get extras and even win a FREE Stamp Set! Here’s the1,2,3 scoop!
#1 – Earn DOUBLE PAW PRINTS from me all Holiday Weekend (that means NOW until Monday evening, September 4th) CLICK HERE to review my Paw Prints rewards program and I think that you will agree, it’s a hot diggity dog rewards program because I get it, we all like a free stamp set.
#2 – Earn the Winter Wonder Textured Embossing Folder FREE from me along with this card with a $75+ order using the hostess code of WEGVCJQC. (the current hostess code is always on my blogs sidebar) I featured this folder on my blog on Wednesday….CLICK HERE to see that post.
#3 – Take advantage of my Product Share…You are REALLY, REALLY going to like this one! Starting today Stampin’ Up! is offering this below stamp set, an exclusive Photopolymer Stamp set (shown below) and one lucky person is going to WIN IT for taking part of my Product Share.
If you have already secured a spot on my Product Share, you are already in the “hat” CLICK HERE to see the Product Share offering and you have until Sunday night to get into the 1st wave of the share.
For every share you ordered with me, you get 1 ticket….and if you purchased the I WANT IT ALL OPTION…you have 10 tickets in the hat!
I told you that you would like this…(if you want to change/add to your Product Share, email me and I will be happy to add more tickets with your name on them) When you email me, please put PRODUCT SHARE in the header so I can spot it!
Grab that next cup of coffee and watch the video of this promotion and I think you will see in the samples that Stampin’ Up! made….it is a wonderful set and I am sure someone will be a happy stamper to win this beauty!
I personally do not have it yet but it is on it’s way to Randall Lane and I will ink it up as soon as I see it roll down the lane!
There you go….enjoy the day, enjoy the new catalog and if you are traveling this Holiday Weekend, please be safe! I know that it might be September 1st but we all know that this is a very ZOOM time ahead so take full advantage of the offerings!
See you in the morning and I think that your jaw might be a bit low – one of my top 3 from the new catalog! Here’s that PAW PRINT….go ahead and HIT IT and have fun! (don’t forget to peek in the clearance)
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