Thoughts of a Grasshopper

No stamping for me this morning. I thought I would share a card from years ago that reminds me of the haunted house set in the catalog now. I always liked this image with the shaving cream background. Perhaps something you may want to try if you have the current set. It has been at least 5 years since I made zucchini bread. Actually it was a zucchini apple bread that I made. I wanted to try a different version of zucchini bread. Zucchini blueberry sounded good and I have a lot of blueberries in the freezer for the lemon blueberry bread that I make and for the kids to make smoothies. I crammed the batter into 4 mini loaf pans, but you really need 5 to make it easier to get out of the pan. My husband is not a fan of zucchini and comments how his mother would sneak it in on him but he really liked the bread. I only had a couple of kids brave enough to try the bread but they liked it. Zucchini Blueberry Bread 3 eggs, lightly beaten 1C oil 1T vanilla 2C sugar 1/4C brown sugar 3C shred...

This card is one that I have kept for 6 or more years. It reminds me that simple is nice too and things don't always have to be over-embellished to be nice. Don't get me wrong, I love my layers and bling but I also love the simplicity of this card that I have yet to achieve. I didn't stamp yesterday and I don't see it on today's agenda. Tomorrow, however, I will be getting my box from Mr. Brown and will be playing and checking out the new catalog. What I have been doing is going through my stamps. Usually when the new catalog comes out, I go through them and decide what I want to keep and give the rest away. This year it is double the work because we were in the middle of a cross-country move when the new catalog came out last year. I currently have over 100 sets that I'm not keeping and I still have 3 more shelves to unload and sort through from my "office". I discovered that my oldest set dates back to 1997. It was a Christmas set that I boug...

A month or so ago Jami told me how to make these fool-proof flowers and assured me they were easy to make. I made one and it sat on my desk. I decided to just go with the same paper I made the flower from and make a simple card. Do you see that I used my Two Tags die again? I was actually going to do it differently on the card but I had this bow left on my desk from a Valentine's card. I have several little piles of "extras" on my desk from various projects. I don't really want to throw them away but I think I need to give myself a cut-off date to use them so I can clear some clutter. I'll be back Monday. My son is camping tonight with the scouts on an island. They are actually canoeing to the island with their gear. Hope no one tips it. The girls and I are celebrating school being over and plotting our summer plans. My husband and I are celebrating our 15 year anniversary this weekend too. Lots of happy things. Have a great weekend.

I spent this morning making a graduation card for my friend's daughter. I still can't believe she is graduating next week. Their school colors are navy and gold. I got the Label Ten die last week and was itching to use it and it was perfect for the image. Then I decided to pop it. I played around with the Labels Ten and Ovals making frames and various designs for the card and settled on making a gold frame with two of the ovals and trimming away the outer layer so it wouldn't be quite as thick. It is a fairly simple card for such a big occasion.

This isn't all of the cards, but a lot of what went into the tin for my Mother-in-Law. There were 20 cards altogether. I still need to make some sympathy cards for her. It came down to making them and having it arrive late or get her package in the mail and mail the other cards later. Have I ever mentioned here that our post office is crazy busy here? Every time I go, it doesn't seem to matter what time of day, the line is to the door. The line was out the door at Christmas. You can count on a trip to the post office taking 45 minutes. When I mailed some boxes Tuesday, I found it to be the same, although I expected there to be a longer line thinking others would be mailing off Mother's Day packages too. Even though the wait is long, I usually end up talking with several people while waiting. I'm not usually that way, but I think I do this because it passes the time a lot faster. While I dread the line, I'm always entertained there. I love this paper and ha...

I haven't gotten back to making a lily card with the stamps but with all of my time looking for flower tutorials this week, I did come across a lily tutorial. You can find it here . It is like the roses, except one less punch of a flower and just as easy to make. Thanks to Nelia Hardy, I was able to make this card for my mom for Mother's Day. The card base is vanilla and not mounted on soft suede. I just used some soft suede DP when I was taking the picture. Stamps: Well Scripted CS: VV, Soft Suede Ink: Soft Suede Misc.: Sponge, scallop edge punch, linen thread, 1/8" hole punch, texturz plate, dimensionals, oval punch and scallop oval punch, brads, lg. bird punch and butterfly punch That is all the stamping I'll get to do this week, which is more than I've done in a month. I will be back to it Monday.

I bought this set a year or so ago. My mom has a ton of daylilies in her yard. I'm thinking she has over a hundred different types. I got this set with her in mind. While I have a lot of ideas for the set, I haven't picked it up to use because the images, while looking very real with all of their layers, are sometimes hard to nail down on the stamping. These lilies are a 5-step stamp. There is an image with a cluster of 3 that I can't nail down the placement of the 4th & 5th stamp so it isn't turning out too well.

I have been seeing a lot flowers lately and wanting to try them out but some I fear would look like a crinkled up mess after I did it. I was looking for tutorials yesterday and came across a lovely card with paper roses. I asked how to make them and she pointed me to this tutorial. Super easy. A lot of what I had seen in my search used various sizes of hearts so I was delighted to use something I have that wouldn't take a lot of cutting by hand. I went ahead and tried it out after school using some CS I had still out from the last card. When I made one and saw how easy it was, I had to make another. It seemed wrong to have 2 made and not use them so I made a third and put together this card. I was looking for a verse, something witty, perhaps encouraging to use but I didn't have anything appropriate, so I went with a mother's day card. Stamps: Well Scripted, Friends 24-7 CS: Rich Razzleberry, Orchid Opulence, Old Olive, WW Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Orchid Opulence Mi...

I think this is kind of funny option on the like-o-meter. I went with a simple pocket card, which I don't typically do. Pretty simple card. Stamps: Like-o-meter, I {Heart} Hearts CS: WW, Pretty in Pink, Close to Cocoa Ink: Close to Cocoa Misc.: Felt Flowers, glue dots, brads, hardware, piercing tool

I really like the idea of this stamp. My FIL is here visiting and has asked me to make several cards that say 'you annoy me'. We'll have to cross out the 'don't'. I offered to make him an "I'm over you' card for a friend of his I don't care for. He ignored that suggestion. Stamps: Like-o-meter, Tiny Tags, I {Heart} Hearts CS: USW, Real Red, Basic Black Ink: Tuxedo Black, Real Red Misc.: Heart Border Punch, Pearl Stickers, Dimensionals, Brad, Ribbon

I just started working on Christmas cards this week. The first real stamping I've done since the move. Crazy that it has taken this long but I've been spending most of my time cross-stitching a gift for my mother. I'm so close to being done with it and I think I've put in over 200 hours on it. It is amazing how long it takes to do. I'm trying to finish it this week so I can get it framed to give to her on Thanksgiving. I CASE on this card. Someone shared it from a swap they were in and I really liked it. Albeit it isn't the traditional Christmas colors but it has a sort of elegant look about it. The ornament is done with the Vintage Ornament Stencil that SU has available now. Stamps: Medallion, Holiday Best Ink: Chocolate Chip, More Mustard CS: More Mustard, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla Misc.: Vintage Brads, dimensionals, vintage ornaments stencil, ribbon

At the end of June I shared the card I made for the Christmas card swap. I managed to snap pictures of the cards before they were packed up a couple of weeks ago. Now that we have moved across the country and are house hunting, I have some time to get them posted here. I have to say, we saw a beautiful home yesterday and it has a built in stamping area but no pool. We are looking at a house with a pool today and another home, then our decision will be made. Here are the cards from the swap. by Susan Hackney by Jamie Schnirch, ?? by Terri Tank, Norma Chiaramonte by Brokenburr by Kay Fulton, Catie Palmer by Alice Leal, Deb Waterhouse

I made this card for the participants of the glitter & bling swap. The color of the picture is a little off but when I lighten it, the coloring on the cupcakes is too washed out. The razzleberry and suede are not quite that dark. Stamps: Crazy for Cupcakes CS: Confetti White, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry, Soft Suede Ink: Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry Misc.: Melon Mambo ribbon, rhinestone brads, crystal effects, dazzling diamonds

These are the cards I received from the glitter & bling swap. It is funny how similar two of the cards are but they are both beautiful. In person you can see the shiny glazed sparkle on the Crushed Curry cards. I'm loving the new In Colors. Diane Clark-Sutton, Jane Hignite Loni Holt, Sue-Lynn Bock Virginia Haverick, Wendy Leftrick

Obviously I didn't go with this card for the swap, but I liked it. The Dusty Durango cardstock looks different here in this picture. I had trouble getting past the color for a Christmas card. Stamps: Christmas Punch, Teeny Tiny Wishes CS: Bashful Blue, Night of Navy, Dusty Durango, Confetti White Ink: Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue, Night of Navy Misc.: thread, brocade ribbon, brad