Baby Card Again

Hi Everyone!! Happy Sunday to all of you. I made this card last night and I had a lot of fun coloring the image from this stamp set from Inkadinkado. Inkadinkado sells a whole bunch of cute clear acrylic stamps. I went over to JoAnns on Friday after my doctor's appt and oh, my gosh. . .did I splurge or what!!

All their stamps were 40% off and I went nuts and bought a whole bunch of the clear Inkadinkado stamp sets. If I had enough money, I probably would have bought them all!! They were all sooooooooo cute!

Since becoming a CTMH consultant, I have a tendency to buy acrylic stamps because they take up so little space and I can buy a lot of them at a lower cost. Low cost means more stamps! Yay!

I can take as much as 40 stamp sets and place them in a plastic container, bring them down to the family room, color the images and stamp while I watch TV with my family.



We love to watch movies and many times, I'm always torn between making cards and projects (which in the past I had to do mainly in my craft room) and spending time with my family. Now that I can bring a lot of my supplies, tools, and materials down to the family room, I can do both and its been FABULOUS!!! I can color and stamp a whole bunch of images while watching a movie. In the past, I was limited to a few stamp sets because the wood mounted stamps were heavy and bulky. Now I can pick and choose what I want to stamp and color when I use the acrylic stamps.

Anyway. . .I colored the card using markers with an aquapainter brush on watercolor.

Card Details:

Stamps: Inkadinkado
Paper: DCWV Nursery paper, SU Rose Romance cardstock
Ink: CTMH Markers with aquapainter on watercolor paper
Accessories: SU Ticket Corner Punch, Sakura Opaque Pen, Making Memories daisy brads, CTMH My Accessory Kits (brads), Organdy Ribbon, Prima Flowers

Happy Aloha Friday to All of You!!

Happy Aloha Friday to you all!! In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is a common term that we used to signify the end of the week and to basically remind you to be "laid back" and "relax"!

Well, I made two Aloha Friday cards for all of you and especially to those who commented with their well wishes in regards to my doctor's appointment today.

You're probably wondering "hmmm, Maria what's wrong with you"? I don't want to sound like a drama queen but last week, I had a sudden strange feeling of vibration in my chest (heart) and it really didn't bother me too much intially until it began to occur regularly and began to feel like a "hiccup" inside my chest.



I don't know if you all know but I am an RN so I had a stethoscope and listened to my heart and it sounded terrible with it thudding, skipping, and basically, I had an irregular heart rhythm.

I didn't feel any other symptoms that would prompt me to head to the emergency room but I was starting to FREAK OUT! I did start to notice a funny pattern . . .it would occur when I slouched and would completely disappear when I sat up straight or stood up, it occurs after eating a heavy meal, when I lay down, and typically starts during the afternoon and progress towards the evening. I don't feel it when I'm walking or standing. . .only when I sat down and more prominently when I slouched.

Unfortunately, when I sat in front of the computer, as well as when I craft I have a tendency to slouch. This made it very difficult to blog, answer my email and craft.

I mean I would feel like I was about to have a heart attack or something. Obviously, I avoided sitting down in front of my computer and crafting because my heart would skip, thud, and go weird on me.

After doing some research, I thought maybe I had "atrial fibrillation" which although not life threatening, it can lead to a stroke or heart attack. It's one of the main cause of a stroke in men and especially women. Heart disease in women although not as prevalent as men, the mortality rate is higher for women meaning if a woman has heart disease, the higher the risk of death.

Knowing this, I was beginning to feel a bit scared and really been thinking of the possibility that something bad may be happening to me.

Well, I went to the doctor today and had an ECG (EKG) and yes, there is definitely something going on with my heart. Whaaaaaaaaa!! The good news is that it may not be "atrial fibrillation" but the doctor was not sure. She only stated that there is definitely a "electrical conduction" problem that actually caused my heart to prolong a beat (skip a beat) as opposed to increasing my rate. The ECG technician didn't even run the machine for more than 15 seconds before he stopped and informed the doctor. I guess I had a bad reading from the get go. The doctor then came in and told me the results and that I need to be referred to a cardiologist.

What is difficult for me is that I am quite healthy in all respects. I rarely get sick . . .only this year I had more colds than I've had in the past but otherwise, I have no history of diabetes, I'm just slightly over weight, no respiratory problems, I don't drink, I don't do drugs, and I basically live a relatively healthy life. It's a bit disturbing and devastating that I do have a problem with my heart. I'm a little sad about it.

Right now I just want the doctor to fix my heart. . .my doctor said it could be caused by a "mitral valve prolapse" or some other cause. I hope it's nothing worse. .. you know, I just want to know what is wrong and fix it as soon as possible so I can get on with my life.

Anyway, that's my story. I'm optimistic that it's nothing really bad but I'll find out on Tuesday next week after I see the cardiologist.

Before I go. . .here are a few info on my cards above:

Stamps: SU Do The Hula

Paper: Pretty in Pink, Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi

Ink: Watercoloring with SU Markers, White Craft Ink, Purely Pomegranate, Wild Wasabi

Accessories: Fiskar scallop scissors, corner punch, Prima flowers, CTMH Bigger brads, Making Memories daisy brads, Prima Flowers, Inkadinkado Glossy Essentials, Grosgrain ribbon

Happy Friday, Everyone!! Until later. . .

Quickie Post - CTMH Nursery Bash

Hi Everyone! Just a quick post for today. I need to go to bed. I have my doctor's appointment tomorrow and I'll find out what is wrong with me. I'll tell you more about it when I get a diagnosis. I typically try not to write anything too personal about my life but I think this may be important, health education wise so as I know more about what is wrong, I'll let you know about it.

Anyway. . .this is a simple card I made a while back. I had given it out as a birthday card but I didn't want to post it until I know she definitely received it.

I created this card using Close to My Heart Nursery Bash stamp set. This is actually a great set for coloring. The images are really adorable.

I colored the image using SU Markers (watercoloring) and Copic markers. The background paper is by DCWV (Die Cut With A View). I also used SU Word Window punch for the sentiments. Nothing much else to this card but I love the colors! Brown is the new black don't you think?

Have a wonderful Friday everyone!!

Baby Card

Hi Everyone! I've been slacking on my blogging for the past week! Argghhh! I'm been having a medical problem lately and it has gotten in the way of blogging, blurfing, and crafting! Hopefully, it'll be resolved soon. If I haven't visited your site and commented, it's not because I'm tired of visiting your site or I no longer like you! LOL!! I just haven't been myself lately. . .I still love you!!

Well, here is a card I made today. Gosh, I'm so happy I actually completed a card. I believe this image is from the SU stamp set "Announcements". I had pulled out the stamp set from my garage where all my old stamp sets are stored and while watching TV last night, I colored the image. I had put back the stamp set in the garage so right now, I can't tell you the name of the stamp set.

I colored the image using Copic markers then applied glitter to the image. I used the Coluzzle cutting system to cut the oval shape and a Fiskar scallop scissors to create the scallops.

Hey, do you remember the Stampin Up Crimper? Gosh, that puppy was really popular a few years ago before the CB embossing folders and such came into the picture. Well, I kept mines! Whoohoo. Like I told you in the past, I NEVER get rid of anything. Who knows, this puppy may one day become popular again.

I created the scallops with the SU slit as well as the photo corner punch to decorate my card. The brads are by JoAnns and the DP by DCWV. My color combo is More Mustard, Pretty in Pink, and Green Galore. Okay. . .it's a weird color combo but I used the DP colors to determine my color combo.

Do you like glitters on your images? I think it looked cute with this image. I don't always like to use glitter on all my images but I felt that glitters would be fitting for this particular baby image.

Well, hope everyone has a nice day!!

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter Friends!!

I know this card isn't an Easter card but oh, well! I'm done with my "Easter" projects. . .actually, I really didn't work on too many Easter projects this year. I'm a bit disappointed with myself. I just let other things get in the way. I guess I better start on Mother's Day. . .

I've come to the conclusion that I need at least 2 months advance preparation when creating projects for a holiday event.

This card was created with the purpose of using papers, cardstocks, and ribbons from my "scrap pile". I've been focusing on using up my designer papers and I've been doing pretty good at heading to my scrap pile first before using a brand new sheet of designer paper. The designer papers are from K&CO and the stamp set is from SU. I still haven't found the stamp set that I used. A few people wanted to know the stamp set name. When I do find it, I'll update this post and the other posts using the stamp set.

Well, I hope y'all have a wonderful Easter day! Hopefully, I can concentrate on the SCS challenges this coming week.

Until later, everyone!!

TLC160 - Negative Effects Monday Technique Lovers Challenge

Be sure to scroll down to my previous post and check out the FABULOUS RAK Jens sent me!!

Hey Everyone! Yup, I did another SCS challenge. This time I did the "Technique Lover's Challenge - TLC160 - Negative Effects". The challenge was to ink the negative side of a CB embossing folder and run the cardstock through the machine which then transfers the color on to the cardstock.

Well, being me. . .I decided to do something a little different. I used the Sizzix embossing plate instead. I labeled my SCS post as the Fiskar embossing folder but that was an error. . .I used the Sizzix embossing plate. Oops! I realized my mistake after I posted the card. Oh, well. . .same smell.

Anyway, I inked the embossing plate with white craft ink and ran my cardstock over it which transferred the white ink on to the cardstock.

I then added a bit of glitter by writing over the embossed areas with a glitter gel pen.

As for the SU "Fabulous Flowers" image, I inked it with the SU eggplant envy dye ink, inked the whole image with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I did this 3x and cut out the images and layered them with foam tape. To top off the flower, I used a Making Memories decorative brad. The color combo for this card is SU Lavender Lace and Blue Bayou. The designer paper is by Making Memories. I punched the corners with the SU Ticket punch. To finish it off I added an organdy ribbon and stamped the background with the flower using Versamark ink.


Anyway, when you have the time, stop by my SCS gallery: CardInspired I don't upload regularly but my goal is to work on the challenges so I can step out of my little box once in a while.

I tend to not venture out much and don't know what is going on in the world of stamping. I'm a bit isolated . . .:) LOL! I need to venture out more. I'm feeling a little stagnant so I felt participating in the challenges will bring me out of my little world. I need to step out and smell the coffee once in awhile!! LOL!!


Here's the sketch to the card!!

RAK from Jen

Okay. . .let's all say "GORGEOUS"!! Yes, this card that I received from Jen at "Pieces of Me" is ABSOLUTELY GOOOORGEOUS!!

Wow! The picture really don't do the card justice. It's pretty in the picture but oh so much prettier in person. Jen was so sweet to send me this lovely card and she wrote such a nice note to me.

Check out the CTMH case that she put the card in! I had sent Jen a stamp set as a thank you for all the wonderful goodies she sent me and the stamp was cased in this plastic container and she sent the card using the stamp set and put it in the container, like a clear envelope. AWESOME and very creative, I must say!!


Well, here is the GORGEOUS card that she sent me. She used the CTMH "Serendipity" stamp set. . .lovely, lovely, lovely! I love the colors! Such a great color combo!!

Thank you, Miss talented Jen!! I was totally and delightfully surprised to receive such a wonderful gift.

Be sure to stop by Jen's blog site and check out all the other beautiful creations that she has!! She definitely has a lot going on there!! Be sure to say "hello"!!

SCS Inspiration Challenge - IC119 - Candy Toss

****UPDATE****

Hi Everyone. . .there's been a lot interest in the template that I used to create this "dress" card. I have to admit it is totally cute. . .:) Click Here for the template.

****************************************************************

Hey Everyone! I haven't been on SCS for so long and haven't participated in the challenges for almost a year. Yikes.

I decided that I'll participate in the challenges and see what I can come up with. My very first challenge is Saturday's Inspiration Challenge - IC119 - Candy Toss.

Candy Toss is a kid's clothing line with cute yummy looking clothes so I decided to create a "dress" card. It was soooooooooooooo FUN to dress up the card. I actually made a total of 6 of these dress cards. I still have to add the finishing touches to 3 other cards but here are 3 of the "dress" cards that I've already completed.

With this card to the right. . .the designer paper that I used is from the DCWV "Nursery" designer papers. The ribbons as well as the daisy one are from Making Memories and the stamped sentiment is from SU Love Ya Bunches

For this card I used the SU Ginger Blossom designer paper. The sentiment is SU "Riveting". The ribbons are from Making Memories and the punched flowers is a SU punch



With this card, I attached it to the a square panel and mounted the dress and this is how it opens up.

With this card I used CTMH "More to Adore" paper packet. The sentiment is from the CTMH "Thing of Beauty" stamp set and the buttons are from, again, Close to My Heart!

Anyway, I'll be posting these cards on SCS sometime tomorrow.

Until later, everyone!!

Not at all very St. Patty's Card!

Hi Everyone! Happy St. Patty's Day! Well. . .my card is not green. Oops! It's a card I made a few days ago so it's not green. If I have the time, I'll see if I can make a St. Patty's card.

This is an old stamp set from Stampin Up called "Figures of Speech". I decided to pull out some of my old stamps from the garage and make a few cards with them. They've been all soooo neglected. It's terrible. If I don't use some of my old stamps this year, I think I'm going to sell them at the end of the year. It's really sad to have them sit in boxes in the garage gathering dust.

There was a time when I bought, bought, bought stamps like there was no tomorrow. I soon realized I could never ever use all of them and I feel a bit silly how I spent so much money on stuff I could not possibly ever use.

Sheesh, I probably could pay for my kid's college tuition with all the stuff I bought back when I first started stamping.


Sooo.. . .you'll be seing a lot more images from older stamps because I NEED to use them. If I don't use them, I will have to say goodbye to them.

We'll see how it goes. . . .

Anyway, the circle scallop is a 3" Gigapunch. It's huge but very useful. The designer paper is an old scrap that I had in my scrap pile and "that's" another pile that I really need to start using. I'm trying so I guess that's all that matters.

Well, hope y'all have a wonderful day!!

I Messed Up but Fixed it Card!

Hi Everyone! Happy Saturday! Okay, honestly. . .I really didn't know what I was doing with this card. . .but I kept going anyway. I think it came out okay in the end.

I ,initially. lightly colored the background of the wheel barrow but then I messed up so I cut the cardstock in half where I really messed up.

The coloring was still not to my liking so I colored the whole white cardstock around the wheel barrow with Copic markers. I then added the flowers over it. I would have thrown the image away and started over but I didn't want to "waste" the time I've already put into coloring the wheel barrow so rather than throwing it out the window, I did my best effort to fix it.

I'm the sort of person that cannot throw away something that I've spent time working on no matter how messed up it looks. It has to be REALLY bad in order for me not to use it. I will try to fix it before I decide that it is not worth salvaging. Are you that way?

My rationale is that I had spent precious time coloring an image and to just throw it away because I don't like how it looks is a major waste of my time.

Anyway. . .this image is from the SU "Blooming with Love" stamp set. It's a really cute set but not my favorite.

I know the layout is a little weird but I couldn't think of another way to lay the images out. I guess it looks okay.

Hope y'all have a wonderful Sunday!!

Get Well Card

Hi Everyone! Just a card I made. I actually colored the image a while ago but never used it until now. I colored the image using Prismacolor Pencils with Gamsol. It seems everyone are using Copics to color their images but I still love using colored pencils with Gamsol. Actually, to some degree it's easier to use the pencils than to color with Copics especially for images that are very small and detailed.

The image is a very, very old Stampin Up stamp set. I would tell you the stamp set's name but I have no idea where I put the stamps. My room is a bit messy right now. I think I need to clean it up tonight.

Is everyone having a happy Friday? Friday is my favorite day because it's the end of the week, I don't have to wake up early to bring my kids to school in the morning so I can stay up late, and my family and I usually hang out together during the evening. We usually watch a DVD together or just hang out. We can't do it during the weekdays so I always look forward to Fridays.

Maybe I'll also have time tonight to craft. . .we'll see.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Easter Card

Hi Everyone!! Wow, the week went by soooooo quickly. . .I blinked and it's the end of the week! I can't believe it. For the past two days, my husband and I landscaped our front yard. It looks much better now. We were waiting for spring so that the plants would have a better chance to survive.

The irony is that I am much more busier now that I don't work at a "real" job. I don't know what the deal is but when I was working at the hospital full time, it seems I had a lot more free time.

As a SAHM, you put on a lot of hats. . .I'm the resident chauffeur, the resident cook, the resident house cleaner. . .on top of that, I'm the cardmaker, scrapbooker, blogger, consultant, counsler, day-minder/planner (yes, I remind everyone what they suppose to do), yadah, yadah, yadah!!

Honestly. . .I love being busy. It's much more fun being crazy busy than crazy bored. LOL! There was a time when I reduced my work hours at the hospital from full time to part-time and I actually went stir crazy because I had no hobby and I was bored out of my mind. I wasn't the type to sit and watch television so what did I do? Well, I cleaned the house.

I would mop the floor daily and I mean DAILY. When you walked into our house, you probably could pass out from all the ammonia. Our house was CLEAN. Our yard was BEAUTIFUL because I would prune the plants in our garden until I ended up with tendinitis and could no longer prune the plants. Our plants were soooooo healthy because I would water them, clean the yard and all these crazy things to fill my time. Thank goodness I now have a hobby! I think I was a bit crazy back then.

Anyway, this is a card I made over a week ago and only now have the time to post it. It's a simple Easter card. . .nothing much to it. The stamp set is by TAC. It's such a cute Easter stamp set. I love it.

Anyway. . .hopefully, things will wind down a bit and I can actually CRAFT. I miss crafting. Whaa!!

Until later, folks!!

Going Simple. . .

Hi Everyone! I'm back. I wasn't away long. . .:) Where did I go for the whole week? No where. LOL! Actually, the truth is I needed to take a break from my blogging routine. I have, for a whole year, been blogging practically daily on both blog sites and I now have my club's private blog site to work on.

I guess I was going through a "blog" burn out. I want crafting to be spontaneous and not a routine and it was turning into a routine. So. . .I decided to change things a bit and work on a few projects at home that I have been putting off. Life should be

balanced. Don't you think?

Anyway. . .while I was away. . .during my free time, I created a bunch of "simple cards". I had this old SU stamp set sitting on my desk for no reason but just being there. I was looking through a bunch of scrap designer papers and cardstock and decided to use up a few papers that were in my scrap pile. I have a lot of cut up designer paper just waiting to be used so I decided to create these "quicky" cards.

No embellishments or ribbons! Wow. . .I don't this too often and it's sort of fun to just go the simple route.

I think adding designer paper, a scalloped edge, and shaped images can actually make a card look like it took a lot of work to create but in reality, there's not much to it.

I think I'm going to make more cards using this layout using a bunch of my stamps that have a circle design and use up more of the papers/cardstock in my scrap pile. Maybe I'll do a marathon session just to reduce my pile.

Anyway. . .hope y'all have a wonderful day!

Video Tutorial #10 - Slit Flower Frame Card

Click Here for the Written Tutorial

Hi Everyone! I'm not quite back from my break but I just wanted to share a video tutorial I created. I, initially, created it for my "stamp and scrapbooking" club blog site but decided I'll make it public because I use a a Stampin Up punch to create the project. If anyone is interested in joining my club, email me at lbmcd66@hotmail.com and I'll send you the details.

Hope you like the tutorial. It's has verbal instructions so be sure to turn on you volume. Just to let you know it also has music. You can subscribe to my YouTube Videos: Click Here You'll receive an email notice whenever I post a video tutorial. Sorry about the poor quality of my videos but whenever I use a better quality setting, the memory space is too large for YouTube. I'm still trying to figure out what setting is best to upload on YouTube. Don't worry. . .I'll get better at this!

This is a project I came up with a while ago and had posted a written tutorial of it but I decided to do a video one as well.

I used Close to My Heart "Free Spirit" and "Heartfelt" stamp sets and blush and cocoa cardstocks and inks.

Hope y'all are having a wonderful Saturday!

Here is the card at a slight side angle. Try out the project, it's easy and pretty fun to create.

Until later!!

Christmas Cards and Blog Break

Hi Everyone! Happy Sunday to all of you!! I just wanted to let you all know that I'm going to take a blog break. I have to take care of a few things that I've been putting off for some time now and it'll take a bit of my time to take care of it. Hope y'all will stick around and be here when I return!!

Anyway, I am really behind on my Christmas cards. I created this card using one of my Stampin Up stamp set. I actually colored the images a while ago so I can't remember the stamp set name.

I had colored the image using markers and an aquapainter brush on watercolor. I think this is the fastest way to color an image.

This is the second card I made using the same images. You can't really see it but the background panel is embossed with the cuttlebug.

Anyway, see y'all when I bet back!

Until later, folks!!

Happy Day To Y'all!!

Hi Everyone . . ..this card is for all of you who visit my blog! It's Bella with her tote and stamping goodies and the sentiment says "Happy Day"!!

Well, I hope all of you are having a happy day. It's overcast and dreary outside today. No sunshine at all!! But, that's okay.

I made this card using the Bella stamp that Jen at "Pieces of Me" sent to me. I colored the image using my Copic markers. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that Copic don't work well with dye inks so it smeared the black a bit. I did my best to recover the image. I hate to waste so I decided to keep it anyway.

I used SU Ticket Corner punch. I think this punch and the scallop punch are my most used punches. I then took my paper piercer and pierced holes to the edge of the ticket cornered punched area. I did the same thing with the scallop sentiment.

I added a little bit of Stickles to the top of the sentiment. The embossed background is by CB. . .which I don't use often enough and finally I topped the card off with a gingham ribbon by Making Memories. The sentiment stamp and the hearts are from a Heidi Swapp stamp set.


Anyway. . .I hope y'all are having a wonderful weekend!

Until later. . .