Flower Bouquet Card

Good Evening, Friends!! Hey, I made a big decision today. I typically can't make up my mind on what I want to do and I tend to mull over the pros and cons of any decision I have to make until I get tired of myself. LOL! Anyway, I decided to direct all my crafting on to one blog. All my "scrappy" projects/cards that I typically post on Card Inspired will be posted here as well as all my Stampin Up projects. I tried to maintain 3 blogs to prevent myself from concentrating on only one area of "paper crafting".

I decided that I no longer can keep up 3 blogs without compromising the quality of the projects I create. I was beginning to create projects really quickly just so I can post something on the other blogs rather than working on projects that I really wanted to work on.

Card Inspired was my very first blog. . .and I feel a little sad about letting it go and ending my Stampin Up club was a really hard decision for me. I have subscribers and readers that follow both sites and I hope they'll come and visit this site.

I've been thinking about letting go of the other 2 blogs for some time now but I wasn't ready to do it until now. The only changes for this blog will be that from time to time, you'll be seeing "scrappy" projects such as scrapbook layouts, altered projects, mini albums, as well as cards and projects using Stampin Up products.

In the following months, I'll be going on several short trips to the different college campuses that my daughter has been accepted to and I could not continue my Stampin Up club because I won't have the time to create the kits for my club members. I decided to change my status to "hobby demo" because the next few months will be very busy for me.

My husband thinks I'm funny. . .he's like "what is so tough about making a decision about your blogs and Stampin Up, they're just hobbies"! Arggghhhh. . .he just don't understand. It's not "just a hobby"!! It's hard to explain it. . .but it's more than that.

Anyway.. . .now that I made the decision. . .I have to stick to it and be happy about it so. . .let's move on. . . .

I've been making a lot of cute type of cards lately and I decided I needed to do something different. I haven't used a "flower" image for a long time so I decided to color an image that I haven't used for maybe over a year.

I colored the image using my Copic Markers, cut the tulips out and remounted them with foam tape. I then added SU Crystal Effects to give them a shiny effect.

We went out to an early dinner to TGIF today. It's funny because when I was living in Hawaii, I LOVED eating at TGIF near the Neal Blaisdell Center. . .we would eat at TGIF after a show or concert and the feeling of eating there was different. . . it was like festive and fun. When I eat at TGIF here, it feels like I'm just eating at a restaurant like Dennys. It's strange how it feels different.

Anyway, I hope y'all have a fabulous weekend!!

Card Details:

Stamp: I don't know

Paper: SU Certainly Celery, Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava (I think)

Ink: Copic Markers

Accessories: Making Memories ribbon, metal heart charm, silver cord, CB embossing folder, JoAnn brads, SU Ticket Corner Punch, SU Crystal Effects

InStyle Stamps - Sneak Peek!!!

Hey Everyone! There's something new brewing at InStyle Stamps!! Wanna know what? Tell us, tell us, Maria!! Okay. . .I will!!!

InStyle Stamps is releasing a new line of stamps. . . Anime stamps!! Yup! Whoohoo!! Oh my gosh, I love anime images! I don't know if you knew this but I'm a big fan of Asian Drama!! LOL! Seriously. . .and my daughter is nutz about anime shows (Japanese animation). She and I can sit all day watching Asian drama. I don't watch anime but my daughter and my husband love watching them. I just like the Asian dramas (Asian TV shows)

Anyway. . .the release date of the anime line of stamps is on Friday, February 6th! The stamp I'm highlighting is "Lizzie"!! Now, isn't she stinkin' cute or what!!

I felt Lizzie needed to be dressed in a hot pink shirt!! She needed to make a statement on her debut day! LOL!

To check out the other sample images at the InStyle Stamps Blog Site. I guarantee you'll fall in love with the other stamp images too.

InStyle Stamps are also looking for new design team members for 3 different teams so more slots, more chances for you!! Click here for the details!!

Anyway. . . a little bit of info on my card in the case you're interested. I colored my image using my Copic Markers. . .duh, don't you always color your images with Copic, Maria? LOL! Yeah, nothing new about my coloring but I did add a whole bunch of layers to my card.

I had cut that cool shape in the background using my SU Top Notez die. The scallops was cut with my Fiskar scallop scissors and the metal flower brads are SU Flower designer brads.

Anyway. . .stop by Instyle Friday evening and check out the new anime stamps!

Card Details:

Stamps: InStyle Stamps Lizzie

Paper: K&Co designer paper, SU Pink Piroutte, Chocolate Chip

Ink: Copic Markers, Sakura gel pen

Accessories: SU Flowe Designer Brad, Prima Flowers, SU Top Notez die, Fiskar scallop Scissors, SU Regal Rose 5/8" grosgrain ribbon

Life is Most Definitely Sweet!!

Hey Everyone! do you like cards that are super colorful and bright? I think this card is a good example of bright and colorful! There sure is a lot going on with this card!! LOL!

I had a few scrap pieces from another project and decided to use them on this card. I felt the designer paper coordinated well with all the bright colors of the sundae.

The images are by Our Craft Lounge. OCL sells really cute stamps like this sundae set. How yummy!! You can gain a few pounds just looking at it! LOL! Luckily, it has zero calories unless maybe if you decide to actually eat it. How many calories do paper have?

Anyway. . .I colored my image using my Copic Markers, added a bit of Stickles and SU Crystal effects to parts of the image. What sundae don't have a bit of sparkle on it?

I also used a few paper clips to hold my ribbon. Office supply stores now sell really pretty colorful paper clips like the one shown on my card! It's a great accessory to tie your ribbon or hang a tag on.

Card Details:

Stamps: Our Craft Lounge - Life is Sweet

Paper: MME designer paper, SU Pixie Pink, Cool Caribbean

Ink: Copic Markers

Accessories: Fiskar scallop scissors, Fiskar Scallop border, paper clips, grosgrain ribbons, paper cord, SU Word Window Punch, Stickles, SU Crystal Effects

Photos of the Flowers I Planted - Jus' Sharing

Hi Everyone!! You're like, hey no new card this morning. Actualy, I created a card for my Stampin Inspirations Club Site and posted it there because I used a Stampin Up image. I post all of my Stampin Up stuff on that blog site in the case you're wondering if I ever use my Stampin Up stamps considering I'm a demonstrator! LOL!! I'll post a card here later today. Sorry, despite what you may think. . . I don't churn these cards out in my sleep and no, I don't spend my whole day in my craft room slaving away! LOL!

I just wanted to share a few photos I took of the flowers I planted the other day. I'm rather proud of myself. I had planted a few plants and also cut the Papyrus plants that were ugly, brown and dead. The picture way below is of the close up of it and below that is the plant the way it actually looks.

I'm rather proud of the photos I took. I don't know how to use my camera and well if you have a Canon Rebel, you really don't need skills. I wish I knew how to use my camera to it's capacity but arggh, there's too many things to learn that I don't have the time to play around with my camera. Most of the close up shots were taken on macro with my 28 - 70mm lens. Not bad, huh! If you click on the photo, you can see a close up of the photos.

Little C's Weekly Challenge - Sketch Challenge

Hey Everyone!! Happy Tuesday to all of you!! Today is Little C's Weekly Challenge and the debut of the new design team for Little C's!!! Whoohoo!! Scroll down to check out the challenge for this week. . .it's a sketch challenge!! I decided to use my Rachel Ann Miller image to create this card. Isn't she stinkin' cute or what? I colored my image using my Copic Markers and added a bit of Stickles to the flowers.

Be sure to stop by the Little C's blog site for more details of the challenge!! There's a prize to be given out so be sure to play along!! To check out the fabulous products sold at Little C's, click on the banner above or click here.

Also, be sure to stop by the Little C's Gallery Yahoo Site to check out the different cards created using Little C's stamps and products!! Little C's also have a Paper Craft Planet Group Site. Stop by and join in the fun!!

Check out the fabulous cards by the Little's C's DT:

Jen - Pieces of Me

Rina~ Heartful Stamping

MacKenzie - Midnight Scramper

Heidi - Create - Reach for Something More

Jen C

Jackielou - Bloggin My Pink Artsie World

Margie ~ Oh Bumble is Me

Hey. . .yesterday I spent the day planting flowers in my back yard. I hope they don't die. LOL!! I'm not very good at taking care of my plants. . .I'll plant them, water them for a few weeks, then I'll forget about them. They always end up dying. Whaa!

I also pruned our papyrus plants. . .they were so ugly and brown because they didn't fair well from the cold weather. I cut them down to stubs but usually they'll grow new branches during the spring. Tomorrow, I'll post a few photos of the flowers I planted and the papyrus stubs. I'm pre-scheduling this post and I didn't have a chance to take pictures of them.

Well, I hope to see y'all playing along in the challenge! We'd love to see your pretty card and good luck!! Maybe you'll be the lucky winner this week!

Card Details:

Stamps: Rachel Ann Miller, Heidi Grace

Paper: K&CO designer paper, SU Not Quite Navy, Sunny Yellow, Tempting Turquoise

Ink: Copic Markers, Sakura Souffle gel pen

Accessories: Grosgrain ribbon, Stickles Glitter, SU Scallop Circle Punch, JoAnn brads

Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge 2

Hey Everyone!! It's Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge time again!! Were you behind on you Christmas cards last year? Well, we can help you get started. Every Monday I post a challenge to help you get started on your Christmas cards now so you won't have to rush during holidays!!

Stop by the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long blog and check out this week's challenge and samples by the CSAYL challenge divas!

I also started a Paper Craft Planet group site as a addendum to the CSAYL blog. PCP is more interactive so if you like being part of a forum like environment, stop by the PCP Christmas Stampin' All Year Long group site.

This card is my sample for this week!!

I had actually colored this image during Christmas but I did not have time to actually create a card with it until now. I colored the image using my SU markers on watercolor paper.

Anyway stop by the CSAYL group blog and the blog site and play along!! We would love to see your beautiful card!!

Hope you all have a fabulous week!!

Another Elegant Card

Hi Everyone!! Hey, I made another elegant card!! Yipee!! Actually, I had stamped and embossed this image 3 times with the plan to create a card with the images lined up 3 in a row. Well, when I tried to fit them on a card. . .the images were way too big to fit even two of them!! LOL!! Rather than waste the images, I decided to make another card with one of the image.

I found this gold embellishment (that gold metal thing in front of my image). . .it was in my scrap box. I don't even know where it came from. As a matter of fact, I didn't even know I had it! It's probably been sitting in that box for years just waiting to be used. Well, it's this embellishments lucky day!! I finally used it!!

Anyway. . .I created a tutorial on how to color your elegant image with Copic Markers. . .Click Here for the tutorial. I mean, there's nothing to it but if you want instructions check out the tutorial.

Okay. . I have a lot things to chit-chat about today!! LOL! There's days when I have a lot to talk about and today is the day!! LOL! First of all, I have FABULOUS news!! My daughter got accepted to one of the University of California campuses. We're still waiting on the others but I wanted my daughter to get accepted to at least one of the UC campuses. . .any campus, I didn't care.

This means, I won't have to pay out of state tuition, she'll be attending one of the best universities in the US and she'll be able to come home often. If she didn't get accepted to any of the UC campuses, that would mean she would either have to attend a private school (if she were to be accepted by one of them) and we'll be broke for probably several years or attend a university out of state and we will only be able to see our daughter once or twice a year and that would be very sad.

All of the UC campuses are on the top 100 of public universities in the world with UC Berkeley at number 1 position which my daughter did not apply to. This is based on the Newsweek ranking by the way in the case any one wants to argue about it. Sometimes people get emotional about this subject. Not sure why? She didn't want to apply to Berkeley because she said that she didn't want to feel overly pressured by all the smarties and highly intellectual students there! LOL!

Anyway. . .enough of my chit-chat. I was going to write more but it's already long as it is so I'll save it for tomorrow's post! LOL!

Nothing much else to the card. It's actually a very simple card. That's the beauty of elegant images. . .you can create a card that looks like you did a lot work to create it but the truth is you didn't much of anything!! Gotta love that!!

Anyhoo. . .hope you all have a fabulous day!!

Card Details:

Stamp: Stampendous Tiled Quad Cube

Paper: Basic Grey (I think), SU Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel

Ink: Versamark, Copic Markers

Accessories: Gold embellishment (?), organdy ribbon, SU Scallop edge punch, gold embossing powder.

Tilda and Little C's Valentines Sale

Happy Sunday, Everyone!! Whoa, yellow again, Maria! LOL! I don't know. . .I seem to be drawn to the color yellow. Honestly, I always felt that yellow was such a . . .eeeeck color . . .for card making. In general, it's a pretty bright color but not with cards. What do you think? Do you think yellow is a nice color for cards?

Yesterday, we went bowling again and my daughter scored 111. Whoohoo! She was so happy because that's the highest score she ever had. LOL! Afterwards we ate at BJs Brewery. . .it's like a sports bar of sort. . .sort of like a Cheesecake Factory/Gordon Beirch sort of restaurant. It was fun.

I miss hanging out a Gordon Beirch in Hawaii. I loved that restaurant!! It was just a fun place to hang out. I actually miss a lot of restaurants in Hawaii so whenever we visit San Francisco, we go NUTZ eating out because their restaurants are like the ones in Hawaii. Yuuuuuuummmmy!!! Anyone ever ate at Houstons in San Francisco. . .their Hawaiian rib eye steak is one of the best I've ever tasted. Seriously!! It's a chain restaurant like Cheescake, Hard Rock, Gordons. . .but they have good food.

Uggghh, I should stop talking about restaurants and food. I don't know what it is about restaurants and good food. . .every trip that we go on, the one thing I'll remember the most is the restaurants. . .sometimes more so than any thing else.!!! LOL!!

Anyway.. . back to my card. I colored Tilda with my Copic Markers. . .duhh, you expected it already, huh! LOL! I drew in the flowers, bees, and grass. . .just doodling!!

I bought this stamp at Little C's Stamps n' Things and she is having a big time Valentines sale!! Seriously! 15% off on Magnolias and Hanna stamps and mark downs on Anthony & Burt and Stampendous. Go check it out NOW!! The sale will continue until February 16 or until supplies last. Click on the banner at the top or the link above!!

Card Details

Stamps: Little C's Magnolias, Heidi Grace

Paper: K&CO designer paper, Purely Pomegranate, More Mustard

Ink: Copic Markers

Accessories: Organdy ribbon, paper ribbon cord, SU Corner punch, Fiskar scissors, Darice rhinestones, Stickles Glitter