Snoopy's Homemade Fun

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2012-01-24T00:01:00.003-06:00

I was thinking about Valentine's Day and all the sweet, loving people in my life. It seems no matter how difficult things get, there's always a little love coming my way to cheer me up and encourage me. This card is my tribute to all those wonderful people. Thank you all!

(click on photo for a better view)

Have a great week everyone!

ROBIN'S REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CAKE

2012-01-23T00:01:00.061-06:00

Take a look at this very decadent, VERY DELICIOUS cake made by Robin at Bird on a Cake. Not only does she make absolutely wonderful cakes, she shares her recipes as well. What a sweet & generous soul.

So here I was, sitting at my Google Reader a few weeks ago anticipating my son's upcoming birthday. He usually requests Peanut Butter Pie. It's one of his favorite desserts and I was just thinking that I'd like to make something really special for him this year. No sooner had I thought it, I scrolled down to Robin's Post and this beautiful Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake was the topic of the post. Clearly this was meant to be. :D

Well we had a combined party for my son and his cousin yesterday to celebrate their birthdays and needless to say, this was his choice for his birthday cake. It consists of 3 layers of chocolate cake, with peanut butter buttercream frosting & chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in the middle, topped off with a chocolate peanut butter ganache ...truly a decadent cake.

Here's a view of my cake with the first two layers being assembled:

My son was glued to my side for the entire preparation. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures because after he took this picture with a camera, he took the rest of the photos and even some video with his Nintendo 3DS. I did make sure we took pictures with the camera at the party, but then we forgot the camera when we left to come home and I really didn't want to wait until I got the camera back to post about this.

I should also note that my faithful golden retriever was going nuts with the smell of peanut butter and planted himself at my feet just in case I dropped anything. He didn't get any of the frosting, but I did let him lick my hand after I was all done. I think I saw him smile ...lol.

Thank you, Robin, for sharing your passion, your talents, and your recipes! Thanks to my readers for stopping by. If you bake at all ... you HAVE to try this cake. Check out Robin's blog when you get a chance. Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great week!

WINTER IS ON BACKORDER (GOT SNOAP ?)

2012-01-11T00:01:00.009-06:00

Yep! That's sure what it feels like. Normally at this time of year we are battling ice everywhere. Our winter storms usually start with a couple of inches of freezing rain, followed by just enough snow to make the roads look deceivingly safe. I don't know why the rest of the snowfall always seems to go right around our little town and pile up elsewhere, but if it's the same phenomenon that also makes all the dangerous tornado activity go right around us in the spring, then I probably shouldn't complain.

Still, it is winter and we should be having some kind of winter precipitation. Instead we just broke the record for the hottest day in January with a balmy 66f/18c. Well enough is enough! If I can't make snowballs outside, then I'm going to make them inside.

I saw this idea on Greenbean's blog a few weeks ago and I thought it was fantastic! First you'll need to get a box grater from the kitchen

and a bar of soap.

(You can use any soap, but I used Ivory for a special reason. I'll let you know why in a bit.) Proceed to grate the soap until you have a pile that looks like this:

Now I know why people use bars of soap to lubricate wooden drawers. That soap slid so easily across that grater I had the whole bar shredded in a minute. I didn't even have to press hard.

Here comes the fun part. Take a little bit of the "Snow" and squish it together in your hand. Keep adding to it a little bit at a time to make a snowball. Stop when it reaches a size you like. You will end up with a Snoap Ball that looks like this:

I think these are an adorable accessory for your winter bathroom and I can't think of a kid that I know that could resist washing their hands with one of these.

Now for my idea. I used Ivory soap because it's "The Soap That Floats". I'm hoping that Ivory Snoap Balls will float too ...

Wahoo! It worked!! That means that it will float in the bathtub, which adds another whole element of fun for kids. :D

This was a LOT of fun to do. Whether you're waiting for the snow to come or you are already snowed in, this is a great project for kids (and it doesn't make a dirty mess).

At first the snoap ball will be a little soft (kind of like a pressed cheese ball). Greenbean recommends letting it sit and dry out before you gift wrap it or put it in the soap dish. You really should go see hers all gift wrapped. It's gorgeous.

Have a great week everyone; especially you lucky dogs in Texas that got snow today!

I WON!

2012-01-09T00:01:00.038-06:00

If you look on my right sidebar, you will see Sunday Sensations and Sweet Stuff giveaways that are posted weekly at Jacque's Joie de Vivre blog.

Well this week I won!

How cool is that? If you've never visited Jacque's blog you HAVE to go check it out. Jacque is an amazing artist and her creations are GORGEOUS! I'm so excited I'm going to have a hard time going to sleep now. What a great "problem" to have ...lol.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great week everyone!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2011-12-26T00:01:00.000-06:00

From my family to yours ... Happy New Year!

Hugs, Snoopy :D

MORE HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS CARDS FROM MY FRIENDS

2011-12-24T00:01:00.002-06:00

I found some more homemade love in my mailbox and I just had to share them with you all.

This beautiful card is from Trish D. in Australia. All the little dots you see on the card are individual stickers that she placed one by one on the card (called Hobby Dots). Isn't that amazing?

This adorable card is from Elenor S. in Sweden. I'm not sure what she used for the snow under the bear but it is really soft to the touch.

Faye O. in Idaho sent this fantastic card. You can't see it in the scan, but the present is holographic and changes with every move of the card. Very cool!

This cute little snowman came all the way from Scotland from Iona R. Everything on the card is dimensional and really stands out in person. I love the shape of the front of the card. I've never seen that before.

This wonderful shaker card came from Judy C. in Australia, along with a packet of card making goodies. I definitely feel spoiled. The center of the card is a shaker filled with sparkly snow.

This amazing window card is from Leslie G. in California. I love the archway and all the cutwork in the window. The wreath and ribbon inside are dimensional and look really cool when you open the card.

This gorgeous card is from Serena B. in Missouri. The gold paper and the embossing give this card a shimmery elegance.

Thank you so much, my friends! I wish you all

a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hugs, Snoopy :D

HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS CARDS FROM MY FRIENDS

2011-12-14T00:01:00.095-06:00

I just had to share the love I found in my mailbox from my sweet and talented friends.

This pretty woodland scene was hand drawn and colored by Virginia M. in California.

It's really hard to tell from the scan, but the white background on this sweet card, from Shelly R. in Florida, is embossed with lots of Christmas sentiments and snowflakes.

This lovely snowy scene with it's shiny silver stars is from Barb S. in Maryland.

You can't see the sparkle here, but every single snowflake in the pattern and on the charm, on this fantastic card from Cindy P. in Missouri shimmers and sparkles.

This little beauty with its shiny copper background and sequined tree is from Gillian in Australia.

This gorgeous, hand folded, foil paper wreath card is from Karen W.R. in Louisiana.

This beautiful winter wonderland card is from Meg F. in North Carolina.

I'm so thankful to the Lord for all the wonderful friends He has blessed me with!

Thanks for stopping by!

ANGEL ORNAMENT FROM PAPER CLIPS

2011-12-06T00:01:00.002-06:00

First of all, I must give credit for this idea to Linda's Creativity on her Simple Sunday post. It's such a cool idea! Thanks, Linda. :D

Back in the day, when we typed on typewriters, kept our files in drawers, and had to collate reports by hand we used paper clips for our piles of papers and if they were large piles of paper we used Butterfly Paper Clips, like this one that I got at Walmart.

Well, Linda came up with a way to use these to make an Angel ornament. It's easy peasy and a fantastic project for kids too. Here's how the finished product looks.

The ribbon I used is 3/16ths of an inch wide. I made up a few with gold beads.

(click on photo for better view)

Then I used the same ribbons with silver beads.

(click on photo for better view)

Then I couldn't help but play with colors. I think I like them with the gold beads best.

(click on photo for better view)

So for all of you who are stuck at the office during the day, I suggest you put some bony beads and ribbons in a baggy and bring them to work. Then the next time you are stuck on the phone listening to a recording that says, "Your call is very important to us. Please continue to hold until the next service agent is available." Break out the baggie and make some angels. :D

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2011-11-22T00:01:00.001-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Have a wonderful week!

Hugs,

Snoopy :D

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2011-11-15T00:01:00.013-06:00

Snoopy Tuesday two weeks in a row ...yippeee! This week I was actually able to make the whole card in one day without my neck bothering me. Yay! I was good, though, I stopped at one card.

As you can see, I still kept it pretty plain and simple.I used Nestabilities to cut out Snoopy and the frame around him. When I went to add the football I decided to cut the prongs off the back of the brad and mount the football with a pop dot instead. This helped me to avoid having a "bump" in the card from the back of the brad.

I couldn't resist adding a little of Charlie Brown's rick rack to the bottom of the card. The rick rack is really thick and too bulky to fold under the cardstock, so I cut it to length (just a smidge longer than I needed) and then held a match to each end to melt the edges so they wouldn't fray.

All in all it was a pretty quick card. In fact, the thing that took the longest was deciding what papers and die cuts to use.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Have a fantastic week!

SUNDAY SENSATIONS ~ Magnolia-licious

2011-11-13T19:03:00.001-06:00

This week at Sunday Sensations, they are giving away Edwin's Package. To enter, click on the Sunday Sensations box in the right hand column and sign up.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great week!

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2011-11-08T00:01:00.002-06:00

Believe it or not, this was a three-day card. I printed my background and colored my image on the first day, I dug up the papers and used my Cuttlebug the second day, and I assembled it today. So for all the Mums who've warned me to take care of myself and don't do too much ... here's proof. The world's slowest card ... lol.

The circle sentiment was a freebie posted on Free Digital Stamps back in January by Limited Runs. The minute I spotted it, I knew it would have to be paired with Snoopy at his typewriter. Originally I planned to use it for Valentine's Day, but I ended up doing something else instead.

So, when I decided it was time to try to make cards again, I went through my stamps to find one that only needed a little coloring (since I can only look down for short periods of time). That's when I remembered the circle sentiments I had and voila! a card was born.

I'm still pretty limited in my craft time, but I hope to at least post a Snoopy Tuesday card each week, until I can do more. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week!

CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE?

2011-10-30T21:07:00.003-05:00

My sweet friends have been sending me love, in the form of cards, to cheer me up during my recuperation. It has defnitely cheered me up. :D

I have started to try making cards again, although I can only work a few minutes at a time, so all I have to show for my effort is a few colored images. (Looking down for long periods of time is still too painful.) The hardest part now is just being patient with my progress, but slow and steady wins this race, so that's what I'll have to be.

Meanwhile, since I don't have any cards of my own to share, I thought I'd share the ones my sweet friends sent to me. Enjoy!

(Click on photos for a better view.)


from Barbara S.


from Betty W.


from Gillian C.


from Iona R.


from Jackie P.


from Judi B.


from Judith R.


from Judy C.


Silk Scarf from Judy C.


from Karen W.R.


from Kathy O.


from Shelly R.


from Trish D.


from Virginia M.

What a treasure trove! Thanks, ladies for all the love! And thank you for stopping by!

NO CARDS FOR AWHILE

2011-09-14T12:42:00.010-05:00

Hi there! I'm unable to make cards right now due to a neck injury. I really hope to be well enough to get back in action by October, but that's just my best guess at the moment.

Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully the next time you visit here there'll be a new card for you to see.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2011-07-05T13:29:00.009-05:00

I've heard about this technique for a long time and I finally had a chance to try it. You ink up your embossing folder before you use it. Put your paper in and emboss as usual. The ink ends up getting in the negative spaces (behind the embossing). Here's my first try.

I've heard you can do this using a brayer, but I just applied my Stampin' Spots (little square ink pads) directly to the inside front of my embossing folder. Obviously with this one I just smeared away, not really caring about full coverage. I just wanted to see what it would look like.

Well, I liked it so much, I gave it another go. This time I went for more of a flag look. For the stripes, I just used the edge of the stamp pad. Clean up was a breeze. All I had to do was wash the embossing folder in cold water with a little dishwashing liquid and all traces of the ink disappeared.

This was so easy and so much fun! I will definitely be doing this again. Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great week!

FOR THE BIRTHDAY BOY

2011-06-18T22:53:00.005-05:00

I wanted to make a birthday card for a little guy turning 6, but I don't know him well enough to tailor make it to his taste.

So, I played it safe and went with wheels and mud. I figured that's pretty much a universal boy theme.

I decided to hedge my bet by adding balloons inside. They're a lot of fun to play with, so I'm hoping it will bring a smile to his face. Please pardon the smudges at the bottom, it's been blotted out to obscure the message inside.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2011-06-14T10:06:00.006-05:00

HAPPY FLAG DAY!

This week's Snoopy Tuesday comes in a roundabout way. It was made by Judy N. for a swap and sent to Leslie G.

Leslie said she thought of me the minute she saw it and sent it along to me for my birthday. Isn't that sweet?

Here are some other beautiful birthday cards that have arrived over the last week and a half:

From Laurel in Australia

From Kathy in the USA

From Gillian in Australia

From Annika in Sweden (and her cute little kitties included a special prezzie too!)

Thank you to all my dear friends who made this birthday so special for me.
MWAH!!!

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2011-06-07T11:04:00.003-05:00

Sometimes a little encouragement can go a long way.

Have a great week!

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2011-05-31T13:35:00.006-05:00

hee hee hee! I just couldn't resist.

I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

PARDON OUR APPEARANCE

2011-05-17T10:33:00.018-05:00

WE ARE UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Well to be clear ... this blog isn't under construction, my workspace is. I don't have a craft room and I recently gave my little craft table to my college bound daughter, so I haven't had a designated space to work in, and all my "stuff" has been piled up in a very tiny space in my bedroom.

Well, Michaels is having a sale on their JetMax storage cubes (40% off) and thanks to my MIL and the "spending money" she recently gave me I was able to pick up four.

I have one space in my bedroom where a dresser should go that measures 16" x 56" (that's 40cm x 142 cm) and I am claiming it as my new command central ... lol. My youngest and I spent the better part of an afternoon putting together the flat pack furniture. Then we stacked them two high and spread them out to each end of the craft space. I found a 16" (40cm) deep shelf at Lowes to put across the top and voila! a crafty nook is born.

I have to rave about these JetMax storage cubes. They can hold so much stuff!

I got one with four cd drawers (for my stamps and nesties).

This 2 drawer unit has vertical dividers so you can store envies, folded cardstock, stickers, peel-offs, and embellishments all nicely sorted.

Then there's another unit like the two drawer unit that has only one drawer at the bottom. The bottom drawer is divided into cubes that hold all kinds of goodies, and the open space at the top fits my cuttlebug and xyron perfectly.

Finally, I got a three drawer unit that holds all kinds of goodies. What a blessing!

I would show you a picture of it all done except there's no room to back far enough away from it to get a good shot ... lol. It's literally a BEDroom ... bed in the middle of the long wall and just enough room on each sidewall to put a dresser with a small walkway in between the dressers and the bed ~ but it's MINE, ALL MINE, and I am thrilled to have it! Now when I get everything put away, I'll actually be able to make cards again. YIPPEEE!

Have a wonderful day and a wonderful week and hopefully I'll be back soon with new creations!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

FAMILY TIME

2011-04-28T00:01:00.001-05:00

Taking a little break to spend time with my family. Posts will resume on May 10th. Thanks for checking in. Have a great day!

MR. & MRS.

2011-04-27T00:01:00.005-05:00

This is my very first Tri-Shutter card and it's patterned after A Different Kind of Tri-Fold Card on Splitcoast Stampers. I'm not sure why I decided to make it a wedding card, but I really like how it turned out and will be glad to use it when the occasion presents itself.

Thanks for taking the time to visit!

YOU'RE NOT OLD ...

2011-04-26T00:01:00.004-05:00

You're a classic!

I had fun with this free digi. I even put acetate behind the windshield frame. I've gotten such wonderful "masculine" images from free digital stamps; including classic cars, sailboats, and cowboy stamps. They have new stamps listed every day. It's a great way to grow your stamp collection. Don't be surprised if you see a few more classic cards in the near future ... lol.

Thanks so much for visiting! You made my day. :D

MISSING YOU

2011-04-25T00:01:00.013-05:00

I remember seeing a card with butterflies and "missing you" on it over at Splitcoast, but I don't remember who made it. I used to think of the "missing you" sentiment for friends who move far away, or maybe even to sneak into the luggage of a traveling spouse. Nowadays, with Mother's Day quickly approaching and my Mom in Heaven, I think of "Missing You" as my Mother's Day sentiment to her ... but that's just me.

For the rest of the world, butterflies are a symbol of hope. Just when it thought its life was over, the caterpillar became a butterfly and soared. Springtime is loaded with new life everywhere and the joy that comes from making it through another winter.

I really liked how this card came out, so I decided to use it for a card swap with the theme of "wings". I used crystal effects on each of the butterflies and cut them out to put them on the card. Hopefully, it'll bring a smile and thoughts of Spring to my swap partner.

Here's to Spring and the new life budding all around us!

"D" IS FOR DOG

2011-04-24T00:01:00.007-05:00

Originally I was going to use Snoopy on this card, but this little guy was just sooo cute I had to put him front and center. This layout would also work really well for a masculine card; you'd just have to replace the cute little puppy with a "manly" image (like a vintage car).

I hope your week is going well!

IT'S RAINING, IT'S POURING

2011-04-23T00:01:00.004-05:00

It's hard to tell from the picture, but I've been playing with the crystal effects again. It's a clear glaze that I used on the puddles and some of the raindrops. I'm still struggling with two things: 1. keeping the paper flat while it dries, and 2. even when applied on a flat level surface, it has a tendency to puddle more in some areas than in others as it dries. The effect is so cool though, it's definitely worth investing some more time to work out the kinks.

If anyone has any tips or tricks to recommend, please leave a comment. Thanks for stopping in!

JUSTCARDS APRIL SKETCH SWAP

2011-04-22T00:01:00.008-05:00

We now have a monthly sketch swap over at JustCards Yahoo Group, and it's designed by Meg. I must've been thinking of her when I made the card because it's covered in ladybugs (and Meg loves ladybugs like I love Snoopy). I realized what I was doing about halfway through the making of the card. I sure hope my swap partner likes ladybugs.

It's so nice of you to stop by! Thanks bunches!

DELFT TILE TECHNIQUE

2011-04-21T00:01:00.003-05:00

This card was made for a Delft Tile Technique Card Swap. I used the tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers, but I made my tiles 1 1/2" square, centered it on a 5" card, and stamped it with SU!'s True Friend stamp set. I used a really pale gray marker to highlight the sides of the score marks. A lot of people also sponged the edges of each tile with blue, but the delft pieces I have are not like that so I went with a truer (if a little plainer) representation of the tile.

This technique was a lot of fun, and really simple to do. I will definitely be making more of these in the future.

Thanks for visiting! It means a lot to me. :D

DIAGONAL DOUBLE POCKET CARD

2011-04-20T00:01:00.011-05:00

This card was for a Fancy Fold card swap. It's called a Diagonal Double Pocket card. The card is made from one sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 double-sided decorative paper that is folded to make the pockets. It's easy peasy.

Here's a link to the tutorial.

Splitcoast Stampers also has a gallery for Diagonal Double Pocket cards.

Here's a link to the gallery.

I made two bookmarks to fit in the pockets and decorated them with Stampin' Up! rub-ons. The paper is also from Stampin' Up! and the hydrangea flowers and the butterflies are from Martha Stewart.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2011-04-19T00:01:00.002-05:00

This card is for a black & white card swap that I'm in, and I have to say, it took a LOT of restraint on my part to not color Snoopy's pilot's cap and scarf. I was tempted to put a sentiment inside like

"Weren't you old enough last year?"

but I want the recipient to be able to re-gift this if she wants to, so I behaved myself. (gasp!)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful Tuesday!

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2011-03-29T20:21:00.004-05:00

Everyone in the Snoopy household is fighting a nasty flu bug. Most of our friends are down with Strep Throat. Fortunately, what we have is not quite as severe as that, but it's strong enough to have taken the wind out of our sails. So here's a get well card for us. I sincerely hope that none of you need it.

Take good care of yourselves and thank you so much for stopping by!

SKETCHES WITH HEART #2

2011-03-26T15:08:00.008-05:00

This card is for a sketch challenge over at Heart Song Inspirations where they have just started having weekly sketch challenges. This is for challenge #2. I haven't used any images from Heart Song Designs this week because I don't have any ... yet.

The image is from a stamped image swap and it's the very first one I colored with Copics. When I received the background papers and doily in a paper swap (thanks again, Annika!), I knew immediately that I wanted to pair them with this image. The smaller flowers were on clearance at Michaels in a huge package for $1.49 The larger roses were donated by my youngest. This is my first time using these flowers and it was so much fun. I'll definitely have to keep an eye on those clearance bins. :D

Thanks so much for stopping by!

BLOG AWARD!

2011-03-22T16:38:00.017-05:00

I got this wonderful award from Elenor! She says this Blog Award was designed to spotlight Bloggers who are creative, make wonderful creations, and have less than 300 followers. Thank you for putting me in that category, Elenor! I feel quite honored.

The rules are as follows:

1. Thank the person who sent you this Blog Award.

Thank you, Elenor! You're such a sweetie!

2. List 7 things about yourself.

1. I love a good mystery.
2. I enjoy baking.
3. I love to sing.
4. I am a very silly person.
5. I love exploring God's creation.
6. I miss the ocean.
7. I love flower arranging.

3. Send this to 15 bloggers:

1. Amber ~
http://ambersantics.blogspot.com/

2. Claudine ~
http://cardsbyclaudine.blogspot.com/

3. Trish ~
http://codysnanshome.blogspot.com/

4. Dianna ~
http://crftysahm.blogspot.com/

5. Anny ~
http://craftyannyskoolkardz.blogspot.com/

6. Sue ~
http://suesstampingstuff.blogspot.com/

7. Janice ~
http://inkeepaws.blogspot.com/

8. Nancy ~
http://inspiredbystamps.blogspot.com/

9. Joni ~
http://joni52.blogspot.com/

10. Deb ~
http://stampvanwinkle.blogspot.com/

11. Carol ~
http://ourlittleinspirations.blogspot.com/

12. Leah ~
http://paperblossoms.blogspot.com/

13. Sherry ~
http://patternsbysher.blogspot.com/

14. Korin ~
http://rejoicingeverymoment.blogspot.com/

15. Ceal ~
http://simplybeautifulcreations.blogspot.com/

Please take some time and check out the links above. If you like what you see ... leave a comment! I promise you will NOT be disappointed.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

HOUSE MOUSE DECOUPAGE

2011-03-21T23:22:00.004-05:00

I made this card for a decoupage swap I'm in. I love stacking the layers on. It gives the card such dimension. If only there wasn't all that cutting with the scissors. Oh well, the effect is definitely worth the effort. I got the decoupage sheets from Joanna Sheen. They had so many choices, it was hard to pick just one ... lol.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

THREE CAT PILE-UP

2011-03-19T21:39:00.004-05:00

I saw a card made with this image online and loved it so much I had to try my hand at it. The cute kitties are from Squigglefly and the pawprints background was a free digi I downloaded some time ago, also from Squigglefly.

I made it for a swap I was in, and I had a hard time mailing it off ... lol. Clearly, I'll have to make some more cards with these little kitties.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2011-03-15T12:29:00.006-05:00

Everyone's Irish on St. Patrick's day; even cute little Woodstock ... lol. Time to break out the funny t-shirts and silly hats and eat corned beef and cabbage (which my Irish mother assured me was strictly an American dish, as she served it up to us). Tea and Irish Soda bread was more the fare in the old country, and she made plenty of that too! We'll miss her sweet smile and lilting laugh this year, but I'll be sure to make the soda bread and have a cuppa in her honor. Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great Patty's day!

BABY GIFT CARD

2011-03-14T00:01:00.002-05:00

I just love this little baby and I thought it would be perfect for the gift card I needed to go with a baby blanket I made. This was one of the first cards I made with Copics and I've still got a lot to learn, especially when it comes to shading.

The image was a freebie I found quite awhile ago. If you look on my right sidebar, you will find a link to free digital stamps. They post new ones every day and my stamp collection has grown immensely since I discovered this gem of a website. If you do download freebies, be sure to leave a comment with the artist to show your appreciation.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

OVER THE HILL

2011-03-12T00:01:00.011-06:00

What hill? Where? I don't remember any hill.

This is the birthday card I gave to my husband. I always tease him about getting older (and I can because I'm older than he is ... lol). Neither of us is old, but we are at that wonderful time of life when all the aches and pains start coming, and your "get up and go" has to think about it first ... hee hee hee ... but it's all in good fun.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

DIVER DAN GEL (WATER) CARD

2011-03-01T00:01:00.009-06:00

Hi everyone! I made my very first water card today and I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. I followed the tutorial they had posted on Splitcoast Stampers (here). I showed it to DH at lunch and he informed me that it needed more bubbles. The two of us ended up sitting there squishing the bubbles back and forth. It was a lot of fun! I think any kid would be thrilled to get one of these cards.

I found some zip close bags at Michaels that were 4"x5". I put some hair gel in one of them, pushed out most of the air, and then attached it to the inside of the card front to cover the window area. I used some red sticky tape to anchor the bag there. Then, I placed a piece of cardstock over the edges of the bag on the inside of the card front, and trimmed the edges with some gold peel-offs.

I colored the images with Copics. It's funny. I placed each marker I used on the side table so I could post which colors I used. By the time I was done, there were more markers on the side table than there were in the marker holder. I think it would be easier to tell you which colors I didn't use ... lol.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by! Give this technique a try sometime. It's a lot of fun.

LIEBSTER BLOG ~ BLOG AWARD

2011-02-28T00:01:00.013-06:00

This award was give to me by ToniAnn Carbone of Carbone's Corner. The award is designated for smaller blogs to help introduce us to each other's readers. I also take it as a HUGE compliment coming from an artist like ToniAnn. Please take a moment and check out her work at the link above.

OK ... the rules:
* Once you accept the award ... Thank you, TA!!
* Link back to the person that tagged you ~ Carbone's Corner :D
* Then choose 3-5 bloggers to tag, and give the award to them. Those you tag should have a small number of followers (less than a couple of hundred). Make sure you link them to your post and let them know they've been tagged.

I am passing this award along to:
1. Annika @ http://kattkort.blogspot.com/
2. Faye @ http://creativewalkabout.blogspot.com/
3. Laurel @ http://laurelscraftyretreat.blogspot.com
4. Meg @ http://ladybugcrafting.blogspot.com/
5. Trish @ http://codysnanshome.blogspot.com/

Ladies, you've been tagged!

GOT CAKE?

2011-02-26T00:01:00.004-06:00

That's the caption on the inside of this card. The music image in the background I found through a Google search and the embellishments were a rak from a friend.

I actually made this for a swap months ago, but I haven't had a chance to make any cards lately so I thought I'd post an old-y but a goody! I hope everyone is having a good weekend. I'm gonna go see if I can get some new cards made. :D

Thanks for stopping by!

THE TOPIC IS COPIC

2011-02-09T12:01:00.009-06:00

I've finally done it. I've joined the wonderful world of Copics. Actually, I've had some Copic markers for over a year, but they were purchased on clearance so it was a little bit of each color rather than sets of graduated colors (reds a few shades apart from each other, skin tones, etc.)

I found a really good price for the Copics so I treated myself to an early birthday prezzie and ordered them. I'd been told by a friend that they were sorry they purchased the pre-packaged sets of markers because there were so many colors they never used. So I used a suggested starter list by Suzanne Dean and ordered the markers individually.

I finally got a chance to play with them the other day and this is the first image I colored. I used colors suggested for medium brown hair and just sort of played with the blending. It is not as easy as one would think. I definitely have to play some more and learn more about blending the colors, but for a first attempt, I'm pretty pleased with it.

I'm not sure what I want to use this image on yet. Part of me wants to frame it and keep it because I worked so hard on it. But I'm sure as I get better at this I'll be a lot more critical of my "beginner" stuff and see all the flaws I "used to do" ... someday ... maybe ....lol. For now she can sit on my desk and remind me to try my hand at it again.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great day!

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2011-02-08T00:01:00.007-06:00

As much as I love all the little meeces that I've been posting, every dog must have his day and poor little Snoopy has been waiting patiently on the sidelines for his, so it's back to Snoopy Tuesday!

When I saw this image, I sent my son to DH's office in search of a road map. This one was left over from a family vacation a few years ago, so it was fair game. That's one of the benefits of being a member of the Auto Club, free maps whenever I want. Anyway, it made for a fast card (no pun intended).

Thanks for stopping by!

COCOA MOUSE VALENTINE

2011-02-07T21:59:00.008-06:00

Here's another Cocoa Valentine entry for the Crazy 4 Cocoa Challenge Blog (C4CC10):

This week's challenge was to use your favorite Cocoa image. I just love this one with the cupcake so I went with that. It's really hard to tell from this photo, but there are little paw prints embossed on the brown scalloped circle. This is my first time coloring Cocoa with Copic Markers, so I played around with the browns a bit. Clearly I still have a lot to learn ... lol. I hope you all have a great week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

A DAY HEMMED IN PRAYER ...

2011-01-26T00:01:00.013-06:00

"A day hemmed in prayer seldom unravels." This has to be my favorite sentiment regarding prayer, and I've yet to see it be made into a stamp. This week's challenge at the Crazy 4 Cocoa Challenge Blog (C4CC9) was to use buttons, and of course Cocoa Mouse. I decided to use the one with Cocoa and the thread, then I printed my favorite sentiment on cardstock using a font I got from Creating Keepsakes and went from there. I couldn't resist threading embroidery floss through the eye of Cocoa's needle and stretching it over to the sign. I also used the same floss on the buttons.

I took the sketch from the Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge Blog (SSS92) and used it for my layout. Here's their sketch:

I deviated slightly from the sketch by using paper across the center instead of ribbon. I placed a flower where there should have been three blingy things (although there are 3 ferns behind the flower ... lol), and I substituted buttons for the bow. The site says it's ok to deviate as long as it is recognizable as following the sketch, so there's no problem there.

Anyway, back to my favorite sentiment. It's the absolute truth. Things go so much better when you start your day with the Lord and keep Him with you all throughout your day. If any of you stamp designers out there are looking, please consider making that sentiment into a stamp.

Thank you everyone for stopping by!
Have a great day!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

POP-UP BALLOON CARD

2011-01-25T00:01:00.004-06:00

One of the ladies on JustCards gives us a link each week on new or interesting card making techniques. The most recent one was for a Pop-Up Balloon Card that was posted on You Tube. This card was so much fun to make and it didn't take much time at all.

This would make a fantastic kids card, or you could make heart-shaped balloons and make it a Valentine's Day card, or shamrock shaped balloons, or pumpkin face balloons ... you get the idea!

You should see me right now, I'm like a little kid shaking the card to watch the balloons flip back and forth. Cards are just so much more fun when they are interactive. Here's the link to the video in case you want to give it a go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDodsjKFQ8A&feature=grec_index

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

COCOA MOUSE VALENTINE

2011-01-20T00:01:00.004-06:00

Hi all! I made this card for two challenges: Crazy 4 Cocoa Challenge Blog, (C4CC8) a card using Pink & Red and Really Reasonable Ribbon (RRR16) a card with a Heart Theme and Ribbon but it will also be going out to someone before too long.

This little Cocoa Mouse was actually holding a strawberry when I found him, but I cut him out so he could give a long stem red rose instead. He would've preferred to give a dozen but that's just too much for one mouse ... lol.

I had a lot of fun with this card and I improvised a lot. The row of hearts was made with a regular heart punch spaced an inch apart. I added the peel-offs to the top and bottom to complement the gold flower box. The dotted embossing reminded me of pearls, hence the little flowers between the hearts. I really wanted to add more pink to the card, so I went a little crazy with the bling. I finally stopped when I ran out of embellishment ideas ...lol. It's a good thing too. I don't think the card could handle any more embellishments anyway. I'm off to make some nice warm comfort food for my sledding teenagers.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

STYLISH BLOGGER AWARD

2011-01-19T18:30:00.007-06:00

I hereby pass on the Stylish Blogger Award to the following ladies:

Elenor
http://www.metrobloggen.se/jsp/public/index.jsp?article=19.421473

Faye
http://creativewalkabout.blogspot.com

Laurel
http://laurelscraftyretreat.blogspot.com

Meg
http://ladybugcrafting.blogspot.com

Ritva
http://ritva-handgjordakort.blogspot.com

Sue
http://www.suesstampingstuff.blogspot.com

Tricia
http://triciastampingcreations.blogspot.com

Trish
http://www.trishcreativecorner.blogspot.com

Please stop by these blogs and see their beautiful handiwork.

Now the 8 Bloggers that have been chosen need to post 8 things that no one knows about you, and name 8 blogs that you want give the award to, and then copy the award and link it back to me. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me!!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

BLOG AWARD!

2011-01-19T00:01:00.005-06:00

Look what I got!!! Karen, over at Karens-Kakes-Krafts has picked me as one of her 8 choices for the Stylish Blogger Award. How cool is that? Thank you soo much, Karen!

OK, as part of this award, I'm supposed to tell you 8 things that you don't already know about me. hmm ...

Ok, here goes :

1. I love a good mystery.
2. I've always wanted to open a bakery.
3. I'm the biggest kid in my family.
4. I don't like coffee or tea.
5. I love to sing.
6. I haven't visited any other countries ... yet.
7. I've only been online for three years.
8. I'm the granddaughter of a Titanic survivor.

Well, that took me a looong time to come up with. I don't know why, but it did. Anyway, I will be back with my nominations for this award tomorrow. Have a great night everyone!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

MY CARD WAS FEATURED!!!

2011-01-18T20:10:00.005-06:00

My card was featured on this week's Crazy for Cocoa Challenge Blog. Last week's entry was "Chocolate, it's not just for breakfast", and it was featured as one of their "great entries" at the beginning of this week's challenge! Isn't that fantastic?!? This is the very first time I've had a card recognized like this and I am totally thrilled!

OK, I'm off to do my happy dance now! hee hee hee.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

AND THE WINNER IS ....

2011-01-15T01:30:00.006-06:00

TanySol said...

Congrats on your hits!!!!!
Awesome candy!!!
Thanks for the chance to win this beauty!
I would like to be the lucky winner :)
Linked it on my blog and I'm your follower.
Thanks!!!!!!
Congratulations to TanySol!

Please email me with your mailing address so I can get your package of goodies in the mail to you. Thanks for playing along everybody!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

LAST CHANCE FOR BLOG CANDY!

2011-01-14T00:01:00.002-06:00

This is the last day to sign up for my Blog Candy (link on left sidebar). I will take comments until midnight tonight (Eastern Standard Time). The lucky winner will be announced tomorrow morning so be sure and check back tomorrow to see if it's you!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

COCOA MOUSE IS CRAZY FOR CHOCOLATE!

2011-01-13T00:01:00.014-06:00

This card is for the Crazy 4 Cocoa Challenge Blog (C4CC7). The theme this week was In The Kitchen. Well, with a name like Cocoa Mouse, you must know that this little fella is gonna be baking up some chocolate goodies to share with all his Valentines. If, by chance, he should run out of prepared goodies, they can always munch on the kitchen counter since it's made of chocolate too!

The only bad thing about this kind of challenge is that it makes you hungry. Fortunately for me, my youngest daughter saw what I was working on and dropped 2 Hershey's Hugs on my work table as she passed by. Ahhhh, crafting and chocolate ... a marriage made in Heaven ... lol.

Now that I've made you hungry ... might I suggest you treat yourself to a little chocolate as well? Remember, "Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we DIET!" hee hee hee

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

HOUSE MOUSE SPAGHETTI DINNER

2011-01-12T00:01:00.003-06:00

I couldn't resist doing another House Mouse card. These decoupage sheets are so much fun; although those cute little tails are pretty small to cut around. Anyway, I'm submitting this card to the Sweet Stop Sketch Blog, SSS90. Here's the sketch:

I scanned my very dimensional card and found it showed the colors perfectly although it did bend a bit on the right side. I took a photo of the card and while the dimensions showed well, the colors are all washed out. Clearly, I'm experiencing technical difficulties, so until I get this figured out, I'll just show you both.

Here's the scan:

Here's the photo:

Thanks so much for stopping by and for bearing with me as I try to get good images of my cards.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

A LOT OF COCOA FOR A LITTLE HOUSE MOUSE

2011-01-07T00:01:00.009-06:00

I got these decoupage sheets awhile ago from Joanna Sheen. I've done them with the decoupage glue and I've done them using my Xyron, but I think my favorite is still mounting the layers with pop dots.

It just gives it so much more dimension.

After mounting the layers it still seemed to me like there was a LOT of white space on the top and right side, so I decided to use some pearly bling to act like the steam that would be coming off of this delicious mug of cocoa.

Thanks for stopping by, and if you're getting hit with snow today, don't forget to have a cup of cocoa with marshmallows to warm you back up.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

CRAZY 4 COCOA CHALLENGE

2011-01-06T00:01:00.003-06:00

This week's challenge over at Crazy 4 Cocoa (C4CC6) is to make a card reflecting some of your New Year's resolutions. Well this year I decided I was going to make cards for a purpose (not just for a challenge, or just to post).

With that in mind, I also wanted to send out more birthday cards to relatives this year (I have 10 brothers & sisters, 33 nieces & nephews, and 15 grand nieces & nephews.) So this sweet birthday card is going to a grandniece for her birthday.

Here's the scan:

I ended up liking the card so much that I made a duplicate one to send in a swap. Since the recipient does not follow my blog, I figured it was safe to post it here.

Thanks again for stopping by!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

ONE MORE JOE COOL CARD

2011-01-05T00:01:00.007-06:00

OK, I had to post one more Joe Cool card. They were just so much fun to make.

This card will no doubt find its way to one of my male relatives for his birthday. The Joe Cool image was recycled from an old Christmas card. The background is embossed with the Cuttlebug "Distressed Stripes" embossing folder and the paw prints were made using a punch from EK Success.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2011-01-04T00:01:00.003-06:00

OK. It's a new year and definitely time for a new Snoopy Tuesday card. Some years ago, after Christmas, Walgreens had a bogo on boxes of assorted Snoopy Christmas cards. Needless to say, I relieved them of their overstock ... lol. I used most of them the following Christmas, but there were a couple of leftover cards. I came across these the other day and decided to cut out the Joe Cool images from the fronts of the cards and use them on my own cards. Here's one of them:

I used the Diamond Plate embossing folder from Cuttlebug over some aluminum foil-wrapped cardstock and added some phillips head screw brads to the corners. DH & DS gave it a thumbs up so I think it's safe to say this will work well as a card for a guy.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

COCOA MOUSE CELEBRATES THE NEW YEAR

2010-12-31T14:49:00.007-06:00

This is another two-fer. This week's Crazy for Cocoa Challenge (CC4C5) was to make a card with a celebration theme. I combined that with The Sweet Stop Sketch (SSS88) to make this card. Here's the sketch:

and here's my card:

I really like using these sketches. They are so amazing!

One of my New Year's resolutions is to make cards for a purpose. I am going to try to send out more cards to friends and family, so I want to have an occasion in mind that I could use these cards for before I make them. That actually helped me a lot on this one since it narrowed down a lot of possibilities. This card is going to a little girl for her birthday.

Thanks so much for visiting. Have a wonderful New Year's Eve!

Hugs,
Snoopy

BLOG CANDY!

2010-12-26T00:01:00.004-06:00

It's time to celebrate! On Christmas Day, the visitor log hit 30,000! In honor of the wonderful people who have visited here and been such an encouragement to me, I am posting BLOG CANDY which will be awarded January 15, 2011. Here's a picture of the goodies:

The BLOG CANDY includes: a Martha Stewart circle cutter, Susan's Diamond Fold Template from Paper Pizazz, Hallmark Keepsake Peanuts Gang Christmas ornaments, Seascape Impressabilities from Spellbinders, two packages of embossing folders from Cuttlebug, a bottle of Prima Flowers, two of my very favorite Peanuts rubber stamps from Stampabilities, In Stitch'z stitching template from Bazzill, a mini Embossing/Die set from Cuttlebug, 3 Classic Stampin' Pads from Stampin' Up!, a beautiful set of clear stamps from Waltzing Mouse that are designed to fit perfectly within the Circle Nestabilities, an ink pad designed to be used with clear stamps from STAMPOLOGY,and last but not least, a Goodie Bag filled with all kinds of little treats! How's that for a celebration prize?

ENTER TO WIN the contest by doing the following:
1. Become a FOLLOWER of my blog.
2. Leave a COMMENT on this post.
3. Post about this blog candy ON YOUR BLOG with a LINK to this post (if you don't have a blog, let me know in your comment and try to tell a few people about the giveaway :D )

Only ONE entry per person, please.

I will use a RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR to pick the WINNER on JANUARY 15th. Good luck everyone!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

ANOTHER CHRISTMAS CARD

2010-12-24T00:01:00.002-06:00

I made another card with the Bells & Boughs stamp set, but this time I used a Cuttlebug folder to emboss the paper and added a rub-on from miniMARKS. This should be my last Christmas card this year ... I hope ...lol.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Snoopy

MORE CHRISTMAS CARDS

2010-12-23T00:01:00.002-06:00

I couldn't resist making more cards with these stamps and decorative papers. They are just so much fun to play with.

This one might just be my favorite one from this batch of cards. The Silent Night sentiment is a rub-on from miniMARKS. The papers and ribbon are all Stampin' Up!

These next two are my very first gatefold cards. I don't know why I never made them before. They are a lot of fun to decorate.

Again, the sentiment is a are rub-on and the Holly dimensionals are from Anna Griffin.

I just had to make another quilt square card, but I changed the ink color on the stamp to give it a different look.

I am having WAY to much fun with this little bow maker. I figured this one out on my own and I like how it fits the card.

Here's that square lattice embossing folder again. I just love how it transformed the vanilla cardstock. Up close it almost looks like fabric.

I love the way the word PEACE has the little dove on it. I'm sure it was designed more for a scrapbook page, but I couldn't resist using it on a card.

Christmas is most definitely a time of hope, so I let the paper speak for itself.

Finally, here is the last card. I used a sentiment from the Bells & Boughs stamp set. I can't remember ever making so many different cards from one stamp set, and I haven't even used all of them yet. This was definitely worth the investment.

Have a fantastic weekend everyone, and Merry Christmas to you all!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

TWO BIRDS WITH ONE MOUSE

2010-12-22T00:01:00.006-06:00

I was all set to get my Cocoa Mouse card ready for the Crazy for Cocoa Challenge Blog (C4CC4), when I noticed they had a link to The Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge Blog. The Cocoa challenge was to make a card with RED, BLUE, and BROWN colors. The sketch blog challenge was to use the following sketch to make a card and to be sure to include stitching (real or faux) somewhere on the card. Well, since I was lacking inspiration for a layout for the Cocoa card, I decided to try to kill two birds with one mouse and combine the challenges.

Here is the sketch I had to follow:

And here is the completed card using the sketch and the required colors. It took me awhile to find the right papers to use on this, but once I had them the rest sort of fell together.
Photo:

Scan:

I'm still new to following sketches. I've only done a handful so far, but it really helps me to improve my card making, so I'll probably keep at it.

Thank you so much for taking time to visit during this busy holiday time. Have a wonderful Christmas and a safe and happy New Year!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

CHRISTMAS CARDS

2010-12-19T00:01:00.009-06:00

Here are some variations on a theme. I got the Christmas Postcard and Bells & Boughs stamp sets from Stampin' Up! along with their Deck the Halls decorative papers.

I used a sampling of the papers on this card and cut out the sentiment using Nestabilities.

More decorative papers here and the sentiment is stamped in Chocolate Chip.

The texture on the holly paper was made using the Square Lattice embossing folder.

I just love these papers. They really make the card special.

The poinsettias on this paper were so pretty, I just couldn't cover them up with a bow.

I actually cut the bells out of the top of the paper and pasted them here by the bottom left corner of the paper to make the card front.

Again, the paper is the highlight of the card. I added some holly embellishments by Anna Griffin that I found at Michaels for a little added dimension.

I really had a hard time getting into the spirit and making Christmas cards this year. Losing my Mom in October still aches in my heart, but my 17 year old daughter reminded me that nothing I do (or don't do) will change that, but making cards for others will cheer me and them up ... and she was right. These are only just going in the mail now, but I know the recipients will appreciate them nonetheless.

Merry Christmas to All!
Hugs,
Snoopy :D

CRAZY 4 COCOA CHALLENGE 3

2010-12-14T14:39:00.006-06:00

Here's this week's entry for the Crazy For Cocoa Challenge Blog. This week's theme was Anything But A Card. I immediately thought of CD sleeves, since they are just the right size to put a giant cookie into. This one has peanut butter cookies with chocolate chunks in them. Needless to say, my 3 teenagers are thrilled that I joined this challenge ... lol. They've even offered to help me clean up ... the cookies that is.

I hope you all are having a wonderful day! I've got to get back to the kitchen now because I have a cookie swap to bake for. Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,
Snoopy

MORE RECYCLING

2010-12-08T00:01:00.004-06:00

Here's another recycled image on a brand new card. The scene was so pretty, I just had to recycle it. I trimmed the photo and the paper layers with Nestabilities dies and added the ribbon and sentiment to complete the project.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

CRAZY 4 COCOA CHALLENGE 2

2010-12-07T14:28:00.004-06:00

This is for the Crazy 4 Cocoa Challenge on Sweet 'n' Sassy's new Cocoa Challenge Blog.

Thanks for looking!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

RECYCLING OLD CHRISTMAS CARDS

2010-12-07T00:01:00.006-06:00

We pulled out the Christmas stuff this week and I found the Christmas cards that were sent to me last year (the store bought ones. The handmade cards I have in a keepsake box.) Anyway, some of them were so pretty that I used the fronts of the cards to recycle into new cards.

This is a Thomas Kincade card that I cropped with my Nestabilities. I made the background paper by stamping snowflakes on plain white cardstock. Finally, I used my brand new bow maker to make the pretty bow at the top. This is definitely my favorite new gadget! It makes perfect bows every time.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

CRAZY 4 COCOA CHALLENGE

2010-11-30T00:01:00.009-06:00

This is for the Crazy 4 Cocoa Challenge on Sweet 'n' Sassy's new Cocoa Challenge Blog.

MAKE 'N' TAKE CHRISTMAS CARD

2010-11-21T00:01:00.004-06:00

Here's another card we made with Serena at the SU! party. I loved it so much, I decided I wanted to make this as my Christmas card this year. Then I got back home and remembered I got the pop-up Christmas tree die for this year's card, so I'll have to think this one over. I might just make several different kinds of cards this year. We'll see.

Hugs,
Snoopy

MAKE 'N' TAKE CARD

2010-11-20T15:00:00.004-06:00

I went to a Stampin' Up! party today and this was one of the cards we made with Serena. Isn't it gorgeous? She always has the nicest cards for us to make. Thanks again, Serena!

Hugs,
Snoopy

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2010-06-01T00:01:00.003-05:00

OK, I am having way too much fun with these Stampin' Up! papers. I liked the purple card so much I just HAD to make a pink one. I probably would've kept on going and done every possible color combination, but I wanted to leave my daughter some of her butterflies to play with ... lol.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

GOT CHOCOLATE?

2010-05-30T00:01:00.001-05:00

This sentiment always makes me smile. I'm hoping this card will make you smile. Thanks for visiting!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

FOR MY GREAT NIECE

2010-05-29T00:01:00.003-05:00

I'm a great aunt. I'm also a Great Aunt. My niece and her family visited us last weekend and we celebrated my Great Niece's 1st birthday. What a sweet and happy child. It was such a pleasure to visit with them and play with her, and while she may not be old enough to appreciate a homemade card yet, her Mom sure did.

I used nestabilities dies to get the octagons, and traced around the outside of the same nestabilities to make the slightly larger octagons that frame them.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2010-05-25T00:01:00.004-05:00

My youngest and I were "playing" this weekend and made some cards together. I just got some SU! decorative papers to go with the pastel stampin' spots (mini ink pads) and the matching cardstock that the kids gave me for Mother's Day. What fun! She even let me use her Martha Stewart butterflies. hee hee hee. They're three dimensional and so much fun to work with. She did request that I not use any of the blue butterflies (bummer), but I made do with the orange ones ... lol.

The white part of the card is a little bleached out from the scanner. The color is a little bolder than it's showing here. I haven't had time to play with photos yet. If I get a better image later, I'll switch them out.

Hope you have a great Tuesday!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

EASEL CARD

2010-05-20T00:01:00.004-05:00

This is a card front I cased from Susie B. over at Splitcoast and made into an easel card. I just loved the offset embossing and the added bling really made it pop. I submitted this card for an Easel Card swap over at Just Cards. I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils and used odorless mineral spirits to give the colors a finished look.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

BLOG AWARD FROM CHRISTINA

2010-05-19T00:01:00.002-05:00

Christina gave me this beautiful Blog Award for brightening her day. How sweet is that? If you would like to brighten her day too, you can visit her blog here. Thanks, Christina! MWAH!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2010-05-18T00:01:00.002-05:00

Snoopy and cupcakes ... the best of both worlds!

Have a sweet day!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

DIE CUTS SWAP

2010-05-17T00:01:00.013-05:00

This is the card I made for the Just Cards Die Cuts swap. I used the technique from the Splitcoast Tutorial on how to work "Out of the Box" with Nestabilities. In short, you cut around the area you wish to stay outside the Nestabilities (in my case that would be the balloons), then lift that section out of the way when using the die. You can click the link above to see the full tutorial, photos, and gallery of cards made using this technique. I actually covered the area where my balloons continue outside the Nestabililities because I really wanted a bow on the bottom of the bunch of balloons, but if you look at the tutorial above you will see how very easy this is to to.

Now I'm looking through all my stamps to see what other stamps I could use this with ... lol. Be warned ~ it's addictive!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

Z IS FOR ... ZINNIAS

2010-05-16T00:01:00.012-05:00

It's alphabet swap time once again at Just Cards, and we've made it all the way to the letter Z. I googled "Zinnias" and found this fantastic image in the Images results. I've seen a lot of cards lately that use decoupage to layer the image over and over to give it a 3-D effect. In fact, we made some 3-D cards from decoupage sheets while we were at the retreat a couple of weeks ago. The sheets had all the pieces there for you to cut out and use, and it was pretty easy because if an image was there 3 times, you layered 3 of them. All the guesswork was taken out, so it wasn't intimidating at all.

Well, I decided to try and do the same thing with this image. I printed it out four times on cardstock and kind of guessed my way through which layers would stand out in what order.

This photo shows the layers to give you a better idea of how it looks in person:

All in all, it was a lot of fun to do. I don't know if I followed the right rules or not, but I like the results so I guess I can't be too far off.

Thank you for taking the time to visit here today.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

VACATION CARD

2010-05-15T00:01:00.001-05:00

When I saw the category for this swap was Vacation, this stamp came immediately to mind. It is a digital freebie from Hambo Stamps. If you click on this link it will take you to the page where you can access the freebie. Under the How to Use section, highlighted in green, you will see the words "free cat" and "free pig". That will take you to the download.

I am trying to stretch and grow a little, so I picked a card sketch from Splitcoast and went from there. I'm still a little intimidated by sketches, but I survived this one and will live to try again another day ... lol. Hopefully my swap partner will like this card as much as I do.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

STITCHED CARD

2010-05-14T00:01:00.010-05:00

My father always told us if we were going to do something, we should do it right. My mother always said, in for a penny, in for a pound. Well after successfully adding a little embroidery to my Mom's Mother's Day card, I decided to take a dive in the deep end of the pool and bought a pattern for the Just Cards Stitched or Embroidered card swap.

The pattern is from Form-A-Lines stitching cards. It actually has three patterns: one for a bass guitar, one for a violin, and one for a saxophone. Since my kids play all three I figured I couldn't go wrong buying this 3-pack.

I stitched this card with 3 strands of floss. The next time I think I'll try two instead to try and better define the details. All in all it wasn't hard to do ... just time consuming. But then, that's part of the gift, isn't it?

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

MOTHER'S DAY CARDS

2010-05-10T00:01:00.024-05:00

MY CARD TO MY MOM:

This is the Mother's Day card I made for my Mom. I've never embroidered a card before, but I thought I'd give it a shot. The digital image is a freebie from Fred She Said. The cardstock is from Stampin' Up! (soft subtles).

I used the mat pack from Stampin' Up! to paper pierce the card on the veins of the flowers and leaves, then I back stitched on the lines with embroidery floss. For the center of the big flower I just randomly stitched french knots. I also added one french knot to the center of each yellow flower. I was really pleased with the results. In fact, I didn't want to give it away, but I knew my Mom would appreciate all that went in to it, so I had to give it to her.

MY KIDS' CARDS TO ME:

This is the card from my two oldest (ages 16 & 15). My oldest made the card and let her brother sign it too. She used a digital image I purchased from Sweet 'n' Sassy Stamps, and Nestabilities (Lables Three dies) to make the frame around little Cocoa the mouse. I love how she layered the papers and added the lace border with the Martha Steward punch. The inside of the card was even sweeter ... it said "Got chocolate?" My girls and I have a rule that you can't make cards or scrapbook without a little chocolate at the table, so the sentiment was just perfect.

This card is from my youngest (age 13). She spotted that paper in our LSS a month and a half ago, bought it and came straight home and made the card. How sweet is that? It was also kind of funny because she sealed it up right away and hid it. When I was reading it this morning, she asked me if she could read it again because it's been so long, she forgot what she wrote. Well, she may have forgotten, but I never will. Both cards had heartfelt words inside that I will treasure forever.

My youngest also decided that I needed to get a card from our biggest baby ... my golden retriever. While he was sleeping she inked his paw and got an impression. She then outlined it and colored it in with a black marker.

The dog loved the whole experience because he got extra treats from me for giving me such a nice card.

I hope all you Moms out there had a very special day. It's a thankless job at times, which makes days like these all the more precious.

Happy Mother's Day!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

JUSTCARDS RETREAT ~ LAST DAY

2010-05-08T00:01:00.017-05:00

One of the places Faye wanted to see was the aquarium and it was beautiful. Taking pictures of large tanks proved to be difficult, but the fish had no trouble seeing us. There was a shark that came right at me and yawned. Either that or he was sizing me up to see if I'd fit ... lol.

They had a fantastic area set up for children. In this first tank, they could touch anything in it with two fingers only. They had starfish, hermit crabs, sea urchins and other small creatures.

This tank had about a dozen small stingrays in it and you could pet them as they swam by. How cool is that?

We asked a lady to take our picture for us and it turned out to be the only one we got with all three of us. The necklaces we're wearing were a handmade gift from Meg. Gorgeous!

We visited a lot of shops that day. There were a couple of bead shops, and some souvenir shops, and they all had such interesting crafts made from shells.

After visiting some shops, it was back to the house to work on cards. These are the cards I made with the kits from Faye:

This is from a card kit that Meg K. mailed to us so we could make it there:

We spent a good amount of time crafting and then headed out to the beach for a farewell stroll.

No one wanted to leave. = (

Here's a picture of the cards we made while we were there. Not bad for a few days away! I wish I could sit down uninterrupted and get that much done at home ... but then, I wouldn't need a retreat would I? That's my story and I'm sticking to it ... lol.

Goodbye from North Carolina ... next stop .... home.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

JUSTCARDS RETREAT ~ DAY 3

2010-05-07T00:01:00.020-05:00

Friday already ... where has the time gone?

We saw lots of beautiful sights on our trip. I took a picture of this building to show my kids how all the buildings are on piers to protect them during tidal surges.

I was definitely thinking of my youngest when I took this shot. She loves to climb trees and a lot of the trees there branched out like this; perfect for daydreaming in on a summer afternoon.

This giant adirondack chair was outside a local ACE Hardware. We took pictures of each other and told the ladies on the group we were in Time Out for misbehaving the day before ...lol. Alas, nobody believed we were really being punished. I wonder why?

We found a Christmas Shoppe in town that was 1/2 Christmas Shoppe and 1/2 Art/Antiques Gallery. There were so many cool things to see. I walked through the Nutcracker Room and totally missed seeing the Snoopy Nutcracker! You know I'm too relaxed when I don't even spot Snoopy! Thankfully, the girls' brains were still functioning and they brought me back to the room to show me.

In between all these visits, we would take breaks and make cards or stamp images or color while watching a chick flick. It was all so very relaxed ... aaaah! These are the cards made with one of my card kits:

This first one was made by Meg.

This one was made by Faye.

This was my card. That was one of the great things about the card kits. You can give three ladies identical kits and get three completely different cards.

Well, there's only one day left and so many more cards to make ... lol.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

JUSTCARDS RETREAT ~ DAY 2

2010-05-06T12:01:00.002-05:00

Thursday morning, the girls greeted the sunrise with a walk on the beach while I enjoyed being in a house with ....nobody ... no hubby, no kids, nobody.

It may seem silly to you, but I don't usually get time to myself in the morning and I absolutely enjoyed being up and ready at my own pace. After a delicious breakfast at Duck Deli, we headed out to the nearest lighthouse to check it out. This is Currituck Lighthouse.

I raided the nearby gift shop for souvenirs and Christmas ornaments. I like to collect Christmas ornaments from places we visit. That way, each Christmas as we decorate the tree, we remember the fun times we've had on vacation.

(Note to self: even the smallest snowglobe will set airport security into a frenzy.)

After the lighthouse we followed the boardwalk through a wetlands area and out to the sea.

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Meanwhile, back at JustCards there was trouble brewing!
This was posted by Laurel:

Police in Duck, North Carolina have taken a zero tolerance approach to a noisy card making retreat. At dawn this morning the riot squad moved in on a card making group after several complaints from neighbours about all night laughing. Two females (Meggsy and F.F.) were taken into custody but the main troublemaker escaped and is on the run...Known only as Snoopy the public are asked to be on the lookout for her. If seen DO NOT approach but phone 999 for assistance.. A photokit of the suspect is below...

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This card is so adorable. She decided to have a little fun with us and it didn't stop there ...
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UPDATE: there has been a breakout at the jail: two women were spotted running down the beach with shells falling out of their pockets. The only strange thing found behind them were the small scissors, streams of ribbon and stamped images!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Then there were all kinds of public sightings of me and all kinds of Snoopy stamp photos were posted on the list. It was even rumored that I was flying to Australia! Who knew I could be the cause of so much trouble ... hee hee hee.

And so, amidst all this, we managed to sight see, go home, relax, make cards, go out again, come back, watch movies, and make cards for the rest of the day. It was great!!

These are some of the cards I made with Meg's card kits! What fun!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

JUSTCARDS RETREAT ~ DAY 1

2010-05-05T00:01:00.004-05:00

Two weeks ago today, we arrived in Norfolk, Virginia. Our final destination was in North Carolina, but it was cheaper to fly in to Norfolk and drive from there. Needless to say, we stopped at a Michaels on the way (gotta love that gps). We weren't even 10 feet into the store when we found ourselved diving into a bin of everything for 25 cents. The perfect beginning to a crafters retreat ... lol. After a little more shopping we picked up some odorless mineral spirits (that we couldn't bring on the plane) and headed off to North Carolina, with one more stop for groceries on the way.

This was the view that awaited us there. *sigh* It was so relaxing. After unloading the groceries we headed down to the beach for a walk. Faye brought these cute little mesh bags for us to collect seashells with. They came in very handy.

We found a lot of shells that first night. These were the ones I found. There are shells of all sizes, a starfish, and that round spiral yellow thing all the way in the back contains baby conch shells in each little section.

Then we came back to the house and unpacked the most important things ~ our craft supplies. hee hee hee

No .... no ..... no this is not all of it. This was just the first essentials so we could make some cards. After all the stuff was unloaded, we each had a paper sized spot to work in and all the chairs were full of supplies as well!

After a delicious seafood dinner, we put a chick flick in the DVD player and headed to the craft table. We each made up some card kits to do each day so we busted those out and got started. Faye designed a card for us to make using the shells we found on the beach. She had us put them in a little plastic cup from Stampin' Up!. I actually made it later in the trip, but it goes with finding the seashells, so here it is:

After an uninterrupted evening of stamping and gabbing, we headed to our rooms for a good night's rest. This was my room:

From my bed I could hear the waves crashing on the beach. It was just soooo relaxing. I'll fill you in on Day Two tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

Y IS FOR YARN ~ ALPHABET SWAP CARD

2010-04-27T00:01:00.001-05:00

This is the card I sent in for the alphabet swap at Just Cards Yahoo Group.The image is from Mo Manning and I just love it. I colored it with pencils and used odorless mineral spirits to blend the colors.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

A LITTLE FUN WITH FLOWERS

2010-04-15T00:01:00.001-05:00

I'm not up to cardmaking at present so I thought I'd pull one out of the archives. The sentiment is a rub on. It was a lot of fun to make. More soon.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2010-03-16T00:01:00.005-05:00

If you're thinking this is de ja vue in blue ... you are correct. You have seen a similar card before. Unfortunately somewhere between here and British Columbia, the first card went missing, so this is monochromatic blue # 2.

I had the paper I needed to replicate the first card, but I had to use different embellishments. I really hope this one makes it to it's destination.

Thanks for visiting!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

CATS & DOGS SWAP

2010-03-14T00:01:00.010-06:00

I made both of these cards for the March Cats & Dogs swap at Just Cards Yahoo group. These are digital images purchased from *Wink *Wink Inc and I just love them.

This is my newest digital image from them, it is called Love Cats and it really reminds me of the Aristocats movie. I've been trying to learn to use odorless mineral spirits with coloring pencils ... and I'm still learning, lol.

When I was looking at the card in person, I really thought the cats were way too dark. I was aiming for light and dark gray colors. Looking at them online, they are almost too light. Oh well, I learn more each time, so I'll keep at it.

This cute little guy is called Puggles. I've posted him before on some stationery I made for a younger relative and I just can't get enough of him.

I'm really new to the world of digital stamps and I love them. Being able to size them to the project I'm working on has been delightful. Now instead of my stamp size dictating the size and shape of my card, it's totally flexible and only limited by my imagination.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

PINK & BLACK SWAP CARD

2010-03-13T00:01:00.001-06:00

This is a card I made for a Pink & Black swap over at Card Crafts Yahoo Group. It's such a classic combination of colors, I just had to join in. I have to admit, I had visions of poodle skirts at first and I even thought of doing something in that direction, but frankly, I like Snoopy waaaay better than I like poodles ... lol. Don't get me wrong, I love dogs, I've grown up with them all my life, but when it comes to cards, Snoopy is my favorite dog!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

THANK YOU, JANET & TRISH!

2010-03-10T00:01:00.009-06:00

This award has come full circle ...lol. Thank you so much, Janet & Trish!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

P.S. If you want to see some great blogs, go to my 10 nominees blogs (go back two posts) and after you check them out, check out the ones they passed the award on to. I promise you, you will have a great time blurfing (surfing from blog to blog)!

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2010-03-09T00:01:00.007-06:00

This birthday card was inspired by Glittergal on Splitcoast. I really enjoyed making this card. I even added the sentiment
"GOT CAKE?" on the inside.

That's the cool thing about Peanuts stamps, they always lend themselves to fun comments. Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

BLOG AWARD

2010-03-03T00:01:00.020-06:00

Your blog makes my heart smile!

I found this blog award while searching with Google for something else. When I saw the title, I knew I wanted to send this one out to the sweet ladies who make my days brighter.

These nominees are talented, caring, & encouraging and their blogs reflect that.

THE NOMINEES ARE:

1. Cody's Nan's Blog
2. Creations By Andrea
3. Faye's Creative Walkabout
4. Each Card Tells A Story
5. Ellis Crafts
6. Holley's Blog
7. Janet's Creations
8. Ladybug Crafting
9. Scenes by Sandy
10. Sue's Stamping Stuff

THE RULES:

Since I'm starting this one, I'll make the rules simple:

1. Comment on this blog.
2. Cut and paste the award logo and use it on your own blog.
3. Nominate 10 blogs that make your heart smile.
4. Link to your nominees within your blog post.
5. Comment on their blogs to let them know they received the award.
6. Link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation.

It's just that simple.

Thanks for stopping by, and thank you dear ladies for making my heart smile.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

SNOOPY TUESDAY

2010-02-23T00:01:00.002-06:00

Once again, I had to go back to the archives. This is a birthday card I made for my youngest shortly after I got this stamp. It's still a family favorite.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

I'M HAPPY TO 'KOALA' YOU MY FRIEND!

2010-02-18T00:01:00.002-06:00

That's the sentiment on the inside of this window card. The cute koala and sentiment are digis from Sweet n Sassy Stamps. I just love their stamps. In fact, I've had to restrain myself lately... lol. I promised I would only get stamps that I would make into a card that week. We'll see how that works out.

Anyway, I colored it with pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits. I'm still working on the shading. I actually looked at pictures of real koalas for some hints, but actual colors don't necessarily make for good card coloring, so I lightened everything up a bit; especially on the face.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

WOODSTOCK IN A WINDOW

2010-02-17T00:01:00.007-06:00

This month's alphabet swap called for the letter "W". Well, I decided to put Woodstock in a window card. The actual image of Woodstock is a sticker that came in a pack of 48 Peanuts stickers at the Dollar Spot at Target.

I used my circle and scalloped circle dies from Nestabilities to make the hole and the green scalloped trim around it. The paper was a real find. I saw it at my LSS and got it for my Valentines card. I was so pleased with how it looked on that card, I had to use it again for this card.

This card made it all the way to Australia in under a week, and Anna loves it! I love it when a plan comes together ... lol.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

COWABUNGA! ~ SNOOPY TUESDAY

2010-02-16T00:01:00.003-06:00

I've had this stamp for awhile, but I wanted to wait until I found the right paper. Well, I think you'll agree, I did! This fantastic paper is from BoBunny and I was so excited when I spotted it (while getting Valentine paper). I mean, how often is it you can make a truly masculine card that is loaded with glitter? ...lol.

I may have to go back to my LSS and get another sheet or two since the inventory is always changing. I also want to do a spinner card with this stamp, so you'll definitely be seeing it again.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs,
Snoopy :D

VALENTINES DAY CARD

2010-02-15T00:01:00.003-06:00

I found these sparkly letters at Target for 99 cents and I just couldn't resist! I love sparkles and bling and glitter, so these letters just screamed, "buy me!" ... lol. I used them to make this card for the JustCards Yahoo Group Valentine swap. Pamela already got this card and she loves it, so it's smiles all around.

Hugs,
Snoopy :D