Seeds of Love

I know you may be a little over seeing all these Valentine’s cards, but I had to share one more. This was a matching card and envelope I sent to my fellow friend in crafting, Melissa Bove, who is expecting her second child. It was a combination greeting...wishing her belated Valentine’s love and congratulations on her growing family. Our mutual friend, Lindsay Weirich, designed the digital set, Love Grows, which I purchased at www.Mygrafico.com for use on cards and layouts. I did another similar card for my friend Kathleen which I posted on the gallery of that site. The background Cardstock is from Core’dinations. It is a golden buttercream color which put me in the Spring frame of mind. Hope it does the same for you, too!

Sorry but this card got picked up for publication. I can repost the photos again later!

Spread some seeds of love and kindness today. Make a heartfelt card for a friend. Note: I used Glue Arts adhesives (Glue Glider Pro w/ high tac adhesive & Ribbon Adhesive) on this set.

Love, Love, Love...is meant to be shared!

O.K. remember when I told you that my family handmade me Valentine’s Day cards and I promised to share them? Well, I am coming through on that promise and posting the cards along with a few (behind the scenes) notes about them. You will be so impressed, as was I. See what can happen if you stamp enough...it eventually rubs off on the rest of the family! {big grin}

I am posting these in the order that I opened them! This first one is by my 14yo, Kai.

She stamped the top portion with a background floral stamp to create a

tone-on-tone look. She also used direct ink to paper distressing on the

type area and incorporated a punched flower and border...who says they

don’t pay attention to what you are doing. Maybe I should watch

and learn a few tips from them! Can you say talented? Is it

o.k. for me to proudly state that I’m her mom?!!

detail view of punched flower with button and stamped background...

This card is kind of a tag team effort. You see, several years ago I stamped this pretty 2 step stamping floral background for a friend’s gift. I had one long strip left and stashed it away for safe keeping to use on a special project. Truth be told, I was having a tough time parting with it!

Well, while I was cleaning out my supplies and reorganizing my studio, I put this strip into the patterned paper scraps file, and guess who quickly snatched it up — Ashley! I LOVE how she used it and LOL over the fact that I was saving it for something special, which it did turn out to be, only I wasn’t expecting to be the recipient!!!

How lucky am I that Ashley made me such a gorgeous Valentine card.

O.K., try not to get too jealous. My husband has only twice attempted to make me a card, both of which turned out great and meant so much to me. I am sure it is pretty intimidating for him in truly being out of his element (sort of like me on a bicycle, his specialty). He kept it simple and sweet. Doesn’t this rock!!! Poor sweetie discovered some little glue smears on it while we passed it around for everyone to ooh and ahh over. He was so heartbroken that it wasn’t perfect. Says who? Too me, it was perfect and appreciated more than any store bought card.

Think Pink!

Yup, you guessed it! Kelly and Chris had a baby girl and we are all over the top ecstatic to have a new baby in the family. Welcome lil’ Brooke Avery O’Connor! Such a sweet name. We just can’t wait to see photos. We hear she has a cute round face, strawberry blonde hair with light brows and lashes...fair like her mama with some of daddy’s good genes thrown in there too! Whe weighed in at 7 lbs. 12 oz. Not sure how long she was. I got the call around 11:30 am with the news.

Now grandmom Flossie can have a piece of cake for the both of you to celebrate the shared birth date. Will post a photo when I get one either here or on my facebook page.

I pulled this old card sample from my archives. It is one I made for my mom with the pink flowers. Thought it was appropriate in honor of the new mom, Kelly. May you and your baby share love always!

On this I embossed the rose and leaves in gold EP, bleached the areas inside the flower and leaves, then colored with an aqua painter and some ink puddles. This was from a set I designed for Inque Boutique. Talk about a flash back! The pattern is done with Clear EP and scrolly leaves from the same Aging Gracefully See-D’s set.

Hurry Up, Baby!

Today we woke to the excitement that Kelly and Chris are at the hospital waiting to deliver their first child...baby O’Connor. Chris is the youngest of all of us cousins and we haven’t had any new babies in the family in quite some time. Since the baby made sure during the ultrasound that it would be a surprise for all, we are anxiously waiting to hear if it is a boy or a girl. And guess what is even cooler? Today is my Aunt's 70th birthday! Happy Birthday, Aunt Flossie...we hope the new baby gets to share this day with you and turn out to be as wonderful a person as you, too!

I am just sharing a sneak peek of the card I made for Kelly’s shower, actually I made two, and hope to submit this one. I don’t often do the vintage look, but I was really happy with how this turned out. The buggy is from a See-D’s set and so is the text. The frame is an elegant Stampin' Up!® stamp and the ribbon is also from there.

I have been on a scrapbooking and stamping roll and plan to do lots of photographing today. Some I will post and some are for project submissions. Maybe I can share some bits and pieces of them like I did here. Hope where you live the weather is clearing and starting to warm up. It feels more like Spring in Florida, only today is dreary and rainy. I will share the baby news with you soon!