Love...De-Stressed!

I love this technique of using clear embossing powder on a bold stamp and rubbing chalks and/or ink on top. It gives a distressed look to the image. (see below for close up of card). I used a stamping sponge on the punched Boho Blossoms flowers as well as the cardstock edges. The corner rounder used on the pink layer adds to the soft look! I created my own paper charm using silver EP, 1/2" circle punch and silver cording added to the striped pink grosgrain bow. The wheel is Illuminated and the stamp set for the hearts is A Happy Heart, both from Stampin' Up!® . I used a Sizzix diecut machine with the Flower Layers #3 die to create flowers on gift bag. Cardstock colors used were Whisper White, Pirouette Pink and Chocolate Chip. You can also substitute Pretty in Pink. I also used Chocolate chip ink and ink cartridge on these. Other SU supplies: Bella Rose Designer Paper, silver mini brad, linen thread, button bouquet and retired Occasions collection stamp to create the tag on the gift bag. Adhesives used were from Glue Arts. To add to the distressing, I stamped ink onto torn 

edge strip using Creamy Carmel, Pirouette Pink and Chocolate chip.

Flower Bucket Video now online!

You can now view the how-to video for making fun flower buckets such as this one, that I created for the Glue Arts Design Team. Click this link and locate the mini bucket video under my DT heading. The video shows how you can change out ribbons, flowers, etc. to make other decorative pails. This is one of several videos that will be appearing on the Glue Arts website showing you how to create fun craft projects. Be sure to check it out and tell your friends. Subscribe to my blog or become a follower to get updates on new video posts and for other project inspirations. This is a great project idea you can make with your kids. I got the buckets at Target, but you can find them at craft or dollar stores. Fill with seed packs, bags of treats, small garden tools, a post it pad and pen for a great end of year teacher gift or a get well gift. Post your creation on your blog and link it back to mine. Leave me a comment so I can check out your fun creations!

Mostly Sunny, Partly Cloudy

This matching card and envelope is called Cloudy Fields. It shows how you can work with a single color scheme along with white to create a simple, yet beautiful notecard set. I used the Baja Breeze ribbon, cardstock and ink along with the Pocket Silhouettes stamp set, a stamping sponge and white gel pen to create this look. Even if you are a beginner stamper, you can create this set. I dipped the sponge in the Baja Breeze ink pad to create soft edging around the envelope flap and card layer. If you love this color combo, one of the Stampin' Up!® In Colors, be sure to order before the new catalog comes out! Click on this link to my SU website to have fun shopping!

To Thy Own Self Be Kind - what a great concept!

When I first read this verse on a stamp, it struck me a little odd, but the more I think about, it is a great reminder especially to all the moms out there who often are overworked and far less appreciated for the little things they do. I know that Mother's Day has come and gone, but take a moment this week to feel guiltless and to thy own self be kind! Here is a card created with the Stampin’ Up! Sale-a-Bration set, Botanical Blooms.

Lavenderliscious

This uneven bi-fold card is so easy to recreate by adding a solid accent strip, coordinating ribbon, a stamped watercolor floral image and birthday verse. I stuck to a simple, 2 color scheme of lavender lace and basic black. The floral is from the Stampin' Up!® level 2 hostess set, Echoes of Kindness. If you'd like to earn it by hostessing a workshop, contact me to find out how to do it. I created a tone on tone pattern using the floral pattern in the Sprinkles stamp set on the right hand fold. Birthday wishes greeting is from the Wow Flowers set. I will be demonstrating how to make this at my next workshop, which the focus is All About Flowers.

Mother's Day Card Making

I was just a few days out of surgery but really anxious to get out of bed and do something crafty. I had Mother's Day cards to finish so I got busy stamping...what great therapy! Here are some of the cards I mailed off this year to my close family members...

 And here was another card that matches the layout and box shown in my previous post below...

A Littlle Inspiration to Kick Off National Scrapbooking Day

With Mother's Day just around the corner and today being National Scrapbooking Day, I wanted to share with you these projects that will soon be featured in a video demo on Glue Arts’ website. I hope it will inspire you to do a little scrapbooking today.

This is a closeup view of the scrapbook page featuring some handcut paper flowers from the K&Company McKenna collection. These “Shabby Chic” layered circle flowers are so fun and easy to make! Using patterned papers and a series of circles you can make these distressed flowers in no time to enhance your layouts and projects. Below are some close up views of the flowers. And be sure to check out the folded ribbon - new sewing involved! I used Glue Arts micro adhesive squares and some gold mini brads to secure in place.

The matching trinket box, shown below, is so easy to make and no painting required! It showcases the new lace border punch from Stampin’ Up! available for purchase on my SU website as well as the button bouquet designer buttons.  I accented the buttons with gold embroidery thread or ribbons on these projects. Have fun creating your gift for mom!

Dipped in happiness

As I approach tomorrow's surgery, I tried to think of a project that fits my mindset at the moment and this “Dipped in Happiness” card seemed so appropriate. Come on now, my fellow perimenopausal sisters, who has the willpower to resist anything chocolate? Now, I am not fan of eating chocolate covered strawberries, but boy do they look and smell yummy. It is a sensory delight! 

This card sample, featuring the Tart & Tangy and Warm Words stamp sets from Stampin’ Up! along with Bella Rose Designer Papers & Crystal Effects, represents the mindset I have adopted for tomorrow. So as I slowly drift off into the la la land of anesthesia, I am going to imagine that I am dipped in happiness for all the wonderful things in my life, such as a wonderful, caring family, two talented and beautiful daughters, a hunky husband (even though the girls and I give him grief about his grey hair), so many amazing friendships, a lifetime filled with challenges, creative possibilities, countless, scrap-worthy memories and too many blessings to count. So maybe it is not what you would expect to hear from a gal facing surgery, but I have always approach life with a creative and  unique way of thinking. Hope your day is dipped in happiness, too!

Take 3, 4, 5, 6....!

Just wanted to share some photos from my quick trip to Atlanta. Monday's flight was delayed 5 hours due to high winds in Atlanta. I was beginning to wonder if someone was trying to send me a message. My new friend, Josephine, and I survived the layover and turbulent flight chatting away. I finally arrived around 7:30 pm to meet up with my design friend, Marlis. She was so gracious and flexible about getting together and working around delay after delay. Here we are at Outback. It was so wonderful to catch up with her. She is a super talented designer and illustrator! 

Next, I headed to the best kept secret, 5-star accommodations (in my book!) in Atlanta...Chateau M, the home of our great friends Maureen, Michael, Marley and Mallory who gladly welcomed me in at almost 11 pm. Whenever Dan and I get to town, they always have a bedroom ready and waiting along with a warm welcome. Their dogs Mimi and Maisy (my bed buddy, shown in the adorable picture) gave me daily kisses to help keep me from missing my Bella. 

The day I arrived, their Make A Wish experience was posted to O Magazine's site so I was in the company of some real celebrities. Here is a link to Maureen & Marley’s mother/daughter makeover. They look so beautiful--in person, too! Click on one of the links to view a video of their Wish Granted, an O-so-spectacular experience!

The great staff at Glue Arts made me feel like family and were patient with me as we sometimes shot take after take before my brain and lips could coordinate. I am far better at coordinating colors than I am at thinking of the words I want to say! LOL. I will be sure to let you all know when the videos are posted to their website. Laura was so kind to shoot some pictures of me during one of the taping sessions so I could post these to my blog for you to see. It was great fun, exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. It has inspired me to keep that creative groove going! Enjoy the pics.

Ashley’s Smilin' for Votes! She is Still a Finalist!!!

Well they experienced issues with the videos and views so everyone who submitted their digital pics and videos advances to the next round of the Wet Seal 2009 Model Search. Ashley finished in the top 30 videos so thanks for your hard work. To make it through the next round, they are only taking the top 25 vote getters, based on 1 vote per day, per email address. Voting ends April 26th.

Here is the link to Wet Seal to cast your vote. There is one vote per day, per registered email. Please convince your friends and family to do this to help a sweet girl realize her dream. When I got the entry form it was two days before the contest ended and she was headed out of town for a weekend volleyball tournament. We didn't have time to take professional pics and most of the girls have modeling head shots. So, she really needs your help to advance to top 25. She was 27th in video views. You can continue to watch that, too, to help her out. It may make a difference in the finals! Here is a special thank you message from Ash...

"Thank you so much all of you who viewed my video!!! Modeling has always been a dream of mine and getting this far in the competition wouldn't have been possible without all of your help and support! This is such an amazing opportunity. Please help me continue on to the finals and make top 25! Thanks again!" — Ashley

See these Published Projects in Your Favorite Magazines!

Here is a project alert! Look for these 3 projects in upcoming issues of CardMaker and Crafts 'n Things as well as an online bonus project.

You can find the instructions for creating this “Butterflies and Lace” Mother’s Day Card along with a matching envelope in the May 2009 issue of CardMaker magazine on page 53.

My “Ready to Soar” pull-up graduation card is being featured as a special May 2009 Web Bonus project with a downloadable pdf file. Click on this link to go to CardMakermagazine.com so you can download the instructions. Additional photos are posted in my published projects gallery.

This whimsical mini album completed entirely with Glue Arts adhesives is featured in the June 2009 issue of Crafts 'n Things magazine with instructions for the cover and a couple inside pages. (There is a pair of decorative yellow boots on the cover!) You can see additional pages of my mini album by clicking on my gallery and selecting Cheri's mini albums. 

Hope these inspire you to start creating projects for the upcoming months!

15 Minutes of Fame

Wow! Lately there seems to be this “15 minutes of fame”theme running in my circle of friends and family. First, our good friends and neighbors, The Kornowas had their daughter Marley's wish granted by none other than Oprah Winfrey. Marley was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma shortly before her 16 birthday. After several surgeries and treatment she has scanned clear and on a very good track. Positive proof of having great trust in God and prayers being answered. They are in the May issue of O Magazine, were featured on ET the other night and will be also featured on the Oprah show in May. How exciting to see our friends getting to experience some joy and pampering over the last year of really rough times. Plus, they look fabulous in their photos. 

Next, our daughter Ashley was selected as a finalist in the Wet Seal Model Search 2009. Still time to view her video until the 15th and help her advance to the next round. Don't worry if the view count doesn't change. It is on a delay! Be sure to give her a high rating, too so she can realize her dream.

Now, it is my turn for those brief shining moments in the spotlight. I will be teaching a class at CHA consumer show in Atlanta this July for Glue Arts and leave in a couple hours to head to Atlanta to do some videotaping of projects for their website. Above is a sneak peek at the flip flap purse project that I will teach at CHA Craft Super Show. 

And if that isn't exciting enough,  just the other week, I was asked by Warren Gruenig to be his feature interview in the July issue of Scrap & Stamp Arts. I had to do the projects in a bit of a hurry, while finishing up on my Dive into Birthday Party Planning article and preparing for this big video debut! Kinda crazy how sometimes everything happens at once. So maybe you can understand why I wasn't able to squeeze in a Stampin' Up workshop before leaving town. I plan to have one when I get back. Wish me luck as I continue to share my love of crafting to a broader scope of people. I will update you later on registering for the CHA Super Show class.

One other person in the spotlight is a dear friend and fellow stamp enthusiast, Ree Nathan, who just signed up as a Stampin' Up demonstrator. We had our first training session and soon Ree will be doing her own workshops. I know you share my excitement and wish her great luck. She has great talents in cardmaking and scrapbooking to share with everyone.