Bright Hopes-3 Different Cards

Hi Stampers and Friends! Can you actually believe how quickly time is passing us by?  It's literally flying!!  I can remember when I was small, and I was complaining about how slow a school week went by...my Mom would say "You wait until you get older, it'll go by so fast you won't believe it".  Ofcourse I just filed the info in the "ya,right" file and forgot about it...and guess what...she's right!!!  Time flies like a bird!!  Christmas has come and gone, it was a lovely day here.  We are so blessed to have each other.  It was a great day!  And now...here it is...New Years Eve Day!!  Wow, 2012 is well on it's way!!  Happy New Year my friends!  I hope it's happy, healthy, and  prosperous.    

 Today I want to share with you a stamp set from Stampin Up! called "Bright Hopes".  I'm featuring 3 different cards I made  with it.   (click on pics to enlarge them.)  I sure hope this will inspire you to use your stamp sets in many different ways.  You get a little more bang out of your buck.  ha!!!
For my first card, I used:
 Real Red and Whisper White SU cardstock,
Lucky Limeaid and Real Red SU ink
SU Glitter "Dazzling Diamonds",
1 Real Red brad and
Whisper White SU 5/8ths inch satin ribbon.
I stamped 5 trees and cut 4 trees out by hand.  I glued the 4 loose trees back to back twice, and glued them on top of the bottom tree.  Isn't it cute?  I hope you like it!

On to my second card, I used:
Hand Penned Holidays SU stamp set,
Whisper White and Bashful Blue SU cardstock,
Bashful Blue SU ink and Whisper White stazon ink,
White Stampin emboss powder,
1piece of  sponge ,
Eyelet border punch,
Heat emboss tool,and lastly,
SU 5/8th's Bashful Blue Satin Ribbon.
I used the Emboss Resist Technique with the wreath, if you have any questions just let me know!
                                                        
And lastly!!!   My third card using "Bright Hopes".
With this card I used:
Soft Suede, Certainly Celery and Whisper White
SU cardstock,
1 piece SU Designer Series Paper from my stash,
Soft Suede SU ink and
SU 5/8th Certainly Celery Satin Ribbon.
I stamped the wreath with 'soft suede' classis ink
and then I fussy cut it.  (oh funnn) I then used
SU Dimensionals to raise up the wreath and put
the card together.  I sure hope I inspired you all to use
stamps for more than "just one" card.  Stamp and mix it up and have alot of fun!  I've enjoyed stamping with you.  It's New Year's eve, 2011.  I hope whatever you choose to do tonigt, that you'll be with family and friends!!  Live, laugh, love and be safe!!!    HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!  WELCOME 2012!!!  May it be happy, healthy and prosperous for all of us.

Happy Stampin'!!!
Hugs,

Yay! A New Camera, Now I Can Start Posting Again!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Merry Christmas!  I know we sure did.  We had a lovely day together.  We are so blessed.  And guess what...I got my camera!!  Hubby bought me a small Casio and I'm not sure yet what I think of it.  I find it hard to not get a blurry picture with it.  I think it's because it's small and not much to steady with.  But we'll see, I'm sure I'll get use to it.  I wasn't able to share any of the Christmas cards I've made this year, and I've decided that I will now, even though it's after now.  I hope you will enjoy them., I'll space them out a bit for you. 

Here we have Stampin Up's "Dasher".  He always stamps up so beautifully.  I added a little white touches to the antlers with a white gel pen.  As you can see I used a Spellbinders Nestabilities, SU Blush Blossom and Chocolate Chip cardstock and ofcourse, SU Chocolate Chip satin ribbon.  It's such a lovely ribbon to work with!  I hope you enjoyed my card today, thanks for stopping in.  Please leave me some love via comments, I love to hear from you, it makes blogging so much more fun!!

Have a super evening, and I'll be back tomorrow.
hugs, 

Merry Christmas!

Hello, stampers and friends! It's hard to believe that time has passed so quickly and here it is Christmas Eve, 2011. I still don't have a camera so I can start posting again, but I have gotten a hot tip from the North Pole, and hopefully Santa will be bringing one to me. hehe I sure hope so!!! I have lots of Christmas cards I want to share with you all. So everyone get your chores done, and settle done for a great sleep, and wake up refreshed on Christmas morning. I want to wish you all a wonderful Merry Christmas with your family and friends. Thank you all for your faith in me and for coming by as often as you do, and for your comments. I love blogging and you all make it so worthwhile. Be sure to stop by...I just know I'll get that camera!!! LOL Merrrrrry Christmas and I'm wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Morning Cup in Certainly Celery

Hi my faithful readers! I've finally returned to Nova Scotia and I'm able to blog again!! I had a marvelous time up in the Adirondack Mountains and truly treasure the extra time I was able to spend and share with my Mom. We've waited many years to be able to do this, and we finally made it happen, for TWO WHOLE MONTHS!!! Woooohooooo! We had a ball, we really did. We walked in the woods with Abbi, she had great fun, we shopped and shopped and...oh did I tell you...we shopped!!! hehe We also had invaluable time to talk, we laughed and cried about old times. It was so wonderful to be able to have time with her. I'm looking forward to doing it again, but this time, I'm bringing my own puter, so I can blog!!! LOL I'm sharing with you today the Morning Cup set from Stampin Up. I used alot of Certainly Celery, but am pretty happy with the results. I hope you like it. Feel free to comment and leave me some love! It makes my day!! I hope you all have had a good summer, I have a hard time resigning myself to the fact that it's over, and fall is here to stay a while. *sigh* I do love fall, but it sure was nice to have it summer!!! You all have a wonderful stampin week. hugs!

Update

Hi Stampers and Friends,
Well things have not gone quite as planned. My Aunt is in the hospital with some heart difficulties, and my Mom is upset with it. I've decided I would stay another two weeks to be support for my Mom. My DH had to be back for work, so he's in Nova Scotia & I'm in New York State. Abbi is having a ball running and playing at the lake! I haven't had a spare moment to stamp, but sure will be glad to be back at it soon when I get home in a few weeks! I miss my friends & stampers. Keep those stamps ready to be inked!! hehe

Hugs to all, have a great week!!

Update from vacation

Hi Everyone, I hope this find you all well. Things are going great here, and it will soon be time for us to be heading home, back to Nova Scotia for another year. I will miss my friends and family for sure, but we've had a great visit!! The weather has cooperated beautifully and DH has been able to get some fishing in, so he's real happy!

Look for me on Monday, I'll have a card posted then. Hope your month of July has been wonderful so far!!!

Hugs from Upstate New York!!!

Hello from Upstate New York

Hi Everyone! I just thought I'd drop in and let you know we're vacationing. We're having a wonderful time visiting with my Mom and other family. The weather has been cooperating and it's been beautiful! Will be back home and stamping in about two weeks. Hope all is well with you all!!!

hugs!!!!

Friends Fur-ever card post

Hi All, I hope this finds everyone having a good week. I borrowed this cute stamp set. It's just so sweet! I used Pretty in Pink cardstock for the card base. I watercolored the scotty dog, hearts and the chair. The dog and hearts are pop-dotted to stand out from the card. It was truly a joy to stamp with this set, it was just plain fun!!

We had a beautiful day here in the Maritimes and we're suppose to have another bright, sun shiney day tomorrow. Maybe summer is finally here! YAY!!!!

I hope you get a chance to stamp this week. Take care and have a great week!

hugs,
Ret

Fab Florets Watercolored

Hi Everyone! Today I decided to pull out my Stampin Up Water Color Crayons and do some watercoloring on my Fab Florets stamp set. I'm sorry I'm using this set again, but I just love it!! I watercolored the flowers in More Mustard with Cajun Craze centers. I used some dazzling diamonds in the center as well. The leaves were colored with Always Artichoke and Old Olive. I used the polka dot embossing folder for the back drop of the flowers. I was going to add ribbon, but decided to just let this be a clean and simple card. I hope you like it.

I can't get over how quickly June is zooming by!! Time just doesn't sit still for anyone does it!! I hope you all have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!!

Take care and happy stamping!

hugs,
Ret

Great Friend in Pear Pizzazz

Good day All!!! Happy June 23rd! Noooo, it has no signifigance, just thought I'd make you stop and wonder for a moment. hehe Guess I'm in one of those goofy moods today. LOL

I decided that I would make a card with Stampin Up's Great Friend stamp set that will be retiring soon. I really like this set, especially the butterfly so I'll be sad to see it go, but I'll still have it in my stash to play with when I want to.

For this card I used pear pizzazz, chocolate chip and very vanilla cardstocks. I stamped the leaves onto one of the pear peices. I also used the oval scallop frame die. After stamping the butterfly and cutting it out. I used silver wire and silver seed beads to make the body and antenna's on the butterfly, and added dazzling diamonds to the edges of it. I also used a white gel pen to add some trim. If you have any questions on what I used, feel free to ask.

I hope you like this card and that it will inspire you to pull out your Great Friend set and get stamping!! It looks a bit overcast out and it's hard to tell if the sun is going to break through or not. I sure hope so!! Have a great day all and I'll see you back here again, soon.

Fab Florets Birthday Card

Good Monday morning, stampers! hehe Should good and monday morning really appear in the same sentence? LOL I doubt that many of us think so!! But I'm off track here, so back to the reason for this post. I needed a birthday card and I reached for Stampin Up's Fab Florets set. I love this set, you can't possibly make a "bad" card with it. You just can't! I stamped several of the image and cut them out, each showing a smaller portion of the flower, and then I simply layered them with a pop dot in between each and added a little Dazzling Diamonds to it. I'm happy with how the card came out and she was really happy to get it. I foresee more Fab Florets in my future! :) Yay!

With Sunday being Fathers Day, I reflected on lots of memories and sent a prayer off for my Dad. I sure do miss him, but know that he is in no pain, and is waiting for my Mom and I to join him one day. That thought brings me contentment, and that's worth an awful lot these days. I hope all the Dads had a nice day and all you Mom's and kids participated in celebrating the day with them. I hope the weather held out for it...It wasn't nice here until later in the afternoon, but then it was just beautiful. I hope you like my card and will send me some "luv" in your comments. :)

I will close for now. Hope you all have a wonderful beginning of the week and are able to play with your crafting...whatever that might be.

hugs,
Ret

P.S.== If anyone could tell me how I can take a picture and resize it without having the frame off center at the upper sides and top the way it is...I would love to be enlightened!!!!

Baroque Motif Cherish Card

Hello All, I hope this finds everybody happy and enjoying the sunshine we had today.
I decided as long as I had Baroque Motif out, that I would do a non-sympathy card with it. I got a little carried away with the bling. I LOVE bling! I stamped
"cherish" on it and think this could even be used as a wedding card. I wanted to use up some of my retired colored cardstocks, and that's why I used the retired Apricot Appeal and retired Blush Blossom along with the current River Rock. Almost have used it all up now, so I'm glad of that. Will be glad to get some of the pretty new "in colors" in July.

Today was a really off day for me, so I feel like I really accomplished something with making a card. I'm off now to get some rest. I hope you like my card.

Take care all and have a good weekend.

hugs,
Ret

Vintage Vogue Clean and Simple

Hi Readers,
Happy Thursday to you! Today I've done a "no frills" card. LOL I used Stampin Up's Vintage Vogue stamp set. I find myself reaching for that set once again, I seem to use it alot. It's such a pretty vintagey set. I just love it. My card base is Chocolate Chip with a pink c/s I had in my stash. I stamped the background, added layers and butterflies and waa-laaaaaaaaa(viola) done! The wings are not taped flat, they do flap! ;) LOL It's no fuss, no muss this time. Sometimes, simple is all you need.

Have you seen the new Stampin Up catalog? Oh my, it's to die for!! Personally, I think it's the best one I've ever seen. I don't know how they keep out doing themselves, but they do manage to, from some colored pages to just really beautiful product. It's really, really nice. Run, don't walk to your "favorite-ist" demonstrator and purchase your new 2011-2012 Idea Book & Catalog! You won't be sorry, believe me!!! There are sooooo many new beautiful stamp sets and products...oh my, oh myyyyy! hehehehe Oh, and don't forget...the catalog is something you will want to keep because the samples and idea's are just so wonderful.
Are you on your way to your Demo YET? hehehe

Ok, Ret, off your soap box. I'm such a fan of SU, can you tell? heeeee!

I am so hoping for a little glimpse of sunshine today and it looks like our little slice of Nova Scotia just might be a sunny, beautiful day! YAYYYYYYYYYY! I say it softly though, I don't want to scare the sun away, it's been so scarce so far this season.

Take care, my friends, and I do hope you're able to pull out your inks today and play a bit. I know I sure am going to! Thanks for stopping by, please don't forget to leave me a little love (comment) and let me know what ya think of todays project.

Hugs,

Ret

Baroque Motifs in Bravo Burgandy

Hi Everyone,

Did you ever notice that when you need a birthday card...then you need LOTS of them...if you need a sympathy card, it seems, I get lots of calls for them. And that's the trend right now for me, everyone is asking for Sympathy cards. That's not necassarily a good thing for someone...but I make whatever they ask me for. So please bear with me...I seem to be doing a bunch of them of late.

I wanted a card that was clean and simple, but pretty. I think it was much more defined without the glitter...the Burgandy was so deep and crisp. But I added the glitter, which I think looks fine on the card in real life, but in the pic, it looks like it wasn't stamped very clear...it's the glitter...trust me :)
LOL

Today was such a rainy dreary day that I had to turn the lights on in order to see what I was stamping. That's crazyyyyyyyy!!! It's mid June for crying out loud, we need more sunshine!! Poor Abbi, our Shih Tzu, just wants to sleep, sleep, sleep on days like this...doesn't want to play or anything. I know just how she feels, we definitely need sunshine!

My medical update: I am so proud of myself, I managed to get a load of wash done, some stampin done, got a beautiful pork roast done for supper and off to the Chiro for both DH and myself. Back home, watched a little TV and now I'm blogging. So I feel like I accomplished something for another day. Which is good, cuz it was just a week ago that I could hardly get out of my own way. I'm so happy that my body is reacting the way it's suppose to and I actually WANT to do something. woohooo! In all honesty though, I really, really am hoping for more energy, but I will take what I can get and be happy with it. It sure beats napping 20 times a day!! hehe

I hope I was able to inspire you to pick up your rubber and stamp something. Have a stampingly great week!

hugs,

Ret

Anniversary card for "My Stamping Studio"

Happy Saturday, All! It just occured to me that I never posted the card I made for Kelly's anniversary card contest. It was the first anniversary for her stamping & scrapbooking store, "My Stamping Studio" in Windsor, Nova Scotia. If you haven't been there to check it out, you must go!! It's a lovely store with all the handy dandy items us cardmakers need, want and MUST HAVE!!! hehe

I used Stampin Up's Fancy Flower Punch for the flower on my card. I ran the paper thru my Big Shot with the Cuttlebug polka dot Embossing Folder, and the leaves and butterfly were sizzlets dies. I used a Martha Stewart punch for the trim along the bottom. I hope you like it!

Hubby is bbqing chicken with roasted onions and potatoes, yummmmmmmm!!! So I'm going to run for now. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and that you have a chance to get inky!!

Happy day,

I'm back and Peace Within

Hi Cardmakers and friends! It's no secret that I've been struggling the the past 8 months with my health, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. I totally refuse to let it keep me down though, so here I am. My dear Hubby my Mom and my friends have stood beside me thru all of this and have kept me going, so thank you all for your support.
I have picked up my inks and stamps and managed to stamp between naps, LOL!!! I am praying and so hoping the tiredness will go away so I won't have to take all those naps, that I'll be able to stamp to my hearts content!!!

Today, I wanted to share with you a card I made with Stampin Up's "Peace Within" stamp set. When I was working on the card and now after it's done, it really does
make me feel "peace within"!! LOL So it's living up to it's title! I stamped and then colored it in with colored pencils, using the colored pencils and gamsol technique. I was happy with the soft look it gave me. I decided to do a sympathy card with it and used the "faux bow" technique, which I learned about on You Tube by DO Stamping With Dawn!! Give it a try, I know you'll love it!! I won't use it every time, but once in a while, it's just plain fun!! Please excuse pic of my card, the margin on the left hand side makes the card look lopsided, and then white appears on the right hand side and I don't know where that came from!!!! It happened in the resizing...sorry about that, but I don't know how to fix it!

I hope you've enjoyed this post and my card. Thanks so much for stopping by! Take care andddddddddd....

happy stampin,

Just an update...

Hi everyone! I hope this finds everyone well and looking forward to spring! It's definitely sprung here in Nova Scotia and I'm so very happy! It seems so nice to see the crocus popping up. Oh I just love spring!!!

I've had several cards to share with you, but unfortunately for some reason, I can't download pictures from my camera. I don't know why, it tries, but it just runs and runs. I'm so disappointed, I'm going to keep trying. If anyone has any sggestions, I'm certainly open to try them. The camera takes the pictures fine, but it just won't download them. I even tried other programs, it just won't download. Just wanted to let you know what was going on, and why I haven't uploaded any cards.

I hope you have a wonderful week. I'll be back as soon as I can get some pics online.

Stampin hugs,

Forgetful Me :)

Hi Folks, I bet most of you are shocked, seeing me post again so soon. hehe You can pick yourselves up off the floor now! LOL I'm really trying to be better about posting more often, really I am!!

I dug out this old stamp set, and I can't remember the name of it & the sticker has been torn off. So if you recognize this, by all means, leave a comment here or email me (retcudmore@live.com) and I'll add it here. Thanks!

Spring is almost here in Hants County, Nova Scotia! YAY!! Almost all the snow is gone, and a neighbor saw some Canadian Geese coming back. I'm longing to hear the
birds singing & wanting to see the crocus popping through the ground. I'm anxious to see my first robin!!! woohoooo, that will be a good day!!

I hope you enjoyed this card. This isn't my most favorite set, but thought that it should see some ink again! LOL

I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday! Hug someone and enjoy your day!

stampin hugs,

Vintage Vogue for Lorrie

Hi Stampers & friends, I honestly do NOT know where the time goes! It's been a short but hard winter so far for mostly everyone, I guess. All I know is that I'll be awfully glad to see the birds return & the crocuses popping! What a wonderful thought!!

My longtime friend in Alabama, Lorrie, had open heart surgery in February and she's had alot of complications. So I decided to make a card to let her know I was thinking of her and praying for her. I used Stampin Up's Vintage Vogue stamp set. I used the emboss resist technique and I really like how it turned out. It's ok for me to post this now, cuz she's already recieved it!! LOL

There really isn't a whole lot of news to write about...I've not been feeling the bestest the past week and hope that passes REALLY QUICKLY!! I have a class on Saturday and don't really want to present it SICK! LOL I don't think they'd appreciate it, hehe!

I hope everyone is staying shoveled out and warm. Thanks for stopping by and I'll update again soon. Take care and happy stampin!!!!

hugs,

From the Heart Card and snowwwwwwww!

Today I thought I'd do a fun post. A card and then some pics of what we woke up to Sunday morning. Ofcourse, also some pics of Abbi!LOL

Here's my first Valentine card this year. The flowers look like hearts, I think it's pretty. I borrowed this S U set, and the label wasn't on it, so I'm not positive of the name of it, but I'm calling it "from the heart". Hope I'm close! I used dazzling diamonds to add some sparkle.

This is what we woke up to Sunday morning. Look how big those flakes are!!! It was just beautiful!!

Abbi looking a bit bewildered with it all.


WHO YOU LOOKIN AT?! :)


She never moved from that same spot...then headed for the door...


All of a sudden she took off running flat out, headed for the door. Note the foot in mid air during her flight! Doesn't that look say "Get me out of this white stufffff!"!!!! hehe

Over the River!

Hi there All! Happy New Year! Here we are, already 6 days into 2011! Is it just me or does it seem like our lives are just flying away? I can not believe how fast the days go by!! I hope everyone had lovely holidays. Now it's time to start stamping again and I decided now that we finally have a little snow, that I would use the old retired Stampin Up set, Over the River. I love this set, I never seem to tire of it. But, I always seem to make a scene out of it, therefore the cards all seem alike, next time I use it I'll have to do it differently. I didn't do anything different or special on it, just used Stamp n' Write markers on it with Dazzlin Diamonds. Pretty simple, but I had fun!

I'm still hobbling around trying to baby this foot and my shoulder, so sitting around and stampin suits me just fine! hehe I'm not sure what brought it on, but I've been doing alot of thinking about how I do things and for some reason, I always seem to wait to the last minute when it comes making specifically needed cards and even crafting for the fall craft shows. Do you know that I usually don't start my crafting until 2 or 3 weeks before the shows? WHATTTTTTTTT!!! AM I CRAZY??? I can hear you now! hehe

Uh, nooooooo, not crazy! I just always have loved the excitement, the pressure and the thrill of it all. Wellllllllllll, guess what! This year, I let me down. My body really had a hard time of it this fall, I had all I could do to keep up and it really took alot out of me.
Sooooooooooo...
wait for it....
drumroll....
double drumroll.....
I, Ret Callaghan Cudmore vow to play with crafts, or my stampin, each day (or close to) and will never be the last minute gal again! (I have to, I can't take it!!) LOL

Fibermyalgia has changed my ways, I have to concede! LOL Really, I'm okay with this, I'm happy about my decision. I'll be able to do a wider range of stamping now, and have more fun at it. And on days that I'm just too tired and have too much pain, I'll just back off a bit. So there, I said it. I PROMISE TO NO LONGER BE LAST MINUTE ANNIE!
Man, to admit that...it was hard!! hehe

Well, I hope I didn't bore you too much with my thoughts. Have a super evening and stamp away!!

Stampin hugs,