Happy Post Thanksgiving!

Hi All,

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  Ours was pretty quiet, but it was completely stress free which was really good - the whole house has been passing on a nasty head cold that has proudly taken residence right behind my right eye.  Not to mention all the aches and pains I have been recovering from.  My girls particpated in a group called Girls on the Run which is a program held at there school 2 day a week after school.  The program is to help the girls learn the importance of exercise, eating healthy and generally growing up.  At the end of the program they along with their "required" buddy runner run in a 5k run with all of the other local chapters of the group.  Here are some pictures from the run. 

Yep, you guessed it, I was the "required" buddy runner and let me tell you...I will never do that again without preparing.  I trained a total of 0 hours for this run and I am still paying for it.  Having been a runner in my youth, I know better than to go out there unprepared!  The girls did an amazing job and I am so thankful that it is over with.  We will see if there is a next time - but I know Elizabeth is ready for another one!

Catch you all later!

C

November Update

Hi All!  It has just been crazy so I apologize I have neglected my updates.  I have been feverishly been working to prepare for my very first Arts and Crafts fair.  My company puts together this event twice a year and my co-workers have convinced me to enter and sell my cards.  After some thoughts, I decided that I would do it and since that day, I feel like I haven't done anything but make cards.  Not to mention the cards that I have been making for the holidays to send as well as those that have requested that I make their holiday cards.  So here it is the week before Thanksgiving and I have several hundred Holiday/Christmas cards covering my dining room table.  I think once I get through this craft fair I might hang up the tools and supplies for a little while and take a break, what do you guys think?  Never gonna happen!  I don't have the ability to be sedentary, LOL!  However, I am looking forward to a few weekends not dedicated to making cards.  The show is this week, so I will definitely post you guys on how it went. 

Here are a couple of non-holiday cards that I did for the show:

Sorry this one is sideways - I just couldn't get it to load properly!  All my holiday cards can be viewed at Bgirlsdesigns.

Check you later!

Cindy

Happy Belated Halloween!

 Boy, time really flies when you don't have any of it.  I can't believe we are in NOVEMBER already.  Not only that, but we have already gotten out first snow.  Ok, really, that is just crazy.  I wanted to post pictures of the kids in their costumes, but my camera died, so once I get those pictures uploaded, I will post, but I did have a picture of  my scary witch Emmy.  I took this on Saturday after we came back from the store.  We were able to find a long black wig and "gothic" witch dress.  This doesn't show her all dolled up with her black lipstick, but you can get the picture.  So many funny stories to tell about that night.  I will save them for when I post the pictures of all three of them.

So, other than traipsing all over Leesburg in the snow on Saturday, I did manage to create a few cards.  Here is a picture of one of my newest Holiday Cards.  I used the Trees with Trimmings stamp set from Papertrey Ink.  I stamped the images with Versamark and then embossed them with white linen embossing powder.  Then I cut the images out and  popped them up on my 4.25 x 5.5 inch card.  I also used Papertrey Ink's Signature Christmas stamp set for my sentiment.  I love how simple this card is yet so festive.

This next card was on I put together for a co-worker's birthday.  I lifted this design from Christina at Creations with Christina.  I always seem to find such great inspiration from her. I made a few modifications to my card, but they are still pretty close.  The recipient loved it.  The papers I used were Pure Poppy and Vintage Cream from Papertrey Ink and the black and cream damask was from the Black Currant Die Cuts with a View Stack.  I just love the black and white with the little pop of red.  I had the black sheer ribbon in my stash and have no idea where I got it from.  Chances are it is from Michaels, but I have had it so long I just can't remember.

So that is all for today, and I promise to get those Halloween pictures posted soon so you can share in the fun that I had with the kids that night!  It still makes me laugh thinking about them.

Until then, stay warm!

Big Hugs,

C

Where oh where did I go?

Hi all!  So sorry I have been absent.  Work has been really busy, and I have been hard at work making cards.  Here are some cards I just made.  I recently purchased my very first Copic markers and aside from being intimidated by these little markers, they are really fun.  I stamped this Santa image below and colored it in using R29-Lipstick Red, I colored in Santa's suit.  I tried blending multiple colors, but that didn't work out so well, so I just stuck with the solids for now.  Didn't he turn out cute!
 

I ran my mat through the Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder.  I was going for the whole "Santa Suit" effect and thought the dots gave the paper a fabric feel, and then of course his black belt which was just a 1" strip of black cardstock.  For a little bling, I added Stardust stickles to his pom pom and used a gold pen to color in the package he is holding.  Just love it!!

My next card I just LOVE!  I stamped the tree with the Trimming Tree Trio stamp set from Papertrey Ink with Versamark and embossed it with Pearlescent embossing powder.  Then I took my blending sponge and added a cloudy effect of Jenni Bowlin's Stick Candy ink around the tree.  Since the tree is embossed, it resists the ink.  Doesn't this just look so elegant....

The sentiment is from the Trimming Tree Trio as well.

And for my last card, my little snowmen.  I just love how cute these turned out and they were so simple to make.  I actually took the snowman image from my clip art and then matted it in the center of my card.  I rand the white mat through my cuttlebug with the snowflake folder and then put that onto a red cardbase.  This is certainly a good one to keep in the pile for making multiples. 

Hope you all have a GREAT DAY!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

Happy 10/10 everyone. I don't have a picture or card to showcase today, but I did want to send a big birthday shout out to my oldest Elizabeth. Today she turned 11 and I truly can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital.

I think she had a pretty awesome b-day. We let her invite a couple of friends over for a sleepover and shopping mall scavenger hunt. Although I was completely exhausted by the end of the night I over heard the girls saying that it was the best birthday party they had ever been to, so my exhaustion was well worth it.

Tonight we took her out for a birthday dinner and swung by the local starbucks for some birthday cake pops. Now its off to bed and getting ready for school and work. I wish every weekend could be a 3 day weekend ;o).

So as I said in the beginning...happy 10/10 everyone and sleep tight!

Announcing the Grand Opening of B Girl Designs!

Hi there blogger friends!  I am so excited to tell you about a new adventure in my life.  I have formed and opened "B Girl Designs" (www.bgirlsdesigns.blogspot.com).  B Girl was created to offer quality hand crafted greeting cards.  The business originally started when a co-worker asked me to make a card to send to the son of a fellow employee who had been deployed to Iraq.  I thought sure, that would be fun and sending a little love to someone so far away from his family is totally worth it.  Little did I know that that simple card would spur multiple requests from fellow co-workers to make cards.  I am now knee deep in Holiday creations and loving every minute.  Here is a sampling of some of the card products I am offering on my site.

All the B Girl products are hand crafted and stamped using high quality cardstock (110lb), ink, stamps and embellishments.  We offer a variety of products such as announcements, birthday cards, get well and thinking of you cards as well as a number of other sentiments.  Please help spread the word to your family and friends and stop by often to see what new.  You can find us at www.bgirlsdesigns.blogspot.com.  

Thanks for coming by!

Hello October 1st

Hi blogger friends, I can't believe it has been so long since I posted.  I apologize, life has just been a little crazy the last week and a half.  My entire house was swarmed by a nasty cold that we are all finally starting to recover from.  My poor mother had pneumonia and this week has really been tough to do anything but worry about her.  A quick little shout out to my sister who had knee surgery on Thursday and to Baba for taking such good care of her!  Love you guys!


I don't have a card to post today although I did recently finish a few thank you cards, a couple of birthday invitations for my daughter's sleepover party, and some cute little Halloween cards.  I will work to get those pictures loaded for you guys. 

I can't believe I am saying this, but I will start dedicating my crafting time to making Christmas Cards.  We just finished September, haven't even hit Halloween yet, and I am already full force into Christmas?  Yep, that's right...I have over 100 cards to make for family and friends and if I don't get started now, I will never get them done in time.  I am also working on something behind the scenes that I hope to share with all of you in the near future.

Anyway, enough rambling today, I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and thanks for stopping by.  See you soon!

Cindy

My Craft Spot Challenge 26 – Fall Leaves

Hi there blog friends and family.  What a crazy Wednesday!  It was 60 degrees yesterday and today it will be nearing 80.  It has really been feeling fall like the last several days which inspired this Fall Leaves card for the Challenge over at My Craft Spot.  The challenge was to use a fall leaf or many on your project.  I instantly thought of this paper I ordered from last month’s release at Papertrey Ink.  The colors are so rich and teamed up with their cardstock and ribbon really pulled this card together for me.

Supplies (all supplies are Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted):

Cardstock: Terracotta Tile (card base at 4¼ x 4¼ ), Dark Chocolate (Mat behind Sentiment cut at 4 ½ x 2 ¾), and Vintage Cream (sentiment cut at 3 ¾ x 1 ¾)

Patterned Paper: Fall Prints and Patters (Mat cut at 4 x 4)

Ribbon: Dark Chocolate Swiss Dots

Border Punch: EK Success (Threading Water)

Sentiment Stamp: Inkadinkadoo

Ink:  Jenni Bowlin (Brown Sugar)

Gems:  Michaels (I don’t remember the brand)

That's all for today.  Thanks for visiting!

Cindy

Baby Shower Thank You Cards

Happy Sunday Blog Friends.  Today is going to be a great day - the weather is beautiful and can't think of anything better to do today than to watch football, eat chili and spend some good quality time with the family.  We are all heading over to my brothers house for the Redskins game and I am really looking forward to it.  Anyway, while I was waiting for everyone to get ready to head out, I remembered I had these photos from a gift I made for my best friend for her baby shower and wanted to get them posted up here.

I made her a set of 16 cards to use as her "Thank You" cards for her shower gifts.  She was so cute too, when she opened them, she said "They are too cute to send."  I love her, but really the time and effort I spent putting them together I wanted her to use them, not put them in a box for safe keeping.  LOL!  I made these with my babybug and I will be honest, making these convinced me that if I was going to continue to make cards, I really needed to invest in the Expression.  I am so happy I did, but anyway on to the cards...

Supplies used: 
Cardstock:  Recollections (from Michaels)
Patterned Paper:  DCWV (Butterflies and Blossoms Stack)
Ribbon:  Various ribbons from Michaels
Stamps:  Inkadinkadoo (Many Thanks Set I think)
Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder
Cricut Cart:  Life's a Party (Onesie, Lion & Monkey), Create-a-critter (Duck) all cut at 2"

Thanks for stopping by!

Cindy

Boo!

Good Morning everyone!  I woke up this morning and had an idea for this card.  I wanted to enter the Paper Cutz Challenge which was to create a Halloween card, layout, or craft project using only the colors black, white, orange and purple and a ghost image (either Cricut, stamped or digital).  So in no time, I had this card put together and I am so happy how it turned out...

Supplies:
Patterned Paper:  My Minds Eye (Halloween Scary Sparkles), Basic Grey (Eerie Collection)
Cardstock: Bazzill
Stamps: Studio G (watermark ghosts), Papertrey Ink (Boo Sentiment)
Ink: Versamark and versamagic
Die Cut: Cricut (Paper Doll Dress up)
Finished size:  5 1/2 x 5 1/2

Thanks for stopping by guys and have a great weekend!

Cindy

Friday already?

Why is it that when you are on vacation or in my case a "stay-cation" that time moves too quickly, but when you are at work, the week just drags on?  I can't believe it is Friday already...the only thing I can claim as accomplished this week is doing the cards I posted, about 10 loads of laundry and cleaning the bathroom.  So much for my dreams of creating my dream craft room.  I haven't even managed to clean off the desk ;o).  I guess that is a project for another day...my dear husband can keep his office, for now.

I do have to say it has been nice being home and getting to spend more time with the kids this week.  Although there have certainly been several times when they are completely running a muck that I wonder if I could be a stay at home mom, but when they come running off the bus after school so happy to see me, it helps to change your perspective.

I hope you guys enjoy the weekend, it will definitely be a taste of fall with the lower temps, and I hope to be back soon with some new stuff.  I am working on a few things that I want to enter into some various online challenges, so you will see those posted as I enter.

Happy Friday everyone!

C

Thinking of you and Get Well Cards

Here are three more cards I made - this are are fairly generic and can be used for get well, thinking of you, sympathy.  I really like how the small craft cards stock one came together.  I think I like that one the most and it took me the least amount of time to create.  Anyway, enjoy!

 

Birthday Cards

Here are some photos of the cards I did this week - I meant to post them sooner, but time just got away from me...

TGIF!!

Why is it that when you start a work/school week on a holiday that it seems to take forever to get to the weekend?  It feels like this week has just dragged on.  The rain of course doesn't help one bit.  I don't know about the rest of you, but trying to get home last night brought back terrible flashbacks to the commute home during that record breaking snow storm we had.  I think it took me 8 hours to get home that night???  Last night it only took me 3, but still 26 miles should not be that difficult of a commute.  It seemed every way I turned things were back up or flooded.  Hopefully each of you made it home with very few issues, but can understand my happiness that the work week is almost over.

The weekend and upcoming week will be busy for me, as I get started on my recent card order.  Not to mention that I have plans to over take my dear husbands office and make it my craft room (the way he took over my craft space ;o).  We will see if I succeed in my mission - however, I have to do something, my supplies and tools have taken over the kitchen, LOL!

Have a great weekend everyone and I will do my best to post some before and after pictures as well as my finished card projects.

Hugs,

C

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

OMG, could we possibly see some sun this week?  Although my yard looks amazing, I really don't think it can take much more rain.  Not to mention my over all mood is in the dumps, we need some sunny days!

So we are in week 2 of back to school and so far so good with my little kiddies.  Andrew is already sporting a stuffy nose, but hasn't complained once about not feeling good (somebody knock on some wood for me ;o).  I guess however that I am going to need to invest in some long pants for the poor guy.  He only has shorts that fit him due to his non-stop growing, but he certainly is fighting me every step of the way.  He would wear shorts and a t-shirt EVERY DAY no matter the temperature if I would let him.  The girls are all over their new clothes complete with accessories.  I am going to be broke when they become teenagers.

I was able to finally get a new card done.  I told my sister-in-law I would make her a card to send to a friend who is out of the country.  It is a little late...sorry BA! But it is on its way.  I started playing around with creating my own patterned paper by stamping images some what randomly.  A co-worker has recently commissioned me to create some cards for her to send to friends, so I will post those up when I complete them.  It will be my first official sale, I am so excited and will certainly keep you all posted on my success.  Anyway, here is the card. 

Stay safe and dry everyone.  Until next time....

C

Happy Wednesday

I tell you, I feel fall in the air.  Something about the kids going back to school, the chill in the morning air and the fact it is still DARK when I have to get everyone up to get ready for school reminds me that Fall is just around the corner.  What happened to the last few weeks of summer ;o(.  We are in day three of back to school and so far so good, but having to keep up with all three of my kids, their homework, and just normal day to day things has me dragging along today!  Thank goodness for the extra shot of espresso in my latte this morning, LOL.

Anyway, with Fall upon us I needed to make another card for my co-worker's 25th anniversary and I was inspired by all the rich colors of fall.  I recently received my order of Papertrey Ink paper and new stamps and I just can't believe how amazing this stuff is.  The quality of the paper exceeds my expectation.  I wanted this card to be a little more elegant and classy with the embossed ivory and rich fall colors, so this is what I came up with...

All products are Papertrey ink with unless otherwise specified.  I used the vintage cream cardstock and embossed it with the new Mehndi Medallion Impression Plate and adhered the 4-1/4" square to a 4-1/2" piece of Scarlet Jewel along with some of the Dark Chocolate ribbon.  My card base is 4-3/4" of the dark choclate cardstock.  Using the Fillable Frames die and stamp set, I cut out and stamped my sentiment onto vintage cream as well then used dimensionals to attach it to the front of the card.  The inks I used were by Jenni Bowlin (love these inks) in Cough Syrup and Brown Sugar.  I really like how nice this card turned out and again the thickness of the papers made such a huge imact on the feel and quality of the card.

Have a great day everyone!

Back to School!

Today was the first day back to school for the kids...

 Emmy - in her super fabulous new outfit and accessories - first one up, dressed and ready to go! Welcome to 4th grade, we are so proud of you sweet pea!

 Andrew, my little man all decked out in his new light up shoes (which he insisted he wasn't too old to wear ;o).  Although we had a delayed start to the morning (took 20 minutes to get him out of bed), was ready to go and start a brand new year as a second grader!  Whoo hoo little man - make it a great one.

And then my little angel Lizzie, sick on the first day of 5th grade.  Say it isn't so.  She had her first day outfit all picked out and ready to go.  Not to worry though - this year will be amazing with plenty of exciting times to remember.  Love you all!

My Very First Post

Hi anyone out there.  Here is my inaugural post with a card I made for a co-worker who is celebrating her 25th anniversary with the company next month.  I had a lot of fun creating this card along with the help of both Emmy and Elizabeth who assisted in the colors and overall design.  The card is a standard A2 size card cut out of ivory cardstock and inked the edges with creamy brown chalk ink.

Using Beautiful Blooms II from Papertrey Ink, I clear embossed a flower pattern onto Orange cardstock.  I cut the "25" out of the same embossed orange paper and adhered it to the bottom corner of a piece of BoBunny's back to basics Vicki B patterned paper.

The ticket was cut and stamped from Papertrey Ink's "Just the Ticket" die and stamp set.  I used Jenni Bowlin ink in Brown Sugar and Stick Candy to stamp the elements as well as Tattered Rose Distress Ink by Tim Holtz for the stars in the back ground.

I am having so much fun with the Papertrey Ink stamps and dies.  I just ordered some of the new August releases which are mostly Halloween and fall focused.  Can't wait to start playing with them.  They are just too cute.

Well, I think my first post went pretty well.  If you happen upon this blog and wish to leave a comment, or provide any helpful hints for a brand new blogger...please feel free!

Thanks a bunch!

Cindy B.