Deepest Sympathy

Hello,

So sorry that it's been so long since I've posted.  June was a little out of control with the end of School activities, soccer playoffs, etc.  Work has been very hectic as well.  That hasn't left much time for crafting let alone posting!

I have made some cards, but the photos are still in my phone, so I'll post photos of cards that I made but haven't actually posted yet.

I'm sitting here with the two British Soccer Coaches that we are hosting this week watching the end of the Germany vs. Brazil world cup game.  Since Brazil just lost for the first time on home soil in more than 12 years (I think that's what the announcers said!) I thought Sympathy cards would be appropriate for today's post.

This first card is not one of my favorites, I'm not sure why.  Something about it just doesn't do it for me.  A friend requested some sympathy cards so I made several for her to choose from.  I think she took one of each design.  So I guess this card isn't totally bad, just not my favorite!

The card base is Neenah Solar White with a layer of StampinUp's Daffodil Delight.  The foliage and dragonfly stamps are from the Vertical Greetings set by Gina K Designs.  The sentiment is also from Gina K Designs - the With Sympathy Duo.

This next card is one of my favorites.  I think the color scheme and the lacy layer cut with a Spellbinders Borderability die really make the card special.  I used this same card with a "Thank You" sentiment for an order of Thank You cards that an accountant friend of mine requested.

The card base is Neenah Solar White 110lb card stock.  The blue layer is Stampin Up Bordering Blue which I believe is a retired color - I was using up some of my stash!  The white layer is Neenah Solar White 80lb layering weight card stock.  The sentiment is from the Vertical Greetings set by Gina K Designs.  The flowers are from the Dreams Take Flight Mini Stamp Set by Gina K Designs.

This last card was made using scraps!  I felt I needed to have another Sympathy Card style for my friend to close from so I just used what I could get my hands on easily!  Sometimes great cards come from scraps, remnants and leftovers.

The card base of this card is StampinUp's Crumb Cake.  The darker blue layer is StampinUp's Marina Mist.  The lighter blue peeking out from behind the paper lace strip is StampinUp's Bashful Blue.  The white was Neenah Solar White 80lb card stock.  It was punched with the StampinUp lace punch. The sentiment on this card is again from the Vertical Greetings set by Gina K Designs.

Well, that wraps this up.  I've got to find some time to process my card photos so that I have a stockpile of photos ready to post.  I'm really hoping to be better about that! :)

I hope you'll come back to visit again soon!  Until then, I'll continue to Craft Stolen Moments.

B is for Birthday

Hi,

Welcome to my blog.  I'm trying to work my way through the cards that I've made but haven't had a chance to post.  I haven't managed to find time to steal away to my craft area lately.  We've been busy with spring soccer, the beginning of the various spring music concerts (I have one child in elementary school, one in middle school and one in high school!) and are hosting a British soccer coach until June and the space that we have to house the soccer coach is where my craft area is!

So, I'm posting some of my backlog! :)

I needed cards for a combined birthday part where the guests of honor were a boy and a girl who were both turning 2.  As usual, I was short of time and needed something that was going to be quick to put together!  And hey, since they weren't related to each other I figured I could certainly get away with making the same card - just one in pink and one in blue!

The stamp set is Party Hearty from StampinUp!  This card uses a Neenah Solar White card base, a Marina Mist layer embossed with a numbers embossing folder, a bashful blue layer and then the image stamped in Marina Mist onto a Neenah Solar White layering weight layer.  The ribbon is Marina Mist dotted grosgrain ribbon.

The pink card uses a Neenah Solar White card base, two shades of pink card stock and Melon Mambo ribbon and ink.

That's all I have time for right now.  I hope you can stop by again soon!

Happy Mother's Day

Hello,

And Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.  I'm taking advantage of a few free moments before we head out to two (overlapping) soccer games to write this post.

It's been a busy few weeks.  Work has been crazy busy, spring gets hectic with three kids on separate travel soccer teams and then the beginning of all of the extra end of the school year activities.  So, there hasn't been much opportunity to steal moments to get into my craft area.

I did manage to grab some time to make some Mother's Day Cards.  That was a necessity - since I had to have them to send to my mother and step-mother! :)  Since I also needed cards for the swap at my monthly card club I used my limited crafting time to do double duty.  The ladies at card club received these Mother's Day Cards in the swap!

The card base is made from Neenah Solar White 110 lb card stock.  The colored layer is Melon Mambo card stock from StampinUp! The ribbon and ink is also StampinUp! Melon Mambo.  The flower stamps are from the StampinUp! Punch Potpourri (Hostess) set.  The sentiment is from the Gina K Designs retired set Kindred Greetings for Her.  The three flowers were popped up with and the black centers were created with black Enamel Accents.

I've had a very lovely day so far.  The weather is sunny, pleasantly warm and its a beautiful day!  I got up and went to my Yoga class this morning - my treat to me was not skipping a class that helps me to feel so energized and calm.  When I got home my husband and daughter were just getting back from the store - my daughter wanted to buy me flowers!  When I stepped in the house, I could smell brownies - not an uncommon occurrence since my second son loves to bake.  But, the pleasant surprise was that they were special gluten-free brownies for me!  It's been so long since I had brownies.  What a great surprise.

Then the three kids (under the supervision of my husband) made me breakfast.  It was a multi-course breakfast.  It started with fruit salad, continued with scrambled eggs and bacon and concluded with a special dessert of a warm brownie with a dollop of whipped cream, some chocolate sauce and garnished with some mini chocolate chips.  So yummy and such a treat!

We'll be stopping for dinner on the way home from this afternoon's soccer double header.

I hope all the rest of you mothers have a wonderful Mother's Day!

Thanks for visiting.  I hope you can come back soon!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Me!  Happy Birthday to Crafting Stolen Moments!  Today is my birthday and one year since I started my blog.

I haven't been very good about posting as often as I would like this year, but I'm still trying to craft those stolen moments!  I'm still working to find the balance - work, family life, kids schedules, couple time, crafting time, computer time, etc.  But, I also need to continue working on remembering to stop, slow down and Breathe!

It's been a hectic week with guests, work, kids and getting ready for April Vacation next week.  So, I haven't been able to get any time in my craft area.  But, my husband's birthday was just three weeks ago and I haven't posted the cards that I made for him - from myself and each of the kids - so that's what I'll post today.

I still have quite a bit of prep work to do tonight so I'll try to be brief.

This first card was made using Stampin Up! Mosaic Motif stamps.  I believe the inks were Night of Navy (?), Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie.  The sentiment is from Gina K Designs.  This was a quick, CAS card with no additional layers on a card base of Neenah Solar White heavy card stock.

This next card was made using the Lots of Lines stamp set from Gina K Designs.  The ink colors were blue and beige for the lined circles and black for the sentiment.  Again, a quick CAS card with no layers on my favorite card base - Neenah Solar White 110lb card stock.

This card was a fun one that my daughter helped me to design.  The only actual stamping on the card is the sentiment which is also from the Lots of Lines stamp set.  The colored stripes are scraps of card stock that were in my scrap basket.  Super simple, but bright and cheery!

This last card uses the Pretty Patterns 2 stamp set from Gina K Designs.   The ink colors are Tempting Turquoise, Lucky Limeade and Rich Razzleberry.  The sentiment was stamped in Black.  Another CAS no-layer card.  Sensing a theme here?  I think I was out of time, it was his actual birthday, and I needed cards!

So there you have them, the quick and easy birthday cards that I made for my husband - presented on my birthday! :)

Sorry for being skimpy on the details, but I wanted to get a post done today to celebrate the first birthday of my blog.  I didn't want to let that slip by.  But, I must go and finish getting the 5 of us packed so that we can leave on our road trip tomorrow afternoon.  I still have to work half a day tomorrow so we really need to be mostly ready tonight!

Thanks for stopping by.  My goal for this year is to post more regularly.

Hope you can come visit again soon.

Birthday By the Numbers

Hello,

It's been another very busy few weeks.  Seems to be the story of my life.  Sigh...

I've been wanting to get into my craft area - but haven't been able to steal any moments to get there.  I really need to start finding the time or being better about stealing the time since I have signed up to have a table at a craft fair at the beginning of April.

I know there are some categories of cards that I'm either very low on or out of so I need to get my butt in gear!  Then, I always feel like I need to have some of those "gift items" available too.  You know, card sets, teacher gifts, note pads, etc.

I only have 4 weekends to get ready and these first two are looking quite booked!  We have a gymnastics meet this saturday afternoon and then a performance at the Providence Bruins intermissions on Sunday which will eat up the whole afternoon too!  Next weekend we are supposed to go away for a ski trip.  I think I need to book myself some crafting appointments and then stick to them!

We've had a bunch of birthdays in the past month.  My son, my nephew, my daughter, a couple of friends...  So I thought posting a birthday card today would be a good idea.

 
This first card uses some of the StampinUp In colors: Pistashio Pudding, Coastal Cabana, Crisp Cantalope and Strawberry Slush.  The black is Gina K Designs Onyx.

I thought that this would be a more feminine version of the card.

This second, more masculine version of the card also used StampinUp! inks in the following colors: Soft Sky, Tempting Turquoise,  Marina Mist and Pacific Point.  Again the black is Gina K Designs Onyx.

Both cards used the Simple Numbers stamp set designed by Tami Mayberry from Gina K Designs.   This set is so versatile - I have a bunch more birthday cards that I need to make using this!

I'm just about out of time - off to do a kid pickup and then to my yoga/pilates class!

Thanks for dropping by.  Hope you can come visit again soon.

Hanging Heart Valentine

Hi there, Happy Valentine's Day!

Sorry I've been absent.  Let's just say that January was jam packed, crazy busy with everything from tons of snow, snow days, gymnastics meets, a funeral, work, and family time.  So, I already blew my intention of posting frequently this year.  Oh well, I can keep trying!

Since today is Valentine's Day, I thought it would be a good idea to post the card I made - you know, before it's too late!

I made these for my monthly card club card swap - but made extras for my stash!  I added a little more personalization to the inside when I was filling it out to give to my husband.  This card was super quick to make.

Here's how the card came about.  Card club was Tuesday night and I needed to have swap cards.  It was almost 7 PM Monday night and I hadn't started them yet - or even really figured out what I was going to do.  I go to a power pilates then Zumba class on Monday nights so that was going to cut into my card creation time as well.

I zipped down to my craft area and started looking around to see what I could come up with.  I saw the flourishes set on my desk (sadly still waiting for me to ink it up for the first time!).  It was upside down and the large flourish looked like a branch - it reminded me of a card that I had seen on Pinterest.  So, my brain immediately jumped to hanging hearts from the branch - because, you know, hearts always hang from branches! :)

So without further ado, here's my Hanging Heart Valentine.

And, the inside...

The card base is made from Neenah Solar White 110lb card stock.  The hearts were all punched from StampinUp! red glimmer paper.  The ink I used was Gina K Designs Black Onyx ink and StampinUp! Real Red ink.  The flourish is Elegant Flourishes designed by Carolyn King from Gina K Designs.  The sentiments are from Boutique Borders: Love Mini Stamp Set and Boutique Borders: Valentine Mini Stamp Set both by Papertrey Ink.  I used a black gel marker and a ruler to draw in the hanging strings for each of the hearts.

I actually really like how the cards turned out.  The sparkly hearts really shimmer in the light and are popped up on dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by.  I just finished uploading a bunch of my card photos to my computer so hopefully there will be more posts coming in short order.

I hope you can steal some time to stop back and visit again soon!

Chanukah was early, I am late!

Wow, three days in a row?  Don't get too used to it.  I know that there is no way that I'll be able to post every day.

Right now I'm just trying to post some of the seasonal cards that I've made before they get too far out of season.

My friend Lily asked me to make some Chanukah cards for her both in 2013 and again in 2013.

Here is what I came up with for the 2012 cards...

If I remember correctly, the card base is Neenah Solar White, the blue is SU Bashful Blue and then some silver card stock that I had in my stash!  I used an embossing folder on the silver layer.  The menorah was colored using spica glitter pens.  The stamps were from Gina K Designs' Light of the Season set.

She asked me for more Chanukah cards back in October because Chanukah was so early in 2013 - it coincided with Thanksgiving!  I had purchased the Mazel Tov stamp set from Papertrey Ink earlier in the year since the Gina K set that I used for 2012 was the only applicable stamps that I had.

I'm really glad that I purchased that set.  I also used it for Lily's Rosh Hashanah cards and for a Bar Mitzvah that my son attended.  The set contains so many images and words that I should be able to cover any of Lily's requests!

Here 2013's Chanukah card:

Outside

 Inside

The supplies used for this card were SU's Marina Mist for the card base, and SU's Bashful Blue for the focal point accent layer.  The menorah was stamped on Neenah Solar White (80 lb layering weight) card stock.  I used silver ink on the edges of the Bashful Blue layer to bring in the silver as well as add some shine.  The candles on the menorah were colored with SU markers in Marina Mist and Bashful Blue.  The flames were blinded with a gold spica pen.  The inks used were Gina K Designs Onyx and Marina Mist.

This was a Clean and Simple card - that style really seems to appeal to me.  Maybe it has something to do with my usually limited crafting time! :)  All straight cuts - nothing fancy.  I made this a top fold vertical tent card.  So the card base is actually 4.25 x 11, scored and folded at 5.5 inches so the final card is still 4.25 x 5.5, it just has the fold at the top instead of on the left.  I find that I make quite a few cards this way.  They are just a little different - it adds some uniqueness to my stuff.  I even special ordered card sleeves from Clear Bags for this type of card.  They only sell sleeves to fit cards cut 8.5 x 5.5 and folded to 4.25 x 5.5!  I like to use the sleeves on the cards that I sell at the craft fairs to protect them.

I did mock up a sample and take it to Lily to be sure that she not only liked the cards but that I wasn't going to inadvertently do something that wouldn't be proper on a Jewish card.  She was thrilled with them and wouldn't let me change a thing!  That's always a good feeling.  She did joke that I should have cut the cards 8.5 x 5.5 and folded to 4.25 x 5.5 with the fold on the right hand side (so that it opened the opposite way of a normal card or book).  She said that's the direction that hebrew is used in and thought it would be funny.  Maybe next year!

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you can come visit again soon!