My Favorite Things

Sending You Sunshine

Hi-ya....

It feels like it's been awhile since I shared a crafty post with you, what with all the chatter about trips and birthdays and puppies and books to read and cameras.....

So today, I whipped up a little card to share, just because.....just to send you a little sunshine.  Hope you like it.  :)

I'm still loving Crate Paper's Emma's Shoppe line and I used 3 of my favorite patterned papers from the collection on this card.  They're such happy papers.

 

That adorable lolly is one of the 12x12 Chipboard Accents.  The 3 border strips are 6x12 Border Stickers and the button is from the Emma's Shoppe Buttons collection.  

As for the little tab, it's actually one that I cut in half.  It's one of the 6x12 Phrase Stickers and I stamped it with the "sending you sunshine" sentiment from Papertrey's Tag-Its #3 stamp set.

I used a square punch to first punch out the squares and then rounded two corners on each with my corner chomper.  I love cards like this that incorporate lots of fun patterns in a small scale......little snippets of cheer.

You can see the entire Emma's Shoppe line-up here.

Hope you're having a great day, Peeps!

Chat soon,

Today....

* Today I'm enjoying the bit of sunshine I see outside and wondering if the sun will decide to stick around and show us her pretty face for awhile because it's been awfully gray and rainy and chilly for kind of a long time now.

* Today I'm thinking about how much I'm looking forward to this weekend -- our annual planting weekend.  It's the weekend when Bartley and I will head to the nursery, pick out our flowers and plants for this year, load up the back end of the SUV with our treasures, and spend the day Saturday getting them all safely planted in their new homes.  This, of course, partly depends on the crazy weather and whether the sun will finally decide to stick around for awhile.  I love our annual planting weekend, not just because of the gardening that happens and the beautiful results when we're finished, but also because of all the one-on-one, uninterupted time Bart and I will have together.  No TV.  No distractions.  Spending the whole day outside, working together on a big project with the whole day stretched out before us to talk and laugh and just BE together while we work.  I love weekends like that.

* Today I'm looking forward to spending some time with my sweetie-pie niece and nephew while they're here at my parents' house for a few days.  I love those littles and it's been several weeks since I saw them last.  Can't wait to kiss their squishy little chubsy cheeks.

* Today I'm excited about new product releases coming soon and the crafty projects that are brewing in my head.  I'm only wishing that the rush of ideas would come during the waking hours instead of during the night when I'm supposed to be sleeping.  Ahh.....but we can't control creativity, can we?  It comes when it wants to.  :)  Thank goodness for the notepad and pen in my nightstand, and the iPhone that can serve as a flashlight to write and sketch by.  

 

* Today I'm grateful for dear neighbors that feel like family and I'm looking forward to spending time with them over dinner this evening.  Their out-of-town relatives are coming to town to visit and they'll all treat us like a part of the family too.  A treasure, neighbors like ours.

* Today I'm loving this delicious minty, teal-y green color used on so many of the Portrait collection's patterned papers and trims and embellishments by Crate Paper.  (as seen on today's card)

* Today I'm looking forward to my elliptical time so that I can get back to the really good book that I started this week by Liz Curtis Higgs, because as you know, I read while on the elliptical.  The story is getting good, and I'm anxious to read some more.  I'll share more about the book after I finish it.  I don't like to promote books here at the blog-o unless I've actually read the whole thing.  ;)

 

* Today I'm rejoicing with one of my besties who just had baby #4 during the night and I'm praying for the baby and their family, as it's looking like he'll be having a bit of surgery to help his heart in a couple of days.  I'm wishing I could hug her neck and hold her hand, but since they can't have visitors right now, I'm praying for her instead.  I wish I could do more for her than "just" pray, but sometimes praying is the most important thing we can do.  Sometimes I forget that.

* Today I'm thinking of you, dear readers.  I'm grateful you stop by to share a part of your day with me.  I'm wondering what you're up to and I'm wishing you well.  I hope your day is a happy one.

xo,

 

*All supplies on today's card are by Crate Paper (Portrait collection), except the "hello, friend" sentiment stamp which is from Papertrey's Mat Stack 4 Collection.

Whole Lotta Color

Hello there, Dearies.....

Just poppin' in quick with another Crate Paper card to share with you.  This one uses more fun Emma's Shoppe goodies......I seriously love the all of the color packed into that collection.  

Emma's patterned paper, trim stickers, chipboard stickers......

The sentiment is one that I stamped on an Emma's Shoppe sticker, it's from the Fillable Frames 1 Additions stamp set from Papertrey.

So today, I thought I'd show you our Japanese Maple.  It lives in our front flower bed....right by our front door, in fact.  Typically, the leaves look kind of dark red, as in the photo above.  In fact, they're usually so dark that the tree basically looks burgundy.  Maybe even darker than that.  It's usually dark.  Really dark.  However, the other day, we pulled in the driveway and the sunlight was hitting the leaves on the tree just right so that the leaves were a bright red!  I couldn't wait to run in and grab the camera to capture the brightness....the leaves fairly glowed!  

See.....

Sigh.  I love how bright and colorful the tree was, even if it was just for the afternoon.  :)

Wishing you a bright and colorful kind of day!  

Toodles,

 

Crate Paper Guest Designer!

Hi there!!  There's a great big blog post over at the Crate Paper Blog today, that you just might want to check out.  ;) 

I was asked to be the Guest Designer over at Crate Paper for April and I have been soooo excited for today to come, so that I could finally tell you all about it!!  I was so happy when the crazy-talented Christine over at Crate asked me if I'd be the Guest Designer (how could I say no to THAT?!!) and was over the moon when that box full of Crate Paper's newest product lines arrived on my doorstep!  Talk about a FUN mail day! 

I'm not kidding when I say that these newest Crate Paper lines are some of my favorites ever!  The colors.  The details.  GAH!

I didn't waste any time whipping up some cards with those new goodies, and while I've got 5 cards for you to see over at the Crate blog today, that's only just the beginning.  I'll be sharing more with you in the days to come because I can't seem to get enough of the luscious colors and patterns and textures on all of these Crate goodies!

Are these little sneakity peeks whetting your appetite just a bit?

Are you curious to see these cards in their entirety?

Head over to the Crate Paper blog to see these cards in full -- there are lots more photos for you to see, plus you can learn how I put them together and perhaps even learn a bit more about me while you're there.  :)

Go ahead......pop over to Crate.  I'll wait right here for you.  Then, come back and let me know what you thought!  Ha.

Happy Friday!  And Happy Easter Weekend!

P.S.  Thank you again, to Christine and all of those at Crate Paper that made it possible for me to work with you this month.  It was a joy and I'm extremely grateful!