Use anything but a ribbon, hmmm, I’m tired of using raffia. Aha, this beautiful cord came in one of the DT packs from Faith. Everything on this card can be purchased from Mark’s Finest Papers. I love this shimmery pink cardstock and the images are all from the Brick Wall set. I love the serenity of this set. Remember to play along with us and link your card up here to be in the drawing for a free stamp set being released in Aug.
Swaps are fun. I like the one that Mark’s Finest Paper has over at Speedy TV, hosted by my friend Patty Penn because we only send in four cards. The cards I received from the Spring Swap were gorgeous.
For the August swap we were to make a card that references something we like about summer. I love the birds and don’t get enough of watching them and hearing their cheerful songs. I chose this set, Little Birds with Big mouths to make my card. EVERYONE who enters receives a free stamp set. Come and play with us. You have until Aug 31 to play in the summer one and I see the post is up for the fall swap too!
A couple of weeks ago I hosted a Norwex party. It was great fun. If you haven’t heard about these cleaning products, do yourself a favor and check out Lana’s FB page here. You will cut your cleaning time in half and not use any harsh chemicals while doing it. The products actually make cleaning fun as you keep wanting to try the cloths to see if it will clean up ________________ You fill in the blank and most likely it will work.
The party was a huge success and I wanted to thank all the ladies who came with a special Thank You card. I didn’t have enough purple gingham paper and I switched to green but I like both of them.
And here’s a couple of close-ups of both of them.
I put little googly eyes on them for attention getters. The set is from Mark’s Finest Papers called Little Birds with Big mouths. It went pretty quick. I made twenty two cards and it took about an hour to make six of them. I did six at a time, assembly line fashion.
This card started out just on a little piece of scrap paper that I wanted to practice with my copic markers. Thanks so much to Suzanne Dean who has many youtube videos posted on how to shade with these wonderful markers. As I worked with it I remembered I need a card for my friend JoAnn, co-owner of The Stamp Shoppe. No pressure there, right? 
I do believe Copics are my newest favorite thing, now that I have a few more of them.
Did you know, Hobby Lobby and Michaels carry Copics now? Think 40% off coupon. Another tip, if you have a Smart Phone and you can bring up the Hobby Lobby web site, they will let you use the coupon right off your phone, how fun is that???
, Tips
We were challenged to use at least three hearts on our project. I was saved by having this Cuttlebug embossing folder in my stash! I have no heart stamps from MFP yet.
The images are from the Planted with Love set from MFP. So many ways to use this set, I’m having so much fun with it.
I took my ink pad and ran it over the inside of the embossing folder before running it through the Cuttlebug. It gave the impressions a nice soft green color, reminiscent of a garden, don’t you think? The strips are some plastic ribbon I still have in my stash. It’s almost gone now, hooray! But I did have fun with it. And the final touch, the twine bow. THIS is by far the best twine I have found anywhere. It’s soft but still has structure, it’s easy to work with, and ties beautifully. I tell you, MFP has some really nice things besides stamps and paper. Check them out for great deals.
Did you have fun with the blog hop? Congratulations to the winners. What a fun way to win and absorb new ideas at the same time.
Ah what a fun stamp set to use. Here, you have the seed packet for sunflowers from Planted With Love. Don’t you agree, these little ladies have THE cutest faces? I chose to make my first easel card. Here’s a link for you. http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/easelcard/ I wanted the flowers to look like they were sitting in a garden and I used three different color markers on a portion of the flower stamp from the Brick Wall set also from Mark’s Finest Papers to make it look like a vine. The very pretty ribbon is from there. Check them out for all your stamping needs. They DO have everything. It’s convenient.
Did you know, Mark’s Finest Papers has THE best prices on paper anywhere? The quality is really right up there and they give you a great deal compared to retail online or brick and mortar stores. Check them out if you want to save money.
If you use stamps from Mark’s Finest Paper you get your name entered twice and everyone has a chance to win one of the new release stamp sets. (and guess what? You get to use yours before we do) This one didn't photo too well. If you click on the picture you can see the detail and separation of the little birds better. 
