Suzy Sells Sea Shells

I absolutely loved making this cute little card, although now that I am looking at it, I should have added some twine!  I used a bit of the Iridescent Ice embossing powder to give it a bit of a sandy look.  I am not a fan of cutting out little critters, but it worked out fabulous with the shell, starfish and sand dollar. Except for forgetting about the power of the twine, I think it came out quite nicely and I may just have to do this for one of my classes!

Happy Stamping!
Suzanne

Busting Out the Classes

As a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I know I should be doing parties and building up my business, participating in swaps, going to events and meetings, but at the end of the day I just like making cards and hosting workshops.

I was going to switch it up a bit and get out of my comfort zone, but then I realized that 1) it was a lot of work 2) I was slacking on some of my workshop duties 3) why was I trying to "change it up" when all I really need to do is make it better!

So after a couple of months of trial and error I am back to where I need to be!  Getting my butt in gear with my current workshop group, adding an advanced class because let's face it, my girls are amazing and they need a bit of a challenge every now and again, AND I am going to take advantage of living in two states!

I have an amazing network of ladies in my hometown of Gilbert, but I am only there 8 to 10 days a month.  The rest of the time I am in Bloomfield so my brilliant husband suggested I get out of "the compound" and get to hosting more workshops!  He has some great ideas every now and again!

I did a bit of calling around and the Aztec library has rooms for $25 and let me tell you, Aztec is the cutest town!!!  I don't have to go into Farmington (ick), I get out of the congested and construction hell of Bloomfield and we can all meet in the middle in cute little ol' Aztec!  With hanging flower baskets on the street lamps, an adorable small town feel, and it even comes complete with a Scottish Fiddle Society!  Not that the Scottish Fiddle Society has anything to do with making cards, I just love that they have one!

Of course, being new to town and only knowing two people aside from my husband and his family, I may have an issue with finding people.  I am, however, going to brow beat my two cousins who live in Aztec to go my classes.  They may torture me with promises of other things, but it may be worth the pain and suffering!  I am hoping the library will allow me to put up a flyer or something and I may even try to coerce my husband to hand some out at his school to some of his teacher friends.  =)

All else fails, I may resort to begging on the streets or dragging women in by their hair caveman style.  Although, it would be super wonderful if anyone has any other ideas, aside from the club and hair dragging, to bringing in the card makers I would be most grateful for the suggestions!!  I would hate to get arrested during  my first New Mexico card class attempt!

Happy Stamping!
Suzanne

Cupcakes and Birthdays

Nothing says "birthday" quite like yummy cupcakes!  I had an absolute ball playing with the cupcake and cherry stamps from Stamps by Judith.  This month's Virtual Card Class features the cupcake stamps and this is just one way of mixing it up and having some fun!

Sad attempt at stenciling

Last week, Jordyn and I painted the small wall in my cottage a gorgeous shade of blue!  I have the drop down ladder into the loft that comes right down against the wall and I can't put a dang thing on the wall nor can I put anything in the middle of the wall.  So I got this brilliant idea to stencil big dandelions on the wall!

Super cute, right?

Well, it SHOULD be super cute, but it is an EPIC fail!

 The first dandelion I did is the one in the lower left.  Talk about SMEARING!  I wanted it to be super white, but all I got was a super smunched wanna be dandelion.  By the time I did the last one (the third from the left) I was getting the hang of it, but alas, they will never be a vibrant white dandelion, only a "watermark" dandelion.

My poor dragonfly was quite the white blob, but I broke down and opened the can of blue of paint and fixed him up quite nicely.

Those little floating white things are dandelion tufts...or they are supposed to be!

I used the blue painters tape to hang them up with and I should have used the spray adhesive, maybe they would have turned out better!

OR I should just stick to making cards and leaving it at that!

Halloween Cards

Before Jordyn got her for her week vacation before college starts back up again, I DID get some work done on some cards.  Primarily because I want her help in putting the kits together for my Halloween class coming up in September!

I was a nice mom and took her shopping today and we went crazy at the thrift stores buying up books!  Most of them were $.50 to a $1.00 and we had a BALL!  I even splurged and took her out to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory!  Yep, I think I am a GREAT mom!

So when she has to start putting kits together for my next 3 classes coming up in the next month, I don't think she has room to complain!

So I am thinking in between piddle patrol, putting together kits and puppy proofing the cottage Jordyn is going to be one busy girl the last couple of days of her vacation!

Happy Stamping!
Suzanne

New Addition to our Family

It has been a very quiet last couple of weeks for me as far as the computer goes.  I have been enjoying the company of my daughter who is up visiting me for a week AND we decided to add another family member to my Gooseberry Cottage Menagerie!

Currently I have, Vinnie the Tortoise, who after a nasty run in with my poochy Marley, is doing very well and back to zipping around his turtle pen.  There is also Barry and Baby Barry the frogs that live in the courtyard at night.  Evel Knievel the Lizard that enjoys jumping OVER Vinnie's pen at break neck speeds, two praying mantises that are keeping our tomatoes safe, the plethora of birds that are NOT keeping the flies, mosquitoes or hornets away, but they are fun to watch and listen to.  You would think that would be enough, but I am missing Marley something fierce and I just HAD to get a new poochie!  (Marley went back to Arizona with my son and as much as I miss the boy, I may just miss the pooch a tad bit more!  he he he  KIDDING!....Kinda!)

So after MUCH ridiculous begging and pleading, I talked my husband into getting another dog and I would LOVE to introduce you to Miss Hedy LaMoore!

Chewing on her ball with Jordyn

Sniffing out the bad guys!

Chillin

We aren't too sure what kind of dog she is as we got her from the Humane Society in town, but she is too stinking cute, has big feet and is sleeping nicely in her crate.  So how could I not have fallen in love with her?!  Of course, asking me after she has chewed up something terribly important will probably be the true test of doggy love!

Cupcake Retreat

Well we made it!  7 months in the making, 6 and a half hours in the stamping and a whole slew of cupcakes to be eaten!  I would say we had a wonderful little success in our first stamp retreat.  We had 17 wonderful ladies show up and Kathy saved my batootie at the last minute when we out grew our original location for the Cupcake Retreat!  I even got to see an old costume I wore and my mom made 20 years ago!  (No, there is no way I could still fit in the Cinderella dress!  20 years and more than 20 pounds later doesn't crack it!)

Cupcake Bunkies

 These cute little bags were designed by my mom and she made one for everyone.  They are the perfect size to put your supplies in; tape, pearls, Dimensionals and finished cards.  Love, love, love them!  THANK YOU, MOM!

Cupcake Prizes

You can't have a party without give-a-ways, right?  We had a fun "grab bag" section for those people who brought cupcakes.  We had cupcake card sets, cupcake topper picks, an apron, cupcake tray, cupcake pins, so much fun!

Grandma and mom getting started early

The room all set up!

Then of course we had some of our finished products!

Crystal Effects sat out to dry

Absolutely love the tilted ones!

Thank you to all of the ladies who came out and have a fun time and all of the newbies!  Since we had a unanimous decision to do this again, we will definitely make some changes!!   Earlier and mid break were wonderful suggestions!!!

Happy Stamping!
Suzanne