Steps of Paris

Our World of Cards Retreat is coming up in June and I have all of the cards finished except Paris.  So for the last two days I have been trying to put together a snappy new card that has elegance, pizzazz and lots of bling!  I have been wanting to do a step card for a long time, but really just couldn't find a "vision".  Until Paris!

I love the different layers of the card and all the fun stuff I got to add to it.

There is also a little space to put a sweet little sentiment!

This would be a great project to do AFTER a trip as well!  Can you imagine little train stubs, maybe a sugar packet or other small mementos to remind you of your trip?

Hoping the ladies enjoy putting this one together at the Retreat!!

The best part?  It fits into an envelope!!!  YEAH!!!

Happy Easter!

Suzanne

Fun Quote Friday's

Every Friday I will be posting another Fun Quote that I either have a stamp of or is just too cute to pass up!  Plus, it is always good to have a little chuckle on a Friday to start the weekend off right!

Mmmmm, Popsicles!

I found a cute picture of a Popsicle on Pinterest earlier in the week and I absolutely fell in love with it!  So I did a little tweaking and I turned it into a cute card for little girl's.

Incorporating Stampin' Up's! "Sunny Fun" stamp set over to the envelope, it totally completed the fun for the card!  Now they have yummy Popsicles ON the card as well as IN the card!

I think I am going to make a set of these up for a slew of kid cards for my mom!

Did I also mention this is one of the cards going out for our Card A Month crew???   I think they are going to LOVE IT!!!

Happy Stamping!!!
Suzanne

Sharing the Love

Being "isolated" from family and friends, can definitely take its toll.  Thankfully, I have a kick butt husband and Gooseberry Cottage. Talk about both of them being a saving grace!  However, there are those wonderful times when I get a fun little Facebook chit chat going on that helps spark those creative juices and brings clarity to my day/week.

Last week, my girlfriend Jessica and I were having a fun time going back and forth on Facebook emails and she has this wonderful way of lighting a fire under my batooty and I get this flaming jet pack of energy and my brain fills with nine million wonderful ideas!  Plus, since I have this killer jet pack the sky is definitely the limit!

I have a list a mile long full of wonderful little things to do, all of them do-able, most of them time lined out and one of them is happening a week from today!!!!

That's right, the OFFICIAL Greetings From Suzanne Newsletter will be sent out on April 1st!  I have been furiously working on all kids of great content, me and my jet back have been scurrying the web looking for wonderful things to share AND I am putting together a couple of wonderful announcements.  Did I also mention there will be some other great ideas for cards, products and super cool pictures, too???

If you haven't signed up yet, please be sure and click on Newsletter! at the top of our blog OR just click the "Newsletter!" link!  I promise, it is REALLY easy to do!

As for right now, I am going to get hopping on this week's blog posts while the man of the house watches Zombies.  =)

Enjoy!!!
Suzanne

Picture Taking HELL!!!

One of the many goals I have in the coming months is improving my picture taking abilities!  Because let's face it, folks, I am TERRIBLE!!!!

I have purchased light boxes, my husband let's me use the super expensive camera when I want to, I have tried different lighting, inside, outside, upside down!  To NO AVAIL!

Looks at this!

It is dark, it isn't crisp, it doesn't do the actual card any justice!

UGH!

My husband even went so far as to do me up a HUGE photography rig to help me!

And he had me pick up some sort of Photoshop program....that still isn't installed on my laptop.  Oops!

Final Product

The above card was the final version of the card after all of the set up!  All day long with my mom and Stephan helping me.  REALLY?  It looks pretty, but quite frankly, I don't want to spend ALL DAY LONG to take ONE picture!

So I NEED help!   DESPERATELY!

If you have any hints, pointers, suggestions or ideas, PLEASE let me know!  I am tired of slowly killing everyone with my lackluster photos!  You will be doing all of humanity a GIANT favor!  =)

Thanks bunches!

Suzanne

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Sparkles EVERYWHERE!

Before I moved to New Mexico, I found this GREAT little white cupboard at a garage sale and it was PERFECT to display my glitters and other pretties I didn't really use on my cards.  =)   Let's face it, sometimes I buy things just because they are pretty!  I like to think of it as my contribution to boosting the economy!

Anyway!  Once I moved into Gooseberry Cottage I totally forgot about it and let's face it, I didn't REALLY use the stuff anyway.  UNTIL, I found some great techniques using glitter than I just HAD to have it again.  I knew I moved it with me and Garrett graciously wiggled his way into the loft, found the shelf and brought it down the ladder for me.  WHAT A MESS!!!

My glitters were everywhere!  Although, I suppose that is what happens when you use salt and pepper shakers to store it in.  Eeeek!   Did I mention it LOOKS pretty?  My son laughed and promptly left before I could ask him to help, smart kid, but after looking at the mess, pulling out the ribbon and glitter bottles, I realized that it wasn't THAT bad.  Nothing the vacuum couldn't handle!

I am not sure you can actually SEE the little piece of grey metal in the bottom/middle of the picture, but THAT little piece caused me to realize just how much I LOVE my little shelving unit.  Now I SAW the little metal piece that holds up the shelf and I told myself that I need to pick it up BEFORE I brought out the vacuum........Anyone guess what I DIDN'T do?

Yep, I sucked up all the glitter AND the little metal piece that helps to hold up the shelf!  I was in definite panic mode.  I shut down the vacuum, shook the attachment to high heaven and nothing came out.  The moment of truth had arrived.  I was going to have to open up the bag, dig through the dust, dog hair, dimensional backings and whatever else I had picked up along the way to FIND this ONE LITTLE PIECE!!!

Talk about a MESS!!!!!!!!!   Dirty, dusty, icky, nasty!  I sifted, I sorted, I swore, and I didn't find!   So I did it all again.  Do you know where my little friendly piece was?  Right there in front of me.  Off to the side of my big pile of dusty sludge.  Happily sitting there.  Laughing at me!

That, my dear friends, is love!

After my flub up, I went through the process of cleaning, dusting and making my little shelving unit pretty again!  So here she is all put together and ready for me to actually use her contents this time!!!   =)

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Do...or Do Not. There is no try.

Thank heaven for nephews!  I have been DYING to make a Yoda card for my nephew's birthday for YEARS!  But, quite frankly, it scared the living daylights out of me!  Talk about intimidation.  I mean, it's Yoda for crying out loud.  To screw this up would be an EPIC fail!

So after slaving away over excel sales reports I figured nothing could be more draining than what I had just worked on so why not give Yoda a try.

Guess what?  I TOTALLY nailed it!  How cute is this little green dude?!

My nephew is going to LOVE this and I can't wait to send it off to him for his birthday this week.

I am working on the supply list and instructions to make this little for yourself.  So if you would like to receive a copy after I am finished, please email me.  Just as an FYI, all materials are Stampin' Up!

If you would rather NOT make one of these little guys or the thought of spending bookoo bucks on punches, you can buy this bad boy!

Buy Yoda and May the Force be with you! - $5.00 and $.66 for shipping.

I love how the card can be really anything you want; birthday, encouragement, or just because.

PLUS, it is a great kid card!  Although, I know quite a few grown adult's that this would be PERFECT for!

Hope you enjoy!!

Suzanne

Fun Quote Friday's

Every Friday we will be posting a fun quote that I either have the stamp for or are just too cute to pass up!  May as well start the weekend off right with a great laugh!

How can I NOT think of Colleen and Vicki when I read this?

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Great Guy Cards

I saw this great card at the Mesa Stamp Show and I HAD to have it!  My husband is kooky crazy about tanks and all things WWI and WWII and it was PERFECT!

I have such a hard time with guy cards and this layout and the stamp itself was simple, easy and got a great smile from my man!

I used Always Artichoke, Basic Black and Whisper White paper from Stampin' Up! along with their Dazzling Details in Cherry Cobbler to make the hearts.

The tank stamp I got from Denami Designs and I inked him up with Always Artichoke and stamped away using my Grid Paper as an alignment piece.  This card was waiting for the sentiment to be delivered.  I TOTALLY forgot to take a picture of the finished card so I will have to get him to bring the card back from work so I can snap another pic.  Oops!

Needless to say, he loved it!!!

Brownie points for Suzy!!!!

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Just a Note

Korena Soto Photography

I had a fabulous order this week for a slew of cute postcard style notes for Korena Soto Photography.  They were simple, elegant and I cannot tell you just how much fun they were to make!

Korena is going to use them to send to her clients to remind them of sitting times, thank you's and other special notes she needs to send out.

To give it an extra special texture, we embossed the K and the other Early Espresso swirl at the top corner of the postcard.  We also did a coordinating envelope to go with the cards and of course, we personalized the notes with the letter "K" for Korena!

I have absolutely fallen in love with this idea and style, (Way to go, Korena!!!!  This was all her idea!)  I am definitely going to make some up for myself and put either a "Thank You", "Just a Note" or maybe a cool quote.  These would be PERFECT to add in with an order or to send out as little thank you's.

Her finished package ready to mail out!!!

=)



Suzanne


Happy Stamping!!

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How do you know if she is REALLY your BFF??

I have been DYING to make a series of girlfriend cards!  So when I got an order for a "girlfriend" card I was getting kinda excited.  THEN when the reason came out, I knew I was going to get to use my most favorite stamp!  A stamp that I haven't been able to use and one I was dying to include in the PERFECT card.

The card....

Isn't it nice?   Bright and cheery with the promise of exuding an "awwwww" from your girlfriend.  THEN when she opens that bad boy up she gets the REAL REASON why you are her BFF!!!

=)

Some sentiments are priceless!

Happy Stamping!!!

Suzanne

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Fun Quote Friday's

Ok, it's not Friday, but in honor of the Hobbit coming out today I thought this would be appropriate!

And yes, we will be watching this tonight!  And tomorrow and probably the day after that too!!!

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Getting Down to Business

I have an INCREDIBLE network of entrepreneurs that have given me amazing advice, become great friends and even used me for my perky personality!  =)  They have supported me over the years, encouraged me when I am frazzled and cheer lead like there is no tomorrow.  In all honesty, I am extremely blessed!

After taking a few years off from the world of owning my own business, there is nothing more important than going back to my roots per se.  After sifting through all of the past brainstorming sessions, networking meetings, radio shows, podcasts, blogs and silliness at local restaurants; one thing still rings true.  The brilliance of simplicity.

Stuart Preston told Vicki Riley her time would be better spent without a needle in her hand.  Vicki is the creator of Dinky Baby and at the time when we were all struggling to get our businesses off the ground, Vicki was MAKING Dinky Baby dolls.  With those few little words of wisdom from Stuart, Vicki went from making the actual dolls to creating patterns so EVERYONE could make a Dinky Baby.  Can anyone say, "Brilliant"?

Although I am not in the "business" of making dolls or patterns for that matter, it did get those creative juices flowing in my brain.  I have already made that first jump to figuring out what I do best and re-situating my blog to fit my little niche now it's time to take it a step further.

It is time to put everyone's good advice BACK to work.  It's time to get the show on the road and that's exactly what we will be doing!

There will be a lot of updates, changes, consolidating, building (literally and figuratively) and learning over the next few months and I am beyond excited!

One of the latest and greatest additions to our Gooseberry Cottage blog is our newsletter!  If you haven't done so, please sign up just to the left of our posting or click here to sign up!  Our newsletter will be PACKED full of fun tidbits of the going's on around here, techniques for sprucing up your cards, new products, classes and you'll be the first to be "in the know" of our future endeavors!

Of course, if you have any words of wisdom, suggestions, two cents and brilliant epiphanies PLEASE share!  I can use all I can get!  I should probably break out the ol' whiteboard and find some wall space, because I am going to need it!

Thank you so much for all of your support and patience during this exciting time!!!

Happy Stamping!!!

Suzanne

Tufted Puff

Tufted Puff

I absolutely LOVE the tutorials and classes that Donna at Butternut Sage puts together.  I have downloaded a slew of them and I am never disappointed!  I had seen her Tufted Puff card a few months back and was dying to check it out, but just never got around to it.

Then, last night, I got an order for an engagement card and thought, PERFECT!  I went online, bought the tutorial and voila!  Tufted Puff!  Quick, easy and so much fun!

I added a bit of liquid pearls at the points of the diamonds instead of rhinestones and I just love it.

This is definitely a technique I will be using again!

Thank you, Donna!!!!!!

Happy Stamping!
Suzanne

Gooseberry Cottage is Growing!!!

Well, Gooseberry Cottage is growing!  My hubby has heard my pleas or rather he is tired of listening to me complain.  =)  Either way, my little cottage is going to be expanding!

With that expansion will hopefully come card classes where you will be able to come and visit Gooseberry Cottage!  Enjoy the courtyard, learn a few new techniques and enjoy some fun creating cards of your very own!

Of course, hubby did put ONE little stipulation to my expansion.  I need to sell 1000 cards!  At the time of our little conversation, I said, "No problem!  I can totally do that!"  Now, I am going, "HOW IN THE WORLD!?!"

So I have spent the last FOUR HOURS looking for a cute thermometer to mark my card progress and I found the perfect one!  =)   Priorities, right?

Starting today, I am on the road to Gooseberry Cottage Expansion!  Of course, I certainly don't want to leave you all out of the fun so I will definitely be taking pictures and sharing the process!  It should be loads of fun since we will be doing a lot of it ourselves and I know you will be DEVASTATED not to join in the dirt, filth and manual labor.  So the next best thing is pictures, right?!  =)

If you would like to "help" by ordering a card or two, you are more than welcome to hop on over to our Etsy Store or to our website to check out a card!

I suppose I better get back to work and start making cards!   Keep checking back to see all the fun or follow us on Facebook!!!

Happy Stamping!!!

Suzanne

Happy St. Patty's Day!

I will whole heatedly admit that beer dyed green just seems wrong to me, but I will say that I shall be listening to Irish music in Gooseberry Cottage today and having a grand ol' time!  =)   Love me some Keltic Cowboys!

Over this past week, I have had a wonderful time with my son being here and he has been a HUGE help in putting together a new dog area for Hedy so she doesn't destroy my soon to be flowers.  PLUS her new area opens up to 3 acres where she can run to her little heart's content!  Woo hoo!!!!

So while the boys were building fences, shoveling rock and fighting with latches I was having fun making cards and my latest toy!

I love my new clipboard AND it goes great with St. Patty's Day!   You'll have to excuse the picture.  It was taken on my work space right after I got the finishing glitter paper taped down!

Essentially, I will be using this for all of my open card orders so I don't lose, misplace or forget about them.  They will be right at my finger tips instead of hiding in my binder.  I will just keep the binder for past orders so I can refer to them if need be, but at least my new ones will be within arms reach.

I have been using it for the last 5 days and I must say I LOVE IT!  The only thing I need to really figure out is where to put it.  I have been doing some rearranging and I need to find the perfect location for my new pretty!

Emergency Card Stash

How many times have you been caught without a birthday card?  Whether it is a last minute birthday party your child needs to go to, your co-worker, or heaven help us a family member!  It just never fails that you are stuck without a card.

AGES ago, my mom bought me this really cool card kit from Costco that was a nifty little organizer filled with cards for almost any occasion; birthday, baby, wedding, anniversary, sympathy, get well, you name it there was a cute card to accompany the occasion.  I absolutely LOVED IT!  So when I started making my own cards, I thought, what a great idea!  My mom even took it one step further and every year she gives out little kits of her own with a slew of handmade cards.

I keep mine in a cute cigar box style purse I got on eBay.

Inside of the "purse" I keep my stamps, a pen and my emergency cards!

It is nice getting my weekly Facebook birthday reminders, popping open my cigar box and getting out cards to send to friends!

I know where my cards are, I don't have to worry about finding a stamp and I can even take it with me on the go!

Need an Emergency Card Stash of your own?  Request your Emergency Card Stash to keep you prepared for all those last minute birthday's, thank you's and friendly notes!

Happy Stamping!
Suzanne

Fun Quote Friday's

Every Friday I will be posting another Fun Quote that I either have a stamp of or is just too cute to pass up!  Plus, it is always good to have a little chuckle on a Friday to start the weekend off right!

 

He he he, LOVE this stamp!

Evernote Update

I have been having a BALL updating and playing with Evernote.  I am so thankful that I stumbled upon that post on the Stamping Connection and decided to download!

I am slowly but surely getting all of my stamps uploaded and it has been easier than I thought!  One of the really cool things that I didn't know that it was capable of was searching for words within the images!  For example; I was looking for a Just a Note stamp for a card order and as I started to type I saw images that I had "tagged" AND ones that actually had that in the words of the stamp image itself!  At first I thought it was a fluke, so I tried it again and again!  I was SHOCKED!!!!  Talk about EXCITING!

Once I got my feet wet with the stamp inventory, I moved onto something else.  Recipes!

Right now, I keep them either in the Card Class Project List or on those cute snarky comment recipe cards from Michael's.  The recipe cards are nice to use and I love filling them in while I am doing a card, but it is RARE that I go back to them and it doesn't have an actual picture of the card I made.  Hmmmmmm.  Evernote??

YES!  I created a new Notebook and labeled it Recipes and now I put in my recipe for the card AND the picture front and back.  Talk about wonderful!  I am not sure if I will go back and put in past cards and recipes, but I am going to start doing it going forward.  I figured it would also be a great way for me to see which stamp sets are being used and which are collecting dust.

So far I am really enjoying Evernote and I think the next experiment is going to be with my downline!  So get ready, ladies!  An email will be coming your way shortly!

Happy Organizing!

Suzanne

Sew Cute

A craft room or space is more than just a place to "dump" all of your goodies.  It is a sanctuary, a haven, a place where you can go and let your mind create.  It is a place to be inspired, a place to feel alive and a place where you feel all warm and fuzzy to be in.

My parents moved back in October and it has taken until March for my mom to FINALLY get her sewing put together and when she finally got around to it she turned her sanctuary into more than just a sewing room, she filled it with memories.

Family photos

Bookcases that hold more than just books, but a travelling Raggedy Ann and mementos from friends.  Plus a bunch of cross stitch projects I made for her YEARS ago!

A place to sit and read

Framed book of poems

My mom told Garrett and I this wonderful story of this cute little book of poems that my Grandma used to read to her and her brother's and sister's when they had a tornado warning.  They would all be wrapped in their favorite blankets, snuggled in the hallway, while my Grandma would read poems to them.  I believe my Aunt Net has the original and she found a copy at a used bookstore and sent one to my mom.  She keeps it framed in her sewing room.

A nice reminder when the day seems to be going a bit awry!

Lots of fun ribbon

Her sewing machine with the cute bunny cover my grandma made for her.

Patterns

Stamping station

I love the fact that my mom is surrounded by all of her happy memories, her pretty things and items that were either made for her or given as gifts by those she loves.

Love you, Mom!!!!

Bathtub Dreams

I am so in love with this card, it isn't even funny!  I had thoughts and dreams all night while I worried about Daylight Saving Time...yes, I am a nerd!  Being from Arizona, we didn't have to worry about such things as changing the clocks, reworking the ol' body clock and worrying about the pooches potty times.  Now that I have had to do this twice, I am definitely of the frame of mind that I do NOT like it!

HOWEVER, I did get to dream up this wonderful card in the wee hours of the morning.

I am a push-over when it comes to baths and I am beyond grateful for my Avon lady, Gaby, keeping me in full bubble bath stock!  I don't know what I would do without my Vanilla bubble bath!

PLUS, my sweetie surprised me with a new toy when I got back from Gilbert!  (I think he was making sure I actually CAME back!)   Can you guess what the surprise was???  A CRICUT!

So here is some shocking news...I had NO CLUE what a Cricut did.  None.  I thought it was a glorified Big Shot and I do suppose in some ways it is, but this is KILLER!

I figured what better way than to test the Cricut out on my new card today.  So here she is, the very first Cricut/Card project I have ever done.

Not that it went all that smoothly, but it did finally turn out thanks to my son who figured out what I needed to do before I destroyed all of my good paper!

Stampin' Up! Champagne Glimmer Paper definitely MADE this card and I absolutely love the Parisian feel with their embossing folder.

I think I have also been inspired to make a few more in a series with this card.  I think they would be STUNNING framed and used in a collection!  Hmmmm, I see a trip to Hobby Lobby in my future!

Happy Stamping!

Suzanne

Single Stamp Storage

I am pretty sure I have the hubby talked into making me one of those super cool single stamp displays this summer.  However, I just don't have the room to wait so I improvised!

Single Stamps - Buckets and Baskets

Gotta love IKEA!

I picked up the rods and metal buckets before I moved to New Mexico because I figured I could use them for some of my supplies and they would look cute under the window.  I was limited to what I could put underneath of it because of bookcases and tables and this just worked out PERFECTLY!

Originally they were designed to hold all of the Sticks and Stubbies from Stamps by Judith for our Virtual Card Class, but the class is coming to a close and I have some fun things I could be using these bad boys for!

Although the buckets are great for the stick style stamps, I needed a home for my other stamps as well.  While Mom and I were perusing through Ikea last week, we came across the hanging baskets designed to be used with the rods.  I am SO HAPPY mom talked me into buying a couple of them.  They are WONDERFUL!  I may just have to get a few more rods and some more baskets to help with some of my overflow from the stamp show!

I love seeing all of my stamps!  I am definitely a visual person and this will definitely help in the use of some of my forgotten stamps as well as help me to NOT buy the same stamp twice!   Eeek!!!

I should probably talk to the hubby and see what he thinks.  =)   More rods and baskets?  Or a wonderful wood project?!

Enjoy your week!

Suzanne

Favorites from the Mesa Stamp Show

As promised, some of my favorites from the Mesa Stamp Show!

Loved the chandelier so I bought the big ol' huge one!

May use this for a Paris card for our Retreat

Love the tone on tone and texture

My daughter LOVES Egypt!  I may have to get this one.

So inspiring!  I am going to have try this!

Love the glitter!

My NEW FAV technique!

In love!!!

Needless to say, I had a BALL!  Bought way more than I probably should have then I went online and bought even more!  I can't help it, they had coupons!  Now I have to find a place for all the goodies I bought!  The room extension is looking more and more probable!

More goodies and finds later this week!  (I still have a few more packages to be delivered too!!!)

Happy Stamping!

Suzanne