Cards are great to say 'Thank-you!"

The last three years have been a challenge around here after the passing away of my Father in Law and my Dad….both of which died of cancer, and the last year my Mom got sick because she had a hard time dealing with my Dad's death. My Mom is young still, only 67, so when she broke her hip this past December it was really difficult to watch her go through all of this, but I am so grateful for all of my friends and family who have helped and all the kind words and encouragement. That support has helped me so much when some days I felt so lonely or sad…..so THANK-YOU! Thank-you to all of you for you kindness and 'virtual' hugs! Life can be so hard, that is why I am so grateful for art and the beauty of the world around me! What a AWESOME blessing! Remember…

Live to create~ Create to Live!

So I made this card for all of you…to say 'thank-you my friends.. .'

YOU ROCK!!!

~Susan

Kuretake ZIG Clean Color

I have been drawing up some new designs in the studio and I have always been one to use my water color  pencils… but, when I received an envelope of goodies from Kuretake a couple of weeks ago there where four ZIG Clean Color Real brush markers in the package. I am in love! They behave and act like a watercolor paint or watercolor pencil but they are a marker, therefore you get color vibrancy of a marker! AWESOME! So practical and easy to use! Needless to say, I have been doing a lot of doodling and drawing!

Now that the flowers are starting to bloom, I hope that you take the time to get out a pen and try a little doodling…..it is SO GOOD for the soul! It really will put a smile on your face!

Have a very creative day!

~Susan

Spreading a little BIRD HOUSE LOVE…

I Love Bird Houses!!!!!

I grew up with a with a father that was constantly digging up trees from every back country road to plant in our tiny back yard and then it was our job to make and decorate bird houses for those trees. I am not sure if the neighbours liked all the chirping that came from our yard….especially at 4:30 in the morning, but at least it was HAPPY sounds!  

Don't you love the quote that I used on this birdhouse….I thought it was quite fitting!      

   

I used  hand made paper and recycled paper on a wooden birdhouse. I then coloured it with wonderful glimmer mists from Tattered Angels and organza ribbon from Maya Road.     

You can see my complete article on birdhouses, 'Extreme Birdhouse Makeover', in the Spring issue of the Canadian Scrapbooker.

 

I am so excited to be sponsoring my sweet friend, LAURA VANDERBEEK's   class. She is an awesome photographer so you are going to want to check this out!

Vanderbeek Images

contact@vanderbeekimages.com

Instructor

www.reneepearson.com/classes/preserves.php

Scrapbooker

www.lauravanderbeek.blogspot.com

Photographer

www.vanderbeekimages.blogspot.com

www.VanderbeekImages.com

One more thing! Canadian Scrapbooker has things going on for Nation Scrapbooking Day today and you don't want to miss out!

Canadian Scrapbooker Website #17 – Metallic Transparencies!!!!! You have to check it out! CLICK HERE!

Watch it and leave a comment on the Canadian Scrapbooker Website. Right under Webisode #17 – Metallic Transparencies!!!!

If you do that correctly your name will be entered to win this fabulous prize package filled with the products we used to create a Metallic Transparency (and a little more).

So have an awesome day!!!!

~ Susan

A Wonderful Blog Post From a Friend…

{Pssst……..and there is an AWESOME giveaway}      I was so thrilled a couple weeks ago when my wonderful friend Candy Rosenberg sent me a link of what she had posted on her blog, Living the Altered Life. Yup, she created this WONDERFUL layout using some of my new paper line, Live in Color"!

I love all the wonderful details she put into this. Look at that cute banner that she cut out and then she used dimensional pearls around the edges. I LOVE it!!! You have to visit her awesome blog where you can read what else she did to create this layout and  see what else this incredibly talented and very busy lady is up to!

Thank-you so much Candy!

 

Guess What…..

Canadian Scrapbooker is having

The Robin’s Nest Giveaway!

ALL you have to do is visit the Canadian Scrapbooker Facebook Page - and leave a comment under the WHY NOT WIN WEDNESDAY THREAD!!!!!   You have until Friday, May 6th  to enter!

SO GO DO IT…….. Cause these embellies are awesome to use!!!!

I hope that you have a super fantastic day!

~ Susan

Creating some Springtime Whimsy!

Kaisercraft is having a DESIGN TEAM call, so I decide to join in all the fun going on!  I wanted to do some fun whimsical spring projects because the last couple of weeks I have been working on a lot of fall and Christmas projects and articles ALREADY and I really needed some SPRING!!!

 

 

 

With this layout ,          'CHALKY' I had an awesome time cutting out designs from the paper and using foam adhesives to add dimension. I gently brushed a bit of acrylic paint on my cardboard letters to give them a 'chalky' appearance. Fun Stuff!

 

     When is Springtime ever complete without polka dots? I had so much fun combining all kinds of polka dots on my layout 'Angel'. Oh, and don't forget the fabric covered buttons in a polka dot pattern.

             And an 'Angel' layout would not be complete without a pair of wings and a matching halo. The halo is a little rough…but I really don't mind  at all. Jessica, my daughter who is in the picture, cut the halo out for me and I thought it fit just perfectly!

I love to dress up in frilly things in the Spring so my wrist corsage fits in just perfectly. I  cut a circle out of some  double sided adhesive. After gathering sheer ribbon on it I punched a hole in the center and pushed a fabric covered button through. I then threaded some rick rack through the button and wrapped it around my wrist. SO EASY & FAST to make! I could also use this to decorate a wreath, card or scrapbook page! Awesome!!!                                                    

It is time to bring out the flowers! That means I can and will decorate everything with flowers now including this wooden box that was painted and distressed, then decorated. Now this trinket box is already to give away as a gift on Mother's Day!

Hmmmm……. Birdies, Card making, and springtime just seem to go together.

After cutting out an image from one of Kaisercrafts beautiful scrapbooking papers, I had fun distressing, and then sealing the card with an acrylic sealer.    

              

        If you know me, you know that I love to alter things! I am always looking at things and imaging what it would look like after a 'make over' . The other day while brushing my teeth, I was imagining how I could alter my tooth brush….you never know, It could look awesome!

Well, I had fun altering up a note book for the season!

It was an awesome way to use up my ribbon scraps too!

Spring time  equals birds houses too!                                                        

I get excited every spring when I can open the windows finally and hear the returning birds as they make their new nests in our bird houses in the back yard.          

As you can see where I placed this birdhouse to photograph, on top of an old mason jar lid,  it really is not that big. I love making birdie houses of all sizes!                

To decorate the roof of the house I used a strong adhesive and some wonderful BLING! 

      A fun postcard with a ice cream theme….oh yeah!!!! It looks like I used flocking, but I actually used the 'dust'  that was left after I sanded the edges of cardstock. It is a wonderful form of recycling and it looks really neat!

Oh, I love Spring!!!! Now, Lets hope it stays for awhile!

Have fun creating!

~Susan