A Blessing To Me

There's a mountain of laundry and a sink full of dishes but I couldn't resist the urge to sit down and make a quick card. Have you tried Lawn Fawn stamps yet? The Cornucopia image is from their Harvest Season...luv it! This was the first time I tried to color ribbon with Copics. I can't believe how fast and easy it is. Guess I'll be stocking up on white ribbon from now on.

Here are the details:
Stamps: Lawn Fawn Harvest Season
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey Marrakech
Other Supplies: Memento Rich Cocoa ink; Copic Markers; Pepples Inc. Pearlescent Shimmer Chalks; Spellbinders Labels Eight;

Thanks for visiting!

Thanks So Much / Better than Sliced Bread

I just discovered the best thing since sliced bread...X-Press It Blending Paper. When I saw they had it at Simon Says Stamp, I knew I had to get some. I'll admit I've read numerous bloggers' rave reviews but I never imagined being so happy with something as simple as paper. It's fabulous! Forget about feathering issues, the ink will stay where you intended it. I even tried to oversoak the paper. If you haven't tried it yet, go for it. You won't be sorry.

The image is actually from 3 different stamps: C.C. Designs Spring Trevor, C.C. Designs Bench and My Favorite Things In My Garden Jolinne. I stamped Trevor and then masked him so that I could stamp the bench over the image. The flower pot was stamped separately and fussy cut after I colored it. As for the coloring I used Copic Markers in these colors: BG000, BG01, BG02, BG05, YG21, YG23, YG25, E00, E01, E02, E31, E33, E35, E50, E53, E55, E57, E59. The little pearl flower centers are from Kaiser Craft. Can you guess where I got them? And the patterned paper is Bo Bunny's Block Party.

I need to give credit to Cyndi Bundy a.k.a. The Scrappy Chick. She recently posted a card where she doodled a vine so I thought I'd try it. Thanks for the inspiration Cyndi and thanks everyone for visiting!

... and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Here's another holiday card and yes, still no red or green. I think I'm going to have to ease into traditional colors, perhaps with a little silver & gold. Oh well, it doesn't matter. I'm happy with my little pear tree. The image is one of my favorites and is great to color.

I used the Cling Partridge Tree from Stampendous (CRP111), stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa ink. I colored using my favorite Copics and then accented with a little Sakura Gelly Roll pen. The patterned paper is from Bo Bunny's Winter Joy Collection.

FYI: there is still a little time to make and send out some holiday cards for our troops overseas. Please visit the ladies at Operation Write Home for more information.

Thanks so much for visiting!

The Magic of Christmas

Tis the season to start making Christmas cards. I don't know about you but I just can't get into the green & red spirit of things. So I combined some nontraditional colors with some kraft paper and great stamps and came up with this card.

The image is the Cling Santa Trio by Stampendous (CRN199); the sentiment is from the Hero Arts Magic of Christmas set (CL462). Don't you just love this paper? It's Fancy Pants Design Falling Snow. I used my favorite Memento Rich Cocoa ink, colored with Copics and then gave the image some accents with Sakura Gelly Roll and Souffle pens. OK, it's quirky but hopefully fun.

Thanks for visiting! Good Night!

They Say It's Your Birthday...

I made this card for my husband's birthday. He likes the clean and simple look so it's always an easy card to create.

I am absolutely in love with this paper from Bo Bunny! It's from their Block Party Collection and works great for masculine cards. The Schroeder stamp is from Stampabilities. If your stamp collection is not complete without it, you can purchase it at Simon Says Stamp. The music notes are from a clear Stampabilities set called Music and the sentiment is from Hero Arts Birthday Sayings. I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink and Copic Markers to color the image (Y11, Y13, Y18, B21, B24, B26, E00, E01, E71, E74, E77).

Thanks for visiting and enjoy this glorious day!

Good Day Sunshine

I've wanted to try my hand at gardening for a long time. 'Square Foot' gardening is all the rage so my dear husband set aside all of his hobbies to design and build beautiful cedar boxes. I had so much fun planting my seeds and watching my flowers and vegetables grow. Then the hard part started.... keeping everything growing and alive. I read about companion planting. I planted parsley with the beans and radishes with the tomatoes. I even did a take on the '3 sisters'. Alas, there is not a leaf on my bean plants and the beans themselves are riddled with holes. My beautiful tomatoes (6 different types) were devoured in the blink of an eye by some sort of scary caterpillar that I'm convinced is going to take over the world. And my wonderful mixed box of corn, beans, melons and pumpkins became the breeding ground for these...RABBITS. Did I mention my loving husband had a fence built around my garden to keep varmints out? Summer is almost over. I've pretty much given up on my garden for the year. As for the darn rabbits, I actually became fond of them. I found myself leaving freshly pulled radishes and carrots by their bed. To make a long story short, that is the inspiration for this card.

The stamps are from My Favorite Things. I had never used them before but after seeing all of the fabulous cards Sherrie Siemens creates with them on her blog Card Creme, I decided to give them a try. I love them. The designs are so cute with adorable sayings. Oh, and because a lot of the designs are headless, I can even imagine I look that good while gardening. My card is made from a combination of three different sets: In My Garden Jolinne, Who's That Gardening Girl & Can Ya Dig It. I colored the images with Prismacolor pencils and the paper is Crate Paper.

Thanks for visiting. May all your gardens grow.

Stampendous Saturday Sketch Challenge Week 20 Back To School

It's that glorious time of year...that time when the kids go back to school. Which just so happens to be the theme for this week's Stampendous Challenge. I haven't played for a while so I made a couple of entries. My son's school has a brand new two-story round library so I used that as inspiration for my first card. Our head librarian is the most wonderful person. She truly inspires the kids and makes them thirsty for more and more books. This one's for you Mrs. Schlosser.

My "Love to Read" card was made using the Stampendous stamp sets: School for Changito SSC190(sentiment), School for Max SSC675 and Book Border SSC259. I also used: Kid Power Offray ribbon, Derwent watercolor pencils, Gamsol, Memento ink in Tuxedo Black and Hero Arts Shadow Ink in Soft Stone. The paper is from Hero Arts and My Mind's Eye (Abby Road).

My second card is a little mini card for my son, just something to tuck in his backpack. Hopefully it will make him smile when he finds it sometime during the day. I just can't believe my baby's starting third grade. He truly is an amazing child and in my opinion, definitely the bestest!

For my "You're the Bestest" card I used:the following Stampendous stamp sets: Chalkboard SSC241, Hugs for All SSC1052(sentiment) and School for Changito SSC190. I also used Stampendous white embossing powder PEK02 to highlight my sentiment on the chalkboard. Other supplies include Derwent watercolor pencils, Gamsol, Memento Tuxedo Black ink and Bazzill paper.

Thanks for visiting and may all of you moms with little ones enjoy this wonderful time of the year!

Cards for Kids: A Fish Joke

Here's another great opportunity to put a smile on some one's face: Cards for Kids. Please visit Jennifer McGuire's Blog to learn how you can send cards to seriously ill children and their families. Currently, there are 13 children listed that would be happy to receive a cute card with a loving message inside. You can even send cards to their siblings, who I'm sure could use some encouragement and love as well. Jennifer has made it easy for us to spread some cheer. When finishing your next scrapbook page, please consider making a card with your leftover supplies.

My Fish Joke card was made using the Hero Arts Oceans of Joy stamp set CL372. I stamped the image in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored it with Copic Markers (G20, G40, B00, B02, B12, BG000). I highlighted areas with Spica twinkle pens and then diecut & embossed the image with Spellbinders Nestabilities Standard Circles Large Die S4-114. I don't want anyone to lose sleep so here is the punchline...Because pepper makes them sneeze. Hardee har har! A cheesy joke will make anyone smile. If you would like to add a joke or two to the cards you are going to make, check out Ducksters. This website has some great children's jokes posted.

Here's something that I guarantee will put a smile on your face. This was posted recently on Bobby McFerrin's Facebook page. Good Lovin' Thanks Bobby! You always pick me up and make me smile.

Thanks for visiting. Good Night!

Stampendous Saturday Sketch Challenge Week 16 Fluffles Wuv

This card was made using two different Stampendous stamp sets that I won by playing along in the Stampendous Saturday Sketch Challenge. Thank you so much Stampendous! I absolutely love (or should I say 'wuv') Fluffles. The chipboard 'u' was embossed in Stampendous Blush Pink powder which gave it a great smooth surface. This made it easy to then stamp the paw prints.

Supplies: Stamps: Stampendous Fluffles Wuv SSC683, Stampendous Love Journal SSC657; Embossing Powder: Stampendous Blush Pink from Pastel Party Embossing Kit PEK07; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, StazOn Jet Black, VersaMark Watermark; Ribbon: May Arts; Patterned Paper: Crate Paper Paper Doll Collection Emma, Cloud9Design Baby Girl Dots; Chipboard: BasicGrey Chipboard Block Alphas

Stampendous Saturday Sketch Challenge Week 15 Peace Everywhere

I can't pass up an occasion to get started on Christmas cards so I decided to make another for this week's challenge. The goal was to make a holiday card using Stampendous Class A' Peel stickers. And now for a confession: Holiday Class A' Peel stickers are usually the first card making supply that I run out of during the holidays. I'm usually scrambling all over town to find more, so when I saw this challenge, I panicked. I knew I had very few leftover from last year. It's been a crazy week with no time to shop, so I decided to make due.

I stamped the dove on both pieces of patterned paper. I also stamped the olive branch on the green paper. Now for the fun part, before attaching the white dove, I used leaves from the Stampendous Class A' Peel Pop Flowers Value Pack & pieced together the olive branch. The chain border is from the same pack. Oh, and the dove's eye is actually the center of a flower.

Here is a rundown of the products used: Stampendous Peace Everywhere stamp set SSC1019 & Stampendous Class A' Peel Pop Flowers Value Pack

Please visit my FLickr Photostream to check out another 'paper pieced' Class A' Peel holiday card using the Stampendous Doodle Joy stamp and Class A' Peel Jumbo Circles in gold & red.

Thanks for visiting & Good Night!

Stampendous Saturday Sketch Challenge Week 15 Snowflake Ornaments

This week's Stampendous Challenge was titled Christmas in July. Participants were asked to make a holiday card using Stampendous Class A' Peel stickers.

My take is a matchbook card made with a transparency. I stamped & embossed the tag, trimmed it & then added it to the cardfront. The Stampendous Class A' Peel stickers were used on both the front & inside. The Snowflake Ornaments were embellished by cutting the snowflakes from the Class A' Peel Super Snowflake Chains. These snowflakes were then added to the top of each ornament, followed by bling.

If you are interested in looking at the inside of the card, please visit my Flickr Photostream.

Here's a rundown of the products used: Stampendous Swirl Tag M203, Stampendous Winter Trees SSC1013; Stampendous Snowflake Ornaments Mirror Silver AC1021MRS, Stampendous Super Snowflake Chain AC679HSS

Thanks for visiting.

Operation Write Home

In my first post, I alluded to the real purpose of this blog. Sure, I need a place to post my cards for various challenges but I really hope My Noteworthy Cards becomes more. My hope is that this blog can be used to promote various 'card-giving' charities.

Everyone enjoys receiving mail. This past spring, my son had a school assignment where he asked every relative to send a postcard from where they lived. Because we don't have a lot of relatives, I asked a friend, who was going on vacation by car, if she would contribute. Soon, we were receiving cards not only from my friend (& from every state she drove through) but from her relatives and friends. My son and I could not wait for the mail to come. Each postcard put a huge smile on his face even when he didn't have a clue who sent it. And that is the premise of this blog. My hope is to spread joy by encouraging as many people as possible to make cards which are then sent to someone who could really use a smile.

If you know of a way to reach out to others through card making, please comment/email me. I will spread the word.

So here is the first worthy cause: Operation Write Home whose mission is to "support our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." Please follow the link to learn more about this incredible charity. Their website also has guidelines and tips for anyone who wants to contribute. Here is a rundown of some of their rules: No glitter or anything sparkly that could rub off on the soldiers' hands or clothes, 4.25" x 5.5" is the best and most practical size & Operation Write Home only accepts handmade cards. If you live in Central Ohio, please comment/email me and I will find a way to send the cards for you & save you the postage.

Now for my card: It's only fitting that my first "give-it-away" card uses the Stampendous Cling Music Score CRR103 (I'm a piano teacher & my blog's called My Noteworthy Cards). I also used the Stampendous Poppy Bottles SSC1092 & Vase Set SCC1093. Other supplies used include Memory Box paper, Glossy Accents, Copic Markers & Memento Tuxedo Black Ink.

Thanks for visiting & making someone smile.

Stampendous Saturday Sketch Challenge Week 14

This week's Stampendous challenge is a window card. There needs to be an opening on the front of the card so that you can see inside. For my version of this sketch, I used one of my all time favorite Stampendous stamps - Cling Snow Globe CRV074. It's perfect for this challenge and is complimented by two other Stampendous stamps - for the sentiment, Snow Stop SSC492 & Mittens SSC491. One of my newest favorite things is the iridescent glitter in the Stampendous 80's Flashback set. It is super fine and gives great sparkle. I used it to highlight areas of my mittens & snow globe. I also sprinkled some on my 'snowball' sentiment after I coated it with Glossy Accents.

Other supplies used to make this card: Nestabilities circle dies, Memento Blue Danube ink, Derwent colored pencils, Gamsol & paper from The Paper Company and TPC Studio

Please note, anyone can join in the fun. Just visit the Stampendous blog and start creating.



Thanks for visiting.

Stampendous Saturday Sketch Challenge

Thank you Stampendous for selecting my card as one of the winners in last week's Saturday Sketch Challenge.

Products used for this card:
Stampendous Hugs For All SSC1052 & Love Robotz SSC682; Stampendous Glitzy Glitter GK02 80's Flashback; Copic Markers: YR09, YR21,G24 & BG72; Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket Cogsmo

Day 1 Something New

OK, I admit it. I have a serious hoarding problem when it comes to card making and scrapbooking supplies. There’s always silkier ribbon or shinier bling and who can resist the myriad of patterned paper?
My weakness – new stamps, wood mount, acrylic, cling, it just doesn’t matter. My heart starts to pound and I just want to touch them. My brain spins and then the creative process begins.

OK, I admit I have another problem in this area. Once I create a card, I don’t want to give it away. It’s not the fear that the person I give it to won’t like it or worse that they’ll throw it away (well, maybe a little) but the fact that each card is special, different, like my own child. How could I bear to part with it?

Somehow I suspect I am not alone.

I named my blog my noteworthy cards for several reasons. Yes, I am a musician, a piano teacher to be exact and I get so much happiness and inspiration from music (I’m listening to Jacqueline du Pre playing the Elgar cello concerto as I write this). More importantly, I realize there is so much more value in making someone else smile. Giving someone a card that you create with a handwritten note inside says that you care, that person is special to you, you’re thinking of them. My cards are worthy of a handwritten note and so I am sure are yours.

This blog was created in hopes that lives will be touched through the gift of handmade cards and music.
Thank you for visiting.

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill; Canson, Patterned Paper: Memory Box Frond Collection, Stamps: Memory Box Create Art; Flower Bundle, Ribbon: May Arts Silk Green, Ink: Memento Grape Jelly, Bamboo Leaves, Tuxedo Black; Ranger Distress Ink Old Paper, Bundled Sage

Thanks to Scrapbook Art in Lewis Center, Ohio for carrying the great Memory Box product line!