Happy December!

Hi everyone! I'm going to take a blogging break until after the new year. No worries....everything is good!...promise! :) I'm just going to take a blogging break, that's all. I hope to get back into the swing of regular crafting and blog posting in the beginning of January.

I wish you all a VERY good December, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!!

Big Big Hugs,

Denise

Kitchen Knight

Hi all! Long time no crafty posting, huh? Yeah, between Thanksgiving and some other "life" issues, I just haven't had time to paper craft much lately. I did, however, have some time yesterday and this morning (yay!) so I made this card for our friend's son who just turned three years old today. Happy Birthday, Mason!!



I used Mo Manning's Kitchen Knight digi image, colored it with Copics, and added some Stickles to the dragon's wings. The three Spellbinders stars are up on foam tape.

Hope you're all doing well and that you had a nice Thanksgiving. Can you believe it's already December 1st? This year has totally flown by. I'm usually stressed about it being the beginning of December, with all the shopping to be done and knowing there are only 25 days 'til Christmas.....but THIS year, I'm looking forward to a really GREAT December. November was just NOT a good month for me and I'm personally glad it's over....so onto December, I say! I hope it's good to EVERYONE!

Make a Wish

Hi all and happy Sunday! Hope your weekend has been great. I made this card for a friend who will be celebrating a birthday this week.



I used another digi image by Mo Manning, called Make a Wish.....can I just say how totally addicted I am to Mo's images lately?...LOVE them! The scalloped over is up on foam tape and so is the large DP layer that sits on the card base. Stickles were added to random parts of the image. The sentiment is from an old SU set of mine and that's also up on foam tape. The layout is today's Sweet Sunday Sketch #144.

Have a good night!

Welcome Baby Caybrie!

Friends of ours just had their fourth child, a sweet baby girl, and I wanted to send them a Babies R Us gift card. These pop-up gift card holders are so easy and fun to make....it's the first template I go for whenever I have a gift card to give. The cute baby image is by Mo Manning....called "Spit Happens"......bwahahahaha! LOVE that....spit happens...HA!

Congratulations to our friends, the Trustys, and welcome to the world, baby Caybrie!

Happy Cluckin' Birthday!

....bwahahahaha, I seriously L-O-V-E that sentiment. Cracks me up every cluckin' time! :)

I made this card for a girlfriend of mine...and I think she'll get a real kick out of the sentiment....heehee!! Stamps are by Anna Wight for Whipper Snapper Designs. The stamp set is called Crazy for Chickens.

Yesterday I took Kara shopping for new pajamas (and oh man, was the mall CROWDED!!...as in the-week-before-Christmas crowded), got some for myself and Dan, came home and we did some more yard clean-up from the snowstorm. There are now three HUGE piles of limbs in our yard....hmmm, maybe we should have a bonfire....

Anyway, we have some more yard clean-up to do today and I still need to get all the potted plants off the deck.

Have an awesome Sunday!

Anniversary Card

Hi all and happy Sunday! Hope you're all enjoying your weekend so far. Yesterday we went to my niece's birthday party and today we're headed to our friend's Halloween party.....the one that we couldn't make it to last weekend due to the big snowstorm (pics below).



I made this card for my mom and dad's anniversary. Yep, it's pretty much just like the card in my previous post....I just used different colors and a different sentiment.

Here are pics of our "Halloween snowstorm"....

Trees totally bent over...



Two point dunk shot into the trampoline..



Trees bent over and touching the driveway...



Kara's "fort" in the hedges...



The other side of the trampoline (the net is ripped from the tree limb)...



...the day after....blue skies, fall leaves, and left-over snow...



This was one helluva storm....it knocked down trees and limbs across the whole county and it took the power company SIX days to get our power restored. Crazy! Luckily we had a generator so we were okay, but man-oh-man, that's a long time to be without internet and cable TV....and as you can see, our yard was a mess! On our way to my niece's party yesterday, we STILL saw trucks out on the roads working on the power lines and trimming trees.

Have a good one!

Arranged with Love

Nobody "enjoys" making a sympathy card, but I was in need of one so I pulled out my "Arranged with Love" set from Melanie Muenchinger for Gina K Designs. The image is so detailed, gorgeous and large that it can pretty much stand alone on a card. The only embellishments I added were Stickles and a little twine bow by the sentiment.



Be sure to hug your loved ones and enjoy today!

Superduper Girl

This is the card I made for Hailey's birthday. Her actual birthday is still a week away, but I gave her the card yesterday along with her gifts before we headed off to a Halloween party.....never made it to the Halloween party due to the snowstorm. :(



The image is Mo Manning's "Superduper Girl." It's colored with Copics and I added Stickles to the "S" and cape. Both stars are up on foam tape and so is the birthday sentiment, which is from my Penny Black "Critter Party" clear set.



Have an awesome day!

Superstar

I made this card for Kara to send to one of her friends who's turning 7 this week.



The birthday girl loves yellow so I stuck with those colors in the image (Penny Black's Cat on the Moon) and pulled out this yellow DP pattern from my Seaside pack of papers. The stars and Verve "superstar" sentiment are up on foam tape.

Here's a close-up of that sparkly moon and stars....



Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

HYCCT Pink Critters

Here's a birthday card for Lydia's "pink critter" HYCCT challenge. I added Stickles all over the balloon, chickens, hay and flowers. The sentiment flag is up on foam tape.



Here's a close-up...



So guess who won a medal in the run yesterday.....seriously?...heehee, seriously!! I got second place in my age group. Couldn't believe it!



I'm waiting for them to post the results of all the runners on the website so I can see just HOW many were IN my age group. Who knows, it may have only been two of us (lol!)...but whatever, it was totally FUN to GET a medal. Like my friend Dawn said, if it was only two of us, that's two of us that got our butts out there. :) I ran the 6.2 miles in 1 hour and 9 minutes. I'd be lying if I said I felt great the whole run....the hills (too many of them) were tough, it was chilly, and after crossing the finish line I felt a little sick to my stomach...BUT I did it. Yay! :)

*ETA*....just saw the results for all finishers in the 10K....there were only THREE in my age group.....lol! It's okay....it'll take it however I can get it. :)

Have an awesome Sunday!

SUPPLY LIST ~
Stamps: Coop Party (Penny Black), Sentiment Flags (Lil' Inker Designs)
Paper: Kraft and White (PTI); Little Girl DP (Echo Park)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Copics: R81, R83, R85, G28, YG00, YG13, YG17, Y11, YR21, YR24, C1, C5
Accessories: Flag Die (Lil' Inker Designs), Pink Ribbon (PTI), Stardust Stickles, Sewing Machine, Corner Rounder Punch, Foam Tape

HYCCT Friendship

Wish me luck today....I'm doing my first-ever 10K run.



Here's another card for the HYCCT challenges on SCS. This one is for Tammy's friend-themed challenge. The main panel was sponged with Regal Rose ink with the Spellbinders die left in place while sponging. That main panel is popped up on foam tape and the butterfly's wings are bent up for some added dimension. Underneath the main panel, there's some crocheted lace ribbon and a small scalloped edge. Here's a close-up...



Have a great Saturday!.....I'm literally "off and running"...haha!

SUPPLY LIST ~
Stamps: 4176H Friendship (Penny Black)
Paper: White (PTI), Ooh La La DP (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Regal Rose
Accessories: Crochet Lace Ribbon (May Arts), Aqua Mist Ribbon (PTI), Labels One Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Small Scallop Edge Die-namics (MFT), Butterfly Punch (Martha Stewart), Adhesive Pearls (Kaiser Craft), Slot Punch for the bow in the main panel (SU), Foam Tape

HYCCT Think Pink

Instead of working yesterday, I went out to lunch with my daughter Hailey (yay!), took her to the salon to get a feather extension in her hair (fun!), and then made a couple cards (whoo-hoo!). Here's one of them...



This one is for Teresa's HYCCT heart challenge. I used Anna Wight's Think Pink set for Whipper Snapper Designs. Here's the inside where I used the BC ribbon from the set and popped it up on foam tape.



Okay, so since I blew off work yesterday, I have some serious "making up" to do. On that note, it's off to work I go.

Have a really great day!

SUPPLY LIST ~
Stamps: Think Pink (Anna Wight / Whipper Snapper Designs)
Paper: Kraft and White (PTI), Ooh La La DP (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Sage Shadow, Memento Tuxedo Black
Copics: R81, R83, R85
Accessories: Ric Rac Ribbon, Heart, and Notebook Edge Die-namics (MFT); Pink Ribbon, Sewing Machine, Rectangle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Foam Tape

HYCCT Butterflies

These cards are for Wendy's HYCCT Challenge (to use butterflies). The one card will be sent to the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center as part of the card drive, the other will go to someone right here in PA that is, unfortunately, dealing with yet another breast cancer scare...which hopefully turns out to be NOTHING. I've only gotten to hang out with her a few times now, but she is one of the NEATEST people I've ever met.....gorgeous, kind, strong, and obviously a great support to her friends and family....



I used my all-time favorite Verve set, Fluttering By. A butterfly was stamped on each circle and then two more were stamped, cut out, and popped up on foam tape. The bottom circle is up on foam tape, as is the flag die from Lil' Inker Designs. The layout is the Viva La Verve Week 3 sketch.

Hope you're having a really great day!! :)

Stamper's Dream Closing

Hi all! Earlier this month, I received a bittersweet email from my friend (and all-time favorite stampy boss...yep!) Michelle Rodgers letting me know that she has decided to close the Stamper's Dream store and asking me if I'd like to join the Dream Team once again for a final blog hop. I certainly understand her decision in wanting to spend more time focusing on family, friends and home life, as I recently gave up all my DT work....but it's still sad to hear that one of my favorite online stores is closing. :(

She's having a liquidation sale and everything in the store is 20% off with the coupon code Farewell2U. Just enter the code on the checkout page in the coupon section and it will take 20% off the lowest marked price of the items in your shopping cart! There is a $20 minimum to activate the coupon. Note: there is no free shipping during the liquidation.

If you'd like to start at the beginning of today's hop, Michelle's blog is the first stop. If you've come here from Tosh's blog, you're right on track.

For my card, I used this Sarah Kay Finn Whistling While He Works stamp. Someone in our family is celebrating a birthday this month and I thought this image would be perfect for his birthday card.



For today's farewell hop, here's the complete lineup....

Michelle Rodgers
Becca Feeken
Tosha Leyendekker
Denise Marzec *that's me*
Laurie Schmidlin
Carolyn King
Amy Sheffer
Arlene Cuevas
Teresa Kline
Jessica Diedrich
Mariana Grigsby
Lea Lawson
Jo Thompson

Have fun hopping and be sure to leave some love and hugs to Michelle. :)

Sweet Nature

Lots of birthdays this month and this is going to one of my SWEET SWEET stampy friends. Hope she likes it! :)



I used my new Sweet Nature set from Flourishes, did some fussy cutting, added Stickles, and popped the butterfly up on foam tape. The large pink panel on the card base is also up on foam tape. The layout started out as FTL161, but it didn't end up that way by the time I was done. Yeah well....

Here's a closeup....



...and here's the inside....



Have an awesome day!

SUPPLY LIST ~
Stamps: Sweet Nature and Sweet Violets (Flourishes)
Paper: White, Pink Passion, Echo Park Little Girl DP
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Copics: R81, R83, R85, YG11, YG13, YG17
Accessories: Stardust Stickles, Foam Tape, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, Adhesive Rhinestones, May Arts Crochet Lace Ribbon, Sewing Machine, Spellbinders Oval (inside)

Mojo Birthday

I have a couple very special girlfriends celebrating birthdays this week. This card is for one of them (shhhh, can't say WHO just yet because she won't receive the card until later this week) and I hope she likes it. :)



Stamps are from Verve....the flowers are from Feel the Sun and the sentiment is from Big Wish. There are two separate flowers that were stamped, colored, and popped up on separate layers of foam tape. The birthday wishes panel is also up on foam tape. Stickles were added to the center of the flower and the layout is Mojo Sketch 210. I was inspired by Dawn's Mojo card (another one of my most awesome stampy friends) with the pink/kraft combo and all the stitching.

Here's a close-up of the sparkle and dimension...



I've gotten in a lot of crafty time this weekend....and it feels good! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! :)

SUPPLY LIST ~
Stamps: Feel the Sun and Big Wish (Verve)
Paper: Pink Pirouette DP, Kraft, White
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Copics: R81, R83, R85, YG11, YG13, YG17
Accessories: Labels Six Dies (Spellbinders), Stardust Stickles, Adhesive Rhinestones, Foam Tape, Green Twine, Small Scallop Edge Die-namics (MFT), Sewing Machine

Happy Anniversary

My aunt and uncle's anniversary (50th!) is coming up and when I saw THIS gorgeous card by Wendy, I knew I wanted to use this Sarah Kay First Kiss image on their card. Confession....I love Wendy's coloring so much that I tried to color my image like hers (she's a huge inspiration to me!)....and I literally sat with my Copics in front of my computer monitor and copied the shading as best as I could. :)



The anniversary sentiment is from my So-Frogetful set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps. The main matted image is up on foam tape and I added Stickles to the girl's hair bow. The layout is the October SFYTT.



Thanks for stopping by and have a great Saturday!

SUPPLY LIST ~
Stamps: Sarah Kay First Kiss, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps So-Frogetful
Paper: Kraft, Vintage Cream, Certainly Celery, Seaside DP
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics
Accessories: PTI Ribbon, Corner Rounder Punch, Sewing Machine, Foam Tape, Stardust Stickles, Bow Easy

CAS Birthday

Hello all and happy Saturday!

I needed a couple "guy" birthday cards this week, wanted to use my sentiment flag set from Lil' Inker, did some gallery searching for inspiration, and found this sweet card by Debby Hughes that did just that. Here's my take on it.....



I made two of these since they were so quick and easy. I didn't add any sparkle (gasp!!), but I did pop both clouds are up on foam tape (smile).

So what are you up to today? I'm going to go for a run, make some glazed pork loin in the slow cooker, and tonight we're planning to have a little campfire in the back yard....maybe make some s'mores and hobo pies. :)

Hope you have a fun Saturday planned as well. I know my posts are sporadic these days, but I appreciate you taking the time to stop by my little blog. :)

Hope You Can Cling To

Hi all! I have a card to share with you today for one of the Hope You Can Cling To challenges on SCS. If you're not aware of the HYCCT card drive, you can read all the details by clicking HERE. Breast cancer is very near and dear to my heart because I lost my grandmother to the horrible disease back in 1998.




My buddy Lori is hosting a color challenge today and here's the card I made for her challenge.....



I used one of my favorite Whipper Snapper Designs images (Good News Puppy), colored it with Copics, and added Stickles for some pretty sparkle.



If you get a chance, head over to SCS and play along in the challenges, and most importantly be sure to mail off those cards to the UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. HERE's the link again to the challenge forum where you can find three challenges posted each day throughout the month of October. :)

Have an awesome day!

Brown Sugar & Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

Oh Yum! Tried this slow cooker recipe yesterday (thank you to Adina for posting it!), loved it, and made it into a recipe card this a.m. You can view the full recipe HERE on the C&C marriage factory blog.



I had this Mo Manning image colored up for over a week now and figured he'd be cute to go on a recipe card...since he's wearing a strainer on his head and all. Heehee! With the cork matting, the recipe card has a little dimension to it...kinda like foam tape. Stickles were added to different parts of the image. Here's a close-up...



Thanks so much for stopping by and have yourself an awesome day. I gotta get to work now...boo!

SUPPLY LIST ~
Digi Image: Mo Manning Kitchen Knight
Paper: Kraft, Cork, Vintage Cream, October Afternoon Farm Fresh DP
Accessories: Stardust Stickles, Sharpie White Paint Pen, Adhesive Bling, PTI Enchanted Evening Ribbon, Spellbinders Circles
Card Size: 5" x 7"

Seasoned Croutons

My friend Debbie shared this recipe with me.....and oh my, thanks to her, I won't be buying store-bought croutons anymore. I'll be making THESE from now on. They're easy to make and sooooo yummy!!!



A little about the recipe card....it's 5" x 7", the matted rectangle panels are popped up on foam tape, and Stickles were added to different parts of the Tilda image.

In case the recipe is too hard to read from my photo and you're interested in trying it, here it is...

2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried basil
one pinch salt
6 slices day-old bread, cubed

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake for 5 minutes. Stir and bake for another 5-10 minutes until crisp and brown. Store in airtight container in fridge forup to 3 days or freeze.

Have a great night!

Tuna Salad Recipe Card

I wanted to find a healthier way to make tuna salad with less mayonnaise. I looked on the internet and found this one, tried it out, and liked it (DH even likes it and he does NOT typically like "healthy" recipes, lol!). The secret ingredient is plain, low-fat yogurt!! I would have never thought to use that before seeing this recipe.



The card measures 5" x 7". The stamped image is from Penny Black and it was colored with Copics...and of course, I added Stickles on different parts of the image. :)

In case the recipe is too small on your screen and you're interested, here it is:

2 cans chunk light tuna, drained of water
2 tbsp relish
1/2 tbsp mayonnaise
1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt

Place all ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. Measure out five 1/4 cup servings. Calories per serving = 104 (1.4 g fat, 4 g carb, 3 g sugar, 18.1 protein, 0 fiber).

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day!

D~

Birthday Puppy

Hey all! Hope you're having a great weekend so far. We went out to dinner the past two nights in a row....and I'm lovin' that!!...no cooking for me...whooo-hooo! ;) Last night we went out with some friends and today we took my in-laws out for their little combined birthday celebration. I made cards for both of my in-laws, but I can only show you the card I made for my FIL....the photos I took of MIL's card were ALL blurry. Ugh! That'll teach me to check my pics before giving the cards away. Oh well....here's the one I made for my FIL....



The image is colored with Copics, the sentiment is popped up on foam tape, and the card measures 5" square. Stamps are by Penny Black (Nose-to-Nose slapstick stamp and Critter Party clear set).

I'm hoping to get out tomorrow morning and go on a run with my girlfriend.....need to work off all this food I've eaten in the past two days. Oink! ;)

See ya!

School Notes

Good morning, stampers. I colored up these Mo Manning images on Saturday while watching TV...mainly to get some more practice on coloring hair with Copics....and later turned them into little card fronts. I'm going to put one in Kara's lunchbox as a little surprise with a note on the back, and I'll probably mail the other one to my niece.



The matted main images are both up on foam tape and Stickles were added for sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by and have an awesome day!
D~

Digi Image: To School C (Mo Manning)
Paper: SU Wild Wasabi, PTI Pure Poppy, October Afternoon Thrift Shop and Report Card DP's

Our Favorite Drip Beef

Mmmmmmmm...hot drip beef on toasted rolls with cheese...it's what's for dinner tonight in the Marzec house. I also thought I'd (finally) make a recipe card for it to put in my binder. The digi image is from Mo Manning (called "What's Cookin'?") and patterned paper is October Afternoon's Farm Fresh.



This recipe started off as one from my cooking hero, Ree Drummond, the Pioneer Woman. She has two drip beef recipes that you can see HERE. They're both really great recipes, but we like the "basic" one a little more because it makes a lot of extra juice. We like to put the juice in a little bowl next to our plates and dunk the toasted sandwiches right in there. Yum-O! My recipe is just a little different from hers (I've tweaked it a little...not that I think I'm a better cook than she is....because I DON'T...I just made some changes for what works for us). I add Montreal steak seasoning to mine, use less garlic and grate the garlic on a cheese grater, and I bake the whole thing in the oven at 275 degrees for 5-6 hours.

Have a great night!
D~

Rain...

Whooo-hooooo! Two days in a row, I've had something crafty to share. The forecast says rain, rain, rain for this week and pretty much all of next week. Soooooo, how about a cute little rainy get well card....

I used one of my sweet Bildmalarna stamps. Love them! The sentiment, main image, and clouds are up on foam tape. Stickles were added all around the image as sparkly raindrops. The main image is stamped on cryogen white so the whole thing is shimmery. :)

Okay, that's it for me today. Have a good one!

Wallet-style gift card holder

Hi all and happy rainy Wednesday....geez, it's 3:00 in the afternoon but it's so dark outside, it looks more like 8 p.m. It's seriously POURING out there. I wish I could sent it to Texas where it's really needed right now.

A few weeks ago, a very special blogging friend of mine, Christine Dol, sent me this beautiful gift card holder with a little Michael's money (that I already spent....seriously Christine, thank you so much!......I would sooooo love to meet you in person some day and spend the afternoon crafting together, too). I wanted to try my hand at making one of these wallet-style GC holders, traced up her template, and here's what I came up with...



I used a stamp from my Penny Black Hello Friend clear set, colored it with Copics, added some Stardust Stickles, and paired it up with Thrift Shop DP. Here's a shot of what it looks like opened up...


(I just added a small square of blue DP so you can see where the GC or note will be inserted.)

Okie dokie, it's time for me to find a BIG OLE' umbrella and head to the bus stop. The kiddo will be home shortly. Later!

Bus Driver Gift

Hi all! I hope all of you on the East coast made it through Irene okay. We made it through just fine. Only one tree fell in our back yard, but it didn't hit anything other than my wash line. That'll be easy enough to fix. We lost power at about 4 a.m. yesterday, had a generator to get us through the day, and by nighttime the power and internet were back on. Yay!!



I made this matchbook post-it note holder for Kara's bus driver. You can find the tutorial on Splitcoast under the Resources section. I followed the measurements for the 3"x3" post-its. Stamps are from There She Goes and I added some sparkly Stickles to different parts of the bus.



Today is Kara's first day of school....so on that note, I'd better go "crack the whip" (haha!) and get her out of bed, fed, dressed, pictures taken, and to the bus stop on time. Have a great day, all!

SUPPLY LIST ~
Stamps: Believe in You (There She Goes Clearstamps)
Paper: Black and Cream (PTI), Thrift Shop DP (October Afternoon)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and Copics
Accessories: Foam Tape, Stardust Stickles, Plaid Ribbon, Wavy Dot Punch (EK Success)