Pop Up Card

We're having a BBQ with friends on Labor Day, and this is the invitation! Isn't it cute?! I owe the pop-up design to Dawn Griffith, and the great Grill to Okie Ladybug for the design studio work! Thanks, ladies!! The stamps are Studio G for August...how appropriate! Black, red and orange stickles make the coals in the grill look like they are actually ready for the steaks! Yum! Come on over!!!

Skittle Bees

Thanks to Marcia Fix for showing me these darling Skittle Bees! The little decorative dots have another life...as these adorable bees...Aren't they cute?!? Simple pen work makes those little yellow dots come alive. I think this little stamp is adorable, too. Cute card for any occasion.
Thanks for checking in!

He's got the whole world in His hands.....

This card is a good one for Get Well, Thinking of You, or Encouragement of most any kind. I like the combination of textures, and the silver accents on the ribbon, scalloped edges, and around the message. This is one of my favorite messages.

Blog Candy!

There are great things going on all over the blog world, and one very fun one is a celebration over at Enfy's Going Buggy! She has had over 65,000 hits on her blog in only 8 months! That tells you what an awesome designer she is! She is giving away some great goodies (blog candy). Be sure to click on the link in my "Favorite Sites" and check it out! We are going to a SWARM together in October, and I can hardly wait! She spends half of the year in the UK and half of the year here in Florida.

Frankie-N-Stein

This cute little fellow is a challenge from Dawn Griffith! She asked us to follow the directions she gave in her video and make this dude! I will link him to her site, and there will be a parade of Frankies.. Check it out!!!

Baby Girl Cards

Is anything sweeter than a baby girl card? This little lamb is from the Paper Doll cartridge, and is all done with flock. I embossed a brass brad with black embossing powder to make a shiny black eye. Very sweet.

These tiny piggie toes are for a sweet little Lillian. Love this paper from DCVW. There is just a touch of glitter in it, and that's always a great plus! The feet are from New Arrival, and the scallop circle is from the Accent Essentials. Welcome to the world little one!!

Thanks to Dawn Griffith for the idea on how to cut this little lamby pie from a flower! Cute, huh!!! I sent this little one to somebody special. Can't tell you who yet, because it's still in the mail :-) I should have spelled "you" "Ewe".... I've got several more on the desk, and I will change the spelling on those. I love using the D'vine Swirls with the cuttlebug for the curly wool.

This was a great celebration card! Our friend in the sewing club, Mary Ann, found out that her tests came back negative for cancer, and we all went out to celebrate! HURRAY!!! I've got my mammo scheduled for Sept. --- Let's all Save Our TaTas!!!

Here's a fun poster of some samples I did to promote card making at our clubhouse! I hope it gets a lot of attention. I will be teaching classes there in the fall, plus I sell cards to some of my neighbors, and hope to get some more exposure. It was fun to do.

Get Well Soon

I'm keeping my promise of using my Cricut for more shape cuts! These are really fun! The jar is cut at 4" and the bug at 2" from Doodlecharms. I've cut the vellum overlay, and the bug's wiggle eyes make it stand out even more! These wishes go out to my SIL Spencer's Dad, Barry, who is in the hospital in Baltimore. He needs to have a kidney transplant, and he's very sick right now. Please send prayers for him.

Welcome Home Cards

I've done a couple of gift card holders for my friend Krissy, who is a Real Estate Agent. I've been checking out the different houses on the cartridges that I have. The top is from Christmas Cheer, and the little one on the bottom is My Community. The keys are from DS. Thanks to Dawn Griffith for the tutorial on how to make the gift card holder inside :-)

A couple of cards for the guys!

Happy Birthday, Craig! He loves to golf, and I hope he gets a Hole In One really soon!

Here are a couple of new birthday cards I've come up with for the guys! The racecar is a prototype, and I think there are a couple of modifications in the works. I made it from shiny red vinyl and it needs to be adhered to another cut of card stock before it's put on the card. Any other suggestions?

Design Studio

I am working on more cricut cuts, and this is a whole card done with DS, and the cricut. It was done with the Celebations cart(cartridge), but when I cut it out, it only asked for George! I thought that was strange. I wish the stickles would show up better, so you could see how they sparkle! Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your comments.....

Wow! Can you say Chubby Cheeks?!? This is me! A picture frame with my Dad's military photo in it fell yesterday, and scratched the glass. When I opened the back of the frame, I discovered these two pictures of me in there for safekeeping! I told my girls I would post them so they could see if their little ones look like their Nana. Well.......?

Here I am at age 4.

And this is my handsome Daddy, John Porter Swink. This was probably taken in 1946 or so. I'll have to ask Mom to be sure. No wonder she fell in love with him :-)

Taking Photos of Cards

Okay, some of you have asked how I take pictures of my cards to post here! So, here is a picture of part of my scrap room. It looks kind of scary in this picture, but it's not - just really "user friendly"!! The first thing you need is a good light like the Ott light over my desk.

Next I set up four pieces of black 12x2 card stock. Easy, just put two on the desk, and two leaning up against the shelves. The light shines down from above.

Now I set the card in the center, and I set my camera on the close up setting. It doesn't use flash and wash out the colors this way. Easy! Hope it was helpful! By the way, my cricut, etc. is on the desk to my right. My scrap area is U-shaped, and works really well for me :-)

Now, here's the card I was working on! On the inside it says "So, how many lives do you have left? Wishing you the very best birthday ever!" Tori and I were laughing because this cat reminds us of Azrielle, the cat on the Smurfs! It is on the Paper Dolls Cartridge. Love it!

I've made a promise to myself to use more of my cricut cuts for my cards, so keep watching to see what comes next! Thanks for checking in!

Swap with Madelyn

Pink, black and a ribbon was this week's challenge with my little one! Here is my card to her. The fun part is that she also has the same ribbon, with the dangly spangles, and that's what she wants to put on her card to me :-) Great minds think alike!

Scrapfriendzy Challenge

This is for August Sizzling Summer Challenges over at Scrap Friendzy! This is Thursday's Cowabunga Color Combos Challenge #1 - to use Red, Yellow, Black and White on a card. I love this big kitty, and his friendly offering. This little card came out nice and simple, clean lines, and I really like the off-set yellow and black pieces. The cat was colored with watercolor pencils and baby oil gel. Stickles make the fish and scarf glitter!!

Make Your Own Cuttlebug Folder!

Spiders are three layers of cardstock thick, and the "negative" or the part that would be left on your mat after cutting out the spiders, is two layers thick. This should make the instructions a little bit easier to understand!




I saw the new Cuttlebug Folders that PC will be introducing this fall. I also chatted with some of the girls on the mb, and this is my idea on how to make your own folders for embossing with the cuttlebug! I cut three images. This time I used Doodlecharms cartridge, the spiders, on the border setting, because it gave me interlocking designs. This isn't necessary, but easy for beginning. I wanted to make an edge embossing design, not an all-over page design, but the concept would be the same. Glue two negative images (the part left on your mat after you take out the spiders) one on top of the other. Fold a piece of plastic packaging, such as a cuttlebug folder package, or some other heavy acrylic. Crease it tightly. Insert the negative image and glue onto one side. Carefully place one positive image (the spiders) into the negative "hole". Next put adhesive onto another positive and CAREFULLY glue it to the first positive image, then glue another positive image to the second layer. Now add adhesive, so that the positives glue to the other side of the folded plastic. This will give you two negative layers and three positive layers. It will all be lined up evenly, and ready to emboss in your cuttlebug. I found that the "sandwich" needed to be a C-plate, B-plate, folder with cardstock, piece of fun foam on top for thickness, then the second B-plate. It worked like a charm! (Sorry the black spiders don't show up too well with the stickles on them in the photo, but they are really cute!) Please post comments, and let me know how it works for you!!!

Card Swap with Madelyn

This is the card she designed to go with her challenge of Red, Black and a red flower. Good Job! She used the cuttlebug, and the cricut. She liked using the stamp pads to put on the background color, too.


Madelyn used the CTMH family stamp, and colored it to look like herself. She drew in the waterfall and pond in her front yard - with a frog that has taken up residence there. She used lots of glitter, and informed me that she also put it all over her face :-)

My card swap with Madelyn this week had to have a rubber stamp. So I used one of my favorite CTMH stamps, and a great glue pen that I was given in my goodie bag at the swarm! It is Quickie Pen, which is like a ball point pen, only it has glue instead of ink. It made making fine lines for glittering SO EASY! The polka dots for the background were done with new pencil erasers! Next week we are to use pink and black and a ribbon. It is so much fun to swap with an 8 year old!

Happy Birthday

This little one is a fun stamp and watercolor/baby oil gel technique card. I love the little kitty prints.

Gift Card Holder

This card works really well! Paper is DCWV, stamp is from M's, removed from the wooden block, and the words are cut apart. The "for you" is hand written. This is an A2 size card.

Porter's Blessing Day

This is our family that was able to be together.

Bob, Me, Doug, Barbie, Craig, Porter, Mom, Joni and Ron!
What a wonderful day we had. We just missed the rest of the clan.

Porter's Blessing Day

One proud Daddy! Craig and Porter after the blessing was given.

In our church it is tradition that a new baby is taken before the congregation, and given a blessing, and their name is officially recorded in the records of the church.


Here are the men who stood in for the blessing. Jonathan Steflik, Grandfather Robert Brett, Uncle Douglas Brett, Daddy Craig, Jeffrey Shaw, and Cameron Poore.

Porter wore heirloom clothing. The outfit was worn by all of the boys born in our family since we joined the church. First was Doug in 1979, then Bryan in 1998, Tyler in 2001, Dylan in 2002, and now Porter in 2008. The shoes are leather baby booties that belonged to my Dad, John Porter Swink, and they were his in 1927, so they are 81 years old. They are still kept in the original box. All of the boys have worn them for their blessings, too. It is such a joy to have this special tradition in our family. I made the new blanket for Porter's blessing.

I am attempting to post my logo, and get it on my cards and paperwork, etc. It looks pretty good when it's little, but when I see it big like this, I dunno! I am planning to order a rubber stamp
and put it on things, etc. It is kind of fun. It reminds me of a teacher I had in high school who gave us the assignment of designing a logo for a business of our own with our own initials. She was a replacement for a favorite teacher who got sick, and she did NOT make a favorable impression with us, so we thought it was a dumb assignment....my only "F" in art...EVER! Funny thing is that I've thought of that assignment so many times over the last *@$@# years (you didn't think I was REALLY going to tell you, did you???) and I never could come up with a good logo for BJS or BJB!!!

Anyway, here is my BettyBee, and we are off to Jacksonville to spend the weekend with Porter and his parents! It is a very special time when we give our babies a special blessing and record their names on the records of the church. It will be so nice to have all of the family that can come all together (though we will miss Tori and her family TERRIBLY, and also Brianne, who is still at a family reunion out west).