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TakeCareLovely
Originally uploaded by Kalyber

of the Flickr/Blogger partnership. If this you may be seeing a lot more images here because this seems so much easier than the other way I was doing this.

This card was made for a friend of mine who is in the hospital. She is my son's YiaYia. She is neither blood-relative nor Greek but she liked the title so she claimed it as her own.

I didn't like this set at first but it is really growing on me. Of course the ones I just couldn't wait to get are gathering dust. If anyone knows why this happens - so regularly please let me know.

Keep your fork there's pie and a scrapbook store

I've added a couple of links to the side bar.

Hoosier Mama Pie Co
The first link is to the Hoosier Mama Pie Co. a Chicago company owned by a couple of friends of mine. They make the best pies in the world. I can get my pie fix by calling the owners and asking for a pie anytime (you can too for that matter - see the site) but you can also walk into a few coffeeshops in Chicago and buy by the slice and oh it is so GOOD. Try it. See their site to find out where to get a slice.

The Memory Zone
The second link is to a scrapbook store I discovered in Plymouth, IN while I was on vacation earlier this week visiting my aunt.
I took some Pre-SU cardstock and a few stamp sets with me to play with and show my aunt what I'm doing. She loved it. Coloring with watercolor pencils and blender pens she was like a little kid giddy with excitement at what she had created. It's one of the reasons I love being a demonstrator, seeing people light up when they make stuff. Well the layered look I wanted to create for her Christmas cards wasn't going to work with the flimsy card stock I had. So I went to The Memory Zone and bought a few sheets of good card stock. I took my 4 year old with me and he loved it -- they have a play area for kids so I could shop in PEACE. Loved it!

Forgotten Camera
If I had remembered to take my camera on my mini vacation I would have gotten a picture of the HUSBAND EXTERMINATORS sign at 1839 W Jefferson St in Plymouth, IN. I giggle every time I go by that place it's just so funny.

I also would have gotten a picture of my son playing mini golf at Zao Island in Valparaiso, IN. We had such a good time. My boy is 4-3/4 and hasn't got the patience to hit the ball and wait to see where it will stop. He takes the club and drags the ball where he wants it to go. He would be a couple holes ahead of me if I hadn't kept telling him to wait. I have a few souvenirs from that excursion. A golf pencil, a score card with just our names and the first hole's score in it, and a nasty bruise on my second toe where I tripped on a cement obstacle. So Graceful.

Hopefully I can get the recently crafted cards up on this site in the not too distant future. Tomorrow is Nana day and Saturday is Ralph's World at Ravinia and then a party with the city tribe so who knows...

Scrappy Card

I have been so tired lately that I don't want to bend down get new card stock, open the cabinet the holds the cutter and cut pieces out for a card. However, I do want to stamp. I do want to make cards. I do want to impress you all with my cleverness and creativity. So...

I raided the scraps. I actually organized them by colorishness (ok so that isn't really a word so sue me or better yet sick an English teacher on me), all the green tones together, all the yellow tones together, etc. You get the picture. It is a first step in finding the work surfaces in my studioffice (I would like the English teacher to be male, single, over 6' tall and in his 40's, thank you very much).

This card is a quickie so that I could get to bed quicker and I could say I actually stamped something this week. I've been wiped out since my group meeting this weekend. I was staying up WAY TOO LATE preparing my swaps for that event. I didn't get the 2 pcs of soft sky pokey dots lined up with the edge of the card so I decided to follow my own advice to beginners, "If you can't get it really straight go really crooked so it looks intentional."

Stamps: Wonderful Favorites, Year After Year
Paper: Soft Sky, Very Vanilla, Really Rust, Sahara Sand
Ink: Really Rust pad, Only Orange Marker, Wild Wasabi (marker), Sponged Groovy Guava
Accessories: dimensionals

Is it possible

to be proud of someone you've never met? I'm not talking about sports proud or fame proud. I'm talking about a regular person who spends time with rubber, ink and paper creating cards I only wish I could make. Her cards are elegant as all get out and her photography skills are great too.

Today I got my September copy of Stampin' Success and on page 15 I saw several cards I recognized. That looks like Kristina Werner's work. Upon closer inspection I realized it was her work and they didn't put the name Suzy Stamper on the Web example of Creative projects like they generally do. It was Kristina's name. I was so proud. But why? I've never met Kristina, never been in the same room with her, or even the same state but here I am proud of her for being recognized as a great talent by SU!

Congrats Kristina. To get a good look at her work go to her blog: www.kwernerdesignblog.

Now for those of you whining that I don't post pictures (and what's the point of visiting if there ain't pictures) well here's one and as soon as my swaps for Saturday are done you'll get more. This card was made on my lunch hour (40 minutes at home) last week for a woman who announced she was expecting that morning.




stamps: Zoofari
ink: Basic Black ink pad plus Pixie Pink, Certainly Celery, So Saffron, and Tempting Turquoise markers
paper: Wild Wasabi cs, Petals and Paisley
accessories: snail, photo corners punch

This card reminds me of one of my son's new jokes - what's black and white and red all over? A Zebra with a sunburn. (a penguin with a rash, a newspaper)

Things for WINGS

A big thank you to those who purchased cards made with retired stamp sets.

$170 was raised for the WINGS program. I’d also like to thank all those who attended my open house celebrating the new catalog and brought donations of household items for WINGS.

WINGS (Women in Need Growing Stronger) is a non-profit organization that helps homeless and abused women and children by offering integrated services that meet their needs for shelter, education, guidance and support. They provide safe, secure living environments, through transitional housing and emergency shelter, in residential neighborhoods that allow women to go to school, work, and care for themselves and their children. For more information visit their website at http://www.wingsprogram.com .

The remainder of the cards will be divided between the WINGS program and a ministry that provides cards for service men and women to send home to their loved ones.

HELP! a birthday request

I have tried to blog - honest I have - but we've had guests and I'd rather talk to someone face to face than type any day. I'll have stuff up later this week after I set up a place to take the pics -- I have 3 surfaces in my studioffice (craft room) and I haven't seen any of them for over a month. The minutia of life is piling up on them faster than I can clean.

Anywho -- on to the request.

My younger sister’s 40th birthday is the end of September and I was hoping I could get your help celebrating her big day.

I am making a Grace Book (v.3) and would like to include as many pictures, postcards, business cards, advertisements and photographs featuring the word “Grace” as I can.

I have taken pictures around Chicago but I would like to expand it to the rest of the country – heck the rest of the world. If there is a Grace Street in your town would you mind sending me a picture of the street sign that features Grace and the cross street and tell me what state/town you are in.

If you have anything paper with Grace on it I would appreciate a copy of it. If you know where to get Grace products that would be an appropriate gift item (the GRACE space project wouldn’t count for example) please let me know where I can get it.

If you send a hard copy of anything a rak will come back to you if you put your return address on the package. My shipping address is Katemade Designs, 712 E. Higgins Rd #131, Schaumburg, IL 60173. Give the mail guy a thrill and write “Hi Bill” on the envelope.

My sister doesn’t keep cards – even handmade versions that have been labored over for hours (gasp!) but she does keep her Grace Books. When I gave her the first book she gave me a great compliment, “B***h, you made me cry.” Believe me this is a compliment from a woman who built her own house with her own hands.