This is the "Bayou Hotel" in Havre de Grace on the boardwalk. It was once an upscale, busy hotel in the 1930's, 1940's, 1950's and 1960's. It has since been converted to private condo living and the architecture is a beautiful companion to the boardwalk landscape. Tom's Aunt Mildred lives in one of the condos, now. And before I forget I want to give all photo credit to my husband, Tom Borneman.

This view is from the boardwalk looking Eastward toward another bay town nearby. The tide was low and "out" this morning, but just look at the gorgeous sunrise that the Lord God blessed us with this Easter morn!

HE LIVES!

I serve a risen Saviour,
He's in the world today;
I know that He is living,
Whatever men may say;
I see His hand of mercy,
I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him
He's always near.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and He talks with me
Along life's narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives:
He lives within my heart!

"Elzybells" for Laurie

Good Morning! I wanted to share a card that I made for my friend, Laurie Wilson's birthday. Laurie is our Clear Dollar Stamps Design Team Coordinator, and she wears many hats and we are so blessed to have her coordinate us! LOL

I haven't used my A Muse "Elzybells" stamps in forever, so I decided to make Laurie's birthday card with them. I had also picked up these fairly new designer papers called "Chloe's Closet" from Making Memories and wanted to use them, and they just seemed to coordinate well with the "Elzybells Flower Girl" stamp. I had to color the girl's hair blonde to go with the designer papers, but Laurie has brown hair...but being a stamper, she understands! : )

I should have a new card to share with you toward the end of the week or this weekend. Thanks for visiting!

Here's the recipe:
Stamp Sets Used: A Muse "Elzybells Flower Girl" & "Happy Birthday" Sentiment
Cardstock & Papers: Making Memories Chloe's Closet Designer Paper Collection, Paper Trey White Cardstock
Inkpads: Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue
Markers: Copic Sketch Markers: Y15 Cadmium Yellow, Y21 Buttercup Yellow, Y26 Mustard, B32 Pale Blue, RV13 Tender Pink, YG02 Yellow Green, YG63 Pea Green, YG67 Moss
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Regular & Scalloped Oval Dies, Marvy Giga Scalloped Oval Punch, Martha Stewart Eyelet Border Punch, Nestabilities Tags Trio Die, Sewing Machine, Thread, Paper Piercing Tool, Adhesives, Stampin' Up! Dimensionals, Zots, Tsukineko Sponge Dauber, Michael's Grosgrain Ribbon, Ki "Juicy Summer" Softie Rubber Embellishment, Hero Arts Self-Adhesive Rhinestone
Special Techniques: Basic Stamping, Sponging, Masking, Machine Stitching, Paper Piercing

Simple, Clean & Fresh Design

Good Morning! April is a big month for birthdays in my circle of friends and family, so I wanted to get a head start on some birthday cards. I just recently received these two Paper Trey stamp sets, "Birds of a Feather" (an Easter Basket gift from my friend, Traci Major), and "Out on a Limb, Revised" and couldn't wait to ink them up. The stamps sets are beautifully simplistic in design yet so versatile and endless design possibilities abound! I wanted to create a clean, uncluttered, crisp looking card for this birthday, so I opted for a white scored and Cuttelbugged-embossed background. It all came together rather quickly yet, it has enough details to not appear "plain". By the way, I think that these two stamp sets are going to be well-inked and often!


Stamp Sets Used: Paper Trey "Birds of a Feather" & "Out on a Limb, Revised"
Cardstock & Papers: ColorMates Light Merri-Gold & Light Spring Green Cardstock, Paper Trey White Cardstock
Inkpads: Memento Tuxedo Black & Rich Cocoa Inks, Stampin' Up! So Saffron & Mellow Moss Inks
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug "Swiss Dots" Embossing Folder, Nestabilities Regular & Scalloped Oval Dies, Martha Stewart Eyelet Border Punch, Scor-Pal, Paper Piercing Tool, Adhesives, Zots, Scotch Pop-Up Foam Squares, Doodlebug Buttons, Gold Elastic Cord
Special Techniques: Basic Stamping, Dry Embossing, Paper Piercing

A change in my blog features...

I have made a decision that has been a difficult one, and it involves how I "approach" my blogging. With Springtime now here, and the demands of yard work and flower gardening, not to mention designing for Clear Dollar Stamps, I have decided, staring today, April 1st, that I will no longer be offering such long, descriptive directions on each card design.

I know that there are a handful of people who enjoy reading the long, drawn-out descriptions, but quite frankly, I think that they might be a minority. So, with time being a factor, I will only be posting the "recipe" or materials used to make the card. If a blog reader is really interested in how a particular part of he card or even the whole card itself is made, they are welcome to leave a comment with an email address, and I will be in touch. I hope that this does not disappoint too much, but feel that the change was necessary to this season in my life.

CDS Weekend Color Challenge Featured Stamper - Stéphanie Bonniot

You're viewing the adorable piggy card that Stéphanie Bonniot, one of our CDS Weekend Color Challenge participants submitted for our "Monochromatic Card". I hostessed this past weekend and challenged everyone with making a "Monochromatic Card" -- the colors were the cardmaker's choice. There were SO many beautiful cards to chose from to feature on my blog today, but I decided to go with Stéphanie's card because, quite simply, I was in a "cute card mode"...and how cute can you get with this? I love how she used her patterned paper and how it is so cleanly balanced in the layout. Her sweetly scalloped image mats are the perfect compliment to the beautifully colored piggy. And! I love how Stéphanie knows when it time to leave "well enough alone"...by that, I mean, she is not a "clutter stamper"...she embellishes with taste, balance and style. Love the simple pearls and pretty ribbon. The end result? One clean, beautifully-executed sweet card! As far as I know, Stéphanie (did you know that she is from France?), does not have a blog at this time, but you can find her work on Paper Craft Planet, and I know you'll enjoy viewing it. Great artwork, Stéph!

A CDS Design Team Announcement

Good Morning! I got up a little late this morning (Grrrr!), but wanted to post an exciting announcement about our Clear Dollar Stamps Design Team. We have enlisted the help of two brand new designers to the team: Cassie Trask and Angela Thomas. Cassie, has been a regular participant in our Weekend Color Challenges over on Paper Craft Planet, and brings a new, fresh & clean style to the team. Angela, is a close friend of our own Kim Teasdale, and brings a pretty, elegant style in design. I am happy to welcome Cassie and Angela and look forward to working with them.

Equally, I am saddened at the news that my fellow design team member, and friend, Monique Hawrelluk will not be continuing on with the team. Monique has some pokers in another fire, as they say, and I wish her much luck and will miss her on the team, very much. But, please continue to follow Monique, as I will keep her blog link on my lower right sidebar. Stay close, friend!