For those of you that are still around, I've decided to started blogging again on Wordpress. Take a look at KatarinaMenzies.com

Updated For Sale page

Hello everyone, I have listed many Papertrey Ink stamp sets, as well as some Impression Obsession Cover-a-Card background stamps on my For Sale page.

Lili of the Valley, Magnolia, Elisabeth Bell and more stamps for sale...and an update.

Long time no see! Hello everyone, I'm not sure how many of you are still here, but I thought I might write a quick update about the state of things in Watermelon Sugar-land. It's been a long time since my last post, I needed a long break to re-evaluate things. Several factors contributed to this hiatus, if you're a reader of my blog you will know I hurt my back which kept me from almost all stamping and coloring activities for a good long while. Once I was healed up and pretty much back to normal health, I couldn't seem to reactivate the 'ole card-making mojo. That's the problem with breaks for me, if I stay away too long, I lose interest completely. 

Of course, the other factor that killed my card-making mojo was me losing my job of over 5 years. I saw it coming for a while, but it still stunned me when it actually happened. I was pretty down for a couple of weeks. Watched a lot of Mad Men on Netflix to keep from losing my mind, LOL!

So since then, I haven't made many cards, the ones I did- I hated, so I moved on to other things. Dabbled in embroidery, felt projects, did some playing with polymer clay again, and then finally pulled out all the old painting supplies and finished my first tole painted project in ages last night. I felt like I was home again. I LOVED painting 10 years ago, some family issues threw me for a loop and I stopped. Trauma really messes with my creativity, let me tell you! But I'm back to it, and I think I will stick with it for a while.

So that's it in a nutshell. I'm still not sure what will become of blogging. I may continue to share some of my painted stuff, or not, I haven't decided yet.

BUT, I have stuff to sell! Boy do I ever....
I will start posting what I have to sell here, namely the stamps, but I think eventually I will start selling other items as well and list those in my Etsy shop. I will always post here first to update all those interested. 

Click the tab on top of this page or click here to see my stuff for sale.

Blog break....

Hello friends, if you're a regular visitor to my blog you know that I haven't blogged in some time. I figured I'll post a short message for those of you that may be wondering what's going on.

If  you don't follow the Lili of the Valley Inspire blog, you may not know I've stepped down from their wonderful design team. I absolutely loved working with that company, the owners and other lovely folks who work there are just wonderful. Their product is truly top notch, I will always love their designs. Thanks to LOTV for allowing me to be a part of their team for so long.

A couple of things have kept me from stamping/card making for a while. The first culprit was my back injury several months back, which was aggravated again at work right after Christmas. Recovery the second time around was much slower, and I am still having trouble sitting up for long periods of time. This put a huge dent in my mojo. I am convinced that creativity is like a muscle, it must be exercised regularly to keep functioning. Unfortunately, because I was couch-bound for so long, the mojo is in the worst shape of it's life, lol.

I can never stop being totally creative though, so I had to start a few things that I could do on my couch, embroidery and little felt projects like penny rugs and stuffed ornaments. Hey, it keeps me sane!

I'm looking forward to try my hand at decorative painting again, maybe. And of course, so many new things on Pinterest to try...

Hopefully I'll be back before too many of you disappear, I still love this craft and love to share!

Thanks to my lovely regular readers for sticking by me all this time, I appreciate you all!

Baby Bath Time

Here's another quick CAS baby card using the newest release from LOTV, 'Bath Time'. Instead of stamping and coloring directly onto the base layer of cardstock, (which makes me nervous) I chose to use a separate piece of cardstock to color on. Then I simply matted it with a piece of pretty pattern paper and adhered the whole thing to the card base.

This way if I mess up on the stamping, or coloring, I don't have to waste an entire 5" x 7" card base. The stamped sentiment is from Papertrey Ink, which I also colored a bit with my Copics, and embellished with a little rolled felt rose. The rose was easily made from a die cut from My Favorite Things.

I added some Stickles to the bath towel, and some Crystal Lacquer to the bubbles to make them shine. Easy enough, right?!

Well, it's almost the new year, and although we don't have any big parties to attend to I still get excited about the whole thing. 2013, can you believe it?! It's almost here.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

I hope all my wonderful blog followers have a happy and healthy Christmas full of peace, love and joy.

Postcards for Christmas

Good morning friends, I think this is the longest I've gone without blogging! I'm not sure what's going on with me, but I am not going to stress about it. I feel some changes coming on, an urge to branch out and try new things but am not totally sure what they will be. So I will continue on, maybe not as regularly as usual, but hopefully enough to satisfy our LOTV sweet tooth, LOL!

This is a card I made last week and it sat in my 'To be photographed' pile ever since. It's one of my favorite stamps from this Christmas release, 'Christmas Star'. 

The postcard is from the lovely clear stamp set 36 'Christmas Icons'. This set has everything you need to beautifully embellish all your holiday cards, I love it.  I silver embossed the pretty postcard to add to the background. The aqua BG paper was also stamped with all the lovely snowflakes from the same set. 

To tie into the silver embossing on the postcard, I went around with some metallic silver embroidery thread and did a simple running stitch, and a strip of silver cardstock die cut with Memory Box's Tessatina die. A pretty red bow with some jingles and a snowflake charm finish this card off nicely. The sentiment is from the clear set 26, 'Simply Sophisticated'. 

I'll try to come back with one more Christmas card before the big day, my last I think, for a long, long time. I am quite burnt out from all things red and green and sparkly!

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day!

Ramona Loves to Glide...

Good morning friends, I have a sweet simple card to share with you all today using Stamping Bella's 'Ramona Loves to Glide' stamp. 

I stamped this cutie directly onto the paper that I printed out using a digitally created pattern from Lily Bimble's Christmas Village collection. (I love saying Lily Bimble, it's such a fun name, lol!) I was on a mission to find paper that somewhat resembled an older pattern collection from October Afternoon called Verry Merry. Click on the link, do you remember it? You do? That means you must have it! Pleasepleaseplease email me if you do, LOL! 

Just kidding, but I had to come up with a substitution because that OA paper is nowhere to be found! Lily Bimble comes the closest.

Ramona is colored with my Copics, and I added lots of glitter all around her because she's skating on sparkly ice of course. I didn't want to cover up too much of the image with ribbon, so I opted for a cute baker's twine bow with a snowflake brad and some colored bells.

Now that I look at it, I wish I had added a sentiment to it. I still can, and I will do that today. I'm home today because I broke my toe at work on Friday. I dropped a heavy box on it and let me tell you it hurthurthurt! Owwie! It's all sorts of ugly rainbow colors today, but it doesn't hurt nearly as much anymore, thank goodness.

Thanks for stopping by, hope your Monday is not terrible today!

The Christmas Bears Make a Snowman

Hello everyone, how about a Nordic card today? I am a huge fan of all things with pretty Nordic and Fair Isle patterns. I am looking for the perfect scarf for myself so I can put it on my Christmas list. In the meantime, I have to be content with using stamps to create my own patterns. I used the Little Bears Snowman for my card today, from Lili of the Valley. 

I used Waltzingmouse Stamps' Nordic Winter to create the pattern on the bottom half of the card. I had the urge to water color with my SU inks, so out came the paint brushes and water pot. Not a single Copic in sight! Sometimes, one just needs a bit of change...

Thanks for looking, hope you enjoy it, have a great day!

Spread Christmas Cheer

Good morning friends, can you believe it's December already? I have been a busy little beaver decorating and crafting for the holidays. Putting up lights, decorating the fireplace mantle, making all sorts of crafty Christmas things that are not cards, lol! I'll take pictures soon, I need lots of natural light to get a good shot of the mantle where I have displayed a lot of the things I've been working on. Most of these crafty projects are all thanks to my Pinterest addiction! I've always been a crafty sort, dabbling in one thing or another, but cardmaking kind of grabbed me and kept me at it for the longest time and I ignored all my other hobbies. I think that's changing. I've even gotten the itch to paint again, I miss it so much! I'll try to share my other projects soon. In the meantime, here's another CAS card I created using Stamping Bella's Uptown Girls. LOVELOVELOVE these gals, they look like such a fun bunch don't they?

They're colored with Copics, glittered with Stickles and Spica pens and I heat embossed a Papertrey Ink sentiment all on one layer of cardstock. I added a tiny bit of patterned paper border around the whole thing because I just can't make a card without using a little bit of it!

I added my signature bow with some colorful tiny jingle bells and call this card done! Another simple card I am very pleased with. 

Well it's the start of a new work week, so fun hobby time is limited till I get a day off again. poo... Thanks for visiting, I'll be back with another card soon!

Hello Snowman!

Good morning all! How about a cute snowman card today? This one is from Purple Onion Designs, by the super talented Stacy Yacula whose Etsy shop I stalk on a regular basis! She makes the most adorable paper clay characters, you must check them out. Needless to say, I was a happy camper to see her characters in rubber stamp form from POD, much more affordable for me, lol! Ok, enough gushing...

This was one of those cards that took me forever and a day to make. I had lofty aspirations but by the time I was done with the stamped image panel, I lost interest in the rest of the card, lol. I just plunked down the whole thing on some digital text paper from Mel Stampz I printed on my computer. 

A little about how I colored the stamped image layer- I used art masking fluid ( my new favorite tool) to mask off the entire snowman after I stamped him in Versafine on water color paper. I just used a small round paintbrush to apply the fluid, then waited a few minutes for it to dry. Once dry I spritzed, stippled, sponged and stamped all over the background using mostly Distress Inks. When the ink was really dry, I removed the masking fluid with a gum eraser and water colored the snowman. I used an old toothbrush and some watered down acrylic paint to flick and spatter the 'snow' all over the layer. It's my favorite technique for a snowy effect I learned a long time ago when I was a decorative painter. The sliver snowflakes are some old stickers I had laying around.

A lot of work for a card! But sometimes I just gotta get inky and play.

Hope you like it, thanks for visiting!

Peace, Love and Joy

Hello everyone, I just wanted to drop in with another of my CAS creations using LOTV stamp Girl Sledging and to remind you all about the LOTV Virtual Christmas Facebook Party going on right now. It's an all day affair with many of the other designers who will be available for chat with tips and tutorials. I have to work so I will be missing from the festivities I'm afraid. 

This card measures 5" x 7" and the image was colored with Copics. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

I hope you'll pop in to the FB party and say hello to the DT, sounds like a lot of fun! 

Thanks for visiting!

You are my Sunshine... Blog Hop

Hello everyone and Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates it! Welcome to the Lili of the Valley blog hop showcasing the last new stamp release of the year. We have some prizes to give away so make sure you read the rules carefully before entering.

There will be 18 baby and animal designs (unmounted rubber) and also 2 new A5 sheets of clear stamps (a companion set and also an everyday version of the Grungy Christmas Messages).

The stamps will be available to buy on the Lili of the Valley website from midday on Sunday the 25th November (UK time).

The entire DT is involved in the hop, so make sure to follow all the links below and leave a comment for a chance to win. We don’t know where the prizes are so make sure you visit every blog. We will let you know Friday evening which were the ‘lucky’ blogs and 2 winners will be drawn at random from all the comments that were left 

There will be 2 prize winners, each winning the 2 sets of clear stamps and 6 rubber stamps of their choice from the new designs (each prize value £52.00 approx. $83) 

Here's a list of all the blogs taking part  ...and remember you will need to visit them all to have the best chance of winning; 

Ideas to Inspire 

Anne 

Bev 

Claudia Rosa 

Dawny P 

Dena 

Elise 

Fleur 

Gretha 

Mindy 

Moni 

Pops 

And now here's my card...something very different from what you're used to seeing!

 I don't know about you all, but I've secretly admired and drooled over the CAS (clean and simple) design style for a loooong time. I even attempt to create one every once in a while, without much success. At least, I was never too happy with the final result. Until now. I think I have found my happy balance of simple and pretty with a touch of frou-frou. It makes me happy. And that's what matters to me. 
I've masked off the stamped image called 'You are my Sunshine' with some post it notes. I used some liquid masking fluid with a small paintbrush to mask off the bear and flowers so I could sponge the background with Distress inks. When that was dry, I used a gum eraser to rub off the masking fluid and I colored the rest of the image with colored pencils. I really wanted the image to POP because there was so much white space, so I used really bright colors. 

A simple ribbon and bow/button/charm embellishes the top of the card and that's it. Oh, a tiny little border of patterned paper around the edges of the card front. That's as CAS as I could manage, lol! 

So what do you all think of the new stamp release? Pretty awesome, I bet.

Now I'm off to start cooking ham and mashed potatoes, manicotti and couple of pies. Oh and maybe some blueberry cheesecake bars too. I feel stuffed and tired already! Thanks for visiting, and good luck if you're entering the contest! 

Christmas Cuties

Good morning friends, I have a quick Christmas card to share with you today. Time has been in short supply lately and I can't say I have a very big stash of cards ready to send out. Coloring is usually what takes me the longest when making a card, so I pulled out these beautiful Christmas Cuties Die Cut Designs that are already colored. I've never used them, I just admire them every once in a while. It's too bad they're being discontinued, because I love the soft water color look to them!

The whole card was a matter of putting together some pretty papers and embellishments. These patterned papers were printed from a digital collection called Alpine Frost from SEI. Snowflakes are Amuse Studios dies.

I added lots of glitter and bling to this card, since I didn't do any coloring, it sure does shine and sparkle!
Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Holiday Sweet Shoppe

Happy Friday friends, the weekend is almost here! Of course, that doesn't mean much to me this week, I have to work tomorrow, poo! 

I made this very colorful card using Waltzingmouse Stamps Candy Jar Christmas set a little while ago. The papers are October Afternoon Holiday Style, I think.

After coloring the image with Copics, I applied a thick layer of Crystal Lacquer over the jar.

Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week?! I can't believe how fast the time is flying, it's scary.  I'll be mailing Christmas cards before I know it, eek!

That's all I've got for now, thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Snuggle Time

Good morning blog friends, it's the final release of 2012 from Lili of the Valley and it's a great one! With a new year comes new things, and babies are as new as you can get. For all the new babies in your life LOTV presents some adorable and sweet baby themed stamps for your cardmaking arsenal! Do I sound like a commercial yet, lol?!

All joking aside, it seems like those nearest and dearest to us are always having babies, and cards are always needed. In my stash, they are as essential as birthday cards. Not to mention, I just love making them. I love pastels, I love baby animals, I love babies, so of course, I love making baby cards.

This little cutie is called 'Snuggle Time' and it's a stamp that will be released along with a lot of other beauties at the end of this month. 

In keeping with tradition, along with some beautiful focal image stamps will be a nice variety of companion stamps, sentiments as well as smaller images to decorate the insides of your cards.

Cardmaking has come such a long way since I first started this hobby, it is amazing! When I first started, my goal was to create cards that were almost as good as the ones you could buy in the card boutiques. Now, with the supplies and tools at our disposal, I can create cards that exceed the ones you can buy in boutiques! I LOVE that! Card boutiques are emulating us! 

The patterned papers used on this card are all from Raspberry Road Designs called 'Lullaby'.

I hope you're as excited about this release as I am, thanks for stopping by!

Wintergreen Harlequins

Good morning friends! I was quite productive last week because work was closed due to the power outage, so I got a chance to play a little more than usual. Normally, I only have just enough time to whip up my design team obligations, and I don't get a chance to 'play'. As much as I love designing fancy, hand colored cards, sometimes I just love using beautiful papers, dies and solid color stamps!

Here's one card using an old, old paper collection from SU, 'Wintergreen'. This is probably one of my all time favorite papers and I have plenty of extra to keep me for a long time! Isn't it gorgeous?!

Almost all the supplies except the paper, ink and the ribbon are from Papertrey Ink.

If this card didn't take so long I would most likely use it for my Christmas card this year. Oh well, I think I'll keep it anyway.

Thanks for stopping by!

Gliding through the City

Today starts a regular work week, no more days off this year! Hopefully power is restored very shortly for most of New Jersey and we can get back to our normal lives. 

I have another LOTV card to share with you using the most recent Christmas release stamp, 'Ice Skating'. 

I've cut them out after coloring with Copics so I could mat them right into the scenic background paper from October Afternoon. LOVE this paper and will be very sad when it runs out!

Added a little mini pom pom trim along with the bow, and a glittered ornament I cut using my Cameo. 
That's it, hope you enjoy it, thanks for stopping by!

Autumn Fairy

Good morning all, it's good to be back on the interwebs, being without power is tough! But, if you can believe it, I was getting so restless I decided to try to color with only a couple of flashlights for illumination. I only chose colors I knew worked together, I wasn't going to rely on color charts for coordinating! I was kind of worried what it would look like in daylight, so I tried to be very careful. Fortunately, it looked fine when morning came and I assembled it onto this card.

I chose 'Bumble Bee Fairy' for my card and colored her in autumnal colors to coordinate with these papers from an Authentique paper pad.

I added a simple sentiment from the clear stamp set 'Simply Sophisticated'. The pretty fall leaves were cut on my Cameo and I inked them with assorted inks and Stickles. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Halloween!

I made it by the skin of my teeth! We just got our power back on half an hour ago, and cable and internet soon followed, imagine that! We've been out of power since Monday afternoon, and even with a generator it was NOT fun. The poor kiddies all along the East coast have no Halloween to speak of. Fortunately, my kids are older and don't mind it too much. They've been out of school all week and they're happy about that. 

Fortunately, we escaped from any damage to our home, we're all safe and sound, although our neighbors were not so lucky. They weren't home when a tree fell onto their house, so we can all count our blessings. I'm sure there are thousands of other families who were not that fortunate and are struggling with being displaced from their homes, keeping warm and/or feeding their families. It was a terrible storm, very scary.

I just wanted to pop in and share a Halloween card I had ready a while back to share this morning. I actually have quite a few others, but wasn't able to take pics yet.

This card features stamps from Waltzingmouse, Authentique papers and Memory Box apothecary jar dies.

I hope you all have a safe and happy Halloween, thanks for stopping by!