Back from vaction... see what I learned

I want to start off by thanking all of you for the sweet comments about my grandfather's birthday.  It was a great success, many tears were shed - all good of course.  The photo album was a hit along with all the other photo boards my cousin and aunt put together.  There were even 2 sisters there who hadn't seen each other in 30 years, needless to say... it was a emotional and exhilarating day!


And here's proof it was a long day...





Now to crafting...


Since I'm still a newbie at this card making business I was really excited to spend some much needed time with my cousin.  She taught me how to make 3 different cards I've drooled over that she's created in the past.  It was so much fun, we started off shopping (of course) at Michael's and Joann's.  She also introduced me to a wonderful store called the Green Tangerine in Roseville, CA.  They have anything and everything you can ever think of for any sort of paper making your little heart will desire.  We found the secret clearance corner and I stocked up on stamps.  Oh, and I got the cricut magazine, I fell in love and I'm pretty sure I'll break down and get a subscription.  We ended up making cards until 3:30 in the morning, we could have stayed up for much longer but the breakfast reservations at 9 we already had with 15 other people were taunting us..


Ok, enough with the talking, here's what we made:


We made a spinner card - these cute little things are easy to make. 
I used the Glitter Mat Stack from Joann's and a set of studio-g iclear stamps I bought at green tangerine

The next card we made was a tri-fold card.  This card can look so elegant and at the same time can be designed to look colorful and fun. 



This last card was so much fun, almost everything that it took to make the card was a new technique for me.  I got to experience the Copic Marker coma... Those are freaking amazing (as my cousin puts it). 
This is the easel card.  We used the HG-Sing stamp from Greeting farm, Stampin' Up chalk for the smoky outlines, and for the first time I got to use an i-rock.  Another item to add to my growing wish list...