Home Sweet Home

Hello Friends! Happy Hump Day! I hope you're having a wonderful week so far. Before I get started about the card I would like to do a little housekeeping. As you can see I changed the name of my blog to Carol's Custom Cards. That's my business name and I felt it made more sense to have everything the same - blog, Instagram, Etsy (one day - LOL!). So, hopefully you found me!

Things have been good this way, enjoying the sunny days and mild temperatures in our area. I'm popping in quickly today with more thank you cards I made for my brother-in-law's real estate business. I am smitten with the Post & Parcel Make it Market kit from PTI. This set is so versatile, it's definitely not just for Christmas!

I used patterned paper from Lori Whitlock called The Story of Our Family. It's a great paper pad with plenty of homey designs. The mailbox, envelope and stamp are all from the Post & Parcel set. These cards are 5x7 in size and my brother-in-law loved them!

Well, that's it for me today! I hope the rest of your week is fantastic!

Hugs!

Carol

Thank you

Hello Friends! Happy second week of the New Year! Does time already seem like it's flying? Oh my goodness, this year is definitely in full swing! I'm slowly trying to get my craft room organized. It's really becoming serious because I seem to purchasing items and have absolutely no where to put them! So, I think it's time to purge, clean out and organize! I'm looking at some of the things I have and I can't even remember that last time I used it, so it's going away. Hopefully I will be in a much better place real soon.

Have you ever heard of Scentsy? I had never heard of it before I was invited to a party, but they're candles. You actually break off a piece of it and put it inside a warmer that you plug in. No more lighting candles! They smell really good and the warmers are adorable. The hostess of the party was so sweet, I had to make her a thank you card.

Isn't that tray awesome! It's from MFT and it's just a die, no stamping. I'm in love with this die! The little vase and flower are also from the die set called Bedside Comfort. I aslo a PTI stamp set called Table Service for the sentiment as well as the strawberry pie. The Scentsy party was hosted by my friend's co-worker and she told me that she brought the card to work to show everyone. I think she liked it, LOL! That's what it's all about, I truly want to send out more cards this year and not just for birthday's. I'm a work in progress...

I hope you enjoy your day, the weekend is almost here! Hopefully you have something fun and exciting planned! Thank you so much for stopping by.

Carol

Belated Birthday

Hello Friends! I hope all of you had a nice weekend. Have you been watching the Olympics? The games were absolutely amazing, and I enjoyed every event that we watched. The US did outstanding and it's such a joy to see so many awesome athletes realize their dreams. Loved it!

Well, it's the start to another week and I can't believe that August is almost over! I'm starting to see a lot of stamp companies coming out with their fall and winter releases, so that just means that we'll be singing Jingle Bells pretty soon here at the blog! Today I have a belated birthday card to share. You know, it's really a shame when you're a card maker and you still figure out a way to be late with one of your BFF's birthday's (Sorry Chi!). I made this card using the Some Like it Hot stamp set from PTI.

Can I just tell you that I'm in love with this stamp set?! Don' be surprised if you see red and green flamingos on my Christmas cards this year! (I'm so not kidding!!) The sentiment on this card is from Blue Skies stamp set, also from PTI. Although it's a belated card, it's still cute, right? :-)

Well, I better get ready for work and get this Monday started with a smile. I hope you have a great day, and thank you so much for stopping by!

Carol

A Good Day

Hello Friends,! I hope you had a great weekend! Mine was good, but way too short! I'm actually heading out of town on a business trip today, so I spent my weekend washing, packing, shopping, and making sure my hubby has everything he needs for our little princess.

I can't believe that August is already here! I realized over the weekend that I need to start planning Paige's birthday party because October will be here before you know it! I remember when I was pregnant, our friends told us that once she gets here time was going to fly! They were not kidding!! I personally treasure every minute I spend with Paige because she's already getting very independent. It's going to suck when she doesn't "need" me to do things for her anymore.

Okay, before I start crying let's get on to today's card! You all know that I love my coffee, and today I'm sharing yet another coffee card. Hey, it's Monday, what better way to start the week?

This sentiment could not be more true! I try to start every day with a smile and a positive attitude, it's amazing how far a smile will go! So, I broke out my Copics to color the coffee mugs, I know my coloring isn't great, but I tried! I also used my go-to plaid patterned paper from Lawn Fawn. They recently released new plaid papers for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and winter. You know I'll be picking those up! The stamp set I used is called Latte Love from PTI, it's one of my all-time faves!

Well, I hope all of you have a very Happy Monday and a wonderful week. Thank you so much for stopping by!

Carol

Hello There

Hello Friends! Happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend. It's been SO HOT, I can't even make it my car without breaking a sweat! My weekend was pretty low-key, but it was still really nice. We had another Food Truck Invasion in my neighborhood on Saturday so of course we had to go! I had a delicious Cuban sandwich along with a strawberry milkshake. Can you say delicious?! It was funny because Paige almost ate the whole thing! We had fun, but it was so darn hot we couldn't stay long.

So, about two weeks ago I took some time to make some cards for my stash. It seems that I'm always scrambling to make a card at the last minute, so the light bulb finally went off and I realized that I need to have cards on hand for any occasion. Today's card is just a simple hello. From time to time, a person may come to mind that you haven't spoken to in a while and when that happens, why not send a card? I know everyone loves to text, but how sweet is it when you receive a card in the mail and it's not even your birthday!

This card was quick to make because I finally pulled out my Mini Misti! Why did I wait so long to start using this awesome tool?? I used it for the flowers and the sentiment. The tool allows you stamp in the same area multiple times without a fuss. I love it!!! I used Raspberry Fizz cardstock from PTI for my card base. I pulled out a die that I got in a $25 goodie box from Amber Kemp-Gerstel to make the holes in the second layer. I finished off the card by stamping flowers from The Sweet Life and the sentiment is from the Scripted stamp set, both from PTI. Although this card is simple, I can see myself making lots of these in a rainbow of colors. 

Well, I hope your Monday is off to a great start and thank you so much for stopping by!

Carol

It's Official...

Hello Friends! Happy Hump Day! I hope you're having a great week so far. My week didn't start out too well, I was sick on Monday and Tuesday and that's never fun! I'm feeling much better today, so I'll be going to work and getting myself back into the swing of things. I have to say that although it's nice to have a short work week, it sucks to burn PTO!

I'm very excited today because my husband has officially become a paying customer to Carol's Custom Cards! I think you all know that I sell my cards and recently my husband asked me to make a set of Thank You cards for him. He says "babe, I'll pay you." My ears immediately perked up and I said "really?" He proceeded to tell me that I do good work and I should get paid for it. He is so sweet and I just love him so darn much! So, this is the card I made.

I used the Harvest Berries and Graceful Greetings stamp sets from PTI for the focal point of this card. I added that little strip to the bottom using the Travel Girl paper pad from October Afternoon - an oldie but definitely a goodie. A little red and white baker's twine completed the look. I always say that I have such a tough time making masculine cards, but I think the color scheme helped this card not look too feminine. And I think I hit the mark because my husband really liked them.

Well, I guess I better get a move on and get my day started. I hope you have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by!

Carol

End of year teacher gift

Hello Friends! First, I'd like to wish everyone in the US a Happy Memorial Day, and extend my thanks to all of those who have lost their lives serving for our great country.

I'm popping in quickly today to share an end of the year teacher gift. The last day of "school" for Paige was Friday and she starts her first Summer Camp this week. I'm so excited for her! So, one of the mom's in Paige's class emailed me and asked if we could raise money for our two teachers and provide them with gift cards on the last day of school. Since I'm the Room Parent, I immediately said Yes! It was kind of last minute but in five days we raised $250.00! I purchased Visa gift cards for both teachers, and of course I had to make a cute card!

I absolutely love this shaker pencil from PTI. There are tiny letters in the "eraser" that shake, and then the body of the pencil has sequins. I used Echo Park Teacher's Pet patterned paper - this is such a cute paper pad! I added a strip of notebook paper to the bottom and stamped For A Special Teacher using PTI's Keep it Simple: Teacher set. You have no idea how excited I am that Paige is in daycare, because I am thoroughly enjoying making teacher gifts!

 

Well, we are spending the holiday weekend potty training...it is no easy task! I'm sure she'll catch on soon (at least that's what I'm praying!). If you have any potty training tips, feel free to drop me a line! :-)

 

Have a great day, and thanks so much for stopping by!

 

Carol

May your coffee be strong...

Hello Friends! I hope you had a nice weekend. Mine was really good, but very HOT! I can't believe how hot and humid it is already! It's funny, living in South Florida, you seem to conveniently forget how darn hot it is down here until summer hits again! Oh well, I guess I better up the water intake, and note to self: buy more sleeveless tops! LOL!

So, today I'm popping in to share a cute coffee card with you. You all know that I love me some coffee, and when I saw this sentiment from Taylored Expressions I knew it had to be mine!

Isn't that awesome! I've had the stamp set for a little while now, but just recently had a chance to ink it up. I gave this card to one of the mom's at Paige's school, Candice, she is so sweet! We had a quick conversation one day and she mentioned that she drinks an iced coffee from Dunkin' Donuts every morning, it's her "me" time. So, I decided to make her a card and drop a DD gift card inside. She really liked it, and I was so happy to make her day.

 

As you can see, I pulled out my plaid patterned paper from Lawn Fawn {again} and added those coffee cup stains to the background. That's actually a wood block stamp from Hero Arts called Painted Circle. I added that cute mug from PTI's Candy Cane Christmas stamp and die set, even though it's a holiday set, it's definitely all-year-around worthy!

 

Well, I have to get ready for a business trip so I will leave you for now. But, as the card says, May your Coffee be Strong and your Monday be Short! Thanks for stopping by!

 

Carol

You are a sweetheart

Hello Friends! I know it's been awhile, I sure hope you missed me! Happy Friday the 13th! Any horror film fans out there? I know I am, I think that a Friday the 13th marathon is coming on tonight! I may have to check it out! LOL! I'm back today with a card to share that I made for a sweet co-worker of mine.

This card was a cinch to whip up! I used some of my favorite patterned paper from PTI, Vintage Linens. Then I embellished it a little with some die cut flowers from the Rosie Posie stamp set, also from PTI. I decided to do something a little different for me, and die cut a circle and added some blue shading with Tim Holtz distress ink.  The cute sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp and it's called Hello Beautiful (love that name). Last but not least, I used a little glossy accents for the heart to add a some shine and dimension.

 

So, I am truly trying to make a conscious effort to post more on the blog and Instagram. Did I mention I LOVE Instagram??!! I have plenty of projects to share, it's just finding the time to sit down and get it all together. Hopefully I can work something out with my sweet hubby, so I can get a few hours of crafting time in every week. Keep your fingers crossed on that!

 

Well, I'm off to do some mommy stuff! Oh, speaking of mommy stuff, I'll post some recent pics of Paige soon. Just wait until you see how big she's getting. Absolutely amazing!

 

I hope you all have a great day and thank you so much for stopping by!

 

Carol

Thank you

Hello Friends! I hope you had a great weekend! I think I'm finally starting to get used to "springing forward" with the time change. Hopefully today will be the start of a wonderful week!

Today, I'm sharing a thank you card that I made for my co-worker's wife. I've been having a really hard time finding someone to braid Paige's hair on a regular basis. So, she recommended a hair salon just for kids! Unfortunately, it's an hour away from my house but the stylist did a fantastic job! I've decided that we'll take the trip down there once a month. That shouldn't be too bad, plus Paige looks really cute so it's worth it! Here's the thank you card I made.

I found that cute little girl in the Silhouette Design Store, it was a print and cut file. I just added that gorgeous plaid patterned paper from Lawn Fawn and that script Thanks sentiment is from PTI, the stamp set is called Graceful Greetings. Another super easy card with super cute results!

 

That's it for me today, I hope to back soon with more crafty goodness to share! Have a fantastic day and thank you so much for stopping by!

 

Carol

Hello Beautiful

Hello Friends! Happy Friday! The weekend is finally here and I am ready to enjoy it! I don't know how the weather is in your neck of the woods, but it's been absolutely beautiful here. Low 80's, low humidity, really nice. We're planning on spending some time with David's extended family tomorrow night and that should be a lot of fun. Lots of food, drinks, games and plenty of laughter. That's always a recipe for a good time!

Today, I have a birthday card to share with you.

The first thing I want to say about this card is it had me at Hello! Calling me Beautiful was just icing on the cake - LOL! So, I've recently started to broaden my crafting horizons by purchasing stamps and inks for other companies. I must say that Simon Says Stamp is starting to become a favorite of mine! I bought their February Card Kit and I have not been disappointed.

 

I stamped the sentiment from the February Card Kit and the female silhouette at the bottom is a stamp from PTI's Fashion Sense set. The set was available during their 2015 Stamp-A-Faire and was free with purchase. I made this card along with a few others for my co-worker, she told me that she absolutely loved the cards and can't wait to start mailing them out. That always makes me feel so good!

 

Well, that's it for me today. I hope you have a great weekend, and thank you so much for stopping by!

 

Carol 

Valentine's for the kiddos

Hello Friends! Happy Friday! I am so happy it's the weekend. I'm only working a half day today and my hubby and I both have the day off on Monday (President's Day), so it's a nice long weekend in the Weatherspoon household! Today, I'm sharing Valentine's Day cards that I made for Paige's classmates. It's funny, when I first started this project, there were only 8 kids in her class, now that number has ballooned to 20! Thank goodness I started early!

All of these cards use the Love You to Pieces stamp set, patterned paper, and dies from Papertrey Ink.

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the super cool thing about this set is the kiddos can make a 3D airplane or fox! How cute is that?! Of course they will need adult supervision, and hopefully their parents are up for the challenge. LOL! I had a great time putting these together, and a BIG shout out to my girlfriend Leslie for hooking me up with the fox set! I'll be getting it back in the mail to you real soon!

 

Do you have any plans for Valentine's Day? We typically stay away from restaurants because it's just SO busy and the service seems to suffer a bit. So, we've decided to stay in and have a nice homemade lobster dinner. Since we're off on Monday, we may drop Paige off at school and possibly check out a matinee. That's always fun! I also hope to sneak some crafting time in as well, I have so many things that I want to create! If only there were more hours in the day...

 

Well, that's it for me. I hope you have a fantastic Friday and a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend. Thank you so much for stopping by!

 

Carol

Baby it's cold outside

Hello Friends! Happy Hump Day! I hope you're having a great week thus far and staying warm wherever you may be! Can you believe it got down to the 40's in south Florida over the weekend? We actually had to turn our heat on, it was quite chilly. I know that's not saying much considering the serious winter storm that's tearing up the country, but it's a bit out of the norm for us down here.

So, I thought I'd pop in with a cute little gift that will make you feel warm on the inside...hot cocoa!

I found a recipe for Classic Cocoa on Pinterest and it's super easy to just layer all of the ingredients. Well, I will say that cocoa powder can get out of control...don't ask me how I know! After I layered everything, I sealed it tight and added that cute tag. The sentiments are from the Canned stamp set from PTI and don't you love that little sentiment on the spoon! I {heart} that spoon! The tag and the spoons are from PTI as well.

 

And, last but certainly not least are you peeping that dome on top of the hot cocoa mix? Yup, you guessed it, also from PTI and the set is called Petite Places: Main Street. The way the die set works, is there is a little extra room after the initial cut to fold the pieces in order for them to stand or to make a 3D image like the cafe. Oh my word, I just love this SO much! Those little trees are an add-on and as you can see I cut them a little too close to the edge of the dome, so they are what I'm calling swaying in the wind! LOL! So, under the dome I have the cocoa shop, a couple of scooters, the table and chairs and hopefully my girlfriend will think of me every time she sees it. I added some Flower Soft to make it look pretty and the clear dome is also from PTI.

 

I sure hope you like it Leslie!!! And I also hope you see this post after you receive it! :-)

 

I know this was a little longer than usual, but I sure hope you enjoyed it! Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by!

 

Carol

Sympathy cards

Hello Friends! Happy Saturday! Do you have any fun plans? I know much of the northeast is bracing for a winter storm so if you're in that area, I hope you're someplace warm and cozy. Paige and I will be heading to a birthday party today. Our friend's daughter is turning one, so we're excited to be celebrating with her.

I have a couple of cards to share today. I never like making Sympathy cards, but it's inevitable that you'll need them. I made these cards to add to the set I made for my mom at Christmas time.

I will never grow tired of this patterned paper. It's the Vintage Linens paper pad from Papertrey Ink. It's so beautiful already, you really don't need to add much. As you can see with both cards, the only thing I added was the sentiment. I used the Boutique Borders mini stamp set (also from PTI) for the sentiment and it just adds a soft sweetness to the cards. I think I made both of these cards in under 15 minutes, easy peasy.

 

Okay, call me a procrastinator, but Paige and I still need to pick up a gift for the birthday party so we gotta get out of here! Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, and thank you so much for stopping by!

 

Carol

Thinking of you

Hello Friends! I hope your weekend is off to a great start! Believe it or not, we had a tornado warning yesterday! It was so crazy because all of sudden everyone's cell phone at work started buzzing with the tornado warning message! Kinda scary! The skies got really dark and we had some heavy rain, but thank God no tornado. At least not where I was. Talk about an interesting start to the weekend, LOL!

I'm excited today because I'm taking Paige to one of the indoor gyms that she loves. We're meeting up with her God-Sister so it should be a lot of fun. Paige is just getting so big, and she's becoming a lot more vocal. She repeats EVERYTHING! I told my husband that he needs to watch his language! She's so darn sweet, and she may be one of the happiest toddlers ever!

Today, I'm sharing a couple of cards I made for my mom. She always makes comments while we're on the phone like, I wish I had some more of your cards...Not much of hint, it's kinda like a knock over the head, so I made her some cards last month. :-)

I used the Petite Places: Main Street stamp set from PTI for these cards. I am loving the Petite Places stamps/dies, they are awesome! I'll have some other projects to share using them in the 3-D way they were designed to be used soon. It's another goodie from Besty Veldman - the woman is a crafty genius! I'm pretty sure I used my Silhouette for the Thinking of You sentiment, I absolutely love that font!

 

I'm hoping to get in some crafting time this weekend. I have the day off on Monday to celebrate MLK Day and I have my morning blocked off to do some crafting. Then I plan on marching in one of the local MLK parades with my honey in the afternoon. It should be a great day!

 

I hope you have a fantastic weekend, and thank you so much for stopping by!

 

Carol

Just Because

Hello Friends! Happy Sunday! I hope you're having a lovely weekend. We stayed home for most of the day yesterday and then we visited my mother-in-law which was nice because she loves spending time with Paige. After that we met some friends for dinner and let me tell you our dinner was the bomb! We went to a seafood restaurant that has the most incredible salad bar ever. I had macadamia nut encrusted snapper with a mango & strawberry salsa...DELICIOUS!

I was also able to get a little crafting time in as well. I continued making my Christmas cards and I'm having so much fun because I listen to Christmas music on Pandora while I'm working. It truly puts a smile on my face. I absolutely LOVE the holidays! My plan is to take photos of the cards today so I can share them with you soon.

Today I'm sharing a card I made for a co-worker. I think I really need to make a stash of these cards so I can have them on hand for any occasion.

This card came together really easily because the patterned paper is so darn pretty! It's from PTI and it's called Vintage Linens. I didn't do much except add the beautiful script die cut, also from PTI called Scripted and I picked up that cute button from my local craft store. Quick, easy and I think really pretty. Note to Self: I seriously need to take 30 minutes and just whip up a bunch of these. LOL!

 

I hope the rest of your day is great, and thank you so much for stopping by!

 

Carol

Birthday card

Hello Friends! How are you this beautiful Sunday morning? Although fall isn't in the air in south Florida, I sure do love all of the pumpkin spice goodies being offered EVERYWHERE! I love me some punkin! Once the delicious pumpkin muffins are back at Dunkin Donuts I know the rest of the year is going to fly by! So, while I enjoy my pumpkin Belvita crackers this morning, in the back of mind I'm thinking that Christmas will be here soon!

Well, today I'm sharing a card I made for a co-worker,(I believe her mother is turning 75). I have so many things in my head these days with Paige's birthday coming it's hard for me to keep everything straight! LOL!

For this card I used the Rosie Posie stamp set from PTI to create my own patterned paper. Those flowers are so pretty I love how they just fill in the paper so effortlessly. I added a strip of cardstock to the bottom and added the birthday sentiment. I cut out 75th using my Silhouette and gold foil paper. Have I mentioned that I'm in love with the gold foil?? I swear I wish I could use that stuff on every card I create!

Well, I think I hear my little one waking up so I better get in there so we can get her day started. I hope you have a great day and thank you so much for stopping by!

Carol

Congrats

Hello Friends! Happy Monday! I hope you had a nice weekend. My weekend was very good and even more productive. I spent the entire day on Saturday hanging out with Paige. We went to an indoor playground (I think I mentioned this place before), then we had lunch at Cheesecake Factory. We did some shopping after that and just had an all-around great day together.

Yesterday, I finished Paige's birthday invitations - woohoo!! I think they came out pretty cute, I'll be posting them soon. I also had the opportunity to get started on birthday invitations for my nephew, his birthday is a couple of weeks after Paige. His entire invitation is being cut with my Silhouette, so now that I have everything cut out I'm prepped and ready to go. Hopefully, I'll get those done by the end of the week.

Today, I'm sharing a card I made for my co-worker. Her nephew recently got his driver's license so she asked me to make a congrats card.

This card was so fun to make! I used the stamp set Enjoy the Ride from PTI for the car and the license plate. I made a faux hill by cutting out some green cardstock, then I added those cute trees just to add a little more interest. I really love when I get to make cards that I normally wouldn't have the opportunity to make because it really gets the creative juices flowing.

 

I still can't believe it's Monday already, but here we are with another start to the work week. I hope you have a great week and thank you so much for stopping by!

 

Carol

So Proud of You

Hello Friends! Happy Saturday! I sure hope your weather is nice and you're out enjoying the weekend. We had a tropical storm warning for our area but my hubby told me that the last report has it going west of us and we are hopefully out of the storm's path. I was proactive and picked up supplies like water, candles, snacks, etc and thank goodness I did it early because the shelves at the grocery stores were empty and lines at the gas station were out of control yesterday!!!

Today I'm sharing a card that I made for my co-worker. Her son's girlfriend recently completed Basic Training for the US Air Force so I knew I had to make a card that she could give to her.

I used my handy dandy Silhouette to cut the letters for Air Force as well as the F-22 fighter jet (I think it was a F-22!). I already had that beautiful patterned paper on hand from Authentique along with the sticker. I finished off the card by stamping some red and blue stars and adding the So Proud of You sentiment using Script Sentiments from PTI. I think I've mentioned before that I really love making patriotic cards, especially for members of our US Military.

 

Well, I think we're expecting a sunny day today so I'm going to get out there and enjoy it! Have a great day and thank you so much for stopping by!

 

Carol

Birthday cards

Hello Friends! I hope you're having a great week thus far. It's been very nice being on vacation, I've been chilling! Paige and I ventured out yesterday to an indoor playground (remember I told you I can't do HOT and HUMID) and it was really nice. Paige had an absolute blast! After that, we met my friend (and Paige's Godmother) for lunch. I had one of the BEST burgers I think I've ever had, and let me tell you I've had some great burgers. I think it ranks in my top 3!

I thought I would drop by and share two more cards from the set I made my co-worker.

 

These cards were made with the PTI Make it Market Kit - Shakers & Sprinkles but I didn't add the sprinkles or the shakers for a change. I just used the beautiful patterned paper and added some enamel dots. Easy peasy! I know I've said this over and over again, but I LOVE THIS KIT! It's so easy to use and all of the cards come out amazing. Thank you Besty Veldman!!

 

Well, I hope the rest of your day is fantastic and thank you so much for stopping by!

 

Carol