Sweet Pea's Story

January's Christmas Cards

2012-02-02T14:41:00.000-08:00

I play along with the Christmas Card Challenge on Splitcoaststampers. I pledged to make 10 cards a month. It really works great for me when it comes down to November and December. So for the month of January, I made five of one style and five of another. I had originally intended to make all ten cards like the one on the left, a Fall To Layout. Soon after I began production of the cards, I realized that I would not have enough designer paper. So....I opted to make a different style of card, a second Fall To Layout, and still use the same designer paper. I guess these are a little bit non-traditional in color, but I like them.

I colored my Christmas tree with Copic and Touch Twin markers. I think I am really in the beginning of my learning curve about how to color with markers. I am signed up to go to a Copic class on Saturday and I am really looking forward it. I have a couple of books that I have browsed through with regard to coloring and I am planning on brushing up with them before class on Saturday.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Thursday. It's a sunny day and I am loving it. Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Sidekick Sayings, Christmas Greetings; Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Jillibean soup dsp; Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black; Accessories: Copics, Nestabilities, circle punch, star punch, paper snips, Snowflakes #8 ef, stampin' dimensionals, scallop border punch, Sakura clear star gel pen.

Looking Back

2012-01-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

Michelle was the hostess for last Thursday's Way To Use It challenge and she has named it Looking Back. Michelle's challenge is about looking back through the last year of Ways To Use It challenges and incorporating at least two of those challenges. Michelle even provided links to those challenges. A big thanks to her because that is time consuming! I used six past challenges on my card. I chose Stuck on Me, Friend of Faux?, Love Your Kraft, Something Old, Something New, No White Cardstock, and i HEART you. It took me a while to get around to posting this, but here it is!

Happy Tuesday to you, folks!

Details - Stamps: Short & Sweet; Paper: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Kraft; Ink: Whisper White craft, Early Espresso; Accessories: Musical Flourish ef, brayer, M's glitter foam stickers, stampin' dimensionals.

Monday's Sentiment

2012-01-30T12:42:00.000-08:00

It's Monday and the Friends of Speedy TV are only using sentiments today for our challenge. No images for this week, just words. When I began to work on my card for this challenge, I knew I would go with pretty patterned paper and then keep the rest simple. I could gaze for hours and hours at some paper without cutting into it. This sentiment is one that is a good reminder for me at the moment. My husband is away and I am single parenting. I know that some parents do this on a regular basis, so they must have this one down pat. I am not very practiced at this, so I need the reminder. I went ahead and posted this on Facebook today as I thought some people I know might like a pretty little reminder too!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a wonderful week.

Details - Stamps: Floral Tea (Mark's Finest Papers); Paper: Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Everyday Enchantment dsp; Ink: Soft Suede, Peach Parfait; Accessories: Nestabilities, corner chomper, wide Vanilla organdy, 1/8" Calypso Coral organdy, sponge dauber, Sakura clear star gel pen, stampin' dimensionals, glue dot.

Speedy TV and Birthdays

2012-01-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

It's another Monday challenge with the Friends of Speedy TV. Today's challenge is all about birthdays. Who doesn't need a birthday card? I am always running out of these, especially the masculine variety. With all of the fun and fancy embellishments that are available these days, it's hard to keep it simplified. I think it did it here though! I repeated that tree a bunch of times to get that forest on there. I only reinked it a few times so that I would get some variation in the color of my trees as well. I did one thing here that I rarely do, as it feels criminal most of the time. I cut apart my stamp so that I could lengthen my sentiment to fit my flag. Have you ever cut apart a stamp? How does it make you feel? If you get some time today, it would be great if you could play along!

After a full week off from work, I head back to school today. Let's hope I can remember my job! Thanks for stopping by and Happy Monday.

Details - Stamps: A Walk in the Woods (MFP), Buffalo Spring (MFP); Paper: Certainly Celery, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso; Ink: Old Olive, Early Espresso; Accessories: Earth Elements button, paper snips, stampin' dimensionals.

Featuring One of Speedy's Friends

2012-01-22T09:28:00.000-08:00

Today's Featured Stamper on Splitcoast is Kim, Luv Flowers. Kim is a design team member for Mark's Finest Papers. She is on the Speedy Fox Blog Team. So, you know I had to play...and I had to break out some of my MFP too! I reached way back into Kim's gallery to 2008, for a very simple design that would work for me. I chose this card to case. I hope she doesn't mind that I dug so deep. The Saturday challenge for Speedy Fox and Friends (Kim's design team) is to make a birthday card. Hey, I can do that! My card is fairly self-explanatory. I stamped my crocus and colored it with Copic markers. I'm still learning about these markers, so forgive me. I cut out my image and popped it up over some designer paper and an embossed card base. I finished it off with a little organdy ribbon, an embossed sentiment and some rounded corners.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet as the wind is blowing in my neck of the woods and I am wondering if we are going to get to keep our power. I hope so, but if not, I am prepared. I'm going to start my laundry so that I can have some clean clothes for work tomorrow, too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Winter Crocus (MFP), Background Fun (MFP); Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Night & Day Specialty dsp; Ink: Tuxedo Black, Versamark; Accessories: White ep, heat tool, stripes ef, Nestabilities, copics, white organdy ribbon, corner chomper, stampin' dimensionals.

Sew Beautiful

2012-01-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

"Sew Beautiful" is the name of today's Ways To Use It challenge hostessed by the fabulous Hannah! She has challenged us to use stitching on our cards. With preparation for my hubby's big trip, I have been busy and now am tired. As much as I wanted to hand stitch these cute little papers together, I went faux! I normally do white stitching, but went with black today. I really like the look of the black mats and accents. I'm not sure why I don't think to do it more, but I think I will be trying from here on out. It really seems to pop. Speaking of popping, the head of the flower is popped up off my page. I realize it's hard to tell, but that isn't shading around the blossom, it is shadow. I also glitzed up my flower center with some yellow Stickles today too.

I borrowed today's sketch from the ladies at the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club. I took a little artistic license and moved my blossom in a bit to work with my image.

It's chilly today so this little flower gives me hope for a nice warm spring. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Details - Stamps: Time To Blossom (Verve); Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, BG Perhaps, BG Eskimo Kisses; Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black; Accessories: Copic markers, yellow stickles, M's rhinestones, black grosgrain, stampin' dimensionals, paper snips.

Can You Digi It

2012-01-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

Have you heard? No really, have you heard? There's a new game in town, or a new store on the net and it's name is Can You Digi It! My Ways To Use leader and VSN buddy, Michelle, is running the show, so you know that it is good. Today is the Grand Opening Blog Hop for the store and I chose to showcase this cool digi set by LilyPink Designs called Shoes & Shopping! This shoes in this set are super cute with fun sentiments to keep them company. I colored this shoe, embossed it for a little shine and then popped it up on my card. Let me tell you, it was fun! Ready for some more fun??? I'm in the middle of the hop. Head back to the Can You Digi It Blog to get your full dose of Wednesday eye candy. In case you get lost, here is the hop order:

Toni Storie (you are here)

Dana Alley (go here next)

Once you're done hopping, you'll want to stop by the store for the fabulous SALE we have going on right now. Don't forget to use CYDIGOC15 to get 15% off all non-digital goodies in addition to the products our artists have put on sale.

The sale/coupon ends Friday, January 27th when Michelle gets on the plane for CHA. Make sure you are a C.Y.D.I? Twitter follower to get all the updates from CHA!

Details - Stamps: Shoes & Shopping (LilyPinkDesigns); Paper: Whisper White, Chatterbox Inc. dp; Ink: Versamark; Accessories: Seeing Spots ef, colored pencils, clear ep, heat tool, stampin' dimensionals.

A Colored Bird

2012-01-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

Today, the Friends of Speedy TV are only using their colored pencils. It felt like a sort of back to basics kind of day, so that is how I made my card. I did use a Splitcoaststampers sketch to kick off my card. I liked this sketch because it worked well for my image that I had in mind and seemed to match my interpretation of the challenge. Then I stamped this pretty little bird on a pussy willow branch from a Mark's Finest Papers set called Pussy Willows for my main panel. I colored the image with some colored pencils and shaded just a little bit. I added a sentiment from the same set and a couple of buttons that I threaded with a vanilla paper strip.

I have the day off today and will be spending it with family. We are preparing for my husband to leave on a vacation. I hope you enjoy your day today...you are in my thoughts.

Details - Stamps: Pussy Willows (MFP); Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Gray, Le Jardin dsp; Ink: London Fog, Basic Gray; Accessories: Random buttons, stampin' dimensionals, colored pencils.

Using Stickers

2012-01-15T17:44:00.000-08:00

Hi there! Thursday was my turn to hostess another Ways To Use It challenge at Splitcoaststampers. I chose stickers as my theme for this week's challenge. I figure that just about everyone has some kind of sticker in their stash. My sticker here is a clear sentiment sticker from Cloud 9 Designs. It has been in my drawer for at least two years. Every else about my card is rather simple. I die cut a couple of hearts. I embossed and sanded one for a little more interest. I distressed the edges and really worked my corners for some more shabbiness.

I used a sketch from My Favorite Things. Sometimes I find their sketches a bit challenging. That probably means that I need to keep at those for a while. I also worked in a Stamp 2 Spend challenge offered up by Kelly to make a card and send it to someone. This will be my anniversary card for my husband. I'll have to tuck it in his luggage, as he will be traveling on our anniversary.

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Paper: Very Vanilla, Chatterbox Inc. dp; Accessories: Cloud 9 Designs sticker, Musical Flourish ef, edge distresser, sanding block, Heart Framelits, square punch, stampin' dimensionals.

FOSTV Thanks You

2012-01-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

It's Monday again and time for another Friends of Speedy TV challenge. Today we are making thank you cards. It's just the right time of year for that sort of thing. Well, anytime of year is good for thank you cards, really! I went with kind of a masculine feel today and a clean and simple design. I'm a clean and simple kind of girl and I really love silhouettes! This one was fun and all I had to do was just mask and sponge in a little ground!

I used a sketch from the clean and simple stamping blog to get me going. Those are always great. This one is particularly versatile and I can totally see myself using it time and again.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Details - Stamps: Buffalo Spring(Mark's Finest Papers), A Walk in the Woods (Mark's Finest Papers); Paper: Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Welcome Neighbor dsp; Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake; Accessories: Nestabilities, 1 3/8" circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1/8" Early Espresso taffeta ribbon, stampin' dimensionals.

Flashin' Back Clean and Simple

2012-01-06T12:48:00.000-08:00

We are flashing back to our first clean and simple card. You can check out the Flashback Friday challenge here. For me, that means going back to the very beginning of my Splitcoaststampers gallery. Back then, almost four years ago, I wouldn't have been able to define my style. As I continued on in my hobby, I found my style and it really leans more toward clean and simple than anything else. You'll have to pardon my photography skills back then. I have learned a thing or two in four years about making my cards appear more like they really are. But then, who hasn't?

I originally made this card for a Kristina Werner color inspiration challenge. The colors in the challenge are So Saffron, Sahara Sand, Pumpkin Pie and Wild Wasabi. It's fun to look back, isn't it. I don't think I have ever put these colors together since!

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Artfully Asian, Embrace Life; Paper: So Saffron, Sahara Sand, Pumpkin Pie, Wild Wasabi; Ink: Stazon Black, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust; Accessories: Self-adhesive twill tape, Stampin' Dimensionals, Blender Pen.

Happy Birthday Michelle

2012-01-05T06:44:00.001-08:00

We are using it again, this time with a birthday theme. In honor of her birthday, Michelle, our fearless leader, hostesses today's Way To Use It challenge. Today's challenge is a choice challenge. You can either make a birthday card, which I did, or you can make a card with your favorite things. Michelle is an enabler of the best kind and is happy to be enabled as well. Let's help her find a way to spend that birthday cash!

I went super simple today. I have had this designer paper for a while and finally decided to cut into it. That is after I found the perfect sketch to work with. The sketch is this week's CPS sketch. I strayed just a teeny bit by rounding some corners.

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Best Dad Ever; Paper: Whisper White, Brilliant Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Jillibean Soup dp; Ink: Brilliant Blue; Accessories: Corner Chomper, stampin' dimensionals.

A Tropical Feeling

2012-01-03T20:14:00.001-08:00

Yep, I've got a tropical feeling. I watched an episode of No Reservations last night in which Anthony Bourdain visited Cambodia. It reminded me very much of my visit several years ago to Thailand. It makes me long to go back to SouthEast Asia. I'm very jealous right now as my husband prepares to travel with his brother to Thailand in just two weeks. I resurrected this card from early 2011. I'm fairly certain that it never made my blog.

I originally made the card for a mini VSN challenge back in April during the Pirate Party VSN. Lori McAree hostessed the challenge and made it lots of fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Balmy Breeze, Windows To The World (Flourishes); Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White; Ink: River Rock, Baja Breeze, Poppy Parade, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso; Accessories: Stampin' Sponge, sponge dauber, post-its.

A Gatefold Challenge

2012-01-02T09:11:00.000-08:00

The Friends of Speedy TV are offering up a challenge today to make a gatefold card. If I am right, I suggested this little challenge. I wanted my Black Eyed Susan to be the star of the show, so I left the design fairly simple. I did sponge ink on my focal and sentiment panels and the edges of the patterened paper. When you open up this little gem, the sentiment opens to the left and the image opens to the right.

I want to wish you all a belated Happy New Year and wish you all wonderful adventures for 2012!

Sorry for the short post today :) My daughter and I are off to have fun on our very last day of winter break. It's back to school for both of us tomorrow.

Details- Stamps: Black Eyed Susans mini (MFP), Peaceful Nuthatch (MFP); Paper: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Whisper White, Sweet Pea dsp; Ink: Rich Cocoa; Accessories: Copics, Nestabilities, word window punch, modern label punch, sponge dauber, stampin' dimensionals.

Beading It!

2011-12-29T11:53:00.000-08:00

I'm today's hostess for the Splitcoaststamper's Ways To Use It challenge and I chose to challenge folks to use beads. I have lots of beads that are just collected dust. Finally, I have them out and have used them a bit. These microbeads were really fun and I used them to fill in the perimeter of my Verve butterfly!

I also used a Mojo Monday sketch to kick start my card. I tried to pull all three colors from my little microbead collection.

Happy Thursday, thanks for stopping by and I hope you will think about playing with me today!

(Sorry for the short post today, my daughter is home and is anxious to paint my nails!)

Details - Stamps: Chicks Rule (Verve), Fluttering By (Verve); Paper: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberrry, Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz; Ink: Tuxedo Black; Accessories: Flutterby die (Verve), Loopy Blooms die (Verve), crystal effects, microbeads, pretties kit, Sakura clear star gel pen, stampin' dimenisonals, Rich Razzleberry ribbon, pear pizzazz seam binding, pool party ruffled ribbon, glue dots, scor-tape.

A Blue Monday

2011-12-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

But, it's not blue like you would expect it to be. I'm not sad or anything...it's just time for another challenge with the Friends of Speedy TV. Today's challenge is to make a winter card or a mostly blue card. I have had my fill of the holidays (and they were quite enjoyable!) and wanted to do something a little different. I decided for a mostly blue card and came up with this. I decided to try to make a mirror that looked a cracked to go with the sentiment rest of the sentiment which reads, "But, you are still in one piece! Happy Birthday!". I have a couple of girlfriends who appreciate funny birthday cards every once in a while.

My card was pretty simple once I decided on how to make my mirror. I embossed and sponged the background a bit and then devised the "wallpaper and the doily". The lovely lace came from my Friends of Speedy TV team mate Melisa Waldorf. Thanks Melisa!!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you have a fabulous Monday!

Details - Stamps: Background Fun (Mark's Finest Papers); Paper: Soft Sky, Soft Suede, Brushed Gold, Afternoon Tea dsp; Ink: Soft Suede, Soft Sky, Going Gray, Versamark; Accessories: Nestabilities, large oval punch, scor-tape, lace, corner chomper, stampin' dimensionals, gold ep, heat tool, sponge dauber.

Using Digis

2011-12-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

It's Thursday again and that means it is time to Use It! Hannah has us going digital today and that left me a little bit limited. I'm behind the times and don't have many digital images to choose from. I was too lazy to search up any freebies and went for some Verve images I did have. I think these were eventually made into stamps, but I swear these are digi images! With all the holiday prep going on right now, it's important to give yourself the gift of relaxation and enjoyment. Won't you sit down and stamp a bit?

I hope you are having a fabulous Thursday! Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Winter Mittens digi (Verve); Paper: White, Basic Black, Night & Day Specialty dsp; Ink: Pink Pirouette; Accessories: Copics, Nestabilties, sponge dauber, paper snips, M's rhinestones, stampin' dimensionals, Sakura clear star gel pen.

A Furry Happy Birthday

2011-12-21T15:56:00.000-08:00

Today's card is brought to use today in the name of something other than Christmas. I'm not tired of Christmas, but I just don't need another card for this weekend. What I am short of is birthday cards, so I decided to whip one up. Touch Twin Markers & More is hosting a "Furry Friend" themed challenge. I found these to Gina K cuties and stamped and colored them. After I die-cut them out, I found a great sketch to work them into. The clean and simple stamping blog posted this sketch last week and I have had it printed out since then. I'm really glad that I got a chance to use it.

I think I will make this brief, as my darling daughter is napping upstairs and I want to get a little more stamping done today. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great Wednesday!

Details - Stamps: Warm and Fuzzy (GKD), Garden Silhouettes (GKD); Paper: Pool Party, Chocolate Chip, GKD white, Crate Paper Mia; Ink: Early Espresso, Rich Cocoa; Accessories: Touch Twin Markers, Copics, Nestabilities, scor-tape, pool party ruffled ribbon, stampin' dimensionals.

Friends of Speedy Go Clean

2011-12-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

We are going Clean and Simple this week over at the Friends of Speedy TV. I broke out this fabulous poinsettia wreath by Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Company. The set Christmas Wreath mini contains both the image and the sentiment. I combined those with a little embossing a mat and some gold cord. Voila, a Christmas card.

I have read recently about households being ravaged by flu. I missed the last two days of my work week due to what had to have been a flu that my daughter had. My husband had an annual party that he hosts to complete on Saturday, so that left me to care for her. I have never used so much Lysol Disinfecting Spray in all my life. My daughter had a raging fever and was vomiting and I did not want it. The good news is that she is better now and I think I have just about passed through the time period for incubation of a germ and may have escaped! Cross your fingers! Sorry about the grossness of the last paragraph, but that will explain my absence on my blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Miniature Winter Wonderland sketch challenge

2011-12-13T12:27:00.000-08:00

I hostessed a challenge over this weekend at VSN (Virtual Stamp Night). My challenge was called Miniature Winter Wonderland and it was a sketch challenge. This was the very first sketch I have ever drafted. I think I did okay for a first time. I based my sketch on the idea of a snow globe. My little girl keeps snow globes on her desk all year long. I can hardly blame her, they are magical. So for my card, I added a fabulous frosty guy, colored up lightly and dotted the whole globe with my Sakura Stardust gel pen. Of course, it's hard to see in the photo, but in real life, it really sparkles! I recently saw this older designer paper used on a winter card and thought it was totally appropriate. I love that design looks like multicolored snowflakes.

I hope everyone is having a Happy Tuesday and thanks for coming by!

Details - Stamps: Warm Winter Wishes (Flourishes), A Season of Celebrations (Flourishes); Paper: Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Delicate Dots dsp, Certainly Celery dsp; Ink: Stazon Jet Black; Accessories: Watercolor pencils, SU jewels, Sakura Stardust gel pen, white taffeta ribbon, Nestabilities, stampin' dimensionals, glue dots.

Christmas with Speedy TV

2011-12-12T23:25:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday! It's time for another Friends of Speedy TV challenge with Mark's Finest Papers A Heinrich Company. Today, we are making Christmas cards. I opted to go relatively easy with my card today. I was inspired to make this card by one of my fellow hostesses at VSN this weekend. Michelle offered up a challenge to create a winter scene type of challenge and made a black and white sample with a pop of red! I was hooked and new immediately what kind of Christmas card I was going to make. Despite the few layers, this one was pretty easy to make. I stamped and sponged one layer and embossed another.

I'll keep this short and sweet today! Hope you have a great day!

Details: Stamps: Country Church mini, Greetings of the Season mini; Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red; Ink: Basic Gray, Tuxedo Black; Accessories: sponge dauber, red satin ribbon, M's black rhinestones, score-tape, stampin' dimensionals.

We Are In A Winter Wonderland

2011-12-09T23:12:00.000-08:00

A VSN Winter Wonderland, that is. We played five challenges tonight and have all kinds of challenges for players tomorrow. I hope you can stop by and take a look or play a few. It's really quite fun! This challenge was the first one out of the gate. The Amazing Lydia led us off with an inspiration challenge of sorts...create a card about what gives you the warm and fuzzies. I opted for the smell of cookies baking and some snuggle and reading time with my girl. The current reading topic in Kindergarten is the traditional story and variations of The Gingerbread Man. We also completed a family homework assignment to decorate our own construction paper gingerbread man. Our gingerbread lady was complete with designer paper, embroidery floss, rhinestones, googly eyes, embossed lips, rhinestones necklace and earrings, chalk blush and Pearl Ex eyeshadow! My girl had a fabulous time raiding Mommy's craft room. My husband even got in on the action trimming some designer paper shoes and adhering embroidery floss with 1/8" scor-tape!

Anyway, I hope to see you at VSN tomorrow. It's sure to be a ton of fun. Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Got Treats; Paper: Whisper White, AC Merrymint; Ink: Versamark, Creamy Caramel; Accessories: Nestabilities, paper snips, stampin' dimensionals, sponge dauber, clear ep, heat tool.

Stencils for Thursday

2011-12-08T17:28:00.000-08:00

Today it is my turn to hostess the Ways To Use It challenge on Splitcoaststampers. My challenge, Stencil Love, is all about getting out those stencils and putting them to work. For my card, I used the stencil function of Spellbinder's Nestabilities. I die cut my snowflakes and then sponged some Soft Suede ink onto my snowflakes. Then, I covered each flake with Versamark and embossed with sparkling embossing powder. Other than that, my card is super simple.

It was finally a busy day today for me. Soooo....that means I have to get busy and ready myself for the Winter Wonderland VSN main event. It starts tomorrow at 2PM EST and is sure to be fun. I hope to see you all there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Details: Stamps:Meet Me Under the Mistletoe (Flourishes); Paper: Soft Suede, Whisper White, Christmas Cocoa dsp; Ink: Soft Suede, Versamark; Accessories: White ep, Iridescent Ice ep, heat tool, Nestabilities, stampin' dimensionals, corner chomper, sponge dauber.

A Merry Little VSN Card

2011-12-07T10:14:00.000-08:00

Yup, this little card is from the last VSN mini. Since the main event is coming up this Friday and Saturday, I thought I would show you a little VSN love. This card was for Kelly's challenge called Jingle Bell Rock. Kelly challenged crafters to make a card representing your favorite holiday song. For Kelly's challenge you were to use at least two layers and two embellishments. I fudged a little and used two different colors of Stickles. The VSN police didn't come after me, so I assume it was okay. I had a hard time choosing a favorite song. So when I spied this little sentiment and I was off to the races!

I use sketches almost exclusively when I play along with VSN so that I can make the time limit. I was inspired by this Fall To Layout for today's card. I say inspired because I didn't stick to the sketch exactly.

Happy Wednesday folks! Thanks for coming by!

Details - Stamps: Ornamental Christmas (Verve); Paper: Whisper White, Island Indigo, Old Olive, AC Merrymint; Ink: Early Espresso, Old Olive; Accessories: paper snips, Stardust Stickles, Lime Stickles.

Silhouette Monday

2011-12-05T00:01:00.000-08:00

That's right, silhouette Monday with the Friends of Speedy TV. Today's challenge is to use a silhouette on your card. I couldn't resist this new image from Ice and Snow. This is a set that will be released this month by Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Company. Isn't it gorgeous, don't you just wish that you could take a stroll down that moonlit lane with your sweetie and hot beverage of your choice? It's doing it for me!!!

I sponged my sky first and masked out my moon. Then I stamped my trees and lined the path and some branches with my Versamark pen. Finally, I embossed the Versamark with some Iridescent Ice embossing powder to give it that magical sparkle that snow really does have.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will play along with us this week!

Details - Stamps: Ice and Snow (MFP), Greetings of the Season mini (MFP); Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White; Ink: Brocade Blue, Night of Navy, Tuxedo Black, Versamark; Accessories: Iridescent Ice ep, heat tool, scor-pal, stampin' dimensionals.

In case you are still with me...I wanted to add a proud Momma moment. My mother and I took my daughter Christmas dress shopping and she was less than patient. However, we did end up with a cute dress. I goofed up the photo a little, but I also like black and white photos. In real life, the sash and a third of the sparkling polka dots are red. The other two-thirds of the polkas are silver and the rest of the dress is black. She will finish the rest of her ensemble off with a black velvet shrug and some "Dorothy" shoes. Thanks for indulging me!

Guest Designing with Scor-pal!!

2011-12-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

In October, I made a couple of treat boxes for my daughter's kindergarten teacher and her classroom aide. I submitted it as part of Scor-pal's Guest Designer Challenge for that month. Lucky me! (My husband always says I should be a lottery ticket!) I was chosen to be December's Guest Designer and this month's theme at the Scor-pal blog is "last minute gifts". This is surely 'the challenge' for me, as I do lots of things at the last minute.

This covered notepad is really quite easy to do. The first time I made one of these, it took me less than 45 minutes. I'll break down the steps for you here. You'll need a 5" x 8" junior legal pad, 3 pieces of card stock (8 1/2" x 11", 5" x 8", and 2 1/8" x 5"), your Scor-pal or Scor-buddy and some strong adhesive. I used Scor-tape on my project here.

Step 1: With your 11" side of the 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of card stock on top, score at 4 1/8", 9 1/4" and 9 1/2". Place the 8" side of your card stock on the top and score at 1/2". Trim off the shaded portions above.

Step 2: If you prefer to stamp the base, now is the time to do it. Then, burnish your score lines.

Step 3: With the 2 1/8" side of the 2 1/8" x 5" piece of card stock on top, score at 7/8" and 1 1/8". (I used my Scor-buddy and scored at 7/8", then slid that score line over to the 1" groove and then scored at 1 1/4").

Step 4: Burnish the score lines on this piece and adhere to the top of the junior legal pad with the 7/8" section on the front of the pad. (This photo shows how you are covering up the label on the legal pad).

Step 5: Adhere the 1 1/2" x 8" section of the largest piece of card stock to the back of the legal pad.

Step 6: Fold flap up and adhere to the next section on it's right (which measures 5" x 8"). You have now created a pocket and the front cover of your note pad.

Step 7: Adhere your 5" x 8" piece of card stock to the back of the notepad for a finished look.

Step 8: Embellish as desired.

I want to give credit for this design as it is not my own. I first encountered this covered notepad through Virtual Stamp Night on Splitcoaststampers. It was featured in a May 2009 Virtual Stamp Night challenge. The design is originally credited to Julie Ebersole.

Thanks for reading all the way through my first tutorial. I hope you enjoyed it and have a fabulous day!

Details - Stamps: The Artist In You (Unity Stamp Company), Blue Skies (Verve); Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Thoroughly Modern dsp; Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Rose Red; Accessories: Black Satin ribbon, Black Lace, Black Grosgrain ribbon, SU tag sheet, Sakura Clear Star gel pen, sponge dauber, glue dot, stampin' dimensionals.

A Sketchy Monday with the Friends of Speedy TV

2011-11-28T00:01:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday to you! Today's challenge at Speedy TV is to use your favorite sketch. If you have read my blog for any length of time, you have seen this sketch before. I love this sketch for many reasons! First of all, look at all that patterned paper you can use. Second, it has a lovely CAS look to it. Finally, it really lets the sentiment stay in focus and isn't that why we send a card? I would love to take the credit for this sketch, but I can't. It comes from the fabulous Jessica Witty. She had this sketch published in Papercrafts Go To Sketches, Volume 1. Seriously, it is my favorite. I think I will make a few others cards with this sketch will I am at it and replenish my stock. Since this is a Speedy TV challenge, you will notice that my sentiment comes from the newly released Peaceful Nuthatch set. I love the font!!

Well, back to work for this girl. Although, I don't know for how long...I have a jury summons and a low number. Have a great day!

Details - Stamps: Peaceful Nuthatch (MFP); Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Studio G dsp; Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black; Accessories: circle punch, linen & canvas impression plate, stampin' dimensionals.

Trading Rain for Snow?

2011-11-27T10:58:00.000-08:00

I am willing to trade today's rain for snow. We had snow a couple of weeks ago, but I want the kind of snow that comes in heavy and blankets the ground. We have had some really gusty winds today with our rain and that makes me worry about losing power. I just have this feeling, so I got my stock and rice going early this morning to make sure all I would have to do is just combine everything in a pot on the wood stove for tonight. My daughter is watching her cartoons this morning and we'll read and craft later this afternoon. My girl likes to get crafty any chance she gets. Her teacher told me about the homework for this week and I know she will be in Heaven. The kids in her class get to decorate giant paper gingerbread men. She will be itching to raid Mommy's craft room for this look. Look out glitter!

Anyway, this snowy card is another one of my mini VSN cards from earlier this month. Anita challenged crafter's to create your own snow. I used some flocking on this one. That stuff gets everywhere, argh!

Hope you long weekend has been wonderful! Thanks for coming by.

Details - Stamps: Solemn Stillness, Occasional Quotes; Paper: Whisper White, Soft Suede, BG Mistletoe and Pear; Ink: Versamark, Always Artichoke; Accessories: White Fun Flock, Alen's glue, May Arts ribbon, scor-tape, glue dot.

A Little Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T20:51:00.000-08:00

I wanted to fit a little Thanksgiving in here before I take off straight into Christmas. I made this candle sleeve for the November Scor-pal Designer challenge based on a theme of "give thanks". I took a piece of mustard card stock and score every 1/4" and then used my scor-tape to adhere this pretty snug to the candle. It does slide up and down for safe burning. I then added patterned paper, ribbon, raffia and a sentiment with leaf accents. I sponged the edges of the scored base for extra definition. While I was at it I sponged the leaves, the sentiment and the patterned paper.

This would have made a lovely centerpiece for my Thanksgiving table, if only I could get myself organized. I really don't have much of an excuse as I cooked dinner for 8 and 3 others brought dishes. I can offer one little excuse...my grandparent arrived 2 hours early. I love my grandparent and they always arrive early. So I just let them know the time we would be eating and assumed that they would be about an hour early. As it turns out, my grandmother failed to adjust her watch for daylight savings time. I only discovered this as she was complaining to my Mom about how late dinner was and she quoted the wrong time to my Mom. (It probably didn't help that I am known throughout the family for my lateness!)

Thanks for stopping by! Hopefully, I will get some Christmas up on the blog tomorrow.

Details - Stamps: Holiday Best; Paper: More Mustard, Spice Cake, Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, River Rock; Ink: Soft Suede, River Rock, More Mustard; Accessories: Scor-pal, scor-tape, Nestabilities, Pool Party ribbon, raffia, leaf punch, sponge dauber, glue dots, stampin' dimensionals.

I Miss You

2011-11-23T22:47:00.000-08:00

On this Thanksgiving Eve, I can't help but think of who will be missing from our table tomorrow. My sister just moved to Florida and I will miss her for sure. Only one of her sons will make it tomorrow, as the other one decided to fly to Germany yesterday. It will be strange to have just one of my nephews...and without his mother, but we will make do. I have plenty to do yet, so I will make this quick.

This is one of my VSN mini cards. The main event isn't too far off now. We'll be playing December 9th and 10th. I hope you can join us. Back to my card, this one was for Theresa's challenge called Head in the Clouds where she challenged us to get clouds on our card. In the interest of saving time, I broke out some designer paper with clouds and stamped on it. Quickly, I matted it and tied some linen thread around it. I popped it up off of the base and called it done.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Details - Stamps: All Year Cheer II; Paper: Crumb Cake, Rose Red, Welcome Neighbor dsp; Ink: Crumb Cake; Accessories: stampin' dimensionals, linen thread.

Tuesday Snow

2011-11-22T00:01:00.000-08:00

Oops, I am late again in posting my Ways To Use It challenge card. Hannah was our hostess last Thursday and she challenged us to make a winter card. I busted out with the faux snow. I had never made the do-it-yourself flower soft and decided it was time to try it. It worked like magic and I am sooooooo ready to throw out my Fun Flock! I stamped my little snowman and colored him just a bit. I drew in my hillside and went to work on creating my faux snow. I began rubbing two styrofoam balls together over a paper plate. Of course I was doing this is the living room while my hubby watched television. I got the evil eye from him and then my little helper wanted to have her turn. After all chaos I created settled down. I spread some tacky glue down on the hillside and the snowball and got to sprinkling and pressing my faux snow. I just love how it turned out. It totally looks like powder!

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Snow Much Fun, Christmas Greetings; Paper: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Ski Slope dsp; Ink: StazOn Timber Brown, Basic Gray, Pumpkin Pie, Cherry Cobbler, Bordering Blue; Accessories: Baja Breeze seam binding, stampin' dimensionals, styrofoam snow.

Monday Thanks

2011-11-21T10:01:00.000-08:00

It's Monday again and that means another Friends of Speedy TV challenge. Today we are making Thanksgiving cards. I struggled with this one a bit and I don't usually make Thanksgiving cards. Once I got my mind wrapped around a thank you card, it was all go. I had a fabulous sketch by Lisa Arana on my stand. (I use my music stand from school when I played an instrument to hold sketch and various lists of crafty projects I am working on). The sketch worked quite naturally into this card that I am thoroughly pleased with. I love the warmth and simplicity of it.

It's raining and windy here today and my hubby told me that there may be a chance of flooding over the holiday due to all the rain we have received. I'm hoping that maybe some of that rain will wash away the remnants of snow from last week.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Details: Stamps: Autumn Glory (MFP), A Walk in the Woods (MFP); Paper: Very Vanilla, Spice Cake dsp; Ink: Soft Suede, More Mustard, Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz; Accessories: Square Lattice ef, paper snips, square punch, stampin' dimensionals, sponge dauber.

Happy Birthday Speedy!

2011-11-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

It's not really Speedy's birthday or Speedy TV's birthday or Mark's Finest Papers birthday. But today's Friends of Speedy TV challenge is all about making a birthday card. I'm peeking a new set by Mark's Finest Papers called A Trip To Lancaster. I really liked the rustic and masculine feel of this image, so I opted for a masculine birthday card. I never, ever has enough masculine cards. I embossed my vanilla layer underneath my focal image, added a couple ribbon tabs and smudged up my card base with some Versamark for interest here.

Sorry to have been such a stranger in blog land lately. I got a whopper of a cold that knocked me out just after dinner time almost all week. I recovered enough to get ready for VSN and then could only just post at VSN and not blog about them here. But....that will leave me some cuties to post in anticipation of the main event coming next month!

Thanks for stopping by!

Details: Stamps: A Trip To Lancaster (MFP); Paper: Mellow Moss, Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Going Gray ; Ink: Soft Suede, Mellow Moss, Soft Sky, Going Gray, Versamark; Accessories: Nestabilities, Candy Cane stripe ef, soft suede grosgrain, stampin' dimensionals, glue dots.

Speedy TV Monday with Tea

2011-11-07T07:44:00.000-08:00

Good Monday Morning! I'm here today with my card for the Speedy TV challenge today all about ribbon. (I'm posting it a bit late due to one little sickie who is home from school). I kept my ribbon very simple by folding it once and cutting a "v" shape into the end of it. Otherwise I let my ribbon help me with my transition from a busy pattern to my white space.

The rest of my card is pretty simple because, well, I like it that way. I embossed my teacup, colored it and cut it up. I popped that up on my die cut circle and then popped that up over my ribbon border. I stamped my sentiment and then rounded some corners for a bit more interest.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day!

Details - Stamps: Floral Tea (MFP); Paper; Whisper White, Basic Gray, Ginger Blossom dsp, A Walk in the Park dsp; Ink: Versamark, Basic Gray, Calypso Coral, Certainly Celery; Accessories: Nestabilities, Groovy Guava double stitched ribbon, corner chomper, paper snips, stampin' dimensionals, scor-tape.

Using It Today

2011-11-03T22:53:00.000-07:00

I will not be late. I will not be late. I will not be late. I will not be late. I will not be late....Late has been the story of my life recently. Not today. I am going to share my Ways To Use It challenge with you folks right here on my blog on Thursday! So here is my challenge for today: use newspaper or newsprint. That's easy right. Well, I thought it would be easy! This is my third try at this challenge. The first one didn't get cut out of the newspaper. The second got cut out, but didn't make it anywhere close to a card and finally this little guy stuck!

Not to much to this card. I did a little stamping, masking and coloring. Next I tied on some string and applied some stickles and I was finished.

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Home Is (GKD); Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Skagit Valley Herald; Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black; Accessories: colored pencils, yellow stickles, Xmas red stickles, white baker's twine.

Using Leaves

2011-11-02T23:36:00.000-07:00

I'm so late in posting this as it was for last Thursday's Ways to Use It challenge. Hannah challenged us all to use leaves on our card...so I had a little fun with my leaves. I don't really know what this technique is called, but I love it. I stamped my leaves, trimmed them up and glued them down to a piece of card stock. Then I ran that piece of card stock through my Big Shot with the Square Lattice embossing folder. I adored the texture I came up with so I left it shine. I matted it and wrapped some cording around it and called it good.

I can barely keep my eyes open, so I will call it right here. Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: French Foliage; Paper: Soft Suede, Very Vanilla; Ink: Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Old Olive, Soft Suede; Accessories: Square Lattice embossing folder, copper cording, paper snips, stampin' dimensionals.

Free For All Monday

2011-10-31T00:01:00.000-07:00

It's a free for all Monday with the Friends of Speedy TV. I have been wanting to start on some Christmas cards and also wanted to showcase some of the stamp sets that are on sale during the inventory sale at Mark's Finest Papers. Get them while you can folks!!! For my card, I borrowed this week's Fall To Layout from the clean and simple stamping blog. It worked perfect for me to hang my ornament and highlight that fabulous font. I'm still working in this years Hope You Can Cling To challenges. I'm hoping that I get more done this year than last year, as it looks like I am not going to be able to finish. This HYCCT challenge is hostessed by Wanda and is called Hang In There. My hanging element is of course the gorgeous ornament that I have colored with some Copic markers. I have been practicing in hopes of getting better with my markers.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Details - Stamps: Seasonal Poinsettia (MFP); Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Pretty in Pink; Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Pretty in Pink, Old Olive; Accessories: Snowburst ef, paper snips, stampin' dimensionals, Copic markers, silver cording.

Some Saturday Coloring

2011-10-29T20:51:00.000-07:00

For such a long time, I have resisted coloring as it is not my strong suit. Well, I suppose it is time I get right on over my issues with that. Today, I played around with some colors that were not exactly in my comfort zone and I colored with them too! Touch Twin Markers is currently hosting a color challenge. The colors they have selected are Melon Yellow, Olive Green, Brick Brown and Rose Red. I don't happen to have those markers from Touch Twin, so I went looking for something to substitute. I opted for Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa with Cherry Cobbler over it and Rose Red to match the Touch Twin colors. They aren't perfect, but I think I have done the best I could.

I went digging through my scraps for some Olive colored designer paper to back up my image and I found this polka dotted paper. I have always thought it looked like snow so I went with it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Snow Much Fun; Paper: Watercolor paper, Rose Red, Bella Rose dsp; Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Rose Red, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Close to Coca, Cherry Cobbler, Bordering Blue; Accessories: Nestabilities, MM brads, stampin' dimensionals.

Hopping with Mark's Finest Papers

2011-10-25T07:12:00.000-07:00

Speedy the Cat at Mark's Finest Papers likes to get a head start on special Christmas gifts and memories for friends and family. He gathered the design team at Mark's Finest Papers to bring you 12 days of exciting paper crafting gift ideas to get that holiday mojo flowing. The hop runs for 12 consecutive days, starting October 17th! Begin your holiday hop at Speedy's home base, the Mark's Finest Papers blog and relax with a cup of eggnog (or sprig of catnip, your choice) as Speedy leads you though a short, daily hop. You'll find your holiday paper crafting ideas and supplies at Mark's Finest Papers.

Welcome to the 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop! We have four samples each day for our hop! Please visit each of the following blogs for holiday inspiration! Start off tomorrow on the MFP Blog for more inspiration!

Pam
Patty
Carol
Dawn M

Here is the altered legal pad that I created for today's sample to be posted on Mark's Finest Paper's blog. I just love to make these notepads. They are super easy and make great gifts! Thanks for stopping by! Make sure you check out what the other ladies have posted for your pleasure today!

Friends of Speedy Halloween or Harvest

2011-10-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

This is my sample card for this week's Friends of Speedy TV challenge to make a Halloween or Harvest card. I chose to make a harvest themed card. I took the Greet the Day with Gerber stamp set and tried my very best to make them look like Mums. My favorite Chrysanthemum is the rust colored type. I adore them as they are just the perfect color for Fall. For these flowers, I embossed with gold embossing powder and painted them with my ink and aqua painter. It was quite fun and I got a few colors on the petals. I also wanted to include a Hope You Can Cling To challenge as Mark's Finest Papers is sponsoring this great Splitcoast event. This card is for Libby's Paint Your Heart Out challenge. I'm thinking I qualify as I painted with my aqua painter. I love doing that after I have embossed as the image then contains the paint for me.

I hope you stop by Speedy TV and play along. Thanks for coming by and have a great day!

Details - Stamps: Greet the Day With Gerber (MFP); Paper: Watercolor paper, Soft Suede, Patterns Pack III; Ink: Versamark, Ruby Red, Really Rust, Old Olive, Summer Sun, Early Espresso; Accessories: Gold ep, heat tool, Nestabilities, aqua painter, stampin' dimensionals.

A Ways From Thursday

2011-10-23T22:11:00.000-07:00

Well, Thursday came and went. That meant we had a Ways To Use It challenge and Collette was our wonderful hostess. She challenged folks to find a way to use faux tiles. Here is what I came up with. I really do love how it turned out. I used color pencils to color this little scene and then cut it up. I then painted crystal effects over the top of each little tile and let it dry. Then I pieced it back together on some black card stock. I love the sharp look of it! I wanted to let the subtle coloring come through so I only used black and white for the rest of the card.

I hope you had a fabulous weekend. I did. I got to have a nice dinner with my hubby on Friday. I was crafty on Saturday and saw my nephews, parents and grandparents today. Good times!!

Details: Stamps: Floating Along (MFP); Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black; Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black; Accessories: Top Note die, black gingham ribbon, crystal effects, paper snips, stampin' dimensionals, finial press ef.

Here's to the Weekend

2011-10-22T14:23:00.000-07:00

I am so glad that I made it to the weekend. This was a very long week and I'll bet that next week will feel just as long. Sometimes the beginning of the school year can be ultra busy. But....you didn't come here for that. My card for today is for a couple of challenges. First, Touch Twin Markers is challenging folks to color up some "florals. You had better hurry, today is the last day of the challenge. I finally summoned up enought courage to give my Copics a try and it's not half bad. I'll have to practice coloring to achieve the beautiful blend that others can do, but I have to start somewhere. Second, this is for Jessica's Hope You Can Cling To challenge to use pink ribbon. I'm glad that she offered up an easy challenge so that I am one card closer to completing all the challenges. It may not happen, but I have one more card to send now.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a fun filled crafty weekend!

Details - Stamps: Echoes of Kindness, Kind and Caring Thoughts; Paper: Whisper White, Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette; Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Pink Pirouette; Accessories: Nestabilties, sponge dauber, argyle ef, pink satin ribon, stampin' dimensionals, glue dots, copics.

Friends of Speedy TV Challlenge 3

2011-10-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

Good day! Today's Friends of Speedy TV challenge is all about the Sweetest Day. I was not familiar with this little holiday, so I had to look it up. It seems the origins of the Sweetest Day began in Ohio in 1922 when one gentleman wanted to bring happiness to others less fortunate. Now, the sweetest day has evolved to a day to express romantic love and appreciation of friends. I thought this card could really bring happiness to another and tied in the sweet theme pretty well! My card is a pretty simple one with some embossing on my card base and some glitter on my cupcake. A couple of rounded corners and some stampin' dimensionals finish it off.

In other news, Mark's Finest Papers is bringing you a fabulous blog hop. Today is the first of the 12 days of Christmas blog hop at the MFP blog.

Start here

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fabulous day!

Details - Stamps: Oh Boy, It's a Girl; Paper: Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, Pixie Pink, DCWV The Sweet Stack dp; Ink: Close to Cocoa; Accessories: Swiss Dot ef, Scalloped circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, MS cupcake punch, word window punch, corner chomper, Xyron, Pink Paislee coconut glitter, stampin' dimensionals, pink spica pen.

My Beaded Butterfly

2011-10-16T21:57:00.000-07:00

Yup, I beaded this one myself. I'm a rookie when it comes to beading. It's been kind of crazy around here this weekend. When my hubby got home from camping, I had 4 projects started and 0 finished in my craft room. I was able to complete 3 of them after he started playing with Sweet Pea. This card was the first project I finished. My beaded butterfly was the result of this month's Get Your Diva On challenge hosted by Diva Andrea. After I finished my butterfly, which is felt and backed by some die cut tulle as well, I whipped up a super simple card to showcase the butterfly. I did some vertical scoring and die cut a couple of circles. I stamped my sentiment below my focal piece and called it done!

That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Fluttering By (Verve); Paper: Whisper White, Unknown pale green, vellum; Ink: Going Gray; Accessories: Flutterby die (Verve), white felt, white tulle, pastel beads, thin guage wire, Nestabilities, scor-tape, glue dots, stampin' dimensionsals, scor-pal.

A Technique by Julie

2011-10-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

Hello there and Happy Friday! Indeed it has been a happy Friday for me. I did have to work, but it was a non-student day so it was quite productive. I got to take an honest to goodness lunch break today. I am featuring a card today that I made for one of the noontime challenges during Flourishes release week. This challenge was called Just Show Me. Crafters were challenged to find a technique via the Flourishes blog and have a go at it. I picked a technique offered by Julie Koerber. It just so happens that Julie is the Featured Stamper this week on Splitcoaststampers. Hooray for Julie! I altered her technique just a bit. I used my aqua painter instead of a blender pen to soften the color and then added a layer of vellum to soften it even more.

I am in for a fun Friday night with my girl tonight. It's just the two of us and who know what kind of trouble we will get in!!! Thanks for stopping by.

Details - Stamps: Fine Herbs (Flourishes); Paper: Very Vanilla, Pear Pizzazz, Watercolor paper, vellum; Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive; Accessories: Pear Pizzazz seam binding, embroidery floss, stampin' dimensionals, scor-tape, sponge dauber, Nestabilties, aqua painter.

Ways To Use Pink

2011-10-13T23:25:00.000-07:00

Hello folks! It's my Thursday to host the Ways To Use It challenge on Splitcoaststampers and I have chosen "pink" as our theme. It's a most obvious choice, yet I had to do it! I really adore this Memory Box paper and wanted to use a couple of pieces of it. I worked in a Viva La Verve sketch and Teresa's Hope You Can Cling To challenge to include at least one heart on your card.

I hope you will find a little bit of time to play along with me this week and help turn the Splitcoaststampers gallery pink!

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Blue Skies (Verve); Paper: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette, MB Gossamer; Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso; Accessories: Jotted Heart die (Verve), Nestabilities, 1/8" early espresso taffeta ribbon, white button, stampin' dimensionals, glue dots.

A Case of Amy

2011-10-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

I had hoped to get this posted yesterday, but alas it didn't happen! I was a wee bit too busy at work and then was more than happy to head out to girl's night for some super-yum chicken tacos and cupcakes! The white wine was delish too! Oops, I got a little carried away about my yesterday and forgot to mention this little old card I have pictured. This is the card I mad for Verve September Diva Dare. The challenge was to case-a diva and I let my girl pick the Diva. She picked Amy Sheffer and I picked this card that Amy made. I also worked in a Hope You Can Cling To challenge hostessed by Lori. I used some gigantic bling by my own standards.

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Kind Words (Verve), Sunny Days (Verve); Paper: River Rock, Whisper White, Prima Annalee dp; Ink: River Rock, Old Olive, Early Espresso; Accessories: Top Note die, Nestabilities, Ivory Organdy, Pear Pizzazz seam binding, silver cording, BG button, SU rhinestone, stampin' dimensionals, glue dots, sponge dauber.

Another Monday with Friends

2011-10-10T06:34:00.000-07:00

Good Monday morning and welcome to another Friends of Speedy TV challenge. This week we are making Anniversary cards as our fearless Design Team coordinator celebrates nine years of marriage with her husband! Congratulations Debbie! For today's card I started off with Chupa's Sketchbook Saturday as I knew I wanted to work in a flower and a sentiment. The larger background is from my new letterpress plate. I just inked it up with some Versamark ink and had a go with it. I'm quite please with how it turned out. I stamped my Gerbera on the vellum circle and turned it over to color it and remembered Lori's Hope You Can Cling To challenge to use the green, yellow and brown. Quickly, I found a couple of markers that I liked and began to color.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will make some time to play along with us this week at Speedy TV!

Details - Stamps: Greet The Day With Gerbera (MFP); Paper: Whisper White, Soft Suede, Certainly Celery, vellum; Ink: Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Versamark, Certainly Celery, So Saffron; Accessories: Fancy Fan Letterpress plate, M's celery satin ribbon, Wilton Doily, Ivory Organdy, stampin' dimensionals.

Looking Back

2011-10-08T20:33:00.000-07:00

Wow, looking back I realize that I have only recently started making tags. This is the oldest tag that I could find in my gallery. It first appeared on my blog in March of 2010. Since then, I have enjoyed many tags. I don't seem to make them in advance. I usually make them to coordinate with a gift. You might wonder why I am posting a tag from 2010. Well, I decided to play along with the Flashback Friday challenge this month and tags are it! There is one amazing prize this month too! You may want to check it out! There isn't anything too crazy about this tag. I'm sure it was from an old SU tag sheet and I dressed it up with some scallop borders, patterned paper, vellum and TE flowers.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fabulous rest of your weekend!

Details - Stamps: Leaves (Verve), Because of You (Verve); Paper: Whisper White, Regal Rose, Vellum, Print Pack dsp; Ink: StazOn Cotton White, Regal Rose; Accessories: Scallop edge punch, TE flowers and leaves, unknown pink satin ribbon, MM pink eyelet, crop-a-dile, J's thin white satin ribbon, Pretties kit, mini glue dots, scor-tape.

I'm Awake

2011-10-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

Yep, I'm awake for Michelle's Ways To Use It challenge this morning. And I do have my coffee in hand, but it's not very hot. I'm not quite sure what that is all about but I'll fix it right quick. Michelle's challenge today is called Pass Me a Hot Beverage, so I broke out my set called Morning Cup to get me going. I chuckle every time I see that sentiment because it is just so true. I went super simple with this card. I grabbed a Kim Hughes sketch from here and away I went. I did a little coloring with water color pencils and blended it up a bit.

It's time for me to finish my coffee and get showered to start my day at work! I hope you all have a fabulous day and thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Morning Cup; Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Night & Day Specialty; Ink: Early Espresso; Accessories: Water color pencils, blender pen, stampin' dimensionals.

Such a Sweet Boat

2011-10-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

Isn't this a sweet little boat? When I saw the colors from the current Touch Twin Marker challenge (Frost Blue, Mint Blue, Terra Cotta and Mahogany), I knew I would be finding a boy image to color! When I saw the first sketch for October's Viva La Verve, it clicked. I used the little boat to fit inside the circle and away I went.

The card is pretty simple in design. I don't happen to have any Touch Twin Markers just yet, so I substituted some colors for what I do have. I ended up using Soft Sky, Pool Party, Really Rust and Chocolate with a blender pen to make it all work.

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Text Objects (Verve); Paper:Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, Afternoon Tea dsp; Ink: Soft Sky, Pool Party, Really Rust, Chocolate Chip; Accessories:Tiny Bubbles ef, scallop edge punch, thin chocolate satin ribbon, scor-tape, Kaisercraft chocolate pearls, stampin' dimensionals, circle punches.

Friends of Speedy TV First Challenge

2011-10-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

If you missed my announcement from Saturday, I am now a Friends of Speedy TV Design Team member. We will be hostessing challenges each and every Monday. Today's challenge is all about making masculine cards. You can find it on Speedy TV.

Now, if you are anything like me, masculine cards are not easy. I tend to go with minimal layers and minimal embellishments. I used browns on my card today. Most of the card is self-explanatory, but I will elaborate on the main panel. I stamped my background in Versmark ink and then heat set it. Next, I punched a heart out of vellum, sponged the negative space with some more Versamark and heat set it. Finally, I stamped my sentiment over the top of the whole thing. A mat, some distressing, a string and a card base finish this off!

I hope you will check out the challenge and play along! Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: A Walk in the Woods (MFP), Brick Wall (MFP); Paper: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake; Ink: Versamark, Early Espresso; Accessories: heat tool, heart to heart punch, vellum, brown burlap string, glue dot, stampin' dimensionals.

Wacky Inspiration

2011-10-02T00:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right! It's Angelina Ballerina and she is the inspiration for my card today. Flourishes is hosting a World Card Making Day challenge to be inspired by the colors of your favorite animated character. My daughter watches a good assortment of cartoons, but Angelina is one of the few I sit and watch with her.

Onto my card...

I made another telescoping card after learning how to do it during the last VSN. It's quite fun and easier than it looks. I used a set that Julie Koerber just recently sent in a generous box of blog candy. Pink just turned out perfect as today starts the Hope You Can Cling To challenges on Splitcoast Stampers. This card meets Beate's criteria for a circle card (at least I think it does).

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Birthday Celebrations (Flourishes); Paper: Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White; Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, Bordering Blue; Accessories: Nestabilties, white organza ribbon, SU white brads.

Big Announcement: FOSTVDT

2011-10-01T00:40:00.000-07:00

What...FOSTVDT? That's short for Friends of Speedy TV Design Team. The big announcement is that I am on the Friends of Speedy TV Design Team and I could not possibly be anymore excited! I am in the company of some amazing designers. Let me introduce you! Just click on each designers name to be visit their blog ;)

Debbie Moran-FOSTVDT Coordinator
Melisa Waldorf
Kittie Caracciolo
Fran Gumprecht
Bonnie Ratzloff
Karen Wallace
Brenda O’Rear
DJ Rants
Karen Bradley

I hope you will join us for challenges and camaraderie over at Speedy TV!!!

This card is made for today's Speedy the Cat's Friends challenge to use polka dots.I have got polka dots on my elephant and behind my elephant. Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Oh Boy, It's a Girl (MFP); Paper: Whisper White, unknown yellow, Ice Cream Parlor dsp; Ink: Basic Gray, Blushing Bride; Accessories: Nestabilities, Seeing Spots ef, PTI linen&canvas impression plate, paper snips, stampin dimensionals, quickie glue pen, Sakura glaze pen.

I'm Back

2011-09-30T21:00:00.000-07:00

Yep, I'm back in the saddle again! Boy, I had a lousy cold and felt like doing nothing. Crafting didn't even get me going. I missed last week's Ways To Use It challenge as I could barely get myself off the couch. I forced myself upstairs to make this card with attached bookmark for Collette's challenge. And, of course, one little crafty project has got me totally in the mood. Good thing tomorrow is World Card Making Day and hubby has agreed to take our five year and entertain her for the day. Tomorrow is an exciting day for another reason too. You will have to stop back by tomorrow to find that out though. In the mean time, I will give you a couple of pictures of the rest of the card. It's pretty simple, but did turn out nicely! Thanks for stopping by!

Front

side view

Details: Stamps: Floral Symphony (Verve); Paper: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Sweet Pea dsp; Ink: Early Espresso, Versamark; Accessories: Corner Chomper, papersnips, Sweet Pea felt flowers, scor-tape, neutrals eyelet, crop-a-dile, Early Espresso taffeta ribbon, perforating tool.

Smaller Than Your Average Bread Box

2011-09-21T21:39:00.000-07:00

Scor-pal is hosting a September Designer Challenge to make a box, any kind of box. I browsed some tutorials and came up with this bread box. I made a mini loaf of Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread to go inside it. I followed the tutorial and it was fairly uncomplicated. Next time, I would take my time a bit more with the edges of the flaps. I'm not sure I like the pinked edges as well as I would something else, say scalloped edges. We'll see next time!

To embellish my bread and box a bit more, I used the same patterned paper and colors to create a belly band and label for it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Vintage Labels; Paper: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, SU dsp; Ink Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Decorative scissors, circle punches, scor-tape, stampin' dimensionals.

Going to Court

2011-09-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

I think this might have to be my theme card for next week. Last weekend, I received a subpoena to testify in court. I'm supposed to appear next week. I have spoken to one witness advocate (I think?) who said I should probably know more by Friday about when I would have to appear. She's fairly certain that jury selection will eat up the first day. She was also fairly certain that the prosecutor would want to prepare me. Hmmm, I guess the prosecutor would have to contact me first, right? I'm a little nervous. This information is from 8 years ago and I barely remember the client. My girlfriend, who is a police officer, was excited for me. When I wasn't excited back, she told me it might even come to a plea agreement and then I wouldn't have to testify. I felt a little better then. In any case, I think I will stash this card in my purse. I know it is only paper, but the idea is powerful!

The crafty connection here is the Verve Get Your Diva On challenge, Splitcoaststampers Inspiration Challenge and the My Favorite Things sketch!

Details: Stamps: Sunny Days (Verve), Words of Wisdom (Verve), Making A Statement (Verve); Paper: Whisper White, Concord Crush, In Color Patterns Pack, Wisteria Wonder; Ink: Concord Crush, Versmark; Accessories: Loopy Blooms die (Verve), Leafy Sprigs die (Verve), corner chomper, stampin' dimensionals, M's rhinestones.

Flashing Back Fall

2011-09-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

It seems like an eternity since I participated in Flashback Friday. It's now up to Flashback Friday 15.0 and the theme for this month is Fall. So here is the oldest Fall card I could locate in my files. I recognize some of my style from even then. I posted this a little more than three years ago on Splitcoaststampers. It's pretty clean and simple with some scoring and masking!

I find it a bit coincidental that this is a Unity image and that this month's sponsor is Jenny Johns. Jenny is offering up some Ippity stamps (a sister company of Unity) and I first encountered her via Unity and Hip Hop Thursdays. I daresay that my photography has gotten a bit better, other than that, I like the card!

Happy Sunday!

Details - Stamps: Hugs & Wishes, Tiny Trinity by Unity Stamp Company; Paper: Whisper White; Ink: River Rock, Basic Brown, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie; Accessories: Scoring blade, Chocolate grosgrain ribbon, mini glue dots, post-its, blender pen, stampin' sponges.

Missing People

2011-09-17T15:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I didn't mean to alarm you. There are any real people missing, just a large category of stamps that are missing from my collection. I have a large gap in my stamps: there are only a handful of people. I have flowers galore, but no peeps. Well, I did manage to rustle up there two lovely ladies, though. I'm sure they were an impulse purchase one day at Michael's.........Whoa, the mail man sure can lay on his horn! Oh well, he is forgiven, as he brought me some new crafty goodies! Maybe I will play with then later. (Again, no peeps!!!!)

These little gift cards were created for the new Touch Twin Challenge to color some people. I just did the best I could with these little gals. I have a new coloring goal I am working on and we'll see just how it works out.

Thanks for stopping by, Happy Saturday!

Details - Stamps: Studio G; Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black; Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black; Accessories: Square Lattice ef, scalloped oval punch, large oval punch, WCC, blender pen, M's pearls, M's rhinestones, AC ribbon, pink Sharpie, stamping dimensionals.

Using the Chalkboard

2011-09-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

This week's Ways To Use It challenge follows this month's theme: Back To School. Teresa is our hostess this month and her challenge is about the chalkboard technique. I had planned on making a card, but just wasn't feeling it. I wanted to make something for my sweet little girl after her tough day at Kindergarten. You see, she is exhausted from the start of school and hasn't been getting enough sleep as she is super excited. It all culminated in a major crying meltdown in the hallway after school. She just sobbed and clung to me as I tried to escort her to her after school program. She is attending school where I work. I still had half of a school day to go. We eventually got her tears dried and got her to her after school program.

So I decided that I would make her a little something. This is her backpack tag before I laminated it. I was afraid the chalk wouldn't show as well after I laminated it. I stamped her initials on the back and used some sparkling Spica pens on the hearts on the back.

Details - Stamps: Punch Potpourri; Paper: Green Galore, Basic Black; Ink: White Craft ink: Accessories: Stampin' pastels, white gel pen, jumbo eyelets, red grosgrain ribbon.

CPS and AJ

2011-09-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

That's right, this is from the current CPS sketch challenge. I wasn't sure how it would work out for me with those half circles. Now I quite like it. I also wanted to play my friend Lee's color challenge at Stamp TV because it was in honor of AJ Otto. AJ is currently battling breast cancer. While I don't know her personally, I have long admired and been inspired by her work.

I wanted something cheerful, so I opted for the Live Life Loud set to hopefully raise AJ's spirits when she is feeling low!

Speaking of feeling low, I have got a headache that just won't quit. I'm going to keep this brief and let my card do all the talking!

Details - Stamps: Live Life Loud (GKD), Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Razzleberry Lemonade, Night and Day specialty dsp; Ink: Melon Mambo, Momento Tuxedo Black; Accessories: Elegant Bouquet ef, sanding block, M's rhinestones, Black sharpie, stampin' dimensionals.

Is It Real Or....

2011-09-13T22:18:00.000-07:00

paper? Discriminating crafters will know, but it passed for real tonight when a girlfriend came over tonight. She has been out of the crafty loop for a while now and saw a picture of this "clutch" in my SplitCoast gallery. I just happened to have it in my craft room and so I brought it down for her to get a good view. I used a couple of magnets to secure my button and it turned out great!

I made this during the last VSN for Jean's challenge called Rodeo Champs! She challenged crafter's to make a designer card or project. I went to the Scor-pal project listings and came up with this clutch :) It's a cross between this purse and the purse featured on top here.

I hope you had a fabulous Tuesday and I will see you all later!

Details - Paper: Neutrals Patterns Stack dsp; Ink: Basic Black; Accessories: scor-pal, scor-tape, black velvet ribbon, holographic Christmas trim, eyelets and silver cording (attaching the clutch strap), random button, stampin' dimensionals.

A First Today

2011-09-12T06:41:00.000-07:00

Today is my daughter's first day of school with her classmates and her teacher. It's also parent orientation, so they won't keep the normal schedule, but it is her first day! She's excited to pick out her clothes for today and I am sure she will want her hair fixed extra fancy. She's already received well wishing e-mail from her grandparents and when she wakes, I'm sure will "hit the deck running"! So, in order to feed the crafty little bug she got from her Mommy and to keep up with the before school excitement we made a vase and some paper flowers to give to her teacher. I didn't come up with this idea originally, I saw Sarah Martina Parker do it here. Instead of using a hot glue gun, I used my beloved scor-tape. I love that stuff and my daughter's teacher could use the pencils when she is all done with the vase! The tag hanging from ribbon is one of the tiny sweet scallop tags that I stamped with the outline stamp from Tag Time, also by Verve. I used an apple from an older SU set and called it good. The flowers were easy with pipe cleaner, a rectangle piece of yellow for the flower center and 12 hand cut circles in colors picked out by my daughter. Then there was some poking and scrunching and it was all good!

Thanks for stopping by!

Details: Stamps: Tag Time (Verve), Holiday Blitz; Paper: Whisper White; Ink: Real Red, Early Espresso, Old Olive; Accessories: Tiny Sweet Scallop Dies (Verve), Early Espresso Baker's Twine, Real Red Grosgrain Ribbon, glue dots, scor-tape, pencils, M's bud base, tissue paper, pipe cleaners.

Sending Out Some Sunshine

2011-09-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

I have a "niece" who could use a little sunshine right now. She's dealing with a health issue and she is a super sweet girl. She's beautiful and talented and I know she will overcome this. So when I thought about Verve's August Diva Dare, Sending Some Sunshine, I knew I would make her a card too. She has a sister that is very close in age too. I made a card for her too. I would never want her to feel left out! I'll show that on another day.

On this card I used the current Fall To Layout from the clean and simple stamping blog to get me going. I love that blog and those wonderful sketches. I wish I had enough time to play every week!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Details - Stamps: Chicks Rule (Verve), To The Moon (Verve); Paper: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral; Ink: Early Espresso, Calypso Coral, So Saffron, Bordering Blue; Accessories: Seeing Spots ef, white gel pen, Sakura clear star gel pen, stampin' dimensionals .

A Birthday Box

2011-09-10T23:59:00.000-07:00

I had some fun with this little box. It's called an Origami Gift box and I got the directions from the Scor-pal website. I was so surprised at how quick and easy it came together. No doubt that was due to very explicit directions. What you see in this picture is the top of the box. The sides slide off to the right and left to reveal an inner box to stash whatever birthday goods you want to place inside. Let's take a peek now!

Now how do you like that? I was so impressed with this little box. I just want to go and play with a bunch of other templates too! Just for kicks, I'm going to enter this little box in the Scor-pal Designer Challenge. The specific challenge is to make any kind of box!

Thanks for looking!

Details - Stamps: Vintage Labels; Paper: So Saffron, Soft Suede, Whisper White, CC Everafter; Ink: Soft Suede; Accessories: Soft Suede ribbon, M's rhinestones, Dandelion Sharpie, scor-tape, Curly label punch, paper snips.

Late Friday

2011-09-09T22:28:00.000-07:00

It's late Friday and I am a sleepy girl! However, I thought I would take the time to share a card that I made last night. A co-worker called and asked me to bring some wedding cards in to work for her to choose from. Long story, short: I did not have very many wedding cards in my stash. So what did I do? I made one. It was a good thing that I did because she picked this one. And...another co-worker approached me at work, wondering if I had my cards with me as she needed a wedding card for this evening. Weird, but it worked out for me.

I used a My Favorite Things sketch for this card and also included the Speedy the Cat's Friends challenge for this week too. This week is all about bling. Thanks for stopping by! I'll see if I can come up with something fresh for tomorrow too!

Details - Stamps: Occasional Quotes; Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, MM Wedding dp; Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black; Accessories: Nestabilties, white organza ribbon, M's rhinestones, stampin' dimensionals, glue dot, scor-tape.

Back To School Week 2

2011-09-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

It's our second week in this month's Back to School themed Ways To Use It challenge. I am today's hostess and have challenged crafters to use staples on their projects. Do you know how hard those little buggers are to line up straight. Obviously I gave up, after I removed about six staples!!! And did you also know that a little white acrylic paint on a toothpick fills in staples hole pretty well???? With the start of school and just coming back from a camping trip, I needed a sketch to get me going! Okay, I always start with sketches ;) Today, I leaned on Karen Giron for this fabulous sketch! I like the look of the banner at the bottom of the circle and felt like I could use some staples there!

Well, it's a school night so I had best be wrapping things up! Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Herb Expressions, Occasional Quotes; Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, DCWV dp; Ink: Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Orchid Opulence, Basic Black; Accessories: Nestabilities, Argyle ef, celery twill tape, MM staples, stampin' dimensionals.

"Back to School" blog hop

2011-09-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

The Ways To Use It team is hosting a Back To School themed blog hop today...with a little bit of a mystery to boot. Hopefully, you came from Michelle's blog, if not you may want to go back and check it out! All of the team members are posting a sneak peek of their sample card for their challenge card in September but will not be telling you what we are "using". If you can guess, you can post a sample with us!!! Take a good look at my card and leave me your guess about what my Ways To Use It challenge is all about in a comment. In the event of multiple correct answers, random.org will decide who will post a sample with me next week. Your next stop on the hop is Teresa. Happy Hopping!

Details - Stamps: Notebook Paper (Verve), Blue Skies (Verve), Holiday Blitz; Paper:Whisper White, Basic Black, PC dp; Ink: Baja Breeze, Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Real Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Nestabilities, Rounded Rectangle die (Verve), red gingham ribbon, staple, stampin' dimensionals, PTI linen/canvas impression plate.

Last Day of VSN

2011-08-29T16:30:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day of VSN for those of us not affected by Irene. You can check those details out here. Our fabulous coordinator just wants to be fair. So there will be an extension for those Irene messed with! This is one of my VSN cards from Saturday. I made this for Jane's challenge called Dusty Trails. Jane challenge crafter's to create a bandana print for their card and do some paper piecing. I did a teensy weensy bit of paper piecing via my flower centers. Jane approved, citing Dr. Seuss, "A person's a person, no matter how small"... I think that applies to piecing, too! Isn't she great! This girl has to get some chores done, so I'll leave it at that.

Details - Stamps: Short & Sweet, In The Spotlight, Polka Dots & Paisley, Love Runs Deep (Unity); Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Certainly Celery; Ink: Basic Black, Versamark, Certainly Celery, Bordering Blue; Accessories: Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, Love & Happiness rub-ons, glue pen, Sakura clear star gel pen, May Arts burlap twine, white gel pen, corner chomper.

Ropin' and A-Ridin'

2011-08-26T23:20:00.000-07:00

We are a-ropin' and a-ridin' at this weekend's VSN Rodeo! A good time will be had by all. I made this little number for Lisa's Rope Some Steer challenge. She had us using some twine! Easy peasy, I say! Yeah, that was after I get myself unstuck on using my red twine. After that, everything fell into place. I got my sketch from the Moxie Fab World blog. I played along with the Square Sketch Challenge and morphed the sketch a bit. I used the circle in the flower to house my sentiment and used the twine to represent the horizontal line of the sentiment from the sketch. I hope that is innovative enough! I also tried to play along with the horizontal sketch on the Moxie Fab World...but I just mutilated the sketch. I'll have to show you that card tomorrow!

Thanks for stopping by and if you think about it, come and check out VSN. Maybe you will want to stay and play awhile!

Details - Stamps: Delicate Doilies, Whimsical Words, Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White; Ink: Versamark, Early Espresso; Accessories: Espresso baker's twine, 1 1/4" circle punch, stampin' dimensionals, sponge dauber.

Ways To Recycle

2011-08-25T11:10:00.000-07:00

{If you are looking for the Flourishes Birthday post, click here}

Hi all! I'm back today with Hannah's Ways To Use It challenge. We are going green folks, right here in the craft room! Hannah challenged us to recycle something onto our card. I have to admit that I started off with my Cheerios box, but that my little Sissix die just wouldn't cut all the way through the cardboard of the cereal box. Never mind that, I'm such a collector that I had some thinner cardboard used to separate some triplicate forms from work. That worked magically, so I crimper the whole lot of leaves and flowers and inked them up to decorate my card! My daughter was invited for an all day play date at her former daycare provider's house. This worked perfectly for me as I have a ton of crafty work that I would like to get done! If you will pardon me, I'm going to get myself a tasty beverage and head up to create! Hope your day is fabulous!

I also played along with the Crazy 4 Challenges team with a fun bingo challenge! I just love those bingo challenges as you can do just about anything you want with so many combinations available!

Details - Stamps: Thinking of You (Flourishes), Vintage Wallpaper (Flourishes); Paper: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Bravo Burgundy; Ink: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Versafine White, Versamagic Sage; Accessories: crimper, Birds and Blooms dies, buttons, glue dots, stampin' dimensionals, PTI linen & canvas impression plate.

Happy Birthday Flourishes!

2011-08-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

Flourishes is lighting the candles and getting ready to sing to honor their fourth birthday! And, as a way to celebrate, I’m happy to say I was hand-picked to help them have a bit of a party as a designer for their customer appreciation hop! The only challenge here was to create a card or project using my favorite Flourishes stamp set. Read on – I’ll tell you how you can win some Flourishes goodies too!

When I heard I would have to pick my favorite Flourishes stamp, I kind of groaned. I have many Flourishes favorites, so I worked in a couple here. For my main image, I inked up the lavender from Fine Herbs in a couple of ink colors and stamped it on my tag. The herbs in this set are wonderful. In the summertime, my main job is the garden. The only part of the garden that my husband doesn't touch is my herb garden. I haven't been able to talk him into lavender yet...but I will. My next favorite set is Tag Lines. I couldn't bear to cover up that beautiful lavender image, so I stamped my sentiment from on a piece of vellum. Did you know that this set has 19 little pieces to make the most useful sentiments? I use this set all the time! And...it's totally affordable!

Flourishes is always so generous and today's hop is no exception! I'll bet you want to know what you win? Well, take a peek at this fun and festive blog candy!

If you’d like to learn more about how you can win all of these stamp sets, just click HERE to read up on today’s hop and challenge!

If you arrived here by way of Theresa's blog, then you are on the right path! If I was your first stop, you’ll want to go back to the Flourishes Blog and start this hop from the very beginning! You have until September 1^st at 5PM CST to enter!

I'm the last stop on the hop today. Thanks for hopping along with us! Have a fabulous day!

Details - Stamps: Fine Herbs (Flourishes), Tag Lines (Flourishes); Paper: Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz, Basic Grey Wisteria, vellum, SU kraft tag; Ink: Wisteria Wonder, Pear Pizzazz, Concord Crush, Versamagic Wheat; Accessories: M's rhinestones, Pear Pizzazz seam binding.

A Flourish Embossed

2011-08-22T15:50:00.000-07:00

I'm busy today trying to play along with some great challenges. This is my way late, Ways To Use It challenge hostessed by Teresa. She challenged crafter's to use Versmark and I decided to do the emboss resist technique with a pale pink and purple! This also uses the Card Patterns sketch for this week. It's nice and simple and made such a pretty card. Finally, this is for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge to use pink, one button, ribbon and lace. I'm heading back up to my craft room for a little more fun today, so I will keep this short. Happy Monday!

Details - Stamps: Thinking of You (Flourishes), Tag Lines (Flourishes); Paper: Very Vanilla, Pale Plum, DCWV Sweet dp; Ink: Versamark, Pink Pirouette, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum; Accessories: Clear ep, heat tool, pink satin ribbon, thin vanilla satin ribbon, SU crocheted lace, Earth Elements buttons, sponge dauber, glue dots, scor-tape, corner chomper, stampin' dimensionals.

Woohoo, Friday Featured Fan!

2011-08-12T08:06:00.000-07:00

Well, would you look at that! I'm today's Friday Featured Fan on the Card Positioning Systems sketch blog! I guess it's no secret that I love a good sketch and CPS regularly has fabulous sketches over there. You could say I went straight "To The Moon" when I found out I would be featured (tee hee). I had been looking for a way to use a tag on a card for Verve's August Get Your Diva On challenge and when I saw the CPS sketch, I just knew I had to do them together! Diva Jackie is hostessing this month and challenged crafters to us a tag or make a set of tags. So....I did! The first thing I did for my card was mask the tag with a couple of circle punches and then sponged the edges of the tag with white ink. Then I stamped on my sentiment and tied on my ribbon and twine, in the fashion of the great Diva Jackie. Next I did up that cute little bear. I stamped him, colored him and then borrowed Emery's legs to finish him off. Finally, I stamped, colored and cut out a couple of stars to balance out my bear. After a little embossing, matting and adhering, I had a card!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fabulous Friday!

Details - Stamps: To The Moon (Verve), Egg-stra Special (Verve), Emery PJ (Verve); Paper: Whisper White, Crumb Cake; Ink: Early Espresso, Creamy Caramel, Regal Rose, Versafine White; Accessories: Seeing Spots ef, 1/8" taffeta ribbon, Crumb Cake taffeta ribbon, Early Espresso Baker's Twine, SU tag, stampin' dimensionals, scor-tape, paper snips.

Using Heat!

2011-08-11T23:31:00.000-07:00

Hooray for Thursday again! It's another Way's To Use It challenge and I am this hostess this time around. This challenge is all about What's Hot! Players should use heat somehow in a technique or use an image that generate heat, or somehow get creative with heat. My sunset here represent heat fading with the sinking sun and then I heat embossed my wheat silhouette over my sunset. What do you think? I also decided to incorporate Flourishes Shades of Sunset challenge into my card today. I patterned this sunset after one I saw last weekend from my daughter's bedroom window as I was tucking her in. The sunset had the most amazing purple cloud that streaked through the sky. I studied the cloud quickly and tried to remember the colors I saw in the sky.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fabulous day!

Details - Stamps: Beauty In Nature (Flourishes), Tag Lines (Flourishes); Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black, Glossy card stock; Ink: So Saffron, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Soft Sky, Bordering Blue, Night of Navy, Elegant Eggplant, Versamark; Accessories: Black ep, heat tool, 1/8" black taffeta ribbon, glue dot, stampin' sponges, Nestabilities, stampin' dimensionals.

Hope...

2011-08-10T23:24:00.000-07:00

Floats? Hope for tomorrow? Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul? Whatever hope is for you, this card is both hopeful and peaceful for me. I had a ball making it. I dirtied up all of my edges and sponged around the inside of my Spellbinder's die to create a warm space for my sentiment. I finally remembered to use my crimper. I have been so inspired by Marisa (Whiterockmama on Splitcoaststampers) and her use of her crimper. I made this card last week Jodi's Dare To Get Dirty challenge. Last week, I was a card making machine and loved every minute of it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Punch Potpourri, Hope Perches (Verve); Paper: Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke, Neutrals dsp; Ink: Bashful Blue, CrumbCake; Accessories: XL bird punch, crimper, M's rhinestones, Sakura clear star gel pen, very vanilla seam binding, stampin' sponges, stampin' dimensionals, Nestabilities.

Really?

2011-08-09T23:11:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I didn't share this already. I told you all about VSN just before it happened a couple weeks ago, right. And I told you all to be sure and play along as I was hostessing a mini challenge. And then I completely spaced it and never shared my challenge or my challenge card. Good grief, you deserve a better blogger! Oh well, better late than never. Here is my card from my VSN mini challenge called All That Glitters. It's a Rodeo VSN and I took a little inspiration from my sweet Rodeo Queen neighbor and her flashy get-up! I challenged folks to use sequins on their cards and people did amazing things! That is really one of the things that I love about VSN. People stretch and get all kinds of crazy creative! One of my fellow hostesses, Tami, was sponsoring the CPS sketch that week too, so I had to give her a little shout out as well.

Thanks for happening by! I'll see if I can't come up with something fresh for tomorrow!

Details - Stamps: Faith in Nature, French Foliage; Paper: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Taste of Textiles dp; Ink: Early Espresso; Accessories: Sequins, gold cording, Nestabilities, sponge dauber, stampin' dimensionals, glue dots.

Ending With A Dirty Butterfly

2011-08-08T21:33:00.000-07:00

Today ends the Dare To Get Dirty challenges, they must be made, uploaded and linked by 11:59 PM CST. I was able to do it and this was one of my last cards. I ended up with 18 projects for 37 challenges. This little number covers 4 Dirty challenges and a Viva La Verve sketch. What do you think of that?? My background is the Leafy Branches embossing folder, flipped over so it's debossed. Then I took my baby brayer and sloppily covered my debossed card stock with some Certainly Celery ink. Then I inked up my Canvas Background and laid my card stock on top of it. I gently ran my fingers over the card stock without the embossing. Thus my background came to be. I pleated some mulberry paper for a delicate looking border. I pinked the kraft edges of the Crumb Cake border and tied the whole thing with one little strand of linen thread. My die cut butterfly was run through the crimper and then edged with white craft ink. Then I wrapped wire around and twisted it to resemble the body and antennae for the butterfly.

I'm looking at Tuesday now and it promised to be a busy day. I hope I find time to peruse the DTGD galleries and leave some love. It should be fun! Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Beautiful You (Verve), Canvas; Paper: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, white mulberry paper; Ink: Certainly Celery, Crumb Cake, Versafine White; Accessories: Leafy Branch ef, Nestabilties, sponge dauber, brayer, linen thread, glue dot, stampin' dimensionals, crimper, MM wire, Piercabilities Pinking Border, Flutterby die (Verve).

Good Morning Sunday

2011-08-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

Good Morning! I'm sorry that it has been quiet around here. I have been busy with the Dare To Get Dirty challenges on Splitcoaststampers and well, you know, living life. I have ignored most other projects, except those that wonderful be ignored (child, husband and garden). Throw in a girl friend's crisis and that equals blog pause! So today I will share this card and matching envelope I made for a slew of Dare To Get Dirty challenges. You have to be a Fan Club member to view and play along with the challenges. There are some really fun challenges too! This card is for the challenges of Cindy, Diane, Dina and Iwona. I used my scor-pal on this little number and had to get kind of creative with the measurements because I wanted a smaller card than the tutorial showed. I was quite proud that I was able to do it by myself with only minimal frustration.

I'll leave with a short blurb today as my favorite radio program, a blog hop and an otherwise quiet crafty morning are calling me! Have a fabulous Sunday!

Details: Stamps: Something to Celebrate, The Artist in You (Unity); Paper: Confetti White, Early Espresso, Neutrals dsp; Ink: Early Espresso; Accessories: Scor-pal, scalloped circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, MS cupcake punch, white taffeta ribbon, liquid glue, superfine glitter, glue dot, stamping dimensionals.

Use Your Kraft

2011-08-04T23:30:00.000-07:00

No, wait a minute. The name of the challenge is "Love Your Kraft". That's right! It's Thursday and Michelle is hostessing the Ways To Use It challenge and she called out "kraft". It's no surprise, she's a kraft-a-holic! And since I have been preoccupied with DIRT these days, I threw in a few Dare To Get Dirty challenges hostessed by Edna, Michelle, and Christina. I used a My Favorite Things sketch for good measure. Let's just say...I was a challenge machine! I haven't done something like this in quite a while! I think this card will do for a belated graduation card for my nephew! He's headed off to college in a few weeks and could probably use the encouragement and the cash I will put in it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Live Your Dream; Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Kaisercraft Pack Your Bags dp; Ink: Crumb Cake; Accessories: May Arts burlap string, stampin' dimensionals, MM edge distresser.

Dirty Again

2011-08-03T11:30:00.000-07:00

Yep, I made this for Jeanne's Dare To Get Dirty challenge and also satisfied my July Christmas Card challenge criteria. After I made this lovely card, I decided I could crank nine more out for a total of ten! Woohoo! I got the sketch from Card Patterns and its great. I can really see myself using this one over and over again. I used up some designer paper that had been languishing in my stash and some strips of white grosgrain that I had received in some blog candy wins! Maybe you can see my Sakura clear star gel pen around the edge of the Label One die cut. The subtle sparkle is so nice for so many things. I finished things off by rounding off the two bottom corners of my card. Today is a bright and sunny day! I think outside chores are calling me louder than my craft room. Have a wonderful day!

Details - Stamps: Occasional Quotes; Paper: Whisper White, Soft Suede, Christmas Cocoa dsp; Ink: Soft Suede; Accessories: Nestabilities, Sakura Clear Star gel pen, white grosgrain, ribbon, mini glue dots, stampin' dimensionals, corner rounder.

Getting A Little Dirty

2011-08-02T23:47:00.000-07:00

Splitcoaststamper's Dare To Get Dirty challenges, that is. So far, there have been 20 challenges posted and I have made a meager 8 cards for the challenges. I have to get my rear in gear, seriously! Anyhow, I made this little number for Carole's Dare To Get Dirty challenge...I can't really say what the challenge is because you have to be a Fan Club Member to know that. It's totally worth it though. I also used this week's Card Positioning Systems sketch to get going! I also used my beloved Verve Stamps. I am really getting my money's worth out of those floral circle and leaf dies! Love them!!!

Well, I'm going to head back to my craft room to see if I can crank out one more little "dirty" card before my eyes close!

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamps: Bloom & Grow (Verve), With Gratitude single (Verve); Paper: Very Vanilla, Elegant Eggplant, BG Wisteria; Ink: River Rock, Almost Amethyst; Accessories: Floral Circles die (Verve), Elegant Leaves die (Verve), gold thread, needle, gold gel pen, M's pearls, SU tag, glue dots, stampin' dimensionals, Textile ef.

I Used It Yesterday!

2011-07-29T08:05:00.000-07:00

That's right! Yesterday was the Ways To Use It challenge on Splitcoaststampers! Our fabulous hostess was Collette and she challenged folks to alter ribbon! I knew right away that I wanted to alter some twill. So I got out my super-ultra wide twill and my watercolor crayons and a favorite set! I colored up my flower, wet my ribbon and my stamped and bingo, a vibrant image! Then I trimmed up my twill and secured it with some scor-tape and eyelets. Then I set to fraying the ends! I love how it turned out. The really bizarre thing for me is that I didn't add a sentiment. Oh well! In other news, today is the VSN mini and I am so excited it for it. I will hostess one of the six challenges tonight. We are starting at 5 PM EST and I do hope that you can join us! Here is a link to the main forum for VSN. See you there!

Details - Stamps: French Script, The Art of Life; Paper: Very Vanilla, Old Olive; Ink: Old Olive, Tea Stain; Accessories: WCC, twill tape, sponge dauber, stampin' dimensionals.

A Simple Heart

2011-07-26T23:02:00.000-07:00

I hardly ever do this, but I combined about three different companies on this one simple card. My sentiment is PTI, the damask stamping on the heart is Stampin' Up! and the heart die is from Verve. I'm such a matchy-matchy girl that this blows me away. My only reason for doing this is that I was tired and wanted to get my card done quick!

I pulled this color combination off of the Stampin' Up! Color Coach and I totally love it! Just in case you were wondering that is Pink Pirouette, Cherry Cobbler and the pearls match Wisteria Wonder fairly well. I used some decorative scissors too! Yay me!

I'm tired now as my girl wore me out with all of her activities and sassiness today! I may venture up to my craft room for just a bit, but then again my bed may win out! Thanks for stopping by.

Details - Stamps: Charming, A Wreath For All Seasons (PTI); Paper: Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette, vellum; Ink: Pink Pirouette, Versamark, Cherry Cobbler, Tea Stain; Accessories: Jotted Heart die (Verve), pinking edge scissors, clear ep, heat tool, M's lavender pearls, stampin' dimensionals, sponge dauber.

Happiness Is...

2011-07-25T20:58:00.000-07:00

A card left over from the last VSN! If you are new to VSN, it stands for Virtual Stamp Night. It's a good time of stamping with your on-line or in real life friends. New challenges are posted on the hour with fun challenges based on a theme. You have 45 minutes to create your card. That is creating time only, not thinking or finding your supplies time. You can play all weekend and must post your creations by Monday evening, in order to be eligible for "honors".

I made this one for Ann's Polly Wanna Cracker challenge. Ann had us make a card with a bird and bright colors. How bright is that green? Love it, especially on a day as gloomy as this one has been. Our weather took a turn for the worse, boo! In other, more exciting news, the next VSN starts this Friday!!! The mini, or warm up is coming and it will consist of 6 challenges! Yeehaw (wink, wink) and you better get to shopping. See the list here. I hope to see you there!

Details - Stamps: Happy Moments, So Happy For You; Paper: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Jillibean Soup White Bean dsp; Ink: Basic Gray, Yo Yo Yellow, Green Galore; Accessories: silver cording, XL Tasteful Trim die, M's silver pearls, stampin' dimensionals.

Happy Sunday

2011-07-24T15:17:00.000-07:00

It's a gorgeous warm day outside and I found a little time to craft between chores this morning. I decided to take on this week's Viva La Verve sketch which is hostessed by Diva Laurie. It was so nice to work with and for reasons unknown to me, I pulled out Autumn papers. Every piece I used is from the Autumn pack??? I knew that I wanted to start with the graph paper look or notebook paper look and it just grew from there. I felt so lucky to have this length of soft suede ribbon in my stash and I forked the ends and laid it flat so that the polka dots on the other side wouldn't show. I just wasn't feeling the polkas today. Another little kick I have been on is snipping those floral circles, sponging the edges and then using my Sakura pen to round them up, like an over sized stylus. It gives the flowers a nice cupped shape.

Well, I have a few more chores that are calling my name and I want to take advantage of the fun time my daughter is having at her grandmothers before we get into the evening! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have had a wonderful weekend!

Details - Stamps: Bloom & Grow (Verve), Kind Words (Verve); Paper: Autumn dp (Recollections); Ink: Riding Hood Red, Soft Suede, Early Espresso; Accessories: Nestabilties, Floral circles die (Verve), Elegant Leaves die (Verve), Pretties kits, yellow sharpie, brown sharpie, paper snips, sponge dauber.

My Favorite A-faire

2011-07-23T23:51:00.000-07:00

I played along with Papertrey's Stamp-a-faire challenges today. I finished six out of nine challenges. This card was my favorite of the bunch. It is a color challenge based on a card by Lisa Johnson. She's a fabulous designer and crafter from my neck of the woods. PTI colors were listed as Ripe Avacado, Simply Chartreuse, Hawaiian Shores and Enchanted Evening. I matched them up to SU colors as best as I could. I used Old Olive/Always Artichoke, Kiwi Kiss, Pool Party and Pacific Point. I love the soothing colors and the peace that I feel when I look at it. I fussy cut this wreath and boy was that a pain! Then I hung the wreath from a little bit of embroidery floss. It's hard to see in the picture, maybe it's better if you enlarge the picture.

I had uber-busy day otherwise. I picked a ton of fruits and veggies today and we finally got some sunshine! Hooray!

Details: Stamps: A Wreath For All Seasons (PTI); Paper: Pool Party, Kiwi Kiss, Old Olive, Whisper White; Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Always Artichoke, Pacific Point, Versamark; Accessories: White ep, heat tool, paper snips, white embroidery floss, stampin' dimensionals, SU pearls, glue dots.

A Sweet Pear

2011-07-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

Just look at this sweet pear! I had so much fun coloring it with my aquapainter. I wondering if I am moving into a new phase in my crafting where coloring will be prominent??? I hope so, that pear was delicious to color. I made it for Hannah's Ways to Use It challenge from yesterday called Heavy Metal. I feel I must apologize to Hannah for using such little metal on my project, but I was just absorbed in this pear and the mini brads just seemed to do the trick here. My background was a little boring, so I just smeared my Versamark cube around for a bit of interest. I really like the randomness that it added and my card base isn't so flat.

In my world today is the drumming workshop for my daughter (sponsored through the County Library system's summer reading program) and the Jelly Belly taste test! Should be a fun day! Wish me luck. Happy Friday!

Details - Stamps: Faith in Nature; Paper: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Watercolor paper; Ink: StazOn Timber Brown, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Versamark; Accessories: mini brads, word window punch, MM edge distresser, stampin' dimensionals.

Clean And Simple To The Rescue

2011-07-19T21:19:00.000-07:00

Whew, there are days when you just need a card to happen quickly. Today was one of those days. It was busy with a trip to the library for story hour and then a couple of business errands for hubby! It was topped off by swimming lessons this evening and then the required bath to get the pool water off. I wish I had had the 10 minutes it took me to make this little gem, but no such luck! This card I made a couple of days ago and it was quick. Really quite quick. I stamped my image and sentiment. I die cut it and then the mat. I embossed the card base and stuck them all together. Then I embellished with a few rhinestones! That's all folks. Happy Tuesday or what's left of it.

Details - Stamps: Branching Out (GKD), Hopeful Hearts (GKD); Paper: Whisper White, Old Olive; Ink: Certainly Celery, Old Olive; Accessories: Nestabilities, Square Lattice ef, stampin' dimensionals, MAMBI & SU rhinestones.

Short and Sweet

2011-07-18T22:30:00.000-07:00

That is what this card was for me. It was short and sweet! Lee Murphy (Lee on StampTV and LuvLee on SCS) challenged crafters to create a stamped sentiment only type card and this is what I came up with. This is the card that emerged between four loads of laundry, Ramona the Pest and picking peas and cherries! Let me tell you, it was a day.

I am thankful that my MIL had asked us to dinner for tonight. At least I didn't have to cook too! And with that, I am going to bid you all a good evening! I hope to see you tomorrow :) I guess that short and sweet refers to the length of today's post too.

Details - Stamps: Hopeful Hearts (GKD); Paper: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, BG Urban Prairie; Ink:Crumb Cake, Pink Pirouette; Accessories: Nestabilities, small heart punch, burlap string, sponge dauber, glue dot, scor-tape, stampin' dimensionals.

A Wet Birthday Party

2011-07-17T17:12:00.000-07:00

Pardon my photography here. I didn't have time to set up my infinity board and lights as we were running out the door to go to the neighbor's birthday party. My husband told me as we were walking outside, "It's raining". And sure enough, it rained and it rained and it rained some more. The neighbors had 3 tents set up and the garage and shop opened up. Tables were moved into the shop for folks to eat lunch and cake. The kids just played in the rain the whole time and didn't care one bit. When we got home (after 3 1/2 hours in the rain) and I put my daughter in the bath. I dried myself off and got my pajamas on myself. But, you didn't come for that...you came to see Chloe's birthday card. I felt like I was shooting from the hip this morning with no real plan for what to do. I stamped a background of numbers and decided to highlight the "2" as Chloe is now that age. Then I stamped up some cutie little animals, cut them out and popped them up. I rounded one corner and then after I took the picture I round the other top corner. I pulled the colors for this card from the gift bag I used.

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and get back to my lazy Sunday.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Details - Stamps: Look Who's Turning; Paper: Whisper White; Ink: Pink Pirouette, Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery, Almost Amethyst, Old Olive, Lovely Lilac, So Saffron, Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink; Accessories: paper snips, 3/4" circle punch, stampin' dimensionals.

Grand Ideas

2011-07-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

Yes, I had the grand idea to play along with all the challenges this week and pfffft, where did my time go. Oh yes, it's that sweet little 5 year old who wants me to play with her and the garden that is really starting to go! That is what happened.

But...I did find some time, late one night to play along with Collette's Ways To Use It challenge called Crazy Collage. When I first read that I needed to use 4 different stamps to create a collage, I thought I would end up with a muddled mess. It just goes to show you, that there is a good reason to try challenges. Now, I might have ended up with a mess, but this time I did not. I quite like how this turned out and may try this collage technique again!

It's a damp Saturday in my corner of the world and it should be a quiet day too. Hubby was up late playing a show and my darling daughter will head off to her Auntie's house for a visit this afternoon. In the meantime, I think I will try to squeeze in a couple of crafty projects and a chapter or two of the book my daughter and I are reading together!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Saturday is nothing less than spectacular!

Details - Stamps: French Script, Petal Prints, Elizabeth, Because I Care; Paper: Very Vanilla, Elegant Eggplant; Ink: Crumb Cake, Mellow Moss, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant; Accessories: Nestabilities, Corner Chomper, SU pearls, sponge dauber, glue dot, vanilla seam binding, vanilla smooch spritz, stampin' dimensionals.

Clean and Simple Monday

2011-07-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

It's been ages since it seemed that I have had the time to make a CAS card for the Monday challenge on Splitcoaststampers. I had time today and the challenge for today was to use the same sketch from Debbie's card here.

I took some creative license with this one. Debbie used three layers of scallops on her card. I used my ABC wheel to mimic the three layers and then used a longer sentiment followed by an apple image, which I popped up.

I have school on the brain lately. I am wondering what is going to happen with our schedules at work and know that I probably still have 6 weeks to wait before all is settled anyway. I have also been thinking about how best to prepare my daughter for the starting of Kindergarten too. We have been reading lots and are practicing our letters. Of course, we have been playing outside tons too!

Thanks for stopping by! Let's see if I can work in a color challenge maybe for tomorrow :)

Details - Stamps: Tart & Tangy, My ABC's wheel, Sentiments O'Simple (Unity); Paper: Whisper White; Ink: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Old Olive; Accessories: paper snips, stampin' dimensionals, corner chomper.

Some Flower Mojo

2011-07-10T18:44:00.000-07:00

Did you see this Mojo Monday sketch? Check it out here. I seem to have a hard time with the double-ended banner thing-a-ma-bobs, so I just swapped them out. I put some leaves in as a substitute. I have seen Julee Tilman added the faux stitching on her leaves and it just looked super cute, so I took my cue from her there. Seriously though, the biggest mystery here is why all of the orange? I have no idea what possessed me, I was just feeling some orange! I like it though, especially with those hot pink flowers!

In the home front news, we spent just about the whole day outside doing some badly needed yard work. We reclaimed the corn patch from the weeds and the raspberries from the volunteer plum starts. That meant that we got to see the neighbors loading a moving truck all day. We weren't really close with our neighbors, but they were certainly good neighbors. They are having to move do to the economy and his inability to find work here. It's so sad and makes me very grateful that we have remained intact in the face of such a terrible economic state.
Sorry for the downer news! Thanks for stopping by anyway!

Details - Stamps: Bloom & Grow (Verve); Paper: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Pawsitively Prints dsp; Ink: Early Espresso, Certainly Celery, Regal Rose; Accessories: Elegant Leaves die (Verve), paper snips, scallop border punch, MAMBI rhinestones, stampin' dimensionals, corner chomper.

I'm Using Doilies

2011-07-08T08:54:00.000-07:00

It's my turn to host the Ways To Use It challenge on Splitcoaststampers. I have chosen doilies and I am hoping that folks can play along and will enjoy themselves. Even though I got some new doily stamps from Mr. Brown, I whipped out my paper doily for this one. I used the first Viva La Verve sketch for July, hostessed by Amber. I love that the doily lets you peek through it for a little more of that cute October Afternoon pattern. I am really digging blues and pinks/reds together, so this worked for me.

Today is my hubby's birthday, so I won't chit-chat too much. I have to pick up some ingredients from the store for his "turtle" birthday cake (think about the candy) and his special dinner request. My daughter is more excited about hanging streamers and balloons. Then there is the dilemma of what to get the man. I just bought him a Weber barbecue last week. I'm thinking that is the big gift and now I just need to have something in hand to give him today.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day.

Details - Stamps: Text Objects, Sweet Treats (Verve); Paper:Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Welcome Neighbor dsp, OA Cherry Hill dp; Ink: Early Espresso, Bermuda Bay; Accessories: Doily, 1/2" circle punch, MM edge distresser, Kaisercraft rhinestones (lipstick red, blue grey), M's heart rhinestones, red Sharpie, pink Sharpie, 1 1/4" square punch, May Arts burlap string, glue dots, stampin' dimensionals.

Whoa!

2011-07-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

Man, it seems like I blinked and a whole week went by. I hope my whole summer doesn't go like that. I am finding out that I don't get quite as much done with my girl out of daycare now. I love the time we spend together and she really slows me down! Maybe we just haven't found our groove yet. This little lovely was made for last week's Ways To Use It challenge, hostessed by Hannah. The challenge was to use something old (my SEI Granny's Kitchen dp) and something new (my Hopeful Hearts stamp set) on the same card. I think I did just fine. I wasn't sure about my color combination until it was all said and done. Now, I really like it!

I'm off to harvest spinach, lettuce, eggs and take down my laundry when it's dry from hanging on the line! I'm going to try and squeeze in some stamping this afternoon too. My daughter is running in her final track meet for the summer tonight and I think I am going to make sure she has a rest time this afternoon!

Have a fabulous day!

Details - Stamps: Hopeful Hearts (GKD); Paper: SEI Granny's Kitchen dp; Ink: Versamark, Close to Cocoa, Cherry Cobbler; Accessories: clear ep, heat tool, scallop border punch, Cherry Cobbler seam binding, scor-tape, stampin' dimensionals, paper snips, Nestabilities, corner chomper.

Gratitude

2011-06-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

Yep, gratitude is sometimes elusive. On days when my five year old really brings it me, it's tough to achieve. Right now, the darling is standing in time out for running out of the house and hiding from Mommy. I guess I thought that I wouldn't have to keep my eye on her for every second of the day like when she was two or three. Guess again! So in reaching for gratitude, I will hearken back to three and a half hours ago when we went to the local public library for story time. She was marvelous. She sat quietly and remained quiet while most of the other children blurted out and interrupted the librarian who was reading. She raised her hand when she wanted to talk and waited for the librarian to call on her. She even put her hand down when the librarian asked her to wait. I guess the lesson here is that she can do it, just not for Mom and Dad!

But you probably came for the card, not my parenting woes and triumphs. Today's card uses the 4th and final sketch from the June Viva La Verve sketches. Teresa hostessed this challenge. I decided I need to work up a few thank you cards as one of the teachers at school had a hard time finding thank you cards in my stash last week. I saw Laurie Schmidlin use this sentiment and wanted to use it too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Details- Stamps: Kind Words, Thankful Accents (Verve); Paper: Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke, Night of Navy, Not Quite Navy, Springtime Vintage dsp; Ink: Baja Breeze, Always Artichoke; Accessories: Tasteful Trim XL Bigz die, Nestabilities, small oval punch, large oval punch, vanilla seam binding, SU pearls, stampin' dimensionals.

Guitars and Rhinestones

2011-06-27T13:44:00.000-07:00

That is about all there is folks! This card showcases one guitar and seven rhinestones. Now, I did color those rhinestones with a turquoise sharpie for a little more pop. I would also love to say that I came up with this little gem all by myself, but I did not. I played along with a Stamp TV challenge to case AJ Otto. I took this card and made it my own.

In other news, today marks the first day of no daycare. My daughter finished daycare Friday and now has to stay home with Mommy for the rest of the summer. I took the little peanut on a 40 minute walk and I am afraid I wore her out. She had a major tantrum after lunch. I just put her down for a nap, as I am thinking she will feel much better (an be willing to cooperate) after she rests. Me? I am getting on up to my craft room to take advantage of a little free time!

Thanks for stopping by!

Details - Stamp: Live Life Loud (GKD); Paper: Whisper White, Welcome Neighbor dsp; Ink: Basic Black, Bermuda Bay; Accessories: Nestabilities, paper snips, stampin' dimensionals, M's rhinestones, turquoise Sharpie.

Papertrey June Blog Hop Challenge

2011-06-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

Happy Saturday! It's a gray and overcast day here. You know, the kind that is perfect for stamping. My daughter is still in her pajamas and happy to be coloring at the dining room table while Mommy crafts away.

I saw the Papertrey Ink announcement about June's blog hop yesterday and planned to participate. After I gave the challenge some thought, I remembered that I would need a birthday card for my Great Aunt's 90th birthday celebration tomorrow. Instantly, I knew where I was going with this one!

I found a good sketch to use for my wreath and went to town! This month's inspiration challenge comes from a photograph with a gorgeous gradient colored wall. I pulled the kiwi and coral colors from the wall as my inspiration for my card.

I hope you like it and I hope Aunt Irene likes it too! We'll see tomorrow. Have a joyful Saturday!

Details - Stamps: A Wreath For All Seasons (PTI); Paper: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, SEI Mimosa dsp; Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Colorbox Coral Rose; Accessories: Nestabilities, May Arts Burlap String, white twill tape, M's silver pearls, corner chomper, stamping dimensionals, glue dot.

No White, No Problems

2011-06-23T12:22:00.000-07:00

Here we are again, on a beloved Thursday! That means it's time for another Ways to Use It challenge and this week, Collette is our fabulous hostess. Collette has challenged us crafter's to NOT use white. Boy, was that hard to contemplate. I finally got around it with a little help from Sunday's Featured stamper, Tami Mayberry. I saw a bunch of cards that were cased and stamped on patterned paper. I'll tell you...a little light bulb went off for me. I went in search of some light colored patterned paper and found this aged graph paper by Cosmo Cricket! I grabbed another pattern from the same pack and went to town. I used black ink and then repeated the polka dot pattern in my ribbon. I also chose Blush Blossom for my card base because it matched the pattern paper pretty well.

It's my first day on summer vacation and it's raining! Hello, didn't the weather get the memo.....SUMMER vacation! Oh well, I guess I will be making some more of my own sunshine later today, right after I make a pink card for National Pink Day.

Thanks for stopping by!

Details: Stamps: It's A Good Day (Unity); Paper: Blush Blossom, Basic Black, Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday dsp; Ink: StazOn Jet Black, Basic Black ; Accessories: black/white polka dot organdy ribbon, random button, glue dots, stampin' dimensionals.