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Happy Birthday Card - Feminine

2012-07-11T13:52:00.000-04:00

It has been forever since I have posted a card. I have been busy, just running around like crazy. I have started lots of things, but haven't finished many of what I have started. It is time to get back on track, and finish something.

I designed this card around a Inkadinkado, Inc. stamp by Nancy Cole. I just love the sisters sitting on the dock together. I colored it in using water color pencils.

The designer paper is by K&Company: SW Botanical and I found it at my local Michaels store. I mounted it on coordinating color of card stock to make it pop, and added ink to the edges for dimension.

The sun flower dimensional stickers are by Jolee's botique. While I like the way they look, I don't think I would use them again on a card. There is adhesive on the sticker along with the pop dot, and it doesn't stick down very well. This allows for the sticker to attach to other parts of the card or items included with the card.

The sentiment was created in Microsoft Word and printed on vellum. I used the stickers to hide the adhesive.

This card is being presented for the following challenge:

Celebrate the Occasion: Challenge #70-Happy Birthday

I hope you have enjoyed my card. As always, I look forward to your visit and comments.

Thank you for stopping by and have a Wonderful day!

Happy Anniversary - Dragon Flys & Neutral Colors

2012-05-09T16:24:00.001-04:00

What a wonderful, dreary, rainy Summer day here in Georgia. Despite the weather, I hope that today finds you all well. I am enjoying working on my cards and crafts, while being safe and dry from the weather outside. My cats are even lazier than usual. They are lounging about the house taking advantage of the cooler weather.

Following is a card I made for my daughter and son in-law for their anniversary. I like the poem as it celebrates the love found in each others hearts.

I found the poem on-line, and for the life of me cannot find where I saved the sites address. I tried searching on it and found a dozen or more possible sites. (Apparently this is a popular sentiment) There is a good chance it was on this site as I have used them before. I find their layout easy to read.

I used brown card stock to make the 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card base.

The dragon fly paper is by K&Company: SW Botanical and I found it at my local Michaels store. Always remember to check their site for their weekly coupon before leaving the house. I can usually find a 40% off of one regularly priced item, and sometime I am lucky and find an even better one. I also signed up for their rewards card program and get extra savings and offers delivered to my e-mail. (I don't receive anything from Michaels, just want to share with you ways for extra savings)

The brown ribbon is by the Ribbon Boutique. I wanted to add something else to the front of the card, but everything I tried seem to distract from the ribbon and paper. So, in the end I left it as is.

On the inside of the card I added patterned papers, and card stock from my stash. I try to use every scrap of paper and tend not to throw anything out. Eyelets were added to the border for some dimension. I printed the sentiment on a piece of vellum and attached it to the card by piercing the paper and sewing it on with embroidery floss, also from my stash.

All of the paper pieces, except for the vellum were distressed using a Studio G brown stamp pad. (at Michaels for a $1)

This card is being presented for the following challenges:

Anything Goes Challenge Blog Challenge 66- Things with Wings

Creative Craft Challenges2 Anything Goes

LEJ Designs Challenge Blog Challenge 2 - Things with Wings

Top Tip Tuesday Challenge 76- Clean & Simple

Bunny Zoe's Crafts Challenge 23- Ribbon or Twine

Always Crafting Creative Monday Challenge #7 - Anything Goes
Make it Monday # 88 with Bugaboo Stamps - Anything Paper Craft
Paper Pretties Challenge PWC205 - Anniversary Card

Thank you for stopping by to visit. I hope you enjoyed my card.

The kids loved the card, and enjoyed their diner spent with me and their Aunt Trudy. I wish we could visit more, but the distance can make it a long trip.

Have a wonderful day!

Toy Chest from Hambo Stamps

2012-04-19T17:16:00.000-04:00

Good day! It has been cooler these last couple of days, with rain showers off and on. While the rain has helped disperse the pollen blanketing the city, it has done nothing to cheer up my mood. It is days like this I am even more thankful for my craft room full of sunshine...aka crafty goodness and supplies.

I love this digi stamp Toy Chest from Hambo Stamps. I colored it with watercolor pencils and used a small amount of water to blend the colors. I didn't include a sentiment because I feel it could be used for so many different themes. However, it seems to scream 'Missing You!' to me.

I used kraft card stock to make the A2 size card base. ( 4 1/4" x 5 1/2") The paper for the mats are from my scrap pile. I believe the patterned paper is from a Recollections paper pad, and the lined card stock is from Creative Memories. I am not sure about the green card stock or the brown print paper. I added the eyelets to the green plaid, then after mounting to the kraft card stock I didn't like the way the kraft paper showed through. I added gold glitter glue to the center of the eyelets and am really happy with the way they turned out. They look like a decorative button with a glass center. I finished the card off with a black ribbon.

This card will be presented for this weeks Hambo Hoedown 62 "Four of Something" four mats for the image.

Thank you for stoping by to visit. I hope you enjoyed my card.

Have a wonderful day!

You Hold the Key to My Heart - Make Over

2012-03-10T14:12:00.000-05:00

Good Day! I hope you are all doing well. It is a beautiful spring day here. The sun is shinning brightly and the sky is a brillant blue. The cats are loving looking out the windows. They are enjoying watching the birds and the squirrels.

I am sharing a card that I remade. The original card was really sad. I should of taken a before picture to post - but I really didn't like it.

Butterflies are really popular now. I found this gorgeous ribbon with the butterflies and post marks at my local craft store. Not sure which one, either Hobby Lobby or Michaels. Both are wonderful stores and have weekly coupons for 40% off. The coupons are easily found on their websites to be printed off as you need them. I never buy anything from them without a coupon.

The original card had too much going on. Also, I had tried my hand at paper flowers. While they turned out it was just too much for a card, especially if you plan on sending it through the USPS. Anything over a 1/4" costs extra.

The designer papers are from the Recollections All Season Paper Pad. The green and silver papers are from my left over pieces of paper scrap stash. I fussy cut the butterfly out of the designer paper and mounted it on a heavy card stock so I could use foam tape to pop it up and off of the page.

I finished off the inside with the same designer paper to give it a nice sunny feeling. Looking at the picture reminds me I need to take some ink to the edges. The white card is too blaring white against the green.

Thank you for visiting. I hope you enjoyed my card and was able to draw some inspiration from it.

Take care and have a wonderful day!

Lighthouse in Water Color - Masculine Card Idea

2012-03-09T16:14:00.000-05:00

I have used this light house stamp before. It is one of my favorites to use. I suppose that is because it is one of my mom's stamps from when she was making and selling them, and my guy loves anything nautical. He and I have climbed and photographed a number of lighthouses here on the east coast.

I chose blue card stock and incorporated the oranges from my sun rise as accent papers. I feel the kraft card stock was a nice neutral color and tied the blue and oranges together nicely.

I decided not to use a sentiment so the card would be more versatile. I love the 3 brads on the front of the card, but did not like them on the inside of the card. So I followed up with a stripe on the inside of the card to help hide this. Since the card stock is dark, I added the ledger paper on the inside for handwriting your favorite sentiments and/or memories.

What do we do at the sea shore? Collect sea shells! So I thought it would be cute to add a sea shell to the inside as hidden surprise.

This card will be presented for:

Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday Challenge - Kraft Paper

Polka Doodles Week 10 - Giveaway...lets hear it for the Boys!

Totally Paper Craft Challenge 107 - My Favorite Things

Wags 'n Whiskers Challenge 74: Spring Break

Thank you for stoping by to visit. I hope you enjoyed my card and were able to draw some inspiration from it.

Have a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday in Violet--

2012-03-09T14:48:00.000-05:00

Purples and violets are some of my favorite colors. I believe that one look at these cards, and most will agree too. I love the way the colors compliment each other.

I used paint sample cards for my embellishment squares. I don't remember where I first saw these used, but have been wanting to incorporate them in a card for awhile. The best part is that they are already laid out in complementary colors for you. I used the squares on a card and the negatives on a second card.

I chose complimentary colors from my left over paper stash to mount the squares on. The dark purple is a plain paper, while the lighter purple has white polka dots on it. I chose the white vellum with purple polka dots to print a sentiment on.

I printed the sentiment and flowers, using Microsoft Word, onto the vellum paper. I attached it to the first card using eyelets, and to the second card using my Xyron Creative Station. I love to use my Xyron for many things, but did not like the way the sentiment turned out this time. So I just took a cropped picture of the second card so you could see how I used the negatives from the squares on the second card.

Both cards were finished with a purple satin bow. I like to use Loctite Crafter's Indoor-safe adhesive for this. It is a gel that dries clear, and the ribbon is firmly attached. I found mine at Hobby Lobby, but was not able to find it on the Loctite site for you.

I finished the inside of the cards with a light purple paper and Wishing You Love vellum stickers from Annette Allen Watkins PrintWorks. However, these are dated 2001 so are probably not available. Sorry, I just loved these stickers so much I have been hanging onto them and plan on using every last sticker on the 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper they came on. The bad news for me is there are just a few left.

This card will be entered into the following challenges:

Card Positions Systems sketch #255

Lollipop Crafts Challenge #70 Clean and Simple

The Pink Elephant TPE138 Let's See Those Layers

The Poodles Parlour Birthday Challenge

Clearly i Stamp Clearly Inspired Challenge #47 (CIC47) Anything Goes

Thank you for stoping by. I hope you enjoyed my project and perhaps learned something new.

Have a Wonderful Day!

Today is for Animals...

2012-01-16T15:47:00.000-05:00

Good Day. I hope that today finds you safe and comfortable. While it is a grey dreary day here, I am blessed to be safe and warm here at home.

Following are two completely adorable cards using digi stamps of animals. I love the bright warm yellows used with the bird, and the cool comfortable blues used with the donkey.

This first card uses an image from Doodle Pantry. He is called Happy Bird, and it definitely shows. He just happens to be one of their free digis. Go ahead and give him a try. But be forewarned, their images are so cute and easy to use, you will be perusing their line and filling your cart up in no time flat.

I colored this little guy using water color pencils (no water used), and then outlined him with a black marker. I use an assortment of chalk colors to fill in the back ground and create a nice summer sky effect. The paper and embellishments are scraps from my stash. The inside of the card is finished off bright and cheery too. Definitely makes me want to have a Tweet Day!

Tweet Day - Front-

This little guy is being presented for the following challenges:

Doodle Pantry Digital Challenge - Use a Doodle Pantry Image
Alphabet Challenge Blog Y for You can Choose
Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog Challenge #56 Let's Think Hot
Simply Create Too Challenge #4 Layers Layers and More Layers
Ginger Snap Creations GC132: Color Challenge - Soft Yellows and White
Ginger Snap Creations GC134: Spicy Supply Challenge - Ribbon
Party Time Tuesdays Challenge Blog Challenge #50- Feathered friends

Tweet Day - Inside -

Tweet - Ribbon

Tweet - Flower

Next up is this adorable little donkey. He is a digi by Meljen's Designs called Sweet Little Donkey. He reminds me of a stuffed animal for a baby. So soft, warm and adorable. Be sure to check out her site and designs also. You will not be disappointed as there are so many cute designs to be had.

This little guy is printed on Kraft card stock and then colored with watercolors. They didn't take too long to dry, and I really like the deep rich feel of chalks it gives. I outlined him with a black marker so he would stand out against the brown paper. He looks a little cross-eyed...but not as bad as it could be. Eyes are not my forte. The paper edges are inked with Studio g Chalks Ink (a dollar at my local Michaels store) and the papers are from my scrap stash. The inside is finished off with the same papers. The recipient will definitely know that they are cherished, loved and being thought of fondly.

Donkey - Front - Water Colored

I would like to present him for he following challenges:

Meljen's Designs Challenge #92 Anything Goes

The Pink Elephant Challenge TPE131 Favorite Colors (Blues)

Stampin for the Weekend Challenge 24 Out with the old

Donkey - Inside

Donkey - Water Colored

Thank you for stoping by to visit. I hope you enjoyed my cards. Thanks for the lovely comments, I enjoy reading them and visiting your sites too.

Have a wonderful day!

Stamped Christmas Cards in Reds and Greens...

2012-01-11T21:35:00.000-05:00

Good Day, It has been a while since my last post and I have a lot to share. It has been so busy here, I feel like I don't know if I am coming or going.

These are the first Christmas cards I have made for Christmas 2012. I received a large box of rubber stamps from my mother just before Christmas. Before she became ill, she had quite a collection of stamps. She ran a home business making and selling stamps. So not only were there mounted stamps in the box, she sent a ton of unmounted stamps from all occasions. I am planning on sorting through them, making sets, and selling them.

I am really happy with the way these cards came out. They are some of my favorite Christmas cards I have made. I just love the deep greens and reds in the papers.

These three cards will be presented for the ABC Christmas Challenge - "A" Anything for Christmas. Be sure to check out their blog if you like challenges. The best part, by the time Christmas rolls around, you should be more than ready to send your Christmas cards to family and friends.

Let it Snow Card - Front

Let it Snow Card - Inside

Merry Christmas - Front

Merry Christmas - Inside

Joyous Christmas - Front

Joyous Christmas - Inside

Paper: Recollections All Season Paper Pad
Red & White Card stock
Fiskars & Cloud 9 Designs Christmas Kit
Scraps from my stash

Ink: Versa Mark Watermark Stamp Pad
Impress Black

Ribbons are from my stash no manufacturer listed

Embellishments: Fiskars & Cloud 9 Designs Christmas Kit (stickers)
Making Memories (eyelets)

Stamps: Recollections
and from my mothers inventory

Thanks again for stoping by to visit. I hope you have enjoyed my cards. Hope to see you again soon.

Have a wonderful day!

Reindeer Games - Tag you're it!

2011-12-02T17:09:00.001-05:00

Good Day. I hope you are all doing well and staying warm. It has been unusually cold here for Georgia. If I am sitting still, I have my blanket on my lap and feet.

I have a cute little Reindeer tag to share with you today. I used my Cricut Expression, with the Paper Doll Dress Up Cartridge to cut the shape. They were easy to design in the Cricut craft room where I welded two of the deer together at the antlers to make a gift tag.

Aren't they cute?

I am loving their craft room. I had been using their Design Studio software for sometime now, and the craft room works pretty much the same as the software. However, there are some pluses with the craft room.

#1 it is free to join

#2 you can use it to design anywhere and anytime with an Internet connection

#3 you can save your cartridges as favorites in the library so you will always know which you have

#4 while you cannot cut from cartridges you don't own, you can view and design with all of them and have a good idea of what it can do before you buy
#5 you will have access to digital images you can't purchase elsewhere

You are limited to cutting on two registered devices, but I would think this would be sufficient for most crafters. Myself, I only use my desktop computer with my Cricut machines. However, I could easily authorize my laptop, and then I could potentially design and cut anywhere.

Reindeer Tags with googley eyes

Four tags fit easily onto a piece of 12 x 12 kraft card stock. I then used Pebbles chalk to add dimension to the front of the cards. Brown chalk for the body and black chalk for the antlers and hoofs. I chalked in shadows to create the legs. A bell was tied around their necks with red DMC embroidery floss. A red glass bead was glued on for a nose. The finishing touch was the googley eye. It really added to the tag.

Close up of Reindeer. Love the eyes, nose and bell.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed my project. Keep warm and have a wonderful day!

Quick Catch Up--

2011-11-12T16:30:00.001-05:00

and my apologizes. It has been awhile since I have posted anything. It has been so busy here.

I am currently working on scanning, uploading and editing photos. I am working on a photo album to send to my Grandmother. I will put a post up in the next few days and share my experiences with my scanner, photo software, on-line photo storage and the publisher I choose to finally print the photo album with. I prefer to create my albums by hand, cutting and trimming and decorating all the pages. This time, to speed up the cheer up, I am going to do it on-line and then I can have it sent direct to Grandma.

First off, my daughter slipped at work and did a number on her knee. She tore a couple of ligaments, and it is very painful and swollen. I wish she were closer so we could be of more help. Thankfully, she is now headed in the right direction to get it fixed. Unfortunately, it will be a while before she will be able to use it.

We also took a trip to Nevada, visited family and worked on our property and with our alpacas there. It was so much fun to visit with my Grandmother, brother, 2 sisters, brother in-law, sister in-law, 2 nieces and 3 nephews. It was a full house at my brother and sister in-law's small apartment. Unfortunately my daughter and son in-law were still here in Georgia. However, the trip was still full of love and good memories.

My niece wanted to take 'funny' pictures, and I was threatened to keep those off of the internet. However, I would like to share one of our family pictures and a couple more of our property and animals. The pictures turned out really nice.

My Family
Well, most of them. Unfortunately a few were unable to join us.

Miss Valentina
Such a sweet girl!

The Crew--
Zay, Valentina and Harriett
They were not happy
that we were going to harness them
and then trim their nails.

My Dad is caring for the animals. It is alway nice to be able to vist my Mom and Dad. We spend time together, work on the property and animals and help around their place. We will be less than 10 miles from their place. However, with the dirt roads to our place it will take about 30 minutes or so to get to their place. On the bright side, that is a lot closer than a 3 hour plane ride and a 2 hour road trip from the airport.

And hopefully we can get things completed so that in the next few years this will be the view we wake up to every day. So beautiful and surrounded by mountains, I can't wait for the serenity.

Our view to the East
This is me with my Dad

View to the West
and our nearest neighbor

So I am off to play with some more photos, Picasa web albums and their editing software, and shutterfly photo books.

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Boo to You Too!

2011-10-17T19:48:00.000-04:00

What a wonderful Autumn afternoon. I have really enjoyed my day. It is hard to believe that we are half way through October. At this rate, in no time at all it will be a new year.

Here is another Halloween card I would like to share with you. This little mummy is another Hambo Stamps digital image. I received this image for free by participating in last weeks challenge.

This weeks challenge at the Hambo Hoedown is a color challenge. It is difficult to tell from this picture, however I have used orange, green, purple and black to meet the challenge. The purple just didn't want to photograph.

Front

The mummy was printed on a light grey card stock and then colored in with chalks. The Boo paper is from my stash and unfortunately didn't have a manufacture listed on it. Purple, green and orange card stock were used to mount the images on. The sentiment was then mounted using dimensional foam tape. Two eyelets were used to thread the black ribbon through for a bow. I then hung a scary bat sticker from Frances Meyer on the bow. The inside of the card is decorated using the same papers and stickers with the addition of some spiders from the Recollections All Seasons Papers Pad.

Inside

Thanks for stopping by to take a look and thank you for all of your wonderful comments.

Have a wonderful day!

Just you and me babe...

2011-10-16T19:40:00.000-04:00

Good day. I started out with a lot of plans for cards this last week. However, I was only able to accomplish a few of them. I would like to share the two cards for babies that I completed this week.

Both cards used a digi stamp from Meljen's Designs. If you are not familiar with her designs, be sure to hop on over and check out her site. She has some really cute stamps, great design ideas and some wonderful challenges too.

Front

This first card will be presented at Meljen's Designs for challenge #80 -Use a ribbon. And Tuesday Throwdown's challenge #70 -To "Think Pink" this week.

I used water color pencils for the Mother Cat and kittens. The sentiment was designed in Microsoft Word. While I am not sure on the makers of the papers or ribbon, the good news is that I used up a bit more of my 'left over' paper stash.

I used the same papers to decorate the inside of the card. The buttons were found in the $1 bins at my local Target store. They were all ready to go with thread and adhesive.

Inside

This second image, Giraffe's Necktie, is also colored using water color pencils. I like the look of the water colors, and I just haven't gotten the hang of markers. You would think that the markers would be easier to use, but alas, not for me.

Front

I used Martha Stewart card stock to create a gate fold card. It ended up an A9 size (8 1/2" x 5 1/2") since I didn't size the giraffe correctly. Luckily I just happened to have an envelope to fit, as I had purchased a box of pastel envelopes awhile back at my local Target store.

Inside

The giraffe was mounted on a smaller piece of card stock, 7 1/2" x 4 1/2" and then adhered to the right side of the gate fold. When the card is closed, it makes for a nice frame around the giraffe. The designer baby print paper is GCD Studios, Chic BeBe, foof-a-la. The white ribbon is from my stash. The rocking horse ribbon is Decorative Trim from my local Hobby Lobby. The sentiment was again printed using Microsoft Word.

I hope you were able to find a bit of inspiration today and have enjoyed my cards.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and visit. Your comments are wonderful and I enjoy reading all of them.

Have a wonderful day!

Three's a Charm...

2011-10-10T19:53:00.000-04:00

Good afternoon. I wish I could say that it is a lovely Fall day here today. Unfortunately it is a dreary Monday filled with rain and cloudy skies. I haven't seen much of the sun today at all. On the bright side, our lawn needed it and is looking such a lovely green. Yes, even in October.

It has been a busy weekend and a busy day. So I am going to share three cards that I have put together over the weekend and the challenges they go with.

Front

The first is a lovely Autumn colored card. I just love the browns and oranges. The lovely poem is a digi by Lindsay's Stamp Stuff and the sentiment inside was designed and printed using Micro Soft word. (It looks so much better than my handwriting!) The sentiments were printed on kraft card stock. The printed paper is from the Recollections All Seasons Pad, and the brown card stock is from my stash. The brown organza ribbon is by Ribbon Boutique.

Inside

I am presenting this card for both the Sew Many Cards Challenge # 70 which asks us to use burnt orange, yellow and brown. It is hard to see with the photograph, but there is some yellow in the print and the vellum is yellow. Also, Stamping for the Weekend Challenge #18 is asking for the colors of Autumn and a digi or stamp to be used.

******

This cute little guy is for the Hambo Stamps Hoe Down Challenge for week #36 using their Flower Monster digi. He is printed on water color paper and colored using water color pencils. I had a hard time figuring out something to use with my first initial, and finally came up with the "TIED" ribbon. I know it is a stretch...but I just went brain dead. The papers and ribbon are from my scrap stash, so I am not sure who they are by. However, I do enjoy it when I can use up those bits of paper I just can't bring myself to throw out.

******

This last card turned out so cute. I just love the pinks, purples and blues. This is being presented for the challenge at Touched by a Butterfly and their Link Up for Pink challenge. From October 1st to 14th they are helping to step up the reminders about breast cancer and celebrate National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is a cause close to my heart. Not only did I have a scare which was luckily just a cyst, but I lost my dear friend Pat to her battle with breast cancer. Make sure to get your yearly check-up and Mammogram. It is always best to have lumps checked by your doctor rather than to just hope they will go away.

I am also presenting this for Card Positioning Systems sketch #239. If you love sketches, and who doesn't, be sure to stop on by and check out their site. They have wonderful challenges and some wonderful design idea books.

Thank you again for stopping by and all of your wonderful comments.
Please have a wonderful evening!

Beware There's Something Strange Brewing

2011-10-08T03:46:00.000-04:00

Front

Inside

Front

Good morning. Thank you for stopping by. Hopefully, when the sun comes out, it will be another beautiful day. There probably won't be too many more before the cold sets in. Luckily we do not get much snow in Georgia. But when we do it shuts the whole state down. Still can't believe it after growing up in the North West. We would drive in anything. And if necessary slide in anything.

Halloween has always been a fun time of year for me. I have been working on some Halloween cards for the kids. I still have a few to go. I think that they will enjoy getting a little something extra. Especially now that some are closing in on their teens, others are well into their teens and adulthood. The younger ones will still have a few years to enjoy dressing up and going out to Trick or Treat. However, I imagine that the older ones would enjoy it too, if they could still get away with it.

I kept these cards clean and simple by using a basic card base and a Halloween paper from the Recollections All Season Paper Pad. I cut the page apart and mounted the separate elements on black card stock. Included inside are some additional decorations and a space for a little note.

These cards will be included in the following Halloween challenges. Be sure to stop on by and take a look. I have enjoyed visiting the blogs myself. There are a lot of great products and ideas from some very talented people.

The Pink Elephant TPE119 with a theme of "Trick or Treat"

Lollipop Crafts Challenge #51 with a theme of Halloween

Tuesday Throwdown #69 with a theme of Halloween

Meljen's Designs Challenge # 79 with a theme of Halloween

I see a common thread here---must be getting close to Halloween! And Christmas is close on it's tail. Boy has this year flown by.

Thanks again for stopping by and all of the wonderful comments. You are all so nice. I hope you will come back to visit soon and that you have enjoyed my designs.

Have a wonderful day!

Christmas Card Challenges Using Birdhouse Digi

2011-10-07T01:27:00.000-04:00

Front of Card

This cute bird house digi is from Doodle Pantry. Their theme for digital challenge #17 is to use a Doodle Pantry Image. This card is also being used for the weekly challenge, a Christmas theme, at OWH Stars & Stamps blog. And for Challenge #17 - Too early for Christmas? over at Cardmadfairy's Digi Days Challenge blog. There are some really cute images and some great ideas at these sites. So be sure to stop on by and check them out. They also have lots of fun challenges. When I find that ever elusive job, these are definitely some of the first places I plan to go shopping at.

The image is printed on water color paper. Cardinals remind me of Christmas, so I colored the birds red using my Pebbles chalks. Then finished the Christmas/Winter theme with red and green chalks for the bird houses.

I used Microsoft PowerPoint to print the sentiment onto white card stock. Sometimes I can have a hard time coming up with sentiments. I find most of my quotes in my Webster's New Explorer Dictionary of Quotations. However I found this list of quotes for Christmas on the Begin Crafting blog. She has a lot of cute ideas, so you ought to drop on by.

Inside of Card

The red card stock and the holly print papers are from a kit by Fiskars & Cloud9 Designs. The 5" x 6.5" card base is by the Paper Studio. I found them and the ribbon at Hobby Lobby. It is hard to tell from the photo, but the bird house and sentiment are mounted on the same pearly paper as the ribbon. The paper is from my stash so I do not know who made it. I really like the shinny red ribbon against the color and texture of this paper.

I used the same papers on the inside of the card, just to "dress" it up a bit. The circular stickers are from the same Fiskars kit. It is hard to see, but they are plastic with clear color and add some dimension to the page.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look.

I hope you have enjoyed my designs.

Have a wonderful day!

Won't you be my Mummy?

2011-10-05T19:59:00.000-04:00

Good evening and thanks for stopping by to take a look. I hope that you have had a wonderful day. It has been a beautiful autumn day here.

I used a 5 1/2" x 6" card base. The red paper is called code red by MOD. The Halloween paper is from the All Seasons Paper pad by Recollections. The yellow and purple papers and ribbon are from my stash. The candy corns are Freances Meyer Bubblets. I colored this adorable mummy digi, by Hambo Stamps with water color pencils.

The layout is based on original #7 Sketch for challenge SSS128 by The Sweet Stop. Red, yellow and purple papers are for the challenge at Sweet n Sassy stamps SNSDC22. And the Halloween theme is for the challenge at gelatins self sticking clear stamps.

I have had fun with these challenges. If you enjoy challenges or just want to get started, be sure to check out their sites. There are lots of good ideas and products to be found there.

Thanks again for visiting and have a wonderful evening.

Dragon Fly Thinking of You Card

2011-10-03T19:39:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post to share a card for the Hambo Hoedown weekly challenge. This week we are asked to choose a card from the Hambo galleries and CASE it.

My card uses the free image from last weeks challenge. **DragonFly** If you participate by the Monday deadline, and follow the simple guidelines, you will receive the free image for this week. How cool is that? So be sure to stop by and check them out.

I printed the image twice on a piece of white card stock. I used the second image to cut wings from a floral card stock and then glued them to the image on the white card stock. This gave the image a very nice dimension. I colored the body with a greg water color pencil and then used Glistening Snow Writer to give it some dimension and some sparkle. The image is double matted. My paper is from the Premium Stacks Far East Stack and the card base is kraft card stock cut to an A2 card size. A organza bow finishes the card.

Following is the image I CASEd by MacKenzie Bruckler and it can be found in the Hambo Gallery. Here you will find all kinds of great ideas using their images. What I liked about this design is the simplicity and the matted image. And of course, the ribbon.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and visit.

Have a wonderful evening!

What a Beautiful Day to be Thankful For....

2011-10-03T13:41:00.000-04:00

What a beautiful fall day. I hope you all have an opportunity to enjoy a bit of sunshine today.

I participated in the OWH World Card Making Day blog hop on Saturday. Thank you all for the wonderful comments. You can still go to their post and visit any of the sites you might of missed. I am still trying to make it to all of the blogs that participated. I must say, what an amazing assortment of cards. Everyone did such a wonderful job.

My "Thankful" card was made using papers from the Recollections All Seasons Paper Pad. I took the Fall collage page and cut it apart to use for sentiments. I mounted these 2 sections together on a piece of brown card stock and tied it up with an organza bow. I really like how the colors work together. I just love the oranges and greens.

This card will be submitted for gel-a-tins challenge sponsoring OWH. It is a Fall themed challenge using this sketch. Also sponsoring OHW is Sew Many Cards. This challenge has an any thing goes theme.

Thank you for stopping by to take a look. Have a wonderful day!

2011-10-01T03:00:00.000-04:00

Thank you for stopping by my blog. I hope you enjoy my card on your way through OWH World Cardmaking Day Blog Hop. Clicking the banner above will help to guide you on your way to your next stop.

My Christmas card uses:

OWH Sketch #6

Patterned paper by Creative Imaginations and Debbie Mumm

Card stock from my stash

Sentiment by me & my BIG ideas

Classic Chalks by Pebbles Inc.

Gold Offray Ribbon & Organza ribbon by The Ribbon Boutique

Thanks once again for stopping by.

Have a wonderful day and enjoy your Autumn Weekend.

The weather should be simply gorgeous here.

Summer vs. Christmas Cards For 2 Challenges

2011-09-27T22:15:00.000-04:00

While getting cards ready to send out this week I took some time out to participate in some challenges.

I just love this little gal from Hambo Stamps. I colored her using water color pencils. The sentiment was stamped on vellum and attached with colored staples.

This card is being used for a couple of OWH challenges. The card challenge sponsored by The Hambo Hoedown blog. Their challenge asks that you use one of their images and isn't she cute? And the challenges sponsored by Tuesday Throwdown and by Sassy Studio Designs. These two challenges are looking for either missing you or thinking of you cards. Be sure to check out the sponsors sites. Besides being wonderful by supporting OWH they have wonderful products and amazing ideas.

Following is a Christmas card based on OWH Sketch # 88 Challenge. You can find a copy of the sketch here. I chose to mount each piece with a solid color and used a ribbon and brad on the square to mimic a present. For the sentiment I used foam mounting tape to give it some dimension. Since the card uses red card stock I quarter folded, trimmed and attached a piece of Christmas letter head inside. I thought that it would be nice for our soliders to have some extra room to write home on. It easily folds out to a full sheet of paper while still staying safely secured.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by.

I just love all of your wonderful comments.

Have a wonderful evening!

More OWH Card Challenges

2011-09-23T16:17:00.000-04:00

I am still working on getting a box of cards ready to send out the first of next week to Operation Write Home. As usual the Stars and Stamps blog is keeping us busy with lots of challenges and ideas.

The following cards use paper and sentiments form an all-in-one Paper-craft Kit from Cloud9 Design along with paper from the Recollections All Seasons Paper Pad. The red ribbon is also from the Paper-craft Kit. I wish there was more of it because the bow worked out so well with it. The white ribbon is Sheerly Yours by Offray and has been my go to ribbon lately. I will definitely need to stock up on this as it seems to go with most anything. I also like that it is light weight and not bulky.

This one is for the try something round on your card challenge. It is being sponsored by Robin's Fetish Digital Stamps and More. Head on over there and take a look. There are a lot of great items and ideas. Currently they have a Fall Sale going on with 35% off until September 30th. So hurry on over there and don't miss a chance at a great bargain.

Since I am trying to add some Christmas Cards to the box going out next week, I chose to do another Christmas card. This one is for the challenge hosted by Michelle's Scrapbooking and more in honor of OWH. The theme is anything you like and ends Sept 27th. This is a great site with a lot of amazing items, ideas and challenges.

This next card is for the Birthday Bash - Case Charlsie S., Napa CA. Make sure to stop by and see all the wonderful cards she has shared. My favorite part of this card is the ribbon. For being so small it looks so luxurious. The fork method was used. You can find many tutorials on line. Here is one on the OWH website. It is super easy once you get the hang of it.

This last card is for the “Sweet Treats” theme challenge at the Stars & Stamps blog. The digital image is from Sliekje's Digi Stamps. She has so many cute images and is a wonderful artist. Go ahead and take a look. Please make sure to leave a comment, if you download a stamp, and to follow her terms of use. I printed the image on water color paper and then used colored pencils. I was able to get 6 images on the page. Cut to size they are easily stored in a index card file for later use. The die cut is by My Minds Eye. I am not sure about the flowered paper and card stock as I pulled it out of my scrap pile.

Thank you for stopping by to take a look. Have a wonderful day!

Pinks & Greens....Lovely!

2011-09-19T19:36:00.000-04:00

I am still having fun with cards for OWH and the challenges found on their Stars & Stamps Blog. I am working hard to get a bunch of cards together to go out the first of next week. Yea, this will be my first and definitely not my last. What a great group to support.

This first card is not anything like I had imagined. However, I must admit that this is probably one of my favorites. It could be used as a non-traditional Christmas card or a love themed card. It fits well with the "Tie Christmas up in a bow" challenge sponsored by May Arts. They are a ribbon wholesaler. If you like ribbon, and who doesn't, make sure to check their website out. There is a ton of gorgeous ribbon to be had.

I couldn't find anything that I liked to go with the background. Then I found the sweet hearts stickers from Frances Meyer, Inc. and they were perfect. Next, how to mount them. Directly on the flower printed vellum didn't work as the stickers were clear and the print overpowered them. The sentiment is one I created on a clear/white paper and have been using on Christmas cards. It went well with the hearts and mounted on a piece of silver card stock they really seemed to work well together. The background paper is by Making memories - Pink Small Dots. The vellum is from Daisy D's - Sweet Dreams Tulips. Then it is all tied up with a white ribbon.

These next two cards are based on the OWH sketch challenge #87. Be sure to hop on over there and check it out too. There are a lot of great ideas posted.

I used the silver card stock again to mount the patterned paper. The patterned paper is from Recollections and is in their All Seasons Paper Pad. I like to use these because it is so much easier to color coordinate as it is already done for you. Then I used a turquoise ink from Page Craft with the sentiment stamp by Katie & Co. designed for g. This was found in the dollar bin at my local Michaels store. These too were tied up with a white ribbon.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and take a look.

Have a wonderful and peaceful evening!

OWH Birthday Bash Color Challenge & A Bugs Life Cards

2011-09-17T16:09:00.000-04:00

What a wonderful day here. Not too hot or too cold. The sun is shining through the soft fluffy clouds that are scattered across the brilliantly blue sky. I just love this time of year. Wherever you might be, I hope that God has blessed you with a beautiful and wonderful day too.

I just wanted to quickly share with you a couple more of the cards that I have created using the challenges found on the OWH Stars & Stamps blog. If you haven't been over there lately, please take a moment to stop on by. As usual, there is a lot going on and I am sure you will find something that catches your fancy.

The first card I created was for the Birthday Bash Color Challenge sponsored by Paper and Such. Stop on by and take a look. There are a lot of really cool ideas. Their challenge was to use kraft, red, and black or blue.

I tend to use what is at hand. And since the Recollections All Seasons paper pad is out I chose it. It worked well with this challenge. When I purchased the pad, my intent was to use it to complete some Christmas cards for the OWH organization. I love the classic look of these papers.

I created the sentiment using Microsoft Publisher for Mac and printed it out on vellum. I like doing this because I can just copy, paste and then easily print out a whole sheet of sentiments to use. Any that are left over are trimmed to size and filed away for later use.

The second challenge was A Bugs Life theme. I spent a lot of time looking through my stash, and apparently I don't like bugs. There was hardly one to be found.

I did find this cute pink dragon fly that I have had in my stash for a while now. It was on a sheet of black alphabet stickers. Unfortunately I have no idea who they are made by as there is nothing on the page, front or back.

The flower paper is by the Paper Patch. A sheet of Black - small dots on white and a sheet of Black - tri dot is from Making Memories. Again, I have had them in my stash forever. The nice thing about acid and lignin free paper is it does it's job and does not yellow or fade.

And last but not least, a clean white ribbon to add a little flair to the card. I really like the way it finished the card.

Thanks for stopping by to visit. Have a wonderful weekend!

My Submission for OWH - Birthday Bash 2011: Sketch #85

2011-09-16T18:43:00.000-04:00

The Birthday celebrations continue on over at the OWH Stars & Stamps blog. This challenge was to create a card using Sketch #85.

I am enjoying all of the challenges. Better yet, I am getting lots of ideas and my pile of cards is growing. I will be able to send off a shipment before long. Be sure to check out the web site - Operation Write Home - if you are interested in finding out more on what you can do to support them.

My card base is kraft cardstock from the Paper Studio. I was able to use a 40% off coupon at my local Hobby Lobby. You can't get any better than that. I really like the look of the kraft paper, however I am not thrilled with how my other papers are adhering to it. I will keep looking for an adhesive that works better than the ones I have tried.

The patterned paper is by K&Company - Brenda Walton's Around the World specialty paper pack. I really like the colors and how the papers go together so well.

The sentiment stamp I found at my local Michaels and is by g studio. The light house is one of my mother's from when she was making stamps...Hopefully when I go to visit next month I can raid some more. Since I colored the stamp with water color pencils and a Marvy Blender pen I chose to use water color paper. The paper doesn't peel up as much as regular cardstock does.

Thanks for stopping by and looking. Have a wonderful day and an amazing weekend!

Stars & Stamps VCMP Weekend

2011-09-13T15:10:00.000-04:00

What a fun weekend for Operation Write Home. To celebrate their birthday, on the Stars & Stamps Blog they held a virtual card making party that lasted all weekend long. A total of 16 challenges presented, with a new one being hosted every 2 hours on a different blog. Go check it out. There are a ton of great ideas! Click here to go to their post with all of the great challenges going on this month to celebrate their Birthday---

Happy Birthday Operation Write Home!!

This party was fantastic and generated a lot of ideas. I am sure that there well be a ton of great cards pouring in shortly for the soldiers to send home to their families.

I haven't been able to get through all of the challenges, but here are a few that I have been able to complete so far.

Most of the patterned paper is from the Recollections All Seasons paper pad which I picked up, using a 40% off coupon, at my local Michaels store. The ribbons and card stock were in my stash at home. Water color pencils and paper were used with the stamps. The vellum sentiment was printed on my Hp photo printer and created using Microsoft PowerPoint.

I apologize for using my scanner rather than a camera. It tends to leave the cards and embellishments so flat.

VCMP #1: Garanimals

Hosted by: Linda @ It was here a minute ago
Create a card for a child with an animal on it.

VCMP #2: Celebrating Nature
Hosted by: Lisa @ Stamping with a Mission
Create a card using some element of nature as the focal point.

VCMP #3: Unique Christmas

Hosted by: Paper Therapy Ponderings
Create a unique Christmas card..using non-traditional colors.

VCMP #5: Falling for You

Hosted by: Sybrina @ Scrapping with a Purpose
Create a card using the phrase "Falling for You"

Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a WONDERFUL day!