The Morning After

Here's Flopsey soaking it up and relaxing from a busy season. I hear she (that's right, I said "she") had to put in many appearances at Egg Hunts and photo ops for the kiddies at the mall. She really is pooped and getting to soak in a bubble bath is the most relaxation she's had in awhile.


Flopsey is the most adored bunny out there, well, at least amongst (is that a word?) the MFT junkies and Flopsey's gender is often debated. What do you think? boy or girl?

Every week on MFT there's a new challenge posted in the Wednesday Stamp Club forum and there are usually three suggestions of what to do for the challenge. I chose to create a custom embellishment using glitzy glitter. I used the Sizzex Flower layers die to make a felt flower and held it together with a Stampin' Up rhinestone brad and then glued chunky glitzy glitter on it. I also used some glitzy glitter on the bubbles and for Flopsey's inner ear I glued some pink Sparkly fluff. I also cut out a tiny piece of card stock and wrote the date for the day after Easter on it and drew a little nail on it and popped it up on a dimensional to look like a day at a time calendar. I think it came out cute. I hope you do too.

So here's the rest of the deets:
Stamp - MFT Bubble Bunny
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black for the image, Ranger Tattered Rose sponged on the cs edge
Paper - dp Paper Studio "Plastic Easter Eggs", for piecing Flopsey a scrap, MFT Perfect Panel
Misc - Blossom Nestibilities, copics

The challenges:
MFT - Wednesday Stamp Club Glitzy Embellishments 032410
The Pink Elephant #60 - Pastels
Pile It On #12 - Animal-rific
Cute Card Thursday #105 - Dimensions

Thank you for visiting, I hope you'll come back again. Before you leave, be a dear and click on the pink ribbon, it'll help someone in need to get a free mammogram.

Shoebox Swap

Isn't that chickie the cutest thing? I find him irresistible and just have to pull him out at Easter time and make some cards for family and friends. Even the sentiment of "you crack me up" is cute. the timing for the swap was perfect for using this stamp set. I also used the big egg from the set for my name tag.

This is the card I made for my card front swap at yesterday's Shoebox swap. The egg shell was paper pieced with a portion of the dp used on the panel behind the center oval. It's stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black, colored with copics. The eyes and beak are covered with stickles. The dp are both from DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Girl pad. I don't remember what the card stock are. There are dots in the scallops of the oval and in the oval surrounding the stamped image were made with a gel pen. The yellow flower is a K'jinker.

The challenges:

Rosie Dee Challenge 67 - use yellow, green white (it might be too late for this and the other challenges, but what the heck, I"m not trying to win the prize so much as have the cards seen)

Simon Says - Easter or Spring and some Glimmer (the dp with the circles is sparkly but it doesn't show that well in the photo)

CCEE - Inspiration photo of macaroon cookies (lots of the same yummy colors)

Charisma Cardz Challenge #12 - Spring has Sprung

Thanks for visiting, I hope to see you again.

Directionally Challenged

Have you ever been lost following the directions your GPS gives you? Do you get lost every time you go someplace new? Do you have the same group of friends who are always with you when you get lost? Do you add a half of time to your estimated travel time just because you know you will get lost? Do you laugh hysterically at the phrase "Didn't we just pass this?" Do you take it for granted that you will probably be calling your destination at least three times within an hour for directions? When the person you're going to see says"but you've been here, like 5 times already" do you just shrug? If you've answered yes to these questions you must be Eileen, Edna or Maddy.

Yesterday we bravely took off for parts unknown and got there with only a minimum of getting lost, mostly missing exits and having to turn around. Ramona, our GPS buddy, made us make one whacky U-turn (a legal one, with Ro, you gotta listen real good or you'll be making an illegal turn). Anyway, we got to Poughkeepsie, that's right Poughkeepsie and met up with some stampers we met in the fall and some new ones and had a really good day. There are some serious, die-hard travellers in that group. They love to go to swaps and they are much fun to play with. This was a shoe box swap with 21 participants. There a couple make and takes, great door prizes, super food and fun people. I participated in another swap called 3D WOW. This pin and box were what I made, picture the pin nestles in a bed of paper grass inside the box and then the box nestled on top of a bed of grass inside a clear bag, tied off with a ribbon with a tag. There's a picture of it on my other camera but I can't find the cable to download it.

I'm going to take some pictures of cards we made and card fronts we swapped and hopefully I'll get some of them posted during the week.

And my door prize was the "Chemistry" clear stamp set from There She Goes. You can see some samples of cards made with the set on Michele's blog the Enchanted Stamper. Michelle teaches chemistry and her hubby is a chemist too, can't remember if he's a teacher or working in the field. They helped create this set. It's very cute and you don't have to be a chemist to love it.

So here's the deets on the pin and box:

The bunny and sentiment are from a retired SU stamp set "Funny Bunny" which I picked up on E-Bay a couple years ago. It was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black on Georgia Pacific card stock and colored with Copics. The head was stamped again and glued on top, to give it a little dimension. The tail is covered with pink Glitzy Flock which unfortunately has disappeared into the black hole which has taken up residence in my craft room. I hope the glitzy fluff is living happily with the Pure Innocence stamp set that went into the hole a couple weeks ago. The dots were covered with stickles. It's glued to a piece of black card stock and then cut out and covered with Crystal Effects. At some point I ran out of them and picked up some Ranger Glossy Accents and finished the project with that. When the front dries you flip it over, coat the back with the gooey stuff and stick a pin in it and "Voila" you've got yourself a cute little piece of jewelry.

The box was made with Stampin' Up "Delicate Dots" dp which is also retired but I had two packages of that paper which I hoped meant I wouldn't have enough of the same papers to make them all the same. I got the directions off of Splitcoast Stampers resources.

There were tons of Easter and Spring challenges out there The challenges:

Pile It On Challenge #12 Animal-rific

Charisma Cardz #12 - Spring has Sprung

CCEE - Inspiration Challenge - photo of cookies (the spring colors are used in this project)

Simon Says - Easter or Spring and some glimmer

Rosie Dee's - Green, Yellow and White

Stamp With Fun - Easter

Some of these challenges may have expired. There were so many Easter and Spring challenges but I didn't want to post this project till after the event.

Thank you for visiting, I hope you'll come back again. Before you go, don't forget to click on the pink ribbon.

Reality TV

Do you watch reality TV shows? It's my dirty little secret that I watch Project Runway and America's Next Top Model regularly and sort of like them. I will watch a little bit of some of the other shows but I'm not a big fan of the Housewives or the Jersey Shore or Survivor. And as much as I like ANTM I would like it better if the models would just shut up. They annoy me. Most of them are not very bright and I cannot stand how ignorant they sound and I really can't stand how mean they are. On the other hand I love seeing the clothes they wear and the make up and different sets. It's the art of it I like. Which is probably why I like Project Runway. I admire the talent they have but when they start thrashing each other I don't like it.
On the other hand when you wander around the paper crafting blog world when you read comments they are always kind and positive. Don't we all appreciate the positive feedback. I know I do and I want you all to know that I appreciate it when you take the time to leave me a comment.
And there's something for everybody out there. How about these quirky images by Daniel Torrente. While they are not pretty and sweet in the conventional sense they are pretty and sweet in an offbeat quirky way. I love them, I wish I had a lot more space and money so that I could have all his designs. I'll settle for a couple for now. I think this one is "Prom Queen". She's totally chic with that head purse, I'd have used it. My daughter likes them too. So I'm going to give this card to her.
On Monday I made my visit to Haunted Design House blog to see what Barb was up to. Always something on the dark side there, but not totally grotesque. This week the Macabre Monday Challenge #031 is Perilous Princess which just begged for me to finally ink up this stamp. Then I saw a sheet of these little blingy Jolee tiaras for sale and picked them up to add to the princess look and doesn't she look fab in it. I had planned on using pink for her outfit and dirtying it up, cause I really think this gal's favorite color is pink, but of course she has to make it shabby to fit her style. I saw that the Scrapmaster's Paradise color challenge #40 this week were Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink and Really Rust so that worked out well for me, after I used my pink copic for her clothes I got out an orangey one for the rust and used it for highlighting. I found some rust colored flowers and smudged them up with Memento Rich Cocoa ink and sewed the pink button on it with twine. I had a piece of SU Pretty in Pink ribbon that was stitched together so I pulled it apart to get that thready ragged look and smudged some brown ink on that too. The image was stamped on white card stock but I spent about a half hour pouncing Ranger Frayed Burlap on it and then I switched to Spiced Marmalade and Peeled Paint.
I often think the pictures don't do the cards justice and that is the case with this card but I think you can get a good idea of what it looks like. Which makes me realize that you all probably have many of the same issues with your cards.
There's one more challenge I can use this in but it may be closed already. The Stamp Something Challenge this week is distressed something. So between all the pouncing and shredding of edges I think I got that covered.
What's amazing to me is that I haven't made anything Springy or Eastery this week yet, maybe tomorrow, cause there's so many challenges with that theme.
Thanks again for visiting, come back again. Your comments make my day.

Happy Birdie!

Have you ever had half your post disappear? My computer is really finicky and I wrote a whole lot of stuff that is now gone and I don't think I can recreate it, it was some silly stuff about an old card that read "Hoppy Birdie to You" and that reminded me of the waiters in the Japanese restaurant, when they sang Happy Birthday it came out "Hoppy Birdie", and that reminded of Joanne Basile's blog Just a Little Something . She's the very generous donor of the stamp set I used for this card. Joanne mentioned her husband just got home from Japan. I have a Japanese sister-in-law, and because she's a good sport we can bust her chops about her accent, which is stereotypical and when she says happy Birt...well you get the picture. Actually I am in awe of her. I don't think I could ever have done what she did, can you imagine travelling halfway across the world, knowing that you will hardly ever see your family again. Moving to a culture so very different from your own. I am also taken aback by the bravery that my grandparents and the immigrants of their generation had. When they came to this country they got on a boat and were certain they'd probably never see their family again and back then there were no phones. I feel frightened just thinking about it.

But I digress. I should be talking about this card. I was so excited to be able to come home and make this card. I knew I'd finally have time to play with something from the big bag 'o booty I got from Joanne and since today is the Cat's Pajama challenge day I visited Alma's blog to find out who was today's hostess with the mostess and low and behold it was Joanne so I scramble over there to find a color challenge. So I knew what colors I'd be using. Then I visited a site I was excited to find the Crafty Ho Challenge Blog. It's amazing the places you end up when you just keep clicking on the links. I was visiting Michelle's Enchanted Stamper blog and from there I went to the Ho challenge blog and the reason I'm excited is I found an old junkie buddy there. this week she made the sketch challenge so I immediately decided that would be my layout. It's so good to find out someone you haven't heard from in awhile is doing well.

I'm sorry I just keep going off on tangents and it's late so I really need to get back on track and give you the deets:

Stamp - The Cat's Pajamas (thank you, thank you, thank you to Joanne)

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black to stamp, Close to My Heart Olive pounced on the edges of the white cs

Paper - Cosmo Cricket Boyfriend pack, Colorbok yellow cs, white Georgia Pacific cs

Misc - Doodlebug Confection brads, Mays ribbon, TCP button, TCP Glitzy Glitter, SU bright beads, copics, nestibilities, DMC floss, EK Success border punch, Marvy and EK Success circle punches

the challenges:

The Cat's Pajama's TCPTUES102 color challenge - poppy red, olive green, summer yellow, black

Rosie D's #67 color challenge - green, yellow, white

Crafty Ho Challenge - sketch

Saturday Spotlight SSHP23 - Birthday in your color - use your birth stone color (August - peridot/green)

Charisma Card Challenge #11- for the kids.

Again, I have to thank Joanne, the prize for her blogaversary was tremendous, (lots of stamps and glitter and ribbon oh my) and I will be playing with that stuff for a long time and there's a couple stamps in the package that I already have so I am going to make my girlfriends very happy this weekend when I share the love with them. I'm gonna be making some neat little baggies for them to pick from. And Eileen, I know you're reading this, so try to act surprised when you see me on Saturday, that goes for Edna and Maddy if you've popped by too. I guess you all can see I can't keep a secret.

And thanks to everyone who stops by and actually reads what I write and a great big thanks you to everyone who takes the time to comment.

Going Green

Going green, going green, gone...this week's My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club challenge is to "Go Green" in other words reduce, reuse, recycle. Crafters have always been big on repurposing items and now it's fashionable. I hate to throw things out, so there are lots of things awaiting a repurpose in my craft room. Besides all the stuff I can't throw out, there's an amazing pile of items that my boss couldn't throw out and gave to me to repurpose. Does that make us co-dependent or does that make her an enabler? And no you haven't seen me on an episode of "Hoarders", at least not yet and boy do those commercials have me running scared. Of course I'm not throwing any of it out, heck no, I'm hoarding it - so keep your eyes open you may see me on the little screen yet and you can say "Oh my god I know her and there's that candy box I gave her!"
For my going green project I used one of the tins my boss gave me, I gotta tell you she has some of the best boxes and tins. Remember the bling box? I love that, and won't be giving that one away but usually once I've altered them I like to give them away. So someone will be receiving this tin, with a couple of funky tea bags in it. Any tea drinkers out there?
So I've been mulling around what I was going to repurpose for the MFT challenge. I tend to do boxes and tins cause I have so many of them and I really like boxes and tins. Kind of a which came first thing, huh. Anyway, once in awhile I'd like to do something different but dang, that little hot chocolate tin kept coming back to my thoughts so I finally gave in and made up my mind that I would alter that tin which left me wondering what would I want to put in it. While I was thinking about that I visited some challenge blogs to get some more ideas. Do you have any idea how many Easter and/or Spring challenges are out there? Well, you'll have to come back later this week to learn the answer to that question because I didn't come up with an Easter and/or Spring idea for altering the tin. Any of the Easter/Spring MFT images I thought about using on it were too large. I also wanted to do the Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge MOJO131. There's three tall thin panels on it and the idea came to me to use one of the MFT cup stamps on the panels, they'd be small enough. So I pulled out the "Coffee? Tea" set and started stamping some cups. I tried several different versions using all three stamps but decided that it would look best with all three images being made with the same tall cup but in different colors that were picked up from the American Crafts "Bubbles" dp. I love that dp and think I will have to go out and pick up some more of it. It's just so cheery and I have some sweet floral paper that coordinates with it. After I picked the colors and stamped the cups it was all easy peasy. The most difficult part of altering tins is that they curve, so it's hard to get a good picture and sometimes the paper doesn't want to cooperate with the curve. The edges of the card stock the cups were stamped on kept lifting up so I used some Beacon glue on them, that stuff really holds tight so once I put some glue on the edges of the white card stock everything layed nice and flat.

So here's the rest of the deets:
The yellow cs is Bazzill African Daisy. The cups were stamped in SU YoYoYellow, Green Galore and Close to My Heart Cranberry. The edges of the cs were sponged with Versamagic Sea Breeze. The teapot stamp is from MFT "In the Background" is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on Georgia Pacific cs. The label is a Spellbinder's Shapeablities. The sentiment is from the MFT "Coffee? Tea?" set.

The Challenges:
My Favorite Things - Wednesday Stamp Club - Go Green
Paper Sundaes 10th challenge - Paper Piecing
Crafty Creations Challenge 59 - Spots and Dots
The Color Dare #60 - Real Red, More Mustard, Gable Green, and Tempting Turquoise (that bubble paper has every color under the sun in it, I counted them, every single color under the sun is there)
Mojo Monday Sketch Challenge MOJO131

Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate your comments and hope you'll come back again. I gotta do the Easter and/or Spring challenges and you're gonna want to know how many challenges are out there, aren't you?
Don't forget to click on the pink ribbon.

Everything Old is New Again

That's a Peter Allen song. He's been dead probably longer than most of you reading this have been alive. He was a singer composer, pianist for Judy Garland, married to her daughter Liza for awhile (yes, he was one of her gay husbands, Liza marital choices have been strange) and a consummate showman. I saw him once at Radio City Music Hall, he was fantastic, he danced with the Rockettes and he kept up with him. When he did "I Go to Rio" the audience went wild. I have one of his CDs with Rio on it, when the weather gets warm I love to put the car's roof down, pop that CD in and sing along at the top of my lungs. That's a rule, ask my daughter when you run into her, she was raised on the rules:
Rule #1 - If the sun is out the roof is down.

Rule #2 - You have to sing along out loud even if you don't know the words and you can't carry a tune in a bucket.

There were more rules but those two were the important ones, especially because neither one of us can sing and we often can't remember the words . But the important thing is we feel really good when we do this. Now that she's a teenager there aren't so many things she wants to do with me but she does like singing in the car and amazingly she usually likes my music choices.

But I have digressed, the reason I brought up the song is because Kraftin' Kimmee's Challenge #20 is to use something old from your stash. I have taken quite a shine to these Kimmee stamps. They are just a little bit twisted and that's right up my alley.

Here's the deets: The stamp is Kraftin' Kimmee's "Charlotte" stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa on an MFT cream Perfect Panel and colored with copics. The edges have been sponged with Ranger Tea Dye, Scattered Straw and Antique Linen. The dp is DCWV "the Garden Party" stack. The card stock is Stampin' Up, except for the yellow crossbar and I don't know what that is. The frame around the sentiment is Stampin' Up Antique Brass Hadgepodge Hardware.

The challenges:

Kraftin' Kimmee Challenge #20 - Something Old (the hardware has been hanging around my stash for a couple years)

The Color Throwdown #83 - Wild Wasabi, Bermuda Bay, Melon Mambo and Marigold Morning

PaperPlay Challenge Week 10 - Just Because

Saturday Spotlight - Friendship (any friend of mine would love getting this card)

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you liked what you saw and that you'll come back again.

Do You Haiku

Hey, do you Haiku?

It's just a short and sweet poem

Anyone can write.

Why am I asking this question on a site that crafty not literary? Because the name of this Stampin' Up dp is Haiku. And I just can't resist being silly sometimes. I used to compose Haiku in my head and remember them for ages, but sadly my brain had to make room for other information and I've forgotten most of them. I may a few of them written down in notebooks but finding them is a task I'm not ready to take.

I composed this haiku or something like it while I was driving home from work about 5 hours ago. I was thinking about the card I was going to make when I got home. I wanted to make something for the Cat's Pajama color challenge issued by Joanne from Just a Little Something for the Cat's Pajamas 100th challenge. The colors are kraft, pumpkin, celery, and saffron and I immediately thought of this paper which is how I ended up on the Haiku tangent. I used the March 6th a Sketch for You To Try from Jen Del Muro's I {Heart} to Stamp.

Speaking of Joanne, I have to give her a big shout out. She had a blogaversary party challenge over three weeks with challenges and a really great prize and I was the lucky winner! I am so excited because there are many of great stamps in there. I may have one or two of the items in the prize but I know some good homes for those. Thank you Joanne, it was so much fun to play in your challenges. I love your blog, you are so very talented I'm always inspired by a visit.

Here's the rest of the deets: the stamp is from the Cat's Pajamas, it's stamped on beige cs with memento tuxedo black and is colored with SU markers. The card stock is Stampin' Up. All the edges have been sponged with Ranger inks, a combo of Spiced Marmalade, Tea Dye and Scattered Straw. The star charm is Blue Moon Tokens. The tag was made with a Martha Stewart punch. The star is a red tape shape I got from Jody at Confessions of a Ribbon Addict. It's covered with Glitzy Glitter.

The Challenges:

The Cat's Pajamas - 100th Challenge color challenge

Allsorts Challenge Week 42 - Just for Men

I {Heart} to Stamp - A Sketch for You to Try March 6

Cute Card Thursday - Challenge 103 - Celebrations

Splitcoast Stampers Fan Club Challenge - Bold Masculine and Dirty

Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll come back again. Before you leave click on the pink ribbon, it'll help a sister you haven't met yet.

Tuesday's for the Cats

It's Tuesday and that means the Cat's Pajamas posts a challenge. Well, they have a little surprise, this week they're celebrating their 100th TCP Tuesday. The festivities include 4 challenges ( a sketch, a supply, a color and an inspiration challenge) and a big prize for the person who enters the most cards. Here's one for me, I don't expect to make the most cards but I would like to make a card for each of the challenges. So expect to see three more kitty cards in the next couple days.

This is for the supply challenge to use felt. The Prima flower is felt, it came with a big gem in the center, I pulled it off and substituted another paper Prima flower and a mini brad.

Here's the rest of the deets: the dp is Stampin' Up Cottage Wall and Rich Razzleberry. The card stock is also Stampin' Up. The image was stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on Georgia Pacific card stock, colored with copics and highlighted with stickles. It was punched out with Nestibilities. The label was made with a Martha Stewart punch. It doesn't show but the edges of the white card stock were sponged with Ranged Milled Lavender. In the corners there is something like a dew drop but I don't remember what they're called, they have glitter in them and they're from MFT.

Here's the challenges:

the Papertake Weekly sketch Challenge #36

Stamp Something - Something Girly (that hat is very girly)

The Cat's Pajamas - Supply challenge to use felt

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. Come back again.

What a Day

I think the Moody Blues had a song, with the lyrics "what a day to go kite flying". Today was that kind of day. It was gorgeous, sunny and about 70 degrees. If every day were like this I'd think I found paradise. I saw a convertible go by with the roof down, I checked, it was four teenage girls, I know the two in the back seat had to be freezing, and the driver probably had the heat blasting but they were having a good old time. I used to keep a couple kites in the trunk of my car and I'd go to the ball field in the park at lunch time or after work and that was fun, I don't know what ever became of my kites, I'd like to go fly them again, I gotta go hunting for them. In the meantime I've made this card which brings back those feelings. You can really lose yourself when you're flying a kite. It took my mind off everything else, kind of the same thing that happens while I'm making a card.

Here's the deets - the dp is "Flying Kites" by Adornit; it's stamped with Close To My Heart Black and colored with Stampin' Up markers and Prismacolor pencils for the flesh. The stamp is My Favorite Things "Sunshinny Day"; the grass punch is by Martha Stewart. The card stock is Stampin' Up and the paper ribbon across the bar is from a SU scrapbooking kit. The felt button is Shirley's 2 Girls (isn't it adorable). The Spring Green Candy Dots in the corners are by Pebbles.

The challenges -

Little Red Wagon Challenge #18 - Felt (my glorious button)

The Color Dare CD58 - Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White

Stamp Something -Something Girly Challenge (that's almost every card I make - even when I try to make a masculine card it comes out girly)

Simon Says - Mother's Day/Girly Challenge

Thanks for visiting, I'm so glad you came. I love reading all your comments. Don't forget to click on the pink ribbon. It's a good thing to do.

Life Is Good

Life is good, yes it is. It can be very sweet. Speaking from personal experience I think that driving around with the roof down is one of the sweetest things you can do. I particularly love this carrot convertible because it reminds me of my first beetle which was orange with a black roof. Have you seen the commercials with the people punching each other whenever they see a VW. Well, I don't know about punching for other cars but I do know punching for bugs. We'd say "Punch buggy (insert car's color here), no punch backs." Then my hubby took to making poems with the color of the car which was why I got an orange one, because there are no words that rhyme with orange, and I liked it a whole lot. So did the public, I never got so much attention as when I drove around in that car. The first day I had it a SUV pulled up next to me and the window rolled down and the lady in the passenger seat told me "that's the cutest darn car I ever saw". It was one of the first convertible bugs on the road around here, otherwise she might not have been so taken by it. Kids would scream things at me as I drove by and I constantly heard "Punch buggy". The weirdest thing was that people were always coming up to me to tell me about the beetle they once owned. After the orange one I had a powder blue one with a gray roof. It was adorable too, and it got the same reaction. Nowadays I have a slightly larger car and I have to hold myself back whenever I see a bug, cause I want to tell the driver how I used to own one.

So here's the deets - The stamp is by The Cat's Pajamas and the card layout is for this week's challenge which is a sketch challenge. The orange dp is from Sassafras and the green is from Recollections. The bling is from Heidi Swapp. I punched the button out with a Sizzlet die. I got some double sided sticky paper from Jody Morrow, you can find it on her blog Confessions of a Ribbon Addict, I stuck it onto yellow card stock, punched out the button and then I covered it with Glitzy Glitter. It's staying on the sticky stuff really nicely. I put some embroidery floss through the holes to make it look more buttoney. The image and the mat were punched out with the Blossom Nestibilities.

Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll come back again.

Hoo-Ray!

Hoo-Ray, I finally used my October MFT kit! And I used it in the MFT Wednesday Stamp Club Challenge. This week is a sketch challenge with a triple panel in it. My main image turned out to be a little bigger than I expected but I kept it anyway, cause, I think it's kind of cute.

The card base is fossil and I think you can still get them at MFT, the dp is Butterfield, the ribbon is MFT, I think it's from the summer collection.

When I was reading the Crazy 4 Challenges blog I thought it said to paper piecing and got all excited but when I saw the ST's sample I got confused. Then the light bulb went on, it's "pieRcing" with an "R". Funny thing about piercing, I made myself a note a while ago to do more piercing in my cards. Too bad I don't pay attention to myself. But I did pierce for this challenge.

Thanks for visiting, come back again.

Mah-vel-ous-ly Mad

It's lavender not blue, I don't know why I can't get a decent shade of purple, but I can't. That flower soft is lavender, and if you like purple and all it's shades you would cry over this.

I used to watch ballroom dancing on PBS. I don't watch the dancing with the stars or the new dance shows, I liked the good old fashioned dance competitions. Back when I watched them all the women wore swirling ball gowns for the waltz. They were floor length and edged with boas. They moved magically, like a fluid, it was so elegant, I couldn't take my eyes off them, and always wanted one. Well, I guess making one on paper is as close as I'm going to get, so you'd think the fates would at least let the color come out in the photo. Oh well, so be it.

The stamp is "Dance the Night Away" from My Favorite Things. It's stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with copics. The swirls on the dress were made with a glaze pen.

Here's the rest of the deets - the dp is Close To My Heart "Paper Garden", the card stock is Stampin' Up, the bling is Heidi Swapp, the flower is Prima.

The challenges:

Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #43

Stamp Something - Something Girly

Simon Says - Mother's Day/Girly

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you liked what you saw and that you'll come back again, real soon. And please take the time to click on the pink ribbon.

The Wonder Years

Teenagers, can't live with them, can't kill them. They are the wonder years, not like that sweet little sit-com from years gone by. These are the years you wonder what the heck was I thinking when I thought I wanted kids. If you listen hard enough every morning as you step into the shower you can hear the sighs of hundreds of mothers who just realized they made it through another night. Then they think about how it was just a few years ago when they would have paid good money for the privledge of getting into the shower alone and now you have to pay good money to do anything with your teenager anywhere nearby. Mostly they'd be happy if they could go with your wallet and you stay home, but then who'd drive?

And yes I have a lot of nerve, if my mother were around to see this she'd be grinning from ear to ear, payback are a you know what. My mom got a run for it from me so I guess I deserve what I'm getting, still doesn't seem right. Why don't I have one of those golden girls who never get into trouble, never talk back or under their breath, like the clothes I pick, and are on the honor role. Hahahahahahaha.......that child is like the loch ness monster, the New Jersey Devil and other urban legends. I comfort myself by thinking that at least my child can think for herself. I hope I didn't hear you guffaw.

This card is all about Teenage Angst. That's the theme over at Haunted House Designs Macabre Monday Challenge #28. I haven't had a chance to play over there in ages but I stop by to check the goings on. I just cracked up when I read that challenge. This stamp is a Daniel Torrente image and I just love it, and all of his images. Hey, I never said I was tightly wrapped. I like the quirky stuff. I knew I'd be using this image for my card but when I saw the Cute Card Thursday Challenge 102 - Lucky Green I thought that would be perfect, I was going to give the young lady a greenish tint for her skin anyway, I think Barb did that too, Hmmm, what's the green skin thing about, I don't know why I wanted to do it, it just seemed like the right thing to do.

I chose the Basic Grey Origins dp for contrast, it's so sweet with those little flowers. the card stock is Wausau, they gave packages of it to attendees at the CKC in Valley Forge, it's nice paper but I've never seen it for sale anywhere. I distressed the edges and sponged them with Ranger Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint and Antique Green. The ribbon is from the My Favorite Things Halloween pack and matches the card stock beautifully, it didn't come smudgy, I used the Ranger Ink on it. The spider charm is by Tokens, the pin is from Close to My Heart and lastly, there are green Dew Drops .

As the school's secretary tells me "take a deep breath and repeat after me, children are a joy forever".

Thanks for visiting, I hope you' ll come back again.

Fairy Sweet Jolinne

One of my favorite blogs is Joanne's Just a Little Something. There's always something yummy to see on her blog so you should put her in your favorites or follow her. She's having a blogaversary party with challenges and prizes. This week the Challenge is to "Fold It Up". So while I was pondering what to do I looked for some another challenges and found the Mojo Monday Sketch 128 challenge and the Simon Says challenge is Mother's Day/Girly.
I pulled some paper that I thought would look cute with this stamp. I colored it with copics and highlighted the hair with a glaze pen, and added some Diamond Dust to the wings. The cardstocks are Stampin' Up and the dp is Paper Reflections "Shangri-La Palette" I sewed the dp onto the cs with a wavy stitch using a Sulky silk thread. If you don't sew that's probably not too important but if you like to sew on your cards, you'd like Sulky threads. I also used it to sew the ribbon onto the pleated card stock. I wish I could remember where that ribbon is from, it's very cute, a gingham check with ruffled edges. The pearls in the corners and for her eyes are Recollections Pearl Stickers. On the inside the cs was punched with an EK Success "Dotted Wave" border punch.
I'm really glad that Joanne challenged us to fold it up because I hardly ever do anything like that but it looks so good and you don't need anything fancy to do it. I sewed the pleats down but you could just as easily tape them down. The only thing that is a little different is that it has height, so the stamped image is propped up on triple dimensionals.
Well thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again and that you'll click on the pink ribbon before you go.

You Gotta Kiss a Few Frogs

Meet Lillith. I believe she may have kissed a frog or two, she just looks a little too comfortable with that froggie on her head. I get a kick out of this whacky girl, between her crossed eyes, outrageous dress and that frog on her head, well I'm just amused. I've kissed my pet cats and dogs, but I never kissed a frog and I don't think that even the chance of a prince being inside could get me to do it.

I started this card for a color challenge but didn't finish it. But this week Kraftin' Kimmie Challenge #19 is buttons and bows and the Papertake Weekly challenge is Button, Bows, Brads and Bling so I had to go find this and finish it off.

I'll bet most of you reading are stampers and it won't surprise you that when I'm coloring these images in I am completely absorbed by it. In fact there's little else I'd rather be doing. I used my copics to color in the image. It's stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black on Georgia Pacific card stock. I distressed all the edges and sponged them with Ranger Scattered Straw. The mat is DCWV card stock and the dp is K & Company "Life's Journey" pad. The punch used on the inside is EK Success Fleur De Lis.

That little frog on inside came with Lillith. It's too dang cute, ain't it?

Don't forget to click on the pink ribbon before you leave.