Friday, December 9, 2011

Moving Along

I haven't disappeared, this blog isn't dead. 
I'm moving, that's the new digs.  We closed a couple weeks ago and have been working our butts off getting it into shape.  We've had lots of help and it's looking really good.
On Wednesday the things we had in storage in NJ were delivered and now we've got dozens of boxes to unpack but we don't have our furniture from here moved yet so lots of it has to stay in the boxes till Thursday when we move from our current house.  It's very tiring work but it's exciting to see it starting to come together.

All my craft supplies are packed up and not likely to see the light of day for another week or two so don't give up on me, eventually I'll be back to posting papercrafts.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Tis the Season

CIC138
This is Cupcake Inspirations CIC138 challenge.  Have you ever made a gingerbread house?  I've never made a real one but I did make something like it.  If you tape a couple small milk cartons (or whatever boxes you've got) together they make the base for the house.  Instead of gingerbread you use graham crackers with canned vanilla icing to glue the pieces to the box. Decorate with whatever candy you like.   I did this with my Girl Scout buddies.  The kids and the adults had a great time.  

It'll be a lot easier to make a card using the photo for your inspiration.  Stop over to the Cupcake Inspirations challenge blog to see how the other sweeties were inspired.  You'll also find the rules, the sponsor info and the linkey thingy.

the sentiment is "Do I Smell Candy?"
It's hard to realize that Christmas is just around the corner when the temperature is in the balmy 80's and there are flowers blooming anywhere you look.  I lived most of my life in New Jersey where the temps drop considerably lower, the leaves have fallen from the trees and children are hoping for a snow day for Christmas.  I don't miss the cold, or the colors of fall, I just miss those cues that the holidays are coming.  At least I've got blogland to remind me Christmas is almost here.  I took advantage of the challenge to make another Christmas card.  This one uses a Cat's Pajama's stamp  and sentiment, the inspiration is pretty obvious for that. 

Did you know that my fellow sweetie Nina Dee runs I {Heart} Ribbon challenge on her blog?  The current challenge is "Polka Dots" so this week my ribbon choice was picked with that in mind.  The big pink button and my color choices were inspired by the photo.

Here's the deets:
stamp - the Cat's Pajamas "Candyland Christmas"
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"; Ranger "Shabby Shutters"
paper - Paper Cuts "Bubblegum" and "Sno-cone" card stock; My Mind's Eye "Winter Wonderland" dp
miscellaneous - copics; Stampin' Up corner punch and ribbon; burlap twine; button, charm

Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations CIC138 - photo
I {Heart} Ribbon #11 - polka dots
The Sweet Stop SSS136 - sketch
Our Creative Corner - O Christmas Tree (the dp)
Craft Your Days Away #34 - Buttons or Bows
2 Sisters #67 - Holiday
Totally Papercrafts #94 - Christmas
Crafty Sentiments - Metal
L'il Red Wagon - #108 Christmas
Friday Mash Up #34 - Christmas and/or Aqua, chocolate and white
Moving Along with the Times - Ribbons and Bows
Fairy Tale #29 - Christmas

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again and that you'll join us in the Cupcake Inspirations challenge using the photo of the gingerbread house as your inspiration.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Black Friday

In the states it's Black Friday.  Which is just a shopping frenzy that I don't care to partake in.  I'd rather be home stamping, so if you're like me why don't you join us in the  Stampin' For the Weekend challenge.  This week the theme is friends and there's two prizes to  be had so stop over to the blog to check out all the deets and see what the rest of the design team has created.

I may actually make it to some stores today, but it's because there's still lots of stuff that have to get purchased for the new house.  Why is it you can never use curtains in more than one house, or the shower curtains?  Crazy isn't it?  More cleaning supplies which of course means more cleaning, ugh.   I can't wait till this move is completed.  I think I'll stay put for a very, very long time. 

Here's the deets:
stamp - Teddy Bo
ink - hp printer
paper - Recollections silver card base; the Paper Cut "Bubblegum" card stock; My Mind's Eye "Winter Wonderland" dp
miscellaneous - copics; pleated ribbon, ribbon, silver elastic thread, charm; Stampin' Up corner punch

Here's the challenges:
Stampin' for the Weekend #21 - Friends

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again and that you'll play along with our challenge at Stampin' for the Weekend.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Can You Bake a Pie?

Well you don't have to be able to bake a pie to play in this week's Cooking It Up With Katie "Piece of Pie" challenge #85.  In this case PIE stands for P - punch, I - ink, E - Emboss.   For my card I used a Martha Stewart tag punch (the sentiment on it says "hugs"), there's Ranger Ink sponged on the edges of the papers and I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder for the white card stock layer. 

This week we're sponsored by Meljen's Designs.  Home to many cute images, including this adorable fairy.  Pop over to the Cooking blog to check out what the rest of the design team has created,the rules and the linky thingy. 

Here the deets:
stamp - Meljen's "Cocoa Christmas Fairy"
ink - hp printer; Ranger "Scattered Straw"; Stampin' Up Handsome Hunter marker for sentiment
paper - Georgia Pacific card stock; red Recollections card base; DCWV green card stock; Stampin' Up grey card stock; Authentique "Wonder" dp
miscellaneous - copics; pleated ribbon; linen twine; charm; Crystazzi bling; Cuttlebug snowflake folder; Creative Memories cutting system; mini brads; Martha Stewart tag punch

Here's the challenges:
Cooking It Up with Katie #85 "Piece of Pie" punch, ink, emboss
Ribbon Carousel RCC30 - Holiday Hoopla
Party Time Tuesday  PTT#43 - Snow Us What You Got
Whoopsie Daisy - Anything Goes for Christmas
Stamps R Us - Bling It On
Southern Girls #32 - Embellishment bingo (Twine or String, Punches, Embossing)
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.  Have a great Thanksgiving.

Monday, November 21, 2011

For Someone Berry Special

Here's something I made for my berry special friend.  We've known each other since high school and that's a berry, berry long time.  The year I moved into the first place of my own I found a pattern to make a fabric cornucopia filled with stuffed vegetables and fruits.  One of the pieces was a strawberry and that pattern was so simple I decided to make a bunch of them to decorate my Christmas tree.  When Aguas (her maiden name was Waters and that's what she was called in high school and forever after) saw them, she liked them a lot and thought they'd be cute presents.  So we went into production and made hundreds of them and filled all kinds of jars and baskets with them.  Ever since then just about every present we've given each other has something to do with berries. 

I found the pattern for this tote bag in "Let's Do Lunch" by Atkinson Designs.  It works up very quickly, if you're obsessive you can complete it in a couple hours (don't ask me how I know).  The "K" is from a sample from a Martha Stewart monogram set that was included with my sewing machine.  It's amazing to watch this machine embroider. 

The flamingo (from a Cactus Punch set)didn't photograph well.  I tried him out on a pair of shorts and it looks great, I should have tried to take a photo of that but instead I took this one which is on a towel.   Working on towels was one of the classes I had signed up for before I knew I was moving and it was a nice break to go out and play for a couple hours.

I've also been to a couple quilting classes but haven't finished up those projects.  So check back now and then, maybe I'll have time to work on them.  If you look for the label "quilt" you'll find it there.  So far there's only two items there but I'll be putting up more as time goes by.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you come back again.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

"P" is for...

PINK!!! as in flamingo and pretty in... 
This week the Pile It On challenge is Anything with a "P".  You can fill in that blank with anything that begins with the Letter "P".   Here's a couple ideas - paper piecing, paper piercing, punches...not to mention all the images that being with "P"...pumpkin, poodle, pizza and did I mention PINK FLAMINGO.
So dig out your pink crayons (and don't forget purple begins with P) and crank out some kind of paper project for our challenge and then combine our challenge with at least one more challenge and your Piling It On.

I have a confession to make.  I made this card awhile ago but never got around to posting it and lucky for me it fit this week's challenge cause I'm deep in the middle of getting our new house into move in condition and I'm so tired I don't think I could have picked up a stamp, truly exhausted.  I will be glad when we're in and I can just sit back and enjoy living in it.

So here's the deets:
stamp - Inkadinkado and Stampin' Up sentiment
ink - versamark
paper - white and pink card stock
miscellaneous - gold embossing powder; pearls; SU corner punch; Creative Memories cutting system; Spellbinder's tag; ribbon, SU dot plate

Here's the challenges:
Pile It On #47 - Anything with a "P"...
Card Making Mama #33 - Thanks/Be Thankful
Terrifically Thrilling Thursday - Anything Goes
Card Mad Fairy #21- Texture
Fabulous Friday - Die Cuts
Jelly Park Friends - Give Thanks
Creative Card Crew - Thankful
Crafting For All Seasons #14 - Thanksgiving or Thank You or Sketch
Crafts and Me #61 - Simples
Ruby's Rainbow #16 - Something with Wings
CCEE1146 - 2 die cut or punches
Paper Craft Star #71 - Thank You
Catch the Bug - Give Thanks/Thanksgiving

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.  I also hope you'll join us at Pile It On and create a paper project using the Anything with a "P" theme.

Fudgie the Whale

CIC137
Are you old enough to remember Fudgey the Whale?  This cupcake cake reminded me of Fudgie and the Tom Carvel commercials.  For those of you not old enough to know what I'm talking about, Tom Carvel started the chain of ice cream parlors and popularized the ice cream cake.  His first cake was Fudgey, and that mold got used for several other cakes by changing the decorations on top and this turkey just looks like a cake Carvel would make and have multiple uses for the mold.

Onto the challenge...this is the photo for Cupcake Inspirations Challenge CIC137.  Our sponsor this week is JLJ Designs.  By the way, JLJ Designs is owned by one of our own sweeties,  Jennifer, and she's offering a $10 gift certificate for use in her store and $10 can go a long way.   For my project I used the Thanksgiving Digital Scrapbooking kit.  What a great value!   There are 15 digital papers and 30 elements and as you can see they're not just for scrapbooking.  I used just two of the the papers and one of the elements to give you an idea of how you can use them before you have the photos to scrap.  I've started with place cards, which no one in my family will ever pay attention to but maybe your folks are better behaved.   If you make the place tag large enough later on it can be used for the "totin" bag.  Whenever I host Thanksgiving dinner everyone gets sent home with a bag of leftovers so they too can enjoy a turkey sandwich.  Then there's the little bag of doggie cookie treats, there's always room for pets at our celebrations and they get a bag too.  This would be perfect for a grandchild too, of course you'd put real cookies in it.   If you've got kiddies running around, you can enlist their help cutting out the turkeys or other decorative elements you use.  The kids love to help with arts and crafts projects. 

Here's the deets:
everything except the adhesvies is from the JLJ Designs Thanksgiving digital scrapbooking kit  -

Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations CIC137 - photo
Paper Cutz #117 - Let's Talk Turkey
Catch the Bug - Give Thanks/Thanksgiving
Play Date Cafe PDCC108 - Maroon, Copper and Tumeric
Fussy and Fancy #50 - Make a gift/Anything but a card

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again and that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday spent with your family and friends. 

Please join us at Cupcake Inspirations for this week's challenge.  You can find the rest of the design teams creations, the rules and the linky thingy by clicking here.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Just a Note

CIC136
I don't know about you but I am tired.  Thursday was the big day, we finally closed on our new home.  We have been so busy.  It's hard to believe that a house that's only about 10 years old needs so much work but it does.  Because this was a short sale I figured this wasn't going to happen till sometime after the holidays and I had all sorts of stuff planned, including a now cancelled trip North to scrap with my best buddies.  A short while ago I bought an embroidering sewing machine and a serger and had classes to take to learn how to use them as well as signing up for a couple quilting classes.  Little did I know that the short sale was going to be approved shortly after making that purchase.  Well, it's all working out and come tomorrow when I have a quilt class to go to I am going to be thrilled to take a day off from cleaning and packing.  Instead of inky fingers my hands stink of bleach and forget about my fingernails.



Now onto the reason you're here.  It's Cupcake Inspiration Challenge time.  This week are sponsored by Tiddly Inks.  The sweeties got to pick an image to use and boy was it hard deciding.  They are just the cutest things.  I heard a couple of the sweeties couldn't pick just one and went on a little shopping spree.  I can understand why and imagine when things calm down around here I will pushing a cart around the site. 

I finally decided on Danny's Duck.  For a long time my nick name was Duck because I used to ask my friends "What's up Duckie?".  Plus it's just too dang cute and I can always use a boy image. 


Here's the deets:
stamp - Tiddly Inks "Danny's Duck"
ink - hp printer; SU "Chocolate Chip" marker for sentiment
paper - Bazzill "Pinecone", "Citrus" and "Beeswax" cs; Cosmo Cricket "Nutmeg"
miscellaneous - copics; red burlap twine; leaf charm; Crystazzi Crystals; EK Success leaf punch; Stampin' Up oval and scalloped oval punches; Nesties lacey square

Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations CIC136 - photo
Digi Doodles - sketch
CRAFT #128 - Cute
Charisma #44 - Cutesy
Ruby's Rainbow - Something with Wings
CCEE1145 - Include 3 different shapes
Party Time Tuesday PTT#41 - Bling It On
Kaboodle Doodles #92 - Colors of Fall
Stamps R Us - Masculine theme
Crafty Catz #108 - Use a digital image
Tiddly Inks #73 - Anything Goes


Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again and that you'll play along with us in the Cupcake Inspiration challenge. 


Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Card Tag

Kind of like CatDog, it's both.  It's and easel card attached to a box with the image being a gift with a tag.  More about this later...

This week at Cooking It Up with Katie challenge #83 is fold some fancy flowers.  Now you don't have to fold flowers but we'd like to see a fancy fold (this easel card is very easy to do) and some flowers on your fancy card.  What makes a card fancy - I don't know but for mine I used a charm and some bling and thought that made it fancy.  If you play along you could win a prize from this week's sponsor Robyn's Fetish.

For this project I wrapped a jewelry box with the same card stock used for the card.  Cut a piece of card stock the same width as the box.  Fold the paper around the box.  With each fold score the paper.  Secure the wrap with red tape or score tape.




After you've finished your easel card place score tape or red tape on the bottom of the card to secure it to the box.  This easel card is 4" x 4" x 12" with folds along 4", 6", and the 8".   You can see from this photo how it's folded.  It's a very simple technique.  Just remember that you need to put something with a little depth on the inside so that when you open it up to stand something will catch the edge to keep it open.  Something as thin as a brad or button will usually work.

By the way, I wanted my burlap twine to match the ribbon on the image.  I didn't have any violet twine so I used a piece of ivory colored twine and colored it with the copic I used on the image. 

Here's the deets:
stamp - Robyn's Fetish
ink - hp printer
paper - Bo Bunny "Winter Joy Magic" and "Winter Joy Bundled"; I think the cs is Nicole's
miscellaneous - copics; Taylor's Tiny Twinkles; flower brads; burlap twine; present charm; Spellbinder's Brommet Tag

Here's the challenges:
Cooking It Up with Katie #83 - Fold a Fancy Flower
Top Tip #59- Anything Christmas
Ribbon Carousel RCC28 - photo inspiration (all the ruffles on the pillows made me think of gift boxes)
Party Time Tuesday PTT#41 - Bling It On
Whoopsie Daisy - Tag It
Cutie Pie #4 - Use a Charm
Digital Tuesday #136 Anything Goes
Pink Elephant TPE124 - Gift Tags

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again and that you'll join us at Cooking it Up with Katie for our "Fold a Fancy Flower" challenge.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Easy As Pie

Just how easy is pie?  The best apple pie I ever had was made by my buddy (we've been friends since grammar school, that's a long time) Susie's mom, Annie.  I can make a good apple pie, but her mom's pies were outrageous with a crust to die for.  So one day I asked Susie if she'd ask her mom for her  recipe.  Here's how the recipe went:  first she goes to the orchard where she gets a couple bushels of apples, then she takes one can of Crisco and a bag of flour...so much for replicating that crust.  I forgot that whenever Annie made pie there were usually five or more of them.  Annie had seven kids, not to mention all of their friends (lots of friends) and there was always something to eat on the kitchen counter.  The memory of those pies is making me salivate.

So this week at Pile it On the challenge is to
make a Thanksgiving card or just give thanks to someone.  This week our sponsor is Karen's Doodles who gave the design team some images to play with,  I'm using the Grandma Pie image.  If you click here, you can see what the rest of the design team created, find the rules, and the linkey thingey so you can post your creation.  We all love to see what you do.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Karen's Doodles "Grandma Pie"
ink - hp printer
paper - Recollections Kraft card base; Colorbok green cs; Bazzill "Yukon Gold" and "Ruby Slippers" cs; October Afternoon "Modern Homemaker" dp
miscellaneous - copics; burlap twine; heart bling; apple charm; SU Handsome Hunter marker for the faux stitching and sentiment; gathered ribbon

Here's the challenges:
Pile It On #45 - Thanksgiving, or just give thanks to someone
A Sketch for You to Try - November sketch
Totally Papercrafts #91 - Stitching
Crafty Catz #107 - Anything goes
2 Sisters #64 - Ribbon
Craft Your Days Away - Autumn/Fall (apple pie is a fall favorite for me)
Speedy the Cat #80- Fall or Winter
Moving Along With the Times #123 - Food or Drink
Ruby's Rainbow #15 - Metal (apple charm)
Freshly Brewed FBC71 - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes Plus a bit of bling
Ribbon Carousel - RCC27 - Anything Goes
Cutie Pie #14 - Use a Charm

Thanks for stopping by, please come back again. 

They Look Good Enough...

CIC135 Inspiration photo
...to eat!  My husband wonders why I'm looking at the dessert menu before I've picked a dinner.  Geez, I've  been looking at these bad boys for days now.
 
These are the inspiration for this week's Cupcake Inspirations Challenge CIC135.  This week's sponsor is Stamp Fairy.   You can find the rest of the design team's creations, the rules, the prize and the linkey thingey by clicking here.  As usual the design team has done a bang up job, if you have a few minutes to spare, leave them some love.


I'm still on pumpkin overload so for my card I've used all the colors from the inspiration photo to make a birthday card.  The rest of the sentiment ("the firemen are called because your candles caught on fire!") is on the inside.  I think to make it a little extra snarky I'm going to write in "AGAIN!" in bold red letters. 

Here's the deets:
stamp - Bugaboo - Stella Birthday Fireman Call
ink - hp printer
paper - Recollections Kraft card base; Basic Grey "Ambrosia, Fresh Squeeze" and "Lucky, Dream"; Stampin' Up "Kraft" cs
miscellaneous - copics; linen twine; baker's twine; cake charm; MFT jumbo rick rack die-namic



Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations CIC135 - photo
Fairy Tale Challenges #27 - Lantern, lights and candles
Craft Your Days Away - Autumn/Fall
Catch the Bug - Anything Goes
Basic Grey - Anything Goes
Moving Along with the Times - Food and Drink
For Fun - Special Birthday Card (you can only taunt special friends with cards like this, especially if they're a little bit older than you!)

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back often.  In the meantime why don't you make a card using those yummy cuppies as your inspiration.

Friday, November 4, 2011

A Cuddly Christmas

 
Sometimes you just gotta use non traditional colors for Christmas cards.  I think these look pretty good on this adorable image.  They don't get much cuter than this.  It's  Pachela Studios Toby Tumble Christmas Tea.  from Cuddly Buddly. 
This week the Cuddly Buddly challenge #19 is a recipe.  So pick your image, find a sketch and then use the recipe - 3 Flowers, 2 buttons and 1 ribbon.  I cheated a little, my buttons are actually brads and I used two ribbons and twine.  It's hard to see in this photo that under the crochet   ribbon there's a yellow ribbon. 

Here's the deets:
stamp - Cuddly Buddly "Pachela Studios Toby Tumble Christmas Tea"
ink - hp printer
paper - Bazzill "String of Pearls" cs; scrap of blue cs; My Mind's Eye "Lost and Found - Sunshine" dp
miscellaneous - copics; Prima flowers; nesties Lacey Square die; brads; SU crochet ribbon and so saffrron ribbon; Polar White Flower Soft; burlap twine; bunny charm

Here's the challenges:
Cuddly Buddly #19 - recipe 3 flowers, 2 buttons, 1 ribbon
Do You Stack Up #44 - Teal
Digi Doodles - #81 - a Wintry Theme
Paper Shelter #38 - Christmas Fun
Crafts and Me #59 - Let the Music Move You
Crafting for all Seasons #13 - Texture
ABC Christmas - V is for Vintage
Pixie Cottage #95 - sketch and get started making a Christmas Card
CCEE1144 - Use 4 different embellies
Charisma #44 - Cutesy
Southern Girls #31 - Can You Hear the Music
One Stitch as a Time #86 - Christmas
Ladybug Crafts Ink #44 - Non-traditional or distressed Christmas
Cutie Pie #4 - Use a Charm
Digital Tuesday #135 - Cute and Cuddly
the Squirrel and the Fox #4 - Hats or Flowers

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

Who's Counting?

I keep seeing Christmas countdowns but I'm not counting.  It's going to be here before I'm ready and I'll be wondering where the heck the time went.    
In January, we started looking for a bigger house.  Almost a year later we're going to be moving.  Yep, just in time for the holidays. 
As you can imagine I'll be packing or looking at paint colors or some moving related stuff this weekend, but what about you?  How about Stampin' for the Weekend
This week the challenge is a sketch.  That' makes it really easy for you to play along.  It's the perfect opportunity for you to get some Christmas cards done.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Verve "Winter Mittens"
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"; Close To My Heart "Cranberry"
paper - Recollections red card base; Bazzill "Classic Green" and "Ruby Slippers";  Authentique "Wonder" Collection
miscellaneous - copics; gelly roll glaze pen; bling; bird charm; red burlap twine

Here's the challenges:
Stampin' for the Weekend - sketch challenge

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.  Now go get busy making a card using the SFTW sketch.  You can find the sketch, the rules, the linkey thingy and see what the rest of the design team created by clicking here.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

How Many Days...

...left till Halloween?  I  do love Halloween but today I am just not in the mood to make another Halloween card.  Probably by tomorrow I will be but not today. But, look at today's Cupcake Inspiration challlenge photo.  What's a girl to do?  Well, this girl decided to use the cake as the inpsiration for a birthday card.  What will you come up with?  The Sweeties are always anxious to see what you think up, so join us in this week's challenge, we're sponsored by DTS.  You can find all the details by clicking here.
















I'm still wondering when things are going to get back to normal for me, by which I mean, that I'll have plenty of time for sitting down at my scrapbox or sewing machine and time to get to the computer to blog and browse.  Well this weekend isn't it but it's all for good.  My cousin and her husband are visiting.  My brother and I are having a great time catching up and showing them all the great things there are to do and places to visit around the Sarasota area.  AND they are having a great time not being in New Jersey for the unbelievably early first snow storm of the season.

So, here's the deets:
stamp - Sassy Cheryl "A Load of Cake"
ink - hp printer
paper - K & Co "KP Halloween"; Paper Pizazz "Leaves"; Stampin' Up "Patterns Pack II" ; Recollection Printed Scrapbook papers; Recollections kraft card base; Bazzill "tangelo" cs
miscellaneous - copics; black glaze pen; leaf buttons; burlap twine; gelly roll pen

Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations CIC134 - photo
Sweet Stampin' - Anything Goes
Sweet Stop SSS132 - sketch
Craft Your Days Away #32 - Autumn/Fall

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

A Little Different

It's not just paper that obsesses me.  There's needle crafts too.  I've been parcelling out my time in order to do both.  

This pattern is from "Frightfully Crazy"  from the Buggy Barn.  It's a funky pattern that was fun to do.  Besides the machine piecing there's lots of hand work.  To add to the primitive look I attempted to make my hand stitches uneven and most of the eyes have mismatched button irises.  The machine quilting is a random jagged stick that often goes where it shouldn't. 

Have you ever noticed how many photos of quilts have tops of heads and feet in them.  That always cracks me up.  The pooch had to get into the shot too and I just couldn't bare to crop him out.
Here's a close up of the square that has the mouth flipped down.  What you can't see is that the stars, the inside of the ears, the nose, eyes and mouth are felt.  The same felt I've been using on my cards.  They are all hand stitched with a variety of colors of embroidery floss. 

Checking out challenges I noticed that the Ribbon Carousel RCC26 is "Inspired by Halloween" and they welcom all forms of crafting, they just want you to use something that comes on a spool.  Well, there was lots and lots of threads from spools used for this quilt.  So what the heck, I'm going to enter it there, mostly so that some one will see it.

Since I posted this I have been trying to link this up with the Ribbon Carousel but can not get anything to move on that site.  Is anybody else having problems with that site or maybe blogger is going haywire again. 
I don't really know what info to leave for the deets so if you want to know anything about it just leave me a comment and I'll try to answer you.  Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.


Sunday, October 23, 2011

If You're Happy

and you know it...make a card.  You can clap your hands or stamp your feet but that won't get you entered into Challenge #43 at Pile It On.  This week the theme is to "Make a Card That Expresses Happiness in Some Way". 

This little Jellypark Friend looks pretty happy to me, that's probably because she's too young to know what creepy things could be lurking in that pile of leaves.  I won't tell her if you don't.

My good buddy Maddy just picked up her first set of copics and that reminded me of how helpful tips can be,  So if you're a new copic user you may be wondering how I colored those pants.  Here's my tip:  First there's B21 over the entire area, then a small edging of B23 around the left bottom side, then a slim line of B24 just around those edges, followed by going over the entire area with the B21 to blend the edges.  Then I take E40 and color over the light areas.  I don't remember exactly when or how I discovered that  using E40 over the blue looks like faded denim but I do know it was a happy accident. 

I wonder if there's a 12 step program for craft supplies.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Jellypark Friends digi  "Girl Jumping in Leaves"
ink - hp printer
paper - white Georgia Pacific cs; Bazzill Basics Earth tones cs pack (no names of colors on the papers or package); We r Memory Keepers Autumn Splendor "Orchard" and "Autumn Leaf" dp
miscellaneous - copics; black Glaze pen; burlap twine; leaf charm; EK Success leaves punch; Nesties rectangular die

Here's the challenges:
Pile It On #43 - Be Happy
Pals Paper Arts PPA116 - sketch
Really Reasonable Ribbon #34 - Fall theme
Friday Mash Up  FM#25 - Belly Band and/or twine
Totally Papercrafts #89 - Layer Upon Layer
Our Creative Corner - Fabulous Faces (what's more fabulous than the look of joy on a child's face?)
Wee Memories #73 - Free for All
L'il Red Wagon #103 - Fall themed
4 Crafty Chicks #60 - Marker it Up
CCEE Stampers CCEE1142 - Fall Theme or Related to Fall
Top Tip #56 - Layer It
My Time to Craft #162 - Punches and Dies
City Crafter #79 - Harvest Festival
Picture Perfect Creations Specialty#11 - Fall/Halloween

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again and that you'll join us at Pile It On in this week's challenge.

Only Half

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If I ever made a bow out of fondant that looked this good I would consider it a miracle of biblical proportion.  I would never even think about trying it, and I took all three Wilton cake decorating classes.  Having taken those classes leaves me in awe of the cupcakes and cakes that we use for inspiration at the Cupcake Inspiration Challenges

This week we're sponsored by Stamp Fairy.  Make a stop over at the Cupcake Inspiration challenge blog to see what the rest of the sweeties have created, you'll also find the rules and the linky thingy.

My life is still in chaos, it's actually getting even more chaotic if you can believe that's possible.  Now on top of the health issues for daughter and doggie we're expecting to move in about a month and I've got friends and relatives visiting over the next two weeks.  Would somebody tell when retirement is going to get boring.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Bugaboo digi - Stella Wicked Witch (the sentiment if from a different image but I'm not sure which one)
ink - hp printer
paper - We R Memory Keepers "Spookville Magic Moon" dsp;
purple cs
miscellaneous - copics; star mini brads; Nesties circle and inverted scalloped circle dies; ribbon; burlap twine; pumpkin charm; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations CIC133 - photo
Really Reasonable Ribbon #34 -
Fall Theme
If the Shoe Fits FF#94 - Spooky Fall
Allsorts #126 - Halloween
The Stamp Man - Night Time
Delightful Challenges - Halloween
Crop Stop #42 - Halloween
Corrosive #135 - Flying Things

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again and that you'll make a card for the Cupcake Inspirations challenge CIC133.




Friday, October 21, 2011

Spooky!

It's that time of year, when you see all the creepy stuff taking center stage.  So at Stamping for the Weekend we want you to make something spooky. 
I hope you have as much fun as I did.  First of all, while I made this my mind was on my good buddies (Eileen, Maddy and Edna) who just gave me a bag full of Halloween goodies.  And it was a LARGE bag.  They know how much I love Halloween stuff and over the years we've spent fun times in costumes (Maddy has some rotten teeth that will make you run for your toothpaste, she likes to sport them in her hillbilly get up) and on haunted hay rides (I nearly peed my pants on that one - Ei will remember the ghoul with the spider hanging out of his mouth and the creep in the spider mask) and camping trips (anyone remember Edna falling off, I mean dismounting from the horse) .  We had great times in the fall and I was strolling down memory lane as I made this card.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Inkadinkadoo "Ghouls and Goblins"
ink - Memento Tuxedo Balck
paper - Stampin' Up black cs; K & Co "KP Halloween" dp
miscellaneous - copics; buttons, SU linen twine; ghost charm; Nesties "Label 1" die; ribbon; glaze pen

Here's the challenges:
Stampin' for the Weekend #19 - Spooky
Stampin Royalty #94 - sketch

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again and that you'll make a spooky card for the Stampin' for the Weekend challenge #19.  Stop on over at the blog to get some inspiration from the rest of the design team.  I was blown away by their creations.  You'll also find the rules and the linky thingy there.

A Cuddly Buddly Buddy Christmas

Oh Boy!  This was just too much fun to make.  I don't know about you but I'm pretty much a big old kid when I sit down to craft.  It's like back in those school days when you knew you had art class and couldn't settle down till you got there and then the smell of the glue and crayons was just intoxicating.  Yeah, I'm an art nerd. 

I used to save my allowance till I had enough money to buy a big box of crayons.  OMG, 64 colors put my head in a tailspin.  Well, little has changed since those days and I still have a big box of crayons and I'm not afraid to use them.
This card brought those feelings back because I got to play with a bunch of new toys that I'd been anxious to break out.
First of this is Cuddly Buddly  time for me. This week the Cuddly Buddly challenge #17 is "Best Friends".  For this card I chose "Dancing on Ice", that way I had friends that I could use for a Christmas card.   And of course they are an adorable couple that just happened to be a lot of fun to use.  After I had the image colored I broke out the "Lost Found" Christmas paper that's been begging to be used, and then there's the Spellbinder's die that I have been dying (not sure if the pun is intended) to use.  As if that wasn't enough fun stuff to launch me into craft nirvana I used a ribbon that's been sitting around forever AND flower soft. 
Now I have to try to calm down a little.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Cuddly Buddly "Dancing on Ice" digi
ink - hp printer
paper - Bazzill "Ruby Slipper"  and green cs; My Mind's Eye "Lost and Found Christmas" dp
miscellaneous - copics; glaze pens; Polar white flower soft; bling; Her Arts snowflake bling; snowflake charm; baker's twine; ribbon; Nesties "2011 Heirloom Ornament"  and "Inverted Scalloped Circle" dies

Here's the challenges:
Cuddly Buddly #17 - Best Friends (a card for your best friend)
Ruby's Rainbow #14 - Cute and Cuddly
Terrifically Thrilling Thursday - Show Us What You Got
ABC Christmas - "U" is for unused stash (the flower soft, the ribbon, twine, charm and bling have been sitting around awhile)
Creative Belli #128 - Flower soft, felt or chunky glitter (I thought of the Belli as soon as I picked up the  over a year old jar of flower soft - lucky for me it's this week's challenge)
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Some Stripes
My Time To Craft #162 - Punches and Dies

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you come back again and that you'll find some time to play in the Cuddly Buddly challenge to make a card for your best friend, won't that make them happy.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Cupcake Time

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How cute are these?  I'd like to sink my teeth into that purple monster. 
These are your inspiration for this week's Cupcake Inspirations challenge.  This week Prairie Fairy is back as our sponsor.  I know you'll want to win the prize of 5 digis of your choice.  So get your crayons ready and give it a go.  The only down side of having Prairie Fairy sponsor us is that I have a terrible time deciding on an image. 



For my card I chose Pumkin Dillan .  Stop by the Cupcake Inspirations blog to see some other fun Halloween images being used.

If you've been reading my posts you know that things are a bit crazy for me.  Well, they're getting crazier.  The sellers of the house we are buying were finally approved for a short sale so now we have moving to add to everything else.  I'm thrilled it's finally happening. 

Here's the deets:
stamp - Prairie Fairy "Pumkin Dillan"
ink - hp printer
paper - K & Co "KP Halloween" pad; Bazzill "Tangelo" and "Witch Hazel"
miscellaneous - copics; bat ribbon; Queen and Co purple rhinestones; mini brads; pumpkin charm; baker's twine; gelly roll pen

Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations CIC132 - photo
A Sketch for You To Try - October
Polka Doodles #41 - Ribbons and Bows
JUGS #106 - Orange, Green, Purple and Black
Really Reasonable Ribbon #34 - Fun 4 Fall
Fussy and Fancy - Fall or Halloween
Craft Your Days Away #31 - Halloween Colors
One Stop Craft #153 - Halloween
Card Making Mamas #31 - Halloween
Simon Says - Halloween/Goth

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you come back again.  Now get busy making a card inspired by those cute cuppies.  Don't forget to link it up to Cupcake Inspirations, we love to see what you make.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

A Birthday with the Dragon

One of my favorite sponsors is back for this week's Cooking It Up With Katie.  Stamping Dragon Designs is sponsoring this week's challenge.  This week's winner will receive four images.  Even though I made my card for a girl one of the things I like about the dragons is that they are great for boy's cards too.  So what do you have to do to win this fab prize.  Just make a card or project using Katie's recipe.
This week's recipe is 1.) include some coloring, 2.) try a little curling and 3.) add a circle.
That's pretty easy peasy, even for a lunk head like me who had the card almost completed when I realized I hadn't paid attention to the recipe.  I did color my image and I was ready to attach my lace ribbon flower with the pearl center which would have been a circle but I didn't curl anything.  So, what's a girl to do.  The orange ribbon was already in place and it wouldn't curl anyway.  Then the thunderbolt hit me.  Why not try curling a thin slice of card stock.  Well, it worked and since it's the card stock used for the mats it's a perfect match.  In case you are craft challenged and have no idea how to do this, it's very simple.  Slice a sliver of the card stock and then roll it around a pencil and voila, you've got a curly ribbon.  I stuck a glue dot on the card to attach the ribbons.
So now it's your turn.  I hope to see you play along with us.

Here's the deets:
ink - hp printer
paper - Bazzill "Frosted Teal" and "Glow" CS; Doodlebug "Cake and Ice Cream" dp
miscellaneous - copics; mini brads; orange ribbon;  lace flower; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Cooking It Up With Katie #79 - Curl a colored circle
Sweet Stampin - In Stitches
One Stitch At a Time #83 - Anything goes
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Things with Wings

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again and I'm looking forward to seeing what you create for the Cooking It Up With Katie challenge.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Devastatia

CIC131
I think this is Jack Skeleton and Sally's wedding cake.  Weren't they the perfect couple.  A match made in Halloweentown.  Where ever this cake came from it's a great inspirational piece for this week's Cupcake Inspirations challenge #131.  This week we're being sponsored by Kenny K and there will be 3 prizes awarded so go your crayons sharpened up. 

This week there's a second inspiration cake.  So if you're not a fan of Halloween you can use the "Sweet 16" cake for your inspiration.  So like I said before - go get those crayons ready.






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I happen to be a big fan of Halloween so you know which cake I picked.  

This week has been incredibly busy and stressful for me.  My daughter had to have unanticipated surgery on Tuesday to remove a pilonial cyst and just a couple days earlier we adopted a puppy (our kitty was not too happy).   So I haven't been paying as much attention to blogging as I normally would.  Tomorrow we go back to the surgeon to find out if she can return to school.  Keep your fingers crossed.








there's a tiny skull and crossbones charm hanging off the
linen thread whick is tied to the orange ribbon.  if you
click on the photo to enlarge it you might be able to see it


Here's the deets:
stamp - Kenny K "Devastatia"
ink - hp printer
paper - Stampin' Up "Only Orange"and "Brilliant Blue" cs, "Ghostly Greetings" dsp
miscellaneous - copics; gelly roll glaze pen; Martha Stewart graveyard and ghoul border punches; Stampin' Up linen thread; pleated ribbon; wide striped ribbon; green findings safety pin; orange ribbon; EK success flower bling; Queen and Co rhinestones; sewing machine; Nellies multi frame die





Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations CIC131 - photo
2 Sisters #60 - Halloween
Friday Mash Up #27 - Halloween theme and/or black, pumpkin pie, lucky limeade and concord crush
Simply Create #53 - Older than 6 months (the only thing that isn't older than 6 months is the image)
Secret Crafter #155 - Anything Goes with Sparkle

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again.  I also hope that you'll play along with us at Cupcake Inspirations.  We love to see what you create.

For those of you who have been waiting to see a photo of our new fur baby here's a pic of his adorable face.


His name is Bill Bailey.  He came to us from Underdog which is a rescue group here in Bradenton.  If you're looking to get a pet I encourage you to look into a rescue dog, I found Underdog by doing a google search for rescue dogs in my area.  There are so many deserving animals in need of a home.  Can you believe that Bill was slated for execution?  I am so glad that Underdog rescued him and a wonderful couple were willing to give him a home till he was ready to be adopted.



It took a week but Shamus was finally willing to make friends with Bill. 
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