Easily Amused

Warm Fuzzies

2012-01-29T08:36:00.083-05:00

This stamp reminds me of one of my other crafts, knitting. It also reminds me of the leg warmers that my daughter asked me to make for her. I made them for Christmas 2010. She still hasn't worm them. Granted, this is Florida and it is warm but she could have least worn them once. Oh well....
So it's time to Pile It On. This week our theme is "Just Because" and our sponsor is Stamp-N-Doodle.

Please stop over at the Pile it On challenge blog to see what the rest of the team created and to find the rules and the linkey thingy. We can't wait to see what you create.

Here's the deets:
stamp - My Favorite Things - the A La Mode "Knit Happens"
ink - Memento "Rich Cocoa"
paper - Stampin' Up Kraft cs; Bazzill "Beeswax" cs; Crate Paper "Prudence Collection Kit" olive dp and olive mat paper; October Afternoon "Modern Homemaker" red polka dot dp; Cosmo Cricket "Circa 1934" red and yellow print dp
miscellaneous - copics; Nesties circle and scalloped circle dies; red pearls; snowflake charm; ribbon; burlap twine; mini brads; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Pile It On #5 - Just Because
My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club MFTWSC56 - Sketch
Crazy for Challenges C4C121 - Lots and Lots of Layers
Speedy Fox and Friends #92 - Layers, at least 4
One Stop Craft #167 - Stitching Faux or Real
Secret Crafter - Ribbon
Sew Many #78 - Circles
Simon Says - Anything Goes
Freshly Brewed - Brr/Snow/Winter
L'il Red Wagon #117 - Winter Wonderland
Do You Stack Up #56 - Ribbons
Fussy and Fancy #55 - Polka Dots
the Kraft Journal - Tie It Up
the Color Q cqc121 - Red Riding Hood, Old Olive, More Mustard, Kraft and White
Ladybug Crafts Ink #52 - Bows
My Time To Craft 171 - Your Favorite Embellishment (charms are my fav)

Thanks for stopping by, I do hope you come back again and that you'll join the fun and play in the Pile It On challenge "Just Because"

Would You Believe...

2012-01-29T07:45:00.119-05:00

CIC145

that the words "it's too sweet for me" actually came out of my mouth? I had to ask my hubby "Have you ever heard me say that before?" We were out at a buffet and they had my my favorite cake, carrot cake, sitting prettily on a raised platter (ok, who am I kidding, whatever cake is on my plate is my favorite cake). Who'd think at this late stage things would be too sweet, but two bites was all I could take. Fortunately for me they had some other not so sweet goodies....

This cake is just so funky, funky but chic. It's our fabulous inspiration for this week's Cupcake Inspirations Challenge. Wouldn't you love to have this at your next birthday party? I would, I don't even care what it tastes like, sweet or not, I just want to look at it. Well, now that it's on my blog I guess I can look at anytime I want.

This week our sponsor is DRS Designs. They graciously let the design pick a stamp to use for this week. When I saw this cake stamp I knew it was the one for me.

Originally I thought I would paper piece the cake with zebra paper but as I was looking through my stash the white and cream printed paper jumped out at me so I gave it a try. When I was looking through my stash a pack of pink prints kept finding their way into my hands and onto my desk. I thought I would use them for different layers but it occurred to me to use different papers above and below the squiggled lines on the cake so I tried that out. In person the three different paper stand out more. After putting the icing on the cake I stamped out the flowers again, cut them out and added then to the card, put a some pink bling on the side stems and a little stickles on the candles. In the end this cake is pretty dang cute too.

Here's the deets:
stamp - DRS Designs "Girly Swirly Birthday Cake"
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"
paper - Close to My Heart "Silhouette" cream and black dp; Bazzill "Parrot" and "Flamingo" cs; Authentique "Uncommon" collection dp
miscellaneous - copics; flower charm; burlap twine; pink bling; lace; flower brads; sewing machine; SU corner punch

Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations Challenge CIC145 - photo
Crafts and Me - Pink and Sparkly
Charisma - Pretty in Pink
Paper Play week 4 - Lovely Lace

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

TGIF

2012-01-27T07:52:00.016-05:00

Yeah, it's the weekend! Even though I'm retired I still like the weekend. What better time to do the things you love. For me it'll be crafting and checking card blogs. If you have some free time this weekend why don't you join us at Stampin' for the Weekend in our challenge #25 to "Emboss". We're sponsored by Stamp Fairy (my card is using the Barry Angel digi). The sentiment on my card is heat embossed. You can dry emboss if you prefer. Stop by the blog to check out the details and see what the rest of the design team has created.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Stamp Fairy "Barry Angel"
ink - hp printer
paper - the Paper Cut "Pink Lemonade" cs; Kaisercraft "Hey Birdie" collection dp
miscellaneous - copics; glaze pen; Tiny Twinkles; brads; ribbon; baker's twine; charm; sewing machine

Here's the challenges"
Stampin' for the Weekend #25 - Emboss

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

Get Cooking

2012-01-25T11:42:00.000-05:00

Look at the size of that heart Lucy's carrying. That must be at least a five pounder. I think that five pounds might even be a challenge for me and I love bon bons.

The challenge for you is to make a card or project using hearts, a punch and embossing. That's challenge #88 at Cooking It Up with Katie. The sponsor this week is Robyn's Fetish. The paper that the little girl is mounted on was embossed with the heart folder but it didn't photograph well, I tried taking shots from different angles but to no avail. You're just going to have to take my work for it.

Here's the deets:

stamp - Robyn's Fetish digi "Lucy Valentine's girl"
ink - hp printer
paper - Recollections red base card; Bo Bunny dp (just a scrap with the name gone); Authentique "Uncommon" dp; Bazzill "Maraschino" cs
miscellaneous - copics; stickles; ribbon; twine; charm; heart bling; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Cooking It Up With Katie #88 - Punch Me an Embossed Heart
Simon Says - Anything Goes
Ruby's Rainbow - Valentine's Red and Black
The Pink Elephant TPE132 - photo inspiration

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

Sew Fancy

2012-01-23T19:17:00.002-05:00

Sometimes you just need to fancy a thing up. When I'm sewing I keep finding myself looking for a pad for notes. I started using one of those small and inexpensive legal pads. If you buy a pack of them they get even cheaper. Since these are so easy to make and are great gifts (think teacher appreciation) you might as well get the pack and make a few for your friends, everyone can use a pad next to the phone, with one of these on hand you'll only be searching for a pen. Hey, you can always make a little loop to hold a pen.

don't forget the inside

After using the pad a couple days I thought it looked icky and needed some dressing up. Just about that time I checked out the My Favorite Things sketch challenge and decided that it was time to make a cover. I could ink up a stamp set I hadn't opened yet (there's one of my resolutions), enter a favorite challenge and make something blah look a lot better.

Since this was for sewing notes it was the perfect time to break out the "Sew Nifty Dienamics" set. I think the stamps have a vintage look (maybe cause it's mostly us old fashioned types, emphasis on the old, who like to sew) so I decided on a heavily distressed look. Ripping and smudging is something I just get lost in, it's great therapy and I highly recommend it.

Here's the deets:

stamp - My Favorite Things "Sew Nifty Dienamics"

ink - Memento "Rich Cocoa "; Ranger "Tea Dye"

paper - Neenah Classic Crest Natural white cs for images; Bazzill "Blossom" and "Pinecone" cs; Basic Grey "Cappella" and "Porcelain" dp

miscellaneous - lace; Recollections pearls; spool charm; embroidery floss; twill ribbon; Spellbinder's "Ribbon Tags Trio" die; sewing machine'

Here's the challenges:

My Favorite Things MFTWSC55 - sketch

Sentimental Sunday #86 - Die Cuts

Craft Your Days Away #37 - Distressing

CES #69- Anything But a Card

Basic Grey #61 - Favorite Things (I love pearls, die cuts, machine sewing and distressing)

Delightful - Vintage/Distressed

Sugar Creek Hollow - Go Girly

Thanks for stopping by, please come back again

I Like These Snowflakes

2012-01-22T06:15:00.026-05:00

CIC144

These are defintely the kind of snowflakes I like. They're so pretty and not in the least bit cold or wet. Now there's something for Mother Nature to think about.

They're also great as inspiration for this week's Cupcake Inspiration Challenge. Those pretty pastel colors made me think of some favorite papers from My Mind's Eye so I went straight for the "Wonderful Winter" pad and got started.

This week's sponsor is Fresh Brewed Designs. They've suppliesd the design team with some cute winter images so be sure to check out what the rest of the design team has created. Everything you need to know and see cn be found here.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Fresh Brewed Designs "Build a Snowman"
ink - hp printer
paper - Bazzill "Safari" and "Frosted Teal" cs; My Mind's Eye "Wonderful Winter" dp
miscellaneous - copics; stickles; mini brads; snowman charm; linen thread; embossing folder; Spellbinder's Lacey Square die; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations CIC144 - photo inspiration
Pixie Cottage 104 - sketch and embossing

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

Brrrr!

2012-01-15T08:36:00.048-05:00

CIC143

If I were to get a personalized license plate for my card it would be "No Mo Sno". I do not miss that cold wet stuff and never want to see first hand again. However, I do like it as a design element. This pretty sparkly cupcake is the inspiration for this week's Cupcake Inspirations Challenge.

The snowflake and silvery shimmer is what inspired me. What will it be for you? All the sweeties are anxious to see what you come up with, so get busy stamping and don't forget to link it up at Cupcake Inspirations Challenge.

Here's the deets:
stamp - the Cat's Pajamas "J*lly H*liday"
ink - Versamark
paper - Recollections silver card base; Neenah Classic Crest Brilliant white cs; Creative Memories "Cany Cane" dp
miscellaneous - Silver Embossing powder; Nesties Labels Eighteen; Recollections bling; Martha Stewart lace; the Cat's Pajamas twill ribbon; burlap twine; charm
Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations CIC143 - photo inspiration
the Cat's Pajamas - TCPTUES192 - Embossing
Sugar Creek Hollow - Embossing
2 Sisters #74 - Use Metal
Polka Doodles - Vintage/Retro
Secret Crafter - Anything Goes with Blue
Fussy and Fancy - Let It Snow
Tuesday Throwdown #80- Baby it's Cold Outside
Creative Belli #134 - Snowflakes

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you come back again and that you'll join the sweeties and create a card or project for the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge.

Aren't We a Pair

2012-01-15T07:37:00.105-05:00

Here comes Valentine's day yet it seems like Christmas is still here. Maybe that's because I've been delinquent in getting the decorations stowed away.   I enjoy them so much I hate to put them away. I think I finally got it all but I think that every year and then discover something somewhere. Last year it was a mini quilt and by the time I realized it was still out I decided to just leave it there and there it remained till I packed it up when we moved. I do know the wreath is still on the front door but that bad boy is so dang large I don't know what to do with it.   Oh well...

So onto the real reason you're here. It's Sunday and it's time for the Pile It On challenge #3. The theme is Fuzzy Friends, sponsored by Di's Digi Downloads.

I chose to use a couple of bears, or a bear couple depending on how you look at it, for my image. I think they're perfect for Valentine's Day. It's not a pink or red card but lots of hearts on it do the trick and it's fun to be non-conventional once in awhile.

Here's some info (tips) about making the card:
The scarf is paper pieced.  I prefer to use a paper that will be used in the card layers. To get this look I stamped the scarf several times on the paper and cut out six pieces. I think it looks more realistic if the design on the paper is broken up in the image. The pieces are laid down with the furthest away pieces down first. These things may seem picky but in the end they make the card look better. The heart the bears are holding is not pieced but that would have made a nice touch.
Mistakes can end up helping your card. After all the coloring of the image was done I noticed there was a small smudge on the background.  To cover it Ranger Shabby Shutter ink sponged around the image.   I wasn't planning on sponging but as it turns out I think it looks better than it would have if left plain.

Here's the deets:
stamp - My Favorite Things "Polar Love"
ink - Memento Tuxedo Black; Ranger Shabby Shutters
paper Bazzill "Beesxax" cs; Jillibean Soup "Dutch Mustard Soup" dp
miscellaneous - copics; ribbon; baker's twine; heart charm; Crystazzi bling; stickles

Here's the challenges:
Pile It On #3 - Fuzzy Friends
My Favorite Things MFTWSC54 - sketch
2 Sisters #74 - Use Metal
Delightful Inspirations - Include a Heart
Tuesday Throwdown #80- Baby It's Cold Outside
Top Tip Tuesday- Anything Goes
Crafts and Me - Anything Goes
For Fun - Anything Goes
Sisterhood of Crafters - Let It Snow/Winter
My Time To Craft #170 - XOXO Hugs and Kisses
the Pink Elephant TPE130- Hearts

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll visit often. I also hope you'll play along with us at Pile It On and create a Fuzzy Friends project.

Surf's Up, Dude

2012-01-13T07:48:00.048-05:00

It's Friday, yeah! So what are you doing this weekend? I hope you're going to join us at Stampin' for the Weekend because this week I picked the challenge theme. We've being sponsored by LOTV and that means a nice prize for someone. This challenge is easy peasy, it's "Use It Up". We'd like you to use some stuff that's been sitting in your stash since last year. Technically you can use stuff you got for Christmas but why not move some of the stuff that's starting to get dusty. You're welcome to use stamps or digis of any brand you'd like.

This year I'm going to try to make more masculine cards. I'm thinking that at least one a month would be a good commitment and easy enough to keep and maybe I'll get more done. I'll keep you posted.

Here's the deets:
stamp - digi from Teddy Bo
ink - hp printer
paper - Stampin' Up cs and dp
miscellaneous - copics, lacey square nestie; twine; charm

Here's the challenges:
Stampin' for the Weekend - Use It Up
Moving Along with the Times #130 - Spots and Stripes
Teddy Bo #20 - Anything Goes
Color Throwdown #174 - Soft Sky, River Rock, Daffodil Delight and Soft Suede
Simon Says - Spots and/or Stripes

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again and that you'll find the time to play along with us at Stampin' for the Weekend.

Pretty Pink Stuff

2012-01-11T06:58:00.043-05:00

"Love is All You Need" is written in lower left corner

The Cooking It Up With Katie challenge is back. Katie gave the design team a little time off for the holidays. I don't know about you but I really needed it but I'm happy to be back at my desk again. I'll be happier when I get it organized.

So are you ready to start cooking. This one's easy for me cause I love all the ingredients. The challenge is to make a card (or project) using pink, pearls and posies. With Valentine's Day closing in on us you might want to make a card for your honey. My image is from this week's sponsor Digital Delights. If you'd like to grab this image now's a good time to go shopping cause there's a sale going on. Check out the challenge blog to see what the rest of the design has created. That's where you'll find everything you need to know about playing with us.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Digital Delights "Love You Larry"
ink - hp printer
paper - Recollections Red card base, the Paper Cut "Pink Lemonade" cs; Authentique "Uncommon" dp
miscellaneous - copics; ladybug charm; pink burlap twine; lace; SU pearls

Here's the challenges:
Cooking It Up With Katie #87 - Pink, Pearls and Posies
the Sweet Stop SSS140 - sketch
My Time to Craft #170 - Hugs and Kisses
Paper Players #77 - All You Need is Love (and that's the sentiment written on this card)
the Pink Elephant TPE130 - Hearts
the Ribbon Reel #19 - Pink Polka Dots

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

What'd I Do With...

2012-01-08T07:59:00.025-05:00

CIC142

Today I experienced a couple of the joys of moving. First I worked in my craft room, which should really be called my craft mess. There's just too much stuff. Combine that with not being sure where things are. But I was able to make a card I liked, even if I didn't dig out my Big Shot. Later on I was putting gas in my car and attempted to charge it.  Try to guess if the credit card company still has your old zip code on file or your new one. I was pretty sure that which ever one I guessed would be the wrong one and I was right, fortunately I did have some all American green stuff in my wallet. And if these are the biggest problems I have in life than I count myself as blessed.

This week the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge is being sponsored by Stamp Fairy.   Some of the sweeties have used Stamp Fairy images so you have to check out their work on the blog, you'll find all the info you need there, including the linky thing for entering your creation.

That lovely cuppie in the photo got me hunting for an image with a cupcake with a single candle on it. Then I picked some papers that had the colors. This Basic Grey paper even had a trim with stripes that are similar to the stripes behind the cuppie in the inspiration photo.

Now it's your turn to make a card or project inspired by the photo. I can't wait to see what you create.

Here's the deets:
stamp - My Favorite Things a la mode "Birthday Girl"
ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
paper - Basic Grey "Kioshi" dp; the Paper Cut "Pink Lemonade" cs; Bazzill "Intense Kiwi" cs
miscellaneous - copics; baker's twine; phone charm; Martha Stewart border punch

Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations CIC142 - photo
My Favorite Things MFTWSC53 - sketch
Friday Mash Up FM#40- Birthday/Pastels
Secret Crafter - Let Them Eat Cake

Thanks for stopping, please come back again.   Now go make a card for the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge.

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T07:52:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!

Well I'm still trying to make sense of my craft room but I was able to make a card and to join my teammates at Pile It On for the challenge #1 of the New Year. We hope you'll join us so we've made it an easy theme - Anything Goes. This week's sponsor is Simon Says Stamp. So get your fingers inky, you could be the next winner and even if you aren't you'll have fun.

How did you spend your New Year's Eve? Were you out partying hardy, all dressed up in a pretty dress? My little family went downtown to the movies. Amazingly, I did not fall asleep. Yeah me!

don't forget the inside

And then there's the resolutions... Well last year I resolved to use up more of my supplies, ink up stamps that needed love and to do the inside of my cards. If you're a regular visitor then you know that I did a pretty job of doing the insides of my cards. So along with the usual lose weight and exercise more (I did a decent job with those too!) I am going to resolve to keep up with last year's resolutions.

Here's the deets:
stamp - My Favorite Things (a la modes) "Cheers"
ink - Memento Tuxedo Black; Close To My Heart "Cranberry"
paper - Recollections red card base; Black card stock; white cardcstock; Stampin' Up "Night and Day" dsp
miscellaneous - copics; pleated ribbon; burtlap twine; Taylored Tiny Twinkles; mini brads; Stampin' Up punch; champagne charm; glaze pen

Here's the challenges:
Pile It On #01 - Anything Goes
Cutie Pie #7 - Use a Sentiment
Color Q #117 - Black and White and one other color
Party Time PTT#48 - Anything Goes
Top Tip Tuesday #66 - Anything Goes
Crafts and Me #66 - Anything Goes
4 Crafty Chicks #70 - Something New
Cute Card Thursday #197 - Happy New Year
Moving Along with the Times - Music/Retro Related (Lady in Red)
For Fun - New Something
L'il Red Wagon - Something New
Paper Pretties - Ring in the New Year
Sisterhood of Crafter - Black and White and one other color
Simon Says - Anything Goes
Fabulous Friday - Something New
Friday Mash Up #39 - Sparkles and/or Celebrating the New Year
Really Reasonable Ribbon - Anything Goes
Allsorts week 135 - New Beginnings
CES #66 - Party, Party, Party
Totally Gorjuss - Something Happy
Sweet Stampin - New Beginnings
Secret Crafter - Anything Goes
One Stop Craft - Winter Wishes
Come and Get It - Happy New Year

Thanks for stopping by, I hope to see you here regularly.

Here's the link for the Pile It On challenge blog. I hope you'll play along.

Moving Along

2011-12-09T22:42:00.000-05:00

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.

Tis the Season

2011-11-27T07:15:00.077-05:00

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.

Black Friday

2011-11-25T09:36:00.000-05:00

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.

Can You Bake a Pie?

2011-11-23T12:51:00.001-05:00

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.

For Someone Berry Special

2011-11-21T10:42:00.001-05:00

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.

"P" is for...

2011-11-20T11:32:00.054-05:00

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

2011-11-20T10:00:00.002-05:00

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.

Just a Note

2011-11-13T06:52:00.022-05:00

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.

Card Tag

2011-11-09T09:34:00.000-05:00

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.

Easy As Pie

2011-11-06T08:00:00.080-05:00

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...

2011-11-06T07:27:00.030-05:00

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.

A Cuddly Christmas

2011-11-04T08:15:00.043-04:00

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?

2011-11-04T08:07:00.010-04:00

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.

How Many Days...

2011-10-30T10:13:00.001-04:00

...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

A Little Different

2011-10-25T19:44:00.002-04:00

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.

If You're Happy

2011-10-23T09:00:00.114-04:00

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

2011-10-23T08:15:00.003-04:00

CIC133

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.

Spooky!

2011-10-21T12:01:00.000-04:00

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

2011-10-21T11:34:00.001-04:00

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.

Cupcake Time

2011-10-16T14:13:00.000-04:00

CIC 132

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.

A Birthday with the Dragon

2011-10-12T17:20:00.000-04:00

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:

stamp - Stamping Dragon Designs - Happy Birthday Dragons

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.

Devastatia

2011-10-09T20:23:00.001-04:00

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.

CIC131b

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.

Just Because

2011-10-09T11:30:00.002-04:00

Time to Pile It On, Just Because. This week the challenge theme at Pile It On is "Just Because" Our sponsor is Nikki Silvils, the designer of this cute scrapbook paper kit.
This card was super easy to make, and if you're like my buddy Pam it's right up your alley. Pam would loves to fussy cut while she's watching a Yankee game. The beaver is cut out and popped up from a page that contains medallions and designs, the back is a sheet that coordinates with the other papers, which like the two used here are cute as can be for your fall cards or scrap pages.

Here's the deets:
stamp - no stamp, the image is cut from the papers
ink - no ink - the sentiment is from the alphabet stickers
paper - Nikki Sivils
miscellaneous - gel pen for faux stitching; twill ribbon; leaf charm' pin

Here's the challenges:
Pile It On #41- Just Because
Sweet Stampin' - In Stitches
Raise the Bar #78 - Furry Friends
Totally Papercrafts #87 - Animals
One Story Crafts #152- Anything Goes
Delightful Inspiration - Falling Leaves
Paper Play week 40 - Autumn colors
Moving Along With the Times #119 - Autumn Leaves
Paper Variety - Forest Friends
Fussy and Fancy - Fall or Halloween

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again. Now, stop over to the Pile It On challenge blog to see what the rest of the design team created and to get all the details on this week's challenge.

Check It Out

2011-10-07T07:30:00.072-04:00

Check it Out! That's what the Cuddly Buddly challenge #15 wants you to do. Use checks, plaid or tartan patterns. That challenge got me thinking of some Graphic 45 Christmas paper in my stash. Yeah! another Christmas card done.

Did you know that there are free digi images available at Cuddly Buddly. I can't think of a better deal than that. Click here to find out the details. I checked it out and was amazed. Go to the shop and click on the "Instant Downloads" menu. Click to list the images by price and you can view all the free ones. I clicked on the last page and made my way backwards from there. There's several pages filled with a variety of images. If you haven't made your Christmas cards take a look to see what's available. I picked up a couple Easter images too. Go on a spree, you can't go wrong at these prices.

After you've picked up some great new images why not use one to make a card or project for the "Check It Out" challenge. Who knows, maybe you'll win and then you can get even more images. You don't have to use Cuddly Buddly images to play along with us but we'd sure love to see what you do with them.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Cuddly Buddly "Xmas Lights"
ink - hp printer; Ranger "Scattered Straw
paper - Georgia Pacific white cs; Recollections red card base; Graphics 45 "Christmas Past" Collection; Bazzill "Beeswax" cs; DCWV green cs
miscellaneous - copics; Nesties circle and inverted scalloped circle dies; Hero Arts Snowflake bling; Crystazzi gold bling; red silk ribbon; burlap twine; ornament charm; sewing machine; glaze pen

Here's the challenges:
Cuddly Buddly #15 - Check It Out
Simon Says - Sparkle and Bling
Cutie Pie #2 - Bingo (charm, something with wings, ribbon or lace)
Crafts and Me #55 - Use a Digi
Cardmad Fairy #17 - Too Early for Christmas
Thanks for visiting, please come back again. I hope you'll find time to play along with us in the "Check It Out Challenge" at Cuddly Buddly.

Boo!

2011-10-07T07:00:00.011-04:00

I think that pumpkin charm is darling

Don't be frightened, it's just time for Stampin' for the Weekend's challenge which is the "Colors of Autumn". It doesn't get much easier than that. You can make any kind of card or paper craft you wish, just use fall colors.

You can get lots more inspiration from the rest of this very talented design team by clicking here. All the details as well as a linky thingy will be there.

For my card I used a Teddy Bo image. I picked this one because not that long ago I wore a pumpkin costume just like it. That year I took a holiday but went into the office with my daughter. I wish I knew where those photos are, I would put one in this post.

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - Teddy Bo "Pumpkin Bo"
ink - hp printer
paper - Georgia Pacific white cs; Bazzill "Intense Kiwi" and "Tangelo" cs; My Mind's Eye "Blackbird" dp
miscellaneous - copics; candy dots; Queen and Co. gold rhinestones; baker's twine; pumpkin charm; stickles; Ranger glossy accents (doesn't show in the photo - it's on the candy in his bag)

Here's the challenges:
Stampin' for the Weekend #18 - the Colors of Autumn
Teddy Bo - My Favorite Colors

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again. Now it's time for you to create something using the colors of Autumn. Don't forget to link it up at Stampin' for the Weekend. We love to see what you create.

Delicious Doodles

2011-10-06T07:00:00.078-04:00

One of the most fun things you can ever get to do is be a guest design team member. This week I have the honor of being a guest designer for Do You Stack Up. The theme for the challenge is "Brown". The sponsor Delicious Doodles supplied this pretty image. Since I didn't plan on using brown on the image I went through my stash to find some dp that fit the theme and found some that I thought worked really well. I hope you'll take some time to stop over at the Do You Stack Up challenge blog and find some time to play along with us.

We applied to adopt a puppy and said we would be willing to complete the vet care that was scheduled. What we didn't plan on was our daughter getting sick and needing surgery just as we were getting the pup. Fortunately Liddy came through the surgery with flying colors but is going to need a long time for healing. The puppy goes for surgery tomorrow. So you can imagine it's a little hectic here and why I need to finish up this post quickly.

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - Delicious Doodles "Sniffing Daisies"
ink - hp printer
paper - Pebbles "L'il Miss Collection"; Rubber Soul "Garden Variety" collection; Stampin' Up "Soft Suede"; Bazzill "Frosted Teal" and "Maraschino"
miscellaneous - copics; candy dots; powder blue pearls; lace; burlap twine; flower pot charm; Taylored Expressions die; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Do You Stack Up - Brown
Fab N Funky #93 - die cut and/or punches
Crafts and Me #55 - Use a Digi

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

A great big thanks to Do You Stack Up for picking me to be a guest Designer. Pop on over and join in the fun with this week's "Brown" challenge.

Cornucopia

2011-10-02T08:15:00.002-04:00

This looks like something I would sink my teeth into so could somebody make a dozen of these and bring to my house for Thanksgiving dinner? On second thought bring them tomorrow, I'll get pie for Thanksgiving.

This gorgeous cuppies is the inspiration photo for Cupcakes Inspirations challenge CIC130. So this week the challenge is a piece of cake, well, cupcake.

This week the sponsor is Doodle Pantry and I think this cornucopia is gorgeous and I loved coloring it. This image comes in a set with 3 sentiments and another image.

To get some more inspiration, you can see what the rest of the design team made and find the linky thingy over at Cupcake Inspirations blog. We'd love to have you play along with us.

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - Doodle Pantry "Let Us Be Thankful"
ink - hp printer
paper - Georgia Pacific white cs; Bazzill "Parakeet" and "Glow" cs; Jillibean Soup "Dutch Mustard" dp
miscellaneous - copics; brads, burlap twine, leaf buttons; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations CIC130 - photo
Tuesday Morning Sketches #113 - sketch
Totally Papercrafts #86 - Autumn
Friday Mash Up - Fall theme and/or brads, lots and lots of brads (I used four, that may or may not be lots and lots depending on your point of view)
Crafting for All Seasons - CH#10 - Fall Colors
Freshly Brewed FBC66 - Fall, Autumn

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

Everyone at Cupcake Inspirations would love to have you play along with us, so get cracking on a card inspired by that gorgeous cupcake. Don't forget to link it up here.

Fast and Easy

2011-10-01T21:27:00.000-04:00

Sentiment as focal point cards are fast and easy. With the right paper and a few embellishments they look like a million bucks. There are lots of places you can find inspiration. This card was inspired by a card I saw on the Sharon Johnson's No Time To Stamp blog. If you're stumped or your mojo's gone on walk about, that's a good place to poke around.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Pape Pretties "Birthday Sentiments"
ink - Stampin' Up "Always Artichoke"
paper - Stampin' Up "Kraft" cs; K & Co "Life's Journey" dp
miscellaneous - pleated ribbon; lace; Webster's Pages Silhouette (the cameo); sewing machine; brads

Here's the challenges:
Paper Pretties PWC173 - Use a Sentiment as a focal point
Southern Girls #28 - Anything Goes
4 Crafty Chicks - Anything Goes
Crafty Creations #137 - CAS
Simon Says - Anything Goes
Top Tip #53 - 2 or More ribbons, twine, lace, fabric
Truly Scrumptious #66 - Clean and Simple
Paper Sundaes #88 - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again. By the way, unless you've been on a desert island for the last 20 years you know that October is breast cancer awareness month. One of the easiest things you can do to help the fight is to click on the pink ribbon at the top of my sidebar. It's a good thing.

FIGHT LIKE A GIRL

Fall Birthday

2011-09-28T08:00:00.001-04:00

This week at Cooking It Up With Katie challenge #77 is to punch, include a pocket and a pair of something.

This week our sponsor is Digital Delights. There's some really adorable Halloween images. If you like to stamp but don't like to color you're in luck, some of the images are already colored for you. For me, that's half the fun of making a card but it is time consuming. If I needed to make several cards (like Halloween party invitations) the already colored images would be a great help.

The pocket on my card was drawn freehand and is supposed to look like a pants pocket. I'm not sure if I succeeded.

The Stampin' Up library clip holds a bill sticking out of the top of the pocket. That the pocket is deep so the clip ensures the bill won't get lost. .

The punches are Stampin' Up's oval and scalloped oval for the sentiment and there is a pair of buttons, one on each side of the sentiment, as well as a pair of brads on the pocket.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Digital Delights
ink - Bic Marker for sentiment, hp printer
paper - Paper Pizzazz leave print; Recollections Printed Scrapbook Paper (olive with polka dots); Nicole orange cs; the Paper Cut "Red Hot" cs
miscellaneous - copics; mini brads; Stampin' Up oval and scalloped oval punch; buttons; burlap twine; sewing machine; Stampin Up library clip

Here's the challenges:
Cooking It Up With Katie #77 - punch, pocket, pair of something
Corrosive #133 - Punches and/or dies
Stamps R Us - Operation Write Home Birthday challenge (no glitter)
Paper Play week 38- Autumn Leaves
Paper Cutz #110 - Button Up for Fall
Crafty Sentiments - Happy Birthday

Thankf for stopping by, I can't put into words how grateful I am that you visit and leave comments. I hope you'll take the time to play along with us at Cooking It Up With Katie. We all love to see what you do with the recipe.

A Couple of Cuties

2011-09-27T15:10:00.000-04:00

That's the name of the stamp set for this image. It's a perfect name. There's another stamp in the set I can't wait to get inky so if you like this stamp stop back. Hopefully I'll use it soon. Of course if you ever saw the list of stamps I want to use you'd be right to think I'll never get to them, the stinking problem is that all these stamp companies just keep making more and more must have stamps. If there's ever a shortage of new and appealing goodies I just might catch up. Sound familiar?

Here's the deets:

stamp - Crafty Secrets "A Couple of Cuties"

ink - Memento "Rich Cocoa"

paper - Bazzill "Pinecone", "Beeswax" and "Parakeet"; Jillibean Soup "Dutch Mustard" dp

miscellaneous - copics; silk ribbon, burlap twine; heart charm; Nesties oval and scalloped oval dies; brads

Here's the challenges:

Paper Players PP65 - sketch

One Stitch at a Time - Favorites (I love charms, they are my favorite embellie)

the Squirrel and the Fox #1 - Anything Goes

Crafty Catz #101 - Autumn

Sew Many #69 - Ovals

Really Reasonable Ribbon #32 - Autumn theme

Sugar Creek Hollow - Vintage Children (I know they're driving a car but they're little kids, they remind me of the Campbell soup kids - maybe they hot wired one of their parents cars)

Tuesday Throwdown #68 - Fall

Crafting for All Seasons #110 - Fall Colors

4 Crafty Chicks - Fall/Autumn

Delightful Challenges - Happy Fall Y'All

Digi Doodles #76 - Autumn Colors

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

Rip Roaring Good Time

2011-09-26T20:23:00.000-04:00

the ticket Christmas sentiments and 25 printed on it

Seems like a lifetime ago when a rip roaring good time usually entailed too much liquor, dancing (on the bar?), meeting the most adorable guy (son of Frankenstein), pledging your never ending love to anyone within ear shot and ending with a hangover that made you swear you'd never drink again. At least you thought that was where it ended till you went back to the bar and people start telling you things you did the last time they saw you and you have no idea who they are and no recollection of those exploits. But I digress...

Making a beachy Christmas card is what's a rip roaring good time as you near the golden years...

Here's the deets:
stamp - My Favorite Things "The Beach"
ink - Memento "Rich Cocoa", Ranger "Tea Dye" and "Scattered Straw"
paper - Stampin' Up "Kraft" cs; Graphic 45 Christmas Past collection; Neenah Classic Crest Natural White card stock
miscellaneous - MFT ribbon; burlap twine; snowflake charm; Christmas ticket

Here's the challenges:
My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club MFTWSC38 - sketch
One Stitch at a Time #81 - Favorites (charm)
2 Sisters #58 - Gingham or Plaid
Polka Doodles #38 - Distress It

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

Triangle Star Card

2011-09-25T08:33:00.000-04:00

This is a fold I've wanted to try for a long time, ever since I saw it on Stamp Owl's (Frances Byrne's) blog. So when the Pile It On Challenge called for a fancy fold it was time for me to make a triangle star card. I used Frances' tutorial which you can find here.

It's actually pretty easy.

Because I put some ribbon rose on the inside the card didn't want to stay closed, so I stuck a piece of velcro to the bottom of the star.

Here's the deets:

stamp - the Cat's Pajamas "Shine Brightly"

ink - Stampin' Up "Brocade Blue"

paper - Best Occasions light blue cardstock; Stampin' Up "Bella Bleu" dsp

miscellaneous - Nesties "circle and lacey circle" die; Stampin' Up oval and scalloped oval punches; the Cat's Pajamas "ocean" seam binding; Basic Grey pearls

Here's the challenges:

Pile It On #39 - Fancy Folds

the Cat's Pajamas TCPTUES177 - Create Roses with Seam Binding

Stampin' B #129 - Use 2 or more Spellbinders

Card Makin' Mamas #29- Get Punchy

Sweet Stampin' - Anything Goes

Southern Girls #28 - Anything Goes

Simon Says - Use Dies and/or Punches

Going Grey with Scrap Creations - Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll play along with the Pile It On challenge and make a card with a fancy fold.

Shaped Card

2011-09-25T07:32:00.031-04:00

It's time for another fabulous Cupcake Inspiration. Boy do I love this cake that's topped with a cupcake. The colors are so soft and feminine. It looks divine, another cake I couldn't bring myself to cut but I wonder what's under the fondant. Is it a chocolate cake or a yellow cake? Is there fruit or lemon between the layers.  Fortunately you don't need to know what's on the inside to be inspired and if you need a little jump start there's plenty to see on the Cupcake Inspiration challenge blog. The design team has been busy making cards for your viewing pleasure.

This week the challenge is sponsored by Stamp Fairy. My card is made with one of the freebies on the site. If you've never tried using a digi before, this is a great way to find out if you'd like it. You can choose from 10 images.

I was inspired by the top layer of the cake. I made a card shaped like a cupcake and used the colors of the top layer when I made it. A cupcake is a pretty simple shape to make. I took a piece of plain paper and cut it the size of an A2 card, then rough sketched the shape of a cupcake, making sure to have a part of the icing area be on the card fold. Trace it or affix your pattern to your card base with a removable tape then cut it out. Then cut the "icing" portion off of the pattern and do the same thing to cut out a piece of white card stock. The "icing" was fancied up with an embossing folder and glitter.

To make the card a little more interesting I used the paper tole technique and made three layers of the image. The bottom layer is the entire image. For the middle layer the heart and halo are cut off. The top layer is the head.   The close up is supposed to show you the three layers but it isn't the best photo I've ever taken.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Stamp Fairy Freebie digi
ink - hp printer
paper - The Paper Cut "Sno Cone", "Sweet Tooth" and "Red Hot" card stock
miscellaneous - copics; Spellbinder's oval, scalloped oval and cherry dies; Kaisercraft pearls; embossing folder; glitzy glitter

Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations CIC129 - photo
Raise the Bar #76 - Things with Wings
Stampin' B #129 - Use 2 or more Spellbinders
Speedy the Cat's Friends week 74 - Things with Wings
Top Tip #51 - For the Kids

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you'll play along with us at the Cupcake Inspiration challenge.

Leftovers

2011-09-23T08:00:00.001-04:00

It's time for another Cuddly Buddly challenge. Have you been on pins and needles waiting for it.   Well, I have. The challenge is to add a big number or letter to your creation. I've had this idea to make a gift bag racing through my brain for a couple weeks. The planning, the gathering, the putting it together. I don't think I put as much thought into planning my wedding.

The planning of this bag brings me to this next little story. When you go out to restaurants are you at best an odd duck or worse an embarassment to your family and friends. Crafters are always thinking about making things. For me it's like a never ending ticker tape passing thru my head. I'm always finding inspiration in weird places, always on the look out for materials. So last weekend hubby and I are out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant and we have leftovers. Our waitress came to the table with the fun box and a brown paper bag. Well, the bells are going off in my head, I needed one for this project so I asked the waitress if I could have another bag. The way she looked at me I knew she was wondering if she was translating what I said correctly or what else I could have meant and my hubby is making the "what the heck do you want a second bag for" face. I explained that I wanted to make something and I got another bag.  After we got home I found hubby had placed both the bags on my desk and I couldn't tell which one was the unused one. Oh well, go figure, if I hadn't asked for a second one you know that toting bag would have had lots of grease spots on it. But I digress...

For my project I used the "Eline's Digi Set - Baby Girl's Bath & Bedtime". Talk about getting a lot of bang for your buck, well this is it. There are 25 cute as pie images and five patterned papers. If you're a pink kind of girl this set is worth it just for the papers. You download them once and you can use them forever. I can always use the gingham check and the polka dots. If you've visited here often you know how much I use and love pink. Oh, but you need to make a bag for a baby boy, no problem she's got little boy collections too and yes, there's a collection for when you don't know if it'll be a boy or girl.

The big letter on the bag is from a set of rub-ons. After putting it on white card stock I cut it out and then mounted it ontolight pink cardstock cut it out and then repeated on dark pink cardstock. It doesn't show that well in the photo but in real life all those layers look great.

How about a couple tips? If you decorate a bag when you set it out pay attention to which side the seam is on. Don't ask me how I know and don't go taking any close looks at my photo. It's not enough to ruin your work if you use the wrong side but a seamless side looks better.  In addition to the seam, there's usually a manufacturers mark on the bag which may or may not show when you fold the top down, so be prepared to cover it. Also if the bag's edge isn't very nice you will want to use a die cut on it. Border punches don't work so well, been there done that and had to die cut it afterwards. The ribbon isn't just a decoration, it's attached by several glue dot to the back of the bag. You could punch holes or slots to wind yiour ribbon through. Whatever works for you. The bag that inspired me used ribbon through slots. You can see it in the July/August 2011 Papercrafts magazine on page 28. But with that bag you have to put your gift inside and staple it closed, with the ribbon affixed to back you can open and close the bag over and over again which means the recipient can open it without ruining it and afterwards put it out on display and have it be functional.

Here's the deets:
stamp and paper- Cuddly Buddly "Eline's digi set - Baby Girl's Bed & Bathtime"; scraps of pinks and white cs
ink - hp printer
miscellaneous - gingham brads; rub on letter; Doodlebug buttons; pink Candy Dots; pink glaze pen; MFT die-namincs "large scallop" and "large scallopey scallop" border dies, mini brads, ribbon

Here's the challenges:
Cuddly Buddly - Add a big letter or number to your project
Top Tip #51 - 1 for the kids
Simon Says - Dies to die for
Ruby's Rainbow C#12- For the girls
Creative Card Crew - Babies
Picture Perfect Creations Specialty Challenge #10 - Use 3 designer papers

Thanks for stopping by, I hope I've inspired you to play along with us at the Cuddly Buddly challenge to add a big letter or number to your project. You don't have to use Cuddly Buddly products to play along, but if you've got them we'd love to see what you create with them. By the way, did you know there's some free digi images available, well, now you do.

What a Cutie!

2011-09-23T07:00:00.049-04:00

What a Cutie! How's that for a challenge theme? The possiblilities are endless so you have no excuse to not play in this week's Stampin' for the Weekend #17 challenge. This week we have a sponsor. It's Wee Stamps
and boy oh boy are these cute. You have to stop over to the SFTW blog to see what the rest of the design team has created. Those ladies blow me away, they just get better and better.

Sometimes less is more. There's only one piece of dp on this card, one stamped image ,one mat, one big old bow and one flower. There's four candy dots and four pieces of bling. It's not a clean and simple card but there's not much to it. The dp had nice big floral motifs in caty corners. One is on the face and the other is on the inside. To show off the design it made sense not to over layer papers and the big old bow is covering the plain area of the paper. The color combination is one of my favorites, it works so well when you want a pretty feminine look.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Wee Stamps "Wee Suzi"
ink - hp printer
paper - Stampin' Up "Certainly Celery"; Crafty Secrets "Heartwarming Vintage Collection
miscellaneous - copics; candy dots; prima flower; ribbon; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Stampin' For the Weekend #17 - What a Cutie
the Pink Elephant TPE117 - photo inspiration
Digital Tuesday #129 - People Images

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll find some time to play along with us at Stampin' for the Weekend. You should pop over there to see what the rest of the design team made. There are some real cuties there.

My Fall

2011-09-21T17:37:00.003-04:00

I've been reading lots of posts about the cooler weather and the changing leaves but it was 95 degrees here today. At the moment it's pouring and temp may have dropped about 10 degrees but an hour from now the sun will be back out and the temp will go back up. So if you're the type who lives for the changing seasons and the cool crisp autumn air, well, Florida is just not for you. The changing leaves is a glorious site but I'm happy to trade that for the palm trees. There are so many different types it's amazing. So these days I'm getting my doze of fall colors from crafts.

Knickers are one of those fashion items that pop up once in a blue moon but never seem to catch on. I've owned a couple pairs in my younger days but as I recall they weren't very flattering. But golfers are a different breed of people. Golf attire is a bizarre mess. There are things that people wear to play golf that could never be worn to any other function, Who comes up with those golf outfits anyway. I'd rather see golfers wearing these knickers than some of the wacky things Ive seen in the stores. Since I haven't taken up the sport I don't make it onto the greens, but I do drive around here and see golf courses everywhere. In these parts it's almost a crime if you don't play golf. But I digress...

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - Crafty Secrets "Golf Time"
ink - Memento "Rich Cocoa" and Stampin' Up "Always Artichoke" marker for sentiment
paper - Recollections Kraft card base; We R Memory Keepers "Autumn Leaf" and "Tawny" dp; Bazzill "Tangelo", "Almond Cream" and "Parakeet" cs; Neenah Classic Crest Natural White cs
miscellaneous: copics; MFT "Solid Brackets" die-namics; Recollections leaf brads; regular and mini brads; button; golf bag charm; burlap twine; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Partytime Tuesday PTT#34 - sketch
Pile It On #38 - the Colors of Fall
Tuesday Throwdown #67 - Fall
Paper Pretties PWC172 - Use Fall as your Inspiration
Crazy CCH#85 - Men Only
Critter Challenge - recipe: 1 image, 2 dp, 3 embellishments (brads, button, charm) and 1 sentiment
Dream Valley #16- Buttons
the Kraft Journal Make It Monday - Welcome Fall
Kaboodle Doodle #85 - Lots of Layers
Raise the Bar #75 - Leave Summer
CES#5 - Embellish Me More (at least 4 different types of embellies)
Fairytale #24 - Sports
Friday Mash Up #24 - Autumn theme or Yellow and Orange or both
Sugar Creek Hollow - Fancy Borders

Well, I just piled on the challenges and if you like to do that too then play along with us at Pile It On. But you don't have to find lots of challenges, just the Pile It On challenge (this week the Colors of Fall is the theme) and one other challenge and you're in like Flynn. We'd love to see what you create and we're always looking to see what challenges you've found to add to our lists.

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

Homecoming Dance

2011-09-19T11:42:00.000-04:00

can you read the banner - it says "fall fling"

Do you swap? If you're interested there's a forum on Splitcoast Stampers there's a forum for swaps. This card is for Kate (celestial-stamper) annual Halloween swap. This particular swap is closed, the cards are due any day now but Kate's usually got some swap going and there's usually a fun thread of yakking to follow with some fun trivia type quizzes.

It was difficult to decide between a cutesy or a dark motif, and as you can see the dark side won out. It's hard to see the dp on the card face since the image and embellies cover so much of it but in the pic of the inside you can see the graveyard easier.

It struck me that these kiddies are all dressed up for a dance which put me in mind of a "fall fling". So hopefully you're getting the idea that the graveyard is all tricked out for dance.

These kiddies (I think they're adorable, does that make me weird?) are Bowtie and Mink. They're Daniel Torrence images. When I colored them I used some pale greens, lavenders and grey on the face of Bowtie. He doesn't strike me as the type to have a peaches and cream complexion.

On the other hand Mink is partial to pink so there's just a very slight undertone of green which barely shows except on her eyelids where I used a darker shade because Mink thinks that the green eyeshadow really plays up her hair. I think she's right

.
Mink wore her best skirt for the dance. It's purple, her second favorite color, which goes so well with her favorite pink. The skirt has lots of bling on it, because the fall fling is a semi-formal dance.

The banners are dressed up with red stickles in the hopes of looking like blood and there's a spider hanging of the banner just because. I couldn't resist adding the cockroach ribbon once again - just because.

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamps - Stampotique Daniel Torrence "Bowtie" and "Mink"; Taylored Expressions "Pennat a la Carte"; Crafty Secrets (spider web) "Halloween Fun" unknown alphabet stamps for banner
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"; Studio G red, green and lavender for banner
paper - Recollections Neutrals card base; Bazzil "tangelo" cs; Moxxie "Midnight Dreary - Tomb It May Concern" dp
miscellaneous - copics, Taylored Expressions tiny twinkles and pennant die; twine, ribbon, stickles; stapler; EK Success "Graveyard" border punch

Here's the challenges:
Creatalicious #26 - Anything Goes
Really Reasonable Ribbon - #32 - Autumn theme (cockroach ribbon)
Catch the Bug - Let's Create a Scene
CES #5 - Embellish Me More (at least three different types)
Corrosive #133 - punches and/or dies
Sew Many #68 - Halloween
Fab 'N' Funky #90 - bingo (embellie, ribbon and die cut)

Cupcake Inspiration Time

2011-09-18T09:15:00.003-04:00

CIC128

Could you eat something this pretty? Well I'm more of a butter cream fan so I could probably just marvel at how pretty this one is but give me a birthday cake with those big old fluffy roses on the corner and I'm in trouble. I don't think it would last long enough to give me any inspiration. But this lovely cuppie which just happens to be this week's Cupcake Inspirations challenge put me in the mind of a cute Mo Manning stamp I happened to have just waiting for a chance to get inky.

can you see the butterfly charm? click on the photo
to enlarge it

This week our sponsor is Amber Ink (because your brilliant, not patient). Lots of fun stuff to be had there and some of it is digital for those of us who are not patient.
Stop over at the Cupcake Inspirations challenge blog to see how the rest of the design team has been inspired, to find out what the prize is, check out the rules and most importantly to link up your creation. You can find it all by clicking here.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Mo Manning "Birthday Fairy Lee"
ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
paper - the Paper Cut "Pink Lemonade" cs; Stampin' Up "Kraft" cs;
S.E.I. "Chocolat" dp
miscellaneous - copics; ribbon, pink burlap twine; butterfly charm; brads; pink pearls; stickles; glaze pen; stickles; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:

don't forget the inside

Cupcake Inspirations CIC128 - photo
Crafty Cutz #100 - sketch
Moving Along With The Times #116 - Sparkle
Delightful - Girly Girl
Cute Card Thursday #182 - Anything Goes
Truly Scrumptious #65 - decorate the inside
Paper Shelter #31 - Fairy and Elves
Fab 'n' Funky #90 - bingo (stamp, 3 dp, die cut)
Crafting for All Seasons #9 - Birthday
Ruby's Rainbow #12 - For the Girls
Papertake Weekly - Things with Wings
Magical Monday - Anything Goes
Kraft Journal - Use a Sketch
Top Tip #51 - Birthday Time

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again. No go get busy making a card inspired by that beautiful cupcake. Don't forget to link it up on the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge blog.

Better Late

2011-09-16T09:12:00.002-04:00

Than never. I'm not quite myself the last couple days. Hopefully things are getting back on track.

This card is for Wednesday's Cooking It Up With Katie challenge.#75 "A Group of Green Girls". Are you new to Katie's challenge? Well every week Katie gives you a recipe, this week it's:
Start with a Girl (or something Girlie)
Add a little (or a lot) of Green
Include a Group (more than 2 of the same thing).
This week the challenge is sponsored by Sassy Studio Designs.

Sorry, I don't have a photo of the inside and I don't know the who made the pirate map paper, it's been in my stash forever as if it were waiting for this image. It's probably left over from years ago when my daughter was a pirate for Halloween. The strips of dp on the crossbars are from Basic Grey's "Origins" and that great deep dark green cs is from Stampin' Up. For the groups I used three bows, three crossbars and three pearls, it's always easy to ass three embellies to a card. For the girl, I used the Sassy Pirate. Here's what I like about the girls at Sassy. They're fun to color, they're sassy and a little sexy without being thrashy. There are also images of men, images of couples, and images of heroines from books ans movies. Go take a look and then get busy making a card so you can have a chance to win a Sassy prize.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Sassy Studio Designs - Once Upon a Time - Pirate Penny
ink - hp printer
paper - pirate map (unknown); Stampin' Up "Handsome Hunter" and "Certainly Celery"; Basic Grey "Origins" dp
miscellaneous - copics; Queen and Co pearls; burlap twine; Blue Moon key charm

Here's the challenges:
Cooking It Up With Katie #75 - A Group of Green Girls
Partytime Tuesday PTT#33 - Ribbon, trim and fibers oh my
Tuesday Throwdown #66 - Pearls
L'il Red Wagon - Use Twine
Pile It On #37 - Layer It On

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again. Now go visit Katie's challenge, check out what the rest of the DT has created, maybe even leave them a little love. You can get all the challenge details and find the linky thingy there.

Layer It

2011-09-11T11:00:00.026-04:00

Layer, layers and more layers. This week at Pile It On that's what we want to see, lots of layers. So combine this challenge with as many other challenges as you can and play along with us. Our sponsor this week is Stamp Fairy. The image on my card is Barry Halloween. He's a pretty cute little fellow all dressed up for the funnest of the holidays. If you're looking for images as cute as this rush over to Stamp Fairy, cause everything is this cute.

For this challenge I looked for a sketch (this is from the Sweet Stop) with lots of layers but for a little more interest I used a technique called paper tole. This is where you stamp more than one of the image and then you cut and paste pieces of the image on top of themselves (that's clear as mud, huh?). In real life you can see it, but not in the photo of the card face so I'm adding this close up of the face and arm with wand. Here you can see that the face is popped up on dimensionals. With the paper tole that makes 5 layers without counting the mats.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Stamp Fairy "Barry Halloween"

ink - hp printer

paper - Recollections naturals card base; Wausaw cs; K and Co "Tim Coffey Halloween Specialty" pad; Georgia Pacific white cs

miscellaneous - copics; stickles; brads; baker's twine' charm; sewing machine; Nesties circle dies

Here's the challenges:
Pile It On #29 - Layer It
the Sweet Stop SSS125 - sketch (thanks for a great sketch!)
Paper Cutz #108 - Going to the Pumpkin Patch
Jellypark Friends- Pass It On
CES #53 - Make It Magical or Spooky
Freshly Brewed - Something New
Truly Scrumptious #65 - Decorate the Inside of Your Card
the Crop Stop - #36 -Spellbinders (the circles)
Pals Paper Arts PPA110 - Halloween
Craft Us Crazy #16 - Autumn Colors/Favorite Embellie (charm)
Crafty Sentiments - Halloween
Stamp Something - Anything Goes
Southern Girls - Lots of Layers or Birthday
Do You Stack Up DYSU#36 - Texture (those wrangly bats have enough texture for me but there's also the sparkly swirls on the green dp)
~~Stamp with Fun~~ ~~#127 - Autumn~~
Creative Card Crew - Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Ladybug Crafts Ink - Anything Goes
Critter Sketch #81 - Anything Goes

Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll come back again. Now go get busy making a card with lots of layers, then link it up at the Pile It On challenge blog.

Back to School

2011-09-11T08:00:00.033-04:00

CIC127

Once again I find myself saying "Thank God, it's only a photo of those cupcakes". I can't imagine what would happen if these were in my house. This is the inspiration photo for this week's Cupcake Inspirations challenge. Lots of color and texture for your playing pleasure.

Our sponsor this week is DTSart and this image is "Student Desk and Back Pack." There are two images, the other one is more suitable for a boy. While this would be a cute image for a little girl going back to school, I had the mom of a child going off to school for her first day in mind. Isn't it always more emotional for the mom, especially the stay at home mom who's accustomed to the company of a little one. Well, hopefully a little cheery note in this card will help save the day. That yummy pink silk ribbon bow would put a smile on my face.

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - DTSart "Back to School Student Desk and Backpack"
ink - hp printer
paper - Bazzill "Blossom";cs Stampin" Up "Certainly Celery" cs for card base; Georgia Pacific white cs; K and Co "Susan Winget Spring Blossom" dp
miscellaneous - copics; glaze pen; Nesties "Peony" die; Kaisercraft pearls; Making Memories charm; pink burlap twine; pink silk ribbon

Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations CIC127 - photo
If the Shoe Fits - FF#90 - Back to School
Crafty Catz #99 - Ribbon
Fussy and Fancy - Back to School
Delightful Inspiration - Back to School
Simply Create - Here Comes the Bus

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

We can't wait to see what you create, so after you make your project inspired by the cupcakes don't forget to link it up to the Cupcake Inspirations challenge.

Pumpkin Day

2011-09-10T17:54:00.001-04:00

Where penguins go trouble follows. Do not leave them near your pumpkin. They look innocent enough, but take my word for it, don't leave them alone with your pumpkin.

This week the challenge at the Cat's Pajamas is a sketch. I've been a Halloween roll so the pennants just had to be turned into candy corn. We're keeping that stuff out of the house this year, it's just too irresistable for me. I'm especially fond of the assortment that comes with chocolate pieces in it. Oh, yummy. But I digress...

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - the Cat's Pajamas "Hello Pumpkin"
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"; Versafine "Toffee"
paper - Bazzill "Tangelo" cs; Urban Oasis yellow cs; Cosmo Cricket "Nutmeg"
miscellaneous - copics; baker's twine; charm; brads SU and
unknown brand; Nesties circle die; TCP Cut Ups "Apron" and "Icing"; stitching; MFT banner die-namics; stick pin;

Here's the challenges:
the Cat's Pajamas TCPTUES175 - sketch
Happileigh Scrappin HLSC38 - Autumn browns oranges and yellows

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

More Halloween Cuppies

2011-09-10T09:30:00.000-04:00

I don't know which I like more, the pumpkin
charm, or the candy corm embellies

Yesterday I mentioned that it's time to start the Halloween cards in earnest and that card featured cupcakes decked out in costumes. Today, the cupcake is dressed up with candy. Maybe tomorrow you'll get to see another of my Halloween cupcake stamps. Yes, there is another one, trouble is, I'm not sure where that one is hiding. Might be more, but again, they are hiding. It'll be nice to get to a place where I can have all my supplies in one place.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Paper Pretties "Holiday Sweets I"
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"
paper - Bazzill "Tangelo" cs; Warsau "Terra Green", :Planetary Purple" cs; K and Co "Tim Coffey Halloween Specialty" pad
miscellaneous - copics; stickles, baker's twine; lace ribbon; charm; Recollection candy corn adhesive embellishments; Taylored dies "Scallop eyelet border"; Nesties circle and inverted scallop circle; sewing machine

don't forget the inside

Here's the challenges:

Paper Pretties PWC170 - sketch

Paper Cutz #108 - Going to the Pumpkin Patch

Pals Paper Arts PPA110 - Halloween

Crafty Sentiments - Halloween

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again. And a special thanks to all of you who leave comments. Those comments make my day.

PS - do any of you have this problem. Naughty boy (aka Shamus) just has to stick his face where it doesn't belong. Bad enough he has the gall to jump onto the table but then he has to get in the photo. What a ham.

Boo!

2011-09-09T08:00:00.066-04:00

can you see the ghost charm, the twine bow is covering its face

I am so excited for lots of reasons.
The biggest reason is that this post is as Guest Designer for Taylored Expressions sketch challenge #146. Yippee!!! A big thanks for Taylor for this fun opportunity.
Would you like to know why else? Well, you know I'm going to tell you whether you want to know or not. It's time to be making Halloween cards. Of course if you go by the stores you could have been starting your Halloween decorating two months ago. But Moi, I think September is the time to start your planning.
And the last reason I'm excited is because I got to use that funky ribbon, there's not to many places you can use cockroaches as decoration.
Is it possible that you just aren't feeling Halloweenish yet? Well, you can make any kind of card you'd like, just follow the sketch. It's posted on Taylor's blog. Need more inspiration? Stop by the design team members blog, you'll find plenty of inspiration.
Here's a list of the team with links to their blogs:

Guest Stamper: Jessica and Chris (that's me)
Stop by their blogs and leave them some love, you know how much you like to get comments.

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamps - Taylored Expressions "Trick or Sweet"

ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"

paper -Bazzill "Beeswax" and "Tangelo" cs; K and Co. "Halloween Specialty" pad

miscellaneous - copics; EK Success "Graveyard" border punch; Stampin' Up circle punch; cockroach ribbon, baker's twine; ghost charm; mini brads; stickles; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Taylored Expressions #146 - sketch
Freshly Brewed - Something New (cockroach ribbon)
Stamp With Fun #127 - Autumn

Aly's ASC46 - Add a bow
Paper Play week 36 - use 2 or more stamped images
Pals Paper Arts PPA110 - Halloween
Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll come back again. Now go visit Taylored Expressions where you can find the great sketch for this week's challenge as well as all the things you need to know to play along.

AND again a great big thank you to Taylor for giving me this opportunity. I had a blast.

Tickled Pink

2011-09-09T07:32:00.004-04:00

can you see the snowflake charm, click on the photo to enlarge

Okay girly girls, this one's for you. This week's challenge #16 at Stampin' for the Weekend is "Tickled Pink". That's right up my alley.
I love using pink and took the opportunity to knock off another Christmas card but you can make any kind of project using the "Tickled Pink" theme. I can't wait to see all your goodies so after you finish your creation don't forget to link it up here.
Stop over at the Stampin' for the Weekend challenge blog so you can gawk over the amazing creations made by the rest of the design team. I was blown away by them. It'd be real nice if you left the gals some love. You know how much you like it when someone leaves you some.

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - My Favorite Things "CK Frosty Fun"
ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black"
paper - Recollections Kraft card base; Doodlebug "Sugar and Spice" dp; Stampin' Up "Regal Rose" and "Certainly Celery" cs; MFT the Paper Cut "Pink Lemonade" cs
miscellaneous - copics; mini brads; snowflake charm; pink lace; button; MFT die-namics "Dizzy Doily" and "Dizzy Border"; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Stampin' for the Weekend #16 - Tickled Pink

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you come back again.
Now go get busy making a card for the Stampin' for the Weekend "Tickled Pink" challenge

Call Me

2011-09-09T07:00:00.081-04:00

don't you just love that phone charm,
click on the photo to enlarge it

Cuddly Buddly. I love that name. I find it popping into my head at odd times and it just makes me smile. Doesn't it make you picture all kinds of cuteness? It makes me think of this fluffy stuffed bunny I used to have, and that gives me the warm fuzzies. That's it! The Warm Fuzzies, that what Cuddly Buddly is. Pop over to Cuddly Buddly and check it out. Let me know what you think.

Are you ready for another challenge? This week at Cuddly Buddly challenge #11 is "Add a Tag". Tags are the perfect spot for placing a sentiment but you can do whatever you like with the tag. This image is from the Lilyboo Design line "Long Time No Talk". The old fashioned phone caught my attention and made me think of the Cosmo Cricket "Circa 1934" paper pad. Add a couple flourishes and a charm and Voila!

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - Cuddly Buddly (Lilyboo Designs) - Long Time No Talk
ink - hp printer
paper - MFT the Paper Cut "Red Hot" cs; Cosmo Cricket "Circa 1934) dp
miscellaneous - copics; red burlap twine; phone charm; Martha Stewart tag punch; Sizzex flourishes die; nesties oval and scalloped oval dies

Here's the challenges:
Cuddly Buddly #11 - Add a Tag
My Time To Craft #156 - Just Between Friends
Stamps R Us - Friendship
One Stitch at a Time - Use a Digi
Charisma #36 - Inspired by a Song (Call Me, Debbie Harry)
L'il Red Wagon #97 - Die Cuts
Your Next Stamp #50 - Song Inspiration (Call me, Debbie Harry)
Crop Stop #36 - Spellbinders

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again. I can't wait to see all your tags. Don't forget to link you creations up at Cuddly Buddly.

Black or White

2011-09-08T20:34:00.000-04:00

My bestest buddies (Eileen, Maddy and Edna, hi guys!) gave me a gift certificate to Stamping Bella for my birthday. Now that's people who know me too well and they will be my friends 4ever because they know me so well. They know where the bodies are, kwim.

The shopping's done and the goodies arrived a few days ago and today I got one of the stamps inky. So what'd'ya think black or white?

I'm trying to push myself in different directions. This is one of my attempts at CAS. Some people define CAS as one layer, in that case this doesn't qualify but this is my idea of clean and simple.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Stamping Bella "Christmastini"
ink - versamark
paper - SU Black cs; white cs; Recollections silver card base
miscellaneous - Silver embossing powder; nesties circle die; Queen and Co pearls

Here's the challenges:
Do You Stack Up #36 - Texture
Paper Shelter #30 - Embossing
Going Grey - Winter Wishes

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

Lock and Key

2011-09-07T19:16:00.001-04:00

can you see the button on the flowers? click on the photo to enlarge it

Keys were trolling around the recesses of my mind and they must of had a strong influence because I had planned on using the MFT sketch challenge as a chance to whip up another Christmas card.
This A La Mode demanded to be used so here she is. For now particular reason I wanted to make her dress green so the paper choices followed that (mind you I had a pack of Christmas paper staring me in the face and asking why it wasn't getting used- I guess I have to make another card tonight). The toughest decision was whether to use a key charm or a lock charm. AND you know I have key charms, even one that looks just like the key she's holding but in the end the lock won out.

Here's a close up of the flower, buttoney, bow, charm thingy. The burlap twine was wrapped around the card on top of the dizzy border die. The flower is three layers with a wooden button on top. I took a small crochet hook, put it through the center holes of the flowers and pulled the burlap twine through to the top, thread it through the button holes, hung the charm from it and tied it into a bow. To anchor it do the card I placed a glue dot under it.
Since My Favorite Things provided the sketch putting it together was a breeze. I'm beginning to wonder if this card could have made itself.

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
Stamp - My Favorite Things - A La Mode "Key to My Heart"

ink - Memento "Tuxedo Black" and Stampin' Up "Soft Suede" sponged on edges

paper - Stampin' Up "Soft Suede" cs card base and an in color "Green" cs; Basic Grey "Cappella" dp; Recollections "Neutrals" cs for dizzy border die

miscellaneous - copics; brads; Prima flowers; Blue Moon charm; burlap twine; wooden button; Nesties label 10 die; MFT die-namics "Dizzy Border" die; sewing machine

Here's challenges:
My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club MFTWSC36 - sketch
Truly Scrumptious #65 - Decorate the Inside of Your Card
L'il Red Wagon #97 - Use Your Die cuts
Crafts and Me #51 - Buttons and Bows
Craft Your Passion - Anything Goes with a Twist - Flowers

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

Rip and Roll

2011-09-05T10:22:00.002-04:00

It's something like rock n roll but you do it with your paper. You MFT junkies know that it's this month's guest designer challenge.

I'm not very good at rolled flowers so I wasn't going to play along this month. Then a trip to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens lit a small fire under me and I dug out the large rolled rose die and gave it a shot.

The gardens are amazing. If you're interested I'm going to post a few photos after the deets and challenges.

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:

stamp - My Favorite Things "Clearly Sentimental About Children"

Ink - Versa Magic "Spring Pansy"

paper - Stampin' Up "Orcid Opulence" cs; K and Co "Susan Winget" dp

miscellaneous - MFT dies; pearls; felt; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:

My Favorite Things - September Guest Designer Rip and Roll

Craft Your Days Away #28 - Make Your Own Flowers

Wee Memories - #66 - Simply Sentiments

Sweet Stampin - Anything But Birthday

Moving Along with the Times #114 - Homemade Flowers

Paper Play week 35 - Make Your Own Flowers

Top Tip #49 - Shabby Chic

Here's the photos from the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens

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I wanted to put captions below the photos but blogger isn't co-operating.

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

Lots of Dots

2011-09-04T07:00:00.048-04:00

CIC126

These cupcakes reminded of some papers that were sitting in my stash for a long time. I picked up several sheets of those papers because I was using them for a shoebox swap. There were lots of participants so I had picked up several sheets of the papers and ended up with about 3 of each paper left over. I think they're perfect for this inspiration photo.

This week the Cupcake Inspirations challenge is sponsored by Anita Be Stampin.
This image is Busty Betsy. I purchased this particular stamp because the proceeds for this one are donated to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation. That cause is near and dear to my heart and should be to anyone who has breasts. I think that pretty much covers everybody. In case you didn't notice there's a pink ribbon on my sidebar. If you click it you'll be forwarded to a site that's part of the fight. It takes only a couple seconds and a couple clicks to help out. If you're a frequent visitor to my site and hope you are, you'll read this request over and over. But I digress...

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - Anita Be Stampin - digi "Busty Betsy" and Flourishes "Think Pink - Fight Like a Girl" sentiment
ink - hp printer; Close To My Heart "Ocean" for sentiment
paper - Recollections card base; My Favorite Things "Pink Lemonade" cs; American Crafts "A La Carte" and "the Goods" dsp (the aqua mats and flourish are the back side of one of dp
miscellaneous - copics; Kaisercraft lace; pink pleated ribbon; Kaisercraft pink and blue pearls; Sizzex flourishes die; Nesties Circle and Blossoms 2 dies; Stampin' Up oval and scalloped oval punches; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations CIC126 - photo
CRAFT .#118 - sketch
Sweet Stampin - Anything But a Birthday
A Gem of a Challenge #29 - photo inspiration (lots of pink and aqua)
Card Makin Mamas #28 - Digital Image or Papers
Speedy the Cat's Friends #71 - Bring on the Bling
Stamp Something - September digi day
Truly Scrumptious - Rocked Up Pink
Fabulous Friday - Flourishes
Fairy Tale #23 - Flower and Lace
Crafty Creations #134 - dies n punches

Thanks for visiting, I hope you'll come back again. I'm looking forward to seeing what you create for this week's Cupcake Inspirations challenge. Why don't you stop by the blog and see what the rest of the design team had created.

Things with Wings

2011-09-03T20:59:00.000-04:00

I love this bunny with his big 'ole floppy ears. One of the things I like to do with him is have his ears go outside a die cut.
I kept the embellies down to a minimum because I thought this could be a he-man card.
This week the Cat's Pajamas challenge is to use a stamp with wings. The airplane is paper pieced with dp from the October Afternoon "Boarding Pass" collection.
It's also time for another sketch from Jen del Muro at I Heart to
Stamp.   Seems I've teamed up a TCP stamp with her sketch a few times this year. Well they go together like Diet Pepsi and cheesecake. Hey, don't knock it till you try it.

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - the Cat's Pajama's "Take Off"
ink - Memento Tuxedo Black; Studio G red for sentiment
paper - Recollecyions card base; Bazzill red cs; Stampin' Up "Night of Navy" and "Certainly Celery" cs; Neenah Classic Crest white cs; October Afternoon "Boarding Pass" dp
miscellaneous - copics; mini brads; SU button; TCP linen twine; Nesties oval dies; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
the Cat's Pajamas TCPTUES173 - Wing It! use any TCP stamp with a wing in it
A Sketch for You to Try - September
Do You Stack Up DYSU#35 - Friendly Critters
Raise the Bar #73 - Paper Piecing

For the Girls

2011-08-31T09:54:00.001-04:00

If you like to make girly cards this week's Cooking It Up with Katie is perfect for you. Challenge #73 is to "Make a Pink Blingy Sticker". this week there are two sponsors Meljen's Designs and Pizzazz Aplenty. So how can you pass this challenge up.

For this sample the image is Meljen's "Brooke's Butterflies". If you visit Katie's blog you'll see what the rest of the design team has done with Meljen's images this week. If you'd like to see some of my other cards made with Meljen's images you can find them by using the labels gadget all the way at the bottom of my sidebar.

How easy is this challenge, unless for some reason you don't like pink (impossible) or bling (you gotta be kidding, who doesn't like bling) and adding a sticker is just plain easy. For this card I dug deep into my stickers and found some Doodlebug stickers that were made from double sided adhesive. The ones I used are the butterflies and flower below the pink lace. All I had to do was shake some glitter over them and Voila! Glitzy stickers. The butterfly at the top of the card came with the paper pack. The bling isn't showing too well in the photo, where you see little dots around the swirls in the image that's where the bling is. In real life you can see it very well.

don't forgret the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - Meljen's digi "Brooke's Butterflies"
ink - hp printer
paper - Stampin' Up "Kraft" card base; all other paper S.E.I. "Chocolat"
miscellaneous - copics; brads; pink lace ribbon; Doodlebug stickers; Nesties Lacey Square die; pink Glitzy Glitter and Martha Stewart copper and gold glitter; Taylored Expressions bling

Here's the challenges:
Cooking It Up With Katie #73 - Make a Pink Blingy Sticker
Going Grey - Decorate the Inside of Your Card
Digital Tuesday #126 - Going Buggy
Charisma #34 - Glitter It

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again. In the meantime why not make a card or project for Cooking It Up with Katie's challenge #73 to "Make a Pink Blingy Sticker" that kind of card doesn't stay in your stash for long. All the rules and the linky thingy are here.

It's a Girl Thing

2011-08-28T08:57:00.001-04:00

Girls just want to have fun. Now that's the fun theme at Pile It On this week and we're sponsored by the Paper Shelter. Well, using one of their images is my idea of fun. Most of the time playing with paper is fun for me and then a challenge like this comes along add a great image and I'm in heaven. Now as you know the idea at Pile It On is to use at least one more challenge, and try to add more. This week there were a few "girly" challenges out there so it was more fun trying to combine them. Geez, how hard is it to add bling, and lace and flowers? I think you'll find playing along with us very easy this week.

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - the Paper Shelter "Walking With My Buddy"
ink - hp printer
paper - Georgia Pacific white cs; Recollections grey cs for mats and card base; MFT "Pink Bubblegum" cs; "Authentique" dp
miscellaneous - copics; lace; pearls; SU rhinestone brad; burlap twine; charm; Prima and misc flowers; stickles; nesties "Circle and Lacey Circles" die; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Pile It On #35 - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Totally Gorjuss #95 - As You Like It
Crafty Catz #97 - Metal and Lace
Speedy the Cat's Friends #70 - Use lace
Just Add Ink JAI 82 - Something from Your Stash
Truly Scrumptious #64 - Rocked Up Pink
Sisterhood of Crafters - Flower Power
Stampin' Royalty #86 - Bring on the Bling
The Paper Shelter #28 - Die Cuts and Punches
Charisma #34 - Glitter It
Craft Us Crazy #15 - Anything Goes
Happileigh Scrappin HLSC36 - Girly Girl
Stamps R Us - Anything Goes
Digital Tuesday #125 - Cute and Girly
My Time To Craft #154 - Here Come the Girls
Crafts and Me #49 - Lace
Papertake Weekly - Dies to Die for
City Crafter week 71 - Best of Friends
Whoopsie Daisy - Summer Fun
Picture Perfect #9 - Summertime Fun
Stamp with Fun #125 - Summer
Card Makin' Mamas - PINK

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again. In the meantime why don't you make a card with the "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" theme and enter the Pile It On challenge. We love to see what you create and if you're lucky you could win a prize from the Paper Shelter.

Autumn's on the Way

2011-08-28T08:00:00.053-04:00

CIC125

The minute I saw these cupcakes I knew what I wanted to do. Those gorgeous fall colors sucked me right in. Here in Florida we don't get to see that glorious change in the trees. If you've ever been to Vermont for leaf peeping you've seen the purdiest sight ever. In New Jersey the entire state has gorgeous views but up at the Delaware Water Gap and Camp Hoover I've had my breath taken away. I do miss the colorful display but not the cold and snow that it forebears.

This week the Cupcake Inspirations CIC125 challenge is sponsored by the Stamp Fairy. They generously gave our design team an image to use but I had already started this card when it came along. It's an adorable image so be sure to hop over to the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge blog to see what the rest of the design team has created. They made some great cards with the image.

As I've said the cupcakes reminded me of Autumn. When my daughter was little we used to go pumpkin picking. One of my favorite pictures of her is one where she's sitting on a pumpkin about 20 times bigger than her. Those were the days...

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - Mo Manning "the Big One"
ink - hp printer
paper - Georgia Pacific white cs; Stampin' Up "Only Orange" cs; Bazzill "Beeswax" cs; Basic Grey "Indian Summer" dp
miscellaneous - copics; burlap twine; charm; SU brads; Nesties Scalloped Square die; sewing machine; gold thread

Here's the challenges:
Cupcake Inspirations CIC125 - photo (above) inspiration
Dream Valley #14 - Lemon, Lime and Orange
Top Tip #48 - Masculine Card
Do You Stack Up DYSU #34 - Boy or Man
Crazy 4 Challenges C4C102 - Male Themed

Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again. Now get inspired by those luscious cuppies and make a card for our Cupcake Inspirations challenge.

Non-traditional Christmas

2011-08-26T19:04:00.000-04:00

can you see the stocking charm, click on the photo
to enlarge it

Every now and then you gotta shake things up. How about a purple Christmas card. This week the Color Throwdown challenge is to use Crumb Cake, So Saffron and Perfect Plum. Works for me.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Bugaboo "JJ Ornament Dear Santa"
ink - hp printer
paper - Stampin' Up "Kraft " and "Orchid Opulence" cs; Georgia Pacific white cs
miscellaneous - copics; Polar White Flower Soft; MFT die-namics "Scallop Ribbon Border"; yellow ribbon; burlap twine; charm; Nesties circle dies

Here's the challenges:
the Color Throwdown #156 - Crumb Cake, Perfect Plum and So Saffron
Bah! Humbug! #34 - Here Come the Girls
I Heart Ribbon #8 - yellow ribbon
My Time to Craft #154 - Here Come the Girls
Craft Your Passion #72 - They Said What

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

Say Something Nice

2011-08-26T07:00:00.044-04:00

How cute is this image? Like waaaaay cute. It's from Cuddly Buddly!   That name alone was enough to make me want to check it out and I was thrilled to accept a spot on the design team.
There are two design teams and we alternate weeks, but these images are so dang cute I just may have to post something in between.
Today's my first post. This week the challenge is "Say Something Nice" have a space for journaling or a note. Hmmm, seems I left that off the front of the card but I did put it on the inside.
Didn't Dorothy Parker say "if you don't have anything nice to say, sit next to me". She was something else, certainly ahead of her time. I would have loved to meet her but I digress...

As I was saying Cuddly Buddly has lots of cuteness for you to oooh and aaaah over. There are several artists' providing the images so you'll surely find something you like. You'll probably find so much that you'll be doing "eeny, meeny, miney, mo" to decide what you'll buy. At least that's how I finally decided which image to pick. So pop over and give it a look see. There's a weekly challenge posted on Friday and you don't have to use Cuddly Buddly stamps to play along, so everybody can play along.     Yes, there are some rules, but they aren't weird or unusual. So if you like challenges, play along with us. We'd love to see what you create.

Here's the deets:
Stamp - Cuddly Buddly digi "Singing In the Rain"
ink - hp printer
paper - Stampin' Up cs (might be Concord Grape) for card base; Basic Grey "Skate Shoppe" dp pack
miscellaneous - copics, brads, buttons, navy ribbon, burlap twine; umbrella charm; sewing machine; nesties circle dies

Here's the challenges:
Cuddly Buddly #9- "Say Something Nice" include a journaling spot or space for a note
4 Crafty Chicks - photo inspiration (I was inspired by all the blues in the photo)
DYSU #34 -card for a boy or man
Top Tip #48 - masculine card
Paper Sundaes #83 - Sundae Bar use at least two from green, buttons, banners, or twine (I used green, buttons and twine)
Crazy for Challenges C4C101 - bingo (I used square card, circle die cuts, and 2 dp)
Basic Grey #51- Anything Goes  (BG "Skate Shoppe" dp)

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you'll come back again. Now go get busy playing in the Cuddly Buddly challenge.

Snarky

2011-08-25T22:00:00.000-04:00

This card is for a challenge calling for snarky cards. That word just cracks me up. I had a boss tell me I was snarky. I thought she made the word up, had no idea what it meant but it didn't sound good and she wasn't smiling. But being a snarky character, I didn't care either. Hey, I been called worse.

This is sooooo me, it's scarey. I no longer have an orange convertible but I did have one a few years ago. Now a days it's black one, but orange is funnier. Oh yeah, Stella's a lot skinnier than me, but not much snarkier.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Bugaboo "Stella tidbits - Places to Go"
ink - hp printer; Ranger "Spiced Marmalade"
paper - Cosmo Cricket "Joy Ride" dp; unknown orange cs
miscellaneous - copics; Nesties circle and lacey circle dies and grommet tags; orange brads; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Craft Your Passion #72 - They Said What
Critter Sketch #79 - sketch
Paper Variety #48 - Travel or Transportation theme
Simon Says Stamp and Show Some - Travel

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

More Holiday Cards

2011-08-25T13:57:00.001-04:00

can you see the free style stitching, click on the
photo to enlarge

Yes, I'm saying "holiday" card today and not feeling bad.about. I do have friends that are not Christians and I send them greetings during the Christmas season. But I am lucky because none of those friends would ever take offense if I wished them a Merry Christmas because they have the good sense to know that I am wishing them a good thing. Why do I even bother to say this? Well, sooner or later someone sends me an e-mail that gripes about people saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". I don't see the problem and as amazed that others do. Sometimes I think that some people just forward everything they receive instead of just deleting the stupid stuff. Enough of my ranting and on to the card.

This was made for the My Favorite Things Wednesday sketch challenge. Don't know why but I usually don't go with the wonky angles unless I'm following a sketch.

It's hard to tell that the thread is a gold metallic. I did a lot of stitching around on the dps, it shows up much better IRL.

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - My Favorite Things the a la mode "Candy Cane Kisses"
ink - Memento Tuxedo Black; Studio G red for sentiment
paper - Recollections red card base; MFT white Perfect Panel; Stampin' Up "Soft Suede" cs; Memory Makers "Spiceberry" dp
miscellaneous - copics; Stampin' Up tag punch; red burlap twine; candy cane charm; MFT die-namics bracket border; Amuse red pearls; mini brads; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club MFTWSC34 - sketch
CCEE 1134 - Gold (the thread I used is a gold Metallic)

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

In Threes

2011-08-24T12:57:00.001-04:00

Seems I've heard that good things come in threes and that deaths come in threes. I don't know if either of those things are true but things is threes look good on cards, at least in my humble opinion.

This card was made using this week's Paper Players sketch. This sketch was perfect for using some dragonfly embellishments I've had hanging around for awhile. I refrained from adding a charm, I thought it would be dragonfly overkill.

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - no stamp (who'd a thunk?)
ink - no ink (was there any work involved?)
paper - K & Co "Susan Wright" dp; Stampin' Up
"Orchid Opulence" and "Pale Plum" cs
miscellaneous - Jolee's Boutique dragonflies; Recollections brads; purple lace; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
Paper Players #60 - sketch
Crafts and Me #49 - Lace

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

I Feel the Earth Move...

2011-08-24T12:37:00.001-04:00

under my feet, I feel the sky a tumbling, a tumbling down, I just lose control, down to my very soul... Do you think Carole King had been through an earthquake when she wrote that song? I cannot believe that there was an earthquake in Virgina and it was felt as far north as Ontario and as far south as Atlanta. Geez, my NJ friends are all watching out for hurricane activity here and they get slammed with an earthquake while here on the west coast of FL
we just get some showers.

Today's card is a simple Christmas card. This Rudolph image is so cute I just had to have him. I decided to go with a relatively clean and simple card so that mailing would be simpler. I have the pieces ready to assemble a few more.

Rudolph's nose and the stars have stickles on them and there are tiny red pearls at the tips of the stars. On the inside there's just a die cut star for writing a note.

Here's the deets:
stamp - Bugaboo "Rudolph with Stars"
ink - hp printer
paper - Kraft cs for base; Basic Grey "Mistletoe and Pear" dp; scrap of yellow cs
miscellaneous - copics; MFT die-namics star border; stickles; A-muse red pearls

Here's the challenges:
the Kraft Journal - Make It Monday- Movies, Songs or Books (Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer song and there's a few movies that feature him too)
Crafty Creations #133 - Show Us Your Inner Animal (wouldn't you like to be a flying reindeer?)
Totally Papercrafts #80 - Christmas in August
Charisma #33 - Negative Space

Thanks for stopping, please come back again, I love to read your comments.

If you can spare a few seconds, click on the pink ribbon on the sidebar. It's a good thing.

Feeling Scared

2011-08-23T09:28:00.002-04:00

can you see the heart charm? click on the photo to enlarge

Yesterday was a big day for my "little" girl. She went back to school AND she finally received her driver's permit. I'm so afraid of her driving in particular, it's her driving my car that gets to me. I'm just a little possessive. I guess I'm going to have to work on that, or pray my hubby is less possessive of his.

This is my card for the weekly My Favorite Things sketch challenge, using the Pure Innocence "Making a List". I thought her dress was a perfect spot for paper piecing. When I piece something like this dress, which has another item in front of it, I also piece that section. To me it's easier to do it that way then to try to cut all around those little spaces and in person it gives it a bit more of a dimensional look.

With a dark card stock base it's a good idea to do something with the inside that includes a spot of white for adding your note.

don't forget the inside

Here's the deets:
stamp - My Favorite Things "Making a List"
ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
paper - the Paper Company "Natural Fashion Colors" card base; Bazzill "Tawny Medium" and "Beeswax" cs; My Mind's Eye "Lost and Found - Sunshine" dp
miscellaneous - copics; Hero Arts bling; Crystazzi crystals; Prima Flower; MFT Dienamics "Scallop Ribbon Border" and "Solid Bracket border"; Recollections brads; heart charm; burlap twine; sewing machine

Here's the challenges:
My Favorite Things MFTWSC33 - sketch
Stamps R Us - Anything Goes
Fussy and Fancy - 3 or more of your Favorite Embellishment (there's 14 crystals)

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

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