Babies

Here I sit, in my crafting mess room, dreading the cleaning that needs to be done. I'm hoping a little cleaning will allow me to be better organized with my crafting endeavors for 2017.  Said cleaning also means tidying up my computer, which led to me looking at photos, specifically photos I've taken and saved for blogging.

As I mentioned in this post, several babies were due this year. I'm happy to report that all three babies arrived safely and everyone is adjusting well, except for me - live to far away to be able to scoop any of them up for cuddles and kisses. To celebrate their births, I made each a special card.

The first to arrive was Olive (love her name.) I finished the card made with her in mind, using an image from All Dressed Up (see post link above). I just needed to add her name.. Here is the finished card.

The next to be born was Olive's cousin, Otis (love his name). This time I used an image from Mo's Digital Pencil -  "Hush". Here is his card.

The last card also uses an image from Mo's. This time it is Baby and Bunny. The card was made for Peyton (again, love the name) who arrived in time for Santa instead of after like expected. Here is her card (and Peyton's mom - if you are reading this post, avert your eyes immediately as I know you have not received this yet!) I am entering this in the Southern Girls challenge for Anything Goes.

I hope they enjoy them as much as I had fun creating them. 

Parting thought:  the littlest feet make the biggest footprints in our hearts.

                                                            Unknown

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #323 - Anything Goes

Welcome back! Today is another Tuesday Throwdown challenge and our sponsor is SugarPea Designs. I used their Nativity Scape steel die for my card today and went for a classic Christmas look.

I choose a dark red cardstock for the base, which is 8 by 9 inches, scored at 4 inches. Finished card is 4 by 9 inches and fits a regular business envelope for mailing. The Nativity Scape die was cut from black cardstock and glued to the front. I can't tell you how happy I am with this die. No problem getting a clean cut and didn't have to spend an inordinate amount of  time cleaning little bits of paper from the die. The sentiment is an oldie from The Angel Company, stamped in black pigment ink and heat set with gold embossing powder.

This is a very rich and elegant card and I love the color combination along with the CAS feel achieved with the Nativity Scape die.

A bit over exposed?

Thanks for stopping by and as always, comments are welcomed and treasured.  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Parting thought:  Christmas is joy, religious joy, an inner joy of light and peace.

                                                                        Pope Francis

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #321 - Make a Tag

Tuesday Throwdown challenge time! This week our sponsor is Bugaboo Stamps and your challenge, should you accept it, is to make a tag. I am using Bugaboo's Bear Stocking image for my tag. The shape along with the cute bear were shouting "tag, tag, tag!" Three different tags for today as a little person resides in my house and I'm sure Mom will be using these pretty darn fast, I made them larger than I normal so it would be easier for him to read his name. Silly but true and resizing is certainly one of the best perks to digital stamps.

Tag 1 was colored with Copics, Flocking was used on his hat and Fun Stampers Journey's Journey Sparkle Cuts on the boot trim. This gives a really sparkly look with a bonus of glitter in the mix. Fussy cut (thank you Abbey) and mounted to a piece of Christmas paper from my stash. Added two glittery, green star brads and strung with fine gold cording. Little man loves this one.

Tag 2 was colored with Copics and colored pencils. A little less fussy cutting (thanks again, baby girl), some "candy glitter" on the berries, which is a bit too heavy for my taste if honest. Added some real greenery plus a red gem to the brim after flocking both hat and stocking. Mounted with zot dots to a piece of scrap Christmas paper and green cording to hang. This one is actually very vibrant with the primary colors in person.

Tag 3 is colored with pencils. Some medium fussy cutting (thanks Abbey.) Hat and cuff are white flocking. Berries received a fine dusting of Art Institute transparent crystal glitter (which I love the look.) Hat embellishment is a die cut snowflake of white shrinky-dink plastic, cooled, and then colored with a blue Copic marker on top. Red ribbon to hang.

I hope you enjoyed these as tags aren't something I ever make; another reason to love these challenges!  That said I am pretty sure I printed off three extra so I can keep playing  designing. While I color and glitter away, don't forget to visit Bugaboo; the selection is amazing and the prices can't be beat.  When you are done shopping head over and enter the tag challenge at Tuesday Throwdown!


Parting thought especially for my daughter Abbey who helps me with cutting things out and an occasional idea or two:
                                                "The gift is you!"                                                                                     John Denver

Not meant for this!

I am (not) sick and I don't handle doing nothing very well! Soooo, when you're limited on activity choices, what better place to do nothing than on a computer. At least for a small block of time. In the process of doing nothing, I ran across some photos of cards I made in my attempt to resharpen my "crafting skills." Not sure how great the skills are but I do love to color...

This was for a lady at work. The card stock was a soft yellow and ink was a soft gray - nursery colors for the young lady. I think Grandma was pleased.

The next one up was an attempt at repetitive stamping for focal impact. Pretty sure I have a lot more work to do in this area because I see a lot of areas for improvement. Practice makes almost perfect. 

At one point my favorite little man came up and we know he loves to stamp. I have learned when working with him to give a color range, a solid stamp and a full sheet of card stock (or two). Bound to have at least one or more cards from his stamping endeavors. If I'm honest it's his very imaginative stories he shares while we stamp that I enjoy most. He has a great vocabulary and isn't afraid to use it.

Last up is my attempt at colored pencil on Kraft (as close as I have anyway) card stock. I like the soft look and will be trying this again.

Enough ramblings, time to take a rest.



Parting thought: 
Remember, when you are wishing your friends good health, you are wishing 
unemployment for doctors.

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #320 - Add Gems/Pearls

Middle of November - wow! Grateful we haven't seen the white stuff! A grateful heart is a happy heart and I'm happy to say it's time for another Tuesday Throwdown. Challenge #320 is all about adding gems or pearls. Our sponsor is Sweet n Sassy Stamps, a small family owned Christian company that offers digital and clear stamps, some dies and other supplies. For this challenge I am using their digital stamp Cocoa's Christmas Tree.

I colored the tree with Copic marker and since I don't have a lot of greens (I know some are going to find it hard to believe I don't have green everything), I used my Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol to add shading. Layered #907 pencil, blended and then layered #908 pencil and blended again. Photo at the end gives name and number for reference.

As to Cocoa, this cutie is colored with Copics cool grays and the ears are Copic pinks. Again, photo at the end for colors and names. Once the image was fussy cut, I attached gems galore. The star is glittered even though that doesn't count.

Mounted patterned paper to a white card blank, Created the wall hanging from 2 separate wooden embellishments, joined with Copic colored sting. Mounted the wall hanging and Cocoa to the card and I have to admit, I'm loving this one. I hope you do as well.

Parting thought:  Good listeners, like precious gems, are to be treasured.
                                                            Walter Anderson



Colors used:

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge 318 - Thanksgiving

Welcome to November and another Tuesday Throwdown challenge.  Challenge 318 and this week's sponsor is My Grafico with a theme of Thanksgiving. I am using their Thanksgiving stamp 4, "So Grateful." 

I printed the sentiment on white card stock and cut with a frame die. I sponged Brilliance inks on the sentiment for a warm look. Since the theme is Thanksgiving, I pulled one of my favorite rubber stamps, "Autumn Harvest" from The Angel Company (out of business.) I stamped the cornucopia onto a scrap piece of card stock with Memento Black. Colored with Copics - rather than list them all, there are photos of the ones used at the end of the post. I then bribed my daughter to fussy cut the cornucopia while I looked for an appropriate color card blank to tie it all together. Yes, I admit I never plan my colors before starting.

Here is the end result.

If you are wondering why I picked "So Grateful" rather than a more traditional Thanksgiving stamp it is because I truly am grateful. Every day. Grateful for my family, my friends, that I can wake up every day and find something good in this crazy world, no matter how small.  The beauty of a night sky, a chance remembrance, a moment of silence...there is always something to be grateful about. Sometimes it may not come easily, but it's attainable.

Thanks for stopping by and comments are always appreciated. I hope to see some entries in the Thanksgiving challenge.  Now, as promised here are the photos of the Copics used.

One cut off is YG63

Parting thought:
     I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.      G.K. Chesterton

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #316 - Festive Pumpkins

Aack, halfway through October! Where is the year going? Luckily there's no time to worry about that right now because it's time for a Tuesday Throwdown challenge. Our sponsor is Doodle Pantry and the theme is Festive Pumpkins.

I choose the Pumpkin Peeps set. This set comes with sentiments, background papers and both pre-colored and line drawn images. I fell in love with the pig in the pumpkin, though that panda was pretty darn tempting. For the first time in my stamping experience I opted to use a pre-colored image.

I printed off the little pumpkin piglet, cut with a slight border and mounted to a 5" x 7" black card blank. Since Halloween is coming up, I stamped, then embossed the monster manners stamp (bought eons ago from Inky Antics) in white. Trimmed some word paper to add a bit of border on the left for balance.

 I hope you enjoy the result.

Can't wait to see how everyone gets their pumpkin on so don't forget to enter the challenge!



Parting thought:
                         

• What's the ratio of a pumpkin's circumference to its diameter? 
• Pumpkin Pi  (3.1428571428571428571428571428571)
• 
  

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #314 - Leaves

Hello again! Time for a Tuesday Throwdown - #314 Leaves. This week our sponsor is Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps and More which is owned by Robyn Weinrib and offer a great variety of digital stamps and papers.  I am using the image "Fall Fun" for my card today.

I colored with Copics and admit to have a lot of fun trying different yellow, red and greens for those leaves. I had so many markers out at the end that there is no way I can tell you which colors went where. I can say the skin colors were E50, E51 and E00 with R11 for blush. Pants were W3, W5, W7. Shirt was R35, R37, R56. A little BG10 (Cool Shadow) was added for dimension to the wind swirls and around the girl.

I mounted to a deep orange brown card blank after layering on a piece of mustard cardstock. Stamped the sentiment (Hero Arts F1843) in black ink and stamped 3 more leaves, colored with Copics and punched out. I layered after adding some dimension to the leaves with glue dots. 

Here is my finished product.

As much as raking and jumping into huge piles of leaves was a highlight of fall growing up, I am secretly happy that the majority of leaves are still on my trees for now. Then again, with a certain little man around, I might have to relive my youth again in the next few weeks.

Thanks for stopping by and can't wait to see everyone's entry! Remember to check out Robyn's Fetish Digital Stamps - she has a sale going on for autumn, 30% of all inventory and is good until November 7th.

Parting thought: 

    Of all the seasons, autumn offers the most to man and requires the least of him.

                                            Hal Borland

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #312 - Easel Card

Time for a Tuesday Throwdown challenge, #312. Our sponsor this week is The Stamping Boutique and the challenge is to make an easel card. I must admit this is my first attempt at an easel card as I have always been intimidated because they look so complicated and we know I don't like complicated. Imagine how surprised I was that they aren't complicated at all!

I used The Stamping Boutique's Princess Jennifer Latte Bubble Bath digital stamp. Colored with trusty Copic markers, added a bit of glaze for an enameled tub look and sparkle to random bubbles with glitter.  My original thought was to mount this high on the fold with a bit of vellum. Then I realized that the Copics would show through the back in the right light. So a bit of girly pink paper to the rescue.

To make my card, I cut an 8.5 x 11" white cardstock in half the long way. Scored that at 5" and slid card up a quarter and scored one section at 3". Or as my mind thinks, scored in half, and scored one half in half. After all, who needs to remember those silly fractions. I then repeated my steps with designer vellum. Because vellum doesn't always fold cleanly, I applied more pressure than needed. Lesson learned as one of the scores bumps up a bit when flat. It's not a big deal but it bugs me and next time, I will cut the size of squares desired, rather than one continual piece.

To make the "stopper" or brace for the card to rest, I took some old fuzzy white paper, colored it with Copic marker, stamped the word "relax" (mimic those hotel bath mats with their logos), and punched
with a circle punch. Mounted on a bit of foam tape; pretty good but even I thought it was too simple.So from Monday till Saturday I stewed over what to do. In my quest, I found some old shank buttons. I cut off the shanks and lo 'n behold, we have flip flop slippers and they even coordinate with the tub!

I did a thickness test and I am happy to report this card will mail with out any special packaging or postage. That's a win in my book! Also, there is plenty of room inside the card for a special message.

If I can make an easel card, anyone can so get busy...can't wait to see those entries. If you need some fun stamps to work with, The Stamping Boutique even has some Halloween and fall images 40% off for September. Score!!!



Parting thought:
     Always trying new things is always more fun, and it can be scary, but it's always more fun in the end.

                                                                                           John Krasinski

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #310 - School Spirit

Welcome to Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #310 - School Spirit, sponsored by MyGrafico. Please, visit their store, I promise you won't be disappointed in the wide variety of digital stamps, papers, etc. 

When I hear the phrase school spirit I automatically think of sports. Shame on me! School spirit is really about the love of learning. I am not afraid to say I loved school. Last week I believe the love of school was passed onto my grandson as he starts 4 Pre-K. I know he told every person that he saw  he was on his way to school, even the construction men working at the school. When he was picked up, he proudly declared it was his best day EVER!!  

With that in mind, I used their "books, apple and worm" digital stamp and chose to keep a primary color palette on this card with the use of blue, red, yellow Copics. A dash of green for contrast with the worm. My first sentiment thought was to use Together Everyone Achieves More which could work for academics or sports. However, I kept messing it up in one way or another. Time to rethink my strategy as too close to posting deadline for comfort. Once I stopped stressing over my lack of success, I ended up using a rub on sentiment which  I think also shows school spirit. After all, education allows you to dream big and reach goals. Here is my end result:

Thank you for stopping by, comments always welcome and hope to see you enter the Tuesday Throwdown/MyGrafico "school spirit" challenge. 

Parting thought:
"Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten. Then when you hit puberty they take the crayons away and replace them with dry, uninspiring books on algebra, history, etc. Being suddenly hit years later with the 'creative bug' is just a wee voice telling you, 'I'd like my crayons back, please.'
     Hugh Magnus MacLeod of MacLeod

Tuesday Throwdown #308 - Make It Sparkle

Time for another Tuesday Throwdown Challenge, #308 to be exact. This week our sponsor is Honey Bee Stamps with a theme of Make It Sparkle.  Anyone who knows me, knows I love my sparkle and generally accomplish it with the use of glitter because I love glitter! When I saw the stamps included in the Color My World set, I knew what I wanted to do, no - what I had to do!

I had several projects in mind but due to some family health issues, I am sorry to say I only managed to make one card. I intend to finish the other projects and post them when completed.

I fell in love with this stamp set because there are so many ways to combine the elements between the words, the tools (paintbrush, pen, pencil, paint tube, the swoosh, the splatter) and flowers and leaves in a variety of sizes. Talk about getting a bang for your buck! I also intend to go back and purchase the steel die cut set for these stamps.

My goal was to highlight the words "color" "ful" from the set.I started with a white card blank and black ink. Since the stamps are clear photopolymer, it was easy to pick the individual words I wanted and align them into the phrase using only one clear block to stamp. Next, I stamped the words
color and ful onto canvas paper.

To make it truly colorful, I dripped a few drops of three different Copic refills onto the canvas paper, followed by a few drips of blending solution. This was then attached to the card base. Honestly, I loved the look ,and actually stopped there. Till I remembered our theme; color me embarrassed.

For that sparkle look, I grabbed my trusty Art Institute glue and interference blue, green and rainbow glitters. A quick fill of the letters with glue and glitters and I had that sparkle I love. The nice thing with using the interference glitters is they actually pick up on the colors of the background. Unfortunately, I could not get a decent photo to show the transparency the glitters really have on the words. Your just going to have to trust me as this was the best photo I managed after 25 + attempts.
Note to Santa, I could use a camera for blogging, just saying big guy...

Really, the glitter is transparent!

Thanks for tolerating my somewhat wordy thought process and it's time for you to go get your sparkle on. Can't wait to see your entries!


Parting thought (it's a long one):

Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world. Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak. Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor, and your picture begins to lighten up. ~Allen Klein

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #306 - New Addition

Tuesday Throwdown challenge time! This week's sponsor is All Dressed Up Stamps and the theme is a new addition. Could it be any easier or more fun?

I come from a large family and have many nieces and nephews who are now becoming parents. So this aunt is in need of baby cards and babies are definitely new additions.  I immediately fell in love with "A Star is Born" from All Dressed Up Stamps. The teddy is so cuddly looking and while I colored mine with Copic markers, I could easily see doing it in watercolor, color pencils or paper piecing. I wanted to mine to have a worn and well-loved look.

The image also comes with the sentiment which I placed into the top center for a "movie screen" feel with teddy watching from his dotted blanket. To give a bit of dimension, I gently rounded out his head and body, gluing only on a few spots to attach him to the card. I purposely left a blank area so I can add the baby's name when she arrives in her starring role.

This is the card waiting for the newest addition to our family:

Thanks for stopping by, I always appreciate your comments and can't wait to see your creations for a new addition.


Parting thought:
                            A baby is God's opinion that the world shall go on.
                                                                          Carl Sandburg

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #304 - Happy Birthday!!

Everytime I come to post I fight the urge to start singing "Hello" by Lionel Richie. I know, weird but true. I'm back today with another Tuesday Throwdown challenge for everyone. Our sponsor is Winnie & Walter with a Happy Birthday theme.

I couldn't resist their multifaceted Star cutaway dies. Everyone is a star on their birthday! Truth be told, I can foresee this die being used for many types of celebrations and milestones. While the dies are perfect for a shaker card, I wanted to stay a bit more simple in my approach.

Using DCWV "Fun in the Sun Summer Glitter Mat Stack", I cut the solid star from solid paper and the faceted star from a coordinating patterned paper. Mounted the "negative" patterned paper to a card blank, glued the detailed cutout to solid star and inserted over the negative space with some foam tape to elevate the star from the patterned background. The faceted star lines up exactly to the pattern on the paper,without any effort, creating visual flow.

Here is my card.

I'm happy you stopped by and hope you check out some of Winnie & Walter's great dies, stamps and embellishments. That said, don't forget to enter the Happy Birthday challenge because you're to busy shopping!


Parting thought:

    I am happy to report that my inner child is still ageless.
                                                  James Broughton

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #302 - One Layer

Are you having a hard time believing, like me, that July is almost halfway gone? While I'm not a fan of high temperatures and humidity, I do love seeing summer sunshine. Just makes a person happy. Another thing making me happy is it's time for a Tuesday Throwdown challenge. This Tuesday is sponsored by Kim Sherrod one of Tuesday Throwdown's head honchos and an independant A muse Studio consultant.  Our mission was to create a one layer card.

I am not one for a lot of froufrou. I love cards embellished with ribbons, buttons, gems and such but I struggle in making them. Adding just a ribbon can take me hours. Yes I said it, hours...what color, sheer or patterned, should it be in a bow, a straight line, down the side, etc. You see my dilemma? The clean and simple look of a one layer card is "my style", if I have one. So I was one happy girl with this challenge. 

Then I sat down and watched inspiration walk out my door. 

What! I have never struggled with a one layer card! Till now. Browsed Pinterest, looked through 

magazines, opened and closed my stamp drawers and fingered through my cardstock. Nothing, absolutely nothing. Two days of this and a self imposed deadline (don't normally craft during the week) and I was beginning to sweat. Then Peanut, my 4 year year old grandson, did something he wasn't suppose to do while in my craft room and to save himself from being sternly corrected, he informed me that Noisy did it.  Noisy is one of my cats and I could see her sleeping in the next room, innocent as the day is long. 

Yes, Peanut was  corrected with an added reprimand for falsely blaming someone else for his deed. Yes, he gave me inspiration for my card. Took me less than 5 minutes from beginning to end once I had the idea. 

Here is the resulting card:

Image stamps are from Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers and sentiment is from The Angel Company. 

Sadly, neither is in business any more. Stamped on cardstock and a bit of gray pencil to anchor the images visually. 

I hope you enjoy and join the challenge. One layer, simplicity at it's best!

Parting thought:  A grownup is a child with layers on.  

                                                                     Woody Harrelson

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #300 & Giveaway Part 2

I want to thank everyone for their kind comments on my "The Cutest Wizard" card. You made my first blog hop and giveaway truly fun. For those that became followers, welcome and I hope to keep you interested.  A big thanks to the ladies at Tuesday Throwdown for inviting me to their design team and to The Paper Shelter for providing such a fun image to work with.

Now for what everyone is waiting for, the winner of a $5.00 gift certificate for The Paper Shelter is..
.

AJ from AJ's Creative Energy

Congratulations AJ! Please message me by July 10th to claim your prize.  

Thanks again and on to the next challenge!

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #300 & Giveaway

Guess what...it's time for another challenge at Tuesday Throwdown. Challenge #300 and our theme today is Faries and Fantasy, sponsored by The Paper Shelter. The image I am using is "The Cutest Wizard" and I must say, he is soooo cute as is his amphibian companion.

I colored with Copics and fussy cut the images so I could mount them separately on my card. Found this poem a while back on the internet and thought it appropriate for the little Wizard. I printed the poem on my background paper and mounted all to a white card blank.

I don't know which I enjoyed coloring more, the Wizard or the frog. My intent is to use this for a birthday card. An unexpected surprise for the recipient,is the orb on the wizard's stick and random background dots are actually glow in the dark glitter. Makes a pretty cool looking card even when the lights are out..

I hope you take the challenge and show us your Fairies and Fantasy by entering the challenge at Tuesday Throwdown.

To celebrate Tuesday Throwdown's  300th blog challenge, I will be giving away a $5.00 (five dollar) The Paper Shelter gift certificate to one lucky challenge participant that also  comments on my blog. For a second chance at winning, become one of my followers. The giveaway ends Monday, July 4, 2016 at 11:59 p.m., Pacific time. Please go to Tuesday Throwdown's blog to start the hop.

Happy crafting!



Parting thought:

A rustle in the wind reminds us a fairy is near. ~Author Unknown

MHK Designs Surprise Birthday Beach Blog Hop

Hello, and welcome to our SURPRISE Birthday Beach Blog Hop for the lovely Asha!  You should have arrived here from Andrea's blog.  If not, start at the MHK Designs blog to complete the hop for more chances to WIN!  We are celebrating a very special lady today, and we're doing so by creating beachy birthday cards to wish her many happy returns!

My inspiration for her card came from this photo. Can't you just smell the ocean breeze as it does it's magic on a little shack's paint down the beach?

My card uses a birthday cake from MHK Designs along with a bit of weathered looking papers and twine. Sincerest wishes for a very happy birthday to Asha.

Thank you so much for joining in our hop to say "Happy Birthday" to a dear friend!  Your next stop on the hop is Crafty Girls' blog! 

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #298 - Watercolor

I'm so excited to be doing a second blog post for Tuesday Throwdown. Today our sponsor is Freckled Fawn and the theme for today is watercolor. I used their Pink, Mint and Gold Puffy Star stickers along with their Long Classic Arrow paperclip.

I started with watercolor paper and my Twinkling H2O's paints. The pink is Pink Chiffon, the gold is Solar Gold and the green is Sea Glass. After soaking the paper in water, I applied at generous amount of the pink, a little less of the green and a tiny amount of the gold, applying more water for the colors to run and mix. Once I achieved my desired look, I let the paper dry out again. Trimmed down a panel, stamped the sentiment in Brilliance Lightning Black ink. Attached the gold arrow paperclip and mounted  to a minty green card blank. I then added the 3 puffy stars in gold and outlined all with a black Copic marker.

The golds on the paperclip and the stars are such a wonderful soft tone. I also loved that I could reposition the stickers until I achieved the desired effect. Here is what I created:

The photo is a bit washed out on the minty green but it does highlight the soft gold finish on the stars and paperclip. 

As many know, often I craft with my grandson who is currently attending summer school camp that really is more of fun, loosely structured form of what school will be when he starts this fall. While at camp he has become acquainted with "Pete the Cat" through story time, songs and arts and crafts. He made a "Pete the Cat". If you are unfamiliar with Pete here is a link to the song Pete loves his white shoes. In little man's excitement to show how Pete rocked his shoes he tore poor Pete's back legs off. After the tears dried, little man decided Pete need a band-aid to cover the leg reattachment I did. He spotted a roll of Washi tape from Freckled Fawn and gave Pete his band-aid which says crazy life. Very fitting for Pete and I think little man did a mighty fine job. 

I hope you enjoyed my card as much as I enjoyed working with Freckled Fawn's products. I'm also hoping to see your watercolor creations in the Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #298. 

Happy birthday!

I find myself so behind on birthday cards. Shame on me.That said, I am happy to report one did get finished on time for a co-worker. Her birthday was today and here is the card I made. I think she was tickled by it and I was pleased with myself for not putting a sassy remark on the inside. I must admit that it took a great amount of self control. I consoled myself with the fact that next year she will reach a milestone birthday and can be as sassy as I want for that birthday.

The image is from Mo's Digital Pencil shop and is called Whopee 2. She's colored with Copics and mounted on Bazzil cardstock. Can't remember where the sentiment is from but it definitely works with this image.

Hope you enjoy as much as I did making.

Parting thought: 

     "An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have. 

     The older she gets the more interested he is in her."            Agatha Christie

Tuesday Throwdown Challenge #296 Proud of You

I am so happy to be a new member of the Design Team for Tueday Throwdown and equally as proud to make my debut with the delightful Sami Stamps!

The theme for this challenge is "Proud of You."  When my eyes lit upon  Valentine Feathers, my mind went into overdrive as I think this is an extremely versatile (and cute) stamp. One of the great things with this stamp is the ability to add your phrase to those hearts Valentine Feathers is proudly perched on. I've simply colored with pencils and metallic gel pens to those head feathers. For fun I made it a wobble action card.

Now to decide if I will use it for a nephew who just earned his masters, another  who will soon be a first time father, another that enlisted in the navy and attending naval school, a friend's birthday (as in proud of another year under the belt) or ... the list is a long one because there is much to be proud of in life.

Thank you to Sami Stamps and visit  any of the following for additional stamp selections:

Sami Stamps blog

Sami Stamps Shop

Sami Stamps Etsy shop

Now make me proud and enter the challenge!

Barry's the name

I have a friend, a good friend whose husband is a sweetheart. I fondly call him Barry for he has that sexy, smooth voice (yes it is sexy) much like Barry White. Sometimes I don't think he realizes how much he impacts those around him. Laid back, always willing to help and he scores extra points because he is just the right amount of attentiveness to her crazy, card making friends.

Well Barry had surgery and now sports 2 new knees that will take him anywhere he wants to go. I wanted to make him a get well type of card that hopefully will make him smile even more than he already does.

I started with an image from Doodle Dragon Studios (Dustin Pike) , love his drawing. I'm not sure of the name for the stamp and couldn't find it in my quick search; I always like to give credit to the artist. It's colored with Copics and the sparkling kneecaps are Art Institute Glitter called Diamonds.

In creating the card I once again had the help of a certain 4 year old.  This time we made background papers with Twinkling H2O paints and more than a random amount of table salt. They actually turned out really nice even though the table salt only had a minor effect. Guess that's why they say to use sea salt.

Even if  Barry or his wife see this post, there is still a surprise involved that I won't reveal here.

Without further ado, here is another card made by a grandma and grandson. Enjoy and feel free to wish Barry continued progress with those new knees as I will pass those wishes along.

Close up to show the shimmer.

Parting thought:

"I'm never gonna quit, cause quitting' just ain't my schtick."

      Barry White

MFP Stamps Challenge 20

At MFP they were holding a challenge, #20 to be exact. Click here to go there. Sorry, could not resist that. The challenge was to use half  die cut and they even included a tutorial to help you out.

I decided to do another card for my nephew who graduated from Naval boot camp Thursday night. I had to take liberty with the challenge because not one of my dies worked with my intended focal image of a sailor. So my sentiment is my focal point and the sailor is eye candy. This challenge also agrees with my habit of only revealing half the sentiment. After all, you have to give them a reason to open the card all the way!

Here was my entry for MFP Challenge #20, unfortunately because I had trouble photographing the foiled paper I was to late in entering. Sigh...

Thanks for letting me play along and who knows, I might get another one done because this was fun!

Oops, rest of sentiment is "Congratulations!" in case you wanted to know.

Sunny days

Happy Mother's day to all! What a beautiful day it is here. Hubby made a wonderful meal and lots of hugs from the little man. Free time on my hands today as daughter and little man went off on an adventure for a few hours. Love them both but what a gift! It allowed me to check out the Tuesday Throwdown challenge and create a card. You can find their blog with challenges here. Go ahead and check it out, I'll wait.

Okay, did you go poke around? I certainly hope so. When I saw the challenge for Welcome Spring I knew it would involve flowers. Since the sponsor is My Grafico I poked about and found a cute pastel umbrella clip art.

Printed two of the umbrellas and cut one with a small border and fussy cut the second. Pulled out the trusty foam pad and shaping tool to add curve on the fussy cut image. Glued it to the umbrella with a border, turned it upside and added real ferns from Darcie Co and strawflowers I have in my stash.

Background of clouds and hills is the same stamp, just turned the opposite way from Stamps by Judith as were the scrubby brush stamps. Add a few more strawflowers and sentiment from The Angel Company (still sad they are no more.) Glued the flower filled umbrella and called it done.

Now scoot along and check that challenge out! After all it ends at 3 p.m. Monday. Of course that means there will be a new one on Tuesday...




Parting thought for the day:
                                                  All art is but imitation of nature.      Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Finishing up business

In a previous blog post, found here: Onward I Go, I was working with little man on a Mother's Day card for his mommy. In the process of making her card, we did more than one background and he picked the one he wanted. Today, I am finishing business by showing what I did with the remaining backgrounds. All were made in the same way; chalk,VersaMark ink, embossing powder.
While the results are beautiful in person, I found it very hard to capture the colors with a camera so please forgive my poor photography skills.

Here we go:

I also made another card for my nephew in boot camp. This one was the worst to photograph! I actually have been debating about showing it but what the heck! The lion was stamped and embossed on rust cardstock and then lightened with bleach. The card it is mounted to is actually a craft paper color. I think the new light bulb in my lamp is causing my problem with colors; it's a new energy efficient bulb. I can only say it did not save me any energy with all the different ways I tried to capture the correct colors!

Parting thought for the day:                                                                                                                   Do the best you can, and don't take life too serious.

                                                             Will Rogers

Friendship

True friends are the ones who never leave your heart, even if they leave your life for a while. Even after years apart, you pick up with them right where you left off, and even if they die they're never dead in your heart.     unknown

On Thursday morning a lovely person I called my friend passed away. She fought a courageous battle. I cannot say she lost the battle for I believe she is in heaven, free from illness and pain, reunited with loved ones that went before her. I also believe a little piece of her spirit remains with anyone who knew her. That said, there is still a big hole in my heart for I will always miss her. We were "thick as thieves" growing up and as happens when we age, life often kept us out of touch. When we did connect, it was if no time had passed while we chatted long into the night or more correctly, into sunrise the next day. The hole in my heart comes from the times where life kept us apart and that she will never know how much I cherished her.

There has been a mental debate on whether I should post about this as I really don't know what proper etiquette is. I decided to post because I know so many card makers, me included, struggle with sympathy cards. She left behind family members I also care about, I made some cards for them and have decided to share with you in the hopes they might be a bit of inspiration when you are in need of a sympathy card.

My first card:


My second card:


My third card, using the Northern Lights technique::


My fourth card:



I was blessed with knowing and will forever cherish being her friend...

Onward I Go!

I've been working with little man "Peanut" trying to come up with a Mother's Day card for Mommy. Two things about crafting with Peanut:. one, he talks non-stop about anything and everything Superhero.  Two, he does not like to color or even attempt to hold a pencil for coloring. I believe the reason is due to his inability to decide which hand to use - his natural instinct is to use the left. He fights it and keeps trying to use the right. There has been no pressure here as to which hand he wants to use; the struggle is his and I can't help. Since he doesn't like to color, I decided our project would use chalks and allow him to dirty both hands.

We started with powdered chalk, card stock and cotton balls. We did several color combinations.

End result was this.


Then we followed up by stamping the chalk background with Fun Stampers Journey's Paper Floral stamp using Versamark ink and embossing, some in clear and some in black.

Peanut picked his favorite, along with a ribbon because "girl's like ribbon." He asked I take his picture showing how he picked the ribbon - "this one because it feels good on the eyes."

Such a ham!

His resulting card, while I can see the errors, is more than perfect in his eyes and I doubt it's going to stay a secret till Mother's Day.

Parting thought:
Happy is the son whose faith in his mother remains unchallenged. 
                                                                   Louisa May Alcott