SFF 123010

Good Friday morning everyone! The last day of 2010! WOW! We will be ringing in the new year with friends later this evening. We play games till midnight and then do the whole countdown thing with the kids and toast to the new year with some sparkling juice. The kids love it! And we adults do too!


So Friday also means another wonderful sketch from the Sketch Frenzy Friday team! Today's great sketch comes to us from Jennifer Weide. I had so many ideas running through my head that it was hard to pin it down to one. And this one didn't come out exactly as I had planned in my head. But it works. I will definitely be playing with this sketch again!

For my card I started with a Whisper White card base. I made another layer of Whisper White which you would have to do but I was thinking I was going to put ribbon around it until I got done and thought that the ribbon wasn't going to work like I had planned. I tell ya, I could have fiddled and fiddled with this one but I finally said enough! Anyway, I used the stamps from the new set called Valentine Defined. I love this set! Such cute images! So I stamped the string of hearts in Real Red. Then I cut a square of Whisper White and stamped the flamingos in Pink Pirouette and the sentiment in Real Red. That is glued to a Real Red piece of cardstock and popped up. Then I cut a strip of the 'xoxo' paper from the Love Impressions designer paper (also new) and glued that down. Then I added three rhinestones for bling! Really easy! In the end I thought that the ribbon would cover up the xoxo and I really wanted it to show up as much as possible.

Thanks for stopping by! Time to go see what Jennifer did with her wonderful sketch! Don't forget to tour through all the designers! You will end up at the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog where you can post your wonderful creation! I can't wait to see what you create! Have a super day and Happy New Year!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Valentine Defined; Paper- Whisper White, Real Red, Love Impressions designer paper; Ink- Real Red, Pink Pirouette; Accessories- basic rhinestones, dimensionals

CCMC 131

Good morning, Friends! The last Thursday of 2010! WOW!! I can't believe that we are ready to launch 2011! Where does all this time go? Time flies when you are having fun! And I am having so much fun being a part of the Create with Connie and Mary design team! I have been challenged to get out of my box by being a part of this wonderful team! And this week's challenge is to create a project with a snow theme. Well, I thought that since Christmas was over most of us might be sending out 'thank you' cards. So I combined my snow themed card with a 'thank you' card (and I used an older Clean & Simple sketch).

I started with a card base of Crumb Cake. Then I took another piece of Crumb Cake cardstock and sponged it with Crumb Cake and added a piece of Chocolate Chip designer paper from the Neutrals paper pack. Then I took two different sized snowflakes that had been die cut using the Norther Frost decorative strip in Very Vanilla and layered them together using a glimmer brad. Then I added a some Very Vanilla seam binding ribbon. I cut a strip of Very Vanilla and stamped the greeting from the Thank You Kindly set. The snowflake is popped up and so is the Crumb Cake panel. Super simple!

So there you have it! Time for you to check out the Create with Connie and Mary website and get inspired by the rest of the super talented design team! Then get to creating your own wonderful creation to share with us! I can't wait to see what you all do with this great challenge! Have a Happy New Year!!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Thank You Kindly; Paper- Very Vanilla, Crumb Cake, Neutrals designer paper pack; Ink- Chocolate Chip, Crumb Cake; Accessories- Very Vanilla seam binding ribbon, glimmer brad, Northern Frost decorative strip, sponge, dimensionals

Thoughts of You...

Good morning, Friends! I hope that you all had a super great Christmas! We are still in Kansas. We will leave to go back to Colorado tomorrow in the wee hours. Our Christmas was wonderful except for the part of getting a flu bug. My dad got it Christmas eve-eve. I got it Christmas evening. And my husband has it now. Yuck!!! Nick didn't get it "full-ly" but he was kind of down Christmas evening, too. Thankfully it only lasted about 24 hours. I hope it's that way with my husband or we may have to stay an extra day. But other than that it has been a really great Christmas! Now it is the final countdown of the year. WOW!

Today's card is the third project that I did with my stamp club ladies for the month of December. This is another super easy one and I really liked how it turned out! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Filled With Love; Paper- Very Vanilla, Basic Black; Ink- Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler; Accessories- Basic Black narrow taffeta ribbon, scalloped heart of hearts embosslit, spiral punch, large heart punch, basic pearls, dimensionals

SFF 122410

Good Friday morning everyone! It's Friday and time for another great challenge at Sketch Frenzy Friday! This week I get to challenge you all with a sketch. My very first time to make up a sketch! I didn't actually make this one up. This is from a card that I did months ago but I just loved the card, so I decided to make it into my sketch challenge.

So, as you can see, my card is not exactly like my sketch. I changed it up just a bit. But I really like how the card turned out. And it was all really easy! I started with a card base of Always Artichoke. Then I used a panel of Very Vanilla where I stamped my greeting from Grateful Greetings in Early Espresso. Then I wrapped a piece of Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon around this before adhering to the card base. Then I stamped the Christmas tree stamp from Paisley Prints two times on Very Vanilla scrap cardstock - once in Cherry Cobbler and once in Always Artichoke. Then I cut them out and glued the Cherry Cobbler one flat and popped up the Always Artichoke one. As my finishing touch I added three rhinestones. And there you have it!

Time to take the tour of the other great designers for Sketch Frenzy Friday! Your next stop will be Jennifer Weide. If the links don't work for you or you get lost, you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog to find the designers links. Then be sure to take some time to create a card using this sketch an upload it to the blog. We would all love to see what you come up with!

Thanks for stopping by and have a very blessed Christmas!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Grateful Greetings, Paisley Prints; Paper- Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla; Ink- Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso; Accessories- Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon, basic rhinestones, dimensionals

CCMC 130

Good morning, Friends! I hope you are all having a most wonderful week! My family and I are in Kansas with family for Christmas this week. And it is so nice!! But Thursday is Thursday and that means it is time again for another wonderful challenge from the Create with Connie and Mary team!

This week Connie and Mary have challenged us with a sketch. What a fabulous sketch! The sketch is a fairly clean and simple one and I was anxious to try it out. So this is what I came up with! What do you think? I know that Christmas isn't officially over yet, but I wanted to use something other than Christmas. So I pulled out the Filled With Love set. By the way... Stampin' Up! is running a special on this set so be sure to check it out! My color combination came from the new designer paper that will be featured in the upcoming Occasions mini catalog to be unveiled in January. The colors are Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette and Real Red. Love it!! So I started with a card base of Basic Gray. The Whisper White has the heart from the set stamped in a circular way (indicated by the dots on the sketch). My main focal point is a Whisper White piece and I stamped the word 'love' in Basic Gray. I also stamped the greeting 'be my valentine' in Real Red and punched it out with the 1" circle punch and popped it up in the "o" of the word. This is layered onto Basic Gray and then a strip of the new Hugs and Kisses designer paper is layered on top of that. Then I wrapped a piece of Whisper White taffeta ribbon around all of that and it gets layered onto the card. At the last minute I decided to add a little bling with a single rhinestone on one of the hearts. I just loved how this turned out.

All right! Your turn! You can check out the Create with Connie and Mary website for more inspiration and then create your own wonderful creation with this super sketch! Be sure to upload it to the site so we all can take a peek! I can't wait to see what you will do with it! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Filled With Love; Paper- Whisper White, Basic Gray, Hugs & Kisses designer paper; Ink- Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette, Real Red; Accessories- Whisper White taffeta ribbon, basic rhinestones, 1 " circle punch, dimensionals

SFF 121710

Good Friday morning, everyone! We are very excited around here as Christmas break starts when school is out today! Well, Nick is probably more excited than anyone else - lol! But we are excited for him.


Friday is also the day that Sketch Frenzy Friday has a new sketch for us! Angela Walters has challenged us with this fabulous sketch! I just love these clean and simple sketches. You can do so many things with these! And as you can see from my card, I did keep it very simple!

I started with a card base of Whisper White. Then I stamped the heart tree from the Valentine Defined stamp set. This is a new set that will be featured in the upcoming Occasions mini catalog! I used Garden Green and Early Espresso markers to ink it up. Then I stamped the tree image again on scrap paper with Real Red and Early Espresso markers. Then I took my large heart punch and punched out part of the tree. This is sort of like the spotlighting technique. The heart is popped up. Then I stamped the definition image (from the same set) below in Early Espresso. But I could leave all that alone! I had to add some "dazzle"!! So I cut a thin piece of the new glimmer paper (also featured in the new Occasions mini catalog) and glued it to the bottom. Love that paper!!! And that's it! Easy!

All right! Now it is time to send you on to the next wonderful designer, Jennifer Weide, to see what she did with this sketch. Be sure to "tour" through to get inspired. Then create your great project with this sketch and upload it to the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog so we all can take a look, too! I can't wait to see what you do with this sketch! Have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Valentine Defined; Paper- Whisper White, Red glimmer paper; Ink- Early Espresso, Real Red, Garden Green; Accessories- large heart punch, dimensionals

CCMC 129

Good morning, Friends! It's Thursday and that means another great challenge from the Create with Connie and Mary gals! Today's challenge is an inspiration challenge and boy was I ever inspired by this gorgeous cake!! Take a look:


Isn't this just beautiful! Hmmmm... My birthday is coming up. I wonder if someone would make a cake like this for me? LOL!! Well I just love snowflakes and the colors on this cake are so elegant and beautiful that I went with the whole snowflake/elegance theme. Take a look:


I kept it pretty simple. I used the white/silver/blue colors and used two snowflakes from the Northern Frost decorative strip. These are stacked on top of each other (with a dimensional) and then popped up again onto the silver piece. I used some new Baja Breeze seam binding ribbon (from the upcoming Occasions mini catalog) and a silver glimmer brad. The metallic silver panel is popped up as well. Then I embossed 'Happy Anniversary' at the bottom. I don't know that it needed a specific greeting but that is what I did. You could use it for anything, though. Then I thought I should use some silver smooch spritz. Yea, well, I should not have thought that. I don't like it. But what are you going to do when you are all done with the project? So there it is.

Be sure to check out the rest of the design team and their wonderful projects at Create with Connie and Mary. Then get inspired and share with all of us your creations! I can't wait to see what you do with this fabulous cake inspiration! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper- Whisper White, Metallic Silver; Ink- VersaMark; Accessories- Baja Breeze seam binding ribbon, Northern Frost decorative strip, glimmer brad, basic rhinestones, silver emboss powder, silver smooch spritz, dimensionals

Stamp Club Thank You

Good morning everyone! I can't believe that we are half way through the week! Yikes! We will be leaving next Tuesday for Kansas to have Christmas with my family. I can't wait to see everyone again! But that means I need to get really serious about getting everything done before then. I did get my Christmas cards mailed. I am thankful that I can check a few things off my list. We will be doing our family Christmas sometime at the end of this week, before we leave. So you can imagine that Nick is getting very excited! On top of all this he has a basketball tournament this weekend! It can sure be crazy around here!!

Today's card is one that I did with my stamp club ladies on Monday. This is a super simple 'Thank You' card. I figured we could all use some 'Thank You' cards about this time of year. Not too much to say about this one. Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Serene Snowflakes, Thank You Kindly; Paper- Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla; Ink- Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Marina Mist, White; Accessories- extra large oval punch, corner rounder, basic rhinestones, sponge, dimensionals

Stamp Club Gift Card Holder

Good morning, Friends!! I want to apologize for those of you who check here everyday to see if I have posted. As you can tell, I have not been very regular. And I probably won't be for a few more weeks. However, I feel like I am catching up and I hope to be back to stamping (just for "me") very soon. I might even get to do some today. But we will see... Not to bore you all with too many details, but between the Christmas shopping, wrapping, cards, letters, mailings, and all the other fun stuff that comes with the holidays, we had to have a basketball tournament in there! So we were in Denver over the weekend for that. And there is another basketball tournament this weekend but it is here at home so we don't have to travel. Poor Nick has had no time for himself, either. I know that he is really looking forward to the break!

Last night I had a workshop with my club ladies and it was really great to see them all! We had a lot of fun and I thought I would show everyone what we did. Today's project is a gift card holder that I got from the Stamping 411 blog. Click on the link to find out the specific instructions (with pictures) on how to make these really cool gift card holders! So easy and they look great! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper- Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Deck the Halls designer paper; Ink- Early Espresso, Crumb Cake; Accessories- Deck the Halls big designer buttons, linen thread, scallop circle punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, modern label punch, sponge, Two Tags die

SFF 121010

Hello, Friends! Are you glad it's Friday? In some ways I am but boy the weeks sure do seem to fly by! Still so much to get done and my son has a basketball tournament this weekend in Denver. At least the weather looks to be nice for traveling.

But Friday also means another great sketch from Sketch Frenzy Friday! Today's sketch comes to us from Sharon Field. Isn't it great! So many possibilities with this one!

I kept mine pretty simple. I just love the Peaceful Season hostess set from the Holiday mini catalog. And that is what I pulled out for this card. My base is Crumb Cake. Then I went to my Deck the Halls designer paper. LOVE this paper!! I have almost used all mine up! Anyway, I stamped the greeting on the right hand side in Early Espresso. Then I stamped the dove on scrap paper in Early Espresso and cut it out. I punched out a 1 3/4" circle from Very Vanilla and sponged that with Crumb Cake. I punched out a 2 3/8" scallop circle from Cherry Cobbler and layered these two. The designer paper is layered onto a piece of Early Espresso. The scallop piece and the dove are both popped up. Before I glued the greeting piece down I stamped the earth image in VersaMark in the lower right had corner. Done! I really do like the way this one turned out.

All right! It's time for you to "tour" through and see what Jennifer has come up with! If a link is not working you can always go to the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog and there is a list of all the design members. There is also a list on my side bar. But most importantly, don't forget to share your creation! Can't wait to see it!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Peaceful Season; Paper- Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler; Ink- Early espresso, Crumb Cake, VersaMark; Accessories- 1 3/4" circle punch, 2 3/8" scallop circle punch, sponge, dimensionals

CCMC 128

Good morning, Friends! I hope your week is going just wonderfully! Are you all ready for the upcoming Holidays? I think that I am finally getting there. I have been so busy shopping, crafting, and baking that my posts have been sporadic. I just haven't had time to create for the blog so I am really glad that I can be a part of these design teams. Helps to keep me on my toes!!



So today is Thursday and that means another fabulous challenge at Create with Connie and Mary! And this week we have a color challenge. Just look at this beautiful swatch! Just in case you can't read the colors they are Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Night of Navy, and River Rock. Hmmm... Not colors that I would normally put together but that's what makes this such a great challenge! And everyone does it differently and that's what I love about seeing everyone's creation!

Instead of trying to use all these colors in paper, I decided to watercolor with them. And then stick to just two of the colors as my main color choices. And those two colors were River Rock and Night of Navy. Doing it this way makes it a little easier to put them together. I started with a card base of River Rock and cut another piece of River Rock a little smaller and ran that through the Big Shot with the Northern Flurry embossing folder. Then I used the image from the Greeting Card Kids set and watercolored with River Rock (for shadowing), Night of Navy, Rich Razzleberry, and Old Olive. I also used some Blush Blossom to make her face a little rosy. This is attached to a Night of Navy piece. Around this I wrapped a piece of wide striped ribbon in Night of Navy and tied the ends together with some linen thread. This piece is popped up on the River Rock card. Done!

O.k.! It's your turn! You can see what the rest of the design team created by going to the Create with Connie and Mary site. Then show us what you can do with these colors! Can't wait to see it! Have a super day!!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Greeting Card Kids; Paper- watercolor paper, River Rock, Night of Navy; Ink- VersaMark, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Night of Navy, River Rock, Blush Blossom; Accessories- Night of Navy striped ribbon, line thread, Northern Flurry embossing folder, aqua painter, black emboss powder, dimensionals

Cupcake Holder

Good morning everyone! I hope your weekend is off to a great start! We are just planning on having a truly restful weekend. Nick needs to settle down and rest and make sure that he is completely over his little 'bout' with being sick. Thankfully, Pat nor I have had any hint of it. I did get half of my Christmas cards done last night and I was really happy for that! I haven't sent out cards in three years! Yikes!! I will be surprising my friends and family!! Now to get my crafty gifts done for next week and I will be feeling really good! Still need to get some baking done and of course, the big shopping! We don't dare attempt the mall on the weekends. Too scary!! Pat said we would go the first part of next week so we should wrap it up then. I hope so...











So today's project is one that I got to make when my friend, Kim was in town. It is a little cupcake holder!! I just love this! This is something I would have never made on my own, but Kim (being the clever gal that she is) tweaked ones that she had seen on the Internet and came up with this little cutie! This was my first time sewing and gathering the ribbon like this to make the little medallion thing on top. She let us make two of them and by the second one I got it pretty good! It's really not as hard as you might think.

Kim used the Perfect Settings die for the outside of the cupcake holder. The Rich Razzleberry wide striped ribbon is gathered then hot glued to the 2 1/2" circle punched piece of Rich Razzleberry. Then I gathered the Rich Razzleberry wide grosgrain ribbon and stuck the 5/8" Very Vanilla brad through the middle of that before hot gluing it to the middle of the already stuck down wide striped ribbon. Be careful, as the brad will get very warm!! Then Kim used the Word Window punch to punch out the little "hinge" out of Rich Razzleberry cardstock. Kim also said that the foil cupcake holders work a little better than the regular paper ones. The foil ones seem to hold themselves in the holder better. Cute, huh!! Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out Kim's blog for more great ideas!

SFF 120310

Good Friday morning!!! This week went way too fast! I didn't get done near what I wanted!! Aaaack!! Time to calm down and let you see what we are up to at Sketch Frenzy Friday! Our sketch is brought to us by Tina Taves. And what a fantastic sketch it is! I love how clean and simple she made it, and that is how I wanted by card to appear.

I just love the look of white on white. And this works perfectly with snowflakes! I die cut my snowflake with the Northern Frost decorative strip die (actually, I had already done this for another project, so all I had to do was pick a snowflake). Then I used a dimensionals to pop it up. I added a rhinestone and stamped the greeting from Come to Bethlehem in black at the bottom. All of this is put on a panel of white with rounded corners. This panel is popped up as well and mounted onto the card. My card bse is white textured cardstock. Super, super, simple! And I just love how it turned out!

So, it is now time for you to click on over to Jennifer's blog and see her wonderful creation! Remember to click through the tour to be inspired by the team. By clicking through the tour you will eventually end up at the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog. And when you do, be sure to add your own wonderful creation! I can't wait to see it!! Have a super day!

CCMC 127

Good morning everyone! It's Thursday and that means another great challenge from Create with Connie and Mary! Today they are challenging us with a sketch. What a great way to start off the month of December! And this sketch is really great!!



As you know, I don't usually do square cards. But being a part of a design team has stretched me to go beyond my "norm". And I have to say that I am really starting to like these square cards! I do hope that you all will give it a try, too! So, the hardest part of this card, for me, was the circle. I don't have a die for this big of a circle (I think that I made mine about 5 inches). I probably could have gone a little smaller but I really liked showing off the designer paper. Then the next thing I had to figure out was the scallops. I ended up punching a bunch of 3/4" circles out of Early Espresso and gluing them on the back of my circle. I did it all the way around and then cut off the overhang after I adhered my circle to the card. The rest of the card was super easy! I stamped the ornament from Tags til Christmas and punched it out with the ornament punch, glued the strips of Always Artichoke and stamped the greeting from Grateful Greetings in Early Espresso right on the designer paper. I drew a line from the top of the circle to my ornament (can't have an ornament "floating" in mid-air). I doubled up the linen thread and made a bow for my ornament and the ornament is popped up on the card. The ornament also has five little pearls for added bling! And there you have it!

So, be sure to see what the rest of the design team has come up with for this sketch. And then create your own fantastic project. Be sure to upload it to the Create with Connie and Mary website so that we all can be inspired, too! I can't wait to see what you do! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Tags til Christmas, Grateful Greetings; Paper- Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke, Early Espresso; Ink- Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler; Accessories- circle scissors plus, 3/4" circle punch, ornament punch, linen thread, basic pearls, dimensionals

Color Block Embossing

Good morning, Friends! I was not planning on being this long in posting! But time sure does get away from me these days... We got back on Sunday from visiting family in Kansas. Had a super great time!! I can't wait to go back at Christmas! The day we were to leave to come home, Nick got ill during the night. So he was sick most of the way home. He did sleep most of the time and I think that helped. He seemed to be all good and went to school on Monday. But I didn't get anytime to stamp because I had to do all those things that one does right after a vacation - grocery shopping, laundry, etc. And then Nick had a haircut and a soccer game, etc. So, I am think that yesterday I would have some time to sit and create. Yea, well that didn't happen either. As Nick was getting ready for school, he doesn't feel well and has a little episode. UGH! I had a haircut and wanted to do some Christmas shopping. Thankfully, my husband was home to help out a little. As the day went on he seemed to get better and eat a little. We sent him to school today hoping that he will just make it through! So, today. Today is the day that I will get some stamping done!! I do have laundry to do but I am stamping for sure!! I am becoming a little overwhelmed at all the things I need to do in the next couple of weeks. Yikes! One day at a time...

So, today's card was inspired by the recent issue of magazine (can't remember the name right now). The card is on the cover and I am sure that most of you have seen it. It looked really easy and it was! But I wanted something super easy to make so I could get something posted. Anyway, thank you all so much for staying so faithful! You all are the best! Have a great day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Bells & Boughs; Paper- Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke; Ink- VersaMark, Early Espresso; Accessories- white emboss powder, basic rhinestones, dimensionals

SFF 112610

Good morning, Friends! It's finally Friday! Many of you probably braved the stores early this morning to find those one-of-a-kind deals. Not me. I have done it before but saving money is not worth me going insane (lol)! But I am enjoying my time with my family! And I hope that you all have had a great Thanksgiving! time to work off all that great food! Well, maybe later - lol!

So today at Sketch Frenzy Friday we have a new sketch. This week's sketch is brought to us by Tammy Baldwin. Great sketch with so many possibilities! I chose to leave some layers off but that is the great thing about sketches! I hope that you will find time join us at Sketch Frenzy Friday and post your creation! I would love to see it! Click here to find out how Jennifer used this sketch! Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Bells & Boughs; Paper- Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Shimmer white, Deck the Halls designer paper; Ink- Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Basic Black; Accessories- Victoria crochet trim, antique brads, aqua painter, dimensionals

CCMC 126

Good Thursday morning everyone and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Even though it is Thanksgiving, the Create with Connie and Mary challenge continues! This week's challenge is to make a small Thanksgiving favor. Hmmm... This one was a little tough for me. We don't usually do Thanksgiving favors so I had to think about this.

I pulled out my Candy Wrapper die and made this cute little favor box up! Instead of making the ends into the candy wrapper I glued down one end of it into a box (I think I had to make some cuts to make this work), then pinched the top together to make a sort of milk carton. Cute! Lots of fun things can fit in here. I used a piece of Crumb cake cardstock and die cut the Little Leaves sizzlet. But I used the negative part of it (the part that you would normally throw away) as a stencil. I used More Mustard, Old Olive, and Cajun Craze and sponged the color onto the Crumb Cake piece using my stencil. Note: I did the sponging before I ran it through the Big Shot. Then I just embellished it a little and there you have it!

So eat your big turkey dinners and enjoy your family time (I know I am) and then when you are ready, check out the other designers' ideas for more inspiration. Then create your own (or maybe you already have) and post it to the Create with Connie and Mary website! I would love to see what you all come up with!

Recipe: Stamps- Grateful Greetings; Paper- More Mustard, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso; Ink- Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Old Olive; Accessories- Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon, Candy Wrapper die, Little Leaves sizzlet, 1 3/4 x 7/8" oval punch, scallop oval punch, itty bitty punch pack, basic pearls, sponge, dimensionals

SASC 75

Good morning everyone! Are you all ready for another great week? We are very excited around here because tomorrow morning we are leaving for Kansas to spend Thanksgiving with my family! We can't wait! Especially Nick. So that means I have a lot of laundry and packing to do! I do hope that I will have some time to stamp as I have run out of cards to show on my blog. So if you don't see any action around here that will be why. :) Of course, Thursday will be the regular Create with Connie and Mary challenge and Friday will be the Sketch Frenzy Friday challenge. So keep checking back! Hmmmm... Maybe I will show you the projects that Kim brought for us to make! I know you will love them!

So this card was done for the Stampin' Addicts sketch challenge. I actually did this card quite a while ago and I also made it for a swap I was in recently. Nice and simple! Well, I had better go and start my day! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Occasional Quotes; Paper- Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Whisper White, Neutrals designer paper; Ink- Not Quite Navy; Accessories- Whisper White taffeta ribbon, silver brads, Northern Frost decorative strip, circle scissors plus, dimensionals

SASC 76

Good Sunday morning everyone! I hope that you are all having a super weekend so far! I had such a wonderful time last night stamping with my friends! It was so great to see Kim and hear all about life in Oregon. We sure do miss her around here! She brought several projects for us to make and a few for us to look at. She has her team meeting today and they will get to make a few as well. Anyway, her projects were just the CUTEST!!! These are projects that I have seen around on the Internet and such but I have never made them. So, to make them and have them in my hands is very special! I had to chuckle, though. Kim brought so much stamping stuff I asked if she was sure she brought enough clothes!!! LOL!! Her husband is coming later in the week and will be bringing more. And she is able to do a little laundry as well. Thank you, Kim, for such a wonderful night of stamping! I truly loved all the projects!!

Today's card is one that I made for the sketch challenge at Stampin' Addicts. A super simple card! Again, it is Valentine-y. But, like I said yesterday, I wanted to try to do some projects with it before it goes out. Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Filled With Love; Paper- Pink Pirouette, Real Red, Whisper White, Neutrals designer paper; Ink- Real Red, Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette; Accessories- Real Red satin ribbon, dimensionals

Valentine Love

Good morning everyone! I hope that you all are having a fantastic start to your weekend! Last night was filled with a wonderful birthday dinner! Nick wanted my friend, Becky, to make him her famous chicken and noodles for his birthday. So awhile ago he had called her to ask if she would do that for him. She said yes and it is just so yummy!!! But the real thing that Nick just loves from her is her graham cracker ice cream! So he had an awesome birthday dinner (and us, too). Thanks, Becky!! Then we picked up his friend on our way home to spend the night. And now they are up and ready to take on the day. It's not very sunny around here but I hope they will be able to play a little outside. I am looking forward to tonight when I will get to see my wonderful friend who moved to Oregon! I can't wait, Kim!!!

So today's card is one that I made for the sketch challenge on Stampin' Connection. If you are not a demonstrator you can't have access to this way cool website. But it is a super great time to become a demonstrator because the start kit is on sale for $87.50!! You are getting over $300 worth of crafting and business supplies! And the My Digital Studio can be included in on that!! But you will have to hurry as this super great deal only lasts til the end of this month! Can you tell that I am really excited about that? Anyway, the card... I know. It's not even Thanksgiving and I am making Valentine's cards? Well, this set is in the Holiday mini catalog and it will be expiring the first part of January. And I haven't played with it that much and I didn't want people to forget about it. It is a great set! So I got it out yesterday and made a few cards with it. So you will be seeing some Valentine's cards in the next few days. Thanks for stopping by and leaving comments and looking around. You all are the best! Have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Filled With Love; paper- Pink Pirouette, Real Red, Whisper White, Neutrals designer paper; Ink- Real Red, Pink Pirouette, Basic Gray; Accessories- heart punch, basic rhinestones, dimensionals

Sketch Frenzy Friday 111910

Good morning, Friends! It's finally Friday!!! And Friday means another great sketch challenge at Sketch Frenzy Friday! This week's sketch comes from Melinda. Isn't it great! This one has so many possibilities and is just my style of clean and simple! So I kept my card just that way, too.

I started with a base of Crumb Cake. My three panels are from the beautiful designer paper called Deck the Halls. Then I just decided to keep the main focal point very simple by just stamping a greeting. The greetings from the hostess level two set in the Holiday mini catalog- Peaceful Season, are just so beautiful! They can really stand alone! And that's what I decided to do here. I layered it onto Early Espresso that is punched with the scallop trim border punch and added the ever beautiful Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon. That panel is popped up. Simple!

So now it is time for you to head on over to Jennifer's blog to see what she has designed using this sketch. I think it is so fun to see how everyone interprets the sketch. It can really help spark that creative side. Remember that the starting point of the tour is the Sketch Friday Frenzy blog and that you will be taking a tour to see each designer's project. After clicking through the tour make your project and post to the Frenzy blog so we can see it, too! Have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Peaceful Season; Paper- Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Deck the Halls designer paper; Ink- Early Espresso; Accessories- Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon, scallop trim border punch, dimensionals

CCMC 125

Good morning everyone! Today is Thursday and that means another fantastic challenge at Create with Connie and Mary! This week they are challenging us with an awesome sketch! I just love sketch challenges! And you can see that this sketch has so many possibilities! Well, I just had to break out my cute little snow dude once again! I thought he (or she) would just be perfect for the little tag part of the sketch. So here is what I came up with...

Another super simple card! I did not use the tag punches because they just were not quite long enough for what I needed. So I had to trim my corners to make the tag. But it really isn't that hard to do (and if you still have the tag corner punch, it makes it even easier ;). The slight hint of a scallop comes from the dotted scallop ribbon border punch. I just love this punch because you can decide how much of it you want to show! For me, I just wanted a "hint". And then I added a little snowflake embellishment using the Northern Frost decorative strip. Love that!! I have so many varieties of snowflakes! As the saying goes, "no two snowflakes are exactly alike" and that is proven on this decorative strip! And my snowflake is not complete without a little "bling"!

It is time for you to get creative and see what you can do with this sketch! But don't forget to check out the rest of the design team for even more wonderful inspiration! You will find their fantastic projects at Create with Connie and Mary! I can't wait to see what you all come up with!

Card Recipe: Stamps- A Cute Christmas; Paper- Blushing Bride, Real Red, Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Candy Cane Christmas designer paper; Ink- Basic Black, Real Red, Blushing Bride, Baja Breeze; Accessories- Real Red satin ribbon, dotted scallop ribbon border punch, Northern Frost decorative strip, basic rhinestones, dimensionals

TSSC 148

Good morning, Friends! What a lovely day it is going to be! There is no snow today - lol! I hope that your week is going great so far. My husband and I were talking last night about how fast this month is flying by! I need to make sure that I enjoy each and every day. Nick's birthday is on Friday and he will be 11. And that seems so unbelievable! Last night I started remembering when he was little. Does that happen to other moms, too? Most of the time I only do this around his birthday. They grow up so fast!

Today's card comes from a sketch at Techno Stamper (aka Mary Jo). She comes up with new sketches each Monday and most times I am too late in playing along. But not this week! I am getting in!! You will have to check out her card. She flipped the sketch and used the Come to Bethlehem set and made the most beautiful card! Mine turned out to be pretty easy and you could definitely use this one to mass produce for Christmas cards. Anyway, thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Delightful Decorations, Four the Holidays; Paper- Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso; Ink- Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke; Accessories- ornament punch, linen thread, basic rhinestones, dimensionals

SASC 71

Good morning, Friends! I hope that your week is off to a great start! We survived our first snowfall yesterday. And like I said, it did all melt away by lunchtime. However, the forecast for the start of next week is for more snow and that is not good. Next Tuesday morning we are leaving very early to go to my parents to spend Thanksgiving break. And that means driving over the mountains. So I do hope that the roads will be clear for us. But that is still a week away and lots can happen before then. My husband and I went shopping yesterday and bought birthday presents. So now Nick is even more excitable than ever! Thankfully, he had an indoor soccer game last night and that helped to work out some of that energy. They did win! It was a close one and a very good game!

Today's card is one that I made quite awhile ago. It comes from the sketch challenge at Stampin' Addicts. And actually, she got the idea from the catalog page 141. This one is pretty simple! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- A Cute Christmas; Paper- Blushing Bride, Garden Green, Real Red, Whisper White; Ink- Basic Black, Real Red, Blushing Bride, Baja Breeze; Accessories- Snowflake #2 die, Tasteful Trim die, 1 3/4" circle punch, 2 3/8" scallop circle punch, Baja Breeze big designer button, linen thread, dimensionals

Mitten Ornament

Good Monday morning, Friends! Are you ready for another great week? I woke up this morning and found an inch of snow on our deck!!! Yikes! I didn't know it was supposed to do that. I mean, the weather forecasted that it would snow but no big deal, wouldn't stick around, blah, blah, blah. Yea, well, it stuck around AND it is STILL snowing!!! Actually, it is very beautiful and the flakes are huge!! My cats are outside chasing the snowflakes as they come down. It is hilarious to watch!! I am sure that the snow will be melted in a few hours so I shouldn't complain so much. Don't get me wrong, I do like the snow. It is beautiful. And it's a great day for me to stay indoors and stamp!!!

Today's project is my Christmas ornament that I made for the ornament exchange with my downline on Saturday. Yep! I made this!! Those who know me well (like my mom), will say "really?". I will say YEP!! I used a sewing machine!! LOL!! I thought today was a great day to post this as we will all need mittens to go outdoors! I found a pattern for a mitten and cut it out of our wonderful Candy Cane Christmas fabric. I sewed the mitten part leaving the top open to stuff cotton balls into. Then I took the top part of the mitten and sewed that onto the mitten. I did place my Whisper White taffeta ribbon in before sewing. Then I used Crystal Effects and glued the silver tinsel and the Garden Green leaves on. I sewed on the Real Red big designer button. I also sewed the two mittens together just like you see in the picture. I have to say that I am really proud and happy with how it turned out! My friend, Celisa, was the recipient of this ornament and I hope she enjoys it as much as I did making them! The gift bag was made a while ago for another post that you can check out here. I thought it went perfectly with the ornament. And you could really use the snowflake for another ornament!

Anyway, thank you all so much for your super wonderful comments. They really make my day! And thanks for taking a look at all my projects! Enjoy your day!

CCMC-HM 7

Good Sunday morning everyone! Are you all having a fantastic weekend? I believe that I am!! And today we will relax and watch football! Yes, I confess to be a Bronco fan but I just don't feel like they are playing up to their potential right now. But I have a great time watching anyway. The demonstrator meeting went great yesterday! I had a TON of fun and I think that everyone else did too! All the ornaments were unique and very beautiful!! This is one of my favorite times of the year!!

Today's card is for the challenge at Create with Connie and Mary's Holiday Edition. This time we were to use the colors from the Candy Cane Christmas designer paper. You don't have to use the designer paper itself but just the colors. And those colors are Blushing Bride, Real Red, Baja Breeze, and Garden Green. And of course, Whisper White is in there, too. Then I went over to the Clean&Simple blog and found the sketch. So this is a super simple card! Love it!! Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your Sunday!!

Card Recipe: Stamps- A Cute Christmas, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper- Real Red, Whisper White, Candy Cane Christmas designer paper; Ink- Basic Black, Real Red, Blushing Bride, Garden Green, Baja Breeze; Accessories- Whisper White taffeta ribbon, silver tinsel, Top Note die, Baja Breeze big designer button, dimensionals

Magazine Scraps

Good morning everyone! Ahhhh! It's the weekend! I got to sleep in a little and later today I am meeting with my downline of demonstrators! We always have so much fun and today will be no exception. We will have a little bit of a "formal" meeting and discuss some business topics but then we will be doing an ornament exchange! I always love this! I didn't take a picture of my ornament before I wrapped it up but I will try to remember to do that before it gets taken home today. It is so much fun to see all the other ideas that everyone else has come up with! And we are also doing a cookie exchange!! And boy do I love cookies!! We made up two dozen cookies and recipes to swap with everyone! So when we go home we will have an assortment of cookies and recipes to go with them! And the recipes we made into 6x6 scrapbook pages! I just think this is going to be so much fun!

Today's card is one that I sort of copied from a magazine. Of course I used different paper and stamps, but the layout is pretty much the same. I think this type of card is perfect for using up those scraps that we always seem to have all over the place. It is a pretty simple card! Well, thanks for stopping by and I hope that you enjoy your day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Teeny Tiny Wishes, Delightful Decorations; Paper- Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Deck the Halls designer paper; Ink- Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso; Accessories- ornament punch, linen thread, Tasteful Trim die, basic rhinestones, dimensionals

Frenzy Friday Sketch 111210

Good morning everyone! It's finally Friday!! I am so excited to be a member of the Sketch Frenzy Friday team!! The team posts new sketches every Friday and there will be wonderful new samples to look at each week! This week's sketch comes from Ros Davidson. The way it works is like a blog tour. You can start at the Sketch Frenzy blog or right here. Either way you will eventually end up back where you started from. So make sure to make the round for inspiration and then create your own project from the sketch. Then make sure to post it to the Sketch Frenzy blog so that we can be inspired as well! I can't wait to see what you all come up with!

As you can see from my card, I flipped the sketch. I wanted the landscape look for my card. This sketch has so many possibilities! I can just picture other ideas and will probably give them a try as well in the near future!! I had seen this idea of sponging the different colors and masking a circle and just had to give it a try myself. I think that this card would be great for any guy! And you could change the greeting for any occasion! The card is really pretty simple to put together and I like how it looks both summer like and fall like.

So now it is time to go see what Jennifer Weide has worked up for you all! Remember to make the complete tour to get inspired and then make your own creation to upload to the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog! I can't wait to see what you all create! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Autumn Days, Sincere Salutations; Paper- More Mustard, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla; Ink- Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Early Espresso; Accessories- gold brads, sponge, dimensionals

CCMC 124

Good morning everyone! It's Thursday and that means another super great challenge at Create with Connie and Mary!! I am in love with today's challenge! It is a color challenge. And while those can scare me at times, today's is right up my alley!! The colors for today's challenge are Crumb Cake, Basic Black and Very Vanilla! I love all these colors together! Yes, they are all very neutral but they sure do pack a punch!

The card layout itself is one that I have done before but I wanted to keep it all very simple and basic. Crumb Cake is my base card and I embossed it with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder. Then I scalloped the bottom edge of my Basic Black piece and added a layer of designer paper from the Newsprint pack. I used Basic Black satin ribbon to tie a bow. Then I punched out a Very Vanilla piece using the decorative label punch. I stamped images from the Artistic Etchings set in Crumb Cake (stamped off once) and Basic Black. The tag is held onto the ribbon using a safety pin and button brad from the vintage trinkets. I sponged the tag, newsprint piece and the card. And there you have it!

So go to the Create with Connie and Mary site to see what the rest of the wonderful design team has come up with to inspire you. Then get to work and create your own wonderful masterpiece!! And be sure to upload it to the Create with Connie and Mary site so we can all see! Have a super day!!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Artistic Etchings; Paper- Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Newsprint designer paper; Ink- Basic Black, Crumb Cake; Accessories- Basic Black satin ribbon, Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder, scallop edge punch, decorative label punch, vintage trinkets, sponge, dimensionals

Cajun Paisley

Good morning, Friends! It looks to be a super lovely day today! It is supposed to rain/snow later in the day but so far it looks super! It also looks really cold outside as everything is frosted!! Lucky for Nick, his dad leaves about the same time he has to be at the bus stop so dad can drive him down :) I am glad that I can stay inside and have another cup of coffee and sit by the heater!!

Today's card is one that I did for the sketch challenge at Stampin' Connection. I think this was last week's sketch. It is simple and clean and I really like the way it turned out. And it uses my favorite fall colors! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Paisley Prints, Grateful Greetings; Paper- Cajun Craze, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, More Mustard; Ink- Early Espresso, Cajun Craze; Accessories- Old Olive satin ribbon, 2 1/2" circle punch, square lattice embossing folder, itty bitty punch pack, basic pearls, dimensionals

Card Patterns 89

Good morning everyone! It has suddenly turned cold here! You can even see the snow on the nearby mountains and they are forecasting snow for the valley as well. Ugh! I am not sure I am ready for the snow. I like snow but our winter seemed to last forever last spring. Oh well, I guess this, too, shall pass. Nick played in his first indoor soccer game last night. The boys were so hyped up it was kind of funny! Yes, they lost (7-3) but once they got the hang of it all they fought like crazy! So, for the other team, it was good (for them) that they scored their goals in the first part of the game because these boys were not going to let them score in the second part (and they didn't). It was really fun! Nick was bummed that there wasn't another game to play - lol! So we will be doing it again on Wednesday.

Today's card was inspired by a sketch from Card Patterns. I wanted to do a fall card and this is what I came up with. I used the Paisley Prints for this one and stamped it in different fall like colors. I love the colors from the Autumn Spice designer paper. I still don't have that paper but I use the colors from it all the time. So pretty! A simple card! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Paisley Prints, Grateful Greetings; paper- More Mustard, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla; Ink- Old Olive, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Early Espresso; Accessories- 1 3/4" circle punch, itty bitty punch pack, basic pearls, dimensionals

FTL 115

Good morning, Friends! It is the start of another week! I hope that it looks good for you! Nick played in his basketball tournament yesterday and had a ton of fun! They did lose their three games right in a row but it was fun. And for Nick (at least), it was his first time in playing in a tournament like this. They play half court and so he had some learning to do but he picked up on it pretty quickly. The first game they lost was to 6th graders who were quite a bit taller than they were. There were a ton of teams there and it was just a lot of fun! I hope he gets to do more! So tonight starts his indoor soccer season. It doesn't go for very long, though. They will have games on Monday's and Wednesday's through the first week of December. The great thing is, they don't have any practices. It is just come and show up for the game. And it goes really fast! Nick loves it!

Today's card was inspired by the Fall-To Layout at Clean & Simple. I have to say that I really like how this one turned out! And it was so easy! I also have to laugh because I seem to be looking way ahead to the next holiday - lol!! But I couldn't wait to post it. The color combination that I used is a color combination of new designer paper that is coming out in the new Occasions mini catalog! I just love it! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Filled With Love; Paper- Whisper White, Real Red; Ink- Pink Pirouette, Real Red, Basic Gray; Accessories- Scalloped Heart of Hearts embosslit, heart punch, dimensionals

CCMC-HM6

Good morning, Friends! I am pre-posting this because I am not sure that I will have enough time to post in the morning. We have to be at Mesa State College by 7:30 which means we have to leave by 7:00 and that means being up and moving to get ready by 6:00. Yikes! Nick is sooooo not a morning person so I hope this all goes well. He is playing in a 3v3 basketball tournament today. I am really excited about it!! And Nick is too! So we will see how they do! But that is why this is being pre-posted. I will let you all know how it goes tomorrow!

Today's card is one that I made up for the Create with Connie and Mary Holiday Edition challenge. This week was a sketch challenge and I just couldn't resist! And every time that I enter one of their challenges, I increase my chance to win free product or a free subscription to their next special edition that will highlight the wonderful new product in the upcoming Occasions mini!! It's not too late to sign up! Check out their website for more information. The card itself is pretty easy but cutting out the holly is not for the faint of heart! It took a LOT of patience!! I am in love with this vintage look! Too fun! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Bells & Boughs; Paper- Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Shimmery white, Very Vanilla, Deck the Halls designer paper; Ink- Basic Black, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler; Accessories- Victoria crochet trim, antique brad, aqua painter, 2 1/2" circle punch, scallop border punch, basic rhinestones, sponge, dimensionals