SFF 012811

Thank goodness it's Friday! The last weekend of the month! WOW! We are leaving today for Las Vegas where Nick will be playing in a soccer tournament. We are really excited as we get to fly!! So a seven hour trip turns into a one and a half hour trip! Nice!!

So Friday is the day that we get a new sketch from the Sketch Frenzy Friday team! Today's sketch is from Robbie Rubala. Isn't it fabulous? I just love all the possibilities with this one! As you can tell, I did leave off the bottom strip. I tried and tried to make something work but it just didn't. And that's the great thing about sketches, you have a lot of creative liberties! Make it work for you!

With this card I actually started with the main focal image. Since it is no secret that I am totally in the mood for spring, I knew I wanted a flower image. So I chose one from the Awash With Flowers set. I haven't used this one in quite a while so I pulled it out. I also knew I wanted to watercolor so I pulled out some watercolor paper. I stamped my image on the watercolor paper with black StazOn ink and used Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, and Bashful Blue (for shading) to watercolor with. Then I corner rounded it and glued it to a piece of Basic Black and that got glued to the Whisper White card base. I used a greeting from the hostess set Occasional Quotes and stamped that onto a scrap piece of Whisper White using Basic Black ink. That was then punched out with the large oval punch. Then I took a piece of Basic Black cardstock and die cut a tag from the Lots of Tags sizzlets and the oval is glued to this. The black tag is popped up. Then I punched a flower from Melon Mambo using the itty bitty shapes punch pack and glued it to the corner of the tag and added a pearl. Done!

I really like how bright and cheery this turned out! So now you need to go and visit Jennifer's blog to see what she did with this sketch. Don't forget to tour through and see the great designs! Then go and create your own wonderful work of art and upload it to the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog. I always look forward to seeing what everyone has done with these sketches! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Awash With Flowers, Occasional Quotes; Paper- Whisper White, Basic Black, watercolor paper; Ink- Black StazOn, Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Basic Black, Bashful Blue; Accessories- Lots of Tags sizzlets, itty bitty shapes punch pack, large oval punch, aqua painter, corner rounder, basic pearls, dimensionals

CCMC 135

Good Thursday morning everyone! I hope you are ready for another super great challenge! It's time for the Thursday challenge at Create with Connie and Mary! And I do have to say that this one challenged me!

Today's challenge is their famous cake challenge. Here is the picture of the wonderful, yummy cake. Someone is super creative to come up with these awesome looking cakes! Anyway, let this cake inspire you to make a card, a scrapbook page or a 3-D item. For me, it was the colors that I went with - pink, brown and white (Pink Pirouette, Early Espresso, and Whisper White to be exact). The cake is very "girly", too, so I tried to incorporate all things "girly" into my card.

I started with a card base of textured Whisper White. Then I added a strip of Early Espresso that was punched with scallop trim border punch and then a piece of textured Pink Pirouette. Around this I tied a piece of Whisper White taffeta ribbon. This is then glued to the card. Then I took a piece of scrap Whisper White and punched a 2 1/2" circle out and stamped the greeting in Early Espresso. Then I took another scrap piece of Whisper White and stamped the heart in Pink Pirouette and cut it out. The heart is from the I {Heart} Hearts set. The circle is sponged in Pink Pirouette and popped up on the card. The heart is also popped up and has a pearl added to it. I also added three pearls to the outer edge of the punched circle. And there you have it!

Be sure to check out the Create with Connie and Mary blog where you will find more wonderful inspiring ideas! Then go create your own project and upload it to their site. I always look forward to seeing what others do with these challenges! Have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- I {Heart} Hearts; Grateful Greetings; Paper- Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Early Espresso; Ink- Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette; Accessories- Whisper White taffeta ribbon, scallop trim border punch, 2 1/2" circle punch, basic pearls sponge, dimensionals

FTL 124

Good morning everyone! It's Wednesday and that means we are on the downhill end of the week! I am happy to report that the meds that my husband is taking seem to be working!! He did have a coughing spell last night but that has been it! Nothing this morning! I am so relieved!! He says that he feels like he can breathe easy. Thank goodness! However, his computer has a virus! UGH!!! So we will be taking that in and hopefully it won't cost too much and will be easily fixed.

Today's card was inspired by the Fall-To Layout at Clean&Simple. I always love to play along with their sketches and the samples were so wonderful! I did leave out a layer on my card but I just couldn't figure out what would look right on it so I just left it out altogether! And I think it turned out just fine. Very simple and sweet. Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Three Little Words; Paper- Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze; Ink- Crumb Cake (this was sponged on the flower to take away the whiteness of it), Not Quite Navy, Always Artichoke; Accessories- Fleurettes, antique brads, Lots of Tags sizzlets, large oval punch, sponge, dimensionals

Valentine Greetings

Good morning, Friends! I hope you are all having a great start to the week! My husband finally went to the doctor yesterday and got some meds. Yeah!!! Although he is still coughing, he feels like it isn't as bad as it was before. He even has an inhaler! So it shouldn't take too long before it starts working and he is able to breathe without having a coughing fit. And I am making my son do his inhaler for preventative measures! Don't need him sick, too.

Today's card was inspired by one that I saw in the magazine. As I look at the two of them now, they are nothing alike - lol! But that is where this idea started. It is a super simple card but I really liked the way it turned out. Not much to explain but if you have any questions, please ask! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- I {Heart} Hearts, Grateful Greetings; Paper- Very Vanilla, Pretty In Pink; Ink- Pretty in Pink, Basic Black; Accessories- Pretty in Pink satin ribbon, small heart punch, scallop border punch, basic pearls, dimensionals

FTL 123

Good Monday morning, Friends! Here we are, again! Another week! And this is the last week of January! Boy this month has just flown by! But our weatherman said that we were experiencing about two more minutes of daylight! Yeah!!! And I thought that the sun came up a little earlier this morning! Ahhhh! Spring is coming... But as I sit here typing, I can hear my husband upstairs coughing up a lung. Ugh! I am reminded that we are in the midst of flu season. Bummer! He has been doing this for about a week. And you know how men are... Doctor? Ha! But we leave on Friday for Las Vegas because Nick is playing in a soccer tournament there. And I told him that he needs to get this taken care of. So today he is calling the doctor. Finally! And so far, Nick and I have not gotten sick... (knock on wood). I do hope they can give him something. I am going to try and make chicken noodle soup for him (and for us - yum).

Today's card was inspired by the Clean&Simple blog and their Fall-To Layout 123. It was last week's sketch. I really liked the way this one turned out. And it is super simple! The cupcake punch is so much fun! I did cut the heart out by hand. The punch does have a heart to punch out but it was a little bigger than I wanted so I cut this one out. And I just love those little pearls!! Well, thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Create a Cupcake; Paper- Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Soft Suede; Ink- Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo; Accessories- Very Vanilla narrow taffeta ribbon, scallop circle punch, build a cupcake punch, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, basic pearls, sponge, dimensionals

TSSC 157

Good Sunday morning! It looks to be a wonderful, lovely day here in Western Colorado! And the forecast for the week shows warmer temperatures!! Yeah!!! I can't believe how ready for spring I am! I know winter isn't over yet, but it will be nice not to feel cold all the time. Yesterday's funeral was a wonderful celebration of a life well lived. While we are sad and we miss him right now, we know we will see him again someday and that's what made it such a celebration. I was really lucky to have known him! Today' Nick has two competitive basketball games. His team hasn't won any, yet. And one of the teams we play today is really good. I sure do hope they win at least one game this season. But if not, I know that he is getting a LOT of playing time and has learned TONS! And for that, I am so happy!!

For today's card I used a sketch from Mary Jo. I need to make more of an effort to participate in her sketches. I really do like them but time gets away from me and I miss out. But not this week!! I got it in just in time. I know a few women who will be having babies in the next few months and thought that this was a nice baby card. I knew I wanted to use the stars as my three focal points. The stripes are from the Solid Stripes single stamp. I stamped that stamp on scrap cardstock (So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, Bashful Blue). I used a darker coordinating color to stamp with (Marina Mist, More Mustard, Garden Green). And then I punched out the star. Easy! Anyway, I really liked the way it turned out. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Solid Stripes, A Word for You; Paper- Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Wild Wasabi, So Saffron; Ink- Basic Black, Marina Mist, Garden Green, More Mustard; Accessories- silver brads, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, star punch, dimensionals

For Aunt Peggy

Good morning, Friends! I hope that you are having a super start to a great weekend! We will be leaving shortly to get to Nick's basketball game. This is a rec game and his competitive games are tomorrow. So much fun! So I will be making this a short post.

Today's card is one that evolved from an idea. I had seen on blogs and in a magazine where you take a piece of designer paper and stamp on top with VersaMark and then emboss with clear emboss powder. Then sponge all around it. The emboss powder resists the ink and the image appears! Cool, huh! So I tried it out with my Medallion stamp and the new First Edition designer paper. I sponged Crumb Cake around it. Then I used a flower from the new Fun Flowers die (in Very Vanilla) and sponged around that. The flower is popped up in the center of the medallion and I used a black button with some linen thread to finish it off!

This card is for my husband's Aunt Peggy. Her husband (Pat's uncle) passed away on Wednesday and we are going to his funeral this afternoon. I think she might like it. Anyway, Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Medallion, Thoughts & Prayers; Paper- Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, First Edition designer paper; Ink- VersaMark, Crumb Cake, Basic Black; Accessories- Fun Flowers die, clear emboss powder, linen thread, neutrals buttons, sponge, dimensionals

SFF 012111

Good Friday morning everyone! Are we glad it's Friday? I know I am! But I just can't believe how fast this month is going! I feel like I am caught up with the challenges and I barely turn around and I have to get ready for the next week! So here we are again, with another Sketch Frenzy Friday challenge. The sketch is brought to us this week by Melissa Hedine-Tootle.

Isn't this an awesome sketch? Just like yesterday, this sketch offers so many wonderful possibilities! So clean and simple! Just the way I like it!

So for my card, I started with a Blushing Bride card base. Then I took another piece of Blushing Bride and stamped the Medallion stamp in the corner with Blushing Bride ink. Then I took the "Happy Birthday" greeting from Bring on the Cake stamp set, and stamped it on top in Early Espresso. Then I took a strip of Blushing Bride cardstock and trimmed it with my Tasteful Trim die to get the scallops and layered it on the Blushing Bride panel. Then I layered that onto a piece of Early Espresso and popped it up on the card base. And the final touch was a flower punched from the itty bitty shapes punch pack in Pear Pizzazz and scrunched up. It is stuck onto the card with a glue dot. A basic pearl finishes it all off.

Super easy! Now it is time for me to send you on to Jennifer's blog to see what she has done with this sketch. Once you tour through I do hope that you will find time to join us and make a project using this sketch. Then upload it to the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog so we can all see! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Medallion, Bring on the Cake; Paper- Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz, Early Espresso; Ink- Blushing Bride, Early Espresso; Accessories- Tasteful Trim die, itty bitty shapes punch pack, basic pearl, dimensionals

CCMC 134

Good morning everyone! Are you ready for a super great challenge from the Create with Connie and Mary team? Well, it is Thursday and that is what they are all about! The Thursday challenge! This week they are challenging us with a sketch! And everyone loves sketches, right? I know I do!

So here is their sketch. It is supposed to be a square card. I resize the photo in my blog post and sometimes it gets a little distorted, but it is a square card. This sketch is so versatile and easy and just has so many possibilities that it was hard for me to figure out what I was going to do. But I finally decided that I wanted to play around with the cupcake stamp set and punch. Two super fun items from the Occasions mini catalog!

I started with a card base of Soft Suede (my card measures 5 1/4" x 5 1/4"). Then I took a piece of Pink Pirouette and ran it through the Big Shot with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. Then I trimmed the edges of it with the scallop trim border punch. Then I took a piece of Certainly Celery and stamped the greeting from the Create a Cupcake set. I stamped the cupcake bottom with Soft Suede and the top with Pink Pirouette onto Very Vanilla and punched it out with the build a cupcake punch. For my embellishments, I took a mini library clip and tied a piece of Marina Mist narrow taffeta ribbon to it and clipped it to the Certainly Celery piece and popped it up on the card. The cupcake is popped up as well and I used the itty bitty shapes punch pack to punch a flower from Marina Mist. I scrunched the flower, glue-dotted it to the cupcake and added a basic pearl. And there you have it!

Be sure to visit the Create with Connie and Mary website for more inspiration. Then create your own work of art and post it on their website so that we can all see what you did with this sketch! Like I said, so many possibilities! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Create a Cupcake; Paper- Soft Suede, Pink Pirouette, Certainly Celery, Marina Mist, Very Vanilla; Ink- Soft Suede, Pink Pirouette; Accessories- Marina Mist narrow taffeta ribbon, scallop trim border punch, itty bitty punch pack, basic pearls, build a cupcake punch, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, dimensionals

Bliss Swap

Good morning, Friends! I hope your week is going wonderfully! We are just really busy around here taking Nick to his various practices so it really makes time fly around here when one is so busy! Thankfully, he is managing just fine. We keep asking him if he wants to drop something but he insists that he loves it all! And I believe him when I see how much he puts into every practice. And things will start to back off when we are done with this month. Well, a little maybe (lol).

Today's card is one that made some time ago. It was for two different swaps that I was in and I believe that the second one should be out in the mail today? Or maybe tomorrow. Can't remember but this was the last card in my "bank" to show so here you go! I really like the clean and simple look of it and I think it turned out pretty nice even if it was really easy to do! I did use the Stamp-a-ma-jig to help me place everything right. Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Bliss; Paper- Baja Breeze, Whisper White, So Saffron; Ink- Baja Breeze, Poppy Parade; Accessories- itty bitty shapes punch pack, basic pearls, large oval punch, dimensionals

Triple Heart Valentine

Good morning, Friends! It looks to be a good day around here. Got Nick off to school and hubby is having breakfast with some friends so it is just me, all alone, at home! Me and my cup of coffee! I have some computer work to do and then I hope to do some stamping today. I really need to get serious about making cards and getting my brain to start getting creative again! Do you ever get like that? Well, I am going to try and get out of this "slump" and push myself! I do have some design work that I need to do so that will help, too.

Today's card came from a sketch that I saw in the recent PaperCrafts magazine. I just loved that it was so clean and simple so I decided to give it a try! And I really like the way it came out! It is all pretty self explanatory but if you have questions, please ask! Thanks for stopping by and thank you, all, for your birthday wishes! They really made my day!!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Filled With Love; Paper- Whisper White, Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette; Ink- Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette; Accessories- corner rounder, small heart punch, basic pearls, dimensionals

Shoebox Bliss

Good Monday morning, Friends! I hope that you all had a great weekend. And for some of you, that means no going to work today. I do hope the refrigerator repairman works today. Our refrigerator broke late Friday and we lost all our food. Bummer! So I do hope he is working today and can come out and fix it. I also hope it is nothing serious and can be fixed economically. Well, I had a super wonderful birthday yesterday! I feel so lucky to have such wonderful friends! And my husband and my son really came through for me, too! They got me a sewing machine! Now off to the fabric store - lol!! I am having breakfast with a friend this morning and then it is back home to laundry. I have let that go for too long! We all having nothing to wear!

Today's card is one that we did for my shoebox club that meets every month and for a shoebox swap that I participated in on Saturday. It is just like yesterday's card but different colors and I moved the greeting to the other side of the card so that I could put the flower in this position. Again, super easy! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Bliss; Paper- Rose Red, Pear Pizzazz, Very Vanilla; Ink- Pear Pizzazz, Rose Red; Accessories- Rose Red seam binding ribbon, Tasteful Trim die, large oval punch, basic pearls, dimensionals

Green Bliss

Good morning, Friends! Another weekend is flying by for me! But at least Nick doesn't have school tomorrow so we can sleep in another day!! Yeah!! The boys didn't do too bad at their basketball game yesterday. A lot of them are still learning about the game while a few others, like Nick, have been playing for a while (and Nick is even on a competitive team). But they all get to play and learn. Today Nick has two competitive basketball games so that will be fun, too! Then he has soccer practice. Makes for a long day but he says he loves it all. I get to have a special dinner tonight made by my friend Becky! She is making me (and a few other friends) her famous Chicken and Noodles! Yum!!! I can hardly wait! Today is my birthday and another friend (hey, Emily) has her birthday later this month so we are celebrating today. I am looking forward to it!

Today's card is very similar to one I did for a shoebox swap this weekend. This one is pretty monochromatic while the other one has different colors. I will show that one later. I do like the way this one turned out with the different greens. I never thought that Pear Pizzazz and Always Artichoke would look so good together. But they do! It's a very easy card but if you should have any questions, please e-mail me. Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Bliss; Paper- Always Artichoke, Pear Pizzazz, Very Vanilla; Ink- Always Artichoke; Accessories- Always Artichoke seam binding ribbon, Tasteful Trim die, large oval punch, basic pearls, dimensionals

FTL 122

Good Saturday morning everyone! Are you ready for a great weekend? Ours will be very busy (once again) but it is nice that it is the weekend. We are still able to sleep in and that helps a lot! Nick has a basketball game today. This is his first one with his rec team. So we will see how they do.

Today's card is one I did for the Fall-To Layout at Clean&Simple. This was their sketch from last week but I wanted to give it a try. I just love their sketches! When I saw it I thought that the new Love Impressions designer paper would work great for it. And I think it turned out pretty nice! The card base is Basic Gray. I also used Pink Pirouette and Whisper White. The stamps are from the Valentine Defined set. I did run the Pink Pirouette panel through the Big Shot using the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder. Otherwise, what you see is what you get! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Valentine Defined; Paper- Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Love Impressions designer paper; Ink- Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette; Accessories- scallop edge punch, Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, small heart punch, basic pearls, dimensionals

SFF 011411

Good Friday morning everyone! Another week has flown by! And now we are ready for a great weekend!

Sketch Frenzy Friday has another great sketch for you to try! I hope that you will find some time to play along with us! Today's sketch is hosted by Melinda Couden. It is kind of hard to tell by the picture, but I think there should be a "border" all the way around for the actual card part. I know when I am working in MDS I sometimes forget that my "border" won't show unless I make one.

Anyway, as you can see from my card, I only made three scallops instead of four. I couldn't get four to work for me but three works great so that is what I went with. And I think that it turned out pretty cute! I do love these little cupcakes! I started with a card base of Baja Breeze and glued a piece of Not Quite Navy to that. The actual size of the card is 3 x 6. I stamped the greeting from the Create a Cupcake set along the bottom in Not Quite Navy. Then I punched three Crumb Cake scallops and sponged Crumb Cake ink on the edges. These are mounted onto the card with dimensionals. Then I stamped the cupcake parts three times on a scrap of Very Vanilla - the bottoms are stamped in Not Quite Navy; the tops in Rose Red. And then punched these out with the ever so fabulous cupcake punch! The cupcake parts are mounted onto each scallop with dimensionals. Then I took a scrap of River Rock and punched a flower using the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack. I crinkled it and glue-dotted it onto the third cupcake and added a pearl. And there you have it! Cute!

So now I will send you on to Jennifer's blog to see the fabulous creation she has come up with! Keep going through the tour until you come to the Sketch Frenzy Friday blog. Then create your own card using the sketch that is provided and upload it to the blog. We would love to see what you do with this! Thanks for stopping by and have a super day!

Card Recipe: Stamps- Create a Cupcake; Paper- Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, River Rock; Ink- Not Quite Navy, Rose Red, Crumb Cake, Accessories- scallop circle punch, Build a Cupcake punch, Itty Bitty shapes punch pack, basic pearls, sponge, dimensionals