Crafty Secrets Challenge #32

Here is a card for today's Crafty Secrets Challenge over on the forum of SCS. Lori Lynn Washburn is our hostess today and she has asked us to make something honoring our FRIENDSHIPS and add a little sparkle to it!!

These images are from the Crafty Secrets (Joys of Life) booklet ... aren't they awesome?? The little strip of flowers is by Around the Block and it's called Lace Frame tape. There are four different styles in this set and it is awesome. You want to know the best part of this ... my good friend Tammy (stampertammy) who runs the Stamping section at the Toyrifix store in Smithville, OH ... GAVE IT TO ME!!! Is that cool or what! She came for a little visit yesterday and brought "goodies" ... thanks girlfriend!!


Sorry, back to the card. I didn't add a lot to this card because I really wanted to focus on the FRIENDSHIP part of it! I did however, put together a Darice & Prima flower with a little gold sticker ball center. I added gold stickles to ALL the flower centers for that little touch of "sparkle".


I have made SO MANY new friends within this stamping community!!

FRIENDS ARE A GOOD THING!!

CCEE Challenge

Here is a card I made for this week's challenge over on the CCEE Stampers blog. This week they decided to do a "supply challenge". We were to use PINK designer paper and PEARLS. I just LOVE my Crafty Secrets image booklets and thought this image from the "girlfriends" booklet would be perfect!

After completion, I thought this would be a great card to send to my sister, Linda. She is very INTO fashion ... of course she is a hair dresser so it's fitting!! I think she'll get a charge out of it!! The sentiment on the front says "In a world of ready to wear, you will always be a fashion statement!" That fits my sister to a "T". She definately leads her life to the beat of a different drum ... but that's okay ... that is who she is and I love her for it!!! She's definately her own person!!

Thanks for stopping by ... please come back!!

RAKs for new friends!

A friend of mine over on the Crafty Secrets forum (Pammyjo) was kind enough to set up a thread on SCS - Crafty Secrets forum asking the other ladies to make cards to be sent to my dear husband, Mark. Mark is fighting the same fight that SO MANY others are fighting ... of course I'm speaking of cancer! Fortunately for Mark, his cancer type is Hodgkins Lymphoma and after extended treatment, he should be okay (we pray). He has already undergone 9 chemo treatments and has at least 7 more to go (and possibly more). I have no doubt he will be thrilled with the outpouring of well wishes these ladies will provide.

In the process of doing this, Pammyjo has asked us to please take the time and make a card for a couple guys who are near & dear to her heart. First is her friend, Bill who is fighting cancer and could really use a little "boost". This is the card I have made for Bill. I hear he likes the beach so I thought maybe a lighthouse would be appropriate!! (You know how hard it is to make a "guy" card ... especially when you don't really know the guy!!). Hope he likes it and it makes him smile!!

Another request from Pammyjo was for her nephew, Shawn who is stationed SOMEWHERE in Iraq. Location can not be disclosed. He misses his wife and family and could really use our support to remember that we are thinking and praying for our boys & girls who are fighting this ugly war to keep our freedom here in the USA! This is the card I made for Shawn. Hopefully soon, he and his lovely wife will be able to sit upon a mountain top and just enjoy the wind in their hair and the sun on their faces! God Speed Shawn!!!

Meet my neighbors!

This is the Adkins family (Daddy - Phil, Mommy - Christine, big sister - Olivia and little sister - Emily) and what a great family and neighbors they are!!! While posting some of my new cards, I looked out the window and saw my little neighbor girls (just home from church), outside in their matching dresses watering the flowers and just had to run over and get a few photos. These two little ones ALWAYS bring a smile to my face!

The girls like to stop over and say Hi to my husband Mark because they know he's sick and "needs cheered up" (as Emily would say). After they sing their little song, or do their little dance for Mark ... the next comment is "can we have licorice?" They know that anytime they stop in they get to take either a little bag of mini marshmellows or licorice back home with them. Of course, they have to check with Mommy before they eat any because they may not have had their dinner yet and have to wait until later. Anytime they are out and see me open my garage door ... they come right over to say hello and that ALWAYS makes my day!!! How wonderful it is to have such wonderful people right next door!

While walking back to my house, I spotted this monarch butterfly on the bush at the front of our house. I quickly reopened my camera and took a quick shot. The wind was blowing but I'm happy with how this photo turned out! There seems to have been more butterflies this year and I'm so glad to see that!! We always had a lot of butterflies in my father's flower garden when I was a young girl and it just brings back so many happy thoughts of those "days gone by" when I see them now in MY flower gardens. Dad has been gone nearly 20 years now ... but he passed on his love of gardening to me and for that I am so thankful ... maybe he sent this butterfly to me today just to remind me how beautiful God's creations are! Thanks Dad!!

Featured Stamper & Get Well Wishes

This is my card for today's Featured Stamper Challenge over on SCS. Today we have Nikie honored and her gallery is awesome. Of course she doesn't have 600+ cards in her gallery like some of us do (haha) but she'll get there .... we all do!!

I used Nikie's basic layout but changed up the color scheme and theme. I had in mind to send this card out to a friend's friend who just had breast cancer surgery and could use some cheering up. I hope to make more than just one card and get them sent out to her so she really knows how much she is in our thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery. My friend is Marlene (cards4u) ... we chit chat and have fun over on the Crafty Secrets forum of SCS. If you're interested in sending a card out to Marlene's friend, KAY . . . let me know and I'll get her address to you.

On this card, I used the SU designer paper (sorry can't remember the name of it), the ribbon is also SU ... Close to Cocoa satin ... isn't it luscious!! And the image of course, is by Crafty Secrets (glamour girls), one of my many CS favorites!!! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and feel free to come back ANYTIME!!!

OCC Birthday Challenge

I recently got "brave" and signed on to Ebay. I'm being very, very careful with my bidding!!! I've only bid on a few "small" things ... won some, lost some ... but at least it got me familiar with the way things are done! (A little nervous at first ... I've heard horror stories and didn't want to be the next story told!! )

Anyways, I've really gotten involved in the Vintage Style of cardmaking (always loved this style) and thought I would see what Ebay had to offer in the way of "vintage images" ... Well, let me tell you, the very first item I saw grabbed my attention. It was a CD of vintage children images by CD SHACK MEDIA ... bid was $6.95 ... no shipping ... only 26 minutes left on the bid. I wasn't too sure exactly what all would be on this CD of vintage children but I bid on it anyways just to see what happened. Long story short ... I won the bid and in a couple of days the CD came in the mail.

Would you believe there are over 1000 images on this cd ... some are duplicates but not too many! There are some awesome images and I decided to use one on this card for today's Our Creative Corner blog BIRTHDAY challenge. Isn't she just the sweetest thing!!! I'm sure you'll be seeing more of these images used on my cards ... great for ATCs too!!

The card is based using Pink Passion cardstock. I first stamped the bg using a Hero Arts flourishes stamp and versamark. I then cut out another portion of the Anna Griffin dp that was laying on my craft table from a previous project. The sentiments are from Art Impressions and AMuse ... the bird is Martha Stewart (from Walmart). I love how this turned out ... I hope the recipient of this card does too!!

For Vicky's son, Ken

This card was made for an SCS friend's son whose name is Ken and lives in Butler, PA. My friend, Vicky Gould, has asked us to send cards to her son who just had a TERRIBLE bike accident and has had 4 or 5 surgeries since August 15th. He's pretty depressed about having to stay in the hospital longer than anticipated and needs some cheering up! Here is my card for Ken.

I decided to use a Thomas Kinkade image and colored it by using various Stampin' Up inks and inking nibs. The oval was cut using my Oval Scalloped Nestabilities. The background paper is DCWV and the ribbon is Offray gingham and rafia.

The inside sentiment says: "Worry not. The world can wait. Take your time. Recuperate!"

I'm hoping Ken will get swamped with well wishes!! If you would like to send him a card, let me know and I'll get you the address.

DRS Challenge #2 - Paper Piercing

Through another weekly blog challenge, I have discovered Cathy Indelicato, which in turn led me to the DRS designs challenge as well as the All That Scraps challenge (you'll see my entry for that challenge further down my blog). What a fantastic talent this lady is and I'm thrilled to play along with the challenges. This is only their 2nd challenge, and it was to use "Paper Piercing" ... the 1st was "Inchies" . . . which I haven't done yet.

This image was done a while back to use on another project but I changed my mind and used a different floral design for that one and this poor thing has been laying on my worktable for weeks! Well, this poor little image called out to me today ... "Pick me, Pick me" ... so I did and that was the beginning of my challenge card.

Card Details:

Stamps: Stampin' Up Fabulous Flowers, Great Impressions, Rosebud Rubber Stamps

Paper: Tan cs, SU very vanilla, Paper Pizazz leather design paper

Ink: SU - creamy carmel and close to cocoa

Accessories: Paper piercer & template, Hygloss vintage buttons, Michaels single stitch grosgrain ribbon, gold stickles, pencil eraser

Stamp Simply #50

I made this card for Sharon Johnson's Stamp Simply #50 challenge over on her BLOG. Today was honoring Julie Koerber and to do that, we were to make a card using Julie's favorite color RED and use her STYLE for inspiration.

I didn't realize I don't have much RED designer paper (must do something about that!). I did, however, have this scrap piece of DCWV red polka dot dp in my stash and used my imagination to make it work. It already had the square punched out at the bottom so I new immediately that would be where the sentiment would be placed. From there I scanned through my "flourishes" stamps and found this set of Floral Flourishes by Inkadinkado would work perfectly! My main image and sentiment are by Crafty Secrets, called Bird Notes. I colored in the birds using my Prisma pencils ... punched the corners using Creative Memories corner punch, matted the image on glossy black paper and TaDah ... What do you think??

All That Scraps Challenge #14

I just discovered the challenges going on over on the All That Scraps blog message board. As you can see this is No. 14 ... looks like I have some catching up to do!! This was a great sketch ... one different from any other sketches I've done (and I love sketch challenges) ... which was very refreshing!


This image is actually only a 'portion' of a full card size stamp. Isn't it great when you can use an image in more than one way!! I'm very happy with the outcome of this card. What are your thoughts??? Thanks for stopping by!


Card Recipe
Stamps: Paper Inspirations
Paper: Ivory cs, various Paper Pizazz dp
Ink: Versafine (sepia), Ranger (vintage photo)
Accessories: Me & My Big Ideas scrappy chic cording, Inkadinkado gold thread, Darice antique brass key charm, sponge applicator, Tim Holtz distresser, gold Pilot marker, antique brass brads

Black & White Elegance

This is a card design that popped into my head the other evening while sitting with DH watching a little TV and I instantly ran downstairs to the craftroom and starting putting it together (before I forgot what I was thinking)! You know how that is, right!!! Well, it was nearly 10 pm when I did this (we go to bed at 10 pm), so I got all the pieces together and finished it the next morning. Actually it was a good thing to "sleep on it" because that's when I got the idea to put the pop of color by using the rose stem.

The dp is by The Paper Studio and the top panel was made by using a piece of ivory cs, running it through the Cuttlebug using the Textile embossing folder, then using the Martha Stewart floral border punch. The medallion was made using my Nestabilities oval & scalloped oval diecuts. The center panel is a scrap piece of the designer paper. The sentiment is by My Sentiment Exactly and the rose is by Stamp of Excellence. I colored the roses using my SU watercolor CRAYONS and a spritz of water then cut them out with my handy swivel craft knife. I'm very pleased with the outcome of this card. What are your thoughts???

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by my blog! I hope you enjoyed your visit!!

"Magical" Card

This is a card I made yesterday for the SCS Sketch Challenge and also for my dear sweet husband, Mark. Mark is on a regiment of Chemo Therapy for Lymphoma and this last go round has been a bad one for him. After a routine trip to the hospital for blood work yesterday morning, he was headed back to bed and told me I should go into my craftroom and make him a "magic" card to make this ugly stuff go away and make him feel better ... so, I did just that and this is my results.

Inside the card I promised him that when this journey was over we would go someplace that looked like this and just sit and listen to the sounds of nature and feel the sun on our faces. Mark is a very quiet person and didn't say much when he saw the card but I know he appreciated it and also looks forward to that nature filled, sun shining day! I posted this card on my gallery at SCS for the challenge and got wonderful comments of encouragement, thoughts and prayers back from all those lovely, crafty people! What a great circle of friends (most whom I've never met) I have developed over there! God Bless them all for their kindness!!

Card Details:

Stamps: Stampscapes, SU Wildlife Reserve

Paper: DCWV designer paper, Whisper White, Basic Black, Close to Cocoa

Ink: Garden Green, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Ranger green ep, chalk, make-up applicator sponge, swivel craft knife

Crafty Secrets Challenge #31

I always look forward to Tuesdays!! That is when I get to do the Crafty Secrets challenge over on the forum at SCS. This month Joanne (angelnorth) has really made us think with her quarky clues ... "she's British ya know". SO MUCH FUN!!!

This weeks clue was "Could we be following Susan and Geena?"

From the movie Thelma & Louise, starring Susan Sarandon & Geena Davis ... challenge is "over the edge"! See, I told you it was quarky, LOL!!

I did my first card wrong so, I was sent back to the craftroom to correct my error!! The proper way to do an "over the edge" card is shown on my TEA TIME card! See ... it's actually over the edge!! Duh!!! I guess I was thinking "out of the box" a little more than "over the edge"!

STAMPFEST

WOW ... what a great time I had this past Saturday at what I call an all day "stampfest". Friends Lana Edwards and Kris Turner in Wadsworth, OH put this together and Lana was gracious enough to open her home to us for the day!! (Lana is the lovely lady in the blue shirt and this little "onzie set" was one of her projects!)

Everyone brought "goodies" to munch on (some REALLY good stuff) then we stopped for lunch and had Papa John's Pizza! I met several new friends that I hope to be able to stamp with again ... all are very talented and sweet ladies!!! I do regret not gathering all the ladies together for one really good photo ... there are a few ladies I didn't catch in action shots and for that I am sorry!!!

There were a couple of projects I didn't get time to do (getting slow in my old age I guess) but here is the bulk of what was done. So many great projects ... sorry I can't remember WHO did WHAT exactly so I can give proper credit ... but you know who you are and you did a GREAT job!!! Each person brought a card/project for everyone to do ... some ladies brought 2-3 projects ... WHAT FUN!!!

Any of you SCSers out there will recognize the card using the "Zindorf" style of brayering. Michelle Zindorf was actually supposed to join us for this fun day of stamping ... but due to a schedule blooper, she and her friend were not able to attend! Shucks!! Maybe next time!!! Either way, in her honor, we all gave her "unique technique" a try ... I'm very happy with how mine came out!! (For those of you not familiar with Michelle, it's the blue scenic card with the moon.)

Thanks so much ladies for all the fun, food & fellowship!! Let's do it again real soon ... and you are all invited to MY house this time!!!

Stampin' D'Amour Challenge #48

I've recently become familiar with a wonderful vintage based site called Stamin' D'Amour. The ladies there are so sweet and welcoming and this week I have been tagged by Robin to host the Weekly Message Board Challenge. I've decided to challenge the ladies to use Black & White with one bright accent color, I chose RED.

I recently made a purchase at a LSS and this set of red dress/hat & shoes was a "bonus" gift ... how cool was that! Worked out perfectly for today's challenge. The heart & musical tags were another recent purchase from Archiver's. They come in a little (25) pack from DMD with various sized/vintage printed tags and they were in the "Hot-Spots" $1.99 ... can't beat that!

Feel free to come play along!! The more the merrier!!

Fashionable Friends

I just had to share this one with you today! I made it for the Friday Sketcher's challenge and what a fun sketch it was!! I haven't had a lot of time to play with my new Crafty Secrets (glamour girls) set and this worked out perfectly for this sketch layout!!

What are your thoughts???

This is also my first time using one of those fancy stick pins that I see everywhere! Don't know why it's my first time, but I can guarantee it's not going to be my last!! The background designer paper is by Basic Grey (euphoria) and the border punch used is by Martha Stewart.

Copper Beauty

I have had this copper matte cs sitting around for months and finally decided to put it to use after seeing an idea in one of the magazines a friend gave me to look through.

How gorgeous does this paper come out once it's run through the Cuttlebug using the Textile embossing folder!! I used another piece for matting and added copper Stickles around the pearl on the Petaloo velvet flower to pull it all together. I'm really loving this look ... I'd better be on the lookout for more copper matte paper!! Wouldn't this make a gorgeous holiday card!!

Stampfest Saturday!

I'm so excited . . . I am getting together with a few stamping friends I know (and a few more I haven't met yet) in Wadsworth, Ohio tomorrow for an all day stampfest!! Everyone is bringing a project to share and snacks to eat! I'll be sure to take some pics to share with you next week.

I tossed several ideas back and forth, trying to come up with something that I thought maybe these ladies hadn't already done or tried (NOT an easy task!). So, after tossing around several ideas I came up with the bright idea to make "holiday postcards". There are always those folks that you'd like to drop a note to but never take the time to make that "special card" and get it mailed . . . and with postage going up, I thought a postcard was the answer.

Also I wanted to show the ladies how easy it is to emboss your image and sponge out around it using these really cool sponge pods I found at Pat Catans (look like marshmellows, huh!). I made up a pkg. for each lady with 3-lg. & 5-sm. pods. The large pod works great for the moon . . . perfect size!! I'm using my new Inkadinkado stamps purchased through my friend Tammy at Toyrifix. These are so awesome ... they can choose between Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. If they would rather make a full size A2 card, they can just cut their image down a little and it will fit nicely on a card ... then add whatever embellishments they choose. This should be great fun and I'll be sure to share all my new ideas with you next week!

Blog Awards

I can't believe I have already received blog awards! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I have received the Twinks Bank BBF Gold Card seen here from not just one, but two stamping friends! Tammy and Cindy!! Thanks so much ladies ... I am honored ... now I just have to figure out what to do with them. I do know the rules (see below) but since I've only been blogging for a few weeks, I don't feel I know enough to send it along! However, I will keep it in safekeeping for future use! And, any of you who come to visit my blog ... consider yourself awarded!!

Rules for this award are:

1. ) Only 5 people allowed.

2. ) Four have to be dedicated followers of your blog.

3. ) One has to be someone new or recently new and live in another part of the world.

4. ) You must link back to whoever gave you the award, quite simple really it is a way of saying thank you to those who take time out for wonderful comments to boost your day.

I have also received the Brillante Weblog award from Cindy seen here. How great it is to have friends that appreciate you and make you feel as good as I feel today! Thanks so much to all of you who take the time to stop by and leave a comment ... you'll never know how much it means to me!!!

The rules for the "Brilliante Weblog" award are:
1.) The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2.) Link to the person you received your award from.
3.) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4.) Put links to those blogs on yours.
5.) Leave a message on the blogs of the people you have nominated.

WHAT A GREAT DAY ... I'M ON TOP OF THE WORLD!!

Color Throwdown #7

Here is my card using the colors in today's Color Throwdown challenge. And, I'm using the sketch layout from today's Sketch Challenge over on SCS. The challenge colors for today are Ballet Blue, Apricot Appeal & Bashrul Blue. They lent themselves so well to this Anna Griffin designer paper that it didn't take me long to put this card together.

The sweet little girl is from the Crafty Secrets (sweet kids) set. I'm loving ALL my Crafty Secrets sets ... just need more time to play and be creative.

Isn't that little pearled flower the cutest thing!!! While shopping at my local Joanne's Grand Reopening sale I spotted these in the notions department and just HAD TO HAVE them. I also bought a pack in a vintage purple color.

Thanks so much for stopping by and please come back! Comments (good or bad) are always welcomed!!!