Good Ol' Friday

I'm retired. I was rather blessed to be able to retire quite early. So Fridays for me are just like any other day of the week, but there is still that sense of excitement when a Friday rolls around. That 'ahhhh...' feeling. It's going to be a fun and filled up weekend, which I plan enjoying to the max. Hope your weekends are perfectly wonderful as well.

By the way...Did you hear about Geri Greening from Manitoba Stamper? Oh yeah, she rocked it. She's the woman. She's the bomb. She made it into the Gallery Idol Top 20!!!!! Is that cool, or what?!! Be sure to stop over at her blog and give her a high 5. Way cool.

I'm playing today, over at TAWS Be Inspired challenge. They've got an awesome color palette, and I just had to play. See for yourself:

The treats don't look too bad either! Wouldn't they make the most yummy treats in school colors for a graduation party?!....Hmmmm..I'm throwing one next weekend....anyway....enough of my meandering.

So. I'm not sure what the blue base is, it was just in my jam-packed blue cardstock paper drawer. The red graph piece is from Pebbles, and the scrap of red polka dot is from SU. All stamps are from TAWS Awesome Blossom set (love that!), a random button, and some twine from my scrap box. The inks are SU-red, and Memento-blues. That's about it. Happy dances everyone.

Happy Birthday Ardyth!!!!! Surprise!!!!

Birthday wishes Ardyth. I hope you get to spend your day doing exactly what you want, and having lots of birthday cake, ice cream, treats, brownies, well...you get the idea! You'll have to let us all know what you did for your special day! Enjoy your day and celebrate. May your coming year be filled with joy and laughter, fun and frolic, and stamps and ink! Blessings today and always.

Oh, I made you a card! (Imagine that?!) And here it is....

Do you recognize it? Does it look the teensiest bit familiar? Well, it should. I've CASED one of your cards, and while mine isn't quite like yours, the family resemblance is unmistakable! In real life, the glittery parts are a bit lighter and brighter, but you'll have to wait till October to see it in person. It wasn't easy choosing one of your cards...they are all so fantastic, but this one really caught my eye. Now before you scroll down, let me add that our wonderful, mutual friend, Darnell had this great idea to throw you a surprise party! So at some point, (if you haven't already) you need to head on over there to see who else has birthday wishes for you. For my part, I want to tell you that your cards never cease to amaze me, and I simply adore what you create. I truly mean it from my heart. Happy birthday dear friend.

This is Ardyth's original card. Brilliant, perfectly brilliant. And one that I chose to CASE. You can see why. If you haven't seen her work, please drop by her blog and wander around leisurely, and while you're there, wish her a happy birthday. Woohoo!

Happy Birthday!!!

Glorious Sunday

It is so gorgeous outside today. A bit cool, but the sun is shining and the skies are blue. Church this morning was amazing and uplifting; I'm figuring that's why life feels so good. Heck, life IS good. Each day is a precious gift from God, and I'm thankful for each and every one.  You may or may not know that DH and I have a million (or so it seems) children and grandchildren...it's more like 15 sons/daughters/children in law, with nearly 19 (or is it 20...) grandchildren. I think....Gosh, I'm starting to lose track! Anyway, there are always several birthdays every month (except January which has none!) and May has been no exception. Our grandson Johnny's is on the very last day, and I needed a card for him. A manly card. He's just finished his bachelors degree, and is going on to pharmacy school (the last I heard). Nice kid. (Gosh, I speak parenthetically often! swink).

And while I was at it, I thought; "why not combine two challenges and the birthday card?" So I am. First into CAS-ual Fridays, and then into Retro Sketches. Manly colors at CFC and another sweet sketch from RS.

And here is my combination of the two:

Appropriate for a fella, and since this gs lives in Phoenix, I'm pretending he's relaxing on this boat on Lake Michigan while visiting. The card base is Bazzill, all other papers are scraps, Unity boat stamp, MFT sentiment, Faber-Castell artist pen big brush (thanks Suzanne!), Mark Richards nailhead bling, the Twinery bakers twine, and the folder is cuttlebug. Happy Dances everyone.

GI #3

So, after making two teen girl cards, I thought I try a little boy card. Once the pings hit, the card came together pretty easily. This will be my third and final entry into the Paper Crafts 2013 Gallery Idol.  Most of this card used stickers. There was some paper cutting and the use of only one stamp. I happen to have a red headed grandson, so this might just be a perfect card for him. He's mighty cute!

The striped paper is OA, the orange is Cloud 9. The boy, comet, Saturn and gold star are from OA, and the glitter stickers are from Bo Bunny. PTI stamp and SU ink. I used some sharpies and colored some squeekquins just for fun. And that's it. Happy dances everyone!

RWB

I have to keep this short this morning. Tons to do, and I really want to spend more time in the craft room, so must get at all the other things on my list. I don't often play at CAS-ual Fridays, and am not sure why. Their challenge this week, in honor of Memorial Day is to use Red,White, and Blue.

Before I show you my card, I would like to offer my own thank you to all the Service men and women who have so unselfishly given of their time, talents, and for some, their lives. Being in the military is not just a job as those who have served well know. Just ask them...or their families. And a special thanks to my dad. May God guard and keep all those who guard and keep us safe.

Bazzill white base, and the rest of the papers are scraps. Someday, those two boxes (cardstock & dp) will actually look like I've been seriously using them. The navy ribbon looks black, but trust me, it is navy...overcast again today. The twine is from my kitchen! MFT sentiment, SU ink, and the three dots are rain dots from Cloud 9. Fairly simple and straight forward. Happy dances everyone.

Gallery Idol, second time around

It's a good day to stay at home and make cards. Wind, a bit of rain, and more wind. So that's what I did. It's possible to make three cards for the Open Auditions Round of Gallery Idol, and the card I made today is my second. The pings are banging around in my head...too many of them. It took a while for me to get this one just right due to the "oh! I could use this, or oooh, I need to use that paper, or hey! what about this embelli?" And just when I was finished and putting all my supplies away, I dropped a girl figure onto the card. It was perfect (at least in my mind...). So here's my card:

This was really fun to make -- or maybe it was just the caffeine buzz...Anyway, I like it. Sure hope the folks who choose who goes onto the 1st round do as well. This will go to a granddaughter who turns 13 in September. She's a crafter, so she'll enjoy it almost as much as the fundage that grandma will tuck inside. lol. Bazzill white card base, and the rest of the papers are once again, scraps (gotta love that!). Some foam stickers from American Crafts, a Studio Calico wood veneer chick, and all of the buttons are from Simple Stories Sn@p Studio. Hope all is well with you folks, and today take some time for a happy dance.

CASology 45

I'm enjoying memories from the wonderful weekend. I can still see those sweet little ones smiling and laughing. So darn cute! There are tons of photos on my phone, but I'll only share two tonight. First up is 3 year old Samantha. Just about the sweetest little thing and according to her daddy, needs her attitude tweaked every now and then..Grandma doesn't believe that for one second. She came out with her hair in a little pony tail and told grandma to take her picture cuz she looked so cute. Naturally I did!

After Sam came out, baby Kaylin ran to show grandma her dress. She looked so cute in her green dress and sweater, and had little flower sandals on too. Then she ran back into her bedroom and came out wearing this...I laughed so hard mommy and daddy came to see what was going on.

Pretty darn funny for an 18 month old child.

Now, onto bloggish things...I wanted to play along with CASology this week, having been treated like a queen at Tad and Marsha's, their cue card just seemed perfect.

I was not so much stumped, as what I wanted to make just didn't pan out. But after some adjustments, I did come up with something a little royal. Inside it reads, "For the royal treatment".

For a bit of a change up, I made a square card at 4.25 x 4.25. The base is Bazzill, the font is computer generated, and once again, all other papers are scraps (woohoo)!! The three little blings are from want 2 scrap. And that's all. Super easy. Happy dances everyone!

What a great weekend!!!

So...many of you know I flew to Minneapolis this past weekend. And oh!, it was an awesomely, wonderful, fantastic weekend! I stayed with my son Tad and his amazing wife, Marsha, and of course the three little grandkiddies. They've grown since I've seen them last, but they remain sweet, well-behaved, funny, gorgeous children. Carter, who is 6, writes books and as a going-home present, he gave me one. I almost cried at his sweetness. The girls are littler, but no less sweet. *Sigh* I absolutely have to go back before summer is out. I'll post some pix later on.

For today however, I contented myself to fun memories, a few errands, and spending time in here. In case you didn't know, the Paper Crafts 2013 Gallery Idol is holding their open auditions. If you had asked me last year about making a card for this, I would have wondered if you had lost your marbles. I was intimidated by all the astounding card makers out there. At this point in time, I think my card making has become better and much more defined, and my confidence has also made strides. The theme for the open audition round is birthday cards for kids and teens. I chose the teen theme.

Now, who wouldn't want a cute new purse?! All Bazzill cardstock, random scrap of houndstooth dp, random ribbon, Making Memories glitter number stickers, SU ink, SU embellishment, Avocado Arts Sweet Treat Sweetie stamp, and a scrap of shiny black paper for the purse strap. Happy dances everyone.

24 Hours...

In just about 24 hours, I'll be on a plane to the Twin Cities. There are several reasons why I don't get to see my two boys (and their families) very often, not the least of which is the 6-7 hour drive (each way). Rather than spend a day in the car, I thought I'd fly this time. While the visit won't be long, I plan to jam-pack as much fun and love in as I possibly can. Won't be back till Sunday, so may not post again until next week. In the meantime...

CASology has a new cue card and for a few days, I couldn't come up with anything. I let my brain mull the cue card, and in the deep, dark recesses of that vast emptiness, a small ping pinged. Then somehow, my sole ping channeled Ardyth. Now, if you haven't seen her fantabulously amazing cards, get over to MASKerade now. And you'll see what I what I mean when I say that I channeled her.

Are you ready? All influenced by my friend Ardyth, whose work I so admire.

Can you see a touch of Ardyth here? I hope so. Bazzill white card base, scraps of dp and white, two punches (and the flower one is super old), SU ink and a PTI stamp from Tag Its #3. So everyone out there go forth and happy dance!

P.S. Hi Sandy! I'll miss you and everyone at S&S Saturday.

P.P.S.

Couldn't resist showing you my ballerina, Lily (aka Pookie). Isn't she just the cutest little ballerina you've ever seen? And she likes to craft with Grandma!!

Another thanks...

Thanks to all of you out there who wished my head all better. So far, so good today! I think the cycle is broken, and just in time. I have to finish cleaning the house and pack for the weekend. I'm headed to the Twin Cities to see two of my sons, and half dozen grandchildren. With much to do, I just didn't have time for another day full of migraine. So thanks blog friends, for thinking of me and wishing me well. It worked!

I put a little something together for this weeks Retro Sketches challenge. Laurie gave us this wonderful sketch, so how could I not play?! If I have time later or in the morning, I might use it again.

Wasn't I right? Such a great place to begin. And here's my take:

Bazzill white card base, and all the dp are scraps. MME enamel dots, Studio Calico bicycle, TAWS sentiment from Adorabowl, and SU ink. That's it. Super quick. Happy dances everyone.

Muse 17

Have to do this fast today. It's going on the third day in a row of migraines...bad ones. They are starting at about this time for the last few days and then that's the end of my day. So this will be quick.

Muse has a great inspiration card done by the wonderful Therese Calvird. It's just darling as you can see:

My inspiration were the threes and layers, along with the baby theme:

Everything used, as far as paper goes were scraps (again, yay!) Bazzill white card base, SU stamps Nursery Necessities, MME pin, Kaiser bling, and Jeni Bowlin ink. Happy dances everyone.

"And the answer is....."

Drywall tape. I've got another card that uses a piece of drywall tape, just because I'm really liking the look of it on the kraft and it's going into Just Us Girls #188 this morning. If you go back and look at this post, you'll see the first card I made using it, which was inspired by the Magic Mesh used on this card. So after I finished the card with the Magic Mesh on it, I thought, why not...I know I've got a roll or two of this stuff in the tool room downstairs. And it worked! My sister uses it for scrapbooking, and I'll show you her technique after the JUGs card.

Saturday before I went to have a completely wonderful day early Mother's Day with the kiddos in Madison, I stopped at Archivers. (poor me--not!) I haven't been happy with my white stamp pads, and asked one of the helpers which they recommended. She chose a Stayzon Opaque white. Tried it this morning on this card:

Not sure if I like it better, (the ink, that is) but at least it didn't fade too much. Scraps of red, kraft, and a Bazzill base. The stamp is PTI. 

Here is what my sister does:

Cut a strip of drywall tape

Here, I've used some chipboard letters, but Sue also used letters she's cut out with her Cricut. There are two sides to the tape, with one being a smidge more sticky. That's the side to stick the letters (or what ever you want to be pretty straight) on. And naturally, they should be backwards. Add your adhesive when you are satisfied that everything is straight.

Flip over and press onto your creation. Gently peel off drywall tape. And that's what Sue does. Gotta run, but email me with any questions. Happy dances everyone.

Last post for today, I promise

If you want to see my first two post from today, click here and here.

This card is for my friend Kati. Her birthday is tomorrow, and I'm hoping to see her in church on Sunday to give it to her. I am playing along with the Fusion Card Challenge, and have combined the two challenges. Here are the photos of both equations from Fusion:

Pretty sweet, eh? Love them, and might even try to play again with these, although it wouldn't be until next week. 

This is my fusion:

Random yellow card base, blue scraps, and dp scraps. PS Hot Concoctions coffee cup, MFT sentiment, Studio G ink, random yellow ribbon, and a Kaiser bling. That's it. Happy dances, WHEW!

CAS(E) this Sketch #2

I'll get right to it. If you want to see the the first card, click here. This is the second card for CAS(E) this sketch, and it will be flying with me to the Twin Cities next weekend so I can personally give it to my son. Am very excited. This is their sketch, and trust me, it's gobsmacking awesome!!!!

Yep. Love this sketch. Lots and lots of pings from this.

I love the way this turned out. Sorry if I'm tooting my own horn, but this is one of my all time favs of mine. I used unknown kraft for the base, a smidge of Magic Mesh, a random black scrap, PS Sentiment Sampler, SU ink, and a brad from Simple Stories. Happy dances everyone.

mojo to spare!

I've been on a roll today. After making oatmeal cookies to take up to the grandkidlets, I hit the craft room and have been up to my eyebrows in mojo. Yippee!!! I've made several cards, but will only put one in this post. I will also try to remember to send you onto the two others I will be posting in a bit.

I would like to say thanks to the DT over at Dynamic Duos for choosing my card as an Honorable Mention. It's my first HM there, and I'm thrilled. I have to say that there were so many other beautiful cards, and if you have a chance, do stop over and check them out. Delighted and more!

Now. Have you seen the new sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch? Can I just say Oh. My. Gosh??!!! I've been playing with it all day (well, almost all day). It's killer! I was struck by the wonderful interpretations of the DT, and one that caught my eye, was Donna's. I won't show you here, but do go over and check them all out. Anyway...here's the sketch:

So here's my card:

White Bazzill card base, scrap of navy, scrap of some MME dp and an MME crown, PTI sentiment from Birthday Basics, and some Jenni Bowlin Spice Tin ink. Annnddd....a secret ingredient. Can you guess what it is? Let me know if you can figure it out, and I promise to post the answer probably on Sunday. Happy dances everyone!

They wanted me to win more millions...

I splurged the other day. I went and got some lottery tickets because the jackpot was over 220 million dollars. Not bad. But the powers that be decided that they wanted me to win more, so tomorrow I'll have to splurge again and spend -- are you ready for this??? Another $4!!! I know, I know, but hey, if they want me to be even more of a bajillionaire, who am I to nay say them?! (Insert tongue into cheek here...*swink*)

Truthfully, I am rich beyond measure even without winning the lottery. I have God who, just because I am his own dear child, has blessed me in countless ways. I have family and friends who are counted among my dearest treasures. I have food, a home, and even pin money to spend on crafting supplies. So I'm already rich. Many of us are if we just stop and think about it.

One of my treasures, Alyssa, turns 21 on the 26th. Boy, my son, her father, is getting old!! Not grandma! And I got this little idea for her birthday card when I saw Laurie's card over at Muse. She came up with something bright and fun, and I immediately thought of the 'measuring tape' ribbon I had in my stash. Here's Laurie's card:

And here is my twist on her fun card:

Sorry about the photo. It's a rainy, overcast day here and no matter what lights I used, this is as good as it got. If the sun comes out later, I will try reshooting it, and edit this post. All of the papers are scraps, including the card base, but I know that that is SU. I used SU ink with my Jillibean Soup stamps and fussy cut the arrows and sentiment. The lady is Studio Calico, and I made a little yellow dress for her to pick up the yellow in Laurie's card. Measuring tape ribbon and that's a wrap. Happy dances everyone.

For Jennifer

You may not know Jennifer, but she is one of the dearest friends anyone could wish for. Her birthday is coming up soon and I wanted to make her a special card. If I win the lottery tonight (hahahahahahahaha), there will be so much more than this card and planned-on present! She's a true blessing from God, and my prayer for all of you, is that you have someone just like her in your lives. And just in case you have time in your busy life, Jen, to sit down and look at this...Stop. You'll get this at the appropriate time.

This card will go into three challenges. First, I want to play at CASology, where the cue card is Hexagons.

A quick word to the DT over there...if this is not CAS enough, if this is too fussy, please feel free to take it off the site. Rules are rules, and I don't want this in the challenge if it does not follow your guidelines. I'm good with it.

Next, I'm playing again at Retro Sketches. I've had a blast with this sketch, and have made more cards than I'm posting using this. If you haven't played there, head on over!

Lastly, I adore the colors this week at Dynamic Duos. So Springlike! Since I haven't played there in awhile, I thought I'd use their colors and create from there.

So here's Jen's birthday card:

For this, I used Bazzill white for the card base, Bazzill yellow scraps, and SU scraps of dp. The hexagons are a honeycomb stamp from Market Street Stamps using SU's Baja Breeze ink, an almost forgotten chipboard star, a squeekquin colored on the reverse side with a yellow Sharpie marker, a fabric brad (minus its little leggies) from Crate Paper, a smidge of SU seam binding, PTI sentiment from Birthday Basics and SU black ink. And that's all. Happy dances everyone.

Pop

Now, I'm guessing that you can figure out just what kind of card this is....I've already got one made for my dad--he's 83 and still golfs 18 holes nearly everyday! So I'm kind of thinking that I could bring this up to Grant, Lily, and Drew so they can color all over it and give it to their dad for Father's Day. Christian would get a kick out of that, I'm sure.

I used the sketch from Retro Sketches. Dang! Do they always have awesome sketches to work with or what?! Hmmmm....maybe I'll have to play with this one again tomorrow....After this post, I'm going out to play in the dirt. Anyway....

And here's mine:

Once again, these are all scraps. The base is some kraftyish SU paper. Clear and Stamps By the Glass Too set, SU label punch, the Twinery Twine, and computer generated font. Happy dances everyone.

Beautiful Sunday

You should be here. The sun is giving off that beautiful buttery yellow, the skies are as blue as we colored them as children complete with fluffy clouds and a gentle breeze is breathing all around. The sounds of bird's songs ripple through the air, and the tulips and daffodils are in full bloom. I will be out a little later to do a tad bit of yard work on this glorious Spring afternoon. *Sigh* This is what we wait for all winter long.

I have a card today for the Anything Goes theme over at Paper Smooches Sparks. This has nothing to do with Spring. I'm trying to get a few Christmas cards made for DH to send at the appropriate time, and this is a good one for him. He likes sending out cards to his favorite people, and I'm happy to create some.

These are about the last scraps I have of my favorite double sided Christmas dp. Couldn't tell you who makes it, but I think it might be Bo Bunny. Every single stitch of paper is a scrap, except for the white base, which is Bazzill. I used PS Hot Concoctions set, SU black ink, Studio G red ink, a few random squeekquins, and some Stickles for the whippy cream. If I can disregard the siren's call of the beautiful day, I might be back later with another card. If not, well then I guess I will probably see you tomorrow. Happy dances everyone.

Thanks

I'd like to say thanks to Jen Mitchell for her kind and absolutely wonderful help with my blogging problem. I had wanted to install a few more blog buttons (third party buttons with no copyable code beneath them) on my right side bar, but after numerous tries, I still couldn't get it to work. With Jen's precise and concise directions, everything worked like a charm on the first try! So thank you Jen. In a thank you email to her, I promised to pay the directions forward, so if anybody out there needs them, shoot me an email, and I will get them out to you. The people I've met in Blogland are truly sweet.

Another thank you goes out to Suzanne over at the cardyard. Many of us played along with her Ugly Card fun on April Fools Day, remember?  We uploaded our cards and laughed all day! It was just a hoot. She also, without telling us beforehand, put together a prize package that went to one random winner. Wasn't that sweet?! I was so surprised when my number came up, and even more surprised when the package arrived. Chock a block full of enough goodies to make my head spin. So thank you Suzanne.

Before I started blogging, I was numbered among those who thought it was weird to hear people refer to their "blog friends". They (the people in the blogosphere) weren't real to me, and I didn't understand all the fuss. Then I started blogging, and found it to be a very real place full of wonderful, kind, and special friends. So a big thank you goes out to all of you in blogland for making this a great place to spend time in. Glad I'm getting to know you.

Today I saw Paulina's colors for the super fast, super fun 10 Minute Craft Dash, and a bit later I saw the sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch. I wondered if I could play at both challenges with one card. Yep. Totally possible. Here are the colors and the sketch:

Whenever I play at the 10MCD, I think awhile first. Then I go gather my colors; in papers, in embellishments, in washi, in buttons, in ribbons...you get the idea. At first I tried making a flower intending to use a big bling or brad for its center. That thing hit the recycle bin really fast. Bleccchhhh! Once I concentrated more on the sketch, having gotten my supplies piled high, it was a bit easier. Except for the smaller focal point of the sketch. Then, ping!!!! Could you hear the reverberations? I laid out my supplies in logical order and did a dry run. Bam. Set the timer and did it for real. Took me 8 minutes 13 seconds. Dang, how easy was that?! You should try these together, way fun.

White Bazzill card base, a scrap of coralish, a polka dot scrap, and two pieces of kraft. One for the circle which is stamped with the Avery Elle Bright Days sunburst, and the other is beneath the polka dotted strip.  I punched out the sunburst smaller than it really is, and mounted a layered brad from MME on top of it, added one section of some random lace and adhered it to the panel. A PTI sentiment from Birthday Bash with SU ink, and that's it. Sooo fast. Soooo fun. You try it now. Happy dances everyone.

Less is More

Have to run today. Really quick post. Playing along over at Less Is More today. Great sketch; check it out:

DH needed a birthday card for his brother. This will be flying all the way to Germany.

All but the card base are scraps. Bazzill white for that. Stamp is Imaginisce. Die is MFT. That's it. Happy dances everyone. (yep, that is a bit of yellow behind the vellum...)