Three Cards to Share

It's been over a week since I last posted. Just haven't had the time to get my craft on until today. But I won't bore you with mindless chatter, instead, I'll get right to the cards and challenges. The first card I have is for my sweet little Lily. She turns SIX next week, and since I'm going over to spend the night tomorrow, I'm bringing her card and gift with me. Lily is quite funny. She's as much said she's "queen of crafting." Her parents have set up a craft desk in her bedroom; a place she can retreat to without interference from her brothers. Thought she might get a kick out of this card, which will be going into The Colour Me...! Challenge, where, this week it's Anything Goes, with our choice of up to five colors. I chose cream, melonish pink, and green.

Any my card:

I cut the dress with my Cameo, and the fold is at the top. I had some old dp, left over from my scrapbook stash, so used that for the pinafore and accent on the bodice. A couple of green pearls for buttons, and a smidgen of leftover ribbon, et voila! Done. I'm guessing Lily will love the "girly" aspect of this card. It's so pretty and happy in real life.

Next challenge is The Card Concept. We're challenged to use texture, and let the DT know to which style our card belongs. I'm going with Clean and Layered for this challenge. Lots of texture in my card.

It looks like this:

Although you can't see it in the photograph, the cream cardstock is wonderfully textured. I used some glitter felt from Michaels, and there is glossy accents on all the hearts. The two sequins are really red, but look rather brown in this photograph. That's an MFT die. And the hearts and sentiment are from Lawn Fawn. SU red markers, and Colorbox brown ink. 

And if you've stayed with me this long, perhaps you won't mind looking at just one more card. This one will go into the Color Throwdown Challenge, as well as this week's Muse. 

Here's mine:

My favorite part of this card is the beige-y stamping on the pink vellum. Love the way that looks. for this card, I used my brand spankin' new TE instant photo frame die, and the MFT chevron die; for both dies, I used Gina K. kraft paper. Neenah white base, which was also used for the flowers, stamped and cut with W Plus 9 Fresh Cut Florals. Some Papertrey Ink and a bit of Versamark too. A couple of the flowers are popped up to give this a bit more dimension. And while I'm at it, I think I'll link this to the new Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday, where we're to use something new. Since my TE polaroid frame is new, I'm thinking that this will qualify nicely! And with that, I will stop now. Happy dances everyone!

Goin' girly

Today the sky is that perfect shade of blue, and the sun is shining making the new snow sparkle with glittery brilliance. It's deceptive, however. Sitting here at my computer, I can turn my head, look through the family room and out the patio doors to see the thermometer where temps are registering at zero. A bit crispy out there, but certainly lovely to look at from a warm place. With that in mind, I'm wishing you all a "Goldielocks" day. You know...."not too hot, not too cold, juuusst right!"

So I went all girly-girl for this card. Couldn't help it. I've been pretty much a tomboy since day one, but every now and then, I like to get my *girl* on. Over at Less is More (a really fun place to play, btw...), the theme is "New Baby," and since a friend of mine is expecting a baby girl this spring, I thought I'd pull out my most sweet Newton's Nook stamps and go to town. Nothing too froo-froo, but still definitely girly. Be sure you stop by LIM and see what wonderful New Baby cards the DT has created.

And this is my take:

The two dies are from Mama Elephant. I. Love. Them. As usual, the base is Neenah White (btw, did you know that there is a small city about 45 minutes south of Green Bay, Wisconsin, called Neenah, and that it's been a huge part of paper manufacturing for more than a century? Just a little FYI...). (Yeah, you really didn't need to know that, but I do like my trivia.) All the rest of my papers are from my scrap boxes. The previously mention NN stamp set, Winged Wishes. Mama Elephant Smoke ink (big love!), and Copic marker for the clothespins and bird beaks. The birds and onsies are stamped onto dp, fussy cut and layered onto the clothesline. I also stamped the onsies on a scrap of white, cut portions out and attached them to the dp onsies, after which I used my Wink of Stella. And that's all it took. Happy dances everyone.

Back Home

I know it's Wednesday. But I had a really, really long weekend full of work and travel, and more work. It took me until today for my body to catch up on its rest. Saturday was at our church's monthly Scrap and Stamp event, which is open to the public and runs from noon till 7pm. My sister Sue, niece Jackie, and friend Terry all came, along with several other ladies. Super nice to visit with everyone. Usually I pick out a project or two, play and chat all day. This time, I brought only the food for snacks and dinner, and cleaning supplies. My Sunday school room is at the back of our Fellowship Hall, it's closed off, and runs the width of the hall. After a full semester of classes back there, and several parties, the time had come for some serious cleaning. Just couldn't stand the thought of those little girls wearing their pretty dresses and sitting in those chairs anymore. Sure was happy at the end of the day. Nice and clean with time to visit with everyone. When I got home, it was time to pack up the last of my gear. Early Sunday morning, I left for my sister's house and then the two of us continued on to my dad's place "up north". After unloading and chatting with dad for about a half an hour, Sue and I got to work. Dad's living room and kitchen needed a good painting, as did the ceiling! Since he lives in a senior complex, it's not that big. Between my dad "supervising", sister Lisa cleaning the bathroom spotlessly and fixing lunch for us all, my ex bil helping out, somehow we managed to get it all done. Next month, it's painting his bathroom. It was nice to be with my family like that. Like whirlwinds we flew and so did the stories and laughter! We left on Monday and I got home just as the snow was starting to make driving interesting. Beside a few things around the house and a trip to the grocery store yesterday, all I did was veg out. I did look at all of your blogs, and saw the wonderful creations you made, but the old brain was too tired to make coherent comments.

Today, I am back on track for the most part. Saw the new CASology cue card, 'contrast', and got 9/10ths of a ping. Most of this card was QAEZPZ, except for the finishing touch. Nothing was working. Took several searches and then it finally came together. This one fits the CAS-ual Fridays 'color blocks' theme too.

Sure wish it was a bright sunny day here so you could see that this is a pure bright white. Sorry about the photo quality. A Neenah white base, more scraps of black, white and pink. I used my W Plus 9 circle dies (love them), then split the circles. Flipped the circles and added the little pink strips underneath and found an old sticker in my stash. The main panel is 3 3/4" wide, by 5 1/2" long, and is popped up on the base. Black and white together like this is definitely contrasting and also qualifies as color blocks. More contrast for the B&W is the glittery part of the sticker. I like this one. Happy dances everyone.

A Little One For A Little One

Are you a creature of habit? I find that as I get older, I tend to like the things I like, and tend to stick with them. With cardmaking, I like my cards 4.25 x 5.5, opening from the right side. My brain likes it that way. Predictability. It knows exactly what to do. Even with something as simple as a card. But every now and then, I like to try to get my brain to see things differently. To go out on a limb. Try something out of the ordinary. Even if it's just a little bit outside my normal. And even when it's an accident. You'll see exactly what I mean in a minute...

Playing along with CASology today. I LOVE CASology. If memory serves, and I'm too lazy to check for certain, the first Cue Card they had was "sun." Right before I was leaving to visit family 'up north', I discovered this new challenge blog was about to start up, and then part of me didn't want to go. But I did, and heavens to Betsy, wouldn't you just know that my sister actually had a computer AND the internet!!! (being sassy here...) CASology is always interesting, and has a great DT; I play as often as I can. This week, the Cue Card is "dot". Had a ping, but it didn't translate well to paper. That one's in the recycle bin. Another ping ponged around my brain. This time is almost worked... With a little tweaking, it became something sweet. At least, I think it's sweet, and am hoping someone else will think so too! (Most likely one of the little grandbabes) On my desk was a 3x3 scrap of white cardstock. And a bunch of die cut hearts from the "oh-pooh-this-looks-like-doo-doo-card". Two different sized hearts were laying on that scrap, overlapping each other. That's when the ping ponged (can you tell I'm entertaining my own darn self with that phrase?, sorry). Anyway... after using ONE stamp from Fresh Cut Florals and using a variety of inks around the two hearts, I came up with this card. Only it didn't look right. Ardyth makes square cards, and I thought, "hey, her cards always look great, so I'm giving this a shot!" Hence a bitty bit out of my comfort zone. It measures 3.75 x 3.75, and the fold is on the top.

Another Neenah white base, only smaller than my normal sized cards. A scrap of black to frame the dotty panel, and a sentiment stamp from Avocado Arts. I traced around the heart masks with an AC pen. EZPZ, though cleaning off that itty bitty stamp between ink-ups was a pain! And now I'll stop. Happy dances everyone. 

Happy Happenstance

I'm not supposed to be here today. Until the winter weather acted up (again!), my sister Sue and I were supposed to be about 4 hours north of here painting my dad's living room and kitchen today. Since the roads up in northern Wisconsin were horrid, we've postponed our trip for a few days. However...that means I have had a day to catch up on around-the-house stuff, and today, I am playing in my craft room. Kinda nice, except I love spending time with Sue, and laughing with dad. That's coming soon though...

As a "happy happenstance," I made a card that fits two challenges. I've been looking at W Plus 9's Monday Mood Board for a few days. Rather than try to explain the colors, I'll show you in a minute. But as an aside, you need to know that when I was about 12, my mom told me that she loved me in grays. That's obviously stuck with me for oh, a 'few' years. And one year for Easter, she made me a yellow, A-line, sleeveless, cotton dress, with a border of white daisies at the hem. I LOVED that dress. Funny what we remember, isn't it? Anyway...the MMB rekindled memories and that's always a good thing!

See why I fell in love with it? This board is amazing!!!

And then this morning, Fusion's new challenge came up. Talk about a 'happy happenstance!!' See...

What divine inspiration! You've just got to love this! However, other than the double horizontal stripes going across the it, that's as close as I could get to the sketch for this card. Sticking with the left side for now...who knows, maybe I'll be back with more of a combo. And without further ado:

Other than the Neenah white base, I raided my scrap box for all other papers, including those textured gold strips at the bottom. The sentiment and flowers are from one of my all-time favorite sets, Fresh Cut Florals by W Plus 9. Inks are from SU (yellow), MME (stone), and Stampabilities (gold). An SU lable punch, inked with a little more gold. Hit my sewing box for the gold thread. Made a little 'nest,' which is so trendy right now. Usually I'm not much of a trend follower, though, I'll admit that there've been a few that I've liked. And that's all I've got for today. Time for me to get some work done, and then if I have time, more cards! Happy dances everyone!

Two More Brand-Spankin'-New Challenge Blogs...WooHoo!!

 I'm behind again. Nothing new there. I guess it's a good thing I retired so that when I get behind, there's a billion times less stress about getting caught up. Right after I finish this post, and my afternoon workout, I plan to get to the commenting that's due, and perhaps an email or two...For now, I've got a card that fits into those two new challenges mentioned in this post title. That makes three new challenges this week, and boy oh boy, how fun is that?! I do hope you get the opportunity to check them out, and then play along. The first new challenge is called the Colored Palette Challenge, and is part of the MFT blog. It's a month-long challenge, which gives us all plenty of time to get our craft on! The second new one I happened to read about over at Laurie Schmidlin's blog, Just Give Me Stamps. Before moving on, I want to tell you that Laurie's blog is quite the happy place, and she always has eye candy posted. Be sure to pop by, check out her creations, and say hello. Now. It was at Laurie's blog that I found an intriguing new challenge called the Mod Squad Challenge Blog. For those of you who remember the TV show from the 60s, I wanted to be Peggy Lipton... alas, with my nearly black locks and short stature, that dream was shot down pretty quickly! And since they've explained what's required better than I ever could, and since I'd like as not go off on another tangent, head on over and check it out for yourself.

And this is my card for both challenges:

The pink is actually a bit warmer, but with ANOTHER overcast day, that didn't quite capture. For this card, I used all scraps, yippee!!! (except for the white base you can't see, which is Neenah). The Swiss Dots, and the "Love" dies are from MFT. I cut two of each three colors, layered and off set them just a bit. My Cameo provided the flower cut. I wanted to keep it airy and use something that complimented rather than competed with the dots. Mission accomplished, I think. Some Pebbles black ribbon, and that's about it. Relatively QAEZPZ. And now I'm off to work out. Happy dances everyone!

There's a new Challenge in Town

I've been waiting for this brand-spanking new card challenge to get underway. It's called The Card Concept. And what a team...created by Leslie, and managed by Tracey, this whole challenge is brilliant, and the DT is even more so!!! To "meet" the DT, click here, and it will take you directly to the whole team. Oh. My. Gosh!

The styles are divided into six style themes:

Clean and Simple

Clean and Layered

Clean and Graphic

Freestyle Collage

Shabby Chic

Classy and Elegant

  

How cool is that?! You have got to go and see for yourself. I know I'll play here often. For their first challenge, TCC has gone with a color-themed one. Yummy. Neapolitan Ice Cream...Love it!

I got a "ping" right away. Wasn't sure if I could make it work, but somehow, I managed. Really wanted to play in the Clean and Graphic style, but I'm pretty sure that this is more in the Clean and Layered style. The "ping" wouldn't let me go in a different direction today...who knows what tomorrow will bring however. My card looks like this:

I started with a kraft base, Gina K. nice paper. I cut a 4" x 5.25" panel from a scrap of dp, with my Cameo. Then I used a scrap of brown and cut it with an MFT "love" die. A snip of SU brown ribbon, and attached is a Teresa Collins star. Now for the interesting part...In one of my drawers, I thought I had some spray adhesive, but it turned out to be a high gloss glaze. Thought, "what the heck, I'm trying this...", and did. I sprayed a transparency and sprinkled some Stampendous glitter. So it's not a shaker card, the glitter is literally stuck to the the transparency paper. I adhered the sentiment to a white scrap and then popped the glittery panel to that. That's tucked and adhered to the heart panel. Done. I rather like this project. I definitely like this challenge!

I have one more card to share. This one is a birthday card for one of the grandsons, who turns 15 (where did that time go?????) He's really special. I mean Really special. I hope you all have a son/grandson just like him. I've been thinking about this card a while. His favorite color is orange, and I wanted to incorporate it into this card, and not make it look too girly or kiddie. I think it works. This one is going into the latest challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches. Great sketch, and once I decided to go with it, it practically made itself.  Here's their sketch:

And here's what I came up with:

Lots of scraps...I started with a Neenah white base, then found that circle-y orange scrap in the dp box, along with the more solid-ish one. The blue scraps are full of texture, and I got them a million years ago at a scrap convention. The polaroid frame was cut on my Cameo, and I used an SU grunge stamp and then an Avocado Arts sentiment, stamped directly on top of that. Both stamps used my favorite Jenni Bowlin navy. A SC wood veneer star, and an MME enamel dot. And that's all. I'll shut up now! Happy dances everyone.

New Year's Resolutions

I don't do them. Period. For me, resolutions are just specific set-ups for personal failures. So I'm not making any. Ever. What I do consider, though, are small ideas and changes that I feel I can manage most of the time. Ideas or changes that if I need to, I can skip a day or two, or modify as necessary. For example; I need to lose weight, but regular dieting and exercise are more than difficult in my case. Migraines factor into it. I'm one of those "lucky" migraineurs with oh, about a million different triggers, and many of them foods. No citrus, no juice, no seeds, no beans or legumes, no berries or cherries, no onions, no peppers, most fruits are out as well... You get the drift. And who can do the whole morning exercise routine thing when you wake up with a doozy headache! But if I build in flexible, then I can manage. What's with all this meaningless blathering you might ask? Well, over at CAS-ual Fridays, they've seemingly read my mind. A WORD that we hope will direct us. So I've chosen "Smile". I do smile. But I want to smile more about things that would normally make me crazy. And if I manage to do so with half of the things that would normally put me in a "what the heck????!!!!!" mood, that's way better than nothing! Darnell's got it going on at her blog too, check out her link here. Poof (or pooh...) to the things that get me worked up.

Kept it all CAS. But went with brights:

EZPZ. An MFT stamp using Ranger embossing ink and powder. Copics and Sharpies to color. A few snips of brightly colored cardstock from my scrapbox and that's it. Hope it's warm where you are. Happy dances everyone.

Watch the Packers Game today...

Not because I want to convert anyone into being a "cheesehead", but rather, because my darling granddaughter Melissa will be playing drums on the "Tundra Line" today. She was willing to put on multiple multiple layers and brave the below zero temperatures to play for the Packers. The last time she played for a Monday night game, she made it on the Jumbotron as they went to commercial, and I have a photo from her Uncle Christian who was fast enough to snap a shot of the TV screen with his iphone. So watch for a petite blond slammin' the snare drum...or the shortest, most padded drummer... Her mother made her look up signs of frostbite and other bitter cold weather dangers before she left this morning or there was no getting out of the house! Gotta love my daughter; she's such a good mommy.

I got up early this morning, while it was still "warm" out, and did the weekly grocery shopping before church. There is no way I'm taking DH out for something as trivial as that when it's supposed to be so cold. After church, I put a nice beef roast in the crock pot, and so I'm all set for a day of football (well, watching for Melissa) and crafting! Yippee! And hopefully, all day tomorrow too.

You've all heard, I'm sure, that there's a new Fusion challenge. When it first went up last year, I enjoyed playing whenever I could. Using a sketch or an inspirational photo, or both really appealed to me. I was sad to hear that they were shutting down. Then things changed, and they're back! So naturally, I had to play along. Very cool inspiration photo, and an interesting sketch, but no pings for me...dagnabbit!! Rather than do nothing, I examined the photo scrupulously and there it was, my first ping. Look at the duvet. White. Slender orange border. Right up my alley. Then things fell into place. Including some heat embossing (be proud Sharon and Ardyth), which isn't my favorite thing to do. 

This is the fusion of both sides that I saw:

I used an SU orange marker on my white Neenah card base. The rest of the papers are from my scrapbox, and the dp is an MME scrap. I heat embossed some 'spirograph' like circles from Maya Road using Ranger ink and powder. The sentiment is from PTI, and three sequins that look darker in this photo than they do in real life. The circles are popped up, but you can't really tell in the photo. And I'm happy with this. 

If you live in an area that's about to get slammed with this bitter cold weather, stay safe and warm. I'll be thinking of you all. Warm and happy dances everyone.

More Snow, and Less is (DEFINITELY) More!

I live in Wisconsin. It's January. We expect cold and snow. But the driveway has drifted shut, and the plow has filled the end of it as well. *Sigh* Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind the cold and snow as much as I used to; no more dreams of living in Arizona, but!, I think we could use a snow break for a week or so. The upside is that (poor me) I'm confined to my craft room! Decided to finish the card for DD and DSIL's anniversary. Special people. And since I have to pick them up at the airport tomorrow, on their anniversary, I thought it might be a good idea to have it in the car. I've been eyeing the challenge over at Less is More, and picked a sketch that I've loved for a long time. However, I had a tough time translating it into what I wanted. Then, between searching my stash of scraps for just the right colors, and looking into my Cameo's library, it finally came together. I started it yesterday, but had to wait for the Glossy Accents to dry so I just let it set up overnight resisting the urge to touch it...talk about hard! lol. Here's the sketch I chose:

Simple, right? Pure loveliness in my world. The minute I saw this sketch, I knew it was the one for me. Am certain to go back to it again and again. And this is my take:

Despite the snowy, less than perfect light outside today, I managed to get a pretty decent photo. The navy paper, and the faux wood grain paper are from a dear, dear friend who shared goodies last year. I'll admit I hoarded them a bit, but for C&J's card, I dove right in. The center panel, inside the white one was cut with my Cameo. I actually cut two; one in the wood grain, and one in red. Obviously, I only used the red heart. The heart is covered in GA, but you really can't see how shiny and chubby it is in this photo. The sentiment is from an old SU set, which I bought at a rummage sale, and I used some Jenni Bowlin Spice Tin ink. Free cut the sentiment panel. The more I look at this, the more I like it!

And I just wanted to share one of my favorite Christmas presents ever. Nearly started bawling when I opened this. It's something I've always said to the little ones, and it's become a tradition for us to repeat often to each other in person and on the phone. It makes the most lovely tinkly sound when I'm driving, and I can't help but smile when I hear it. 

Even now, I'm smiling. Despite the snow. I'm too busy counting these little blessings. Happy dances everyone.

Happy New Year

Saw in the paper this morning that it's about 72 degrees in Phoenix. Some of our family members are visiting down there...such a shame too...it's in the mid-20s here, with 6-10" of snow expected. Gosh! Who'd want to miss that???!!!! My car is in the garage, and unless a dire emergency arises, it's going to stay right there, with me in my craft room listening to the college games on TV today. I'd rather listen to HGTV, but DH has control of the remote, and I have no chance whatsoever, of changing the channel. It's just as well. For some reason, I can craft really well listening to whatever game is on. Make it a Cubs game, and I can make a winner! Hope you all had a beautiful Christmas, and that your New Year is chock full of blessings.

I've been absent a bit in blog land as of late. Even though we had a quiet Christmas, somehow it got busier than I expected it would. I wish you all could have seen my little Sunday School children on Christmas Eve. They were so sweet, and sang like angels. DH and I lost our printers last week. Both died. At the same time. Oh poop! Spent a couple of days hooking up my new one wirelessly (had to get our internet provider out to the house), and am waiting for DH's to be delivered. His will be hardwired... Woke up with a whopper YKW (stands for "you know what" and = migraine) yesterday. But woke up today in fine fettle. I will get to commenting on your blogs after I go up and fix a document for DH.

Oh, and I actually have a couple of cards! Who knew?!  There are a couple of challenges that I want to play in. Let me apologize in advance for the poor lighting in the photos. As I mentioned, it's snowing out, so my lighting (and I even added extra) is poor. Both are going into CAS(E) this Sketch, and one will make it into Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

The first one is a very simple thank you card. It will be sent out as a Christmas thanks.

White base topped off with a kraft panel. The "thanks" was cut with my Cameo, and then I added a few blue and green blings from momento. EZPZ. I chopped the panel off at 4". Gina K. kraft, and Neenah white. This one is just for CTS.

This next card is for our oldest son and his wife. They are expecting baby #2 in May, and just found out that they're having a boy! Big sister Kelly who is 4, is excited about being a big sister. This makes grandchild #20 for us. We're so excited for them. 

This one will go into CTS and SSS.

See what I mean about crummy lighting???!!! I think this was the third photo, and then I gave up trying to improve it. Without the flash, it looked brown, but the panel is actually this rich deep wonderful gray. White base with that lovely gray panel, and I used my NBUS Swiss Dots die from MFT. I absolutely LOVE this die. MFT fishtail flag dies, MB letter dies, and an old heart punch. The base is Neenah, and the rest are just scraps, including the heart which is a smidge of glitter paper from DCWV. And that's about it for me for now. Who knows, if I can fix DH's document in a fast hurry, maybe there will be more time in my craft room today. Happy (New Year) dances everyone.