Lizzy's coming over!

Our much loved 16 year old granddaughter is coming over today to help grandpa in his office. Not sure what they're going to be doing exactly, but she's a good helper and heaven knows, grandpa needs a little help. I would not be a good helper candidate today. I'll help by going to get burgers and shakes for them for lunch. They'll be thrilled and it's the best thing for me to do!

And I'm on a roll....Made one of this upcoming trio of cards last night, and two this morning. All are pretty easy and CAS. Let's move right along, shall we...

First up is a sympathy card. Unfortunately, we all need them and my stash is depleted. Thought it would fit perfectly into CASology this week. Cue the cue card:

About 15 years ago, I bought this sheet of wood at my local scrapbook store. Obviously, I've used a bit of it, but it's been sitting in my scrapbox since then...Time to break it out!

Here's what I came up with:

Neenah white base, the bit of wood for the flower, which I die cut with a Poppystamps Wild Rose die. Filled the petals in with some white scraps. The navy strip down the left side is a scrap too. And a PTI stamp with Jenni Bowlin ink. Done.

This next card is going into the Colour Me challenge. When I first saw these colors together, I wasn't thrilled, and wasn't going to play. But then my brain went all CAS, and the darn thing practically made itself!

Seriously CAS...

Another Neenah white base, and it's one layer too! All the stamps are from a Jillibean Soup set, and are NBUS!!! Some Studio G green ink, some Ranger Potting Soil ink, and I colored the butterflies in with Copics. #2 Done.

Last up, is a card for CAS(E) this Sketch. They have the most fun sketch, and I just had to play. Big ol' PING the minute I saw this. Knew exactly what was coming, and it turned out just the way my little brain saw it!!

And talk about CAS!!!!!

Ones and dones!!! One Neenah white base. One Jillibean Soup stamp, one color of ink (SU black), and one Doodlepops sticker. Ok, ok...he has TWO googly eyes... Thought this would make a great thank you card for that "just what I always wanted" gift! I crack up every time I look at this card! So you all go now and enjoy your weekend. I will too. Happy dances everyone.

Three Cards for Thursday

Imaginative post title, eh?! The old brain isn't working so well today, and so that's the best I could come up with. Bear with me as I think the cards are better than the title... I'll cut to the chase and get to the cards right away without any chatter.

First I'm playing in a new-to-me challenge, called The Challenge which is 'brought to you by' the lovely and talented Lesley Croghan. Awesome sketch, and there's still some time to play along, so head on over and jump right in!

As soon as I saw the sketch, I new exactly what papers I wanted to use. Funny how things like that just pop into one's head, isn't it?! Anyway, here's my card:

Nothing too fancy. The base is Neenah white, and the large cardstock panel is just a scrap of blue from the burgeoning scrap box. The dps are all from Authentique. SU black ink and an old SU stamp. Three MME enamel dots and a bit of KF twine. EZPZ.

Next up, I wanted to play along with the City Crafter's Challenge Blog. The theme is Red, White, and Blue. There's still time to play over there, too, so I hope you'll be my neighbor in the gallery. 

Here's the card:

Neenah white base onto which I stamped my HB with LF's Quinn's Alphabet. Colored with Pro Markers. Two Doodlebug borders, an old silver star, and done. Pretty EZPZ too. This one looks crooked...but when I hold it in my hot little hands, it seems just fine...What the heck...?

And for my last card, I've got three challenges that I'm popping it into. First it's going over to Muse. Check and see what Beverley Brown came up with. Simply amazing. I did try to use kraft, but my card just didn't look right. Still, I took the colors and general design for mine. I also want to send this over to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, where it's 'Anything Goes.' And last, but not least, I've got one more entry into Miss Delightful Darnell's NBUS challenge. While I'm coming close to the deadline, Darnell's challenge is open until tomorrow if you want to play too.

     

And my little card looks like this:

I started with a Neenah white base, and stamped the scribbled circles from TAWS in SU black ink. I used various Copics to color them. My NBUS is the sentiment, which is from Jillibean Soup. Three enamel dots from MME finished it off. Another EZPZ card. And with that, I'll leave you. Happy dances everyone.

Just Playin'

It's been kind of a play day for me. Went and got a haircut, and darn it all, wouldn't you know it, I just had to make a trip to Michaels! Took my time there and strolled around just looking at all the crafty treasures, but I was fairly good. Got my tape runners, an 8" x 8" scrapbook for my granddaughter Kaylin, and a few other little things, but didn't go overboard. Popped into T.J. Maxx, checked out the crafty section, the storage section, and the purses. Left with all my cash and my credit card unused. Does that mean I have to do some online shopping later?! LOL! Once home, it was lunch, a quick phone call to/from Mary, and settled down in the craft room. Whipped up a little card for the current Time Out Challenge, where they're featuring the most incredible Donna Mikasa of Three Umbrellas fame. Donna's cards are always intriguing and I do love to pop over to her blog and see what she's got up. The challenge for us at Time Out is to CASE this card of hers. It's pretty darn amazing.

This is how my little brain interpreted it:

Love how quickly this card came together. Neenah white base, scraps of pink and orange, a scrap of Punchinella vellum, three Michaels sequins, WPlus9 sentiment, and some gold Stampabilities ink. The hardest part (if you can call it hard at all...) was fussy cutting the vellum. Phsssst! Three whole minutes tops! And I'm off. Want to get some more craft going before Mr. Mojo realizes I'm working him. Happy dances everyone!

Forty-'leven

That's how many times I attempted to get this stamping straight, and how many different stamp sets I used.... Dang! It's a good thing that it's recycling night...the bin is full to overflowing! I hate to admit this, but even with my Stamp-a-ma-jig, countless rejects still came out crooked. Except for this last card, which will squeak into the Muse Challenge. I really didn't want to miss out on this week's challenge; have you seen the Muse card? Here, I'll show you:

Doesn't the lovely and talented Marion Vagg make the most wonderful cards? Totally adore this one. And this is my take:

We're about to start our second straight week of rain, mist, drizzle, downpours, cloudbursts, soaking rain, and sprinkles. And let's not even talk about the fog! Hence, bad lighting. Can you even see the teeny-tiny triangles??? Or the shadow stamping on the "hello?" Sheesh! The stamps are AE, with SU black and PTI aqua mist inks. Scraps of blue-y down the side and a Neenah white base. I drew black lines with my AC black pen. And that's it for now, don't want to miss the deadline. Happy dances everyone.

One Whole Week!

Can you believe it's been a whole week since my last post??! I Know!! Things got busy around here, then I woke up with migraines three-days-in-a-row. Tuesday's migraine was bad enough, as I was leaving early that afternoon to meet my dad's Honor's Flight, but the one on Wednesday really laid me out! The coolest thing this week was the surprise for my dad. He did two tours in Korea, and one in Viet Nam, and spent 20 years in the USAF. Very proud of and thankful for his service. If you are unsure what an Honor's Flight is, please click this link and check it out. My older sister, Sue was dad's guardian for the day. Nearly 100 vets got on a plane at the Outagamie County Airport in Appleton, Wisconsin very early on Tuesday morning. They were flown to Washington D.C. and spent the day at various memorials and also saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as well as a visit to Arlington Cemetery. Unbeknownst to the vets, by 7:30 pm that same evening, family and friends had gathered at the airport to welcome them home. Simply amazing! At least 1,000 of us were waiting for our heroes. Sue and I contacted by phone, text, or FB, members of our family and a bunch of friends to see if any could come and help us surprise dad. He's the last of my mom's side of the family's patriarchs, and he is well-loved. Here are a couple of photos of some of the family members who showed up to greet him.

A few family members and friends weren't in the photos, but we did our best...

And here's dad checking out our group once he spotted us:

He's still talking about this...pretty amazing for him to have this chance to go to D.C., and pretty amazing to be there to welcome him home.

Just a little note here about my Pinterest account. Thanks for the suggestions from you all. Pinterest itself was no help with this, so I did what I could, including changing my password. I can still see the photos of cards that this lady posted, but they don't show up in the "public" view...Go figure...

And I have a couple of cards to share today. Will be posting the first one to City Crafter's Challenge, where this week's theme is 'fruit.' The second card will go to The Card Concept Challenge which uses a nautical theme.

Neenah white base, and a scrap of blue gingham cut with my MME scalloped die. The fruit banner and the "C" on the sentiment are from a pack of stickers by LYB. The 'elebrate' portion of the sentiment is from PTI, using Versamark red ink.

This is the second card:

Since it's been raining all week, the lighting is ridiculous...Believe it or not, the dark blues are a perfect match. Other than the Neenah white, everything else is just scraps. I used my Cameo to cut the anchor. PTI sentiment (the 'birthday' part is inside...) Pretty simple really. *Sigh.* I just love the light aqua color... So since this has been such a long post, I'll stop now. Thanks for bearing with me. Happy dances everyone.

Desperate Pinterest HELP

No card for now, but I have a request for help with one of my Pinterest boards. What's happening is kind of freaking me out...and I'm not getting any response from Pinterest.

Someone is pinning on my "Card Inspiration" board. I have never followed this person, nor pinned one of her pins. I've tried Pinterest "help." They are exactly NO help. If I roll over one of this person's pins on my board, or click on it, no little pencil pops up to edit this pin. I blocked her yesterday, not out of meanness, but just to stop the pins. FOUR more appeared today!!! She's still blocked. This may not be her fault, so I don't want to mention her name, nor do I want to contact her at this point. All I want, is to stop her pins from appearing on my board. If anyone out there can offer advice or solutions, I would be ever grateful.

While this pinner might be the nicest person on earth, I don't want her pins on my board. It feels like I'm being invaded. Can anyone help?

Thanks,
Bev

Twofer Twofer

Wouldn't it be nice if all stamp sets, inks, and any other craft supplies came as a twofer? You know, buy one, get another one free! Ah....I can always dream, can't I?! Today's twofer is two cards for two challenges. One came really easily, one was like pulling teeth. Eventually they both got made....

The first card up is for the Muse Challenge. This was actually the easy one. The idea came fast, and the process was more or less fast. For my card, I pulled the die cut sentiments, primaryish color scheme, and linear design of the pattern. Wait till you see Therese's card...it has so much inspiration, and you can just take this and run in a million different directions.

Here's my interpretation:

I found this piece of OA dp, and loved the bright colors. The rest of the papers are scraps. I cut the two happys using MB dies. A few Michaels sequins and done! Inside it actually says 'birthday.' So easy peasy lemon squeezy!

The next challenge is Less is More's use the colors of your bedroom. My bedroom is full of yellows, blues, and whites. It's sunny, cheerful, and a bit girly. But not too froo-froo. I have to say it's a joy (nearly) every morning to wake up there. Not a fancy place, but it's just right for me. It's one of my favorite places, and the place I miss the most when I'm traveling. This card started out with flowers. Lots of flowers. Lots of flower stamps...they are still strewn all over my work space...In the end, I didn't use a single one.

And my card:

Scraps of yellow and blue cardstock, and a bit of white, on a Neenah white base. I cut the yellow apart and popped it up, which doesn't really show here. The big stamp is an old one, from Stampabilities, and I used some Studio G blue ink. The sentiment is from one of my favorite birthday sets by PTI. Three Michaels blue pearls and done. And so is this post! Happy dances everyone.

Why is that?

DH wanted to run a few errands this morning, and as he's not driving anymore, that means I take him. I don't mind, it can be a nice break in the day. After a couple of stops, we headed for the grocery store. He only needed a couple of things, but while I was in there with him, I ran into three friends! Why is that? While I stood there talking, he checked out, and came back for the keys so he could go to the car. It must be time to make a few coffee dates and reconnect with some of those friends. That's probably why God put those friends in my path this morning. And what better excuse for a good cup of coffee, than chats with friends! I like the idea! Will be making some calls and sending texts later. : )

Bless her heart, our friend Darnell has found another challenge. Not only did she find it, she's GD this week at Words 2 Scrap By. Passing the link along so you can play too. This week's words to live by, are "Oh The Places You'll Go." Who doesn't love Dr. Seuss?!! And while we're on the subject of challenges, I thought I'd find a way to play along with the Lawnscaping Challenge, where we're directed to emboss. Either heat or dry. Went with the dry on my card. Imagine...I managed to make one card for both challenges!

   

And my take:

There's a Neenah white base, and all of the other bits of paper are scraps! You'd think that as much as I use scraps the two boxes would be near empty by now...not so much! I used an LC embossing folder for the clouds. All dies and stamps are from LF. A few different markers for the coloring, including Copic and Promarker. An SU white colored pencil for the road lines, and SU ink for the sentiment. I think that's about it. Gotta go haul the vacuum out now (crap!). Happy dances everyone.

Sweet!

About an hour ago, I went outside to absorb some vitamin D. My labs indicate I'm way low on that particular vitamin, and sunlight is cheap. It's not quite 70 degrees, but the skies are clear and only a gentle breeze is blowing. I stood in the driveway, closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of my neighborhood. Maybe silly, but I was curious. I heard a nest full of young robins clamoring for food from their parents. I heard a male cardinal sing from my neighbor's tall pine tree. I heard the leaves gently rustle on the Siberian Irises in one of the flower beds. I heard a speed boat churning the waters of Lake Michigan. I heard neighbors up the block talking. I heard a bit of traffic from Main Street. I heard insects softly buzzing. Then I smiled. When I opened my eyes, the world took on that blue hue that occurs when going from dark to light. I smiled again. Simple things. But don't those simple things just help to make a lovely day? Try it sometime. It only takes a minute or two, and I'll wager that you'll smile too.

There is a card coming, I promise. Inspired by dear friend, Hannelie, who is on the DT over at AAA Cards. It's a challenge for CAS and nearly CAS cards. Mine's nearly CAS. For Game 6, it's a color and a sketch challenge. Pinks, Oranges, Turquoises, Greens; reminiscent of tropical colors. Here's the sketch:

This is my take:

For this card I started with a Neenah white base, and large white panel. The turquoise is a scrap, as were the bases for all those little mints. All the stamps and dies are from Clear and Simple Stamps. SU black ink, and various Copics to color up the candies. Pretty easy. Happy dances everyone. 

One for Two

Instead of working on a scrapbook for my granddaughter, I made a couple of cards. Bad grandma. I'll probably get to that tomorrow afternoon. I'm only going to show you one of the cards I made right now, but you'll see the other one eventually! I'd looked all week at City Crafter Challenge, where this week the theme is nautical. I have exactly three boat stamps, one fish stamp, and a few (very few) sea creatures. Didn't feel like moving the crafting supplies surrounding my Silhouette, so die cutting was out of the question. I have to say I was surprised that I came up with something that I actually liked! Took more than one trip to the recycle bin, but I got the card I wanted eventually. It also contains two NBUS stamps, so will qualify for Darnell's NBUS Challenge as well! Yippee Skippy!!

   

I'm very excited to be meeting up with a special friend, so I thought I'd make a card and tell her. This is the result:

About 18 months ago, maybe 19, I won Paulina's 10-Minute Craft Dash, and the prize was a GC for DeNami Designs. I chose two sets of four sea creatures. They included this sailboat and treasure chest. That's my NBUS. I stamped them all in black and colored them with Copics. The bubbles are stamped with Memento ink. A Neenah white base and white scrap, and a scrap of light blue.  The sentiment is made up of various letters masked and carefully stamped from the TAWS Adorabowl set. The Twinery twine, and that's about it. Enjoy the last bit of Sunday, and happy dances everyone.

Recycling Memories

The ever creative and inspiring Virginia Lu, of Virginia's View Challenge has a new one for us. This one was not difficult at all for me, at least as far as following the rules went. I often use scraplings, and I'm still loving my tag die from Lawn Fawn. What got me into a bit of trouble, was the recycled item that is also required on our creations. I just had too many ideas! The first several (recycled...), didn't measure up to the picture I had in my mind. I then pulled out an old pair of dotted swiss curtains and was going cut them up, or maybe that piece of muslin...nah...well, what then???! Then a memory pinged. When I was about 13 or 14, my mom made me a green jumper, and a pink flowered blouse to match. I. Loved. That. Outfit. After a while, the ensemble was no longer in fashion, and was a bit too "little girlish" for me to wear. Couldn't get rid of it though. Eventually the jumper went (and it was a mini anyway), but I hung onto the blouse. Until it began to wear out. I cut the good sections out of it, and for well more than 35 years, these scraps have rested in the bottom of my sewing box. Every time I try to clean that mess out, I can't part with them. It's a memory and a connection to my mom. You see, my mom is waiting for me in heaven. She's been there for 34 1/2 years. So you can understand why I can't part with these bits of fabric. She touched them. She made something for me with that fabric. She was my mom. There's a photo of a card I'd made in February for Lily's birthday below. I was inspired by that dress. My tag today actually has a bit of the original fabric. I felt like I could use a smidgen of it and am pretty certain mom would like that.

   

Here's today's tag:

All the papers are scraplings! The white base is actually a recycled chipboard paper protector from SU. I also pulled scraps of green, and a bit of vellum from my scrapbox. I applied spray adhesive to another section of chipboard, smoothed my precious fabric scrap onto it, then die cut the flower with a Sizzix die. The tag is from LF, the leaves are from MFT, a scrap of ribbon, and the stamp is from AE with SU ink. The 'for you' is actually under the vellum to give it a softer look. Two green blings from Creative Imaginations, and one enamel dot from BG in the flower's center. Please forgive the lighting. The blings and ribbon actually do match the leaves...just couldn't get them to photograph nicely. *sigh* So...I'm pretty sure my 40 year-old fabric swatch qualifies as something recycled. (hi mom)

My next card is for the ever sweet, ever funny, 42 Long, and dear friend Darnell's brand-spankin' new challenge. Now. If you haven't ever heard of Darnell, then you are either a newbie to this blogosphere, or well, I just don't know... She's brilliant. She's funny. She's one heckuva crafter! And she's my friend. Darnell has a great vocabulary; you only have to read her posts to see just what I mean. One of her acronyms that has filtered through the blogoshpere is NBUS. It stands for Never-Before-Used-Schtuff. New. Or new but it's been sitting in that pile next to your desk for weeks, or in a drawer for a really, really long time. My card contains all of the above... To go to her blog, click on her name.  And if I've done it correctly, you should be able to click on her moniker below to be taken to her challenge post!

Pretty sure I followed the rules for my card:

The Neenah white base, the smidge of navy cardstock,  woodgrain paper, the LF tag die, and the SU twill tape are not NBUS. Everything else is. That's a brand NBUS LF 'hello' die. The letters, the paperclip, the coral colored paper, the tag's paper and the enamel dots are also NBUS. There's a story behind all these goodies, but I'll keep it short. A darling, sweet friend sent me a huge box full of goodies which I've been hoarding. It came with alphabet stickers, papers, paperclips, stickers...just tons of wonderful stuff that I've been saving for something special...Time to stop hoarding, and start using!!!! So in your honor, Miss G., here's my NBUS card for Miss D.'s very first challenge! This is going to be fun!! So....what are you waiting for???? Go over and PLAY! Happy dances everyone.

I'm baaaacck....

I have a birthday card to share this afternoon. It's for my really, really nice neighbor, Michael. He's so helpful with gardening tips and he's the one who helped me take down those two bird's nests a few weeks ago. So I wanted to do something nice for him. Naturally I made him a card. I drew inspiration from the current Colour Me Challenge, as well as Simon Says Stamp Wednesday. At SSS, we're to make a Father's Day or Masculine card, and at CMCC, there's a Monochromatic color scheme. Take a peek see.

   

This one came together pretty quickly:

I started with a Neenah white base, and used a scrap for the top part of the smaller panel. Using some Studio G pigment ink, I stamped the sentiment with a NBUS PTI set. Cut down a scrap of Gina K. white wood grain cardstock, which I then lightly colored with some MME ink. Really shows that grain, doesn't it?! Found a matchy-matchy scrap of the aqua cardstock, and added it. Four MME enamel dots, and done. Sure wish you could see this in person! Happy dances everyone!

Feeling like a Disney Princess

The last several days, whenever I step outside, I feel like a Disney Princess. All the little critters in my backyard, and those of my neighbors, seem to know I'm there, and aren't afraid. Chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, and nearly all kinds of birds just see me and go "Oh, it's her. She won't hurt us." Just this morning a bunny hopped back and forth a dozen times, all within 2 feet of me. He eyed me, but didn't care that I was standing right there. Go figure...One of these days, the chipmunks, squirrels, and rabbits are going to sit on my lap and the birds will perch on my arms and shoulders, and I'll be obligated to burst into song with full orchestra accompanying me. Now all I need is a fancy ball gown, a fairy godmother granting me wishes, and a prince charming... oh, wait! I already have one of those (awwww.....)!

I was gone over the weekend to my niece's wedding, and had running to do the first three days this week. Hence, I've been pretty much absent from blogland. Making up for it a bit today, however. I've got a couple of cards for several challenges, so bear with me.

Card number one is going into The Card Concept, and Seize the Sketch. TCC has an awesome color palette including a couple of my favorite colors, yellow and gray. It feels Clean and Layered to me. And a fantastic sketch at STS:

  

And my card...

Looks purple, doesn't it? Trust me, the panel behind the frame is this lovely deep gray, and the bicycle paper is not lavender, it really is light gray. (crap!) Couldn't get the light to work for me, neither would Picasa cooperate... Neenah white base, scrap of deep gray and yellow, a (to use Geri's word) smick of MME Cut and Paste 6x6 dp, an SC wood veneer bike colored with a black marker, and some NBUS; LF Happy Trails stamps! I cut the frame with my MFT die, and used SU black in for my stamping.

The next card is for my dad, obviously. I'm lucky to still have him around. He's in great health, is as ornery as ever, and believe it or not, he still golfs 18 holes almost everyday whenever weather permits. Not bad for an almost 85 year-old! And yep, he still bowls in a league.

This one will go into Curtain Call, "Something Simple," Less is More, "use more than one stamp," CASual Fridays, "What a Catch," with no use of kraft and using ribbon, and CASology "Shine." Whew! My card is pretty simple, I used two stamps, it's masculine and uses ribbon, and there is shine...

           

Here's my card:

Alrighty then. The stamps are from TAWS and I stamped the pins in SU black, then colored the bands with a couple of Copics. I did some masking, which was really quite fun. Then (be proud of me here...) I pulled out a remnant of watercolor paper and swirled some green and blue together and once it was dry, I used the SU black ink to stamp the bowling ball. There's a smick (thx for that word Geri) of navy ribbon from Michaels. Neenah base, panel, and sentiment. The sentiment is computer generated and edged with Copic green. I sure wish you could see it, but there really and truly is shine on this card. I covered the bowling ball with Glossy Accents, and that's where the shine part comes into play. Only you can't see it. (pooh!) And I'll stop here. Happy dances everyone.