Where Did May Go??!!

Here it is, May 30th, and I'm not at all sure where the month went! I did have two sets of company, so maybe 'entertaining' guests made the month fly by...who knows. That's the main reason I've been missing from blogland... I do promise to catch up commenting as best I can before heading off to play with four little grandchildren today. Took the last of May's company to the airport early yesterday morning then played in my craft room. And I've got a few cards to show for it too! More for the stash, more for upcoming birthdays. Guess I should get to that, shouldn't I...

Alrighty then. First up is a card for the current Fusion Challenge. Simply amazing cake in the photograph, but my brain said, "no...you're not using flowers today." I did try to work around it, but the brain seemed only to go in one direction. *sigh* I did use the colors and the sketch as you'll soon see. This card will also head over to SSS Wednesday Challenge where it's 'Anything Goes.'

And I did manage to sneak in a flower despite my brain's objection. Sheesh!

I found this utterly sweet blue polkie dotted paper in a 6x6 pad from Pebbles. Cut an MFT flourish with a yellow scrap and used an Avocado Arts stamp in ME Smoke ink to pick up on the grays in the cake. A yellow Prima Marketing (ancient) chrysanthemum and the white flag is MFT. 

I also made a tag card for the Tag You're It Challenge. If this amazing design by Lynn Put doesn't help to bring on the summery sunny skies, then I don't know what will! Check it out:

Uh-huh. Totally love it! I didn't have a strawberry stamp (gee...I should remedy that, shouldn't I?! lol), so I used some cherries. 

All the papers are scraps (trying so hard to use them up...yeah, like that will ever happen...) except my Michaels whites. PTI's tags in white and red, LF stamps, MB cherries accented in GA, ribbon scraps, and a few blings. Just kind of fun.

Next, is a little card for Time Out. I'd like to encourage you all to head on over and play along. Miss Deepti is GD there, and as a prize, one lucky winner will acquire her new stamp set. Yes, you heard right, Deepti designed a set (put out by STAMPlorations) that is scrumptious!!! So happy for her! Here is her inspiration card:

There are so many interesting elements on her card. I was inspired by the chalkboard and gingham elements, as well as the flowers. 

Using my Silhouette, I printed out my chalkboard 'happy birthday,' and found this scrap in the dp scrapbox. A couple of crocheted flowers, (and as Miss Darnell would say...) "Shazambam," done! I hope it does Deepti's inspiration justice.

And last but certainly not least, a card for CASology, where the Cue Card this week is:

Now, as soon as I saw this, I knew I wanted to play along. It wasn't until yesterday though, that a PING began to bounce off the interior of my skull, and there was no other option. So raise your hand if you've ever seen the film. By today's standards, it's pretty hokey, but still, a love story is a love story. I will disagree with one of the most often quoted lines from this movie..."Love means never having to say you're sorry." Yeah, no. Though I'm never wrong (hahahahahahahahaha) about anything, and never at fault for anything (hysterical haha's now), I actually do say "I'm sorry" to DH (the love of my life). This card will go to him for our July anniversary. Because this is exactly what we have:

Started with a Michaels white base. Found a photo of the iconic "LOVE" online, then went to the Silhouette where I chose a font, skewed the 'O' and welded and cut. Scraps back the square, and the black part of the sentiment was computer generated. 

Long post, I know. So I'll stop jabbering now, and get a few things done before I play like a child with four little children. Happy dances everyone!

Happy Birthday Ardyth!!!!!

Today is a very, very, VERY special friend's birthday. And if you haven't read the title of this post and haven't seen just whose birthday it is, I'll tell you here: it's Miss Ardyth of Maskerade fame. She is the absolute queen of wonderfully CAS, superbly graphic, and terrifically eye-pleasing cards, but you already knew that, didn't you?! She is an amazing card maker, a sweet, sweet person too. True story! So hop on her link, and head on over to Maskerade and give her a happy birthday shout out!

Just a little party today - a Springtimey cake party in a lovely setting. And naturally there will be tables just like this for all of us! Mmmmm...pretty (but not too froo-froo!). Can you just imagine a huge garden like this filled with several hundreds of tables and here we are, celebrating, laughing, talking, and sharing this special day with Ardyth?! Oh let's!!! And I think we'll have a couple of different kinds of cakes too --- one at each table. Yum! (Also not too froo-froo!)

And we'll all bring cards for the birthday girl...Here's mine:

Clean and simple. Just the way Miss Ardyth would like it! (not going to list the "ingredients" here, but if you want the deets, just leave me a comment, and I'll get them to you...)

Dear Sweet Friend, I hope your birthday is as lovely as you are. May you be blessed with all wonderful things today and every day. You are a treasure, and I'm so happy to call you 'friend.'  Have a wonderful birthday! You are truly special.

(I'm also going to pop this into Freshly Made Sketches. It's pretty darn awesome, and a wonderful source of inspiration!)

A Couple of Cards, and a Winner

Getting ready for company, but just had to feed my cardmaking addiction this morning. The house isn't too bad, it's mostly a bit of tidying and the normal weekly chores and then it'll be all spiffed up. And if I play my cards right (hahahahaha!), I might even have time for another post or two this week. First up is a card I made for my friend Jennifer's birthday. She's a pretty special person, and I know she'll like this color combination. I plan on sending it over to SSS Monday Challenge (X, Y, Z), as well as SSS's Work It Wednesday Challenge (Yellow).

"Yellow" begins with the letter "Y." 

Michaels white base and panel. Some PPP and SC sequins. A strand of Twinery twine. Cobalt cardstock, a bit of chevron dp from Pebbles, and a PTI die and stamp. This one popped into my head, and came together just like I'd envisioned it. 

The next card is a birthday card that could work for either a him or a her. I've seen several cards for this new-to-me challenge, and knew I wanted to join in the fun. It's over at Happy Little Stampers and there's still time to play! Check out the great inspiration:

Here's the celebratory card I came up with:

After starting with a Michaels white base and panel, I used a black scrap and other bits and bobs of scrap cardstock. A couple of SC stamps, and some PTI and W Plus 9 circle dies and done. I like this one; it's happy!

And now for the part of this post you've been waiting for...the winner of my blogaversary giveaway. DH helped by drawing names out of a bowl, and the lucky winner is.....

Brenda

Send me an email with your mailing address, and I'll get the goodies right out!

Have a great rest of your week everyone, and don't forget to do a little happy dance!

Happy Birthday Sandie!! WooHoo!!

Today is Sandie's (from London Days) birthday! To help celebrate, some of us out here in blogland are linking up cards over at Kylie's blog. Stop over at Sandie's and serenade her with your own rendition of Happy Birthday, then head over to Kylie's and see more of the wonderful cards, many of which are winging their way to London! Naturally I made a card too, which you'll see in a moment!

Sandie is a master at CAS design and you only have to pop over to her blog to see what I mean. She's the creator of the Time Out Challenge, and is on multiple other DTs. (Where does she find the time and energy??!!) I love, that in spite of all her busy-ness, she finds the time to stop in at our blogs and leave sweet comments and words of encouragement. Awesome crafter, awesome person! So without further ado...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANDIE!!!!!!!!

Tried to keep it fairly CAS, in Sandie's honor, and while it has a couple of layers and some ribbon, none of these elements overpowers the white space. Michaels white base and panel, a scrap of orange polkie dots, N&T flowers, and CB sentiment. Stamped in PTI ink, and colored with some Copics. The ribbon is also a scrap. This is on it's way to Sandie even as we speak. And as she's the GD over at The Challenge, I thought I'd use the color palette and play there too! Worked out nicely, I'd say.

So Sandie, may your birthday and every day be filled with joy, blessings and happy dances. 

(For my blogaversary giveaway, click here.)

A Little Giveaway Today...

I'll get to that in a minute. First bear with me for a very CAS card heading off to SSS Wednesday Challenge. There's a really sweet color swatch to play with and I couldn't resist.

Scrumptious, isn't it?! And I decided to keep my froo-froo in check today:

Started with my usual Michaels white base, and for the PPP tag. A couple of Jillibean Soup stamps with ME Ocean, and Ranger Magenta inks. A bit of the Twinery Twine, and some matchy-matchy sequins. Done.

Now....After looking at the calendar, I realized that today is my three-year blogaversary. Boy did that time go by fast. I'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you for all your support and encouragement, and most of all for your friendships. This is one of the best places in the whole world. I'm delighted to be a part of it. I made a little card in honor of said anniversary...

EZPZ lemon squeezy! Scraps! Michaels white base, an OA heart embellie, PTI sentiment, and an MB 'happy' die. I used the sketch from FMS:

Onto the little giveaway....

In honor of my blogaversary, I thought I'd give away a little something. So, if you're one of my followers, let me know in the comment section. If you're not and you'd like to receive a little surprise package in the mail, become one of my followers and leave me a comment. Or follow me by email or bloglovin'. I'll throw everyone's name into a hat or into a random generator one week from today, that's May 20th and yes, I will ship internationally! I'll keep the little prize a surprise for now...but I think you'll like it! Just one comment per please. God bless you all and happy dances everyone!

Got My Mojo Workin'

Made a few more cards today. Will get to them after I say thanks to the DT at CASology for the HM for this card. I wasn't going to post it, because I thought I'd missed the deadline, but made it just in the nick of time. So thank you for choosing the little fish card! I'm humbled and honored.

Made more than I'm showing today. You'll see three today, and the last one later in the week. Our daughter and sil were here last week from Phoenix, and for part of their Christmas gift, I give them a box full of the cards I make over the course of the year. She loves getting them, and actually uses them, which delights me to no end. Some of these were made with Jeanne in mind. This first one definitely is. It's going into the As You See It Challenge - sketch and City Crafter - flowers.

And my take:

Crummy photo due to crummy weather (AGAIN!). All these lovely blues are matchy-matchy... The dp is from a Pebbles pad, and the rest are scraps except my Michaels base. Love the way the vellum looks over these blooms. A CB sentiment in ME Smoke ink, some random sequins, and poof!, done.

Since I missed the last Muse deadline, I was bound and determined to make this one with time to spare! And have you seen Michele's card??!!! Only beyond incredible!

Love everything about her card....Mine goes out to the oldest son, elder twin, Tom. Pretty sure you can see where my inspiration came from...

All scraps, I'm happy to say! Used a Silhouette cut file to cut everything. The frame is inset around the plaid and the letters set on top. The PTI stamps are from my NBUS set, and I added some HS enamel stars. Didn't like the 'breathy' look of the stamp at first. The cardstock is quite textured. But after a minute, I noticed it mirrors the 'breathy' look of the plaid, so now I do like it. You'd probably have to blow the photo up to see what I mean. 

Last card for today goes to a sweet friend who needs a little extra love, and I'm playing at Fusion - French Twist. Just went with the sketch this time. But oh.... I love these colors together!

Started with a Michaels white base and gray and yellow scraps (Say....which one is more correct? Gray or Grey?! Don't want to offend any English teachers out there...). Punched out a portion of a circle, then added some TT images inked up in ME Smoke ink. An old scrap of the most perfect silvery-gray ribbon, and a sentiment that you can't see. Kept this one mostly CAS. My eyes and brain like it. 

And so I'll close for now. Thank you all for the nice wishes for my DH. He was getting better, but has now developed a reaction to his antibiotic. Just waiting for the nurse to call me back...He'll be fine. I'm not worried. You are all so sweet, and deserve happy dances forever.

Mondays in My World

Every day in my world is pretty much a Saturday. Including Mondays. Since I've left the work-force, and since I've no children at home anymore, it's all fun and games for me (well....not really, but wouldn't that be nice?!). Our company left over the weekend, and it's back to a somewhat normal routine until later this month. Gloomy weather today, and grocery shopping awaits my going, but I really wanted to get a post in this morning. I need the sanity of this blogosphere. DH has been sick, and with company, it wasn't fun for him; he feels like he's missed their visit. Took him to Urgent Care, but will call his family doctor in a bit. It's not serious, but he's feeling miserable, poor baby.

Enough about that. Onto cards and such (the keepers of my sanity). I missed the Muse challenge. Just couldn't get a photo taken even though I had a card made,  or a post written until now. Sorry about that Muse friends. I did manage to get a couple two three cards made while company was out visiting other family members, so will post them before I miss any more deadlines! First up is a card for the current MFT Sketch Challenge. Had something completely different in mind, but this one demanded to be made. When pings ping, I must obey the call, lol!

Here's what those pesky pings demanded:

Stuck pretty close to the sketch with this one. All papers, except the Bazzill pink base and bits are scraps. Sorry, I don't know who made them. The navy flag is MFT, as is the sentiment which is stamped with some Jeni Bowlin ink. A few pearls, some seriously old felt flowers and a bit of Michaels ribbon. Irl, this is really happy looking.

Next, I wanted to play along with Tag You're It Challenge. I was on a roll, and this one pretty much made itself...using my hands of course, lol! Here's the inspiration tag created by Erin Thiem. How fun is this?

Since I wasn't sure when my company was returning, I didn't have time to haul out my Spackle and make a bigger mess than I already had, so I went in a bit of a different direction.

All papers except the Michaels white base are once again, scraps. The flourish behind the tag is an ancient rub-on. Someone out there in blogland used a rub-on last week on a card, and it inspired me to drag out the box full of them and see what I could find. And if it weren't so darn gloomy outside, you'd see that a portion of the flourish has some green in it... Some SC star sequins, as well as the tag die. A TT die sentiment, and some RC hearts. A bit of Michaels ribbon and some Twinery twine. Oh, and a hexie die from MFT. 

And since I have an hour or two before CASology closes, and since I've a card to share, why the heck not?! There's a story behind this card...My really nice neighbor, Michael, brought over some freshly caught Walleye after one of his fishing forays. It was fantastic. So for a thank you, I thought I'd whip up a card. He's such a nice neighbor. Fits the "Shape" Cue card nicely, I think...

Found a cut file in the Silhouette store, and decided it would make a nice stencil. Used some ME Ocean ink, and some PTI Ripe Avocado ink, plus a bit of gold tossed in for good measure. A dash of Copic aqua colored marker to add a bit of something. And lastly, the sentiment is MFT with Versafine ink. The shape of a fish in watery droplets. Works for me. Well, since I've kept you long enough, I'll stop now. Happy dances everyone.

A Smidgen of Time

Hi!!!! Good to be back in blogland, and I've missed you! Our company has gone for a day or two to visit other family members nearby, and I have a WHOLE day to craft! Well...I will spend a bit of today tidying up and running to the grocery store, but beyond that, it's a craft room kind of day! I've been "off-line" for most of the last two + weeks. I was really, really sick - caught the Spring cleaning bug, and couldn't stop. Other than the basement, the entryway closet, the insides of the cupboards and the outsides of the windows, the whole house is a little more sparkly and orderly. I walk around smiling, especially in those rooms where DH can't go, lol! I've also been working on sanding and painting an old metal office-type credenza for use in my craft room. That part is going slowly, but I'm rather excited about the prospect of more organization in here. I'll take photos once it's done and in here with its new glass top. Have you repurposed old pieces of furniture for other uses? I'd love to hear about your ideas, especially if they've found a new place in your craft rooms! My sister Sue is really good at that. She found bookcase-like display cases at her local card store which was going out of business, and they are now in her craft room. I wish she had a blog so you could meet her...you'd love her to the moon and back! Anyway.... I'm babbling; it's just that I'm so excited to be back in my craft room -- I've missed you all!

Today is my dear dil's birthday. And of course I made a card, which I'll deliver in person on Saturday. It makes me smile, although I'm not sure if it's because I really like it, or if it's because I'm just happy to create, lol! Probably equal parts of both. I've used a nice variety of stamps/papers/inks/dies on this one. And I'm taking it over to The Card Concept. After seeing the inspiration photo and the creations by the team, I knew I had to play along. Incredible. Check it out for yourself, and then join me in the gallery!

For me, this photo is chockablock full of things and ideas to be inspired by. If time permits, I may try another card. And my take looks like this:

Fully inspired by the colors, as you can see. And the stripes. And the flowers. And the sweetness. (Raining again, so not the best photo...) After checking out the DT's styles, this fits best in the Clean and Layered category, I think. All the white cardstock bits are Michaels, and then (thanks again sweet Anita!), a bit of linen cardstock for the big banner die cut portion. A large scrap of aqua, and a teeny-tiny scrap of rich pink for the band on the smallish SC tag die. AE stripes stamp, W Plus 9 rose, and TT for the sentiment. Some forgotten named, but much loved sequins, the Twinery twine, and some Joanne's ribbon. Just a smidge of froo-froo, but not so much that it makes me crazy. If time and Mr. Mojo permits, I'll hopefully be back either later today or tomorrow. Until then, happy dances everyone! (And who knows, I might even have some commenting time too! Woohoo!!)

ETA:
At Leigh Penner's suggestion, I'm also popping this into CAS(E) This Sketch



Thanks, Leigh!