Guest Designing for The Challenge Week Four

And a happy Monday morning to you all. Before I get into the card I made for my last week at The Challenge, I want to say thanks to Lesley and the DT for having me. It's been a pleasure, and I've enjoyed myself enormously. Thank you so much!  This being the last week of the month, The Challenge has a Masculine Photo to inspire you.

I tried. I really, really did. I had hoped that all watercolor paper which is now filling my recycle bin, would have been a fantastic card, much like the photo above. Nope. It just wasn't to be. I had to go with a more CAS card which used the colors. Now I like my card, it just wasn't the one my brain wanted! What can you do with such dramatic inspiration? I'd love to see all your creativeness. The more I look at this, the more I see endless possibilities. 

My masculine card:

In real life, the colors really do mimic the truck's colors. The die is MFT, the deer is from Little B, and the stamp is SC and is ghost stamped. All the cardstock are scraps. Do play along, and happy dances everyone!

Before It Gets Worse...

...And it will. As I finished editing the photographs of the cards I'm about to show you, I realized I'm getting a (frickin') migraine. So I won't chatter, I'll get to the cards and get ready to take some meds. I'll be fine....

My first card will make it into the Time Out Challenge with less than 24 hours to go. My second card heads over to the Little Tangles challenge.

Here are my cards:

Scraps, enamel triangle dots, Artplorations stencil, Studio G ink, ME birthday stamp.

Michael's white base, yellow CS, unknown designer papers, Anita's white CS, SC flag die, TT sentiment, Kelly Purkey red sequins, Versafine ink, N&T box die (so in love with that!). Gotta go. Hitting the meds now, but you all go and have some happy dances on my behalf!

Guest Designing at The Challenge Week Three

Good morning all. Hope you had a great weekend, mine was just wonderful. Even though it was cold on Saturday, the sun was shining making these January days bearable. It's my third Monday in a row Guest Designing over at The Challenge. How nice of them to invite me, and how fun to be a part of this challenge. Thank you so much for having me! You are the best!! Last week's challenge was a beautiful color challenge. This week we have this fantastic photo inspiration challenge! Check this out:

Normally, I'd be intimidated by all the prettiness in this photo, but not this time. I channeled my inner girly-girl and got right down to business. So much one could do with this much inspiration. I may have to see if I can come up with another card! You will play along, won't you? Good!

I don't think I've ever, in my whole life, ever put this many layers on one card. I've stepped out of my comfort zone completely for this card. And I'm kind of proud that I can kind of, sort of, do this. I wish you could see the colors in real life. Very prettily peachy-pink, with a smidgen of lavender and green. Not sure if I can tell you everything I used, so I won't even try. However, if there's a certain element you'd like to know more about, then shoot me an email and I'll try to get back to you on that. Okay folks, put your thinking caps on, and make a little something. Then join me over at The Challenge. I promise, no....I pinky promise to come and see what you've made! Happy dances everyone.

Just Playin'

Now I could have cleaned the bathroom this morning. Or I could have mopped the kitchen floor. I could have hauled out the vacuum and done the family room. But I didn't. Given the choice of any of these cleaning chores and crafting, I know what you'd have picked too! I will get to those chores in a bit, but I just couldn't rush right into them....my body would have gone into craft withdrawal and totally shut itself down. At least that's the story I'm telling! Besides, Mr. Mojo made an appearance, and I wasn't turning him away.

I've got three cards, (I know, right?!) for several challenges. Decided to play at City Crafters Challenge with card #1. Had a ping, made the card, and then saw that it matched Retro Sketches for this week. Seriously, I made the card before I saw the sketch! Then, I needed to break out some NBUS for Muse, and card #2 fits there, as well as Addicted to Stamps and More, and a new-to-me challenge, Double Click Skittles (hi Kim!). Whew!

City Crafters Challenge

Retro Sketches

Muse

Addicted to Stamps and More

Double Click Skittles Challenge

Here are the cards I made, one at a time

I hit the scrap files for this card. The red bandana patterned paper is, I think, from LYB, but don't quote me on that, as it has been in the scrap file for at least a couple of years. Some red scraps for the MFT flag and the RC frame. Some MME enamel dots, and a couple of random blings. The sentiment is from Verve with ME ink. See that cute little butterfly? That was in this ginormous box of goodies Amy T. sent. Thanks Miss Amy!! As soon as I saw it, and I'd just visited City Crafters blog, I knew exactly what I was going to make. You should see it in real life...

Then I made this:

Here's my little NBUS flower stamp. Wait till you see the other stamps that came with them! I'm not going to show the rest here, but I LOVE this set!! I pretty much CASED Anita's card, without the vines. I added some black blings to the centers of the flowers, and made the dot triangles. I colored the flowers with Copics, and added a TT sentiment. The black ink is Versafine. A strip of black cardstock and done. I had fun coloring this one. And that's it for today. I'll be back soon. Well, it really depends on how fast I clean the house...maybe if I go really fast, I can craft more today!!!! Happy dances everyone.

In and Out

I'm in and out today. You should see my craft room... It's totally trashed, so I'm posting a card quick and then getting to the mess. Hmmmm....I have no idea whatsoever who came in and did this! Must have been the DH. Certainly wasn't me! Before I get to the card, I'd like to thank all of the voters over at Muse. My CASE of Michele's card made the top three, and I'm tickled that you liked it! It's a great challenge, and the DT is full of talented and sweet crafters.

So have you heard it's Fusion's second birthday? Congrats and happy blogaversary! Head over to check it out and play along too. In a minute....

Just had to join in the celebration. This started out as something totally different; eventually I made this:

I tried to do chevrons. Didn't work. Kept to the colors though, and at least the ghost of the sketch. Green PTI ink, a NBUS SC die in bright pink, and yellow and white dp. A sprinkling of bright pink bling things, an MFT fishtail die,  and a N&T sentiment. That's it for now. Happy dances everyone!

Guest Designing for The Challenge Week 2

To paraphrase the effervescent Darnell; we've whoosed around to another Monday. And I'm happy to report that life is good, and I am thankful. So many things to be thankful for, and one that I thought I'd share is, that I get to share a card as Guest Designer for The Challenge again this week! I'm delighted beyond belief! Thanks to Kim and Leslie and the rest of the DT for this wonderful opportunity. And check out the inspiration photo for this week's challenge; it's full of amazing colors, and I know you'll want to play along, right?! Right!!

Here's how these colors inspired me:

The scrap of my all-time favorite navy patterned paper (Theresa Collins for MME) was cut with a SC tag die. An NBUS Little B die for those laurels, and a (can you believe how nice they are) free "grateful" die that I got with my last TE order. A snippet of orange ribbon, and a random button. That's about it. You all have a good day, and don't forget to join me over at The Challenge!

Happy Saturday

Happy Saturday to you all, though, when you're retired like me, pretty much everyday is Saturday. It has its good points and some not-so-good points. Sometimes it's fairly easy to put things off until tomorrow because I'm not working under deadlines anymore. But I'll take it. Hanging out in the craft room in my jammies till after 9:00 some mornings is kind of nice! And drinking all the coffee I want too! While I'm here, (still in my jammies...) I wanted to give a quick thanks to CASology for giving this card an HM. Just love playing there, and everyone on the team is so darn nice! So thanks!!

I have one card for today. Thought I'd play over at ColourQ and the card I started out making morphed into something completely different. Funny how that works. It's like my brain and hands aren't connected sometimes. But check out these colors:

Because the images are for a baby outfit, I thought about making a baby card. However, the hands were uncooperative. They wanted to make this:

So I had no choice but to go with this card. The papers and the little bunny are from the AC Welcome Spring line. Two SC tag dies, and a chopped off MFT dotted line die from Blueprints 18 on the big tag. Random sequins and ribbon and twine. The stamp is from LF. Love that teeny tiny look. And that's all I've got. Time to go get dressed. Have a great weekend and happy dances everyone!

Striving

I'm really striving to get back on track. Even with the possibility of changes coming in the nearish future, I really just want to be as normal as possible. For those of you who actually know me, normal is a relative term; maybe what I should say is that I want to be as normal as possible. Helps keep the DH in a happy place, and it also helps keep those blasted migraines away. So I'm trying to comment, make cards, send emails, spend time with family and friends, and all those normal everyday things like cleaning, cooking and running errands too. You seen where my priorities lie (or is it lay? I can never remember. stupid brain!); it's all centered on crafting...haha! So errands this morning and crafting this afternoon was the normalcy today (it's late Tuesday as I begin this post). Wanna see what I managed to come up with?! Good, let's get to it!

It's a three-fer today. One for Muse, one for CASology, and one to share at Less Is More and Inkspirational Challenges.  How's that for getting back on track?! I had way too much fun spending time in the old craft room. So let's take a look-see, starting with Muse. Oh my, my, my.... Michele came up with this, and I had to practically CASE it. Love at first sight.

I so CASEd her card. I even used the same sentiment set (purely by accident!).

I've been diving into my 6x6 paper packs. Desperately trying to stop hoarding so many of my "favorite" things. This black quatrefoil snippet is from Pebbles. The oval die is an MFT one, and the sentiment is from RC. Those sweet little peppermints are from Clear and Simple stamps which I fussy cut. I would have used the dies, but couldn't find them...until AFTER I cut them. Duh! One of them is popped up a bit.

Next is my offering for CASology.

 

Now, CASology is already a "Clean and Simple" challenge. So how does one go S on a CAS challenge? Well, here's what my brain decided to do:

One stamp set. It's pretty much NBUS and by SC. Two inks; Versafine black and ME pink. I used a bow from a HA set and fussy cut it. I've got a granddaughter's birthday coming up, and this might be a good one for her. EZPZ lemon squeezy!

This last card will visit Less Is More, and the Inkspirational Challenge. Less Is More is all about neutrals this week. I was in the mood for pretty much neutrals, anyway! (after an upward glance at the other cards. Just noticed that....I am such a knob). 

The focal panel pulls out of the sweet little envelope. Miss Amy T. sent me that after the Fall CLBH, so it's my "new" thing. And my card was inspired by this card that Erin made for the Winter CLBH.

A view outside the envelope:

All sorts of inspiration floating around blogland, as I'd come up with the kraft hearts, but they were so plain. Then I saw Anita's card. Splatters. Just what those little hearts needed. Only a few...

So the square and the label frame are from MFT. RC hearts. WPlus9 sentiment. The linen paper is from Anita, when we spent a heavenly week at the Lake House. Some bakers twine, a couple of snippets of b&w striped paper to bring your eyes to the center, two staples, and that's about it. 

DANG! Long post. Sorry. So I'll stop now. But I will be back. Happy dances everyone!!

Guest Designing at The Challenge!!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, and that your New Year has started out well. Our season was lovely and things look good for the coming year! I got an email from my sweet friend Kim early in December asking if I'd like to be a Guest Designer at The Challenge for the month of January! It took my brain all of a nanosecond to process the request and say YES!! Thanks so much for having me as GD this month. Just delighted to be here!! And I hope that your creativity will be sparked as much as mine was! Here is the first sketch of 2016 and it has endless possibilities for cards... Hope you'll play along with me! Woohoo!!!

I know I'll be coming back to this sketch again and again; so many ideas fluttering around in my head! But here's what I made for my "first" card using this sketch:

Oh I wish you could see this in person.... it's really pretty and one of my favorite cards in recent memory. I pulled out a couple of gold die cut roses that I made with Kim's die when we were spending a week at the Lake House. Hoarded roses. Still have a couple more....! The leaves are stickers backed with vellum. Both papers come from a 6x6 paper pad by AC Dear Lizzy. A SSS sentiment with Jeni Bowlin ink, and a smattering of sequins. It went together rather easily, and was for a granddaughter's birthday back in December. Might have to CASE myself as this was such an awesome sketch to work with! Now grab your supplies and play along! I'd love to see what you make over at The Challenge!! Happy dances everyone. 

Happy New Year

Did you ring in the New Year last night? DH and I celebrated in our usual style. In bed by 11:00pm. We're such party animals.... All I could think of last night was giving many thanks to God for no migraines yesterday (after a three day run...), and getting up to make a card or two. In reality, I made three. Pretty soon, I've got to head upstairs and clean out the Christmas closet. We're planning on downsizing to a condo this Spring, and I need to make some hard decisions. But in truth, I'd rather play in my craft room and listen to the PBS series, Baseball, on the MLB channel. DH is watching for me.

So I guess it's time to get onto the cards, and then go upstairs. The first one is going into the MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge, and also into Color Q.

And mine looks like this:

Poor lighting today. The blue is more green in real life, and closer to the Coastal Cabana shown... All MFT dies. The gold confetti paper was made with my Silhouette. 

Next is a card for the As You See It Challenge, and also for the Stamp Ink Paper Challenge #28, where it's Anything but Christmas. 

Mine is definitely not Christmassy!

All of the papers are from my scrap files. And except for the tag itself, they come from an ancient SU card. I just cut the bits and bobs apart. The flowers and sentiment are from Verve and a PTI ink, as well as the black Versafine ink. A few black enamel dots and a little black ribbon, and done.

And last but not least, is a card for the Share the Joy Sketch + CAS Challenge. I chose the CAS part, as opposed to the Sketch part. I will also pop this into the Inkspirational Challenge. This one will go out in the mail Monday to a friend.

This is mine:

The grid dp is a (no longer hoarded) piece of AC, which I cut with a ME die. Then a PPP flag die, upon which I stamped my TE image and sentiment. I colored the soup and 'soon' with Copics. EZPZ lemon squeezy. And that will about do it for today. I'll be off for the closet in a few minutes, unless I decide it can wait until tomorrow, and boy, that's sounding like a much better idea. Then I could do some commenting....Anyway, happy dances everyone!