Yellow

Yellow. Couldn't get it out of my head. The old brain demanded more yellow. I decided to comply to see if that would take care of my recent yellow obsession. And of course, polka dots. After making cards for a few years, and really, really thinking about design thanks in large part to being on the Twofer Design Team, I've come to realize a few things. 1.) I use patterned paper. I like it. 2.) I'm drawn to polka dots, stripes, and gingham. 3.) Dies make me happy. Love them. There are more things I could list, but that would get boring. Not going there...

I have just one card and one tag for today. As it turns out, yellow was a good color choice. Can you believe I've found not one, but TWO challenges that are calling for yellow. Yippee! (Sometimes I think I should listen more to the voices in my head....nahhhhhh! lol) The card will set off to visit the Rainbow Challenge and the Allsorts Challenge. The tag will go play over at Tag You're It!

YUMMY YELLOW

Here's what I've got for "yellow."

Oh you should see how cute this is in real life! That's a large scrap of yellow polka dotted paper, a scrap of some LF striped paper, an MFT circle die, a Studio Calico flower die, and a Uniko sentiment. I popped the flower up in the center of that circle and above the sentiment. Much easier to read irl. 

Now for the tag:

Just had to go with these colors (notice there's not a speck of yellow here? hahaha!) I used an RC die and striped side plate cut once in white and once in blue so I could get those blue 'innards.' That's an EH sentiment and coffee cup, colored with Copics. I added a few sequins that match the stripes and a smidgen of Verve ribbon to compliment it all. And that's it for me today. Hope your upcoming week is filled with blessings, and as always...

Going Literal

I saw that the new challenge was up at Time Out. It has a really cool photo inspiration, and it makes my eyes happy. Structure. Lines. Rectangles. Curves. Deep color. That's what my brain saw and then it smiled. Brain said, "You can do this. Go on...give it a try." And what do you know, a card was born! First try. No rippies-uppies. No feeding the recycle bin. It's masculine-ish too, which is something I wanted to do more of this year. Might get to another yellow card later, as yellow is still screaming "use me!!!!," so I might have to obey. We'll see. Oh! And Addicted To Stamps And More are doing a CAS this time. This one is very CAS...so I'll play there too.

I also wanted to play again at the Double D Challenge, as I can squeak in another gingham card. It turned out quite nicely, and is a good girlie card.

Up first is a very CAS card. We've had weird light today, and while the white base looks a bluish gray, it's actually bright white. Sorry.

I scored a line at 3/4" to make the rectangle. I cut the stripes with an EH Skinny Stripes die in navy blue, and the gold half circle with two WPlus9 circle dies. The sentiment is from W&W and is stamped in navy blue. Can you tell how I was inspired? Check the walls of the inspiration photo, the pillow, and the coffee table. A pretty literal interpretation, but I like it. Looks really cool irl. 

Here's my girly gingham card:

I cut a pretty blue gingham paper from MFT with a ME scalloped edge die. I used an MFT scalloped circle die for the flowery bit, and a plain circle to help it pop. The sentiment is a new die by Card Deco, and I love its size. I added a few black blings and called it good. Works for me. Going to run, but you all have a great weekend. And as always...

Two Cards

No chatter today, I need to get this post written before DH awakens from his nap. I have two cards today for two challenges each. Card number one will head off to Inspired By Challenge and Double D Challenges. Card number two will go play at CASology and The Card Concept.

This card has no sentiment on the front, but inside it says "Happy Mother's Day". I had help via a little FT chat with good friend Kylie, who helped me find a way to be happy with this card. Thanks, friend! 

I found this lavender colored paper in my paper tower, but don't know who makes it. The gingham paper is from MFT. I used an SU stamp (inspired/enabled by Marcia!!), and colored it with Copics and Winked it with a little Stella on the bow. The rectangle dies are also MFT.

Card number two:

The light blue base is from my scrap drawer. It's what I'd call 'aquamarine' if it had photographed better. And how about those fish?!! They're from a company in France called Simply Graphic, and if you haven't checked them out, seriously, go. I love these fish, and I think they fit the quirky side of me perfectly. I used the colors and sea theme for entry into the card concept, and it's most definitely a CAS card. And I've got to run. Much to do yet today. Have a wonderful week, and as always...

Feeling Springy

It must be because of the Spring weather, or the Daylight Savings Time, or the daffodils beginning to peek up out of the ground, but I seem to be using a ton of yellow these days. I have another yellow card to show you today. And polka dots (right, Marcia?!!) just because I love them. We'll get right to it then...

My yellow card will head off to play at SSS Wednesday Challenge (cute), and at the Rainbow Card Challenge as well. 

YUMMY YELLOW

I live in Wisconsin. Hence, cheese. But wait!! This is cute cheese for sure!!

It is cute, isn't it?! I found a chunk of this polka dotted paper in my paper tower, and had to use it. I cut this and the smaller white panel with MFT's Wonky dies. The stamps are from Newton's Nook, and I colored that mighty cute cheese with some yellow Copics. This is the second smaller panel I've tried. On the first one, I colored in the holes in the Swiss cheese. Just didn't look right. I made another panel and left the holes white. I like it better as it works well with those white polkie dots. So there you have it. Not sure if I'm done with yellow yet, but we'll see. It's such a happy color. Have a great Wednes-turday. And as always...

It's Mon-turday

I thought, that since our lovely friend Darnell makes up new words which we all love, well, I thought I'd give it a go. "Mon-turday." It's a combination of Monday and Saturday. For those of us who are retired, every day is kind of like a Saturday, so it just made sense to me, lol! "Tue-turday" sounds funnier though...Go ahead, say it out loud in front of a three year old! My friend Mary would tell me I was naughty. She's not far from wrong, hahahaha!!  Anyway, thought I'd try it out on you. Doesn't quite work as the words Darnell invents, does it? Shoot. Oh well, let's move onto a couple of cards then, shall we?

I've got two for you this morning. The first one will head off to play at Tag You're It, which has a lovely and delicious prompt! POLKA DOTS. Sorry. Just couldn't contain my excitement. You know me. I love, adore, can't-live-without-them. My second card is off for a visit at Freshly Made Sketches. This one makes me giggle a little.

I put my tag onto a black and yellow matted base so it would really pop:

I may have to play again. It's 'polka dots' after all! The tag die is from RC, and the 'hello' sentiment is from Savvy dies, cut in both yellow and black. All the papers are from my scrap files, which really makes me happy! There's a bit of yellow twine and a b&w polkie dotted ribbon to finish it off.

Up next is a bit 'o fun:

It loosely follows the FMS sketch. My line of penguins follows the horizontal line of the sketch, and the icebergs are representative of the circles. They're from EH. The layers of snow are cut with LF dies, and the snowballs are just punched from an olllld paper punch. I did a little blending with those nice, new-fangled brushes. They work so well for inept me. I used a Sunny Studio sentiment to finish this one. Can you just picture the plop-splat on the back of a penguin head?! Reminds me of days gone by...not like I would have done anything like that....hahahahaha! So that's it for me. I am hoping you all have a delightful week, and as always...

Hello Beautiful

Have I ever told you about our daughter, Cathy? She's a beautiful woman. Mother to four adult children (where did that time go??), wife to a wonderful husband, hard worker, loving daughter, and a good Christian woman. She's funny, brave, kind, nice, empathetic, strong, and has all the qualities necessary to be called an incredible person. I hope you all have someone like Cathy in your family. She's beautiful. As you are. I can see your soul shining and it is most definitely beautiful.

I'll show you one card today which I made for Cathy's birthday (in July). She won't see this, so it'll be a surprise for her, don't worry. Thought it fit nicely into Addicted To Stamps And More, as well as Time Out.

ETA: One of the DT members at The Flower Challenge, Bobby, suggested I enter this card there as well. So I shall! Thanks Bobby!!

She likes flowers. And purple. Here's what I made:

I used a WPlus9 floral stamp and die. I colored the pretty flowers and leaves with Copic markers. The sentiment is from Altenew, and fits Cathy to a "T." The peachy cardstock is from my seemingly endless stash, and I thought it was a good fit for this card. Now. If only Esther (pronounced Kara) would come for another visit and continue my Copic coloring lessons.... I wouldn't be this far without her! While it's a fairly simple card to make, I think it packs a punch. I do like it, if I may say that without sounding immodest. Enjoy your weekend everyone, and as always...

Making Plans

A couple of weeks ago, I started making plans for this year's home repair projects. We live in a sweet home built in 1929, which has many of the original features left untouched, including light fixtures, doors and woodwork, and amazing plaster work. A bit of the plaster in the dining room and living room need repair, and a coat of paint wouldn't hurt either, so I thought, "hey! This is the year to get both done!" I was happily dreaming of paint colors and was planning to hire the whole job out! And then, I thought, "There's enough money left to get the work done on the soffits, facia, and gutters on the addition and garage too!" Yay!! And if those projects didn't cost too much, I might even have enough money left over to get some new dining room chairs. For a little while, I fell asleep at night thinking about beige, green, and blue paint colors. Then a bridge in my mouth broke. And I got an infection. For more than a week I looked like a lopsided chipmunk, but the infection is nearly gone now, thankfully. *sigh* It's going to take a nice chunk of that set-aside money to fix what's happened in my mouth. Ugh. Blessed to have the funds and maybe if I just hire out the plaster repair, one of my sons can come and help me paint.... It's always something, isn't it?! The upside is, if I have Christian come and help me, it would be some lovely time spent together. That's a really nice upside to all this, isn't it?! I'd trade time with my kids to new paint any day. See...I make my plans and God says, "Girl, I've got something better for you!"

All that fun started about 10 days ago, and now that I'm feeling better, I thought I'd make some cards. It's what we do, right?! I've got two to share today. The first one will head off to CAS(E) this Sketch, and the second one will go play along at Fusion (where I've used the top left part of the inspiration photo and the colors), and at CAS On Friday (embossing).

Here's what I made:

For the birthday card, I've used a new CP set, and a sentiment from Sugar Pea. I cut the center panel with an MFT die, and used a scrap of blue that matched the ink on one of the circles. 

For the sympathy card, I used an Altenew set and heat embossed those pretty leaves. That's also an MFT die and a Gina K. sentiment in the lower panel. No matter how I tried to give this its true mint green color, it photographed a bit on the blue side. *sigh* Seriously easy cards though. Had so much fun making them. You have a great day, and as always...

Twofer Challenge #14

It's time once again for the Twofer Challenge! I hope you're as excited as I am. When Darnell let the Design Team know March's prompt was "Balloons," well...don't you know I just had to jump online and buy a stamp and die set that I'd been drooling over! What a perfect excuse to shop a little, lol!!

I do hope you'll play along with us. And unlike me, you can use the stamps, dies, and/or stencils you've got in your stash (unless you "need" those new stamps, lol)! Remember to make two differently designed cards for two different occasions and join us in the gallery. It's great for your stash!

Here's a photo of them together:

And individually:

Those sweet balloons are from Sugar Pea Designs. For the baby card, I used my new ink blenders, and colored all the balloons in Fresh Ink's Pink Lemonade ink. Those are AE scalloped dies, LF flag banners (Winked by Stella), an old Pebbles word die cut, some pretty Doodlebug polka dot paper, and I finished off those SP balloons with a teensy bit of silver thread.

You can tell by looking at it, just how CAS my birthday card is. Same balloon, stamped in black, blended in yellow. The package is from Jane's Doodles, and the sentiment is PTI. EZPZ. 

I can't wait to see where you fly off to with your balloons. So I'll see you in the gallery, right?!! And as always...

March Forth on the First

It's March already. I swear that before you know it, we'll be singing "O Come All Ye Faithful," but in the meantime, I guess it would be a good thing to go through Spring, Summer and Fall before we embark on another Winter!

In regards to my last post, here, I wanted to thank you for letting me know how you feel and what you do about cooking and baking. (And if you email me Sharon, I'll reply with that recipe...) Even after all these years, I still enjoy both, but sure wish I had someone to come in and clean up the mess I make in the kitchen, lol! Just found a recipe for a decadent sounding Chocolate Banana Cake. I won't touch it, but DH will be as happy as a husband with a chocolate/banana cake!

Two cards today. Neither was difficult to make, and both use a bit of patterned paper. The first one will head off to the CAS Colours & Sketches challenge, and the second will go to CAS(E) This Sketch and Time Out.

Here's the first:

I used a scrap of this fun, bright patterned paper and cut it with a PPP border die. The sentiment is from MFT and I used a green ink to compliment the leaves. 

For my next card, I used an Ellen Hutson die in a 'unique' way...or at least I think it's unique...

I took an MFT Stitched Square die and cut a panel from white cardstock. Then I used that EH Skinny Stripes die and cut the center. Made a nice, striped square. Next though, I pulled a scrap of MFT black and white striped paper and fitted it behind. Quite the interesting pattern, I think. That's an MFT glasses die, and a SSS sentiment. Now I've got to run. You all have a wonderful weekend and...