Good Ol' Friday

I'm retired. I was rather blessed to be able to retire quite early. So Fridays for me are just like any other day of the week, but there is still that sense of excitement when a Friday rolls around. That 'ahhhh...' feeling. It's going to be a fun and filled up weekend, which I plan enjoying to the max. Hope your weekends are perfectly wonderful as well.

By the way...Did you hear about Geri Greening from Manitoba Stamper? Oh yeah, she rocked it. She's the woman. She's the bomb. She made it into the Gallery Idol Top 20!!!!! Is that cool, or what?!! Be sure to stop over at her blog and give her a high 5. Way cool.

I'm playing today, over at TAWS Be Inspired challenge. They've got an awesome color palette, and I just had to play. See for yourself:

The treats don't look too bad either! Wouldn't they make the most yummy treats in school colors for a graduation party?!....Hmmmm..I'm throwing one next weekend....anyway....enough of my meandering.

So. I'm not sure what the blue base is, it was just in my jam-packed blue cardstock paper drawer. The red graph piece is from Pebbles, and the scrap of red polka dot is from SU. All stamps are from TAWS Awesome Blossom set (love that!), a random button, and some twine from my scrap box. The inks are SU-red, and Memento-blues. That's about it. Happy dances everyone.

Happy Birthday Ardyth!!!!! Surprise!!!!

Birthday wishes Ardyth. I hope you get to spend your day doing exactly what you want, and having lots of birthday cake, ice cream, treats, brownies, well...you get the idea! You'll have to let us all know what you did for your special day! Enjoy your day and celebrate. May your coming year be filled with joy and laughter, fun and frolic, and stamps and ink! Blessings today and always.

Oh, I made you a card! (Imagine that?!) And here it is....

Do you recognize it? Does it look the teensiest bit familiar? Well, it should. I've CASED one of your cards, and while mine isn't quite like yours, the family resemblance is unmistakable! In real life, the glittery parts are a bit lighter and brighter, but you'll have to wait till October to see it in person. It wasn't easy choosing one of your cards...they are all so fantastic, but this one really caught my eye. Now before you scroll down, let me add that our wonderful, mutual friend, Darnell had this great idea to throw you a surprise party! So at some point, (if you haven't already) you need to head on over there to see who else has birthday wishes for you. For my part, I want to tell you that your cards never cease to amaze me, and I simply adore what you create. I truly mean it from my heart. Happy birthday dear friend.

This is Ardyth's original card. Brilliant, perfectly brilliant. And one that I chose to CASE. You can see why. If you haven't seen her work, please drop by her blog and wander around leisurely, and while you're there, wish her a happy birthday. Woohoo!

Happy Birthday!!!

Glorious Sunday

It is so gorgeous outside today. A bit cool, but the sun is shining and the skies are blue. Church this morning was amazing and uplifting; I'm figuring that's why life feels so good. Heck, life IS good. Each day is a precious gift from God, and I'm thankful for each and every one.  You may or may not know that DH and I have a million (or so it seems) children and grandchildren...it's more like 15 sons/daughters/children in law, with nearly 19 (or is it 20...) grandchildren. I think....Gosh, I'm starting to lose track! Anyway, there are always several birthdays every month (except January which has none!) and May has been no exception. Our grandson Johnny's is on the very last day, and I needed a card for him. A manly card. He's just finished his bachelors degree, and is going on to pharmacy school (the last I heard). Nice kid. (Gosh, I speak parenthetically often! swink).

And while I was at it, I thought; "why not combine two challenges and the birthday card?" So I am. First into CAS-ual Fridays, and then into Retro Sketches. Manly colors at CFC and another sweet sketch from RS.

And here is my combination of the two:

Appropriate for a fella, and since this gs lives in Phoenix, I'm pretending he's relaxing on this boat on Lake Michigan while visiting. The card base is Bazzill, all other papers are scraps, Unity boat stamp, MFT sentiment, Faber-Castell artist pen big brush (thanks Suzanne!), Mark Richards nailhead bling, the Twinery bakers twine, and the folder is cuttlebug. Happy Dances everyone.

GI #3

So, after making two teen girl cards, I thought I try a little boy card. Once the pings hit, the card came together pretty easily. This will be my third and final entry into the Paper Crafts 2013 Gallery Idol.  Most of this card used stickers. There was some paper cutting and the use of only one stamp. I happen to have a red headed grandson, so this might just be a perfect card for him. He's mighty cute!

The striped paper is OA, the orange is Cloud 9. The boy, comet, Saturn and gold star are from OA, and the glitter stickers are from Bo Bunny. PTI stamp and SU ink. I used some sharpies and colored some squeekquins just for fun. And that's it. Happy dances everyone!

RWB

I have to keep this short this morning. Tons to do, and I really want to spend more time in the craft room, so must get at all the other things on my list. I don't often play at CAS-ual Fridays, and am not sure why. Their challenge this week, in honor of Memorial Day is to use Red,White, and Blue.

Before I show you my card, I would like to offer my own thank you to all the Service men and women who have so unselfishly given of their time, talents, and for some, their lives. Being in the military is not just a job as those who have served well know. Just ask them...or their families. And a special thanks to my dad. May God guard and keep all those who guard and keep us safe.

Bazzill white base, and the rest of the papers are scraps. Someday, those two boxes (cardstock & dp) will actually look like I've been seriously using them. The navy ribbon looks black, but trust me, it is navy...overcast again today. The twine is from my kitchen! MFT sentiment, SU ink, and the three dots are rain dots from Cloud 9. Fairly simple and straight forward. Happy dances everyone.

Gallery Idol, second time around

It's a good day to stay at home and make cards. Wind, a bit of rain, and more wind. So that's what I did. It's possible to make three cards for the Open Auditions Round of Gallery Idol, and the card I made today is my second. The pings are banging around in my head...too many of them. It took a while for me to get this one just right due to the "oh! I could use this, or oooh, I need to use that paper, or hey! what about this embelli?" And just when I was finished and putting all my supplies away, I dropped a girl figure onto the card. It was perfect (at least in my mind...). So here's my card:

This was really fun to make -- or maybe it was just the caffeine buzz...Anyway, I like it. Sure hope the folks who choose who goes onto the 1st round do as well. This will go to a granddaughter who turns 13 in September. She's a crafter, so she'll enjoy it almost as much as the fundage that grandma will tuck inside. lol. Bazzill white card base, and the rest of the papers are once again, scraps (gotta love that!). Some foam stickers from American Crafts, a Studio Calico wood veneer chick, and all of the buttons are from Simple Stories Sn@p Studio. Hope all is well with you folks, and today take some time for a happy dance.

CASology 45

I'm enjoying memories from the wonderful weekend. I can still see those sweet little ones smiling and laughing. So darn cute! There are tons of photos on my phone, but I'll only share two tonight. First up is 3 year old Samantha. Just about the sweetest little thing and according to her daddy, needs her attitude tweaked every now and then..Grandma doesn't believe that for one second. She came out with her hair in a little pony tail and told grandma to take her picture cuz she looked so cute. Naturally I did!

After Sam came out, baby Kaylin ran to show grandma her dress. She looked so cute in her green dress and sweater, and had little flower sandals on too. Then she ran back into her bedroom and came out wearing this...I laughed so hard mommy and daddy came to see what was going on.

Pretty darn funny for an 18 month old child.

Now, onto bloggish things...I wanted to play along with CASology this week, having been treated like a queen at Tad and Marsha's, their cue card just seemed perfect.

I was not so much stumped, as what I wanted to make just didn't pan out. But after some adjustments, I did come up with something a little royal. Inside it reads, "For the royal treatment".

For a bit of a change up, I made a square card at 4.25 x 4.25. The base is Bazzill, the font is computer generated, and once again, all other papers are scraps (woohoo)!! The three little blings are from want 2 scrap. And that's all. Super easy. Happy dances everyone!

What a great weekend!!!

So...many of you know I flew to Minneapolis this past weekend. And oh!, it was an awesomely, wonderful, fantastic weekend! I stayed with my son Tad and his amazing wife, Marsha, and of course the three little grandkiddies. They've grown since I've seen them last, but they remain sweet, well-behaved, funny, gorgeous children. Carter, who is 6, writes books and as a going-home present, he gave me one. I almost cried at his sweetness. The girls are littler, but no less sweet. *Sigh* I absolutely have to go back before summer is out. I'll post some pix later on.

For today however, I contented myself to fun memories, a few errands, and spending time in here. In case you didn't know, the Paper Crafts 2013 Gallery Idol is holding their open auditions. If you had asked me last year about making a card for this, I would have wondered if you had lost your marbles. I was intimidated by all the astounding card makers out there. At this point in time, I think my card making has become better and much more defined, and my confidence has also made strides. The theme for the open audition round is birthday cards for kids and teens. I chose the teen theme.

Now, who wouldn't want a cute new purse?! All Bazzill cardstock, random scrap of houndstooth dp, random ribbon, Making Memories glitter number stickers, SU ink, SU embellishment, Avocado Arts Sweet Treat Sweetie stamp, and a scrap of shiny black paper for the purse strap. Happy dances everyone.