Happy New Year!!

Twenty-fifteen. Who'd a thunk it?! Remember back in the day when we listened to Prince sing "...So tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999..." In some ways it feels like that was playing all over the radio (remember radio?) just yesterday. But we move on don't we...

New Year's resolutions. Don't make 'em, cuz I always break 'em. And while this year will be no exception, I thought I'd try a new thing. Not sure if I will be successful, but I am going to give it a shot. Here's my plan: I'm going to highlight one of the bloggers in my right hand sidebar, or those who have joined my blog. In a normal post, I'll will show you that person's card, and my CASE of it, then photos of both will go onto a new page called "Brought To You By...," which can be found on a tab at the top of my blog. I've started with my dear friend Anita, from My Papercraft World. She made this lovely card (well, one lovely among many) and I was quite struck by it. Now. If you haven't ever visited her blog, and I can't believe you haven't, I encourage you to go and do so! You'll be delighted at her sweet creations and her amazing personality. And having been lucky blessed enough to meet her IN REAL LIFE, I can tell you that she is really and truly the kind of friend we all want to have! So here is her card:

And this is my little tribute to her:

I don't have the die for this stamp, as of yet that is, so chose the black from Anita's card for my sentiment, and then used similar colors for my flowers and bling down in the lower right hand corner. You can see my focal panel is matchy-matchy to Anita's paper. She was kind enough to share this incredible paper, among many other treats and goodies, with all of us at the Lake House adventure. I've used all W Plus 9 stamps and several inks. 

Hope your New Year is wonderful, and I look forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations and reading all your fabulous posts in this coming years. Blessings to you all. Happy Dances everyone!

Remember?

Do you remember when Paulina from Pretty Pink Posh ran the 10-Minute Craft Dash? I loved playing there! It really challenged my brain to have the card in my head and to be ultra-organized before I sat down to create. *Sigh* I miss that challenge. Then I saw that Jen Mitchell and Teresa Kline had posted this new-to-me challenge called As You See It Challenge. They're already on #67 - - how in the heck did I miss this??? And for soooo long??? That's about to change. Today. They've got a Speed Stamping challenge going on in shades of white. Needless to say, I was intrigued. Very intrigued. Soooo I put my thinking cap on, and after a bit, I had a little ping. I'm so happy to say that the picture in my head translated exactly to the card. Really, really QAECAS (quick and easy clean and simple)!! This card took 9:05 to make. The part that took the longest was lining up the dies to my satisfaction. About 2 full minutes worth. Once that was done, the rest pretty much flew into place. Had all my supplies at the ready, which really helps if you want to try this challenge, and there's still time; you've got a couple of days yet.

I've got a couple of photos to show you instead of the usual one; you'll see why in just a second...

Now, it looks a little plain, but if you look closely, you'll see the vellum panel has circles and dots on it. But wait!, there's more...

Yep. Cut out a panel on the front of the card and stamped the sentiment on the inside of the card. Had to squish it together so you could see the sentiment. Looks so cool in real life. Here's how it came together:

1. cut cardstock (Michaels) and score at fold line

2. arrange MFT dies on scrap of white cardstock and cut two frames

3. place die on card base and cut

4. trim (unknown) patterned vellum and adhere to top frame, then to card

5. adhere second frame to inside front of card

6. stamp sentiment (PTI) on the inside of card base

7. stamp heart on outside corner and add Wink of Stella

8. be happy cuz that's all it takes!

Love how easy this came together. Happy dances everyone!

A Couple of Squeakers...

Trying to squeak a post in before the Packers game. Now, many of you know that I'd rather watch baseball, that I'm a big Cubs fan, and that I could really care less about football, but my granddaughter is on the Tundra Line Drum Line up at Lambeau Field today. She's there for all the home games. And I'd love to catch a glimpse of her. She did make it on Monday Night Football, and my dear son was kind enough to capture a photo of her on his TV screen. Anyway, if I'm going to get any squeaking in done, I'd better keep moving along...

The second 'squeaky' thing is a new-to-me challenge called Dies R Us. They're on Challenge 16, and with only 8 hours left to go for this one, I thought I'd better get it in gear if I wanted to play. It's an anything goes challenge. I'm also playing along at Showcase Your Style, where we must use at least one die cut.

Here's what I made:

All the stamps are from PTI's Note Niblet set. It's a great set chock a block full of wonderful images and sentiments. Very versatile. The dark green and blue inks are also from PTI, the rest are Colorbox and Studio G. The tag die is PTI, and the flag is MFT. Some random ribbon scrap, and a bit of twine from Karen Foster all on top of the Elle's Studio (is that right, Geri?) dp. This is just happy. I like it and hope you do too! Happy dances everyone, Aaron Rogers is calling plays and I must go watch for Melissa!

Only 364 Days till Christmas...

How's that for a sassy title?! I swear that I'm going to get things done earlier this coming Christmas season, so that by the first of December, I'll be nearly finished with everything (hahahahahahahahaha). Yeah, that'll happen...and I'll be taller too! Personally, I'm still in recovery mode. After several days of cooking and cleaning, then celebrating and more cleaning, I was way more than ready to spend time in my craft room. Heck, I even made a card! I made several in fact, but I'm only going to post one today. (Come on back January 1st to see at least one of the other cards I completed today.)

This card was made for my granddaughter Lizzy. She's a junior in high school, and was elected to the National Honor Society. Naturally, this calls for a card! Lizzy and I have a really special bond, and have since she was a baby. We've always liked to play, and there were times when she was younger when she'd call and ask if she could come and spend the night so we could be silly together. I can still make her laugh. And she always makes me smile. Have to tell you what I did this Christmas Eve. She'd asked for some Star Wars Vans shoes, and while they were a bit above our budget, grandpa and I decided to go ahead and get them for her. Lizzy also likes peppermint candies, and I thought I'd get a couple of bags to put under the tree for her as well. Then the mischievous side of me had an idea...and I knew she'd laugh out loud. I took the shoes out of the box and put them in a gift bag. Then I filled the shoe box with the bags of candy. On Christmas Eve, I handed her the box first. Her eyes lit up as she unwrapped the box. Her look of pure happiness changed to bewilderment, and she uttered a "Wha.....?", followed by gales of laughter as she opened the box and found about two pounds of candy instead of the shoes she so wanted! And her family roared! I handed her the gift bag and I swear that before I sat down again, those new shoes were on her feet. We all had such a good laugh. She and I chuckled about it all night long. A glance at each other brought smiles and new laughter about my little prank. I think she'll always remember this Christmas! I know I will. But I digress, don't I?....Card. You're here about a card. And so you shall have it...

DH gave me some new stamps and dies for Christmas (well, alright...I bought them for myself, wrapped them, and signed them from him...). They're from Mama Elephant. The other stamp I've used here is the starburst behind the lightbulb; it's from AE. The focal panel was cut with an MFT die. Versafine black ink, and Colorbox yellow. Thought I'd play along with CASology this week too. Here's their cue card:

Pretty sure my card fits the bill. And with that, Happy Boxing day and happy dances everyone!

Merry Christmas

Merry and Blessed Christmas everyone. It's that busy time of year for many of us, and amid all the cooking, shopping, wrapping, running...I want to offer a gentle reminder of the true meaning of Christmas. It's not about the presents, meals, who is coming or going where... No, Christmas is about the joy and love that God showered on his children. He sent his one and only Son into the world to be our Savior. I'm trying to keep my focus on the manger and am finding that the more I do, the easier it is to accomplish those things that I need/want to do.

Not sure if I'll be able to post again until after Christmas, but wanted to spend a bit of time in the old craft room. I've got two cards for four challenges today. First is a birthday card for another of the granddaughters, and will be going off to CAS(E) This Sketch and the City Crafter Challenge. Good friend and fellow BABE, Darnell is GD there, so I really wanted to play along at CCC. Plus there's an awesome color palette! And wow!, a great sketch from Leigh Penner at CTS!!! Definitely had to play!

Here's my card:

I wish I had better light...the reds look like two different colors! They are so close irl, and no matter what I did, the 'birthday' showed lighter...ah well... Started with a Michaels base, some MME enamel dots, scrap of gray, a scrap of paper from Geri G. (thanks!), some AC twine, a ME border die, a MB 'happy' die, and an RC birthday stamp masked off with VersaFine red ink. Hope Anna likes it!

Next up is a card for the Lawnscaping Challenge, whose theme this week is "Merry Christmas." And this will also make an appearance at the Curtain Call with the theme "candy cane." See what you think:

A pretty easy Christmas card:

Started with a Michaels base, and used some scraps of red, white, and stripes. The stamp is from LF, and I masked off the "J" and used a rub-on candy cane from Heide Grace in its place. Some old holly leaves from I don't know where, and three Queen & Co. Twinkle Goosebump blings for the berries. EZ. And with that, I won't keep you here any longer. Merry Christmas Everyone. 

Quiet Saturday Morning

I just love mornings. No matter what day it is, or where I am, I always get up early. It's the best time of day for me. There's quietness to be enjoyed. There's a cup or two of coffee. There's a little workout. There's day planning. Some mornings, I think about the post I want to write and get the basics down in my head. This morning I spent some time reminiscing about my youngest son. He turns 35 today. For all you young moms, those 35 years have gone by in a blink of an eye. It's been a blessing to watch him grow. And now he's a dad with four little ones of his own, and I swear, these grandchildren are growing up even faster than he did! I think my joy for the day will be to think often of all those whom I love and give thanks to God for having them in my life! And that includes you....So, if you've got 2-3 minutes, stop and think of all the people whom you love, and smile. It's a good day.

"Card?," you ask. Well, naturally I have a card. It's a Christmas card. And I'm funny about Christmas cards. I stopped sending them after about the 12th grandchild was born. The postage got to be ridiculous, as we sent out what seemed to me to be 500 cards. And I like to keep things personal - I'd add a note in the card for each and every person/family. Waaaay too much time. I did try just signing our names, but it just didn't feel right. DH started doing a Christmas letter. Good idea, but that also, got to be waaaay too wordy. And postage kept going up (and up). So one year, I dusted off my hands and said "no more." It's been at least 8 grandchildren ago. Maybe one of these years I'll start up again. "But why are you making Christmas cards," you may ask, "if you don't send them?" DH still sends out a few to colleagues and special people. So dear friends, please don't be offended if you don't get a card from me. I promise that I'm thinking of you and praying for you in this Holy season, and always.

And now to the card I've made... It's for CASology. Had a small ping, and went with it. Here's the cue-card:

And my CAS take on it:

A big thank you to dear sweet Anita for the amazing linen-textured paper that frames my card. The branch is a NBUS from Memory Box, and the ornament is a cut file from Silhouette. Both the branch and ornament papers were out of my scrapbox. Michaels white base. There's a sentiment on the inside. I didn't want to take away from the simplicity of the design with anything else. I think it speaks of Christmas well enough on its own. And now I'm off to call the birthday boy. Happy dances everyone.

Still in my jammies...

It's 3:00 in the afternoon, and I'm still in my jammies. I didn't have to go anywhere, and no one was coming around, so why not?! Spent the whole day in my craft room playing. Lots of birthdays within the next week or so, and I really needed to get those taken care of before any more time passed. Will just show you two of them today but I'm sure you'll see the others soon enough.

The first card up is for the current challenge at TIME OUT. It's been a while since I've played, and thought it was the perfect inspiration to jump back in. Amy Wanford has an inspiration card there that is just darn beautiful. Check this out:

*sigh*

Totally adore this card. My take is based on her snowflakes and all that beautiful white space

In real life it's delicate and lovely. The blue is more aqua-ish, but it's overcast and gray outside, which complicated my lighting... All the stamps are from My Cute Stamps. The inks are from ME, and there's a scrap of vellum under the snowflake panel. One dab of Stickles in the center of the snowflake and one sequin rather than the "o." Love the way this looks irl.

Next I've got a birthday card for sweet little Kaylin's 3rd birthday. I'll be popping this into Seize the Birthday. It's been some time since I've played there too. Dang! And it's such a fun place to play! Gotta do this more often.... Anyway, it's an 'Anything Goes with no toppings' challenge. I think this is perfect for a little girl's birthday:

All stamps are from PTI. I used a double sided paper for the tutu and the scalloped layer, it's from Doodlebug. VersaFine black, and Ocean blue inks. Some copics for coloring, an MFT pierced rectangle die, a ME scalloped die, and the #3 from Jillibean Soup. Fairly certain that Miss K. will like this. 

With that, I'll go straight to post. Happy dances everyone.

Fresh Air

This morning, I stepped outside and was immediately struck by the the fresh air. Not cold air. Not 'city' air. Fresh Air. Sweet smelling; the kind of scent that triggers memories. Clean. You know what I mean. Think: cotton sheets drying all morning on the clothesline and when you lay your head on your pillow, you immediately smell the fresh scent and then you drift off to sleep with a smile on your face and images of sunny, summer days going through your head. That's what the air smelled like this morning. So why do you need to know this, you might be wondering.... I'll admit I wondered whether or not to share this. But I have a good reason, really. After inhaling that wonderful scent a few times, I stopped and gave thanks to God for this particular small joy. I'm a firm believer in small joys. They just have a way of making my day, and thanks be to God for small joys like this one. Find your small joys everyday - they'll get you through those rougher days. And don't forget to give thanks...

And speaking of joys, I'd like to share a few of the joys that were mine at the Thanksgiving holiday. All of my kids, and now my little grandchildren love black olives. And just like their dads did, they like to 'wear' them on their fingers. Two families represented here, with only baby Avie missing. She's not quite old enough to have olives with the big kids. Carter and Sammi are on the far left, with little sister Kaylin on the far right. Grant is next to Carter with his sister Lily and brother Drew in front of him. Kaylin wanted to eat her olive, not have her photo taken....funny child.

We got our craft on the next day. Tad and family stayed, but by this time, Chris' family was having another Thanksgiving at Katie's parents home. Here are the little ones' crafts...(that's my darling son Tad, btw)

And we put up the tree and decorated the house for Christmas too, while mommy and daddy were out Black Friday shopping. Sammie swore it was "the best day ever!" I had to laugh. Great kids, great times.

And believe it or not, I actually have a couple of cards to share.

The first one will go over to The Card Concept Challenge, where we're to make a tag, or a card with a tag,  with snow, or snowmen on it. I'm calling this one clean and layered. There's still time to play, so I'll send you all a bit of encouragement and hope you'll play along too.

Isn't that MFT snowman just the cutest?! I masked off his twiggy arms because they hung over the parameters of the tag. I stamped him with black VersaFine, and colored him with copics. The blue snowflakes are from LF in Winter ink from ME. A bit of seam binding from SU, and a smidgen of red and white twine from The Twinery. My tag was cut with a PTI die, and I added a few bits of red bling to some of the snowflakes. Red VersaColor ink for the MFT sentiment.

This last card is for Muse, where I was inspired by the kraft, greenery, and the red/white polka dots. Vicki Dutcher has this amazing card up:

And since Fusion has a new challenge up today and my card fit, I thought, what the heck! I just used the inspiration photo and not the sketch this time. Don't you just love Muse and Fusion?! I know I do!

Here's my take:

Fun and funky. Is there anything more fun than polka dots??! That's an old scrap of OA dp. The stamps are all from LF's Deck the Halls set. Love that set!! Some PTI green, VersaFine black and Ranger brown inks. I made the teeny little poinsettia with a flower punch and added a yellow bling for its center. And kraft. 

Well, I've kept you all long enough, so will send you off to explore other wonders in your worlds. Happy dances everyone.