I've Been Making Cards...

While I really have been making a few cards, most haven't made it to the 'photo-worthy' stage. Had one done on Saturday, took the photo(s), and all of the photos stunk. Finally, between last night and today, I've made a 'photo-worthy-post-worthy card.' About dern time too! Maybe Mr. Mojo has decided to wake up. We'll have to see... I'm playing along with Less Is More, where the recipe is:

Here's what I made:

Lots of white space with plenty of dimension. I have a white base, a white TE embossed panel, a white panel split with a LF die, and some PS die cut leaves. I added the RC sentiment in gray, and three white sequins. Turned out to be a fairly QACAS card. You all have a good week and hopefully, I'll be able to pop in for some commenting visits, too! As always...

Two For A Sunday

It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon here, and while I'm waiting for the laundry to dry I thought I'd share a couple of cards with you. I found a challenge or two for each card, so I'm pretty tickled about that. First up is a Halloween card that will head off to play at the City Crafter Challenge, where the theme is "Halloween."

My card looks like this:

I'd tried something different, but as I was working on it, I decided I didn't like it, and this card came like a "ping" into my brain. While we were at the Lake House, Darnell showed us this technique. Shiny paper, alcohol inks and a bit of swirling created this. My whole paper looked (to my eyes) pretty ugly, but this particular section seemed fit for a pumpkin. The pumpkin is cut and embossed with a die from the stamp/die set Darnell gifted me, and the sentiment is from the same set.  I popped it up a bit, too. That's a NBUS frilly frame from Gina K., and a PPP scalloped die. I wish you could see this in person; it looks pretty cool, and I love the shine it has. 

This next card will visit both Freshly Made Sketches and CASology. You can see the sketch and the cue below:

Here's what my take looks like:

I started with a kraft base. The pears aren't stamps at all. They're dies from a WPlus9 set, and I thought I'd try something to see if it would work; I inked the pear dies with some brown ink before I cut them out, and hot diggity!, it did!! Then I used my Zigs to give them a nice pear color. That's a C9 sentiment, and a few gold sequins to finish the card. And since the dryer just buzzed off, I'd better get running so my clothes don't wrinkle. Hope your upcoming week is wonderful and as always...

Unicorn Love

Personally, I think unicorns are sweet and magical, and just right for five-year-old birthday girls to love. And if paired them with rainbows, well... the girl is in heaven! My sweet little Avie turned five last month, and we sent (well, Amazon did anyway) her all things unicorns and rainbows. First she unwrapped her blue hoodie, in a cute rainbow-unicorn print. She did what most kids do when they get clothes as gifts...she tossed it over her shoulder and moved along to the fun stuff, lol!

Yep, that's it right there on the floor. She liked her headband much better! 

The card you're about to see isn't the one we sent for her birthday, but unicorns will always remind me of Avery, so I had to tell you this little story. Plus, a fun photo of this granddaughter will make you smile, I'll bet!

Here's what I made for the current Ellen Hutson Challenge. It's a sketch:

Here's my unicorn card:

All in pastels. The sentiment and unicorn are EH stamps, and the scalloped circle die is from MFT. All the panels are from my scrap drawer, and the sequins were a gift from Ardyth (thanks!). I colored the unicorn with Copics, and the horn was done with an ancient gold pen. The panels are popped up with fun foam. Pretty sure this is going to little Kaylin for her December birthday. And I'm pretty sure she'll love it! So there you have it, and I need to get on to doing bills (yuk). Or....maybe I'll do a little commenting! Yeah! That's the ticket! As always...

Twofer Challenge #10

Cooler and more colorful days have arrived, and with them the October Twofer Challenge. I'll admit that I'm enjoying the crisp Fall air and everything about these wonderful days. While the Harvest Moon occurred on September 24th, the farmers in Wisconsin are still busy clearing their fields and orchards. A veritable cornucopia of corn, potatoes, apples, pears, pumpkins, and all things deliciously Fall. As you can probably guess, this month's prompt for the Twofer Challenge is:

After seeing so many of you in the gallery for September's challenge, I'm looking forward to what you create for this month's "Harvest" prompt!

I chose pumpkins. Here's a shot of both of my cards:

Ellen Hutson's baker lady is going to try her hand at making pumpkin pie from scratch. I have a recipe for that, and someday I'm going to buy 'pie-pumpkins' and give it a whirl. I'll bet it'd be fun! 

I found a piece of one of my favorite plaid papers in my scrap files and used a scalloped die from ME against a dark green base. EH baker lady stamp and die, and a NBUS pumpkin from Hello Bluebird. I watercolored the images. A HA sentiment finishes off this card. 

My second card uses scraps for the sky and 'lawn,' and the lawn is cut with an MFT grass die though you can only see a smidgen of that. And speaking of 'lawn,' the fence is a Lawn Fawn die! The sentiment is from the now defunct My Cute Stamps company, and that adorable owl as well as the pumpkins are NBUS from HB. I colored the pumpkins and the owl with Copics.

I'm so looking forward to seeing what you'll create! You will be joining us in the gallery, right?!! Good! Be sure to stop by and check out our Guest Designers' blogs and the rest of the Twofer Challenge's DT to see more spectacular 'Harvest' cards! As always...

Trying to be Normal

I'm trying to be a little more "normal" these days. Well...as normal as I can be, lol!! Went to see my Electrophysiologist (a type of cardiologist) a couple of weeks ago, and while my heart has healed from my ablation, I've got something 'new and completely different' going on with my heart. Nothing serious, or so he says, but I'm wearing a heart monitor 24-7 for 30 days. It's mostly not bad, except at night when it drops off the bed. And I've hired a housekeeper. She cleans like I do and is as anal retentive as I am about those certain areas in the house. You know...those places that HAVE to be ultra super duper clean. *happy sigh* It's nice to know that I'm not the only one in the world who is 'slightly' crazy about those things. Behind the bar in the basement, well, who cares, right?! But kitchen sinks should sparkle....

Oh! You came here for cards, didn't you?! I've got a couple and will get right down to it, with much less chatter. I'm playing along with Sunday Stamps Challenge with this first one.

Love me some scallops...

I used my AE scalloped die for the wavy blue panel and trimmed the other papers with it too. Not sure about the wavy paper or the grass (cut with an MFT grass die),  but the little polkie dots are from LF. All the stamps, except the sentiment are from Hello Bluebird. Just sweet. And that sentiment is from A Muse Stamps. On to my second card...

This one will go to The Card Concept and SSS Wednesday Challenge: 

A bit of a ping and the card was made!

I went a little Clean and Layered for this card. Lots of white space. The stamps and matching dies are all from Ellen Hutson. All colored with Copics, and the Polaroid frame is a TE. And while you can't see it, the rainbow and unicorn are all spiffed up with a little Wink of Stella. This one makes me smile. Hope it makes you smile too. And I've got a million things to do, so I'm going to shut up now. As always, dear friends....

Pinkfresh Challenge and Stamptember

I needed a day to just craft and not worry about what is/was not getting done around my house. Found this challenge via Shelly at Sweet Greetings (hi Shelly!!!), and since I have some Pinkfresh stamps and dies which needed a good inking up, I thought, "Why not?!" The September Challenge there would like participants to create a card (in my case) inspired by a member of the Design Team. I found a card by Natasha Valkovskaya, that I fell madly in love with. This is the link to that card; it can be found at her IG account. And for some reason unbeknownst to me, I can't seem to copy the photograph and show you here...But trust me, it's well worth a look!!

My card looks like this:

All the stamps are from Pinkfresh Studio. I crooked stamped the vase on a scrap of striped paper. Thought it had a more whimsical look that way. The flowers are watercolored with my Ziggies but rather than the more blush color, the pinks are pretty close to the light pink stripe in the vase. *sigh* I just added a few clear sequins for a smidgen of sparkle and done! 

Last week I quickly whipped up a birthday card for my granddaughter. She's now a senior in high school and likes purple. I photographed it just because I liked this card, and that was fortuitous, as over at Simon Says Stamp, it's Stamptember. One of their challenges for the month is to use a Neat & Tangled product, and this card so happens to be solely N&T!

And my card:

This is a NBUS set called Floral Frames. I did a little Copic coloring on several leaves, but used Zigs for the rest, as well as the flowers. I really, really like this set! 

And I'm off. Need to get at least a few things done today! Have a good one, and as always...

Twofer Challenge #9

Before I get to the heart of this post, I wanted to offer my sincere thanks for all your thoughts, prayers, and the lovely cards you've sent. I'm happy to report that my cardiac ablation went well, and that the doctors were able to take care of those parts of my heart which were triggering a very deadly rapid heartbeat. The tiredness from the anesthesia has gradually worn off, the puncture sites have healed, and the after effects of the procedure (mostly shortness of breath and a teensy bit of chest pain) are all but gone! So all is good with me! Thanks be to God!!

Now. The reason you're here... It's Twofer Challenge time again, and Darnell and the rest of the DT has some pretty spectacular cards to show you for this month's prompt, which is:

While this challenge runs, it will officially become Fall in this part of the world. Such a pretty time of year, and I'm so blessed to live in an area with four very different seasons. Fall has become one of my favorite times. Maybe it's the crisp air. Maybe it's the color or the crunch of the leaves. I'm not sure why, but it is such a special season. ( I suppose it could be the pumpkin pie too, lol!!) Anyway, I've got some leafy cards to show you:

Here they are together

And here they are individually

Don't ask me why my brain went all salmon-colored polka dotty for that first card...it just did. I'll admit I do like the way it turned out though. It makes a really nice anniversary card - chock full of love! My second card will be sent to family members who can't make it to our Thanksgiving feast. 

Both cards use the same stamp and die set from The Stamp Market. I used just the die on the first card, and the matching stamp for the second, along with other sized leaves from the same set. 

The salmon-colored polka dotted paper is from LF, and the center panel is from an unknown 12x12 sheet. I added a black 'frame,' a tiny punched out heart, and a snippet of black twine to the leaf. The sentiment on the Thanksgiving card is from SSS, and I used all my Fall colored inks to create a giant leaf pile. Looks fun enough to jump in, doesn't it?!!

Be sure to check out the sweet cards created by our Guest Designers Susan and Linda, as well as the rest of the Design Team over at the Twofer Challenge. And play along with us! There are soooo many possibilities for this prompt! See you in the gallery, and as always...

Twofer Challenge #8

Well here it is August already, and we're all set for this month's Twofer Challenge, are you?!! The Design Team has come up with awesome cards, as have our Guest Designers Cheryl and Brenda. I can't wait to see where this month's prompt takes you! I had so many ideas, both conventional and unconventional, but chose to go with the ping that popped into my brain (or in this case, a double ping!!). You're going to love this prompt, I promise!!

I know, right...!!! Tons of ways to go with this one! Here's where my pings took me:

Did you know that triangles are the strongest shape found in nature? Yep. It's because any added force is evenly spread to all three sides. Little bit of trivia for you today...

As you can see, I went 'conventional' with my cards.  

For my birthday card, I used various scraps of papers to cut my triangles with MFT dies, as well as some MFT striped paper, a ME rectangle die, and a HA sentiment. Using the same size triangle as the blue one at the top, I cut four more from more scraps, added a 'hooray' from W&W for my second (congratulatory) card, all on an AE rectangle popped up on some fun foam to give it a bit of  dimension. Two different cards for two different occasions using the same die on both cards. I wish you could see these in real life; they look pretty darn good if I do say so myself.

It's your turn now. I'd love to see what you make with 'geometric' shapes! Go forth and create!! I'm scheduled to have a cardiac procedure in a few days, but hope that it's just a quickie and that I can get to commenting on all your cards soon afterwards. Take care, and as always...