Saturday Morning Coffee and Card

It's almost above freezing here, and the sun is shining. For a February day in Wisconsin, that's a winning combination. Both of my sisters, Sue and DD, live "up north;" five hours north of me, and they've still got snowbanks nearly as tall as they are at the ends of their driveways. Not my cup of tea, or in my case, coffee. I've got my cup, and wanted to enjoy our sunny morning by doing a little commenting and post this card I'd made yesterday. I was inspired by Freshly Made Sketches, and by the TGIF Challenges. My friend Kim created this sketch, and I really, really wanted to play. By happenstance, I found the prompt over at TGIF, and came up with a paper that will hopefully fulfill their requirements.

At TGIF, we are to use, if we have it, these SU designer papers, or something similar. 

Here is my card:

I started with a black base and added a slightly small white panel, cut with an MFT circle die. Inside the circle, is an old piece of very carefully hoarded Studio Calico punchinella vellum, which mimics one of the SU papers in the inspiration photo. The white panel is popped up, though you can't tell from the photo. Then I found one of my first, and still a favorite, AE stamp sets; Texture Tiles: Be Cool. It has three different patterns, two of which I've used here - the bitty triangles, and the miniscule crosshatch, both stamped in Altenew gold onto black card. Then I trimmed three lengths for the bottom of the circle. Those are Paper Smooches leaves also cut from the same 'homemade' designer papers. A soft-looking Studio Calico sentiment finished this off. I hope your weekend is lovely and quiet, and that you enjoy every minute of it. As always...

Happy Birthday DDK

Saturday is my baby sister's birthday. Her name is Lisa Kay, but we've called her DD, or DDK since she was a baby. It's all my brother's fault. He was little, and couldn't say "Lisa," it came out "Deedah." It transformed into DD, and to our family, she will always be so. Being the youngest of four, she was sweet, feisty, and strong. She still is! So I had to make a card for her birthday. My mojo needed a little push, so I found this sketch at Sunday Stamps. It really helped me to convey my wishes for her birthday. And as it happens, this will fit into SSS Wednesday Challenge, and the Flower Challenge too.

Here's my card:

I used an ivory base, and then stamped my large C9 floral image on the front. Next I found a large scrap of watercolor paper and stamped the image again. Using my Zigs, I watercolored the image, and took a Studio Calico tag die and cut the part of the image I wanted. I overlaid the tag, and added some sheer blue ribbon. The sentiment is from Evelin T. Designs. I framed everything with an RC die using a large green scrap. I'm hoping DD will like it. And as always my friend...

Twofer Challenge #24

Well here we are in February already. Time is just flying by, isn't it? I've got a pair of "sweet" cards to show you today. This time around, The Twofer Challenge is all about the fruit! My Twofer cards have cherries on them. And wouldn't you know, when I looked for cherries in the produce department the other day, not a one was to be found. I made myself crave cherries while I was making this pear pair. I love cherries, don't you?! There are so many ways you can 'do' fruit this month -- so come on and play along!

Here is a photo of them together:

And here they are individually:

For my first card, which is a congratulatory card, I used two papers from a 6x6 pad called, "B-Side," by Basic Grey; the pink abstract base and the black and white square. The sentiment is from SSS and those cherries are MB dies. I used an ancient piece of subtle, self-adhesive glitter paper, which is so old, the adhesive part doesn't work anymore, lol! It didn't photograph all that well, but it truly is in the same color family as the pink patterned paper.

Card number two is a birthday card, and is pretty darn CAS. A scrap of polka dots in red, Doodlebug I think, and then scraps of red and green for the border and the cherries. I added some Glossy Accents to the cherries, and they look so fun irl. The sentiment is from Sunny Studio. 

Be sure to stop by The Twofer Blog and see what the rest of the DT has created and leave them a little love. I guarantee that you'll adore their cards, and will be craving something delicious as well. And don't forget to swing by our Guest Designer, Sonja's blog to see what yummy cards she's created, too! See you in the gallery, and as always...

Unicorn & Rainbow

Well, it's a sort of rainbow, anyway. Not one in the real world, but since I've got a unicorn, I figured that a pastel rainbow would be alright. In a box. Magical world and all. Going to play in the Fusion Challenge, where I stuck with the sketch. It's been a really long week, and I won't keep you. Enjoy Saturday and Sunday, and hopefully, I'll have a chance to visit your blogs over the weekend.

My card:

All the dies and stamps are from Ellen Hutson, except for the square encasing the "rainbow;" that's from MFT. I did some Copic coloring on the unicorn, added some gold to the horn, and really gave the unicorn a good coating of Wink of Stella. Pretty easy, and fairly CAS. 

Treated Myself Today

I did. I treated myself to a luxurious pedicure this morning. I feel like such a girl now! Already looking forward to the next one. The rest of the day will be spent here in the craft room, and cleaning up the house a bit before my wonderful cleaning lady comes tomorrow! Can't leave everything for Iryna.

Like many of you, I was tickled by the retro sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch. So many ways to go, but before I drifted off to sleep last night, this idea came to mind:

And my take:

I found that luscious green paper already cut to size, so then decided to pair it up with a blueish-purplish scrap. I cut the aperture with an MFT rectangle die, then cut that scrap with the Skinny Stripes die by EH. A SSS sentiment and done. It looks way cooler in real life. Why not pop on over to see it for yourself?! I'll put the coffee on (or grab the cocktail shaker) for our visit! As always my friends...

Hey! Hi! How Are Ya?!

Even though we got a little snow, even though I have to get the laundry started, and even though I need to get a jump on dinner, I know exactly where my priorities lie. In the craft room. Pretty sure you'll all agree with me. So I found a challenge and made a card. It's off to Freshly Made Sketches.

I had an idea right away. So I got all inked up. Good day for it too. I really don't feel like going out on the snowy roads today. 

I'm always needing more masculine cards, and this one fits the bill I think. I used the Altenew Leaf Canopy stamp and a HA sentiment. I heat embossed my sentiment, which looks a little sparse now that I see it here, but it's down and that's that. The border die is from ME. And a few black scraps because. So I'm off now. Must get to a few things before the migraine blows up again and I have to take the meds. Ugh. As always though,

Twofer Challenge #23 ~ And A Little Something Special

Well hello, and a Happy New Year to you all! Hope your holidays were everything wonderful, and that 2020 is the best year yet.

It's time for January's Twofer Challenge, and this prompt will get you working on your Valentines Day cards:

Now before I show you my cards, I wanted to let you know that this month marks the Twofer Card Challenge's second blogaversary! Be sure you stop over at the Twofer blog's home page for all the details about PRIZES! Yep, you've read that right, there are prizes to be had! Come help us celebrate!

And for our 'Heart' prompt this month, I made these two cards:

My heart is a little die from RC. It comes as a row of hearts, like the bottom of the row of the Christmas tree, and I simply cut it apart as needed for my cards. The Valentine was so simple, and I like how it turned out. A scrap of gray stripe, a row of RC red hearts, and a couple of Jillybean Soup 'hugs and kisses' in red. For my Christmas card, that's a Gina K. kraft base. I cut down an embossed panel (TE), added my hearts and one teensy sequin to that panel, along with a Uniko sentiment beneath it. Here they are separately:

Be sure you visit the Twofer Blog and see what the rest of our DT and Guest Designers have created, and don't forget our 2nd Blogaversary celebration! See you in the gallery! And as always...

Just Couple For Today

It's a snow covered Saturday here in SE Wisconsin. But we're probably going have bare ground again by this evening. Warm weather (well..."warm" is a relative term...) has descended and soon the last vestiges of the Fall snows will be gone. If one believes the Almanacs, however, we'll have plenty more all too soon. In between laundry loads and other chores, I thought I'd write a post and share a couple of cards.

First up is a card heading off to Freshly Made Sketches, and also into SSS Wednesday Challenge.

Here's the first one:

Every year, I try to have a new image for the grandkids to color and adhere to the place cards they make for our Thanksgiving tables. I'll stamp them, die cut them, and let them color the image to their hearts' content. They'll write the names and what comes next is a hoot. Once the place cards are finished, all those kids gather around the tables and debate who goes where. "Well, I want Jessica to sit by me this year," or "Uncle Pickle Juice should sit by Great Grandpa." I let them have at it, and just listening to their debate cracks me me up as I'm working in the kitchen. This pumpkin, from a C9 set is one of the images the kids will be working with. It also comes with an oak leaf, which we'll use too. I colored this one, and the little fronds with Copics. The sentiment is from HA, and the polkie dotted paper is from a gorgeous 6x6 pad of papers by Photoplay. In real life the whole thing looks rather pretty.

Next up, I'm squeaking in by the skin of my teeth to the Double D Challenge. Fell in love with their mood board, and had to play.

I took inspiration from the frame, the colors, the greenery, and the plaids. My card looks like this:

I stamped a C9 striped base into my plaid look and added a woodgrain frame in white. I cut some fronds with a PS die from a patterned paper scrap, cut another woodgrain frame in brown, and added a Verve sentiment. A gray base completes this card. And since I've taken up so much of your time, I'll stop now and wish you...