Sweet Sunday

I love Sundays. I love getting to church a bit early, and getting things ready for my children's choir and class. I love teaching the little ones. But most of all, I love hearing God's Word, and learning from it. *Sigh* It's so wonderfully peaceful. My hope for everyone is that Sunday mornings are like that for you too. Great way to start the week!

Cold out, but rather lovely. The sky is that perfect shade of blue, and the sun is shining. I'm sure most of us in the northern climes are well past tired of winter, but days like today make these days bearable. With a little patience, we'll all make it to Spring. We planted flower seeds in Sunday school this morning. Here's hoping that our seeds will help Spring get everybody's here a bit faster!

Will cut this short from here on it. Have been trying to post for 2 hours, and have also been running like the chicken which is now in the oven...headless....

My card was inspired by the very talented Donna Mikasa. I have loved this card since she made it. It will be posted to the Card Concept Challenge.

      

Mine has more primary colors:

IRL, the pink flowers are more red...so much for a sunny day photo.... Still, I like it. W Plus 9 stamps, SU black ink, various other inks, MFT frame. Oh, and a yellow Sharpie for the flower centers. Gotta run, so much left to do before Downton Abby comes on. Happy dances everyone.

Birthdays...

Today is my sister Lisa's birthday. She won't have time to read this post I'm sure, but I do hope she has a wonderful day. Lisa is the youngest of our family, and I have to tell you she was such a pretty little baby. Blond and blue-eyed with a smile that lit up a room. Still does. Love her dearly. So just in case, DDK, Happy Birthday. (DDK is Lisa's nickname. Our brother couldn't say "Lisa," and it came out "Deeda", and was then changed to DD. Her middle name is Kay. Love how those family nicknames stick through the years!) And thank you all so much for your kind thoughts, prayers, and well wishes for her. What a wonderful place this blogland is!

Have so many things to do today in preparation for heading over to watch the kidlets, but hope to have time to get more cards done. My bff Jen, is getting handmade cards together for an auction basket at the Lutheran High School, and she thought together we could put in a bunch. I'm planning on 25 cards, including this one, and would like to make a few more today in between chores.

This week, it's a "Dust 'em Off" over at Lawnscaping Challenge. Use an 'unloved' stamp or product. I've used two on my card. Neither one is a stamp set, however. I happen to be madly in love with my LF stamps, thank you very much! I'll clue you in below the photos as to what I used.

And this is what I made:

For this card, I 'dusted off' my paper crimper, a tool that I'm fascinated with, but rarely use. The second thing I 'dusted off' was the green paper. It's a snippet of a 12x12 dp that I just liked and had hoarded for quite some time. All the stamps and dies are from LF, the blue cardstock is another scrap, as is the balloon smidgen, and bit of white for the clouds. SU black ink, and a few blue blings. As you can tell, I popped up the balloon. A pretty easy card, all in all. And if I'm to get anything else done today, I'll stop here. Happy dances everyone!

One More Card for Today

Being gone, and then running thither and yon since I've been back home, today is the real first day I've had a chance to craft. However, I'll keep prattle to a minimum and get right to business. If you'd like to see my first post, click here. One card, two challenges. They just pinged right into place, and I had to run with it. The pings will not be denied. The sketch is from the Fusion Card Challenge, and the colors are from the Color Throwdown.

   

I don't have many butterflies, and so I stuck with the sketch. Here's my card.

It's fairly CAS, and for sure (to quote dear Darnell...) QACAS. Green, light blue and navy scraps. TAWS and PS stamps. Jenni Bowlin ink. A scrap of blue jeanish ribbon. And a panel of MME. So I'll stop now. Happy dances everyone. : )

Happy Fat Rolls

Bet you never thought you'd hear the word "happy" in connection with "fat rolls"!!! But the photo I'm about to share shows a certain person who displays just that. She's about as roly-poly as a girl can get. Meet Miss Avie....

The photo is a little fuzzy, but the little star still shines! Look at those rolls!!! At five months old, Avie is cute as a button, and yep, she's got lots of happy fat rolls. That's why I've been AWOL. Had the chance to go keep an eye on her and her three older siblings earlier this past week. Just had to share this little one's photo.  She is, however, not always this happy. I affectionately refer to her as my crybaby. She's a bit demanding. But I think it's because she can't communicate what she wants/needs; hence, she cries. Often. Loudly. But one just needs to take a different tack, and find new ways to deal. We get along just fine. And, (insert happy dance here!) I get to go for the next couple of weeks on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to help them out again. 

I actually did make a card this morning. More than one, but will only share my sister Lisa's birthday card. Lisa has a really full plate these days, dealing with the upcoming wedding of her daughter, age related issues of her fil, and she's the guardian of our 88 year old aunt who has recently been placed in a care facility. Prayers for her peace of mind would be much appreciated. 

It's a soft card. Gentle and calm. Exactly what Lisa needs. I have been stumped for more than a week, but came upon the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, and it just pinged into place. 

I went with the square shape, using Neenah white for the base. Scraps of every thing else! Cut the "happy" out with my Cameo. A few pink pearls and done. I've got a million things to get done, so will stop here. Happy dances everyone

CCC + PTI

Two cards, two challenges. No chatter. (Well....maybe a little)  The first card is headed off to the Card Concept Challenge. The 'theme' is monochromatic pink. Took a while for the ping to stop bouncing and settle in one place.

I really wanted to use green, but didn't.

A simple tag card. Probably fits best in the "Clean and Layering" category. There is a matching pink panel on the inside which shows up when the card is closed. All pink scraps. Neenah white base. Pink sequins. A bit of ric-rac and silver string on the tag. A smidge of leftover ribbon. That's about it for this one. 

And PTI's Anniversary celebration continues. Today, the challenge was to randomly choose one 'ingredient' from nine different categories, which were found on the various DT blogs. Mine has: 1) Hawaiian Shores (well, nearly that color), cardstock, 2) Raspberry Fizz (also really close to that color...) cardstock, though it looks red in the photograph, 3) Aqua Mist - had that exact ink!, 4) White cardstock, 5) the first sketch (I'll show you that in a minute, 6) it's a birthday card, 7) an inlaid die cut, 8) rhinestones, and finally, 9) thread.

And this is my take:

The rich, deep pink on the sentiment panel looks soooo red here, but truly, it isn't. A scrap of dp for the punched out hearts. White Neenah base, white thread from my sewing box. Pretty simple. Gotta run. Have a wonderful Valentine's Day everyone. Hope you get some happy dancing in. (I really like how it looks in real life)

What a week!!!

And it's only Tuesday.... You may know that I'm retired from the work world. It's been a bit over a year now, and I'm wondering how I managed to get everything done here at home plus at my workplace. I've been busy making Valentine cards for the little ones, and needed to get them mailed in time. Here are a few that I made, not all of them fit in the photo...

Carter loves frogs and toads, Grant plays piano, Drew is a 3-year-old boy, Kelly's into puppies, and the little girls all love girly things. The "S" is for Samantha. There were six more....

Naturally, there were other things happening besides making Valentines. DH has a stomach virus, and you know what that means....Right now he's "resting" in the recliner. I've got some wonderful homemade chicken noodle soup for his dinner, and when I was grocery shopping this morning, I saw that they had small tenderloins on super special. So guess what I'M having for dinner???... I'm so bad...heeheehee.

There really is a point to this post. PTI is celebrating their 7th Anniversary, and they've got a birthday bash going on. Pop over there to see the previews of the new releases set to come out in their store on Saturday, the 15th. But don't just drool over these fabby stamps and dies, play along with today's challenge -- "Stripes". Love stripes. Oh yeah...

Knew right where I was going with this one...

In order to enter this challenge, one must use at least one PTI product. The wreath and sentiment are both from their Tag-Its #3 set, as is the Ripe Avocado ink. I shadowed it a bit, but it's difficult to see here. The dp is a 12x12 Simple Stories. I die cut some felt for the flower and popped a pink rhinestone for its center. The leaves are from W plus 9. Neenah white frame and base. And there you have it. Happy dances everyone.

Happy Anniversary to PTI!

Today I'm making merry along with Papertrey Ink, as they celebrate their seventh anniversary. They've had challenges going since last week, and the party is still in full swing. Wonderful stamps, dies, inks, papers... don't forget to stop by and have a peek at the new releases which will be available very soon. Their challenge for today is to use one of their dies and make it the focal point of your creation.

I've done that, and will also include today's card for the longer challenge. Used this sketch and this color recipe:

Here I must apologize. My mind is off in a hundred different directions, and this post is not going as well as I wanted. But if you can stand a photo of the card, I promise to stop soon.

The die and all the stamps are PTI, there are various inks, some twine from Timeless Twine, a ME stitched die, a scrap of blue, and a Neenah white base. I took three skinny scraps of the neon-y pink, yellow, and blue and adhered them to a scrap of white, then die cut "birthday." Love the way that turned out. As promised, I'll stop now. Happy dances everyone. : )

Getting this in

No chatter today. I've had a four-day run of migraines; I'm good now, but am trying to get this post in before it decides to reassert itself within a half an hour or so. So straight to it then...

I've got three cards to share with you this evening. They'll all go into a few challenges. First up is my card for CASology where the Cue Card is "And."

Kisses and Hugs. Appropriate for Valentine's Day, I think, and rather EZPZ. Everything was cut with my Cameo, except the base and the black mat. Can't remember the fonts, sorry. Scraps of red and black, Neenah white base, and a smidgen of Glossy Accents on the bitty heart.

Next I really, really, really wanted to play along with Curtain Call this week. Very warm and cozy inspiration photo. Take a look:

This looks soooo good for those of us dealing with more wintery weather. I'm also putting this upcoming card into Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge, where it's "Anything Goes" this week.

And this is my card.

I've used a Neenah white base, and a scrap of brown. All of the dps are from SU, one of my all time favorite set of patterns: Parisian Breeze. Not hoarding it anymore. The brown ink is from Colorbox. A Sizzix leaf die, some random sheer ribbon, W plus 9 circle die, ME dies on the two larger panels, an MFT sentiment, and PS coffee cups for the stamps. 

And last, (deep breath now, you're almost done....) I've been wanting to join in the fun as Papertrey Ink celebrates its Seventh Anniversary. 

Very fun challenges, and unfortunately, this is the first chance I've had to play along. This challenge is to make a 3x4" journal card. No folds allowed. This is my take:

I used a scraps of turquoise, white, and dps. A small scrap of yellow glitter paper cut with PTI's birthday die, and a masked off PTI 'happy' stamp. SU ink, MME enamel dot, Prima flower, some white sequins, a heart cut from a wood grain paper scrap, and that's it. I'm stopping now. Hope you happy dance throughout the rest of your weekend. 

Things to Do

Got a few things to do today, so will keep this short. Am in the "Valentines-for-the-grandkids" phase, and as time draws closer to the mailing deadline, I really do have to get a move on. Started with a couple for the big girls away in college. They're really young women now, but like all of our children, they're still considered (and always will be) kids. Wanted to share one that I really like. This one will go into several challenges too.

It fits the bill at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, as well as Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. Two birds with one stone there. Thanks to Darnell whose blog I've read this morning, I learned that this will fit into Addicted to Stamps and More, and also Addicted to CAS. Her hamster has been working overtime, and you should drop in and pay her a visit.

So with no more chatter....

My favorite part is the snippet of dp. It's from a 6x6 pad of Dear Lizzy called Lucky Charm. Neenah white base, and the rest of the cardstock are scraps. An Avocado Arts stamp with some HA Shadow Ink, an MME stitched frame die, an ancient tiny heart punch, MB cloud dies, and some swirls of Wink of Stella on them. But it's that green dp that just trips my trigger. I love that here. And I am outie (so 80s!), got things to do, places to go, and people to meet. Happy dances everyone!!

All we talk about...

It seems these days, all we talk about is the weather. More "conversation" is falling from the sky, and blowing, or so it seems, from all directions. Last night as I stepped outside, I heard the wind whipping the ice blocks down on the shores of the Lake. Unless it's horribly and consistently cold, Lake Michigan doesn't completely freeze, but blocks of lake water will. It was an interesting sound - somewhere between a million plastic bottles knocking together, and ice cubes chinking together in a huge cup. Had to smile. I'd go down there today and photograph it for you all to see, but with all the blowing snow, I'd probably end up stepping off the edge of the bluff. Can you just picture this grandma going end over end, banging into brush, trees, rocks, and then smacking into the beach?! Think I'll wait till there's a lull in the "conversation" before I attempt anything like that. So how's the weather by you?

This week, Retro Sketches is celebrating their 100th sketch! How cool is that?! Love playing there!! The DT is fantabulous! Arielle, Kasia, Laurie, and for the month of February, Wanda have all created marvelous cards. Be sure to stop over and see for yourself. This week, in honor of their 100th, they are also offering a prize from Reverse Confetti, and RC's DT has also contributed to this wonderful parade of cards. Killer creations! Wanna see the sketch??? Ok....

I took a pretty literal approach when I made my card. 

For whatever reason, the colors did not photograph well. The dark chevrons are pretty matchy-matchy to the blue in the twine. The peachy color is softer and less orange, and the vellum panel under the "happy" is closer in color to the aqua-ish chevrons. *Sigh* As soon as I win the lottery (hahahahahahaha...), I'm buying the best camera out there. So all the papers are scraps, except the base, which is Neenah white. SC woodgrain squeekquins, the "happy" is a sticker from Jillibean Soup, and the twine is from the Twinery. All those little chevvies were cut with my Cameo. I love this sketch. Arielle really makes fantastic cards, doesn't she??! I hope she won't mind if I tell you all that even before I started blogging, I drooled over her blog almost everyday, and was/am continually awed by her creations. Well, since I won't be going anywhere today, and since my chores are done too, I'm headed back into the paper mountain and craft a bit more. Happy dances everyone. 

Purple

Our middle daughter, Cathy, loves purple. Not just loves it, but LOVES purple. Purple anything. The front door of their house is purple. She has purple shoes and purses. Her dining room is purple. If it comes in purple, she's all over it. It works for her. Not so much for me. I don't have anything against purple, but, it's not a "first-choice" or "go-to" color for me. And as you can guess where I'm going with this...CASology has as their cue card for this week, 'purple.' After checking out many of the cards posted over there, I'm fairly certain that many of you feel the same way. As it turns out, this was a good kind of out-of-the-box exercise for me. Helped me to stretch a bit. It's good to do that when we can, don't you think? Thoughts immediately went in a masculine direction. Decided to go with the sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch, which I saw as masculine with the colors I had in mind. Not a "froo-froo" in sight with this one.

If I'm not looking at it, I'm not 100% sure I like this. But when I see it, I find that I do. What's up with that??? This will definitely work for a man. Heaven knows we have enough of them in this family! lol

You need to know that the blingy thingys are really purple. They would not cooperate when it came time for them to be photographed. Neenah White paper for all white layers. Some Bazzill purple, and a few strips of some random gold scraps are hugging the purple and the sentiment. The HB is computer generated, a new one for me from Dafonts. Believe it or not, I popped a piece of transparency paper over the sentiment, and below the two white triangular sections. Naturally, you can't see it. (the "Naturally" should be read dripping with sarcasm...) I cut a purple panel slightly smaller than the base in order to set off all the white. And that's it. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday. Happy dances everyone!