"Got My Mojo Working..."

Muddy Waters, one of my ultra, ultra favorite blues singers of all time ever, sang those words (blog post title) back in the 1950s. I love listening to the blues, especially the Delta Blues and the Chicago Blues and even took a History of the American Blues course when I was in college. While I could expound quite a bit on them, we'll let the blues rest today with encouragement to give a listen to Mr. Waters; he was amazing.

My mojo was working overtime this morning. I somehow managed to make four cards, with starts on three others. If I didn't have to run a few errands, I think I'd get through them too. But let's see what I have managed to finish today, shall we?!

Starting with my favorite sassy Santa, I'm playing along with Curtain Call's current challenge:

My card uses a reply from Santa, rather than a request to him.

I think that this stamp and sentiment from Ellen Hutson is genius. Cracks me up everytime... Michaels white base, a RAK tag from sweet Amy Tsuruta, a legless Christmas tree brad, red Copic, and a bit of white flocking. The rectangles were cut with MFT's dies. Pretty darn simple.

Next is a card with a few NBUS stamps. I was naughty (hmmm....wonder if that Santa card was made for me by me subconsciously......). I got a great order from SC, and the fruity stamps are fast becoming some of my favorites. This card will head into Less Is More 252, where the recipe is to use fruits. And since I've use a some favorites, I'd also like to play at the Stamp Ink Paper Challenge.

Just a little one-layer card.... SC and PTI stamps.  Versafine black, PTI green, and Ranger yellow and brown inks. Can't get much easier than this one! But I like it.

And my final card of the day (I'll show you #4 another time) is a total PING card.  I saw a card on Anita's blog which she was entering into AAA Cards, and like a lightening strike, a design appeared in my little pea brain, and alakazam, it went right to paper. So I'll play there too, and also in SSS Work It Wednesday. 

Ta-Da:

More NBUS decorates this card. Not sure if I've used the LF snowflake dies before, but just in case, here they are for new or for not new. The box, however, is new. It's from ME and came with a ton of amazing dies. I added a little shading with some ME Hazel ink. The sentiment is also LF, and I used some ME Apple ink. Pretty easy. And that's it for me today. Hope you all are doing well and happy dances everyone!

Not Dead

Nope. Not dead yet. But I have been missing in blogland... I've had company and a huge Thanksgiving with family and friends, and had to get the first of the Christmas shopping done, wrapped, and ready to send back with my son and his family. And a broken toilet. And a sick husband (he's better now). And normal and extra cleaning. I have this feeling that December isn't going to be any less busy, but then it won't be any less busy for any of you either, will it?!

Other than a place card project which I organized and let the little ones go to town on, and helping three of the grandchildren who were staying here to make Christmas gifts for mommy and daddy and a card (one of which you'll see) I haven't spent anytime in my craft room until today. I actually made a card. I'm a little rusty but I REALLY needed to play. Felt really good! We'll do that first, then I'll show you a few photos from Thanksgiving. I found a color challenge at As You See It. Fun colors and the DT has really come up with some great cards as you'll see when you head over there!

Mine is a bit subtle:

The colors are there. They're the blings on the "strings of lights." I drew the 'strings', and the dies are both NBUS. The 'joy' is from Lil' Inkers and the frame was made with my new ME die and an old MFT for the interior part. The red paper I think is from BB, but since it's a scrap, I don't know for sure. Sorry for the blurriness...

This first Thanksgiving photo is one of son Tad and I wearing the necklaces that his daughter Samantha made for us. Just had to stop cooking and do a selfie..

He kindly bent down to my height and took the selfie with his longer arms. Goofy kid.

And we've started a tradition where all the little kids put black olives on their fingers. Even the youngest granddaughter was old enough this year to participate!

Aren't they cute??!

Here are a couple of pics of the "Kids" table, and grandma got to sit with them too!

That's my dil at the far end of the table, and the three oldest granddaughters helping the little ones out. 

Here's clean up time:

That's the big girls other grandma helping with the dishes with Jessica and Lizzy. Can you see the giant platter on the "floating island?" It was my great-grandma's and only comes out at Thanksgiving. And see my ugly shirt? Well I put it on at 5:00 AM to cook dinner, and had zero time to change clothes before we sat down to eat. I'm covering up the holes in the pocket...I'm such a dork.

And I wanted to show you Carter's card. He designed it himself, and wrote his own verse inside. The photos aren't very good, but you get the idea. (Carter is the one in the far back in the olive photo)

And I won't force you to look at any more photos. In reality I was too busy running around like a chicken with my head cut off to take many more. Thanks for looking, and I plan on visiting your blogs pretty darn soon. Happy dances everyone.

Pretty in Pinks

I was in a 'pinkish' mood the last few days. I get on kicks like that; colors, stamp sets, dies... And I know you know exactly what I mean. Tracey got me to thinking about 'traditional' vs. 'non-traditional' color schemes. While she was talking about the Christmas season, I was thinking about all the cards I make. Do you ever do that? I've had pink scraps out on my desk, and wanted to use them in less traditional ways. One tag hit that mark, one card might have come close, and the third is completely traditional. Let's have a look, shall we?!

Speaking of Tracey, she's running a super fun series called 25 Days of Christmas Tags. Oh the inspiration you'll find there....my goodness! You've got to check this out, and play along. This is her fifth year of doing this too. She's amazing. If you want to play along, just pick a tag to CASE, identify who's tag it is, and link up. Did I mention she's also offering prizes? As if seeing all this goodness and being inspired wasn't enough...

My tag CASEs Lindsay Amrhein who is on Avery Elle's DT, and is from Day 1.

I love the simplicity of this. Now my photos are so hot today...have no clue as to why... 

There's that pink I was talking about. You can see I was inspired by the bear and the blue and the dies. It's a HA bear, sentiment, and die, LF hills and tag, Tumbled Glass ink, Studio G pink ink, some random pink polka dotted ribbon, and a bit of the Twinery twine. Oh, and some diamond Stickles for snow. 

Next pink is a card for FMS. My card has a rather liberal interpretation of the sketch, so I hope it still qualifies.

Here's mine:

My watercolored "circle" is a bit more centered than in the sketch, but the rest of elements are there, I think. Pink watercoloring, Poppystamps die with a scrap of vellum, RC sentiment in Smoke ME ink, and a silver sequin. If it doesn't work for the sketch, I hope the DT removes it.

Last pink is a chunky pink. At least that's how my eyes see it. This was inspired by a card by Brandi Hall. She is one of the Geniuses that Kelly Latevola has CASEd. I loved the design of Brandi's card, and the colors as well, but try as I might, my 'like' colors weren't working for me. Once again, I thought, 'pink.' 

There's still time to play along and nominate a Genius of your very own! I'd like to nominate Kim Heggins from Cupcakes, Cards and Kim. Her work is brilliant, and she's one of the nicest people in the whole, wide world. I just love her!!

Here's Brandi's card:

 

And mine:

Those shiny, gold polka dots really trip my trigger. This paper is from MME. A couple of strips of gold cut from a scrap, a few gold sequins from N&T, and a ME stamp embossed in gold. It looks so much cooler in real life. *sigh* Stinky photographer, that's the problem! Happy dances everyone!!

Happy Birthday Lynn!!

It's Lynn's birthday today!!!! Woohoooooo!!!!!!!!! You know Lynn; she of The Mango Boys and Me blog fame! Yep, THAT Lynn! I don't need to tell you that she is one of the sweetest, nicest people out in blogland, and that she makes the most delicious CAS cards - you already know that! But did you know that she's a 'superwoman?' For sure she is! Works full time, mother to four boys, supportive wife, loving daughter, involved with her church and community....and I swear she doesn't sleep! She does all this with a smile on her face. Incredible. Since it's her special day today, I do hope you'll stop over at her blog and leave a little birthday wish.

Now normally, this is the part where I'd throw a little birthday party. Unfortunately, I had a bad run of migraines and ended up taking my 'break-the-cycle' meds, which knocked me out of commission for two days. The fog has finally left my brain, but there just isn't enough time to do justice to a party. But we'll have cake.... Sweet little cakes....

Don't they look just perfect for a Fall birthday?! I can almost taste it...

And for once in my life, I mailed birthday cards out on time, and Lynn should have received this one yesterday, at least I hope so....

Happy Birthday Lynn. You are a treasure in this blogworld, as well as to all who know you. I am blessed to call you friend, and hope your birthday and the coming year is full of all things wonderful. Wishing you every happiness that your special day brings!

Now if Lynn doesn't mind, I'm going to add to her 'birthday' post since I'm so far behind. I'm going to send her card over to Jennifer's Share Handmade Kindness Challenge. 

And I have two more cards to post here. The first one is for The Challenge where dear friend Geri is the Featured Designer, and the ever darling Darnell is Guest Designer. It's also going to visit the Sunday Stamps Challenge. Here is the sketch and the color palette:

And here is my card. 

And my last card is headed over to Kelly Latevola's CASEing Genius Challenge. I've chosen to CASE a card by Kara Vrabel, of kandrdesigns. It's CAS and full of color and fun.

This is Kara's card:

And this is my take on it:

In addition, we're to nominate another person whom we love to become a Genius. I'm nominating Geri Greening of Manitoba Stamper. Not only is she a dear, dear friend, but she's also an incredible cardmaker. Head over to her blog and take a peek!

Because I've kept you long enough, I'm not listing my supplies here, but you can always email me if you have any questions. Happy Dances everyone.

Getting Right To It, Or Nearly So...

Getting right to the cards today. I need to make a sympathy card for a friend whose mother-in-law has passed. I didn't know Nancy's mil, but I have seen a cool photo of her. It's on the cover of Nancy's book.

Love how cool she looks waving her hat. If memory serves, this was taken in the 1940s. Excellent book, too. But I digress...

My first card will head off to my first time playing at this challenge: Cupcake Inspirations. Check out the inspiration:

Love this color combination. My take:

I cut one of my treasured, but no longer hoarded pieces of TC for MME papers for the base. There's a bit of Michaels white, and a scrap of pink striped paper. A ME stamp using Jeni Bowlin ink, and three HS enamel stars. QAEZPZ. 

Next up is a card that I'm submitting to Kelly Latevola's {CASE}ing Genius Challenge.

Wait till you see the gallery of Geniuses; brilliant and wonderful crafters all gathered together in one place. Here, we are to CASE one the geniuses in the gallery. I've chosen the wonderful and talented Amy Tsuruta of Tsuruta Designs.  This is Amy's card from Kelly's post that I've chosen to CASE.

Next we are to nominate someone we love to be a Genius. I nominate Anita Raffo from My Papercraft World. Hopefully, you've all seen her work; it's brilliant. And besides that, she's an absolutely wonderful person! I blessed beyond measure to spend time with her at the Lake House Adventure last year.

Now my card is similar, yet different from Amy's as you'll see:

For this, I found a large black & white scrap of dp and I cut it to fit the base of the card. I watercolored a slip of watercolor paper and die cut it with some NBUS dies. Another scrap of blue which was pretty darn close to the blue paint, cut with the next size up die. A SC stamp in Versafine ink, 2 little enamel dots and one pretty PM flower. Love the simplicity of this card. Wanna play along with me? You should! Head over and check it out. I promise you'll have a blast! Happy dances everyone!!

Happy Birthday Tracey!!!

SURPRISE!!!!!!! Someone special out in blogland is having a birthday today....Yep, it's the lovely and enchanting Tracey McNeely! Most of you know her, and have visited her blog, or have 'seen' her through her DT duties on various Challenges. Be sure to pop over to her blog and wish her a happy day. And just in case you've been living in a parallel dimension, her blog addy is:  In My Creative Opinion.  I think we're all ready to party too, aren't we. Just a little fun. Miss T really deserves one!

Thought some Fall table settings would be nice!

And some non-traditional birthday cakes too. Yum!

And a few little gifts.... This first one is a sweet little bird feeder, and you can just make out a bee house to the left!

She has a new house in the woods, and wouldn't this planter and bench be just the ticket for summer gatherings?! And a nice place to sit with a book.

And a small water garden just because it's so pretty!

For those cool Fall and Winter evenings, when she wants to curl up and read, or watch a little television, this duo would be welcome I'm sure!

Some pretty vases just for fun

And a sweater I thought she'd like

Girl's gotta have a bit of CAS bling to wear with the sweater too! This just might fit the bill!

"A card?," you ask... Oh for sure! Something fun. And something I hope she likes too! A bit of whimsey for our birthday girl

(I won't list the details here, but if you want to know about any of them, shoot me an email at: kastmanbuenkeratgmaildotcom. You know what that means...)

Dear Tracey,

It's your special day today. I hope you celebrate in exactly the way that makes you happiest. So glad I've gotten to know you through this blogworld, and someday, it would be lovely to meet you in person! Besides being 'cardmaker extraordinaire,' you are 'woman extraordinaire!' I am, and many others are as well, blessed to call you friend. Happy Birthday sweet Tracey!!!

Now go! Go over to Tracey's blog and leave her some birthday wishes! Woohoo!!!!!

(And if she doesn't mind, I'll pop this little card into SSS Wednesday (Anything Goes) Challenge, and Seize the Birthday too.)