Try, try again...

For some reason, Blogger wouldn't let me finish a post yesterday. Every time I tried to add a photo then more text, it kicked me off. So here I am today, keeping it short and trying very hard to get this in! I've got a couple of cards for a few challenges. First for Muse, and then for SSS Wednesday Challenge, and The Challenge. If this works, then I'll post again tomorrow if the day allows. Check out Tracey's inspiration for Muse... LOVE this!

Here's my take:

My gold wouldn't cooperate, so I went with black. There are some gold Stickles in the centers though. EH stamps, PTI rainstones, WPlus9 sentiment, AE die. A few Copics, and if you could see this in person, you'd see the petals have a bit of WoS on them.

And the inspiration photo from TC:

I made a little shaker card for Lily's birthday, which she loved. It happened to be in these colors. Who knew??!!

Where's the gray you might ask? Some is under the 'happy' and some is on the inside...

It's a see-through shaker!

LF star dies (large), AE star dies (small), MFT sentiment and a variety of sequins. Oh, and a MB "8." A large scrap of pink, a small scrap of gray, and some lovely strawberry red scraps. And since Blogger seems to be working, I'm not going to test it too far. I'll close with wishes for happy dances for you all!

Happy Birthday Anita!!!!

Today we're celebrating one of the most lovely people I know. Anita Raffo! You know her, you love her, and we all love to visit her sweet blog: mypapercraftworld. So take a minute or two out of your day, party along here, then pop over and wish her a happy birthday!

While she lives in a place where winters are not terribly snow packed, by this time of year I'm sure Anita would like to be someplace warm and relaxing. So that's where we're going to party...

Now I'm pretty sure we could all fit in a resort that looks like this

We'd sit at pretty tables on the beach...

A few drinky-poohs to toast the birthday girl

Naturally, we'll need some party food too

And LOBSTER for EVERYONE!!!!!

And what's a party without treats and cake??

And what's a birthday party without presents? Let's see what we can find...
I think she needs an arm full of bracelets for our beach party

And a sea glass filled locket

A conversation piece....

One of each of these just for fun!

Some special sandals for our birthday girl

And something to hang on the wall where she'll see it and smile, even in the deepest darkest part of winter

While my card for her has some summery colors, it isn't exactly beachy. But it is something I think she'll like. CAS with pops of color.

My dear friend. May your day be all about the things you love. Celebrate today and know that from far-away places, we're celebrating you too. May God richly bless your birthday and the upcoming year. You are a treasured friend. Bisous, bisous....

Fast Post

After I cleared the cobwebs from the migraine meds this morning, I decided to craft a bit. Since I can feel something stirring up there again, I'm going to post this fast, get the kitchen cleaned up, do the last two loads of laundry, then if I can still see by then, comment on your blogs. So here we go...

Hero Arts Challenge, as you can see is flowers. Decided to play with some watercolors and let the card design itself.

Love pinks and greens. Zig Real Brush watercolors, ME edge die, SC flower and butterfly stamp, HA sentiment, scraps of pink, and green polka dots.

I'm not really good at Valentines this year for some reason. But I gave it the ol' college try.... This one will go to CASology and CAS on Sunday.

EZPZ lemon squeezy. A chunk of vellum with those amazing gold triangles, a small focal panel cut with an AE die, a Concord & 9th gold embossed sentiment, and some pink punched out hearts 1/2 gold embossed. Happy Valentine's Day everyone. 

Ash Wednesday

While I don't think it's appropriate to say "Happy Ash Wednesday," I know that without all that Ash Wednesday implies, there would be no 'happy' in our lives. Lent is one of my favorite times of the year. A good time to reflect on the past, and understand what 'hope' really is. So I'm sending you all the blessings that this season gives.

Cards. I've got two this morning. Well, I actually have more, but will only go with this pair this morning. The first card helps to celebrate Less is More's 5th birthday; how cool is that?! Happy Birthday and many more to come!! And I finally came up with an idea to play along at The Challenge too! My second card is for Muse. I changed it up a bit, but I like the way it came out. Anita has a beautiful card to inspire us, as you'll see.

Whoo Hoo!

Let's Celebrate!

We are 5 years old!

Since my sister Lisa has a birthday coming up, and since it's National Margarita day, we should celebrate on the 22nd, shouldn't we??! You can bet that if I could, I would make a batch to toast my baby sister. Unfortunately, migraines prohibit me....Waaaaaaaaaahhh!!!! But here's a little card, all dressed up in black and white:

I really wanted to play along with The Challenge but had difficulty coming up with something that made my eyes happy. Then, I had a little ping. Pulled out my MB number dies and did them all in white, plus the '54' in black. Can you guess how old my sister will be this year? (Hahahahaha Lisa, in case you ever read this!) Then stamped the sentiment with a PTI set using Versafine black ink.

Above you can see Anita's card. I love the embossing folder she's used on her card. I didn't have one that tripped my trigger, so decided not to use one. And I flipped my sponged branch, went with a smaller sentiment, and added a few blings. I like the way it turned out, and was happy to play along this time. Studio G inks, and an AE die cut. The branch was the remains of a Sizzix die, which NEVER came out right; I always ripped the leaves or stems...so I tossed it out, but decided to keep the negative and use it as a stencil. My dots were made with an SU marker. And that's it for now. Won't keep you, but will wish you the blessings of the day.

Happy Friday

Hope your upcoming weekend is fun-filled and relaxing! Are you going to watch the Super Bowl? Not me... Downton Abby is on, and since it's the series finale, I'm not missing a single episode! I know, I know - I could DVR it, but I can't wait that long, lol. Tomorrow I'm heading out to Polka Dots for a spot (haha) of shopping with my sister, Sue, and her friend Teri. Then it's to lunch at a little place that makes some of the best tamales I've ever had. It's going to be a great day!! Sure hope I can sleep tonight for all the excitement! Wish you all could come along too!

And I've got a couple of cards to share with you today for several different challenges. While I'm still struggling with YKWs a bit, it's okay. I'm doing my best to live "normally" in between. Botox is coming up in less than two weeks, and I know that it will be better then. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers; they are sincerely appreciated.

First up is a card that will go into CAS(E) This Sketch, Addicted to CAS, and Addicted to Stamps and More.

This is what I came up with this morning:

Pretty simple and it was a QAEZPZ card to make too! MFT oval and sproingy dies. Scraps of red and gray card stock. A Studio Calico (SC) stamp using ME Apple ink. The white oval was layered three times to add a smidgen of dimension. Love how the curly-cues on the stamp mimic the two sproingy die cuts. 

My second card heads off to the AEI{Heart}U Challenge. The stamps are all NBUS, and I couldn't wait to break them out and use them. 

Now these two little sweeties are certainly BFFs!

Aren't they the cutest little cherries ever?! They're from AE's last release, and I love them!! I used two ME dies to frame them. A scrap of red, some Michaels white, a bit of sponging with distress inks, some Copic coloring, and Versafine black ink. Oh and even though you can't see it very well, there's a ton of Glossy Accents on the cherries. Looks really cool in real life. And I'm off to set some rolls out for dinner tonight. Happy dances everyone!!

Here Again

Last week was a bit rough as far as migraines went, but so far, this week is looking somewhat better. Managed some time today to make a card or two, after catching up on all the household chores that didn't get done during my YKW (you know what) time. I'll share one card today, and the second one tomorrow... At least that's my plan. Found several challenges, well, four actually to play with. How fun is that?! Which ones, you may be wondering. Well, these:

 

CASology is pretty self explanatory; glitter. Check. CAS. Check.

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where the theme is 'have a heart!' Check.

Stamping Smiles Designs' Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge is a newerish challenge, and one I've really wanted to play along with. I took the top row across, and my shimmer element is glitter. Check.

The Work It Wednesday January Challenge is to use something 'new.' My NBUS is the cover plate as you'll soon see.

Lots and lots of white card stock, and white space. *sigh* This is Neat & Tangled's new cover plate die. *double sigh* I. Love. This. Die. Oh yes I do! Now, you can fold up all those little half hearts, but I really wanted the glittery ones to take center stage. That's MS glitter and ME stamps with Versafine ink. And that's all for me today. Hope to visit you all after dinner, and until then, happy dances everyone.