In The Winter Forest

I don't often make square cards, but I thought this was better in a smaller format........ 4 x 4. The Inspiration Challenge this morning comes from a website that has interesting buttons. I chose one with a deer that looked a lot like the baby deer in Forest Friends (SU). After the bg was done, the perspective was all wrong. How fabulous that I own a gazillion punches, because this one by Martha Stewart of the deer is perfectly sized. I made Mrs. by eliminating the antlers.

I put a lot of sparkle on the trees, added a ribbon and glittery snowflake, and that's it. Hope you like it. Have a great weekend, my friends!

CIC2 Unenthusiastic Turkey

I found this clipart turkey, and about died laughing!! If you have ever seen anything so unenthusiastic in your life before this, PLMK!! I thought the sentiment was just perfect. We have a friend who has a fantastic sense of humor, and when I saw the look on the turkey's face, I automatically thought of her.

This will go out in the mail today so she will get it in time to enjoy it for Thanksgiving.

This card is Joan Ervin's fault. I went to her blog and she had a challenge posted for the Clearly Inspired Challenge, and I just had to do it too. Their challenge posts bi-weekly on Friday, and today was this wonderful sketch. It's uploaded to SCS at CIC2, just in case you'd like to do it too.

Thanks for looking.

New Moon Cardinal

Lois Bak (clownmom) was the hostess for the StampinB's challenge today. She chose to use the colors RED, black and white, and there had to be a moon. This was in honor of the movie New Moon which came out tonight (My DD is at the Midnight showing!).

Because RED was included, and also because these are my fav colors together, I HAD to do this challenge. thanks Lois!!

The LSC today was to make a long tall or a small tall card. I chose to make the small size, 6 x 3 1/2 folded. I hope you like my punched bird and the moon, tinged with RED. How could I resist???!!!!

Cardinal Thank You

I'd like to thank MariLynn (Mississippi McGiver) for a fabulous tutorial on making birds out of punches. She was also responsible for the MMTPT68 Challenge this week. Since her teapot had cardinals on it, I thought it only fair to use her tutorial which I have saved for a LONG time!

The WT today was to make a thank you card, regarding what we are thankful for.... so this is really a multiple. I am thankful for RED (of course), and cardinals, and birds in general, but this is specifically for my mom, who also loves cardinals. I am so thankful for her.....the best Mom you could ask for, and the best FRIEND you could hope to have. I send her cards for all sorts of reasons, but this is the perfect reason to send one.....I am so thankful to have HER.

Thanks for looking. Hugs to you all.

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge #16

The Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge this week comes to us from Pottery Barn. Clean, simple lines, lots of white, and touches of brown and.... dare I say it? RED!

Of course I had to keep the clean lines and the white on white, but I had to add a little of my signature color too.

Below is my card for the DDIC. I hope you can see that there is the tiniest bit of pattern in the
wallpaper behind the couch. I really wanted to have a RED couch too, but it just didn't work. Please join us in the DDIC this week. Post your card or project with DDIC16 in the keyword so we can enjoy it. Please also visit the rest of the Design Team in my sidebar to see what they have done with this challenge!

Santa DUDE!

It's 5 AM, and I've been up since 2:30. I hate when I wake up and can't go back to sleep. I've gotten a few things accomplished. My DD sent me a list for her two boys for Christmas, so I went on Amazon to look at what they wanted. After a consult with DH, I'll place an order. I also got a card made for my 15 year old grandson.

I thought this image was perfect for a teenage boy. Kinda cool, and DUDE is still a word we hear once in a while. I kept it pretty simple. I didn't want to make it girly with ribbon and stuff, so I used only a silver star brad and the puffy silvery thingy on his hat. I hope you can see the scoring on the plain RED band across the bottom. I think he will get a kick out of it.....and I hope you do too. Have a great day. I'll probably be napping! LOL!

Happy Christmoose!

I've had a busy day. Uploading after 2 P.M. is unusual for me. I saw my Neurosurgeon this morning after I had some x-rays of the work he did exactly one year ago today. The surgery was a complete success, and he was very pleased. I have some bone spurs at C-2,3, and 7. That explains the pain. We'll leave that alone for now.

Did the rounds of the bank, post office, M's, voted, out for lunch, car to garage for oil change and general check up, and I'm home for the rest of the day.

This is my card for the CC and the DDC. Anne (Itsapassion) is this week's hostess, who dared us to use plaid and a button. It fit in perfectly with the artichoke, choc. chip, and RED for the Color Challenge. Before I forget, please join us in the Dare, and put DDC in your keyword.

Now, I have another card to post. Last night I had a chance to do the RESQ23 Challenge. Erin, of Doodle Palace, posted a free digital stamp of the cutest gingerbread couple for a one-time use, and I couldn't resist joining in on this special challenge. Here it is, and I hope you like it.

Outside the Box Snowman

It's always nice to come home, even when your vacation has been fun! The best part of being home, sleeping in your own bed aside, is having ALL your supplies at hand, including your OWN comfy computer!!

For the TLC today, Outside the Box (which I love) is this fun snowman and his RED bird. I paper pieced the scarf and bird, and used one of my favorite punches. It's nice to make something in RED, and I'm sure you are shocked that I didn't bring my favorite color on vacation!!!

I used mostly markers to color this guy, and a little painting with gray. he is popped up on his nestie, and I tied a nice plaid bow to make this a little festive. That's it. Hugs to all!

Owl on a Flower Branch

Here is the piece I chose for inspiration. Stef found a very interesting website for us to look at today.

I am still on vacation, and with a very limited choice of supplies, so I had to go quite a way to find something I could use. I thought this owl was an unusual find.

I brought along a Bosscut diecut of an owl, that I ordered because of a card I had seen by Birgit (Biggan). I put him together without the directions, so I probably did it all wrong....but I think it's kind of cute anyway. I put this sweet little guy on a branch of Bloomin' Beautiful flowers, extended the branch, and added another little branch and a leaf. I popped up some blossoms and finished it off with my fav Curve Punch and some piercing. If I had some sponges, I wouldn't have had to use the gel pen. Oh well, next time, when I'm home and have more supplies.

This is our last day of vacation. The week went fast, and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to make some cards and SHOP, SHOP, SHOP!! Thanks for looking, and HUGS to you all.

Penguin Presents

This morning's challenge was to use limited supplies.

Since we are still on vacation in NH, limited supplies is what I have!! Also we were to use a bird of some kind, and a penguin is a bird, right?

I love the E K Success punches, and I brought three of them with me. I just couldn't bear to leave them all alone at home. I think they add so much without being overwhelming.

Fortunately, I bought some nice RED plaid ribbon, and I used it here as embellishment, along with some gold cord made into a bow.....a penguin deserves some jazzing up, don't you agree? I also did a few rows of piercing. A fast card, but I love the results. I am finding I really enjoy the CAS cards. We are off to Big Lots, Joanne's, Stamping Memories, and Hart's Turkey Farm for lunch. (With a turkey dinner on my mind, I couldn't bring myself to use a turkey stamp today!) Hugs to all!

Two Faux's!!!

Good afternoon Today we took our last trip to scrap/stamp stores. This trip was very disappointing. I bought nothing!!! But DH walked around patiently, and was so surprised when I said, "Let's go!". We ate out (I had fabuous stuffed haddock and some COLD wine.....wonderful).

Back at our condo, I combined two challenges: the WT, which was Faux Texture, and the new tutorial on the home page, Faux Bricks (thanks Birgit!!) For the texture, I brought in a pinecone from the ground...they are everywhere in NH!... and squeezed it to get out all the seeds. Then I rolled it in Suede ink on white paper. The rest you can figure out just by looking. No more car trips....we'll be reading, eating, resting, and one of us will be stamping and doing crossword puzzles and sudokos. See you tomorrow.

Sketch and Belli Challenges

I think you are gonna get real sick of seeing this image! I brought very few images, colors, dp with me on vacation!

For the SC today, I used the same Anna Griffin dp, which I just LOVE! The other colors are artichoke and celery. I watercolored the blossom in rose romance and old olive, and added piercing, as I have only one ribbon with me, silver gray. The lighting here is not great, so I thought I'd better tell you what I had done.

I love this sketch, based on a card by Dawn (flowergal36), whose things I adore!!

DH and I are off to Manchester, if the Paper Tree is open on this Holiday. Its just before ten, so I'll give them a call first. Is he not the BEST, to take me places where I spend our $??? I'll be checking in later on SCS and on your blogs. Make it a great day!! HUGS!

Creative Belli Challenge #78

Our sponsor for this week's challenge is Creative Cuts & More. They sent us some fabulous die cuts! You really need to check out their website. I used their Tag Card with Tag-side Opening #P082. The wonderful color was perfect for a vintage Christmas card.

The challenge is to make a card with Christmas embellishment, using what you already have in your stash. I have had these jingle bells for ages, and thought they dressed up the ribbon wonderfully! Of course, I had to have some RED, so the thin border behind the holly leaf dp and the ribbon called out to me. I hope you like my tag card, and that you will join us in the challenge. Upload your card to our blog, which is on the left of my post, and please look at the cards made by the girls of the design team. Just click on their names. If you post to SCS, put CBC78 in your keyword. Join us every other Wednesday for a fun challenge!

3challenges, 2 Cards....Still on Vacation!!

The color challenge today is to use Kraft, vanilla, and Bravo Burgundy. Wasn't it lucky I had this gorgeous Anna Griffin paper with a vanilla bg, and variegated flowers containing the burgundy.

DH and I went out early this morning, and I spent some time (and money) in two stamping/craft stores. One of the things I bought was a fun package of primas, and used them here. I also used my favorite new punch, the EKsuccess Curve punch.

I also did the combined DDc and MMTPT67 challenge.

The hostess for this week's Doubledog Dare Challenge is Charlene (LilLuvsStampin), who DARED us to make a card to go with the MMTPT67 story, ending with our weekly tea party. I bought some fab silver gray metalic dp and used it with Classic Pickups, and a pkg. of clear stamps that have words for transportation.

My story is that the truck is the color of the dust in the attic where our poor teddybear has been languishing for years. After picking up supplies and a host of seamstresses to repair Dusty's fur, we'll have tea, and discuss who will be custodian of our re"fur"bished bear. Join us and be sure to put DDC and MMTPT67 in your keyword.

I'm having fun on vacation...especially because I can take part in card making too!!

CAS40 Penguin ... COOL!

I guess the COOL must refer to my DH, who brought along a computer on vacation so I could not only LOOK at my sites, but ADD to them as well. What a guy! no wonder I have kept him for 46 years!! WOO-HOO!!!!

With truly limited supplies (because you can't take it ALL), I was able to do the CAS today... white and one color. Since I have no RED, or flowers, or brads, or punches except for a very few, minimal stamps, paper, etc., I really am only able to make simple cards. I used a marker to make the flower center. I think it's kinda cute. I hope you like it too. The amount of blog checking I can do depends on when we are back in our condo. I hope to see you all later today. Have a good one.

Giraffe Friend

On the far right is a Jonathan Adler ceramic giraffe I chose for the Inspiration

Challenge at SCS today. I just adore giraffes, and have a collection of them.

When I saw the adler website stef had chosen for today, I went right to the

section that was called 'menagerie', and there it was. It just so happened I

also owned the CM hexagon punch set, so I got right to work.

This is the card I made keeping in mind the giraffe was white, and the spots were in a variety of colors. I hope you like my interpretation of the wonderful ceramic translated to paper.

After making this card, I packed up the stamping supplies I am taking with me on vacation. I couldn't leave things here..... what would I do in the morning and evening????? We leave in the morning. see you in a week.

Winter Sprite with Stickers

The Ways To Use It Challenge today was to use stickers. The whole idea was to create an easy and fast card. HAH!!! Not so fast or easy. First of all, I gave all my stickers to my grands to play with, so I really had to hunt for something that could pass for a sticker. All I could find were these ..... and blue didn't seem to be in my plan today. I finally made a decision......not quick or easy, and this is what came out. I kept adding things, until I finally said, "enough!" I don't think this will be a card I will reproduce in my future, but at least it got rid of the few stickers I had remaining in my stash.

I leave today to take care of Nate and Sam (15 and 12) while parents work or go away. Then packing for our timeshare in NH from the 8th to the 15th. This will probably be my last upload for a long while, but I send you hugs, and will see you when we return.

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge #15

The DDIC today comes from this image ..... Pacifica Garden Gift Set. I thought this set was very pretty, with the gold and purple. Then I realized there was more pink, with some yellow and blue. This threw me for a loop. I had the hardest time making a decision. Would I go with the shape? Could I possibly get all the colors in?

So here's what I did. I made two cards. I thought I would pick the one I liked better, and upload it, and say, THERE! The problem was, they were so different I couldn't make a decision.

One uses the shape and combines the colors in a similar pattern. The other uses the theme of Pacific, which means peaceful and serene. So the upshot is, two postings. I couldn't decide. I guess it's up to you.

Please check out the rest of the team. Their blogs are in the left hand panel and you can highlight their names. If you join us in this challenge and upload to SCS, please put DDIC in your keywords.

#2.......Nature Pauses

This is so not like me!! I made this card in five minutes out of a recycled card I couldn't bear to throw away, and two colors of metallic paper, blue and silver. Sorry the silver doesn't really show true, but photographing metallics is always a trying experience. I added some sparkle snowflakes to match the card. Altogether, it's very shiny and bright.

Thanks for looking!

Cardinals and Snowflakes.....A Shadowbox

The sketch this morning was very interesting! I flipped the diagram, and made a shadow box. I don't know if you can see it, but the bg is trees in the snow. I used my new MS cardinal punch, but had to cut off the legs and feet (EEEEEWWW!!) because I didn't want the birds to be standing. The pieces are really small, and they were hard to hold while sponging. You should see my RED fingers!! Have a fun and creative day!! I'm off to check out YOUR blogs!!

CC and DDC - 2nd post today. MMTPT66 Below

First I have to thank Janice (catcrazy at SCS) for sending me a whole bunch of these images. I asked for one, and she sent 18!! How wonderful is that!! Hugs to you, Janice!!

The hostess with the mostest for the Doubledog Dare Challenge today is Fran (Francie G.) who DARED us to make a card with at least 4 layers, and ribbon or cord. I combined the Dare with the Color Challenge, which was to use neutrals, and use an image to make the card POP! Using the bright colors and Merry Christmas ribbon worked really well here. I hope you like it.

Hi-Yo-Silver.....MMTPT66

We're off to a tea party with Mrs. Claus. She has wonderful cookies, fudge, peanut brittle, and other yummy lo-cal(!) stuff for us. She has found a way to help non-tech Santa this year. She got in touch with the scientists in England who cloned a sheep. Remember that? Well, she asked them if they could combine a rocket with a reindeer, clone it, and send eight of them to the North Pole. They said they could, and did.

Santa will be calling his reindeer by different names this year. He'll call to his team....Hi-Yo-Silver, as the lead reindeer (clone #1) has that name. The rest are Argentous, Chrome, Luster, Metallic, Amalgam, Aluminum, and Tinny (he's the little one on the end). Rudolph has retired to Florida.

All of this is rather silly, but it's fun on Tuesday to be a little around the bend (some of us are that way daily!). This time I ended up with a card I can actually send. Hope you like it.

Projects for kids - Thanksgiving

I spent a frustrating morning trying to do the new technique. No good. I should have given up in the beginning, because I broke my CB!! DH took it apart, and the white metal had broken. Totally unfixable!! SOB!!

After I got over the fact I had ruined my cb, I started some projects for Thanksgiving, and thought I would show them to you for your constructive criticism (or even NON-constructive!)While the grands are waiting for dinner to be ready, I usually have some crafty thing for them to do. In past years, they have traced everyone's hands and made a book; they have colored turkeys; they have done mazes and word searches; they have made marshmallow and apple turkeys, etc. The kids range in age from 15 to 8, so it has to be something they can all do.

This year they will make candy place cards for each other, and for the accordian tag booklet, each person will get to write their name, age, and what they are thankful for. I have left enough tags for all the adults too (this year, my eldest son and family will be in FL, so there will only be 11 of us.). This will be part of the Centerpiece on the table. I think it will be fun. PLMK what you think too. Thanks.

Here are the tags I made for everyone to write their names and what they are thankful for, and we'll start with the youngest.These are the little patterns I made for the candy-place holders for the kids to make for the table. I think they're easy enough for them to make in a few minutes, even with the time it takes to eat a few pieces!

RED Card and some Fussin'

This morning has been awful! I woke up at 2 AM and never went back to sleeep. Lying awake, I thought of a fabulous idea for a Birthday present for my Mom. I read the paper, saw the ads, and took off. Rite Aid no longer stocks coffee. Aborted mission. Went to Staples. They didn't open for another half hour. Checked out Stop & Shop....nothing. Went to Building 19 (a junky place that sometimes has good stuff). Nothing. Staples opened, and they didn't have what I went there for. Another aborted mission. I came home, and here I am uploading the card I made EARLY this morning. Thanks for letting me fuss.

My card is a case of Miss Boo, our Featured Stamper. All the details are on my post in my gallery. I'm much too far gone to add it all again. There is a link to my gallery on the left, farther down, if you really want to look. I hope my day gets better. Hope yours it GREAT!

Inspiration Challenge

Today's Inspiration Challenge comes from Precious Possessions. The maker of the cup and saucer I chose for inspiration is Franz Porcelains. I just loved the Zebra stripes combined with the colors in the violets and leaves. And here is my card. I had a wonderful image to use, and also a great zebra stripe bg stamp. I used the purple and green for accents. I hope you like it.

Sharing a great idea!

I'm not so sure this card is all that great on the front, but just wait until you see what's on the inside!! The only thing I will tell you is.........be sure of the size of the three flaps before you glue them down. Luckily, I discovered that the middle one was just a BIT TOO WIDE, and could trim it. I had already stuck down the other two flaps, so it worked out okay.

I just had to share this with you because I thought this card was such fun, and easy to boot!!


Here is the blog where there are directions for this card, http://www.creationsbypatti.blogspot.com/search/label/Cards, and lots of other really neat creations. I found this blog sorta by mistake, and am I ever glad I did.

I changed the papers, and the front, but of course I had to keep the RED.......Gee! I don't know why!!!! I thought this was a wonderful idea, and I'll be making more of these for Christmas. The front may change, but I really love the snowman inside with the snowflakes.

I hope you will check out her blog.....her name is Patti, and she has a LOT of fab things.

...and the Leaves Came Down

What a fun challenge today.......we were to make a card showing our weather, and 2/2/2. We are having a cloudy windy day, and this new Inkadinkado stamp was just perfect. I used my cloud template (thanks Mothermark!), and added a couple of extra leaves. For the twos, 2 ribbons, 2 swirls, 2 popped leaves, and 2 colors of layered cardstock.

The leaves really are coming down fast. All I could think of, looking out the window, was ..."and the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down". You know, from Winnie the Pooh. In this case, it's not rain, but leaves. DH took care of them two days ago, and it looks like they were never touched! Guess how happy that makes him!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you are having nice weather where you are. Boy, the TX-CO area is really getting socked! I'm so glad I live HERE. Have a great day, wherever you are!

Purple Thistle

I just love this image!! The WT today is to use purple. This is the only stamp that comes to my mind when I think of purple. I have lots of other images that would work as well, but this one really does it for me!!

It also gave me a chance to use my new E K Success Curve Punch, some pretty paper (I love sage shadow and any kind of plaid), and some girly pearls.

I am spending the day alone...YAY!... and hoping to get some birthday cards done for November. We have a lot of them... all in the same week as Thanksgiving. Since DH and I will be away from the 8th to the 15th, I thought I'd better work on them now.

Have a creative and wonderful day!

Silent Night

This card is for the SC today on SCS. I love nontraditional colors for holidays, and I really like this combination.

The sketch is interesting...thanks Roxie! The panel was to be smaller, but I couldn't get this to fit in any other size. I think the words are more important anyway. I added a white row of punching, and a navy and gold ribbon, the holly and some gold beads. I hope you like it. Please check out my Belli Challenge card below!!!!

Rain all day today....better than snow!

Creative Belli Challenge #77

The Creative Belli Challenge this week is being sponsored by Sherrod Studios, who sent us some images to use for our cards. I chose to use the turkey for a Thanksgiving easel card. I watercolored the image, added leaves, a brad, and some sentiments. I tied some raffia in a knot, and done!

The challenge was to use RAFFIA or twine on our cards, in addition to whatever we already had in our stash for card making. That's the fun of the Belli......we are to use what we already have. We invite you to play along with us. Check out the cards submitted by the Design Team, andupload your card to the Belli Blog at http://www.bellichallenge.blogspot.com/

and find our sponsors website here:http://sherrodstudio.com/.

This week's hostess for this week's DDC is Joan
(joan ervin), who DARED us to case something from the gallery of our very own Julia (artystamper). You just know how fabulous her site is, since she has been one of the Featured stampers on SCS!!


The hardest part is choosing what to case. I finally opted for the card here on the right, called Gingerbread Christmas Wish. I changed a few minor things, but kept the integrity of the wonderful layout!



My card is below Julia's so you can compare what
I changed, and how different our cards are. What
I DON'T want you to do is compare our abilities.
I am not in Julia's league.

I hope you will want to join us in the DARE this week. Check out Julia's gallery, and when you upload, please put DDC in your keyword so we can find your card or project. We post a new challenge in the Forum every Tuesday.

Morning Sky

The Color Challenge today on SCS is a gorgeous combination: Melon Mambo, Kraft, and Black. The card itself is Kraft, just in case you can't see it. I know I am not Michelle Zindorf, and I have far to go in mastering the brayered technique for which she is known, but I couldn't resist trying this. Since my table was really messy from the retiform technique (or TRICK), I thought why not add to the mess, and clean it all up at once!

The only thing I felt compelled to do was to insert two teeny butterfly brads. Their color was close enough. I'll probably do another with these colors later. If you like this one, come back and look to see if I really tried again with something different.

A 2nd Challenge today......Peaceful Forest

The Technique Challenge today is called Retiform. I had never done this before, and it was fun and easy.

I used my brayer with four different green inks and some post it notes, then inked up my Just For Fun image of pine trees in Artichoke ink, and stamped it on the brayering. Then I versamarked and heat embossed the same image (offset a little) in WHITE, and added a gold star brad. Took only ten minutes.

I added this to the CAS challenge as well, since it was so quick and easy. Thanks for looking.

Sparkly Snowflakes

I just LOVE a five minute card!!


The CAS today was to use eyelets or brads. Obviously, I had held onto these sparkly silver brads forevah! just to use for this challenge.

All I used was one set of stamps, one color (brocade blue), and seven brads. Works for me! Another Christmas card done. (I think I'd better be careful.....when we go away Nov. 8th -15th, I may not have much to do!!)

The sun is bright. A perfect Fall day for DH to rake. Did you notice I didn't say ME?? The yard is not my job. In fact, DH is wondering what IS my job.LOL! Have a great one! Hugs to you all.

Chrysanthemum Birthday

I made this card today as a case of the Featured Stamper on SCS. I changed a number of things to make this one my own. I just got the new CB folder, Damask, and a new Amuse stamp, so I combined them here.

Mom's birthday is next month, and since the flower for November is the Chrysanthemum, I thought this was perfect. The vellum butterfly is yellow, and I thought I'd tell you so because you can't really see it all that well.

I'll check in with you all tomorrow...... the rest of today will be taken up watching the Patriots and the Yankees (please, let them LOSE!!) play. Have a good one!

P.S. We really HATE the Yankees!!!!!!!!!!

You Rule The Seas!

The Inspiration Challenge today at SCS comes from Anthropologie, where everything is merely fabulous!! The hard part is making a choice as to what will be the single item to use for inspiration!I chose the beautiful tunic top with a ship motif in teal on a neutral bg. I kept the pewter buttons in the form of brads and I think it makes a great guy card. I hope you like it. Have a great weekend!!

Girly Girl in RED

The limited supplies challenge this morning is to make a card featuring a girly girl. Can't get much better than this wonderful image!! She is paper pieced and watercolored, and I just couldn't resist some RED rhinestones. This color combination, as you well know, is my favorite!!

I was so glad the challenge was posted at midnight.... I woke up at 2 Am, and couldn't go back to sleep. I spent some time checking out your blogs, and fulfilling some obligations for design teams. Now I am all caught up, and I think it's time I had some coffee. The sun is still not up, but I sure am!!

Have a wonderful day!!