Creative Belli Challenge #92

The Belli Challenge this time is to make something using Sketch #2, and to use only FLAT embellishments. This is the layout ---------->

What I really love about the Belli Challenge is that every challenge calls for using what you already have in your stash..... no need to go out and buy something else! In this case, I had to put on my thinking cap, because I love to add bumpy layers. Making something flat is alien to me. I used a stamp I've had forever and punched it with the ticket punch as the embellishment. The sentiment (which is tiny) came from a miniscule part of a SU stamp in the set called Card Games.

I hope you will feel moved to join us this week. Please check out the DT entries, and please add your own with Mr. Linky to the http://www.bellichallenge.blogspot.com/. See you again in two weeks!

REAL RED for the CC today!

I just love it when the CC involves my favorite color!! Today, the additions to Real RED were Kraft, Bermuda Bay, and ruled paper for dessert. I had this wonderful kindergarten paper, and made a kindergartener to match.

This is one of the new images I got on vacation. I think this little girl from MFT is just so sweet. I'll be sending this to my BFF in Northport FL, who I miss every day, especially when I'm in the hot tub with my coffee in the morning. She loves to do that too, so I have her in mind daily!

I haven't made a flap card in a long time. I didn't really plan it, it just took on a life of its own. I hope you like it. Hugs to you all .... have a fun day.

Black Magic in RED!

What fun to be back to do the challenges!! Today, Holly chose to have us use the Black Magic technique.

Of course I had to use a very dark RED, which in morning light looks brighter than it actually is.

This will go to Mom as a thank you for all she did for us on vacation ..... after all, it is her condo!! Thanks for looking, and don't forget to check out the Halloween cards we made together below.

Back From Vacation.....Here's the PROOF!

Gee it's nice to be home! I love going away, but after a while, HOME sure sounds good!

Here is the proof that Mom and I made Halloween cards. We got a really good start on the number we have to make, but we need to do a lot separately, as we send to many of the same people ..... especially little ones. We were fairly frugal with the number of stamps we took, and we promised each other we wouldn't bring a lot of paper, but you know how much we all LOVE paper. I brought no RED, since I couldn't justify a RED Halloween card, but I did manage to sneak in a pink one of little pigs (you know, Pig Out. It's Halloween!)

Now I'm ready to get back in harness with challenges.....Boy! Did I miss those. I'm also ready to be looking at all your blogs and galleries. A slow laptop just didn't cut it, and besides, we had other things to do, like SHOP. I got lots of new wonderful stamps and some embellishments, and only bought 4 sheets of paper. Wow! was I good.

I missed you all. I want to thank those of you who sent me such beautiful (and mostly RED) carrds for my birthday. They were all so appreciated. Back later with a challenge. Hugs!!

THT050 CC by Yaneri

It's Thursday, and the Treehouse challenge today is colors, chosen by Yaneri! Pink, sky blue, cream, and brown are her choices.

I used www.treehousestamps.com image of a sandcastle from the set called Fun In The Sun.

We hope you will join us. Be sure to add THT050 to your keyword, Add to Mr. Linky on our blog, and remember to look at the entries made by the rest of the DT. See you next week!

DDIC#28 Simple Flowers

The Divine Inspiration Challenge this week comes from an advertisement for Clinique. I really liked the white background and the beautiful flowers. I wanted to keep that simple theme, and all I added was the lavender butterfly.

I hope you will join us in the challenge, and will upload to http://www.divastamper.blogspot.com/ and link your project so we can see what you have done. You can also see the DT's entries by clicking on oour names. If you upload to SCS or PCP, please add DDIC to your keyword.

On Vacation But BIG NEWS

We are starting our second and final week of vacation in NH. We have had great weather, great food, and are spending our money as fast as we can. We have gotten some FABULOUS stuff, some much needed containers, and are still at it!


The BIG NEWS is that I am officially a DT member of Mark's Finest Papers. Faith made the announcement yesterday on the BLOG, and I will be using her wonderful images, papers, charms, ribbon, and what-have-you for the next six months! I am very excited to begin!


Mom and I have been making Halloween cards, and when I get home will post our fun creations. stay tuned.

THT049 RELAX!!

It's Thursday again, and time for the latest TreeHouse Thursday challenge. Today, the theme is Masculine cards or projects.

How fabulous to relax with a hot cup. My DH brings his coffee to the porch every morning (and mine too!) to enjoy the start of the new day.

I chose to combine two different TreehouseStamps sets.... Fun in the Sun, and Friends and Lattes. I think this is a card for a guy because it tells him (0r ALLOWS him) to relax. No guilt!!

Feel free to join us. Add THT049 to your keyword, and check in with the DT to see what they've done!

Belli Challenge #91 Holes! and My Birthday!

As you see this card for the CBC today, I am on Vacation in NH, and

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!

The theme for this week is HOLES. They can be punches, eyelets, etc., whatever you have in your stash that makes a hole.

This week we are sponsored by

http://www.sewmanycards.com/. We were kindly sent images to use for this challenge, and I chose these frogs, called Freddie and Frieda. They are printed on dp and cut out. I think they're kinda cute, in a froggie way! Please visit our sponsor, and tell them we sent you.

Also, please check out the rest of the design team, upload your own entry to Mr. Linky at our blog, and you could win some neat stuff!! Please put CBC91 in your keyword at SCS. See you in two weeks when I'll be home!

Speedy's Friends Challenge #2

Today is Speedy's Friends Challenge, to use corner punches. I couldn't resist doing one last card, even though I have put most of my supplies away to take on vacation.

What you see here is NOT going with me, except for the stamps. I got out my crimper, which doesn't get a lot of attention, to give a little texture to this paper pieced flower from MFP. This set, called Camellias and Apples will be released this summer.

Please join us in the challenge. Link your entry to Mark's Finest Papers blog, and you may win a stamp set of your choice!!

Bye all. See you on the 24th, when we return.

Inspiration Challenge

The inspiration challenge today at SCS takes us to a site called HUSET, a Scandinavian store selling items for home and family. I found a wonderful RED candelabra to use for this card, and just had to surround it with my Dala (Swedish horses).

I actually combined this challenge with the QFTD08, which was posted yesterday. The chosen queen was Lynn (allee), who has the most beautiful gallery, and she is known for her layered images. Her card that I cased however is CAS one, that I felt really worked with this Huset one.

Today I am packing for our vacation. We leave early in the morning. I'll be picking up Mom on the way with her stuff (mostly crafts like me!), and we'll meet DH at a restaurant for lunch. He'll have a computer so I can upload, but my comments will be few as we will be off and running. Be back home on the 23rd. Happy Mother's Day to you all!

Cherry on Top Birthday

I hope you can see the shine on the cherry and leaves. They were done with Sakura Gelly Roll pens. The challenge today was to be 'gellin'', so I used both those and my white gel pen as faux stitching.

It seems I never have enough birthday cards, so I was glad to add one to my stash.

The cupcake is paper pieced, and came from the June release of "Cupcake Birthday" at

Mark's Finest Papers. This is a really fun set, with cake slices, lots of sentiments.......be sure to check it out!

I am starting to pick out the things I'm taking from my craft room for vacation. So hard to make choices!! working with just a few things is so different than having everything at your fingertips!! Packing the clothes for two weeks is easy.....and I am ready for whatever weather NH has to offer!

Third and LAST post for today!

The problems at SCS continue. Here's hoping that by being shut down today, they can resolve the glitches!!

This morning, Julia posted early, so a few of us got a chance to post our entries for today's challenge, PINS.

I used Mark's Finest Papers paper, ribbon, and charm, and a fabulous image from the set called Pears and Hollyhock, that will be available next month.

A little framing, some painting, a little Asian character from Inkadinkado, some gold cord, and pin completes the card today. I hope you like it.

Please look below for the Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge, and for the TreehouseThursday Challenge. They were both fun!!

DDIC #27 Inspired butterflies

Today's Inspiration Challenge for the Divine Divas comes from The Inglenook Decor Photo gallery and has some really interesting bits and pieces to choose from. Frames, butterflies, shells, silver jewelry, necklaces.....WOW!







I chose to go with the lacy frames and butterfly images, and used only the white and silver metallic. I used no stamps or ink, but had fun with my piercer, nestabilities, and punches.



Just for fun I added some silver pearls, and a strip of Martha stewart paper lace flowers I've had for eons.



Please feel free to join us in the challenge, and be sure to check out what the other Divas have done with this by going to my sidebar and clicking on their names.

see you in two weeks with another fun Inspiration piece!!

THT048 Sketch

It's Thursday again, time for the Treehouse Thursday Challenge. This week we have a sketch as our project. I used the palm tree from the new digi set called

FUN IN THE SUN!

The colors are all from Stampin' Up, before some of them are retired. I tried to get in all the elements of the beach on a summer's day......sky, water, sand. The additions are raffia and brads.

Please join in on the challenge, upload to Mr. Linky at
http://www.treehousestamps.blogspot.com/. You just might win some wonderful images!! Check out the DT's cards and projects too! See you next week.

Back to RED today!

I just LOVE the sketch challenge today......an easy layout, and wide open to any color or image!!

My granddaughter Samantha, an incredible animal lover of cats, dogs, horses, etc., is turning 13!! on the 27th of this month. This card is for her. It will certainly put a smile on her beautiful face!

All supplies are from Mark's Finest Papers. The image of the cat is from a set that will be available next month, called MORE OF SPEEDY THE CAT'S FRIENDS.

I hope you think this card will be fun for Sam, and that you are happy to see RED again from me!! Have a wonderful day my friends!!

Final Mother's Day Card for Mom #7

This one finishes the cards I send to Mom for the week of Mother's Day. I had intended (and had promised) to make a RED card, and then I saw the challenges today at SCS, and here's my story (to coin a Mothermark phrase):

The colors prescribed were Gable Green, Lovely Lilac, and Cameo Coral. Very hard to sneak a little RED into that mix, so I just went with those colors, plus my neutral white.

The MMTPT92, however was a different story! The theme is Hocus Pocus, what is missing? In my case, what is missing (you guessed it) is the RED! There were 42,000 RED blossoms on this exotic lilac tree, and when the blooms were picked, all 42,000 of those little bitty flowers fell apart. Honestly!! David Copperfield couldn't even make them reappear!! That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it! LOL!

Card #6 for Mother's Day

I just love the look of embossed vellum! I hardly ever think to do it, so I was grateful for the nudge from Holly today on the TLC. It also works for the CAS to make a Mother's Day card, or May Flowers card.

The image I used is the May Contest FREE image from TreehouseStamps. Pop on over and get this image to enter for some stamps!!

This is the 6th is the series of cards I'll be sending to Mom for Mother's Day. I like to send her one every day for the week. She just loves to get mail, and she displays all of them where she can enjoy them. I try to make them all different, so there's no RED today, but there will be for sure tomorrow!!

Featured Stamper Day

The Featured stamper today is Michelle, and she has a wonderful gallery to browse through. Her cards are colorful, well laid out, and very straightforward. This is her card in blue I chose to CASE--->
If you would like to see her whole gallery, HERE it is.






Here is the card I made. You can see I kept her wonderful layout, but I really changed everything else. I used a new set from TreehouseStamps called Summer Fun. Thanks for looking. Have a fabulous Sunday. See you tomorrow!

MFP Challenge #1

Today is the VERY FIRST challenge at MFP! The challenge is to use the colors RED, white and blue.

No problem for me!!I made this birthday card using a new set called Southwest Cowboy that will be coming out soon!! Not only a first challenge, but a SNEAK PEEK as well.

All images are MFP.

I'm off to the MFP Blog to link up my card.

Mother's Day #5....a watercolor.

Here, in a smaller image, is the painting I chose for inspiration for the challenge on SCS today. I just loved the colors (oh, surprise), and was daring enough to try a little watercoloring of my own. Never done this before! I think I like the result well enough to send this as a Mother's Day card to my Mom. This, I think, is #5 of the ones I will send to her as part of her Mother's Day week of mail. Even if she doesn't like the image, she will love the RED, white, and black.

A Little Humor for Mother's Day

There is a fairly new challenge on SCS that is called Queen For The Day. This week, the chosen stamper is Carol_PA925. She has an interesting gallery, and the card I chose to CASE is this one of the butterfly card in PINK. I liked the simple layout.

So, in keeping with my card-a-day policy for Mother's Day, I made the card below, using some pretty blues, and a butterfly I got at the $ Tree. You can see the changes I made in Carol's card. No need for me to tell you what you can look at yourself.

I did take a close-up of the sentiment. It shouldn't be wasted, because it's perfect for a person my age to give to her Mom. I can't tell you the number of times my Mom "washed" something smudgy off my face with her 'wetted" handkerchief. Mom's today don't carry hankies anymore. What do they use??? Anyhow, she will get a real laugh out of this card. I hope you do too.

Floral for Mom

Card #3 for the week I send Mom Mother's Day cards. The F4A10 challenge today was to make a floral card, and this one was super easy.

I used four different punches, one sentiment, a ribbon and some pearls. Not even dimensionals!

Mom and I just got our SU order which had the Trio Punch in it for both of us. I have long admired CarrollAnn's (Mrs. Boz at SCS) little embossed flowers, and this is how she did them.....a stylus and the punch. I think they are so cute!

I'm off to the mailbox with the first card I made for Mom. Have a great day, and I hope you are having fun making Mother's Day cards too.

Mother's Day #2

In keeping with sending my Mom a card every day for the week before Mother's Day, here is card #2.

The WT challenge today was to use chipboard, which I have, but never use. This is from Maya Road, and I covered two flowers in dp. Sanded, then layered, and finished off with a brad.

I try to make each of the cards for my Mom different. I just got this Trio punch from my new SU order, and CarrollAnn has the best way to use the flowers, so I did what she did!! I hope you like it.

THT047 Faux Birthday

Happy Thursday! Today's featured member of the Treehouse Design Team is Gloria Morizen, who challenged us to make a Birthday Card using a FAUX technique.

The technique I chose is Faux stitching. The image I used is a FREE colored cupcake from Ashley, our fearless leader (it's the May contest digi!)

The card is really easy. I downloaded the colored image twice, and cut one out to pop. Of course I had to use RED as a bg color, along with white and turquoise. I used my new Fiskar's edge punch, and faux stitched in turquoise around the panel.

Please feel free to join us, and attach your card or project to Mr. Linky at

Treehouse Stamps

so we can see it, and maybe you will win some free stuff from the website!! Please look at what the whole DT has done by clicking on their names on my sidebar. See you next Thursday!!

RED Rose For Mom

For the week before Mother's Day, I send a card each day to my Mom. she loves to get cards, especially mine (who knew?), and displays them FOREVAH!

She happens to love my favorite combination of colors, so this will be the first card I send.

This layout is the SC at SCS today, and worked really well with the Stemma dp of roses.

Have a great day. Hugs to you all!

Belli Challenge Birthday #90

The Belli Challenge #90 this week is to make cards or projects with a Birthday Theme.

Creative Cuts & More was nice enough to sponsor us by sending a package of wonderful papers, die cuts, rub-ons, and stickers for us to play with! What fun!!

Here are two cards I made for the challenge. Please be sure to check out the website of CC&M, and link your birthday themed project, using whatever you already have in your stash to Mr. Linky here: http://www.bellichallengeblogspot.com/ to be entered for a prize!! Be sure to add CBC to your keyword in SCS. See you in two weeks!

Daisy for CC and MMTPT91

Rainy day here. YUCK! I feel really tired today, maybe it's the weather, maybe just plain tired. I was so glad that under these circumstances the challenges today could be combined.

This daisy works for both the CC and MMTPT91. Teapot Tuesday has to do with daisies and ladybugs. Check. The CC is to use banana, ballet blue and olive. Check.

I have had this wonderful dp from PSX for quite a while. Hoarding it. It has these beautiful big daisies with olive leaves and stems. I just cut one of them out, added a RED ladybug brad (dotted with a Sharpie) and a RED ribbon, and good to go. Have a great day!!

CAS and TLC with Mark's Finest Papers

It's been a busy day. At 2 PM I am just uploading my card. DH and I went to see our post-surgery son, so I could see he was all right with my own eyes. He's doing well, but still swollen and uncomfortable, but he's up and around.

When I came home, I realized I could combine the CAS and TLC, so here's what I did.

All the materials are from Mark's Finest Papers, and the stamp sets (Apples and Camellias, and Background Fun) will be available in May/June. Gorgeous new stuff!!!

Thanks for looking, and I hope y ou're all having a wonderful day!! See you tomorrow!

Casing in RED!

Today I did something I've never done before. I cased a CASE. The Featured stamper today made a card for a previous FS, and I just loved it. I felt it was only fair to show you both of them before I showed you my own. The card with brown and green is the original by Miss Boo. Gloria, our FS, cased this using the top note and embossing in white, but using predominantly brown. Now to my card.

As you can see, I went with my favorite colors!! I loved the top note as a panel, but made some changes. They are all pretty obvious, so I'll not insult you by reciting them. You can compare for yourself.

I hope you like the changes I made, and that you will take a peek at the FS challenge oon SCS today.

DH and I are off for the day to friends' for some fun. I'll be back tonight to comment on your blogs then. Have a great day!

Get Well for Paul

Our son Paul had labrum hip surgery on Thursday. He's having the other one done in the summer, when teachers can take more time off. He's doing fine, but uncomfortable, as you can imagine. (If you want to send him a card, let me know).

The IC this morning had this fabulous card that I cased, and I think it's really appropriate for him. I used three stamps, two colors, and one stamp pad. How's that for easy??!!

This is the original card, and of course I had to keep the fab colors (my favs), especially the RED.

Thanks for looking.

A Trip To Asia!

No, I'm not off to Asia. Although I would love to see the Far East, it's the good old USA for me! This card is for F4A9 at SCS today, a virtual trip.

Because I love anything Asian, this is the first thing that came to mind. I have this adorable little heron, so I drew in some water and cattails, used my new cb ef, and a gold pen. A little distressing, some hemp and a coin round it out.

I have 2 of my grandsons today. They are both nine, and two cuter and funnier little boys you will never see!! At the moment they are playing a DS (whatever that is!) on the couch, and giggling to beat the band!! Here they are, posing quickly for Grandma!

I'll be spending the day with these guys, and intermittently with DH, so there won't be time for comments today.......I'm sure you will understand.

I won't be in my craft room today, but will be at my station as 6PM hostess for the VSN tonight. I hope you will join me! There are lots of fun projects planned, and great hostesses to challenge you!! See you at 5 PM for the start. Don't forget!!!

Mixing REDS!!

Hoo-Boy!! I just love a challenge that's wide open, so I can use my RED! The WT today is to mix patterns, and I just bought a bunch of paper (12 x 12 for 20 cents a sheet!) at M's. Of course I bought a lot of RED, and other matching papers, so this was right on top of the new stuff!!

I had to add some black and white (there are a bunch of us who love this combination - you know who you are!), and when in doubt, I use Stipple Rose. I really LOVE this image.

That's it for today. I'm getting ready for tomorrow's VSN mini. I am the 6 PM hostess, so be sure to check in with SCS to play along!! See you there.

THT046 Inspiration Challenge

This week we have an inspiration Challenge at the Treehouse! We were to use this fabulous bedding set to inspire us to make a card or project. I happened to have a very similar dp by Chatterbox, so all I had to add was an image (from the new set Dinorific) and and embellishment. The leaves are a new (to me) sizzix die cut. I cut out little flowers from the bg, and added them to the branches.

I think this would make a fun birthday card for just about anyone. I hope you will join us this week. Be sure to put THT046 in your keyword, and check out the offerings of the DT here:
http://www.treehousestamps.blogspot.com/. See you next week!

Lavender Rose

And Yes! That is the right spelling! I don't want any comments on A's and E's!! LOL!

For the sketch challenge today, which was really easy, I just couldn't use RED, and I apologize for it right away. We had the most fabulous colored rose that bloomed all summer last year, up until late October. The lavender was so startling beautiful, we couldn't bear to even cut one!!

This is so close to the color .... it is a stunner, isn't it???

Have a wonderful day. We have sun again. I am so "pumped" as my DGS Tommy says!! Hugs to you all!

How About a Julep?

The teapotters are off to KY for the Derby. I'm bring my own Julep .... that's been his name for 42,000 years!! Since I am old, and afraid of horses, I thought riding a dinosaur would be perfect!! We don't care whether we win or not, we just want to be at the tea party and enjoy a few drinks and snacks.

The image of the dinosaur is from

http://www.treehousestamps.com/,
part of a set called Dino-rific. Check it out!!

I'm off to Mom's for the day, so my commenting will be brief. I'll catch up with some of you tomorrow. Have a great day!!

WILD!!

Today is going to be a WILD day!! It's Patriot's Day in Massachusetts, the day of the running of the Boston Marathon. DH is NOT involved this year as an official, so he has "bagged" #2 DS to help with removing the leaf cover off the pool.

DIL and I will be crafting today, and Jake, my DGS will be reading, coomputing, etc. and generally keeping himself busy.

This card is for both challenges today ... TLC and CAS. I just noticed a smudge on the sentiment of brown....guess my stamp wasn't so clean. Please overlook it .... just as you always overlook my mistakes!! Have a great day. The sun is shining here....... haven't seen it in a long time!!!