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!!

Christmas Lamb

I got home about an hour ago, had an expensive time at my favorite LSS, but DH paid!!, enjoyed lunch with our friend, and after groceries were put away, decided to do another for the WT.

The background is patched, the label is a new Nestie, and the lamb is a Bosskut I've been anxious to try out. The star is metallic gold, but is not bent.....that's the way the light hit the arms of the star. I really like this, and may do more with the lamb, but not the patches. Too many x's!!

Thanks for looking!

RED patched happy snowman!

Years ago when I made real quilts, one of the easiest to make was called Crazy Quilt. It had no pattern, just random pieces of fabric were appliqued onto a backing. That's what I did with this card for the Ways To Use It challenge at SCS today. I had a lot of RED scraps (Gee! Go figure!!), so I took out the folder FULL of them, and patched them on a piece of RED. I paper pieced the snowman as well, and popped up a hat to show just how happy he was.

DH and I are off for the day. I'm going to my favorite LSS, we're meeting a friend for lunch, then groceries (that part is yucky!). I'll be back to comment tonight. Have a wonderful day. Hugs!

Cross-Eyed Owl

The SC today on SCS was one of mine that Roxie chose! How cool is that??? Mom and I had time to do one last card before she hits the road this morning. The time has gone way too fast. We've made lots of cards, and what a mess!!

Hope you like the card we came up with this morning. My owl looks very cross-eyed. Mom's does not. I can't figure that out!! Oh well, it is what it is.

Have a great day......be visiting your blogs later today.

Mom and I have been busy!

For the MMMY4 today, MariLynn had a picture of a wonderful teapot........you'll have to go see it in the gallery.......this computer is being VERY temperamental this AM!! Anyway, this is done in cameo and white, and I had this ribbon that matches perfectly!! The cb bg is Tiny Mosaic, and the sentiment is from Espress Yourself. We added some flowers, and now we will stoop for a while. We are thinking about a trip to M's. Hmmmmm........anyone want to join us??LOL!

The CC today had wonderful colors to work with: Vanilla, Cameo, Burgundy, and Artichoke. We decided to use our favorite set, Bloomin' Beautiful. We just love this flower, although the whole set is fabulous.

The flower is painted in cameo, and darkened with burgundy. Trust me, it's really there.

Not much to add beyond the ribbon, and few bg layers and some brads. We like the way it came out, and hope you do too.

Twick or Tweet

The hostess for this week's Doubledog Dare Challenge is Joanne (sleepyinseattle), who sent us a bag of Halloween stuff. The DARE was to make a Halloween card with the materials she provided. I should have taken a picture of the things she mailed.......ribbons, papers, pumpkins, ghosts, images, .....what fun!!

Here is the card I made.....I just loved the bats! But I have to tell you that the image of the skeleton with the dog taking a bite of his leg bone just cracks me up. I would have ordered the set for this image alone!

Please feel free to join us in the DARE. Make whatever Halloween card you want, just put DDC in the keyword at SCS so we can find it! Have a great day!

Mom is Visiting!

When Mom comes to visit, we do every challenge! We make cards nonstop from morning to night, taking time out in the afternoon for a glass of wine, but that's it!! Today we did the two challenges at SCS.

The wiper card was new to Mom, but not to me, although I have only made one of them before. We took a lot of time deciding what to use for the sentiment........I thought I had a million SU sets for Christmas. turns out I only have three complete ones, so we were a little limited, but we both like how it turned out.

The CAS challenge for today was to make a sympathy card. Mom doesn't have a lot of experience with CAS, so she was really surprised when we were done in about four minutes. We both like this one too.

Have a terrific day.......no commenting from us.......we're too busy making cards!!! LOL!

See you in a couple of days! Hugs to you all.

Another for Riley, Our FS

Because I saved NINE different cards I wanted to case of Riley's (and that was only on the first and the top of the second pages of her gallery!), I decided to go back to my addict...ahem.....craft room, and do another. I had saved this cutout from a card I received last Christmas, and thought it was perfect for this layout. I cb'd the middle section of the three bands, and used a punch for the scalloped circle, but that was about it. Add a couple dewdrops, a ribbon, and done. And speaking of done, I am, for the day. Seeya tomorrow!!

Reindeer for Riley

Riley Fitzgerald is the Featured Stamper today on SCS. I always love to see what she has posted. Her layouts are wonderful. I had to keep the theme, layout, and colors of the card I chose to case. What I changed was the dp, the image (still keeping the reindeer), the ribbon, and added a sentiment and pearls.

I am still working on Christmas cards, and the theme of Riley's card was perfect. I hope she likes what I have done in her honor.

Today it is raining like time (as my Grandfather used to say......and I STILL don't know what that means!LOL!). The grass seed that DH put in yesterday should take really well. I am dying to watch the Patriots play in the rain this afternoon....not as good as snow, but who needs THAT?????? We'll spend a lazy day, and since I twinged my back yesterday, that works for me. Have a great day......kick back and relax!!

IC Xenia Talor Tiles

The Inspiration Challenge at SCS today was a gallery of tiles by Xenia Talor. They are all beautiful! The one I chose on which to base my card is called Summer Trees. Obviously I used Fall colors to make this Thanksgiving, my first venture with the new In Colors from Stampin' Up. Very simple.......in fact, Clean and Simple.

Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend!

Half-Done Card........COOL!

How cool is the challenge this morning!! The LSC today is to start with a preprinted note card, and finish it in a Clean and Simple style. What took the longest was finding a note card in the back of my closet! The black and gray was so pretty, it really told me what to do, so I added more of those colors, and since the envie and a tiny strip on the bottom was pink.............
I had some flower die cuts from a million years ago, made by K & Co., and this one of the rose was staring me in the face, so on it went. I love punching and die cutting, so this was a snap. I am liking the results. Maybe I'll finish up the rest of the package, and tie them together as a quick gift!! Thanks for looking. Hugs to you all.

2nd post today.......WT Leaves

For the WT today, the theme was leaves. I have been working on making a bunch of cards for the Fall, so this fit right in. I was really foolish in thinking I could just whip off a CD case. I hadn't done one in a long time, and it took forever of course. My carft table will take an hour to clean up. I used just about everything I own (well not really!) I have posted the two sides so you can see front and back, and I hope you like it. This one will go to my MOM, who loves shaker cards. I think you can see in the front picture that the sequin leaves are free-floating. I had planned to do a pocket card (thanks Wendybell!) for her as a surprise, but she was here, and wormed it out of me. Both my DD and Mom are able to do that!! Enough. Thanks for visiting. Have a creative and fun day.

Divine Diva Inspiration Challenge

The DDIC this week takes its inspiration from this beautiful fabric. The print is by Kobayashi called Chysanthemums, and I wish it was still available, because it's so gorgeous. The beige background and the variety of flowers, plus the wavy lines give it so much dimension.


My version of this fabric is here, below, done in beige, with razzleberry, durango, curry, and a touch of bermuda bay. I tried to keep a variety of flowers, as in the original, added some wavy lines, and used the punch as a textural dimension.

The layout for my card is an easel, the directions for which can be found in the SCS forum under

TLC242. Very easy and fun to do.

I hope you will join us in the DDIC .....just be sure to put those letters in your keyword so we can find your card in the SCS gallery.

Be sure to check out what all the other Divas have done with this challenge. Click on their names on my sidebar! See you again on November 5th.

Belli Challenge #76 and SC250....Two today!

The Belli Challenge today is sponsored by Creative Cuts and More. They have the most wonderful die cuts, and a fabulous assortment of windows, special folds, and a great variety of things for your creative projects. Their papers are gorgeous. Go to their website here :
http://www.creativecutsandmore.com/

The Challenge today is to make a Fall or Thanksgiving card with at least one leaf. I used CC&M's library pocket card, and a wonderful Karen Lockhart stamp. The leaves are punched out, markered and sponged. Feel free to join us in the challenge. You can upload your card to our blog
http://www.bellichallenge.blogspot.com/ and also to SCS by putting CBC76 in your keyword. Check out what the other DT members have done!!

The Sketch challenge today at SCS is pretty easy. I figured it was about time to use some of my RED paper! These little snowmen from Hero Arts are so cute! It's easy to color them because the area for each color is so small. I used my cb Snow Dots , a MS punch and some ribbon.....voila! I have another Christmas card to add to my growing pile.

Thanks for joining me here today. Have a fun and creative morning.