All Stars

Hi -

It's Friday night at 8:45 and I'm about to put my pjs on and stamp for a little while :)

This is a quick card I made this afternoon for the Limited Supplies Challenge on SCS. The was a FUN challenge. There are 3 different categories with 3 choices in each. We had to choose one from each category.

My choices were:
Neutral Image - Stars
Colors: Reds & Blues
Embellishments: Die cuts & Embossing folders

and this is what I came up with. I have to say, I'm liking these Clean and Simple cards lately!

Supplies:
Stamps: none
Ink: none
Paper: Bazzill
Other: Quickutz star die, Cuttlebug embossing folder

If you've never taken the Limited Supplies Challenge, you should give it a try. It's fun!!

Our quote for the day: "The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible." - Richard M. DeVos

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great evening!

Got Snow?

We sure do. It snowed again yesterday. Cliff took Sara to school early and about 2 hours later you couldn't see the tire tracks where he pulled out of the driveway! It's sunny today, but cold, brrrrr. A good day to stay in and stamp :)

These little guys are from the new Sugarplum Snowmen set by CC Designs. Christine is so good at drawing these little guys!! I colored in Copics and did some fun little things with my colorless blender like polka dots on the snowman's scarf and faded the little boy's jeans. I also used Cuttlebug Tree Top set which cuts the trees and then lets you emboss them, very fun. You can find it here. Lots of glitter, lots of dew drops :) It's a great set!!!

Our quote for the day: "Love is like a mountain, Hard to climb, But once you get to the top The view is beautiful." -Daniel Monroe Tuttle

I hope you have a fabulously warm day, unless you like the cold :) Thanks so much for stopping by!

Using Scraps and Turkeys

Good afternoon! Yes, I did sleep in the extra hour this morning did you? :) While I was drinking my coffee and blog surfing this morning, Amy Westerman's post for today immediately caught my eye. I really love her blog anyway, but today's post was very eye-catching to me and it uses scraps, that's a win-win! So, I decided I would try her card myself. Mine didn't turn out nearly as eye-catching as hers, but I did use scraps and I did use a stamp new to me (someone gave it to me cause she didn't want it anymore, thanks Crystal :)

Ok, yes, I'm going to make you look at my card first then I'll link you to Amy's blog so you can see hers. I used Cosmo Cricket paper again one that was double sided so I just used both sides, my cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder that I inked with chestnut roan after embossing, dew drops :), primas :) and I colored the turkey with prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits.

Okay, now that you've looked at mine, I'll show you Amy's incredible card. Amy, thanks for being such an inspiration to me!

This was a fun card to make and I will be making more, playing with card sizes and such. Give it a try and link your card here so I can see too :)

Our quote for the day: "They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them. " — Mahatma Gandhi

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!

A bit of my childhood.....along with a card :)

Good Morning! It's pretty chilly here today, I actually turned on the fireplace for a few minutes this morning while I was getting the kids ready for school. The leaves are BEAUTIFUL right now and I'm trying to enjoy them because I know that by the time I get back from Texas, they will be gone :(

This morning's card is simple, but uses some things I have been wanting to use for a while. My elephant die is from Sizzix and is one of the smaller originals. I wanted to make her felt, but I didn't have any grey felt so she's shimmery instead with Doodlebug sugar-coated pink toe nails :) White card base, pink background paper that was in my scrap drawer which I stamped with the heart from Autumn Leaves Scribbled Scripted set in pink. The pink cardstock in the middle (also from my scrap drawer) was embossed with cuttlebug swiss dots and then inked on the top of the dots with the same pink ink. I tied the ribbons on and stamped "welcome to the world" from Fiskars baby set.

Oh, the part about my childhood, the backdrop in the photo is my baby blanket, yes, I still have it. I don't sleep with it anymore, but I'm sure not getting rid of it. My grandmother who just passed away last year made it for me :) It's REALLY soft because of how much it's been loved (and washed :)

Remember to stop by tomorrow, because it's ATS Challenge Wednesday and it's a fun one!

Our quote for the day: "What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies. "
— Aristotle

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

I'm back again :)

I told you I would be back with another post today......okay, I'm really glad I was able to come through with it :) Not that I lie, I despise lying, but I had Mount Laundry that had to be started and I didn't really feel great this morning, so I took a little nap in between making this card and working on the laundry. I feel a little bit better now, just still tired :( Oh well.



This is from the soon to be released "Eric and Chrissy - Go Prehistoric" set from CC Designs! It's so cute!! I knew I had to make a fairly simple card so I only used a few of the stamps from the set. You will have to go to the ATS blog to see Eric and Chrissy. Cute, cute, cute!!

My card uses plain cardstock for the base and Basic Grey Archaic for the dp. I cut the one with dinosaurs on it in the shape of a big diamond and then cut that in half and put the inside half toward the outside of the card....clear as mud??? Next, I wrapped the ribbon around the middle and tied a square knot. The rusty colored paper is from a DCWV card stack and I cut it with my quickutz diamond die and then embossed it with the swiss dots from cuttlebug, then I took chestnut roan ink and rubbed it along the outside of the diamond as well as lightly on the top of all the little dots. I stamped the dinosaur and bones in versafine black and colored them with Copics. I stamped the sentiment in versafine sepia and punched it out with my McGill window punch. Oh, I almost forgot that I added dew drops....but then again I'm sure you're surprised at that. :)

Our quote for the day: "If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much." - Jim Rohn

Thanks so much for stopping by again. Have a fabulous day!

It's Wednesday - Time for the ATS Challenge

Good Morning! It feels good to be getting back to my regular schedule of posting in the mornings :) It's cool outside today and really feels like fall. My post yesterday gave you a change from my fall colors that I've been working with lately, but today's is more of the fall stuff :) The ATS Challenge for this week is a sketch challenge and the sketch is below:

My card uses some of the new Basic Grey paper "Ambrosia" - you can get the 6X6 pack and the individual 12X12 sheets here. Very cool colors, different from their 'norm'. I also used AmyR's stamps Amy's Boutique and Boutique Sentiments. I used my cuttlebug embossing folder on the strips under the image and added buttons from Daisy D's and some ribbon, oh yeah, and a dew drop :) This is a great sketch so please play along and upload your creation to the gallery for us to see.

Our quote for the day: "The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. " — Allan K. Chalmers

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a fantabulous day!

Another Fall Card and a Challenge

Good Morning! This morning's post will be short because we have a volleyball tourney and then a cross country meet to go to this morning :)

This card was made for one of the challenges on SCS. The challenge was to use mostly "white space" and my vanilla space was okay too :). This was way outside my box of normal but I really enjoyed making it and actually liked it when it was finished. Here I go on my soapbox again :) If you have never done challenges, please try one. They really teach you so many new things that you may never otherwise try. All That Scraps has a challenge every Wednesday, SCS has challenges every day and there are MANY other blogs that do challenges all the time. If you want you can always challenge yourself. Choose a paper that you love but aren't sure what to do with and make yourself use it, choose 3 colors and use them together. Trust me, it's fun! :)

Okay, the details about the card. Brown cardstock, vanilla cardstock and dark orange cardstock. I embossed the vanilla with my cuttlebug swiss dots and rounded the corners then onto the card it went. I stamped the autumn leaves stamp with chalk ink burnt sienna and then cut it our with a little edge. Then I used my quickutz flower cookie cutter die to die cut the orange flower and pierced the scallops. I cut a brown strip to go under the image and then because of my friend Lynette who is AMAZING with her Score-pal (You can see her work here) I scored a line above and below my orange ribbon. Woo Hoo - I know it's a very small start, but I did it - Thanks Lynette!!!

Then I tied the ribbon and pop-dotted the image. That's it. I think I will try some more of these "white space" cards, I really enjoyed it!

Our quote for the day: "Dreams are today's answers to tomorrow's questions. "

— Edgar Cayce

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

All That Scraps Wednesday Challenge

Good Morning! Today is All That Scraps Wednesday Challenge and as you see above the challenge is to make a scented card. There are many ways to do this. At All That Scraps you can purchase these really cool scents that are in bottles like nail polish and all you have to do is 'paint' them around the card or image you want to smell. That's what I used on my card, it smells like bananas :) You can find them here. If you go to the post about the challenge on the ATS message board you can also find some other ways to make scented cards. I love using this though because it makes my studio smell like banana pudding - YUM!!!

I started this card with prism cardstock and added some chatterbox dp and some blue cardstock that I embossed with my cuttlebug folder. I used "Monkey Love" CC Designs set along with the bananas and banana sentiments that go with it. I colored in Copics and used some Spica glitter on the banana peels although you can't tell that in the picture. Then I added ribbon and dew drops. Fun and it smells good too! :)

Our quote for the day: "Everyone's life is under someone's control - it might as well be under your own so that you can direct your destiny." - Harry Tucker

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

We interupt the Halloween cards postings for.......

play time with a new cuttlebug die and embossing folder......(whoops, did I say that out loud?) I meant for a note of thanks! :)

I went into Hobby Lobby yesterday because I hadn't been in there in a long time and they had Copic markers on sale and I needed an orange. Don't get too excited, they don't have a great selection of Copics, but if you're looking for just a few to try before you actually make the investment, it's a good thing :) Anyway, I was walking by the scrapbooking stuff as I always do and I saw that they had just a couple of the new releases by cuttlebug. None of the new holiday things, but they did have this with gratitude set that jumped into my shopping basket. They also had paper 50% off so I bought this little 8X8 pad by the Paper Studio. It's really cute and girly and glittery. I came home and made this. I added the ribbon by American Crafts and the gems by Hero Arts. It was fun and easy and I didn't stamp a thing on this card.

Tomorrow will bring us back to our regularly scheduled programming, unless something new finds itself at my house again :)

Our quote for the day: "Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it." — Yves Saint Laurent

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Easter Chick

Good Morning! Guess what we got last night? 3+" of snow!!! So much for being able to see the grass......oh well. I will continue to post cheerful, bright colored cards, to combat the overcast days.

Do you see a pattern in how I make cards? This one used the Anna Griffin paper that I used on the last card. See, I do try to use alot of the paper once I cut into a 12X12. The top part of this card uses one of the new cuttlebug embossing folders, Floral Fantasy. I embossed it onto Bazzill Bling and then tied an American Crafts ribbon around the center. The stamped image includes the Chick (don't you love his hair?) from Studio G designed by Alison Wong (Michaels $1 stamp) and then I added the egg at the bottom. It's from Stampendous' clear stamps that are sold individually. I colored with prismacolor pencils and mineral spirits and then went over some parts with Spica glitter pens, the whole chickie glitters :) I inked around the stamped image and then matted it on pink shimmer paper and pop-dotted it over the ribbon. Voila - it's finished!

Sometimes I think my cards are too simple, but I like for the image to be the focus of the card and when I try to add too much sometimes it ends up taking away from my cards. So I usually focus on color and what feelings I'm trying to convey with my cards. Serious, whimsical, fun, relaxing.....these things are what I think about when trying to come up with colors and style. Hope you enjoy them!

Our quote for the day: "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." - Winston Churchill

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a GREAT Monday!