Pull Ups

I found this double pull-up card in an old Stampin' Up! demonstrator magazine, and decided to try it. It really wasn't hard at all, but it took me *forever* because there were no dimensions given. And do I have dimensions for you... ummm... no. {sheepish grin} Maybe that will have to be one of our projects for a class in a box! :)

Today is my daughter's birthday. She spent part of her birthday money on Webkins. We were glad that the gal at the store didn't ask how old she was. She said she'd tell them she was a "really old 5". :) Too funny.

Have a wonderful day!

Quote for Today...

Sorry no pictures today - I've been busy putting up Christmas decorations and getting ready for my DD's birthday tomorrow. BUT... I have a quote for you from a bumper sticker we saw today. It made me laugh out loud!!

Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons,

For you are crunchy,

and good with ketchup.

HeeHee!! Have a good day! And don't forget to vote in my poll. Hopefully, I'll have time to make something after the Packer game tonight!!

Take 5 Ladybug

I just had to try this fun "Take 5" challenge from ASB (maybe because Take 5 sounds like candy??). We were only allowed to use a circle cutter, colored pencils, colored cardstock, a scallop scissor, and a versamark pad. A neutral cardstock and black ink were a "given". I stamped a flower GWP from TAC over my black and red background cardstocks... hard to see in the picture - pretty in real life. My ladybug was another GWP and is colored with Prismacolors. I even did the dots and faux stitching on the scallop with prismacolor! :) Very, very fun challenge! Try it!

Daily...

I picked up some of these dimensional Mary Engelbreit stickers a while ago... ok - a long time ago... at Michaels, thinking I'd use them for something. What better to use them on then little
3 x 3 notecards! :) Sometimes I think that not stamping on a card is "cheating". I get stuck in a rut that there is only one way to make a card. How silly!! Be creative!! Do you have a sticker stash somewhere?? Or maybe some old calendar pictures?? Pull them out and make a card. I dare you! :)

Birthday Ellie

This week is my daughter's 17th birthday. I can't believe it. Should I feel old?? Anyway - this isn't for her... this bright and cheery card is actually for a blog challenge over at Simply Fairies. You'll notice there is no designer paper on this card - GASP! The elephant is from a TAC stamp of the month set called Stand Tall and the greeting is handwritten. Colors? Turquoise, Rose Red, Apricot and Green Galore. If you click on the picture you can probably see the glitter on Ellie's hat. Fun, fun, fun!!!

Have a lovely day!

Do Not Open til Christmas

In honor of "Black Friday"... isn't that a horrible name???... I made this Do Not Open til Christmas card out of one of my $1 stamps from Michaels. There's DP from the Holiday Thyme and Brocade packs, and the Chocolate piece is stamped with Linen.

I don't need to do much shopping today - except maybe for some groceries. I think my Christmas shopping is all done!!!! :) Yippee!! My dd and I are planning on going to Starbucks for a Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha Frappe. Mmmmmmm.... Then we'll maybe hit the mall to see about some long sleeve shirts for her. Kohls should have some good sales this morning. If all else fails we'll go to Goodwill. Come to think of it, maybe we'll go there first! :)

Inspired by Pink

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the different takes on the SCS challenge to the current and former DD members to use the Elzybell image and pink to make a card. So when I found this sketch challenge on Lynn's blog yesterday, I decided to use the little girl image and pink as my springboard. Of course, they weren't supposed to use any patterned paper, either. However, my card is loaded with it! :) The patterned paper is from Daisy Bucket, Celery and Rose Red cardstock is SU. The little girl is stamped on a scrap of watercolor paper and colored with SU markers and watercolor pencils. Ribbon is Vanilla Taffeta - which I just love.

Have a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Just Ugly

Have you ever had one of those days?? Awhile back - on the quilting shop hop - I had picked up a little quilt kit in this bucket (undecorated, of course). I decided that I would make up the little quilt for my sister in law for Christmas. Only, they won't be here at Christmas; I needed to have it done by Thursday. Being the good little girl that I am, I worked on it yesterday and started quilting it today (it was really little... maybe 10 1/2" x 10 1/2") and it turned out ugly. Arrrrrgggggghhhhhh!!!!! Nothing I could give as a gift. The colors in the kit weren't the same as in the picture... or I didn't do the quilting right, or something. Soooooooo.... now what??? Well, my 15 yo dd pipes up, "Well, at least you liked the pail." Ah Hah!! The pail! I used some more of my trusty Brocade paper pack to cover it, and made four 3 x 3 cards for the inside, as well as a little notebook. I need to get an RSVP pen, too. The cards are actually all different, but this was the one I liked the best.

Hey, speaking of paper, is there anyone else out there who would like to take part in the Stampin' Up! Paper special this month, but can't spend $30 plus shipping to do it?? I was thinking it would be fun to get a bunch of the packs and cut them into 6 x 6 sheets. That way we could get a great sampling for a lot less money, and the 6 x 6 size is great for card making or small scrapbooks! Anyone interested?? We could split it 4 ways for only $10 each (The extra $ is for shipping & an envelope). Email me with your favorite 2 packs if you're interested and I'll get back to you. I'll do more than one group if there's enough interest!!

ps... Don't forget the mulberry challenge! Head over to Janine's blog to see an amazing mulberry flower!!

Mulberry Paper??

Do you remember Mulberry Paper?? It was all the rage a number of years ago when I started stamping. In fact, this is one of the first cards that I had my customers do at a workshop.... and I still love it!! :) Besides the layers of mulberry paper, it uses the retired Elegant Greetings set, which is one of my favorites, and this beautiful Narcissus which we colored with pastels. The flowers are sprinkled with DD glitter IRL... so elegant and pretty!!

So... do you have any mulberry paper hiding away?? If you decide to use it on a card, please let me know, I'd love to come be inspired! (I may toss a RAK your way, too!!)

Have a great day!

Warm Birthday Wishes

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. Time just got away from me. I actually applied for a job at the local chiropractor's office. It's a 12 hour a week position, so I could do it, still homeschool (since my kids are teens and can do most of their work independently on the 3 mornings I'd be gone), and it would just maybe give us a little extra after paying the bills. Or at least it would give us enough to pay the house payment and the rent if our house doesn't sell soon. If you think of it, please pray that if it's the Lord's will and would be best for our family, that I'll get the job. We really didn't want me to have to work, but I can see this as being a perfect fit... and I'd been praying about how to meet the extra expenses we have right now. Enough about me!! Let's talk stamping!! :)

Tomorrow is my mother-in-law's birthday, so I put together a little (uh-hmmm.....) low cost present for her. I found these adorable mini loaf pans at Target for a VERY reasonable price (think Studio G stamps...), filled it with a prebaked loaf of Becky Higgins' Banana Chocolate Chip Bread (Post from Sept 25, I think), and tied it up with a ribbon and a tag. I also have a mini cello bag of Buttered Popcorn Jelly Bellies, topped with a matching tag. I already gave her the bread when it was fresh. I'll keep the Jelly Bellies until her birthday.

Today I get to go with my MIL and my oldest daughter to the big annual craft fair in our area. This is where I get my Dad's Christmas present every year... Amish made chocolate covered almond crunch. Mmmmmm..... I'm only bringing along enough money to buy the candy and NO MORE! This is going to be painful...

Gotta scoot. See you later!

Anniversary Bears

Today's been busy. I have all the Christmas presents that I've already bought laid out upstairs in my room ready to be wrapped. I went to McDonald's for breakfast with the ladies from church and brought along an assortment of cards so they could each choose one. I dropped off some $$ for my husband to get gas on the way home. I did the dishes, made lunch and then got to sit down and blurf and upload some creations to the ASB gallery, including this card for this week's Sketch Challenge.

I stamped my image in black and colored it with watercolor pencils and markers, matted it with a scalloped piece of River Rock and layered it onto some pieces of Daisy D and SU designer paper. The sentiment is a $1 stamp from Michaels and the ribbon is a piece of Vanilla Taffeta. Nothing fancy!

Back to wrapping Christmas presents! See you tomorrow!

The Scenic Route

The fun colors of today's card are courtesy of the Color Challenge over at ASB. I stamped my Snail (from a retiring TAC baby set) on watercolor paper today and used my watercolor pencils and a wet brush to color it in. I used layers of colors in the sky so it kind of ended up looking like a sunset.... Awwwwww....!

The sentiment is from the TAC set Abundance Is and is inked with markers. The zigzag stitching is a stamp. Speaking of TAC, have you heard about their $50 surprise boxes?? They sound wonderful. I found some pictures of them on Annette's site here. WOW!

I'm on my way out the door to Prayer Meeting, so I'm leaving it short and sweet tonight. Have a great evening!

The Un-Favorite Color

Do you have an "un-favorite" color? You know, the one you bought because "It would be great for...." but then you just couldn't make it work?? Well, I had a 12 x 12 sheet of this apricot textured cs that I got from TAC. It's really pretty - but I just couldn't *do* anything with it. So, my goal for today was to make it go away!! :) hehehehe. I used Heartfelt Thanks for the flower and one of my new Studio G $1 stamp sets from Michael's, some Celery DP, lots of brads, a little paper piercing around the sentiment and some pink polka dot ribbon that I'd picked up at the stamping store for another project that hasn't happened yet. :) Nothing too out of the ordinary, but two more cards done and only enough apricot left to put in my scraps!! :)

How are you doing on yesterday's challenge?? I posted late, so if you didn't see it, please scroll down and join us!! :)

Have a happy Tuesday!!

Studio G Scraps

Hello everyone! Did you have a good weekend?? I did. It was fun and relaxing. My daughter and I went Christmas shopping on Saturday and after church on Sunday I was able to spend some time cross-stitching. Ahhh...

Today I'm going to give you a headstart on the Stash Challenge which hopefully I'll be posting tomorrow on ASB. I won't always do this, of course, but you all are *special* cuz you read my blog!! :) If you actually do the challenge and post it to the gallery on ASB, you'll be in a drawing to receive a RAK from me! Be sure to let me know that you played!! :)

So... here's the challenge. Go through your scrap colored cardstock and find a piece big enough to be the base of a card. This piece of lilac wasn't *quite* big enough, so I made my card 4.25" x 4.25". You can even make a 3x3 card if you want! This base piece will help determine your color choices for the card. Now - use scraps to complete the card. You can cut the scraps down if you need to, but no cutting into full sheets of cardstock for this particular challenge... That will come later, I promise!!

Since my cardstock was Lilac, I chose to use up some of my Palette of Prints designer paper scraps, and make a card with my new $1 Studio G stamp set from Michaels. I love those sets and Michaels had a lot of new ones out!!! :) Just remember to rub them with an eraser before you stamp. They hold the ink better. :)

Gotta run make supper. Have fun in your stash!

Shade of Blue Challenges

I tried to meet a couple different Shade of Blue challenges with this card... First - I had to use Rhinestones (mine's a stick on one on the star) and second, I had to use the following colors... Olive, Cranberry, Yellow, and Blue. The colors aren't quite as loud as they appear in this picture... it's actually a pretty card! :)

On the challenge note, I've joined the challenge team for A Shade of Blue! Which is, for those of you who aren't familiar with ASB, a smaller version of Splitcoast. :) You'll have to check us out! I'm not sure which day I'll be posting my challenges yet, but they will all be centered around using up our STASH. Do you have a stash??? I think we all do. Papers that come in a 24 pack, designer paper that we can't bear to use, which then is retired and we buy more to hoard.... hardware, ribbons, items to alter or to make into gifts, etc., etc., etc. Each week I'll try to "enable" you (and me!) to actually use some of these products that we just had to have!! Sounds fun doesn't it??!! So, head on over to ASB so you'll be all ready to join in the fun.

See you there!

Christmas Thanks

This card started out as a SCS sketch, but then it took on a life of it's own!! :) I just couldn't make the sketch work. This is one of my favorite sets - Night Before Christmas. I colored the image with... guess what?? Markers and watercolor pencils!! :) (good guess!) I just love the shading I can get with those! The DP is retired Stampin' Up... Oh - did I mention that if you buy 3 packs of Stampin' Up Designer Paper right now, you get the fourth pack free??? I really, really would like to take them up on that offer!! Let's see, more details... the brads are the last antique ones from my Vintage Brads - need more of those, too... and the ribbon is from my local stamp store. The little saying is part of a stamp I've had around for ages. And old sell-a-bration one, I think.

NOW... what you really came for!! BLOG CANDY WINNERS!!

According to Random.Org the winner of the Stampin' Candy is...

Jennifer!!

And the winner of the Table Runner is...

Thinker!!

Thank you all so much for stopping by - for your comments - for your friendship! Be sure to email me with your addresses, so I can send your candy out, gals. :)

AND ONE LAST THING...

It's my husband's birthday today! For the last few years I've been trying to write poems to put in his cards. Birthday, Christmas, Valentines, etc... Here's the poem for today. Maybe you can make some changes and use it for someone's birthday coming up!

You're 45 this day of days,

In dog years you'd be dead.

I'm glad you're here, though, even if

You tend to snore in bed.

Our lives take many twists and turns -

Some great, some good, some not.

The road we're on is never dull,

Whether we like it or not.

Thank you for spending your life with me,

For working so hard to take care.

I love you, appreciate you, not just today -

But every day of the year.

Happy Birthday! :)

Obviously we have a great relationship... or I wouldn't be teasing him in his birthday card!! :)

Have a great day!!

Snow in the Forecast!

We actually have snow in the forecast for tonight!! Yippee!! I love snow! In fact, the first day that it *really* snows, we always take the day off school. Just a dusting doesn't count, but it does call for hot chocolate or spiced cider!!

Here's another very, very simple snowflake card with my Simple Delights set. It uses Soft Sky and Vanilla and some ribbon I found at the Target $1 spot. :)

Have you signed up for the blog candy yet??? Time is ticking! I'll draw tomorrow morning when I get up. Have a good night!

Don't Forget the Candy!!

Hello all! Thanks for all the comments on the blog candy so far! I'm so honored to know that I'm actually on some people's *favorites* list and that a lot of you visit daily. That's great!! It makes it so much more fun to know there are people watching!! :) If you missed yesterday's post on the blog candy be sure to sign up! Just click here for the details. Oh - and I did finish the table runner. My daughters' and I can't believe that I'm going to give it away. It turned out so cute!!


My first card today is fairly self-explanatory. I used the CPS Sketch Challenge for the week. Let me just say that I inked the treble clef in Old Olive, but stamped it off twice before stamping it under the words. I didn't want it to be overwhelming.

This card uses one of Angel's sketches. I'm so sad that there won't be any more, since tomorrow is her birthday. Happy Birthday, Angel!!!! I used heat embossing on this card... but I also used my markers and classic ink. How? I stamped on Glossy cardstock! The clear ep really gave a stunning texture and sheen to the images. The BG paper is Basic Grey Fruitcake, the red cardstock is actually Ruby Red, and the Green is Bazzill.

OK - just one more for today - and even though it's a simple card it's one of my favorites.

"I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and fortress; my God; in Him will I trust." I am SO thankful for the love and sacrifice of Christ for me. He is my God, my Saviour, my Shepherd and my King, and he loves me!! Isn't that incredible??

The background of the card is stamped with the Flannel BG stamp by Stampin Up. Then I went back and added straight lines with my ruler and little dots for nails. (Although if you look closely they kind of look like little alien faces! ) The colors are Old Olive and Ballet Blue. Image by Art Impressions.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Blog Candy Deluxe

It's here! Not one but two drawings for blog candy!! You can sign up for one or the other, or both if you'd like! :) Drawing #1 will be for some ribbon, a set of clear stamps that I'm passing on from some blog candy I received a while back, and a set of Christmas tags with a topper that I made - inspired by this post here.

The second drawing is kind of odd for a stamping blog, but a number of you commented on the quilts I posted, so I decided to whip up a Christmas-y table runner to share with one lucky winner. Here are some pictures... Sorry that the binding isn't on yet. I'll work on that after I do the dishes! :) The size is approx. 15 x 30.

Here's a picture of the whole runner...

And here's a close up of one of the blocks, so you can get a better idea of the colors.

So... to enter, you need to do the following... scroll back through some of my posts and tell me which card you liked best. I'd also be interested in knowing how often you visit (I promise I won't throw out your name if you tell me that you only come for blog candy... I'd just like to get a feel for who's out there! ) You also need to let me know if you're interested in drawing #1, drawing #2 or both! (Shew! That's a lot, huh??)

I'll post the winner on Thursday, November 8th... cuz it's my husband's birthday. And, yes, I did get him a present, too!! :)

Thanks for reading! Now go browse!! :)

PS... If you really want a table runner, but aren't sure that you'll win, drop me a line! The cost would be $22 + shipping, and you could pick your colors. These make great gifts!! :)

Blog Candy Coming Soon!!

I made this cute little box for the My Favorite Things party on SCS the other night. The challenge was to make a 3 x 3 box... in an hour. You can find the tutorial here. I filled the box with 3 x 3 cards with uncolored penguins mounted on them. I'll include some envelopes and colored pencils and send them to my niece for Christmas.

I noticed that my counter is getting *very* close to 1,000... in just two weeks! WooHoo!! There actually *are* people that read my blog!! Well - tell your friends - I'll be posting blog candy in the next day or two. I need to figure out just what to send!

Remember when I said that my daughter had won the grand prize at the Quilting Shop Hop?? Here's her first attempt at quilting. Didn't she do a good job??

And here's what I've been working on! I can't believe it's finally finished. It's absolutely huge! Well - not really, but it was made out of flannel - so it was big and bulky and really hard to fit through my little machine to quilt. My son loves it, though, and it's going to be really *warm* for winter!!

Angel Mittens

Today's Angel Sketch was harder for me. Do you ever start with an idea in your head and then you put it on paper and *yuk* - it's awful???? Well that was my luck this morning. I wanted to use the mitten that I colored, though, so I kept playing with it until I was almost satisfied.

The mitten is from a wonderful little TAC set , and the greeting is Stampin' Up.

Have a great day!

Circle Christmas Card

When I saw Angel's sketch for today -- to make a Circular Card -- I knew just what I wanted to do... an Ornament card! One problem. I don't have any pine bough stamps. Think, think, think. Ah Hah! The tree from Lovely as a Tree! It worked great. I inked it up with Artichoke ink and stamped it a number of times for depth. The bow and ornament from Joy were inked up with markers and cut out seperately. I thought about using dimensionals, but it just didn't look right today. The saying - from Seasons of Joy - was inked up with markers, sponged with Moss and punched out with my Oval punch. The DP is from last year's Holiday Thyme and the ribbon... some more of my lovely wide organdy.

Try this sketch if you have time today! Angel's even offering a RAK for it!! :)