29th Birthday Greetings

Happy Sunday! I hope it is cooler in your area than it has been around here. Today our heat index is 105. Too hot for me. It's been that way for several days. They are saying it will cool down into the 80s this coming week. I am so looking forward to that. It's been a while since I sat down to intentionally make cards. My heart hasn't been in it. But nothing spurs me on like a challenge so this week is Bugaboo's Christmas in July challenge. I am working on that, waiting for some Stickles to dry before I put the card together. In the mean time I thought I'd share a quick card I made for my SIL this week for her birthday.

A definite CAS card. But she is always saying she's only 29 so I couldn't resist sending this one. The stamp set is Sweet & Sassy's Sassy Cindy (my SIL's name so it seemed like fate). I colored the image with Prismacolor Colored Pencils and outlined the Say What bubble (retired) from C.C. Designs. 
I am entering these challenges:

1. AAA Card challenge: one image 
   
2. The Outlawz Festive Friday challenge: birthday
3. QKR challenge: anything goes
4. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: anything goes
5. Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

I will likely be back later with another post. Too hot to be outside although my garden needs water so we may have to brave it later this evening (an get eaten by the mosquitoes). Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Donna

It's a Dueling Christmas

The 15th of the month has rolled around again and it's time for the Divas and the Dazzlers to duel. Our hostesses are Suzy (Divas) and Deb (Dazzlers). Thanks to Deb for sending my fun kit. Here's what she wrote:
It's warming up in Texas (and Indiana too), no surprise, it's almost July. The perfect time to start thinking of cooler temps! Our theme is Christmas in July. Suzy and I came up with this idea way back in December when we spent Christmas together. Being still in the "festive" mood... we thought this would be a fun theme to do. Plus, it was the perfect time to go shopping for paper, ribbon, embellishments and more! And by the way.... all on sale!Are we the perfect consumers or what? Here is the recipe:
Image: SU! "I'll be Home"
Gemstones and recipe card: Paper Studio
Ribbon: Offray
Papers: all from Hobby Lobby
The challenge: make a card or two for the holiday season!

I colored the image with American Craft markers. This one was a challenge since there is so much detail. I used two of the designer papers, several embellishments and one of the ribbons. Here's the inside of the card:

I used paper and embellishments to mimic the front of the card. There was a second part to the challenge: share a favorite holiday recipe. I have never had Christmas dinner at my house. I usually get corn or rolls to bring to dinner and don't usually make anything special. I used to bake lots of cookies but now we don;t eat much processed sugar. But there is one recipe that my kids always expect. When they were in school I was asked to come make this with classes of kids and we always sent these for birthday snacks. These days I only make these at Christmas.

Buckeyes

2 cups creamy peanut butter

2 sticks butter, softened

3 1/4 cups (16 oz) powdered sugar

2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate morsels

2 Ts vegetable shortening

Line baking sheet with wax paper. Mix peanut butter and butter in large bowl until creamy. Mix in the powdered sugar until mixture holds together. I refrigerate this until there is some firmness to it. Shape the mixture into one inch balls. Place on prepared sheet pan. Refrigerate or freeze for about an hour. 

Melt the chocolate and shortening in microwave-safe bowl on HIGH for 1 minute; stir. If necessary, microwave at additional 10-15 second intervals, stirring just until melted.

Dip peanut butter balls into melted chocolate using a toothpick, leaving a portion of the ball uncovered. Shake off excess chocolate and return to baking sheet.Refrigerate until chocolate is set. Store in covered container in refrigerator.

The buckeye is the state tree of Ohio, which is where I was born and raised. These look like the nut of the buckeye tree.My kids love them! To finish this off I thought I'd share a picture of the kids that would love to have these now.

Arthur                        Valerie

I hope you'll check out what the other Dazzlers and Divas have done. Links are in the right side column. Thanks again to Deb! I used the sketch from The Outlawz Wednesday Sketch challenge.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a great week!

Donna

A Plaid Christmas

Happy July 1st! Another month down and a new one just begun. It's time for a new challenge at 12 Months of Christmas Link Up. The challenge is always anything goes but we add a little twist if you want an extra challenge. This month the twist is plaid. One of my all time favorites.

I made a shaker card this month. Lisa has made some gorgeous plaid papers for this month and out sponsor this month is Ike's Art. I used Poinsettia Cluster. I colored it with Spectrum Noir markers. For the shaker cut out I used the MFT Blueprints 32 die. The sequins stars and confetti I used for the shaker was from my stash. The plaid paper is part of the new paper pack for this month by Decosse's Dynamite Doodles. The sentiment is from Holiday Sentiments from Creative Vision. The sentiment is die cut with MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags. The card base is red card stock. If you've been here before you might know I LOVE plaid paper so this challenge was easy for me. I hope you'll play along with us this month at 12 Months of Christmas Link Up.
I am entering these challenges:

• My Favorite Things Sketch challenge: sketch 
  
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas Challenge: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• ModSquad challenge: use a flower
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes

Thanks for stopping by today. Last Friday was my DH's last day of work so he's now home 24/7. We are adjusting to the new schedule. Next Saturday is his big retirement party so this week will be a busy one. We'll see if I can get any crafting time. Hope you have a wonderful week. Make it an amazing one!

Donna

HB to Ewe

Happy day to you all! It's been a while. Last week was Girl Scout Day Camp and that kept me busy. It was probably the soggiest week we've ever had. Lots of rain including tornadoes and flood watches. Fortunately not while we were at camp during the day. Another camp in the books. I needed a birthday card to send this week so I had to get busy this evening.

The image is from Bugaboo called Birthday Ewe Trio.I colored the image with Spectrum Noir and American Craft markers. I die cut the image and the background polka dot paper with Spellbinder's ATC Card dies. The embellishments include 2 die cut buttons from MFT Button Quartet and added a bow with twine in each. I used two ribbons (one on top of the other) and ties a faux knot. The designer paper is MFT Sweet Celebrations. I am entering these challenges:

• Sketch Saturday: sketch 
  
• Catch the Bug: Recipe challenge: 2 buttons, 2 designer papers, 2 ribbons
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• Cutie Pie challenge: ribbon and bows
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• The Outlawz Festive Friday: birthday

It was an interesting and busy weekend. We volunteered at Opportunity House for their half price sale on Saturday morning and had the twins the rest of the day on Saturday. Sunday morning Tom asked me to help hold the ladder so he could cut a branch off the tree. The branch kicked back, hit me in the face and broke my nose. I am turning lovely shades of black, blue and purple. And Tom's retirement party at work is this Thursday. Our big party for him will be July 6th. I just know my face will be so lovely by then (NOT!) Thanks for stopping by. Hope your week is off to a great start. Take care and stay away from ladders and tree limbs. :)

Donna

Halloween with the Darlings!

It's the 15th of the month and again I am participating with the Dazzlers and the Divas for a fun duel all about Halloween. This month Terry L and Tami are our hostesses and they decided to "use what we have" for the kits this month. The theme is Halloween. Here is what the Dazzler kits contained:
Images and sentiments: My favorite Things "Witch Way is the Candy?" (one of my favorite stamps sets!)
Papers: The Paper Studio (both designer paper and solids)
Enamel Dots: The Paper Studio
Ribbons: from Michaels
Die Cuts: A Muse fence, spider web and bats
I had such a great time playing with this kit that I made two cards. Here's the first card I made:

Using the My Favorite Things sketch for this week and the kit. The images are colored with Spectrum Noir and American Craft Markers. I inked the sentiment with Orange Marmalade Distress Ink and die cut it with MFT Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips. The image and background paper was cut twice with MFT Inside and Out Stitched Rounded Squares. Terry, I just loved the spider web and spider. What fun embellishments! Here's the inside of the card,

I used the rest of the piece of designer paper and the extra piece I cut off the orange textured paper to brighten up the inside of the card.
Because I liked this kit so much and had some extra time I made a second card.

For this card I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches. Terry included two bats but since I have the stamp set I stamped and colored a third bat for this card. I love the spooky fence she included and the trick or treat ribbon was perfect. I didn't quite get the inside finished in time for posting so I'll finish that up later. Thank you Terry for the super fun theme and kit. Can't wait to see what everyone else is doing with this one. Check out my side bar and visit them too!

Hope your weekend is full of relaxing fun. Girl Scout Day Camp starts on Monday. Both Tom and I are volunteering again this year. So our weekend (after we play with the twins on Saturday) will be getting ready for day camp. We are doing two activities this year: Crayon Slime and Survival Kits. With over 200 girls from ages 5-17 that will be a challenge. Lots  of materials to get ready. I am peeling and shredding crayons. LOL! Tom is working on the survival kits. I probably won't have time to craft this next week. Make it an awesome week!

Donna

Greetings from the Funny Farm

Happy Wednesday! I have a fun card today with lots of layers and fun stamps. I love farm stamps because they have such fun punny sentiments. And I like the scenes you can create.

Stamps: Limited Runs Stew the Sheep; Gina K Funny Farm background farm scene (retired); Clear Dollar Stamps Fun at the Farm sentiment (retired)
Dies: Simon Says Stitched Slopes and Hills; MFT Fresh Cut Grass
Markers: Spectrum Noir and American Craft
I am entering these challenges:

• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Creative Knockouts: anything goes
• Time Out challenge: nature 
  
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• Sweet Stampers challenge: anything goes

Hope your week is going well. The weekend is on the way. Take care!

Donna

Father's Day

Hello and thanks for stopping by. I know I've been erratic at posting lately and it's going to get worse over the next month before it gets better. Next week is Girl Scout Day Camp so I'm trying to get my act together for that event. Tom and I are resource people this year. Two days we'll be making Crayon Slime and the other two days we'll be talking about and making survival kits with about 200 girls. It's always a busy week! Two weeks after that we have Tom's retirement party. I have tons to get ready for that before the big day. It might calm down a bit after the retirement party. At least one can hope.
My Dad has been deceased for years but we are still blessed to have Tom's Dad with us still. So here's my very easy card that I made for him.

I loved this sentiment so I made it the focal point of the card. The little took box is from Patties Creations. Dad was a carpenter and tools still play a huge part in his life. I liked the wood panel designer paper from my stash. I backed everything with black card stock. Pretty simple but my husband liked it.
I am entering these challenges:

• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: masculine
• Crafty Cardmakers: masculine
• Crafty Friends: men/boys
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

That's it for me tonight. I am off to see what else I can get done. I made myself a long list this morning and accomplished a lot but still not quite done for the day. Hope you are heading for a wonderful "middle of the week." Tomorrow Tom and I will go play with the kiddos at Head Start. Take care!

Donna

It's All About the Cake

Happy Monday to all! It's hard to believe we are headed into June. Our school system is already out for the summer and the kids are running around the neighborhood. I managed some time at my desk today and finished a card.

The cupcake and sentiment was a freebie from Pattie's Creations for the monthly challenge. I colored them with Spectrum Noir Markers. The plaid paper is from my stash. I used some kraft card stock for the base and some green card stock as an accent for the image. The cupcake is die cut with MFT Inside and Out Stitched Rounded Squares. I cut it twice to get a more rectangular shape. The corner accents are from Spellbinder's Lattice Pendant dies and accented with self-adhesive gems in green and pink.

I am entering these challenges:

• Pattie's Creations Monthly challenge: birthday
• Sketch Saturday challenge: sketch 
  
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: anything goes
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes

We filled the little pool for the twins yesterday. They had a ball pouring water from one container to another and playing with some little plastic fish. We bought swim suits off season when they were 90% off and they are a bit too small. So I'll need to get them some new ones. Summer will definitely be fun with them. Hope your week is off to a fine start! Thanks for stopping by!

Donna

A June Challenge

12 Months of Christmas Link Up has a new challenge starting today. Have you started your Christmas cards for 2019? If you are anything like me I'm already behind. I send dozens of cards and I haven't made very many this year. Our challenge is always anything goes but we like to add a fun twist that you can choose to use if you want to. This month our sponsor is Beccy's Place (one of my personal favorites!) and our twist is gingerbread.

My image and sentiment is from Beccy's Place Sugar and Spice digital stamp set. I colored the image with Spectrum Noir markers. The gingerbread background paper is from the new paper set that you could win at 12 Months. Lisa designed a new set of paper for this challenge. You can vote for your favorite paper. The layering paper is kraft. The green layer is from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles Holiday Hoopla Patterned Paper. I added a ribbon layer with the fun gold embossing on it. The image is die cut with MFT Stitched Circles and the sentiment is die cut with Impression Obsession Mini Rectangle Tags 2. We hope you will join us this month at 12 Months of Christmas Link Up for a chance to win some awesome stamps from Beccy's Place or some fun paper from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles.

I am entering these challenges:

• Try Stampin" On Tuesday #410: sketch 
  
• Beccy's Place June challenge: use a Beccy's Place image
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes
• Outlawz Festive Friday: Christmas
• Addicted to Stamps and More: holiday 
  

Welcome to June! I hope the weather is sunny for you. We've had a lot of rain but at least I haven't had to water the garden. Tomorrow we have the twins to play with. They certainly keep us busy! Have a super fun weekend!

Happy Anniversary

My youngest son and his wife celebrated their anniversary yesterday and I finally finished the card to send them. I'm not very on the ball lately. It will go in the mail as soon as I go out today.

Background stamp: Penny Black Floral Thread in clear embossing powder
Ink Resist technique with distress oxide inks: Candy Apple, Orange Marmalade, Fossilized Amber, Lucky Clover, Broken China, and Seedless Preserves
Cut the panel apart and glued to black card stock
Sentiment: MFT Together Forever heat embossed with white embossing powder and die cut with MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags
Embellishments: I found a little iridescent heart in my stash and added to the sentiment strip. I also added some iridescent sequins around the card (hard to see)
I am entering these challenges:

• My Favorite Thing s Sketch challenge: sketch 
  
• The Outlawz Festive Friday challenge: anniversary
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• QKR Stampede: anything goes

Well, I need to get my day going and my errands done. My DD's wash machine broke and she wants to wash the kids' clothes so I'll have to go pick her up. Have a wonderful weekend. I will actually be checking back in tomorrow with another card for the new challenge at 12 Months of Christmas Link Up. Hope you will stop back then. Have a blessed day!

Donna

I'm a Froot Loop

Last week, as we drove to Ohio for a funeral of a friend, I realized that I had spaced my brother's birthday. And of course I didn't have a belated birthday card made so I needed to make something quick. Since my eye surgery, my heart hasn't been into card making. But I managed  to get this card done last night.

I found this sentiment in my belated birthday digi folder and then went to the Internet to find some matching images. The sentiments (outside and inside) were freebies from Marlene, who has taken her blog down. But she always had a quirky sense of humor that I liked. I was sad to see her take it down. The frame and sentiment on the front of the card was die cut with MFT Single Stitch Rectangle Frames. The border is punched with Martha Stewart French Scroll. The ric rac is from my stash. I tried to match card stock colors with the Froot Loops.

The inside sentiment was die cut with Gina Marie Designs Cross-Stitched Rectangles and I added a few more Froot Loops to finish it off.

I am entering these challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch 
  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Simon Says Wednesday: bright colors - inspiration mood board 
  
• Crafty Cardmakers: birthday
• The Outlawz Monday Greetings: birthday

I have two more hurry-up cards to make. Both of my sons married the loves of their lives in May so I now need two anniversary cards. I guess I better get on it. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a wonderful day!

Donna

Dueling Darlings go Masculine

Another 15th of the month has rolled around and this month Shelly (Dazzlers) and Carol (Divas) are our hostesses for a masculine/motorcycle duel. Justin time for my BIL's birthday card!

Here's the information that Shelly sent us:
Images are from Artistic Outpost
Sentiments (there were a variety): Stampin' Up!, MFT, and unknown
Ribbon: Stampin' Up!, Europa and from her stash
Embellishments: Stampin' Up! and from her stash
Designer Paper: Kaisercraft, Moxie and Reminisce

If anyone has been visiting my blog they know that I love plaid paper so I had to use the plaid for my card. I also used the plaid scraps on the inside of the card. I used three of the ribbons and layered two of them underneath the motorcycle image. I used two dew drops and three sequins. The sequins I filled with Dimensional Magic to make them shine. The image is die cut with MFT Stitched Ovals and the sentiment is die cut with MFT Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips. Be sure to check out the others cards created by the Dazzlers and the Divas. You can fin the links on the right hand side of my blog.

Floating by to Say Hi

Just a quick post this evening with a quick card that I made for the Limited Runs progressive challenge. The deadline is quickly approaching and since we have the twins all day tomorrow I figured I should get this one done.

Pretty simple card but I love making these cloud backgrounds with a scalloped circle and ink. I did a tutorial on this technique. I used Salty Ocean and Broken China Distress Oxide inks and then spritzed with water. The bunny and balloon are colored with Spectrum Noir markers and I used a white gel pen for the balloon accent. The image is Limited Runs progressive freebie. The sentiment is from Doodle Pantry Hot Air Balloon Birdie (no longer in business). I backed it with red card stock on a blue card stock base.
I am entering these challenges:

• Limited Runs: use the Balloon Bunny image
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• Sweet Stampers: animals
• The Outlawz Monday challenge: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Penny's Paper Crafty challenge: anything goes

As we head into the weekend I hope you have a wonderful, sunny time. Our weekend is supposed to be rainy but I am hoping we can get the twins to the park for a bit. They love to play on the swings and slides. Thanks for stopping by. 

Donna

Spring-Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop

Welcome to a rainy Thursday! I was hoping it would dry out so I could start to get my garden in but it's not to be. Those spring rains are supposed to be here all weekend. The garden will have to wait. So maybe I'll get some crafty time in. I saw a Facebook post for the Spring-Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop and thought I might join in. Tea is my thing more than coffee but it looked like fun and I know plenty coffee, tea drinkers.

Details:

Sentiment is from Create with TLC

Coffee cup images: Limited Runs (on the right); The Alley Way Stamps (small); Dee Dee's Digis (top left)

Card stock: yellow and black; Designer Paper: Bo Bunny Early Bird (background and paper-pieced coffee cups)

Markers: Spectrum Noir

Doodle Bug twine

I am entering these challenges:

• Coffee Lover's Blog Hop: use a coffee, tea, or cocoa image 
  
• Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch 
  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• The Outlawz Monday Greeting challenge: anything goes
• Pile It On: beverage
• My Favorite Things Birthday challenge: favorite drink

That's it for me today. I am off to get dinner together and finish up some little odds and ends. Hope you are enjoying sunshine and craft days!

Donna

Super Birthday

Happy Tuesday friends. It's been a while. It seems to take me three or four days to get a card done. So I am not moving too fast in creating things. I needed a birthday card for a DIL so here's what I came up with.

I guess you can tell she's turning 32. I used Wink of Stella on the numbers that were die cut 3 ties and glued together so they pop up off the card from MFT Pop-up Numbers. The stamp set I used was MFT You're Super with the coordinating die-namics. The sentiment is stamped in pigment ink and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder; then die cut with MTF Pierced Fishtail Flags. The designer paper is a scrap from my scrap box. I am entering these challenges:

• MFT Sketch challenge: sketch 
  
• AAA Birthday challenge: anything goes birthday 
  
• Seize the Birthday: texture
• Catch the Bug challenge: anything goes
• Crafty Friends: use more than one die
• Simon Says Wednesday: happy birthday

We've had 2 days of gorgeous sunshine but it's coming to an end. It's supposed to rain the rest of the week. I'll never get my garden planted at this rate. Oh well. Hope you have a day full of sunshine! Thanks for stopping by!

Donna