Merci

I won a blog candy last week from Sally's Card Blog and the goodies arrived yesterday. So last night I got to play with some new things. One was a chain of flowers. I also wanted to use the Sweet 'n Sassy Design Team Sketch Challenge so I created this thank you card.

I'm going to send it to Sally as a "thank you!" for the blog candy. There were some really neat things in the package. You'll be seeing them in the near future on other projects.

This card doesn't have a lot of stamping on it. Just the sentiments are stamped.

• Sentiment on front: Stampin' Up! Merci stamp set
• Inside sentiment: Stampin' Up! Full of Life stamp set
• Yellow ribbon: $1 clearance bin at Michael's

I don't often decorate the inside of my cards but I thought this one deserved something. So I copied some of the design on the outside on the inside. I really liked the way it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope your week is going well!

Happy inking,

Donna

Happy Birthday to a Friend

I just love punches, don't you? I can't resist buying punches either. They are some of my favorite accessories for card-making. I made this card for a good friend's birthday coming up soon. There isn't any stamping on it. I used the computer for the sentiment and I used the 5 petal flower punch from Stampin' Up for the rest. After I punched the flower, I used my Scor-Pal to indent the middle of each petal. When you make the crease it makes the flower stand out and gives it dimension. Then I added a gem from Hobby Lobby to each flower. You may not be able to read the sentiment:
Front: Apart from it taking four painstaking hours to make this card by an incredibly skilled and talented craftsperson...
Inside: the only thing special about this card is the person holding it! Happy Birthday!
The first part I think is so funny but the last part is so true.
Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog. Until next time...

Happy inking,

Donna

Free Digital Stamps and Blog Candy Picture

I have a link to Jen's Phoenix Crafts in my blog candy alert side bar but she also required a post of the picture. So check out this wonderful offering of blog candy by April 12th. Good luck.

In case you've never tried digital stamping before or would like to give it a try A Walk on the Mild Side Has two images for free. Check them out and find out what all the excitement is about!

Recycled Thank You!

I'm always looking for ways to recycle things. I love it when I can take a household item that I'm just going to throw away and make it into something different and fun. This card uses the top of a tissue box. You can see the cut out section where you would pull a tissue from. I used a retired Stampin' Up! set that my friend Julie stamped for me. I colored the Thanks You while on vacation and then assembled the card. Hope you like it.

Tomorrow I'm off for Indianapolis to attend a conference for work. It's a two-day conference so I'll be back Friday evening. It's almost Friday! Yippee! I miss stamping. I'm looking forward to some creative time over the weekend. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great Thursday and Friday!

Happy inking,

Donna

Army of Bunnies

Here are the pictures of the army of bunnies I made this past weekend. The front stamp is just a bunny head stamp from Inkadinkado and I added a little pink to his or her features with colored pencils. I glued on a pom-pom tail and then covered the middle with a white Avery label. The candy underneath are Nestle's Treasures.


These little guys will be passed out to my office mates right before our Easter weekend. I do like to give them a little something during a holiday. I hope they enjoy! Thanks so much to my special friend Julie for the idea! Julie, you're the greatest!
I have a very busy week ahead and may not get back before Friday. We'll have to see how the rest of the week goes. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a wonderful week.

Happy inking,

Donna

CBC Tuesday Challenge #30

I've finished this week's CBC Tuesday Challenge. Courtney had a wonderful sketch.

I made a fan fold flower as the embellishment. The middle os the flower is a button. I was really impressed with how easy and cute the flower turns out. Sorry for the fuzzy scan.
Card Recipe:
Butterfly and Leaf stamps: Inkadinkado
Sentiment stamp: Say it With Flowers; Melanie Muenchinger
Ribbon from Michael's $1 bin

Thanks for stopping by... Tomorrow is Friday (TGIF ).

Happy inking,

Donna

Backward Gatefold Card

Just a quick post tonight. The last few days have been so busy I haven't found time to create much this week. I made this card for a sketch challenge on Stamp TV. It's a backwards gatefold card. The stamp is from Elegant Flowers and the background paper is from the Floral Frenzy Digital patterned paper printed on glossy picture paper. The base card is Kraft paper.

Here's what the inside looks like. The scalloped edges were made with a scalloped oval punch. and I paper pierced each section of the scallop.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope everyone is having a great week.

Happy inking,

Donna

Stamp TV Sketch Challenge

If you haven't checked out Stamp TV yet, what are you waiting for? I just love the videos that show you how to do all kinds of techniques. There are all kinds of things to do there. Last night I made a card for a sketch challenge that's being hosted over at Stamp TV.

The iris image was stamped from a Gina K stamp set called Elegant Flowers. It comes in the first ever kit offered by Stamp TV. I colored the irises with regular colored pencils. I was well pleased with everything in the kit and it's fun to create your own or follow along with ideas they present in the videos. (No, I was not paid to promote! LOL) But you can win all kinds of prizes if you participate in the challenges. It's been great fun! Thanks for stopping by.

Happy inking,

Donna

Home Again and Buzzin' By

It's good to be home. I'm always glad to get away for a bit but it's nice to come home to my own bed. The weather was beautiful in Florida. Sunny every day but a little windy. It was keeping the fishermen grounded but we did get fresh fish one night. All in all a good trip but I missed my stamping. What I did take with me was some stamped images to color. So yesterday I worked on making one of those into some cards.
The Created by Courtney Tuesday Challenge always catches my attention. This past week is was to let nature inspire your creation. So here's my attempt:

The flower stamp is a retired wheel that my friend stamped for me so I'm not sure of the name. For the sentiment and the bee I used a Gina K set Gettin' Buggy With It! I pop dotted the bee. The flowers are Prima Blossoms from Brazzil. The gems in the flowers are from Hobby Lobby.


Since I had enough for another card I made two similar cards. Here's the other card.
Thanks for stopping by today. Now that I'm back I'll be posting again. And checking out everything I missed while I was gone. Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!

Happy inking,

Donna

While the Cats away... Read Craft Critique

I'm in the Florida Keys this week taking a little R&R and soaking up some sun. So I'm not creating this week because it's difficult to bring all those things on a plane. But while I'm away I have been checking e-mail and I found out I won a sketch challenge at the Sweet 'n Sassy forum. I get my pick of a stamp set. I'll have to check that out really soon.
But my biggest point in writing today is to tell you about the Craft Critique. They've been celebrating their two year anniversary. Fun stuff! You need to check them out. They give great reviews of products of all things crafty.
I'll be back later this week when I get home and have some things to show you!
Thanks for stopping by....

Happy inking,

Donna

A Quick Happy Birthday

Just wanted to share a quick card with you. This is a birthday card for a special friend of mine. The outside isn't anything special, but I love the verse on the inside:

Another candle on your cake?
Well, that's no cause to pout.
Be glad you have strength enough
To blow the darn thing out!

We love to send each other humorous cards. Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for stopping.

Happy inking,

Donna

CBC Challenge Tuesday #28

Courtney's Tuesday Challenge was to use bows on your card. I am bow challenged, I will readily admit. Ribbon is very difficult for me to work with so I often only use it when I can stick a straight piece of ribbon across one of the layer of my card. So I was thinking this wasn't an easy challenge for me. I actually tied this bow though and amazed myself. I still have a long way to go to feel comfortable with using ribbon and making bows but I do like this card.
The main image is done with a split screen technique. I used the Owl Always Love You stamp set by Gina K. The background branches on the blue are done in Versamark ink. I colored the image with Kooh-i-Nor Woodless Pencils. The brads are from Hobby Lobby and the Ribbon is from Michael's.
Thanks for stopping by today.

Happy inking,

Donna