Get Well Wishes

I don't send too many get well cards, or at least not up until now. But a family member has been having some medical problems and I just wanted him to know we were thinking about him and keeping him in our prayers. So I made this card.

The image is the Old Well from Beccy's Place. The sentiment is from the same stamp set. I die cut the image and sentiment with Gina Marie Designs Cross Stitch Rectangles. I used scraps from my scrap box for the wood grain paper and the backing green cardstock. I used Stampin' Up! corner punch to add some corners on both the outside and inside the card. I am entering these challenges;

• Sketch Saturday: sketch 
  
• Beccy's Place August challenge: use a Beccy's Place image
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• The Outlawz Twisted Thursday: anything goes

We'll be away this weekend to visit my FIL and stock up his wood for the coming winter. That seems a long way off but it will be here soon than we want. I'm looking forward to enjoying a little fall weather first. I do hope I can take some crafty things with me. Thanks for stopping by. If you are a U.S. friend, happy Labor Day weekend!

Donna

Happy Pawlidays

Whew! I know it's August but it sure is hot around here. We had a little rain this morning and that just upped the humidity to unbearable. Nothing new, I guess. I went to Head Start this morning. Little Arthur is home sick so Valerie had me all to herself. She was a happy girl. I finished a Christmas card to share today.

The image is puppy from Pattie's Creations called Merry Pups. I colored them with Copic markers and die cut the image with Spellbinder's Tear Drop Circles. The sentiment is from MFT Happy Pawlidays stamp set. The plaid paper is from MFT Plaid Patterns Merry and Bright paper. A very simple and easy card. I am entering these challenges:

• CAS on Friday: sketch 
  
• Pattie's Creations challenge 149: anything goes 
• Mod Squad challenge: anything goes
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• Crafty Friends: animals/birds
• Rudolph Days: anything goes Christmas
• The Outlawz Friday challenge: Christmas

Now it's back to the drawing board, as they say. I need to walk to the post office to mail some letters. More rain headed our way so I'll need to do that quickly. Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back with another card hopefully by tomorrow. Take care!

Donna

Donut Calories

Happy weekend! It's finally here, although my week went pretty quickly. It was a busy one. I finished a card using the progressive image from The Outlawz challenge this month. The image this month is Donut Hippo from Sandra Caldwell.

I colored the image with Copics and Spectrum Noir markers and die cut it with Gina Marie Cross Stitch Rectangles. The background paper is from My Favorite Things Plaid paper stack. The sentiment is from Create with TLC and die cut with MFT Stitched Circle dies.. I found that spring embellishment in my stash and thought it was fun and it went along with the sketch that I was inspired by at Tuesday Morning Sketches. The ribbon is from my stash. I am entering these challenges:

• The Outlawz August Progressive challenge: use Donus Hippo
• Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch 
  
• Anything Goes with Create with TLC: use a Create with TLC element
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: food and/or drink

We drove to Indianapolis this morning to pick up our new camping trailer. Now the fun begins although it means less time at home on the weekends. It rained all day so we haven't taken a picture yet but I'll get one up as soon as possible. The twins will be coming tomorrow so I have to get busy. Have a super weekend!

Donna

MFT Summer School Day 5

Happy Friday! I am home today waiting for someone to come and replace my windshield. With all the construction around here, a dump truck spit out a big rock that cracked my windshield last fall. We are finally getting it replaced. So until they arrive, I am at home trying to get a few things done.
The final day for the My Favorite Things Summer School was all about ombre. I decided to go with CAS and used an anniversary theme since September seems to be the month for lots of anniversaries in our family.

Starting in the middle of the white cardstock, my ink goes from lightest to darkest and then fades toward the edges. I used AlteNew inks (because they come in a matched set): Rose quartz, Puffy Heart, and Purple Wine. The stencil is from MFT called Star Grid. Over the stencil I heat embossed a sentiment from the MFT stamp set Together Forever. There is a heart that is also heat embossed under that pink heart there. I didn't like the black heat embossed heart so I die cut this heart from MFT Blueprints 32 to add over the top of the black heart. I like the pink one better.
I am entering these challenges:

• MFT Summer School Day 5: ombre
• The Outlawz Friday challenge: anniversary
• Penny's Paper-Crafty challenge: anything goes
• AAA Cards challenge: use a stencil 
  
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: anything goes

Another busy weekend ahead. We drive to Indianapolis tomorrow morning to pick up our new travel trailer. Tomorrow night we are having friends over for dinner and the cards. And Sunday we have the twins. Here's hoping you weekend is a little more relaxing and crafty. Make it a good one!

Donna

MFT Summer School Day 4

Happy Wednesday! The morning with the twins was lots of fun at Head Start. We played outside for a while and then at table time, the kids played with homemade play-doh. They had fun but you had to keep an eye out for those who would rather eat it than play with it. LOL!
I am finishing up Day 4 of MFT Summer School. This lesson was all about rainbows.

I made two cards. I first used scraps to create the rainbow colored background. I cut the scraps into quarter inch and half inch strips and then glued them to a white piece of cardstock.I die cut the MFT Smile die into the rainbow and made two cards.

I popped the letters from the die cut background and set those aside and glued the background to a black cardstock base. I heat embossed the secondary sentiment with white embossing powder. The sentiment is from MFT More Essential Sentiments. Since I wanted the background to be the focus I didn't add anything else.

For the second card, I used the die cut letters and glued them to a white card base. The secondary sentiment was heat embossed on black cardstock and both sentiments were di cut with MFT Essential  Fishtail Sentiment Strips. This sentiment is from the MFT Essential Sentiments set. These were fun to make and a two for one is always appreciated!

I am entering these challenges:

• MFT Day 4 Summer School: rainbow
• Addicted to Stamps and More: anything goes 
  
• The Monday Outlawz: just because
• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• Time Out challenge: bright 
  
• Hiding in my Craft Room: use die cuts
• Mod Squad challenge: butterflies or rainbows

That's it for me today. Tonight the twins have an event for Head Start and we have to take them as their dad is working. So we are off to Karst Park to play at the Splash Pad and probably get a hot dog. I'm sure it will be fun for them. I'll leave you with some pictures I took today at Head Start: Valerie and Arthur.

Thanks for stopping by.

Donna

MFT Summer School - Day 3

I am finally back to try to finish up the My Favorite Things Summer School. For day 3, the concept was one that was somewhat new to me: visual triangle. While I had always heard that it was good to use uneven numbers of things on your cards, I hadn't heard about the triangle. I'm sure I've used this before without knowing exactly what it was. I really enjoyed making this card. The background was great fun!

I love this MFT stamp set called Space Explorer. The images are so adorable. And I love the sentiments, especially this birthday sentiment. I created the background with distress oxide inks: twisted citron, seedless preserves, peacock feathers, and black soot. After blending the ink, I splashed water on the background. I stamped and colored the images with Copic markers and die cut it with the coordinating dies. I heat embossed the sentiment on black cardstock with white embossing powder and die cut it with MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags. I created my visual triangle using the stars from the stamp set. I used Wink if Stella on the stars to give them a shine. I usually don't finish the inside of my cards but this one is so easy to finish.

The sentiment is from the same stamp set. I used the edges of the background that I cut off to create the frame for the sentiment. Then used the images of the rocket from the set, colored and die cut to add. Love how this one turned out. I am entering these challenges:

• My Favorite Things Summer School Day 3: Visual Triangle
• Seize the Birthday: anything goes birthday
  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Little Patch of Crafty Friends: anything goes
• Pile It On: use a new technique: visual triangle
• The Outlawz Thursday challenge: anything goes

Well, I am off to work on Day 4 summer school. Tomorrow is my day at Head Start. Going to go play with the twins. Hope your week is going well. Take care and stay crafty!

Donna

Halloween Greetings

Welcome to a new week! They go so fast anymore I can hardly keep track. Last Friday we bought a travel trailer and today we found out we can pick it up this coming Saturday. Tom just started running an experiment at work today so he'll be on call 24/7 for the next few weeks. So it's doubtful that we'll get to use it right away. Hopefully this fall we'll get out to camp in it. In January we hope to go to Florida for a few weeks and get away from the cold weather. We'll see how that turns out.
I took a little time this afternoon to make a card. It's a Halloween card that I think turned out really great!

I used the MFT sketch as inspiration for this card. I used the cat and bat stamp from MFT Witch Way is the Candy stamp set for the images, colored with Spectrum Noir markers and die cut with MFT Stitched Circles. I colored the edges of the circles orange and then backed each layer with black card stock. The strip is a scrap from my scrap box backed with black card stock. For the sentiment I heat embossed the sentiment on black card stock and then used MFT Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips to die cut the sentiment. I usually don't make many Halloween card, but I love this stamp set so much that this year may be the exception. I am entering these challenges:

• MFT Sketch Challenge: sketch 
  
• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• Outlawz Festive Friday: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: anything goes

A few more things to get done tonight. My next thing to do is cutting the grass. Then I have a little bit of garden work to do and finally I have some pricing for my volunteer job to do. Hope to get some more crafty time in tomorrow morning. Thanks for stopping by. Hope your week is off to a wonderful start!

Donna

Yappy Christmas

Happy Saturday! Welcome to the weekend. Yesterday we bought a camping trailer so that when my DH retires next year we can go traveling. It's a smaller trailer (24 feet) but it's brand new and rated for camping in all 4 seasons so it's well insulated. Not sure exactly when we'll get to bring it home just yet. I've been working on the MFT Summer School lessons. The second day of summer school was all about focal point. One of the cards in the video for this lesson had kind of a square window section on it. I wanted to try that.

To start I die cut the white card stock with the stitched rectangle die in MFT Blueprints 13. I cut a mask from masking paper using the MFT Inside and Out Stitched Rounded Square die. With the mask in place I inked the unmasked area with Fossilized Amber and Lucky Clover. I stamped and die cut the little puppy from MFT Happy Pawlidays stamps. The little cutie is colored with Spectrum Noir markers and embellished with white gel pen. I stamped the sentiment from the same stamp set with Momento Black ink. And finally added some sequins that I filled with Glossy Accents to give them some shine.
I am entering these challenges:

• MFT Summer School Day 2: focal point
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes
• Happy Little Stampers Christmas challenge: sequins
• Merry Christmas challenge: anything goes
• The Outlawz Friday challenge: Christmas

Thanks for stopping by today. We are watching the twins today. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Donna

Commencing Happy Dance

Welcome to my blog and if you haven't noticed, the second session of summer school has commenced at the MFT blog. The first session is all about monochromatic cards. There are several ways you can win MFT prizes so you might want to check it out. Here's my monochromatic card.

I started by cutting my white card stock with the stitched rectangle from MFT Blueprints 13. I used Press n Seal to help me ink up the MFT Star Grid stencil. The background does not look all one color IRL. I used Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean and Broken China Distress Oxide inks for the stencil, but it isn't showing up well in the photo. I stamped and die cut the MFT Puddle Jumper stamp. He is so adorable. He's colored with Copic and Spectrum Noir markers. Then I heat embossed the sentiment that's from MFT Anything-but-Basic Birthday Wishes. Doesn't it look like the puddle jumper is dancing? Since the background is so busy I didn't think it needed any other embellishments. Hope you'll check out the summer school and join in the fun!
I am entering these challenges:

• MFT Summer School Day 1: monochromatic
• Scrapping4Fun: anything goes
• Seize the Birthday: anything goes birthday theme
• Monday Outlawz challenge: kids
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes

Wednesday I went back to Head Start for the beginning of their new school year. New faces to meet and they have a bug in a cage in their room. It's a praying mantis and my mischievous little Arthur has figured out how to open the cage.  I think they may have a problem if he releases his new little friend. Hehehe! But here's some pictures of the twins from Wednesday.

Valerie on the playground.

Arthur coloring or eating crayons. They both had blue teeth by the time they finished coloring.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a marvelous weekend and find the time to get crafty!

Hugs to you all,

Donna

August Dueling Darlings

We are halfway through the month and time for the Dueling Darlings challenge. Each month a member of the team sends a kit for all the members to use. We all use the same materials centered around a theme to make a card. This month our hostesses were Terry L for the Dazzlers (my team) and Tami for the Divas. And the theme this month is wine.

So here's what was in the kit:
Image is from Art Impressions Wine Divas
Sentiment from Art Impressions Wine Divas and MFT Uncorked (lots of great sentiments in this kit)
Paper from the Paper Studio
Embellishments: Ribbon (white and green); Twine (white); Gems (clear Recollections and green the Paper Studio)
Flowers: white from Michaels; green from Got Flowers)
I colored the image with Copics and Spectrum Noir markers. I used a white gel pen for details. I die cut it with Gina Marie Designs Cross Stitched Rectangles. The sentiment is from MFT Uncorked and die cut with MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags. I backed all the layers with black card stock. I used one of the designer papers that Terri sent. For embellishments I used the green gems and the green flower.

I don't often do the inside of my cards but this was great to have the card finished and ready to go. So I used the leftover designer paper backed with black cardstock to add elements on the inside of the card. This sentiment is from the Wine Divas stamp set and I added a Happy Birthday from MFT Essential Sentiments die cut with the Gina Marie Designs Cross Stitch Rectangles to mimic the front of the card. This was a fun card kit and I loved working with it. Thanks Terri! If you'd like to see what the other's did with this kit I've provided the links below:
Dazzlers:
Darlene
Jeanette
Shelly
Terry A (Splitcoaststampers Gallery)
Terry L
Tracie
Debbie B (Splitcoaststampers Gallery)

I am entering these challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch 
  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• The Friday Outlawz challenge: birthday
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes

Thanks for stopping by today. I am headed for Head Start this morning to play with the twins and their friends. My favorite activity of the week. Take care!

A Savior is Born

I bet you can guess what today's card is going to be. LOL! Working on Christmas when I can. I rarely have enough of them made when the time comes to send them. And I make 30 cards for my FI: each year. I thought this might be the card I'd make for him but he didn't think anyone would read the entire verse on the front so he didn't want this kind of card. I will admit that I was trying to make it easy on me so I guess I will have to start again and keep thinking.

This was a super simple card. The image and verse are from Eureka Stamps. The image is Bethlehem with Verse. I printed it out and then use Copic Y15 to color the star and windows/doors of the town. Then added yellow Stickles to the star. I mounted it on Yellow card stock. Easy Peasy! I like this one and if I need additional quick Christmas cards this just might be the one I do this year. I am entering these challenges:

• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes
• 52 Christmas Card Throwdown: black, white and one other color
• Friday Outlawz challenge: Christmas
• Crafty Friends Challenge: anything goes

Thanks for stopping by! Take care.

Donna

Happy First Birthday

This week we have a first birthday on my husband's side of the family. An adorable little boy. Happy birthday Liam! Here's the card I made for him.

The cute little bear is from Beccy's Place. It's a retired set that I really love for making kid's cards. I colored the beat with Copic markers and then added white gel pen accents. The background is a napkin with lots of birthday balloons. The sentiment and balloon was stamped from the Jillibean Soup Balloon Party stamp set and then die cut with MFT Stitched Circles. The heart background is Spellbinder's Hears Circles. I put small little slits at the bottom of the balloon so I could add some black thread and then wrapped it around the bears hand as if he's holding the balloon. Hope Liam likes this colorful card! I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place August challenge: use a Beccy's Place image; add lace (I'm hoping the heart circle is kind of lacy)
• MFT Sketch challenge: sketch 
  
• The Outlawz Monday Sentiment challenge: kids
• Catch the Bug: anything goes
• Hiding in my Craft Room: super scrap Saturday

I think I will have a fairly easy week this week. I volunteered today at Opportunity House but I don;t have any other cashier shifts this week. I'll head back to Head Start on Wednesday this week as the twins started back today. I am really looking forward to that. Hope your week is off to a great start. Thanks for stopping by today!

Donna

Book Boy

Happy Friday! I managed to get one more card done last night. This image was last week's freebie at Bugaboo stamps. They have the cutest freebies.

The image is Big Book Boy. They also have a Big Book Girl. I thought this would make a really cute Back to School card. Our school system started back to school this week. Seems way to early to be back to school but that's the way they do it now. I used some scraps of plaid paper and a piece from my school papers that I have with my scraps. This follows a sketch from The Outlawz challenge. The blue pieces are stitched with white gel pen and I added some Queen and Co. adhesive stars for embellishment. I am entering these challenges:

• The Outlawz Wednesday sketch: sketch 
  
• Catch the Bug challenge: anything goes
• Crafty Sentiments Designs: anything goes
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• Cupcake Inspirations: back to school

I will be volunteering at Opportunity House this afternoon. I have more cooking to do to use up my freezer stuff. No plans for the weekend yet but the twins will likely show up at some time. They will be heading back to Head Start class on Monday. Take care and have a wonderful weekend!

Donna

Happy Halloween, My Little Pretty

Hello, and welcome to my blog. I am working on progressive challenges today since I have one due by the 13th. The Limited Run challenge has an odd image this month and I wasn't really sure what to do with it. Maybe that's why I am coming down to the wore to get it posted. I decided to use it for a Halloween card.

I didn't see an actual title for this digital stamp but he's kind of a cross between a monster and a sock puppet. And to me he's kind of ugly so when I found the Create with TLC sentiment I figured it would kind of be an ironic card. I colored the images with Copic markers and fussy cut them out. The sentiment I printed and die cut with MFT Stitched Squares. The background paper is from my Halloween stash of scraps. All in all I think it's kind of a cute Halloween card.
I am entering these challenges:

• Limited Runs Progressive challenge: use the required digital image
• Cheerful Sketches: sketch 
  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• The Outlawz Friday challenge: anything goes
• Digi Choosday: anything goes
• Anything Goes with Create with TLC: use a Create with TLC element

Well, thanks for stopping. I went to volunteer today and found out that my shift was really tomorrow afternoon. Another senior moment. Oh well. Have a wonderful Friday!

Donna

Happy Anniversary

Can you believe how fast this week is going? It's flying by. Yesterday I cooked all day trying to use up as much as possible from my freezer. Today we had the twins all day since they aren't in Head Start this week. So these last two days have been a whirlwind. We just took the twins home for the day after two visits to the park, one to the library, swimming pool fun in our backyard, naps, and homemade lunch and dinner (some of the cooking from yesterday). I'm tired just thinking about it. But I think they had a ball. No complaints. They are such good kids. Here they are at the playground doing there favorite thing.

I almost forgot to post this card. I needed a quickie anniversary card this week.

The circle sentiment was a freebie from sentiments4you (no longer found on the Internet). I added the Dutch couple to the circle and colored the image with Spectrum Noir markers. The Dutch couple image is from Create with TLC. The background paper is gold and I used washi tape across as a divider. Both of those are from a 2015 Simon Says stamp kit that I won last week. The star embellishment also came in the kit.

I am entering these challenges:

• Sketch Saturday: sketch 
  
• Simon Says Monday challenge: tape it up
• Anything Goes with Create with TLC Element: use a Create with TLC element
• The Outlawz Friday challenge: anniversary or wedding
• Tuesday Throwdown: anything goes

That's it for me today. I am bushed. The twins wear me out and tomorrow is another busy day. Thanks for stopping by and hope your on the down side of your week!

Donna

A Colorful Hello

Happy Monday, even though it's getting close to being over. It's been a busy day today. Over the weekend we were away until Sunday afternoon. When we returned home I found our freezer door had been left open. I am trying to frantically cook everything that was in there. Fortunately it wasn't a lot. Well, I did want to clean out my freezer.
This afternoon I got a few minutes to work on a card.

The image is from Bugaboo Stamps called Flower Box Digi Stamp. I colored the image with mostly Copic markers and added Wink of Stella to the flowers and butterflies. I also used a white gel pen and a black Micro pen to add some highlights on the flowers and butterflies, as well as the purple paper strip, The birder is a Martha Stewart butterfly border. I thought that fit nicely with the image. I used my favorite plaid paper and added the purple strip of card stock. The sentiment die is from Memento dies(Hobby Lobby). I am entering these challenges:

• Stella Sketch: sketch 
  
• Cards in Envy: use something new (Bugaboo image)
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: anything goes
• Scrapping4Fun: anything goes 
  
• Thursday Outlawz challenge: anything goes

Well, I can smell my crockpot cooking my pork roast. I suppose I should go shred the pork before I drop into bed. LOL! Gave a wonderful week/ Thanks for stopping by.

Donna

Getting Better with Age

Hello! Happy Friday! Seems August has arrived and I find myself needing lots of birthday cards this month. And I need several masculine cards so I thought I'd get started on those first.

This was a fun card. For the background paper I used a stencil and two different colors of distress oxide ink: peacock feathers and salty ocean. The stencil I used was MFT Chunky Herringbone. I first used Peacock feathers and inked the card stock using heavy ink toward the top and lighter ink toward the bottom for a gradient look. Then I turned the stencil and used Salty Ocean to get some overlap areas and a neat pattern on the card stock, again using heavy ink toward the top and lighter ink toward the bottom. I cut the panel down a bit and then added the sentiment. The sentiment is from MFT All About You stamp set, I double heat embossed it with white embossing powder and then die cut with MFT Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips. The large "You" is die cut from MFT You Trio and then mounted on blue fun foam cut from the same die. I toyed with adding some sequinsto the card but decided not to since I am sending it to a guy.
I am entering these challenges:

• MFT Sketch challenge: sketch  
  
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: make your own background
• The Outlawz Friday challenge: birthday
• The Male Room: Birthday for a male
• Tuesday Throwdown: stenciling
• Try Stampin' on Tuesday: add dimension without foam tape

I have another busy weekend. The twins will be back on Sunday and we have friends coming for dinner tomorrow evening. Have to get busy, busy, busy cooking and cleaning. Hope your weekends is more relaxing! Take care!

Hugs,

Donna

12 Months of Christmas Link Up Challenge

Happy August! I took a few months off from the 12 Months of Christmas Link Up design team to get through the wedding and day camp and get back up to speed. So this month I am back with the Sleigh Belles to open the new challenge for the month of August. The challenge is always anything goes but we have an optional theme. This month the theme is to add some greenery to your card. Our sponsor this month is Lunagirl Digital Stamps. If you love vintage stamps this is the place! Here is my card:

The greenery frame is from Lunagirl Christmas Holly Digital Collage Sheet. I added a sentiment from Create with TLC inside the frame and printed and fussy cut the frame and sentiment. The plaid paper is from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles' Holiday Hoopla Paper. After gluing the plaid paper in place I added the frame and sentiment and finished it off with the faux stitching around the triangle areas. As we get closer to Christmas, I know you will be getting started on Christmas cards. I sure hope you will share them with us at 12 Months of Christmas Link Up. Be sure to check out the 12 Month's web site for all the challenge details and rules.
I am entering these challenges:

• Atlantic Hearts Sketch challenge: sketch 
  
• Anything Goes with Create with TLC Element: use a Create with TLC element
• Merry Christmas Challenge: anything goes Christmas
• Digi Choosday: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: for a man or boy
• Rudolph Days: anything goes Christmas

Thanks for stopping by today. We had the twins all day today. We took them to Wonder Lab Science Center to play. Lots of fun! See you again soon.

Donna