Indiana Inking

If Friends were Flowers

2012-02-13T20:44:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday evening! How was the start of your week? It was back to work for me. The weather wasn't too bad today; a little chilly but snow is coming in tonight and getting to work tomorrow could be a challenge. Speaking of challenges (how was that for a segue, hehe), my card this evening is for several challenges.

I've never made a water can card before. This pattern came from Waltzing Mouse Stamps and is still available free if you'd like to make one. The flowers are from Beccy's Place and the sentiment is from a Gina K stamp set. I embossed the water can with the tartan embossing folder and rubbed a darker purple ink over the embossing. So the challenges:

Sentimental Sunday challenge: shape card
Speedy Fox & Friends challenge: shape card
Clearly Inspired challenge: use colors pink, green, purple and white

I hope your week has gotten off to a great start and will continue down that path. Have a wonderfully romantic Valentines Day tomorrow. Stay safe and crafty!

Valentine Hearts

2012-02-12T15:45:00.003-05:00

Happy Sunday! I needed to get a couple of projects finished today. One of them was a valentine for my co-workers. I made these cork hearts with ribbon. Added a sentiment and some goodies and they are all set to pass out. Since they are heart shaped it was difficult to photgraph them but I think you'll get the idea.

I'm entering this into the Sunday Outlawz challenge: CAS Valentine.
Well, onto my next project on my list. Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday!

Donna

Happiest Birthday

2012-02-11T22:26:00.002-05:00

We had a bit of snow last night. Just enough to make it slippery. My daughter had a job interview this morning and we are keeping our fingers crossed that this will work out. It will be lots more hours than she is getting in her present job. I didn't go to Baby Creek today. Instead I did laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, and cooking. I did get some crafting time tonight but hope tomorrow gives me even more time. Here's the card I created this evening.

I don't normally use black for a birthday card but I thought it would make the pink pop. I used a Papertrey Ink digital image in the center. Spellbinders dies include large circles, hearts and scalloped hearts. I inked the edges of the heart and scalloped heart. The ribbon is pink satin. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder and a pink heart brad and a green button for embellishments. I made this for two challenges:

Papertrey Ink (Capture the Moment): 5th Anniversary use a heart and a Papertrey Ink image.
Card Patterns 152 challenge: sketch

I'm looking forward to more play time tomorrow. Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday and thanks for dropping into see what I've been up to. Big hugs to you all.

Donna

Love is the Key

2012-02-09T21:52:00.000-05:00

Thursday greeting to you! It's almost Friday and I love the thought of the weekend. Tomorrow will be a busy day at work. I have a 3 1/2 hour training in the morning so I just have to make it through the afternoon. I'm looking forward to a crafty weekend. I can't believe how much time I got this week to work on crafts. I am just about Valentined (is that a word?) out and lots of challenges are still asking for love or Valentines so I took a slightly different tact. I made this card for an anniversary. Tom and I will be celebrating our 35 anniversary in June. We are talking about taking some kind of trip but haven't made any real plans yet. I guess we'll have to start doing that soon. Here's my card:

I used Spellbinders lacy ovals and regular ovals to make the frame. The sentiment is embossed with black powder. The key is from a Gina K set by Theresa Momber. The roses are from Beccy's Place. I added the pearls as embellishments. I wish the pink background would have shown up better in the photo. I'm entering the card in these challenges:

Flourishes Noon challenge: You've Been Framed!
Outlawz Sunday CAS challenge: engagement, wedding or anniversary
DYSU challenge: Love
Digital Delights challenge: Love

Thanks for stopping by today. Enjoy your Friday and the weekend. My daughter has an interview for a new job on Saturday so keep your fingers crossed and ask the Good Lord to help her get this. Blessing to you!

Donna

Love Sentiment

2012-02-08T21:31:00.000-05:00

I am definitely on a roll this week with crafting. I found time to make another card tonight. I am very pleased with how this card turned out.

I think this looks so elegant. The background paper is from the Paper Studio. The rose image is from A Year of Flowers by Melanie Muenchinger. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things stamp set and was embossed with black embossing powder. I cut the image out with a square Spellbinders and rounded the corners. The backing dies were Spellbinders Contemporary Hearts that I first cut out and then traced around it in red. I'm entering this in several challenges:

Flourishes challenge: black, white & a color (Mine is red!)
Sentimental Sunday challenge: feel the love
Party Time Tuesday: Valentines

Thanks for stopping by today. We're on the down-side of the week, headed toward my favorite time of the week: Friday at 5 p.m. I'm always glad when work is finished for the week. I'm busy packing things up since the university is kicking up out of the building that we've been in for 30 years. (No I haven't been there for 30 years.) Still no word if I will have a job after the reorganization but I am hopeful that I'll have some kind of job; I just don't know what department or where on campus. I'm fairly easy going about it all. Lots of people are freaking out about it. I'm thinking that if I don't have a job I'll have more time for crafting. That sounds good to me. Have a wonderful Thursday. Take care.

Thinking of You

2012-02-07T18:43:00.000-05:00

Just a quick little card today that I wanted to send to a friend to let her know that I am thinking about her.

The image is another freebie from the Papertrey Ink digi stamps that I talked about yesterday. I think it's just so sweet. The rest is pretty easy. I used a little Zva bling and some twine. I popped up the image with pop dots. This is for theCard Patterns sketch challenge.

I think I'm going to get some more creating time this evening. Hope your Tuesday was fabulous.

Puzzling Love!

2012-02-06T21:35:00.003-05:00

Since my Colts couldn't play in the Super Bowl, the next best thing was a Manning win. Way to go Giants! Great game and a fun time; because I got to watch but I also got to play. We had our fun little appetizer dinner (we do that twice a year: Super Bowl and Christmas Eve) and then I got to make some cards. So tonight I have two cards to share. Woo Hoo! It's been a while since I did that. My first card is all about the puzzle part of my title.

This one started out as a picture frame card but I cut the sides differently, so I made it into a puzzle instead. The image is from Designed 2 Delight. The sentiment is from Gina K. The embossing folder is Cuttlebug Victoria. This is for two challenges:

Party Time Tuesday: anything goes
Paper Players: flowers
Crazy 4 Challenge: make a scene (no not that kind of "scene"!)

My second card is the love part of the title.

Slightly non-traditional colors for Valentines Day except for the red heart. I crocheted the heart and love making them. The LOVE image is a free image from Papertrey Ink. Their designers got together and gave away an entire page of freebies. Very cool! I also used the sketch from Sketches by Carly. The circular edges are inverted circles from Spellbinders. The embossing folder is Cuttlebug Victoria once again. The patterned paper is Basic Grey. The challenges for this card:

Capture the Moment (Papertrey Ink): Use one of the freebies
Sketches by Carly: sketch
CAS-ual Fridays: use a movie theme. Mine is Love Story. (Does that date me or what?)
Outlawz Monday Challenge: anything goes with a sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by today. My week got off to a pretty good start. I hope yours did too.

Candy Wrappers

2012-02-05T20:30:00.002-05:00

Are you watching the Super Bowl. We didn't set anything up with friends so after we pigged out a bit I have some crafting time! I'm really hoping the Giants win. Since the Colts can't be in the Super Bowl I'd like to see a Manning win. Go Giants!
I got a few candy bars on a sale and wanted to spruce them up a bit to send to a couple people for Valentine's Day. Joan's Garden has a challenge this week to make a candy bar wrapper. The requirements: create one (or several) cute candy bar pouches; Be creative in using embellishments; and follow Selma's instructions. Here's my wrappers.

The cool thing about these is if you pull the bow, out comes the candy bar. Very cute design by Selma. I crocheted the hearts on two of the wrappers. I used rose petal paper for the wrap around backgrounds. The stickers are all gold cupids roses and hearts. I used a couple of stamps: the gumball machine and the banner (hard to read) says Be My Valentine. The hearts have buttons added.
Here are two of these in separate pics:

I'm entering this wrapper in the Outlawz Saturday Paper a la Mode I Heart You challenge. Use two or more hearts in your project.

I'm entering this wrapper into a Gina K challenge to use patterned paper.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a smashing week ahead!

Joan's Challenge

2012-02-01T22:17:00.003-05:00

I'm coming down to the wire on this challenge. But I love doing Joan's Garden challenges because you really have to think about what you're going to make.

The requirements:

Create a 4.25 x 5.5 inche birthday card
Use pink, green and some purple
Distress the edges
Add piercing

The banner actually looks better in real life. It pops up from the card.There is piercing at the bottom below the ribbon but you can't see it in the picture. I love the layers! Thanks for stopping by today.

So Many Challenges and so Little Time

2012-01-31T21:57:00.004-05:00

A 60+ degree day today! So unusual for January. I just keep thinking the show will drop one of these days.It's raining now but still pretty warm outside. My card tonight is all about Valentines. I've just about got enough cards made for Valentine's day and I need to move on to some birthday cards. I have lots of birthdays in February so that's my next project. Here's my card for tonight.

The stamp and sentiment is a freebie from Michelle Perkett. I used Spellbinders Classic Circles Large and Shapeabilities Contemporary Hearts. The twine is homemade baker's twine in pink. And the patterned background paper is from Paper Studio. I accented the cupcakes and hearts with Stickles Cotton Candy and Ruby Slippers. The pink panels are embossed with a diamond embossing folder.
I'm entering the card in thes challenges:

Flourishes challenge: sketch
Scrap-Creations challenge: red, pink and white
Speedy Fox and friends challenge: at least 4 layers
Sentimental Sundays challenge: dry emboss and sentiment

Outlawz Monday challenge: Use hearts and a sentiment

Thanks for stopping by today. Good-bye to January and hello February. Hope your Wednesday is spectacular!

Birthday Card CAS Style

2012-01-30T20:53:00.003-05:00

I just noticed that it's been a whole week since I posted. I can't believe it's been that long. The majority of this last week was spent writing nominations for Girl Scout awards. I wrote several nominations for women who I admire and have accomplished so much for the girls in our area. And today I took a day off of work to unload several semis of Girl Scout cookies. I'm beat tonight and just about ready for bed. But before I go to share a card I made for my son's birthday on Wednesday.

I entered this card in the Sunday Outlawz challenge. It was called melting pot. The idea was to use as many different elements and still make a CAS card. So I used the laurel leaf punch to create the green border. I die cut the green leaf branch and then added Stickles for the veins. The owls were stamped, colored and cut out. And then I added the two sentiments. The image and sentiments are from a stamp set called Owl Always Love You from Gina K.
Now that the nominations are complete I'm hoping to find more time to craft. Don't I say that every week. Just too much going on these days. Hope you have a wonderful week.

Window Scene

2012-01-22T22:22:00.000-05:00

I was hoping to have more time to play today but that wasn't to be. Our weather continues to be very strange. It was very icy this morning and by noon it was raining. My husband got stuck out at the Boy Scout camp last night. He slid off the road with his van and wasn't able to get it out until around noon today. Tonight we are supposed to get heavy rain, thunder storms (in January?) and lots of wind. If we get thunderstorms it will be the second time this month. How strange!
My card today is an outdoor scene for Joan's Garden Challenge.

The requirements for the challenge included:

use a door or window or something similar: I tried to make the image look like a window scene.
use an outdoor type stamp: My image is from Designed2Delight.
Use a flourish: I used a flourish stamp with the sentiment.
Use either an embossing folder or embossing powder: I used the Swiss Dots embossing folder on the sentiment.

You can check out Joan's challenge and try it yourself. I always love these challenges. They really make me think. I hope you had a wonderful weekend and your week ahead is full of crafty time.

I Ruff You

2012-01-21T21:21:00.003-05:00

Don't faint that I am posting on a Saturday! I haven't done that in quite some time. But a nasty ice storm came through last night and changed a few plans for today. I was supposed to drive to Plainfield, Indiana to a special Girl Scout training. I was taking a couple classes this morning and giving two classes this afternoon. The ice stopped my trek this morning but I did go up this afternoon to teach my classes. So I took the morning hours to make a few cards. The roads still aren't very good around here but tomorrow it supposed to get up to 52 degrees so the ice should disappear tomorrow. Tom (my DH) went to help out with a Boy Scout camp out this morning and thought he'd only be there for the day. But I got a text that he's stuck there for the night. So I'm missing my other half tonight. It also means that I'll have to get up at 5:30 a.m. to take my daughter to work. Bummer! Cold, ice and 5:30 a.m.

Anyway, on to my cards. The first card I made with a sketch from Sketches by Carly. My friend, Lori introduced me to this challenge this week and I thought I'd give it a try.

The dragon image is from Dustin Pike and the sentiment is from Create with TLC. I usually don't make get well cards ahead of time so I thought I'd turn over a new leaf for the new year. I used two Spellbinders dies: Classic Rectangles Large and Ribbon Tag Trio.

My second card today is a CAS Valentine card. Every once in a while we dog sit for some friends that we play bridge with. Their dog's name is Margo. Last year I found a stamp with a dog with a Santa hat on and I made Margo a Christmas card and sent it to her by mail. Our friends got such a kick out of it. Last night while we playing bridge at their house I remembered the card and thought I should make a Valentine for Margo. Margo is a totally black dog and a rather big dog too so the image isn't quite accurate but I did think it was totally adorable!

The dog image is from Tiddly Inks and the sentiment (which is perfect for this!) I found but can't remember where it came from. If this is one of yours please let me know so I can give you credit. I made the baker's twine. I made this card for a couple of challenges:

CASual Friday: use only black and white
Outlawz Saturday challenge: make a clean and simple valentine

I hoping to find more time tomorrow to play. I love these kinds of weekends. But I do have to get everything done tomorrow that I didn't get done today: laundry, grocery shopping, meal planning, and generally getting ready to go back to work for the week (bummer!). Hope your weekend is progressing as you want it to! Happy Sunday to you. I'm rooting for the Giants and Eli.

Love Is

2012-01-19T23:01:00.001-05:00

Just a quick post tonight with a card that I finished today. Another Valentine for a friend.

This didn't photograph very well but I think you can get the idea. I wish I had put the baker's twine up higher but I already had it taped down before I realized it needed to be higher. I used Spellbinder's scalloped heart and made a flower that's glittered and added a button in the center. The baker's twine is homemade pink and black. The sentiment is from a stamp set called Love Notes by Gina K.
I'm entering a couple of challenges:

Outlawz Wednesday challenge: sketch
Delightful Inspiration: use a heart
Scrap-Creations: use a die cut
CAS-ual Friday: CAS with scallops

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful Friday.

Desk Set Gift

2012-01-18T20:31:00.001-05:00

Two days in a row. I am on a roll. Hehehe! I finished a desk set that I made from plastic canvas. I started this after I finished my Christmas gift. I guess one of my resolutions for this year, if you call it a resolution is to think ahead about the gifts I need. Here's one to put in my stash.

I am pleased with how this turned out. That's my handsome son in the picture on his graduation day last May. Love the checked pattern. I'm going to link this project up to Get Your Craft On on Today's Creative Blog. Thanks for stopping today. Hope your day has been crafty!

Key to my Heart

2012-01-17T21:13:00.001-05:00

So again I have been AWOL. Last Thursday I had 4 doctor appointments and then 2 of them scheduled additional tests on Friday. I had to fast to take the test. But when I arrived at 10 am they told me there was an emergency and I'd have to come back at 4pm. Oh and no food or water until then. Are you kidding me? By the time I got back from the test I was sick, shaking and feeling very bad. And then Saturday I got to start prepping for another test on Monday. No solid food on Sunday. So the test was scheduled for Monday at 8:30am. That one didn't go well either and they couldn't complete it, so the doctor sent me for more x-rays and scans and fortunately I was still semi-sedated for all that. I still don;t have all the results back but the ones I did get back just show minor things. They did find a tumor but they said it's benign and nothing to worry about. So praise the Lord. I'm hoping that's it for doctors for the year. With all that going on I haven't had much energy for crafting. But last night, after the sedative wore off I put together a card. Yeah!

I used a piece of a lacy doily for the background. The image and sentiment is from a stamp set called Timeless Treasures by Theresa Momber. The image is die cut with a Spellbinders circle and backed with a scalloped circle of Basic Grey paper. The tag is cut from a Quickcutz die. The sentiment is embossed in black/ I cut the key out and tied it to the tag with baker's twine and added the flower as an embellishment. Hope you like it!
I'm entering this into a couple of challenges:

Joan's Garden: Make a Valentine with non-traditional colors; use some kind of lace; add a flower (a rose if possible); add a key (optional).
Scrap Creations: use a die cut
Outlawz Sunday challenge: use baker's twine
Paper Playtime: tag and sentiment

I'm hoping to get more time this week to play. I've really been missing it! Take care and have a wonderful week. Hope it's warmer where you are. Very cold and windy here.

A Valentine for my Sweetheart

2012-01-09T22:24:00.002-05:00

Happy Monday! I hope your week is off to a great start. I've been thinking about Valentine's Day and thought I should start some cards. Big surprise. Everyone is doing it! So my first Valentine this year is for my DH. Love you, dear! He doesn't look at my blog so I know he won't see this ahead of time. LOL!

The image is from Bird's Cards and the sentiment is a lovely digi but I'm not sure where it's from. I cut the sentiment from a tag die. The background is embossed by a tartan embossing folder that was inked before I embossed. I added ribbon and ruby slipper Stickles on both the image and sentiment.
I'm entering this card in several challenges:

Joan's Garden Challenge: make a card or tag with some kind of hearts; use any kind of embellishments; use pink or red with white; and use some kind of embossing.
Ribbon Carousel: anything goes and use some kind of ribbon.
Outlawz Sunday Challenge: Use a tag.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you are looking toward Valentine's day and making a few projects to give to your family and friends to tell them you love them. Take care!

Flower Birthday

2012-01-08T13:36:00.000-05:00

Happy Sunday! I'm trying to turn over a new leaf for the new year and cleaning up my craft area. It's been a slow process and have a way to go. I did manage to get a card done last night. I've been working on mostly birthday cards because I always need those.

I used the sketch from the Just Us Girls challenge. The colors are better in real life as my photography obviously need some work. The image is from Designed 2 Delight Digital Stamps. The embossing folder is called Flower Garden. The stamp set for the sentiment isn't labeled with the company but I won it in a blog candy. I added some self-adhesive rhinestones to the flowers on the embossing and then around the sentiment.
I'm entering a couple of challenges:

Just Us Girls: sketch challenge
Delightful Inspirations: guest designer call

Hope you have had a wonderful weekend and may your week be very crafty. Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Bird

2012-01-03T23:17:00.000-05:00

Happy Tuesday! It was back to work this morning in 14 degree snowy weather. But by Friday it's supposed to be 50 degrees again. It's no wonder people get sick this time of year. Work is very busy as we clean out and prepare to move our office to a different building. There is years of built up paper and it may take a very long time to clean it all up. So I took some time tonight to de-stress and I made a birthday card!

This is a gatefold card that latches on its own. Usually you need a belly band to hold it closed but the clever of the frame around the image holds it closed. I found this idea today at the Clearly iStamp blog. Great tutorial at the blog link.

This is how the card latches and unlatches. The frame comes apart from the image.
And finally, the inside of the card.

The bird image on the outside and the tag sentiment is a freebie image set from Doodle Pantry. I added the "it's your birthday" sentiment. I'm entering this card into the Doodle Pantry challenge (use a Doodle Pantry image) and the Clearly iStamp challenge (make a birthday card). Hope your Tuesday has been spectacular and your Wednesday will be even better. Hope to be back soon with some more fun creative projects!

My Choice of Projects from 2011

2011-12-30T23:33:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year's Eve! I've seen lots of blogs this week showing their top projects of the year so I thought I'd look back and show you some of the projects that I liked the most. Hope you enjoy the walk down memory lane.
January

My son, Dan's birthday card.

February

A card set that I created for Joan's Garden blog hop.

March

Card and matching envelope made with Just Rite stamps.

April

A fun scenic card made from digital stamps from Digital Delights by Louby Lou.

May

My son, Steve's graduation invitation.

June

Another scenic card with a mixture of Stampin' Up! and Gina K stamps.

July

The start to my Christmas cards. Just love this sentiment!

August

I'm not very good at sewing but I did buy a Sew Easy this year. I need to practice more.

September

This year I re-discovered crocheting. And it's something easy to take along when I can't drag all my card stuff. I really enjoyed creating this baby blanket and hat for a friend's new baby!

October

This card was featured at the Outlawz web site. Love the Designed 2 Delight image.

November

Here's another card that was featured on the Outlawz site. I really liked this one. The turkey is so adorable!

and finally December

I didn't actually photograph all the things I made in December. Many were not cards but used for Christmas presents. I'm not sure this was my favorite from December but I'll leave you with my wish for you for the New Year. May 2012 be your best year yet. May the Good Lord bless you with all good things and just know that if He gives you trials during the coming year He will be standing with you holding your hand through it all. Happy 2012!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-30T18:57:00.001-05:00

Posting on a Friday is unusual for me but I did get a card completed last night that I didn't get posted. We are planning on traveling this weekend so I wanted to add this before we go.

I didn't quite get all my Christmas cards out this year so I thought I would make some Happy New Year cards to send those I missed. This was fun to make. I used the Outlawz Wednesday sketch challenge. And I also made this for the DYSU challenge which is rainbows: use lots of color. I love how the colors around the image turned out but they are slightly difficult to see in the photo. Here's the flower a little closer.

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope your week was good and your weekend will be great. Take care!

Just a Quick One

2011-12-29T22:46:00.001-05:00

I should have posted this card several weeks ago. At least that's when I made it for a challenge at Outlawz.

I liked the idea of putting the sentiment into the space between the background papers. Love the layers too. Thanks for stopping today. One more day of work and then a three day weekend. Won't have too much time to create though. We are traveling again. I hope next week is better. Have a wonderful weekend!

My Final Christmas Present is Finished

2011-12-28T21:07:00.000-05:00

I finally finished my last Christmas present last night. I made a number of gifts this year and I didn't take a picture of any except this one that I finished last night. I did make two sets of these coasters.

These are made from plastic canvas and yarn. All the blues are the same color but the photo makes the coaster on the left look much lighter.

The coasters are stored inside the box also made of plastic canvas. I really like this pattern.
With Christmas now past, I'm hoping to get back to making some cards and I have some other projects in mind. I'm already thinking about next Christmas and what I could make ahead.
I hope that your Christmas was wonderful. I was so blessed to have all the kids home to visit. One of my sons has already returned home but my son Dan is still with us for another day or two and then he'll be flying off again. It's been great having them all here. I had to return to work this week. I usually don't mind working this week because it's usually very quiet and you can get lots done. But I'm going to try very hard to save time to be off next year. Hope your week is going well. I'm looking forward to the weekend. Take care!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T09:42:00.002-05:00

I know I've been absent for most of December but I wanted to make sure to post today. Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas. May your day be filled with family, friends and good things to eat!
To all the families missing loved ones, my prayers and thoughts are with you today and always. Blessing to all the armed forces mean and women for a safe return to their families.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Thank You

2011-12-13T22:11:00.000-05:00

Happy Tuesday! One of my co-workers asked me to make some thank you cards for her. I used some images that I already had colored and just put the cards together.

The image is from a retired Stampin' Up set. I used the Garden Flower embossing folder and a couple of the border punches. All three cards use Stickles to embellish the borders, butterflies and leaves of the image. I made these cards for the Outlawz Sunday challenge: CAS with glitter.

Thanks for stopping by today. I have to get busy and write out my Christmas cards. I have no idea if I have enough made or not. Hope your week is going well. I'm so pleased to have my blog back. Have a wonderful hump day!

Donna

What a week

2011-12-13T08:22:00.002-05:00

I so apologize that I haven't been posting lately. It's been a horrendous week and it's not over yet. Someone stole our credit card number and tried to charge several cameras from online companies. The companies had Google checkouts and because I had a Google account the invoice came to my email. We've cancelled the cards and gotten new ones but it didn't end there. Somehow Google has gotten me confused with my son, so Steve's name began appearing on everything that was supposed to be me. I still don't have that straightened out yet. So then because the Google checkout was messed up and I wasn't paying "my" bills, Google canceled my account and wouldn't let me sign in. Last night I couldn't get to my blog. So I think I might be headed in the right direction but I'm really not sure. If you've had any dealings with Google before and can give me some tips, I would so appreciate it. Hopefully I'll get back to normal soon. This time of year is stressful enough without all of this. Hope you are having a great week. I've got some things to show but it will have to wait until this evening. Take care.

Donna

Cool Yule!

2011-12-06T22:55:00.001-05:00

This is my tag for a challenge at Joan's Garden. The snowman image is from Serendipity Stamps called Snowman and Fence. The sentiment is from Judi Kins. The background tag is from a glitter paper pack. The red borders and the blue snowflakes were cut from scraps.The snow on the tree, hat and snow posts is puffy paint.

Other challenges being entered:

Joan's Garden Challenge: Christmas tag and anything goes
Cuttlebug Spot: Use your left overs
Do You Stack Up: ribbon or anything you can tie
Designed to Delight: Snow with glitter or flocking

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

Donna

Special First Birthday

2011-11-28T22:05:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the busiest season of the year! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our kids. All were in town for Thanksgiving and we celebrated our first Thanksgiving at Baby Creek, our lovely property east of Bloomington. Although the winter landscape has taken over it's still a beautiful place. So after Thanksgiving we made a quick trip and visit with the rest of the family on Friday. But on Saturday my two boys left for a trip to Charlotte, North Carolina. Out youngest, Steve, is moving there this week to begin his job there. He spent the last three months in Austria. He called today and he's found an apartment. So we'll load all his stuff up on Thursday night and Tom will drive to North Carolina on Friday and spend the weekend with him. I, unfortunately am out of vacation time at work so I can't go.

So, to my card tonight. My best friend's grandson is turning one this week and I wanted to make a special card.

The card is pretty simple. I used the negative of a Spellbinders inverted scalloped circle to create the frame. The image is from Mo Manning called First Birthday. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from Gina K's Versatile Verses. I added a few rhinestones to the frame. The little guys favorite color is red!

And on the inside I used the cut out from the die and added a sentiment from Stampin' Up!'s Full of Life stamp set. The little dog is a digital stamp but I can't remember where I got it. I really need to be more organized so I can give credit where credit is due.
I love the way it turned out. I'm entering this card is the Outlawz Sunday challenge of a CAS card and to accentuate the negative. Also Speedy the Cat's Friend challenge for a masculine card.
Hope you have a wonderful week. Travel safely. They are calling for snow in our neck of the woods tomorrow and it's been raining since Saturday so when it turns colder tonight it will freeze over. Yuck! Stay well!

Santa's Pants

2011-11-23T19:38:00.000-05:00

Happy Turkey Day eve! I can't believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving. And wouldn't you think that I'd have a Thanksgiving Day project tonight. Sorry, not so! I haven't had much playing time this week but I did get a chance to try this cute pattern I found for Santa's pants.

I'm going to make these for my co-workers and fill them with Hershey kisses. I made this for the Outlawz Saturday Paper ala Mode challenge.

Wishing all my U.S. friends a very Happy Thanksgiving! I will be gone a couple of days but hope to find time to get something created on the weekend! Have a great rest of your week!

Donna

Happy Holidays

2011-11-17T22:40:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post this evening for a CAS card I made tonight.

The sentiment is heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I glittered the top of the stocking. The stocking is an image by Sandi at the Outlawz. If you make a card using one of the four free images you will receive four more free images. Great deal and fun to boot. I stamped the snowflakes along the edge with VersaMark ink. Besides the Outlawz challenge I am also entering this card in the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long challenge. The challenge is to use a stamp have never inked up. I actually used two stamps that I've never used before: the stocking and the background snowflakes. Have a wonderful Friday. I'll be training for the Girl Scouts on Saturday but hoping that I'll get a chance to create on Sunday. Take care!

Donna

Be Thankful

2011-11-16T22:36:00.000-05:00

I love fall and fall colors. When we went to Austria in October I was slightly bummed that we would miss all the gorgeous fall colors but thankfully the week we returned it seemed to be the peak of the season. So my card today has all the fall colors that I love.

Love the turkey! He looks like such a character. He is a digi from Karen's Doodles. The sentiment was free from Create with TLC. Love the woodgrain background paper and the polka-dotted paper to match. A few self-adhesive rhinestones as embellishments. The turkey is popped off the card.

This card is for these challenges:

Outlawz Sunday Challenge: Use your favorite patterned paper
The Cuttlebug Spot challenge: Use a turkey
Scrap-Creations challenge: Thanksgiving

Thanks for stopping by today. As my week wears on I'm going to have less time. I have to do a science and math training for Girl Scouts this weekend. My handouts are ready to go but I have to get my supplies together. So the next few evenings will be busy getting ready. Take care!

Donna

Hang in There

2011-11-15T13:15:00.000-05:00

Greetings! Happy Tuesday! I have a simple CAS card for you today. I used a stamp set by Teresa Momber and distributed by Gina K Designs called Hang in There. This is really a birthday card for my BIL. The inside says "It's only another birthday!" I paper pieced (one of my favorite techniques to use!) the koala with paper from an animal print paper tablet that I have. Abd colored the limb. I used the Scor Pal to add a few accent lines and added the strip of paper from the animal prints also.

I'm entering this in a couple challenges:

Outlawz Monday challenge: Masculine card with sentiment
Speedy the Cat's Friends challenge: Use a favorite technique

Tonight I'm having pizza with the "girls". Looking forward to an evening of chatter and catching up with all my friends. Hope you have a wonderful evening!

Donna

Thanksgiving Centerpiece

2011-11-14T21:20:00.000-05:00

This Thanksgiving will mark the first year that I've cooked Thanksgiving dinner. We decided to stay home rather than travel for Thanksgiving and all the kids and their girlfriend or boyfriend will be here for dinner. So making some decorations for the table was something I could do ahead of time.

The turkey is made from fan folded paper and punches. The little sign is a stamp (too small to read) that says "Save a turkey... eat pizza this year." My son is coming home from Austria next Tuesday and one of the things that he's missed while in Austria is pizza. They do have pizza but they don't have the same kind of toppings. So I added the sign for Steve. The little pumpkin boxes are filled with M&Ms.
I'm entering thes in a couple challenges:

Joan's Garden challenge: Use stamps and dies to think outside the box; create something for Thanksgiving/Fall; use fall colors.
Scor Pal November challenge: Give thanks
Sentimental Sundays challenge: Thanksgiving/Thank you

Hope you've had a wonderful start to your week. Make it a spectacular week! Thanks for stopping by!

Snowy Holidays

2011-11-08T22:40:00.000-05:00

Happy Tuesday! I returned to work today after being sick yesterday. Feeling better today and still had a little time to play this evening. As the week goes on I get busier so I'm trying to get as much craft time in as I can! Tonight I was thinking Christmas and I was still playing with the double embossing backgrounds.

I double embossed the background using the Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder and then brayered VersaMark ink and heat embossed Iridescent Ice embossing powder. The snowman image and sentiment is from a Peachy Keen set. I added some ribbon and accented the snowman with some Ruby Slipper and Gold Stickles.

I'm entering this in a couple of challenges:
Delightful Challenges: Very Sparkly Christmas
Cuttlebug Spot: Anything goes
Outlawz Sunday Challenge: Emboss

That's it for today. I need to get some sleep tonight since my last two nights weren't very good. Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!

So Grateful!

2011-11-07T17:26:00.000-05:00

Well, it's Monday and I had to take the day off because I wasn't feel very good today. I am feeling some better this afternoon but don't feel 100%. So while I was sitting around I took some time to play. Here's a Fall/Thanksgiving card that I made. I was playing with making double embossed backgrounds. This one still isn't perfect but it was better than my other try at it.

First I embossed the background with the D'vine Swirls embossing folder in my Cuttlebug and then used irredescent ice embossing powder to heat emboss the swirls. I used a brayer lightly on the raised sections and then covered with the embossing powder. Can you see the sparkle? Maybe this veiw will bring that out more.

The wreath image is from Designed 2 Delight and paper pieced with Basic Grey Indian Summer. The sentiment is from Glitterbabe Greetings. And I actually finished the inside this time. So many cards I don't finifh the inside and when I need them in a hurry they aren't ready. But this one is set to go.

I'm entering this in a couple challenges:

Designed to Delight: Create a thank you or thankful gift for a hostess or anyone.
Outlawz Monday Challenge: Give thanks and a sentiment
Cuttlebug Spot: Anything goes
Speedy the Cat Challenge: Fall or winter

That's it for me today. I'm going to go take a nap and check up on making dinner. It's getting to be that time of the day. Hope the start to your week was a winner. Thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Box

2011-11-06T22:56:00.000-05:00

Sunday has almost come and gone. It was mostly sunny today and we spent most of the day at Baby Creek and brought home a trailer full of wood for the fireplace. We're getting ready for a long winter's nap. Hehehe! Snow has already hit the east coast and it's just a matter of time before it arrives here. We often lose electricity so the wood keeps us warm. I did have time to work on a little project this evening.

This is a pizza box decorated for Christmas. I made this for a challenge at Joan's Garden. Here's another view of the top of the box.

Joan's challenges are always fun. Her's what you need to do. Create a box using the tutorial at Selma's blog. You must have a band around the box and it must be decorated. You must use Christmas paper. The angel image is from Digital Delights by Louby Loo and tied to the band with twine. The belly band has two layers: one with a Martha Stewart border and one with Christmas designer paper. I created a scalloped fan fold flower decorated with a button that looks like a green Christmas tree. I added a Christmas sentiment.

I'm also entering this into the following challenges:

Cuttlebug Spot: anything goes
CAS-ual Friday: Over the edge
Crazy 4 Challenge: Wrap it up

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have an outstanding week. Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Fall Thanks

2011-11-02T21:39:00.000-04:00

Happy Wednesday! The weather was beautiful today here but a change is coming. Rain tomorrow so our fair weather is coming to an end. Work has been very stressful this week so I look forward to creating when I get home. I've been working on a thank you card to send to someone that I won a blog candy from.

I'm not much for sewing on cards so when I won a $100 gift certificate from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design from an Outlawz Party I decided to try the Sew Easy. I'm not an expert at the Sew Easy yet but it's so much easier than trying to get out my sewing machine and try to get things lined up. I need some more practice but I think with more practice the Sew Easy could be really fun to use on my cards. The image is from Carolyn King's Whimsical Autumn and the sentiment is from Melanie Muenchinger's Arranged With Love. The patterned paper is Basic Grey.
I'm entering this card into a couple of challenges:

Outlawz Saturday challenge: sewing
Mark's Finest Paper challenge: use your scraps
Card Patterns: sketch

Hope you have a wonderful Thursday. Thank you for stopping. Please leave a comment. I so enjoy reading what you think. Have you tried the Sew Easy or can you give me any tips on how to use it? I'd love to know what you've been up to. Take care!

Fall Birthday

2011-10-31T16:38:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday! Happy Halloween! How was your weekend? We had great fun at my MIL's birthday party. While I was reluctant to wear a costume they turned out to be lots of fun! We are allowed to wear costumes to work today. The first time that I can remember being allowed to do that. They did make the caveat that they had to be tasteful costumes since we are open to the public. So I thought I would share my costume. I have a really stupid look on my face in this picture but maybe you can guess what my costume is.

Can you figure it out. In the background is my DH's nephew, Henry. He was a ghost buster. Read to the end to find out what my costume is if you haven't guessed it yet. The shirt says "GO Ceiling" and those are pom-poms in my hand. Now on to my latest project.

I needed a birthday card for my BIL this week so this is more of a guy card I think. Kind of a fall theme. The image is from Designed 2 Delight. The background stamp is from Studio G and the sentiment is from a set that has no name. I won it as blog candy a while ago. I used a lattice punch to create the border.
I'm entering this card in several challenges:

CAS-ual Friday challenge: sketch
Outlawz Sunday challenge: anything goes
Designed to Delight challenge: use a pumpkin

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a fantastic week.
Oops! I almost forgot to tell you about my costume. I was a ceiling fan! Get it? "GO Ceiling!" Hahaha

Light up the Holidays

2011-10-26T22:03:00.000-04:00

Happy hump day! Work has been so busy this week that I look forward to coming home and just do nothing. But I had a challenge from Joan's Garden that I really wanted to participate in. I haven't had a chance to do a challenge with Joan for a while. Between going to Austria and the busy family life I haven't found the time. But I'm thrilled to be creating with Joan's challenges. Let me tell you Joan's is definitely a challenge. My card:

Joan's challenge: Use a die; Use a Christmas sentiment; Use some kind of light (a candle, Christmas tree lights, etc); Use red and white and additional colors if you wish. The lights are from a retired Stampin' Up! set called Borders. The sentiment dies used are from Clear Dollar Stamps and the border at the top is a double punched border from Martha Stewart. I added the candy cane ribbon.
I'm also entering this into the Party Time Tuesday challenge of anything goes!

Thanks for stopping by. Tomorrow night is shopping night for the big 80th birthday bash for my MIL. I have to check out some things I need for my costume. Have a wonderful Thursday!

Batty, Batty Bat

2011-10-25T22:26:00.000-04:00

I wanted to share what I made for all my co-workers for Halloween. It's a dressed up sour cream container. You can find the instructions for the sour cream container at SplitCoastStampers.

I made the sour cream container from black card stock and added the features with white gel pen. The wings are a holly leaf pattern and cut a small "v" into the top to delineate the "ears." The tag is two digi stamps from My Grafico punched with a one and a half inch punch. I attached the tag with black and orange ribbon. Inside the bat are Hershey kisses for a special treat for my co-workers.

I'm entering this Halloween project in a couple challenges:

Outlawz Saturday challenge: Use a tag on your project
Ribbon Carousel: Halloween
Sentimental Sunday: Halloween

Thanks for stopping today. This week we are getting ready for my MIL 80th birthday party Saturday. We have a few more things to get ready here. The weather was beautiful today but the rest of the week is supposed to be much colder and rainy. Hope the rest of your week will be sunny inside and out. Take care!

Halloween

2011-10-22T21:34:00.000-04:00

Happy Saturday! It was a gorgeous day here. We spent the day at Baby Creek (our retreat property) and plan to go back out tomorrow after I go grocery shopping. We are having some friends come out for dinner tomorrow night so it should be fun to see them again. Still fighting this cold (or bug) that I brought with me from Austria. My motivation is pretty low so my card tonight is definitely a clean and simple one. The photo didn't take well so I'll have to explain what it really looks like. LOL!

I bought this new embossing folder from Sizzix. Perfect for Halloween. I stamped the spider first in Memento Tuxedo Black and then embossed. I sponged the web with purple ink and that isn't showing very well in the picture. I added the Trick or Treat sentiment. Really easy! I have a bunch of Halloween cards left from last year so I'm not getting too elaborate with Halloween this year. I'm entering my card in a couple of challenges:

Delightful Challenges: Halloween
Flourishes: Halloween
Crafty Boots Challenge: Autumn or Halloween

I am hoping that I stop sneezing and coughing and my head stops spinning so I can get back to using my time to craft. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! Stay well!

Birthday Wishes

2011-10-20T21:29:00.000-04:00

Welcome home to me! Our trip to Austria was fun! The weather was not great. We had about three days that had sun and it was chilly and rainy most days we were there. I'll be posting pictures soon. I haven't gotten them all sorted yet. My motivation has been pretty low since returning home since I brought home an "Austrian bug". I have a nasty cold. I'm hoping the weekend will give me some time to get some extra rest. I have no more vacation days from work for the rest of the year so I'll just have to tough this out.

So my mojo has been pretty low since I've come home but I put together this quick card for my Austrian son's birthday next week. I need to put together a package for him to send asap.

It isn't the best card I've ever made but I'm hoping my motivation gets better this weekend. The image is a digi image. I'm sorry I don;t remember where I got it. I used my Scor-Pal to make the frame and the diagonal lines in the background. A scrap of patterned paper and some Stickles on the flame and there you have it. I'm entering it into the Monday Outlawz challenge: anything goes with a sentiment.
Thanks for stopping by today. I'm glad to be home and hopefully I'll get back to some crafty fun soon. Have a wonderful Friday!

Fall Ya' All

2011-10-05T21:45:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow we are off to Austria. I'm not sure that I'll have Internet access but if I do I'll check in every once and a while. Don't forget about the party over at Outlawz. Fun challenges and lots of games and prizes.

My card tonight is for the Outlawz Monday challenge. The theme is fall and you must have a sentiment on the front of your card. Here's my card.

I used the rock and roll technique to ink the leaves. I cut out two of the leaves and popped them up on the card. Then stamped my sentiment and there you have it. Pretty easy to do.

Hope you all have a wonderful couple of weeks. I am taking some crocheting with me but unfortunately no paper crafting. Way too supply intensive. I'll be back after the 19th. I'll miss the blogging while I'm gone. Stay well! Be happy!

Hugs to You

2011-10-04T22:29:00.000-04:00

Greetings! So sorry that I have had such limited time to craft lately. Last week was very busy and this week I am getting ready to leave for Austria to see my son, Steve, who is there for three months learning his new job. I'm looking forward to seeing him on Friday and getting away from my job for a while. We leave Thursday afternoon and arrive in Austria on Friday morning. It's more than a 14 hour trip but I know it will be worth it. So my poor blog will be neglected again for a while but maybe I'll be able to post some pictures from the trip.

One of the things I had hoped to work on this week is the Outlawz big 1000 member party. Lots of fun things going on with over $800 in prizes to be given away. It would be well worth it to join the Outlawz community. I've had great fun playing in their challenges and I've actually won a couple times in the past few months. Stop on over and check the party out!

My card is for a couple of challenges. It's a CAS card that I really like.

First, I used the sketch challenge at Clearly iStamp for the card. The second challenge is for Outlawz Sunday CAS challenge. The challenge this week was "to choose an item that you have in your stash that is either unopened or rarely used. Something that is "haunting" you to give it some love." So there are several things that I used on this card that would fit that bill. The image I used is from a brand new Penny Black set I just got. I used three embossing folders that I seldom use: Diamond Plate, Harlequin and Moroccan Screen. And then I changed the corners using punches that I haven't used in quite a while.

Thanks for stopping today. I'm going to try to post a few more times before I leave on a jet plane this week. Hope you have a wonderful week.

Invitations

2011-09-28T22:26:00.000-04:00

Here are the invitations that have been keeping me busy of late. These are for my MIL's 80th birthday party near the end of October. Can you tell her favorite color is purple?

I only need to find 2 more addresses and I can get back to some other things on my list. I'm looking forward to that. Most of the invitations will be mailed out tomorrow. Hope the end of your week will be spectacular! Thanks for stopping by today.

Fall Get Well

2011-09-25T21:35:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the absence this past week. And my coming week is another very busy one. Still working on the invitations for my MIL's 80th birthday party. But I have a few cards that I need to send out. My cards tonight are some get well wishes for family members.

My cards are definitely CAS. The sentiments are digis (by Marlene of Disguised as a Grown-up) cut and sponged with pumpkin ink. The designer paper is Basic Grey cut with Magnolia Berry Lace die cut. The leaves are punched with several shades of orange paper. These cards are for a couple of challenges:

Clean and Simple: sketch challenge
CAS-ual Friday: at least three shades of monochromatic plus brown

Thanks for stopping and hanging in with me. I'll see what I can get done this week. Hope you have a wonderful week.

Outlawz 1,000 Member Party

2011-09-21T22:33:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the long silence this week. It's been a busy week working on the invitation for my MIL's 80th birthday. I am very close to being finished but not quite yet. My son, Dan, is visiting from Salt Lake City this weekend. We picked him up from the airport this evening so I doubt that craft time is in my immediate future. And my DH's parents will be arriving tomorrow to visit with Dan while he is here. So extra people around this weekend. I thought I would share a project that I did for a friend who recently had a baby.

It's a little difficult to see the hat on the blanket since it's the same color. I haven't crocheted in a very long time so this was great fun to do.

I also wanted to mention that Outlawz is having a big party to celebrate 1,000 members and you are invited!

So be sure to check out the fun at Outlawz and you could win some wonderful prizes. I've won twice at Outlawz and I've received some really great prizes. I love their challenges. Check it out!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I know I'm looking forward to it. It's been a very busy week at work.

Charming Flourishes

2011-09-15T22:05:00.000-04:00

Tonight I have a quick card that I made for a Flourishes challenge called Three's a Charm. You needed to use three layers on your project. I have the card base, a rectangular background and the image layer. Then I added a ribbon and bow and a few self-adhesive rhinestones. The borders were punched with a Martha Stewart punch. The image is from Flourishes Calendar Flowers.

I love the fall colors. I think the leaf border works well with the flower image. I hope you are having a wonderful week and looking forward to the weekend. I know I am. I'll be working on my MIL's 80th birthday invitations this weekend. Hoping to get them finished soon. Take care and stay well!

Color Challenge and Wedding Wishes

2011-09-14T21:39:00.000-04:00

Tonight just a very quick post of a card that I made for a challenge at Outlawz. I won the biggest prize at Outlawz last month: a $50 gift certificate at Oozak.com. Tonight I got my shopping spree there and I had a blast trying to decide what to buy. A very timely birthday present since my birthday is tomorrow. So I'm really enjoying doing the challenges over at Outlawz. This card is for the Tuesday color challenge at Outlawz (lavender, bright pink and creamy white). In addition to the color challenge, the card needed to have a wedding theme.

The wedding cake is a clear stamp from Clear Dollar Stamps and the Window Box Frame is a digital stamp from Happileigh Scrappin'. The image is also from the same set from Clear Dollar Stamps. I added some Zva swirls and the image is cut from a Clear Dollar die. The window frame is popped up from the cake so it really looks like a window.
That's it for tonight. I do have to work on my birthday tomorrow but I am saving my vacation time for October when we will be traveling to Austria to see my son Steve. Hope the rest of your week goes smoothly.

You're Invited

2011-09-12T20:38:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday! I'm glad this day is over. Work is very busy right now and at least the day goes quickly when you are so busy. We had a beautiful day weather-wise and I think tomorrow is supposed to be similar. We did get a little rain over the weekend but we could use some more. I won;t be complaining though. My brother's home is in the path of the Texas fires so I am praying that they get rain very soon.

My card tonight is a possible invitation for my MIL's 80th birthday party. It's my job to make the invitations. So here is one of my attempts.

I used 2 embossing folders: Just My Type (the flowers up the right side) and Swiss Dots both from Cuttlebug. I used markers to give the embossed flowers some color. The trellis is a punch. The flowers are two different die cuts from Heartfelt Creations and the vine and leaves are a Cricut cut. I'm not thrilled with how my handwriting turned out. I think I need to use a fatter marker. What do you think? How can I improve this? I'm entering this card in several challenges:

Joan's Garden challenge: Create a background with 2 embossing folders; use 2 or more die cuts and add a sentiment.
Do You Stack Up challenge: Use texture
Speedy the Cat's Friends challenge: Use a punch

Thanks for sharing some of your day with me. I love your comments and appreciate you leaving one for me. Have a wonderful week!

Autumn Gift Box

2011-09-11T20:37:00.000-04:00

For the last few days I have been working on a 3-d project. I found a pattern for a box that I thought looked like a great way to give a gift. So I had to try to make one. You can find the tutorial at Cloth, Paper Crafts and More.

This is side one of the box. The main image is from Designed to Delight. I colored it with Bic Markers and a Copic Blender Pen. I've added ribbon around the top, a secondary image from Anne's Cards 4 U, and Some great bling in different sizes. All patterned paper is Basic Grey Indian Summer.Here's the other sides of the box.

The sentiment is from Tiffany's Doodles.

Image from a Copic marker tutorial.

The Fall image is from My Grafico. Hope you liked my project. I may have to make a few more if these for Christmas gifts. Perfect for the little extras to give.
I am entering the box into a couple of challenges:

Designed to Delight: Progressive image
Clearly iStamp: Patterned paper
Ribbon Carousel: Anything goes with ribbon, twine, etc.
September Scor-Pal: Create a box
Flourishes Fall Fashion Challenge: Color challenge
Delightful Challenge: Bling it!
Crazy 4 Challenge: color challenge

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you have a wonderful week.

We'll Never Forget

2011-09-11T12:54:00.000-04:00

Today is 9/11 and ten years ago America was attacked. Thousands died or gave their lives trying to save those involved in the tragedy. Today we remember and remind ourselves that we will never forget those who lost their lives and remember all those who were effected by this tragedy. I wanted to pause today to remember all those involved with 9/11 and for all those brave men and women who continue to put their lives on hold to keep all of us safe and free. Please take some time today to think about what each of us can do to make America strong and safe!

Warming It Up

2011-09-07T20:54:00.000-04:00

After so many weeks of steamy weather we had our first fire of the season tonight in our wood burning stove. Last Saturday we were close to 100 degrees here and on Monday we hovered around 60 degrees. Today it was very windy and chilly so the fire felt very good. So my card fits right in.

The image and sentiment are from Carolyn King's Warm Winter Wishes stamp set. The sentiment is embossed with white embossing powder. I used lots of Spellbinders die: classic large circles, scalloped circles and contemporary heart pendants (for the snowflakes). I embellished with lace, pearls and Stickels glitter.

The challenges that I'm entering this card in is:

Scrap Creations: Winter wishes
Crafty Booth Challenge: Anything goes
Card Patterns: Sketch
Outlawz Monday Challenge: Pearls and lace

Hope you liked my card today. I talked with my son, Steve, in Austria by email today. I was so thrilled to hear him say that he likes it there. He seems to be settling in well. He said people look at him oddly and sometimes there's a language barrier but he is enjoying his job and he's learning to cook. LOL! He said grocery shopping is a challenge. They don't have the things that we do in the US. But he'll conquer that challenge too I'm sure.

Hope your week is on the down side and everything is going well. Looking forward to Friday at 5pm. Take care!

Trick or Treat

2011-09-05T21:45:00.000-04:00

Happy Labor Day! Hope your day was wonderful even if you didn't have it off. I did have to work this morning because today was our first week of classes reporting but we were finished by noon. Over the weekend we had a chance to talk with Steve in Austria. He's doing fine even if he is a little nervous about driving over there. He has a nice but small apartment and he is trying to figure out cooking for himself. I think this will be an amazing experience for him. It's actually really fun to Skype with him and so amazing to see all his facial expressions too. I'm so glad that we are able to keep in touch with him.

My card tonight is the first for the Halloween season. I'm pleased with how it turned out.

The image is from Designed 2Delight called Falloween Cat and That is the first challenge I am entering this card in. The sentiment is computer generated and cut from dies from Clear Dollar Stamps. The image is cut from Spellbinder's Classic Oval and backed with Lacey Ovals. The embellishments include black brads, black polka-dotted double bow ribbon and orange picot ribbon.

I am entering these challenges:

Designed 2 Delight: Use the free image in your project
Outlawz Wednesday Challenge : Sketch
Do You Stack Up: Friendly Critters
Delightful Challenges: Halloween
Inspire Me Fridays: Anything Goes

Hope your week is off to a wonderful start! I'm looking forward to a good but busy week. Take care!

A Beauty For You

2011-09-01T19:48:00.000-04:00

Happy Thursday! I've been kind of impatient all day today. We haven't heard from my son Steve who flew to Austria yesterday.He should have arrived by 8:30am this morning. I'm sure he must have been very tired after 14 hours of traveling. We are just praying that everything is going okay. There's a six hour difference so it might be tough to get both of us at a good time. Hopefully on the weekend we'll get a chance to talk with him. I've got my Skype fired up.

My card tonight is one that I am really pleased with. Everything just fell into place with this card.

I love Spellbinders dies and I used the Lattice Pendant and one of the Scalloped Circles. The flower image is from Flourished Calendar Flowers and the sentiment is from Flourishes Strawberries. I embossed the background with the Victoria embossing folder. I added some lace and 3 self-adhesive pearls. Both the image and sentiment are popped up with pop-dots. I'm entering this card into several challenges:

Mark's Finest Paper Speedy the Cat Challenge: Use lace
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge: Bingo! I used embossing, pearls and the color pink
Outlawz Monday Challenge: Recipe: one image, 2 patterned papers, 3 embellishments and a sentiment
Party Time Tuesday: Anything goes!

Thanks for stopping by. We are making a run into Cincinnati tomorrow to help my DH's parents with some chores. Have to come back Saturday night. I do have to work on Monday morning so I won't see a three-day weekend. If you are in the US I hope you enjoy your three-day weekend. Stay Safe. Thanks for stopping by.

Quick Note

2011-08-31T22:22:00.000-04:00

Just a quick note to thank all those who sent hugs to me today. We dropped our son at the airport and of course I tried even though Steve told me not to. Because he thought he would start. Right now he's over the Atlantic Ocean headed for Frankfurt, Germany. I'm praying for his safe arrival. Thanks so all of you who are sending prayers for him too. I have a project almost ready to post so I'll be back tomorrow night with a new card! Hope you have a wonderful Thursday!

Happy 4th Birthday Flourishes

2011-08-30T22:14:00.000-04:00

Tonight I am getting ready to blubber my way through tomorrow as I send my youngest to Austria to start his new job. He'll be in Austria for three months and when he returns he'll be moving to Charlotte, NC. So I know I'll have a tough time at the airport tomorrow. Please say a prayer for Steve that he makes it safely to Austria and adjusts to a new life.

My card tonight is to wish Flourishes a very Happy Birthday. They are celebrating their 4th birthday as a wonderful stamp company.

I used my favorite Flourishes set called Strawberries. I used the Victoria embossing folder and a Martha Stewart border punch. I love the little gingham skirting and I added the red self-adhesive beads to simulate little strawberries. The images and sentiment are from Strawberries stamp set. Thanks to Flourishes for 4 years of amazing stamps. By the way this is my favorite Flourishes set because it reminds me of my middle child, Dan. He loves strawberries and he used to sneak them all the time whenever I or mt Mom were cleaning them. One time my Mom (now smiling on me from heaven) smacked him with a form when he tried to steal a strawberry. One of those cute little memories that remind me of Mom, Dan and strawberries!

I'm taking tomorrow off of work to be with Steve so maybe I'll get a little time to craft. See you back for my next entry. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Chef's Thank You!

2011-08-29T19:49:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday! A couple weeks ago I won a lunch from a local restaurant. It just wasn't lunch for me but for five of my friends too. We went to lunch last Thursday and had a wonderful time. We could order anything we wanted. The food was great; the service was wonderful! So I wanted to make a special thank you card for the people at the restaurant.

The image is the Italian Chef from Happileigh. It was one of the images I won on Outlawz Challenge blog. The background paper is from JoAnne's. I punched the edges with the Martha Stewart French Scroll punch around the page punch.

Here's the inside of the card. I was pleased with this one. I am entering this card in these challenges:

Outlawz Wednesday challenge: sketch
Do You Stack Up: for the boys or men
Crazy 4 Challenges: male themed card

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope your week is off to a wonderful start and the rest of the week is great!

TriFold Card

2011-08-24T21:47:00.000-04:00

My second post for tonight. To see my other card please scroll down. I really like the way this card turned out. I am sending this card to mt friend Coralie from the Yahoo group Making Greeting Cards. The idea was to make a trifold card.

I didn't get a really good picture of how this card is folded but I hope you get the idea. The image and sentiment are from Clear Dollar Stamps. The background papers are from Basic Grey June Bug and Paper Studio. I used Spellbinders Lattice Pendent dies to cut background paper.

The challenges I am entering:

Flourishes: All About the Sentiment
Outlawz Monday Challenge: Anything goes with a sentiment

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful rest of your week!

Handmade Embellishment

2011-08-24T21:24:00.000-04:00

Very hot and humid today. I am very bust at work. The new school year begins next Monday at the university and our Enrollment Coordinator left her job last week so her position falls back on to me in addition to the work I am already doing. Yikes! So work can be the pits right now and I am so ready to leave at 5pm. This weekend my in-laws will be here and stay the weekend at Baby Creek with us. Looking forward to seeing them again.

On to my card tonight. I will probably post two cards tonight so check back for another one a little later. The Outlawz Sunday challenge was a CAS card with a hand-made embellishment. I bet you'll be able to tell what my hand-made embellishment is!

The embossing is the Victoria Cuttelbug folder, one of my favorites! The sentiment is from a Stampin' Up! set. I added the ribbon and a flower I crocheted while I was in Salt Lake City.

I'm also entering this card into a few other challenges:

Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge: emboss it
Crazy 4 Challenges: Tic Tac Toe; I used embossing, die cut and ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope the end of your week is spectacular.

Thank You DYSU

2011-08-23T20:58:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure that I am crazy about my card tonight. I saw a similar card on Kristen Werner's blog but I think I like her card much better. Teehee! Here's my thank you card for the DYSU challenge.

The image is a stamp that my son Dan gave me when he visited a while ago. I love the beach scene. I used scrap pieces of paper to outline. Pretty simple card.
Thanks for stopping by. I have a couple more projects that I've been working on so come back soon. Have a wonderful hump day!

Get Well Wishes

2011-08-17T20:53:00.000-04:00

Happy Hump Day! We are more than halfway through the week. So glad. I am ready for another vacation. LOL! Work has been hectic this week. We have a special someone from work who just received a heart transplant. Bless the person and their family who donated the heart. We wanted to send a card to our friend and wish him well. So here's the card I made.

The image is from Just Inklined. It was a colored image so I didn't color this one. I love colored images. It makes it fast and easy to whip a card you need right away. I used Spellbinders and punches to finish off the rest of the card. I used the Wednesday Sketch Challenge from Outlawz. I am also entering this one in Do You Stack Up for using embossing. The background color is embossed with the Swiss Dots embossing folder. That's it for today. I am heading back to my desk because I also need a thank you card. If I could only make them faster than I use them. LOL! Have a marvelous Thursday!

Half-Cracked Friends

2011-08-16T21:53:00.000-04:00

Happy Tuesday! Back from Salt Lake City and looking forward to our next trip to Austria. Our son, Steve, leaves September 1st for Austria. We are hoping to go visit him later this fall.

My card tonight is so cute. I like the way it turned out.

I used several stamps from Clear Dollar Stamps. The images are colored with Copics and Bic Mark-It markers.

I am entering this card into several challenges:

Outlawz Monday challenge: Use a bird and a sentiment
Clearly Inspired Challenge: Things with wings
Delightful Challenges: Things with wings

Hope you have a wonderful week. I'll be back with more this week I hope.

Salt Lake City

2011-08-10T01:09:00.000-04:00

I am away from crafting this week, visiting my son, Dan, in Salt Lake City. So I thought I would show you a few of the things we've been doing. Yesterday Dan had to go to work, so Tom and I went to the Mormon Tabernacle area to see an organ concert. Here is the hall where the concert was held and the pipe organ that was played. There are over 7,700 pipes in this organ.

After the concert a very nice woman from Idaho gave us a tour of the concert hall building. She travels every week from Idaho to volunteer her time on Mondays in the Mormon hall. Our favorite spot was the roof. On top of the hall is four and a half acres of garden filled with plants that are indigenous to Utah. It was just amazing.

Can you believe this is on top of a building. She said they brought in special "light" soil so that it wouldn't be too heavy for the roof.

Today we took a drive since Dan didn't have to work. We first drove to Antelope Island, which is the biggest island in the Great Salt Lake. We did see an antelope. He's a bit difficult to see but he's in the middle of the picture.

One last picture for today. There are about 600 bison on Antelope Island. We saw whole herds of them but while we were hiking Tom shot this picture of a bison very close to where we were hiking through.

We also saw a moose today but he ran too fast for us to get his picture. Guess he was camera shy. LOL! This must have been out animal day today. I'll try to add more pictures later this week. Hope everyone is having a great week.

Flowers for You

2011-08-04T22:48:00.000-04:00

Happy Thursday! Another card for your tonight. This has to be a record for me this week. The image was a wonderful free image from Beccy's Place. I used the Fleur de Lis Spellbinder for the backing of the image and embossed the card with the Victoria embossing folder. A little ribbon and a sentiment added.

I'm entering a couple of challenges with this card:
Outlawz Wednesday Challenge: sketch challenge
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday: favorite flowers

Tomorrow is my favorite day of the week (well really after 5pm). Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

A Two Card Night

2011-08-03T23:05:00.000-04:00

It's not often that I get two cards completed in one night. And besides the two cards I swept our house and peeled and sauced a bunch of tomatoes for the freezer. But it is about bed time for me. LOL! So here's my cards.

The image is a digi that I won form Happileigh Scrappin this week. Love this tree heart image. I added a few embellishments: the heart to mimc the hearts in the trees and the bow to the top of the tree. I'm entering this card in these challenges:

Outlawz Sunday challenge: Christmas in July
Shabby Tea Room: 3 different patterned papers
Scrap Creations: Buttons and/or bows
Flourishes: Song inspired; how about "O Tannenbaum"

My second card is a birthday card in a color scheme that I don;t often use.

I don't very often use orange in my cards, except for Halloween but U think this turned out cute. The image is Up and Away from Digital Delights. The embossing is D'vine Swirls. The challenge that I am entering with this card is:
Outlawz Monday challenge: Must use a balloon and sentiment

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you found some inspiration. Take care and have a wonderful Thursday!

Diamond, Hearts, Clubs and Spades

2011-08-02T23:04:00.000-04:00

I have two cards for you tonight. I needed a birthday and an anniversary card so I found these very cute cards at Sherlock's Home blog and changed them to suit my needs.

Happy Anniversary! I am entering this card into Mark's Finest Papers Speedy the Cat's Friends challenge: use twine or jute, etc; anything but ribbon.

For my second card I also used playing cards.

And that's the birthday card. What fun to use an old deck of cards.

Had a wonderful but hot weekend with my in-laws out at Baby Creek. I didn't get much time to craft but watching birds was wonderful. I saw lots of hummingbirds, golden finches and even a red headed woodpecker. Too cool! Have a wonderful week.

Sending my Heart

2011-07-28T22:19:00.000-04:00

Three nights in a row. That has to be a record for me. I squeezed this card in tonight between getting ready for my in laws to come, grocery shopping and my son's game party tonight at the house. Tomorrow is Friday. My favorite time is 5pm on Friday. Almost the weekend. I hope your weekend is wonderful! Here's my card.

I received the image from a blog candy I won. The border punch is by Fiskars and the embellishments are a few hearts, cut out and popped up and some raffia ribbon. I'm entering this card in two challenges:

Card Patterns: sketch challenge
Mark's Finest Paper challenge: use three hearts

Here's hoping you will have a wonderful weekend. I'm heading for Baby Creek to have a little R & R so I probably won't have to much time to craft. I'll be back next week. Take care!

Gifts of Sunshine and Flowers

2011-07-27T22:33:00.000-04:00

Happy Hump Day! I'm getting ready to enjoy my weekend with my DH's parents. We are going to spend the weekend at Baby Creek with them. Tomorrow is supposed to be super hot here. As much as 110 degrees tomorrow. Way too hot for me. I'm hoping for cooler weather this weekend so we can watch the birds outside. I know the daisies are blooming at Baby Creek so I had flowers on my mind. Heres' my card.

I don't use orange very often on cards except for Halloween cards so this was a challenge for me. The challenge was to use yellow and orange on Outlawz Challenge Blog. Very happy with the outcome for this one. Have a wonderful Thursday!

More Miracles

2011-07-26T22:51:00.000-04:00

Happy Tuesday! Remember my Christmas card from last night? I made four more similar so I could enter a few more challenges. Here are all the cards I made.

Here are the challenges I am entering with my cards:

Christmas Cards All Year Round: Use white, bling and flowers
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long: Your favorite color as the main color (can you tell mine is white?)
Flourishes: Christmas
Scrap-Creations: favorite holiday

I double embossed the white background using the snowflake embossing folder and an oval Spellbinder die. The pearls are from Zva and the ticket sentiment is called Miracle Ticket. I forgot to add the creator so if it is you please let me know and I will happily give you credit. The flowers I crocheted myself and then added a button to add a little color to the project.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out what I've been up to. I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday.

The Miracle of Christmas

2011-07-25T22:28:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday evening. I was hoping to get more time over the weekend but it didn't turn out that way. We spent Saturday out at Baby Creek, our home away from home and Sunday we helped a friend move to a new townhouse. The heat has finally broken and we got some much needed rain yesterday. The card that I made last week (you can scroll down to see it) was made with the Outlawz sketch challenge in mind. Unfortunately I forgot that there was a twist. It was supposed to have a holiday or winter theme. So I couldn't enter that card. So here's the one I will be entering for the sketch challenge.

The one thing I did get to do while out at Baby Creek was to crochet the flower that you see on the card. In fact I crocheted 5 of them. The card has been double embossed with the snowflake embossing folder and and oval shaped Spellbinder. Since I added the ticket to the top of the oval you can't see the oval very clearly. I added Zva gems for some extra bling also.

The challenges that I am entering:
Outlawz: sketch challenge
Delightful Challenges: Christmas in July

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope your week is off to a wonderful start. See you all soon.

Flourishes Inspiration

2011-07-21T22:18:00.000-04:00

Tonight's card is taken from an inspiration picture that was posted for the Timeless Tuesday Challenge at Flourishes. Here is the inspiration picture:

And here is my card:

What I wanted to replicate was the texture. I used the argyle embossing folder to give it the texture and kept the colors the same but added the little splash of green. The images are from Heartfelt Creations. Join in with Flourishes challenge this week by using the picture for your own interpretation. Thanks for stopping by. I'm hoping to find some time over the weekend to do a few more projects I have in mind. Hope you have a wonderful Friday and hope it's cooler where you are than it is here. It's still 86 degrees and 10:14pm. Yuck.

Warm Winter Wishes

2011-07-19T22:28:00.000-04:00

Happy Tuesday! Thanks for stopping by today. I made another Christmas card today. You know, Christmas in July! This is a tri-fold card that is held closed by a cute little slit. Love the simplicity.

And here is the card open.

I stamped the background with snowflakes from several different stamp sets from Little Paper Shop and Gina K. The sentiments are from sets by Gina K and the snowman image is from Great Impressions. Love the little frame for the snowman.

I made this card for a couple of challenges.
Outlawz Monday Challenge: Winter/Christmas theme using a sentiment on the front
Delightful Challenges: Fancy Folds (okay this is pushing it; but at least it's more than one fold!)

Hope you have a wonderful hump day. Thanks for stopping.

Flaky Friends

2011-07-11T20:13:00.000-04:00

Greetings! So glad you could stop by. My card todat is one of my first Christmas cards for this year. And I'm pleased with the outcome.

I used a Stampin' Up! set called Flaky Friends I embossed the four bottom panels with a snowflake embossing folder. I cut a chipboard snowflake with my Cricut and covered it with Ruby Slipper Stickles. And added a black and white gingham ribbon. This card is for several challenges:

Outlawz Color Challenge: Christmas in July using red, black and white; use Stickles
Card Patterns: sketch
Do You Stack Up: Use chipboard

So glad you could stop by and check out my card. I am off to Atlanta tomorrow for work but will be back more than ready to create on Saturday. I know I will miss it while I'm gone. Have a wonderful week!

Donna

Say Hay

2011-07-10T15:57:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post today. I'd like to get as much creating time as possible since I will be in Atlanta most of the week for an institute for work. I leave Tuesday mroning. So here's my simple card for today.

The images are from Digital Delights by Louby Lou called Littel Boy Blue. The sentiment is from Fun at the Farm from Clear Dollar Stamps but designed by Wendy of Digital Delights. I'm sending this to my DH's nephew for his birthday later this month.

I'm entering it into a couple challenges:
Delightful Challenges: On the Farm
Outlawz Monday Greeting Card: Anything goes

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!

Donna

Friends are like Flowers

2011-07-07T22:15:00.000-04:00

Happy Thursday! Tomorrow is my favorite day; preferably at 5pm. LOL! I need to go to Indianapolis tomorrow for a conference. So it won;t be a day sitting at my desk. I've been working on a card for a couple of challenges and I'm pleased with the outcome. What do you think?

I used Tilda with roses for the main image. The scalloped oval is my newest Spellbinder set and I cut the middle out to make the frame. The borders are made from Martha Stewart's french Scroll punch. I added Stickles, pearls and a flower for embellishments. I stamped the sentiment from Gina K's Elegant Flowers and die cut it with Trio Tags 2.
The challenges that I used for this cards are:
Outlawz Wednesday sketch challenge
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday: Use "friend" in the sentiment
Clearly Inspired Challenge: use punches, die cuts or cut outs

Plenty of time to join in all three of these challenges. Hope to see you there. Have a wonderful Friday!

Hugs,
Donna

Red, White and Summer

2011-07-05T22:30:00.000-04:00

What a week. I started my card that I will post tonight almost a week ago. We've been through a broken air conditioner and a backed up kitchen sink. We've been to Cincinnati and back to visit my in-laws. And my house is such a mess. I'm hoping that things improve this week. At least I haven't been called for jury duty yet. So here's my card:

I used Gina K's Ribbon Stripes for the background and Flourishes Strawberries for the images and sentiments. I'm entering this card into these challenges:

Outlawz Sketch challenge
Delightful Challenges: red, white and blue
Do You Stack Up: squares
Scrap-Creations: summer time fun

I'm hoping that I find more time this week to create some more. So stay tuned. Hope your 4th was wonderful and your week is going swimmingly. Take care!

Donna

Chance to Win

2011-06-28T21:10:00.000-04:00

Tami is giving away her brand new set before you can buy it. Check out all the details on her blog!

The Metallic Years

2011-06-28T20:53:00.000-04:00

I hope you didn't think that I fell into a black hole. My last week was consumed with Girl Scout Day Camp and I am still working on remnants of the week: making thank you cards for all the resource people who came to help. We had about 215 girls at camp this year; down from our almost 300 from last year. But those who came were happy campers. The weather wasn't too bad. A little rain on Friday but we made it through.

I do have a card for you tonight. It didn't photograph well because of the metallic piece in the background. That really is the inner seal to a can of peanuts and I sent it through my Cuttlebug with the argyle embossing folder.

I can't remember where I got the vintage image of the woman golfer but the sentiment, both inside and out is from Marlene at Disguised as a Grown-up. The inside reads: Silver in your hair, gold in your mouth, lead in your ass. I love Marlene's sense of humor. This card is my sister's birthday card. She golfs several times a week and is older than I am, hence the vintage look. I thought the embossed peanut seal looked like a golf ball.

Thanks for hanging in with me. I'm hoping to have more time to create here in the new future. I do have jury duty during July and I have 2 conferences for work that I don't think I'll be able to get Internet at. Five days in Atlanta without Internet. Oh my. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Donna

Checked Christmas

2011-06-13T22:06:00.000-04:00

I saw another Outlawz challenge that interested me. The challenge: use red and white checks and a punch. So I thought of Christmas!

The red and white checks were made with a stamp and the ornament is a punch. I decorated each of the ornaments with a sticker and distressed each with certainly celery ink. Pretty simple but it looks great in real life.

Busy week getting ready for day camp next week so I won't be posting much this week. Hope you have a wonderful week!

Donna

Summer Sweets

2011-06-09T22:41:00.000-04:00

Mmmmm! One of my favorite summer time treats is strawberries. We eat lots of them this time of year. So when the Outlawz challenge asked for a summer theme I thought of strawberries. And I used the Flourishes sketch to make the layout of the card.

I used Flourishes Strawberries stamp set. The embossing on each side is from Just my Type Cuttlebug embossing folder. The flower flourish border is from a Fiskar's punch.

Thanks for stopping by today. My inlaws will be coming tomorrow to visit for the weekend. We will be out at our other property and that means no Internet access. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back at the beginning of next week!

Donna

CAS Card

2011-06-08T22:20:00.000-04:00

I love clean and simple. I am always in awe of those who can whip up cards in ten minutes. I agonize over card sometimes. Since I joined the Outlawz group I've found the challenges fun. So here's a card that I did for the clean and simple Sunday challenge.

I obviously didn't get a straight photo but I did get the whole card in the picture. The stamps are from Paper Makeup Stamps. I embossed the lines at the bottom with my Scor-Pal and embossed with the Swiss Dots folder. I used Spellbinders Standard Circles to die cut the image and sentiment.dded the ribbon as an embellishment.

Thanks for stopping by today. Have a fabulous Thursday!

Donna

It's a Jungle Out There

2011-06-07T22:29:00.000-04:00

The Delightful Challenge this week is to incorporate a jungle theme. So my card uses a Digital Delights stamp called Lenny the Lion. I backed him with a few palm trees and a Happy Birthday sentiment. and some great animal print paper from the Paper Studio.

Thanks for stopping today. I'm busy working on Girl Scout day camp items. Hope to get back to more crafting by the end of June! Have a great Wednesday!

Donna

An Outlawz Challenge and more

2011-06-05T21:36:00.000-04:00

Recently I found a new forum area called Outlawz. They are having a summer party and anyone can join in.

The party began today so check it out and join in the fun. I found the sketch challenge this evening and decided to play along.

I used two Stampin' Up! retired sets. The sentiment is from Everyday Classics from Papertrey Ink. I sponged the background with three colors of ink and cut the circle and scalloped circle with Spellbinders Nestabilities. Hope you will check out Outlawz and join in the fun! Have a wonderful start to your week!

Uncolored Image

2011-05-31T22:59:00.000-04:00

Happy Tuesday! I have been thinking it's Monday all day today but it really is Tuesday. I got to chat on Skype tonight with a dear friend in one of my card groups. Hi Valerie! So glad we got to connect again. My card tonight is for two challenges: Card Pattern sketch and a new challenge for me My Partner in Crafting Crime Challenge ( to use an uncolored image.

I used 3 kinds of animal print paper from Paper Studio. The embellishments are punched foliage and two little flowers. The inside sentiment says "Momma said there'd be days like this." The sentiment and image are from Theresa Momber's set Hang in There by Gina K. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a chance to check out these fun challenges! Have a great Wednesday.

Hope Ewe Feel Better

2011-05-30T19:38:00.001-04:00

Happy Memorial Day! Wishing all of our service men and women a very safe day. My prayers go out to all the families and friends of those who made the ultimate sacrifice to keep out country safe and free.

I had a chance to play for a short time this weekend. I needed to make my brother a "feel better" card because he had dental surgery last week. I wanted to let him know I was thinking of him.

I'm entering this in two challenges:
Clearly Inspired Challenge: Critters
Delightful Challenges: Use a tag
DYSU Challenge: Animals

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you had a wonderful weekend and a great week ahead!

Donna

Thinking of You

2011-05-25T22:52:00.000-04:00

This will be a quick post. We have a tornado warning and out electric has been out once. We've had 5 tornado warnings this evening. Anyway, here's my cards for two challenges.

The first challenge is Joan's Garden: make a card and matching tag.
The second challenge is the JustRite Stamp challenge: use the colors light-medium blue, kraft and ivory.

Stamps used are from JustRite You're So Sweet and Kaleidoscope Set. I also used Zva pearls and gem sets, Spellbinders scalloped and circular dies and flowers.

Sorry this is so short. We've already lost power once while I was writing this so I need to get off. Hope you are all well and safe!

Delightful Challenges:Masking

2011-05-19T06:00:00.001-04:00

This is a bitter sweet post. I just love the Digital Delights new release this week. Great images for Father's Day and summer fun. Unfortunately, it's my last challenge on the Delightful Challenge design team. My next few months are very busy ones so I needed to step down from the team. But I want to thank Wendy for picking me and Lisa and the design team for being so terrific! It's been a blast and as often as I can I'll be participating in the challenges. The challenge this week at Delightful Challenges is to mask some digital images. I used Photoshop Elements to mask some goodies on the grill.

Don't you just love the sentiment? I think it's a riot. Here's the details of my card:

Digital Delights Stamps: Grillin’ and Chillin’, Grillin’ and Chillin’ Accessories

Card Stock: red, white and blue card stock

Ink: Bashful Blue and Certainly Celery
Accessories: Scor Tape, Corner Rounder punch

Coloring Medium: Bic Mark It Ultra Fine and Copic Markers: BG10, BG15, E00, R20, YR00

This week we have a wonderful prize from Craft Emma's.

Please join in and try out this fun technique with your digital stamps! Don't forget to check out the amazing inspiration from the design team. Thanks for stopping by today.

More Candle Thank Yous

2011-05-17T21:47:00.000-04:00

I have two more tea candle gifts for Girl Scout volunteers tonight. Are you tired of these yet. I made eacxh of them for a challenge.

This project was made for the Flourishes Timeless Tuesday challenge. They have a gorgeous flower topiary as inspiration this week. Very colorful nd has butterflies. So my designer paper was perfect being very colorful and sporting butterflies.

My second project is for the Clearly Inspired Challenge #27. The challenge for this time is turquoise. I think the color is better in person - a bit more turquoise.

Hope you'll check out both challenges and play along. Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

More Gifts for Girl Scout Volunteers

2011-05-16T20:46:00.001-04:00

I'm coming down to the wire on time for gifts for the Girl Scout recognition event. The dinner is next Monday evening. I have one more set of gifts to finish. I wanted to share the ones I finished over the weekend. These purses are filled with 3x3 inch notes to say thank you to some special volunteers who've worked very hard this year. I hope they like the,

And here is the inside and cards:

Had lots of fun making these. Thanks to Wendy for the wonderful purse tutorial. What a great gift! Hope your week is fantastic!

Delightful Challenges: Flower Power

2011-05-11T21:47:00.000-04:00

Welcome to a new challenge from Delightful Challenges. This week you need flower power. Use flowers on your creation. The Cutting Cafe is our sponsor this week and they provided the design team with great cut files to use. I used the 3x6 bag.

Here's the details on my cute bag:

Digital Delights Stamps: Princess Shona, Arch Background

Card Stock and Papers: green card stock, Spring Weave Digital Paper Pack
Accessories and Embellishments: Scor Tape, pop dots, Boho Flower Punch, Circle Punch, 5 Petal Flower Punch, Victoria Embossing Folder, Swiss Dot Embossing Folder, Crimper, Purple and Eucalyptus Stickles, Zva self-adhesive flourishes, Flower Brads

Coloring Medium: Bic Mark It Ultra Fine and Fine Markers

Special Techniques: Cutting Café 6 by 3 inch bag

Here's another pic with a close up of the flower on top:

Our sponsor this week, The Cutting Cafe, is giving three sets to the random winner. Check our the design team's creation for some wonderful inspiration and then join our challenge for a chance to win. Thanks for stopping today!

Donna

Candle Thank You

2011-05-11T21:37:00.000-04:00

I'm back to working on gifts for Girl Scout volunteers. Tonight I made another thank you candle holder for our event coordinators. I used Flourishes release week challenge to match 3-in-a-row.

I used the middle row: bling, flower and ribbon.

I love that gingham ribbon. Hope you can join along in the Flourishes challenge. Thanks for stopping by. Tomorrow is Delightful Challenges post. Hope you can stop back!

Special Weekend

2011-05-08T21:50:00.000-04:00

What a wonderful weekend! I had the pleasure of watching my son graduate from Trine University and all my children were with me for Mother's Day.

Here's my handsome son Steve before graduation on the campus of Trine University.

And this is the whole family at the reception after the ceremony. Dan flew in from Utah to be at his brother's graduation so it was great to have him here for his brother and then for Mother's Day. We took him back to the airport this afternoon. Steve has moved back home with us in hopes of getting a job sometime soon.
So in two weeks we are having a celebration for Steve's graduation since we were out of town for the ceremony. So I'm sharing the invitation and the thank you note that we are using for Steve's celebration.

This was the first invitation that I designed, but he wasn't fond of his picture on the card, so I designed a second invitation.

And the thank you note Steve will send out.

Happy Mother's Day to all my friends who are mothers. I hope you had a fabulous weekend and a wonderful week ahead!

Donna

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-05T06:00:00.002-04:00

Welcome to another week of Delightful Challenges. This week it's all about Mom. The challenge is to make a Mother's Day card.

I used Digital Delight's Bouquet Ridley and Mother's Day Circular Sentiment. The scalloped easel card was a tutorial from Beate John's blog. I thought it was adorable and just had to try it. The rest of the details are below:

Card Stock and Papers: white, purple, yellow, and blue card stock, pastel designer paper

Ink: Certainly Celery, Lavender Lace
Accessories and Embellishments: Scor Tape, pop dots, EK Success Lattice Punch, Spellbinder Scalloped Circles and Circle dies, Boho Flower Punch, Purple brads

Coloring Medium: Bic Mark It Ultra Fine and Fine Markers

Don't forget to check out the amazing creations from the rest of the design team, including another scalloped easel card from Mary. LOL! Neither one of us had any idea that the other one was creating something very similar. Check out the cards and challenge at Delightful Challenges. And don't forget to enter to win a fabulous prize.

A $20 gift certificate is up for grabs!

Thanks for stopping today! I hope you have a wonderful weekend. My son graduates Saturday from college and we'll be leaving for the graduation tomorrow. So I won't be posting this weekend. Here's to a wonderful weekend! And Happy Graduation to Steve!

Donna

Pinwheels

2011-05-03T22:33:00.000-04:00

I am so excited they are predicting sunshine for tomorrow. I can't remember the last sun I've seen. Unfortunately we only have one day and the rain returns. I keep hoping that the waterworks will turn off. But it doesn't seem to want to stop. I just know that one of these days I'll be wishing for rain.
I know I've been an awful blogger lately. I have been working on things but I just haven't had time to share them. I promise I will. Tonight I needed a card for a graduate who is having her own art display this weekend. Here's the card I made for her.

I know this is short but it's almost past my bedtime and I have more to do. Thanks for stopping and come back on Thursday for the next Delightful Challenge episode. Have a great Wednesday!

Donna

Be Crabby and Distressed

2011-04-28T06:00:00.001-04:00

Happy Thursday! And welcome to Delightful Challenges new challenge. This week we are distressing. It's tough to see on my card but I did distress the surface of my sand and seaweed. And a popped up parts of the crab with an extra layer; his eyes, claws and some of his shoes. This card, believe it or not is for my MIL for Mother's Day. My husband decided that we could use this and add a red Lobster gift certificate in it for a gift.

Here's the details of my card:

Digital Delights Stamps: Crab, Under the Sea Background, Don’t Worry Be Crabby

Card Stock and Papers: white and blue card stock

Ink: Bashful Blue, Blue and Brown
Accessories and Embellishments: Scor Tape, pop dots

Coloring Medium: Bic Mark It Ultra Fine and Fine Markers

What's that? You want to know what the prize is this week? It's a great one!

How cool is that? Run, don't walk, to Delightful Challenges and check out what the amazing design team is distressing over this week. Ha-ha! Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T19:02:00.000-04:00

I wanted to wish you all a very Happy Easter. May the risen Lord bless you in a very special way today and always. I also wanted to tell you about a special offer for 25 free digitsl stamps.

DigiD Went A Little Wild Creating Easter And Spring Digital Stamps This Year.
YOU Get To Benefit From The Craziness
And Get 25 Free Digital Stamps!" just click here.

I hope you have a wonderful week.

Paper Piecing or Paper Piercing?

2011-04-21T06:00:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Delightful Challenge's challenge for this week. We thought our challenge this week was to use piercing on our projects. But at the end of last week we were told there was a typo. Since some of us had our projects completed we decided to make it paper piercing or paper piecing. LOL! My project uses paper piercing. If you look closely at the Popsicle stick insert you'll be able to see piercing in several places.

Here's the details:

Digital Delights stamps: Boo Boo Bear, Get Well Circular Sentiment

Card Stock and Papers: white and blue card stock, Stampin’ Up! Double-sided Paper

INK: Bashful Blue
Accessories and Embellishments: Scor Tape, glue dots, Clear Dollar Ribbon, Popsicle Stick, Paper Piercer for piercing in the set well sentiment, Classic Circle and Scalloped Circle Spellbinder Dies

COLORING MEDIUM (if any): Bic Mark It Ultra Fine

You won't want to miss what the design team has created. You can check it out at Delightful Challenges. Then join in the fun for a chance to win a prize from Digital Delights.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful Thursday!

Have a ducky birthday!

2011-04-19T22:07:00.000-04:00

This card is such a departure of what I usually create. But Joan's Garden Challenge this week really pushed me beyond my usual projects. The requirements were:

colors: orange, red and green
use die cut circles
use designer paper with lines
use a bird or something from nature

These are really bold colors and I normally tend to pastels or cool colors. I hope my aunt likes her birthday card.

The other challenge that this card is for is the Clearly Inspired Challenge. The challenge is to bring on the bling. I used self-adhesive rhinestones and Eucalyptus and Ruby Slippers Stickles. The image is from Clear Dollar Stamps called Goose Hugs. The sentiment is from Gina K Enjoy the Sunshine. Try something with bold colors and push yourself.

Card Patterns #111

2011-04-19T20:24:00.000-04:00

I think sympathy cards are my least favorite cards to make, but necessary. I made this for the family of a woman I went to school with. I used the sketch challenge from Card Patterns.

The image is from Gina K's Spring Florals stamp set. The sentiment is from Heartfelt Creations Sympathy Sentiments. I used the Cuttlebug Victoria embossing folder and three large self-adhesive pearls.

Tomorrow is Wednesday. Half-way through the week. I'm always happy to be heading for the weekend. Hope your week is going well and it's all down hill from here. Take care!