Watt's Up

Hello! My computer has gone to the shop. I've been missing it since last Saturday and hoping it comes back soon. I snagged a little bit of time on Tom's computer this evening so I am posting a card that I got done for a nephew's birthday.

This is really a conglomeration of a lot of different stamp sets. I started with the Simon Says 2014 Watt's Up? stamp set. I inked the background with Distress Oxide Inks (Fossilized Amber and Spiced Marmalade) and then stamped the image and sentiment on top. I die cut it with MFT Stitched Circles and backed it with black card stock. The "Birthday Dude" sentiment is embossed with white embossing powder. The "birthday" came from the MFT Birthday Bear stamp set and the "Dude" came from a Simon Says 2014 All Boy stamp set. I had to mask the rest of the sentiments to just get those two words together. The designer paper is scraps from my scrap box backed with black card stock. Here's the inside.

The inside sentiments: "High Five! Happiest of birthdays" is from the MFT More Essential Sentiments stamp set. This turned out pretty good, I think.
I am entering these challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch 
  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Crafty Sentiments Designs: add a sentiment
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• The Outlawz Friday challenge: birthday

That's it for me tonight. I am hoping it's not it for this week but we'll see how long it takes to get my computer back. Ugh! I hate to be reminded how dependent I am on it. Unfortunately it's the truth. Tomorrow I go volunteer at the twins' Head Start class. The highlight of my week. We have them all day Saturday too so their parents have some recreation time. Love having them around. Take care. Have a wonderful week if I don;t get back and I'll be around to visit as soon as I can.

Donna

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Santa Claus is coming to town... in a new outfit. LOL! We are halfway through July. I've been on a leave of absence from my 12 Months of Christmas design team but it's time to get back to creating again. I normally post on the 1st of the month and I will be back to that for August. Since I had extra time this week I made a card as a reminder that you can still play along this month. The theme is anything goes!

I used the Woodland Santa image from Scribbles Designs and paper pieced his suit and pack with a paper from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles. The rest is colored with Spectrum Noir markers. Come join along before the end of July and win some awesome papers from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles. I hope while you are working on those Christmas in July projects you'll share them with us at 12 Months of Christmas Link Up.
I am entering these challenges:

• Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2: sketch 
  
  
  
• Happy Little Stampers Christmas: Santa
• Christmas Crafts All Year Round: tree
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: use a die or punch
• The Outlawz Friday challenge: Christmas

Thanks for stopping by for my second post today. Hope your week gets off to a great start!

Donna

Bee Mine Dueling Darlings

It's the 15th of the month and that means it's time for the Dueling Darlings. This month my kit came from Terry A who sent to all the Dazzlers and Terry S sent kits to the Divas. They chose bees as their theme. She included a paragraph about how important bees are to our existence and it was very interesting. Terry included all kinds of cool items in the kit. Here's what I came up with.

Here's what she included in the Dazzlers' kit:

• Stamp set and dies: Hero Arts "Busy as a Bee" (used above)
• Designer paper: the Paper Studio
• SU! Hexagon Hive die cut on SU! Hello Honey card stock (used above)
• SU! Hexagons Dynamic on Simon Says vellum
• Die cut gold doily - the Paper Studio
• Black Adhesive gems: Jolee's Boutique
• White round gems: the Paper Studio
• Bee Happy button: Dress It Up (used above) Looks like the real thing. Kind of scary!
• Yellow brads: SU!
• Yellow twine: the Paper Studio (used above)
• Black 5/8 inch grosgrain ribbon: SU!

Terry included a bunch of different sentiments. I just used one of them. You can see that I have a bunch of things to make more cards too. I was hoping to get another one done but that probably won't happen before this post goes live. Thanks Terry for this month's awesome kit. So much fun!

Check out what the other Dazzlers did with this kit:

• Darlene
• Jeanette
• Shelly
• Terry A (Splitcoast  Stampers Gallery)
• Terry L
• Tracie
• Debby (Splitcoast Stampers Gallery)

I am entering these challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch 
  
• Cupcake Inspirations: black, white and yellow
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• QKR Stampede: anything goes

This is a scheduled post. I'm not really sure where I will be when this goes live. But I doubt I will be someplace where there is Internet access so I'll update as soon as I can. Thanks for stopping by and thanks again to Terry for the wonderful bee kit!

Donna

HB To You

Welcome back. I managed a little time to make this quick card this afternoon. I found the Bugaboo image on my table and decided he was begging to be added to a card. LOL!

The image is Bug Brat Boy Balloons. I colored him with Spectrum Noir markers. The background is a birthday napkin. You can find some really fun napkins to make into backgrounds. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things All About You stamp set and is white heat embossed to the black card stock. The die cut "You" is also from MFT (You Trio Die-namics). A very simple design. I used the MFT Sketch as inspiration.

I am entering these challenges:

• MFT Sketch challenge: sketch pictured above
• Catch the Bug: anything goes
• Addicted toStamps and More: happy birthday! 
  
• The Outlawz Tuesday Color challenge: photo inspiration 
  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• Alphabet challenge: H is for happy birthday

So dinner is ready for tomorrow and I'll be able to play with the twins. It's supposed to be a scorcher so we'll set up the dining fly and get their swimming pool out so they can cool off. We hit 102 today. Thanks for stopping by. I'll be back on Sunday with a scheduled post. Have a super weekend!

Donna

Magical Christmas

Well, it's Friday the 13th and so far so good. Did a bunch of errands this morning and back home again to cook. I have the twins all day tomorrow so I like to have my dinners done ahead so I cna spend more time with them. always so much fun!
The last time I had a magic birthday card, today I have a magical Christmas card.

The image is from Bugaboo Stamps called Raggedy Angel Stars. I colored her with Copic markers and die cut with Gina Marie Designs Cross Stitch Rectangles. The star paper is from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles.The Sentiment is from Cards by Bird and die cut with MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags and inked with Twisted Citron. The layers are backed with black card stock. I used yellow stickles for the stars and halo. I am entering these challenges:

• Catch the Bug Stella Sketch: sketch 
  
• The Outlawz Paper ala Mode challenge: stars
• Sweet Stampers: Christmas in July
• Crafty Sentiments Designs: Christmas in July
• A Snowflakes Promise: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes

Busy day today and a busy weekend ahead. Hope your Friday the 13th is wonderful with no unexpected catastrophes. Have a crafty weekend!

Donna

Birthday Card Magic

It's Wednesday already! Happy hump day to all. The weeks fly by and it's really hard to keep up with everything. This birthday card is for my nephew. I thought he might like a little "magic."

The images used in this card are from QKR Stampede. The front image is Magic Card and the inside image is One Year Older. The designer papers are all the same design just different colors and they are Halloween papers. Lots of die cuts used: Spellbinder's Splendid Circles, MFT Stitched Rounded Corner Squares, and MFT Pierced Fishtail Banners. Here's the inside:

It's hard to read the sentiment on the inside but the whole thing reads: This card is Magic. Open it and ... "poof" you are one year older. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from Hero Arts.

I am entering these challenges:

• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• Sketch Saturday: sketch 
  
• The Outlawz Greetings challenge: make it funny
• Digi Choosday: anything goes
• Creative Knockouts: birthday wishes

I thought I would leave you tonight with a couple pictures I took at Head Start while volunteering. Of course they are my favorite kiddos in the whole world: Valerie and Arthur.

Thanks for dropping by my blog. Hope you have a wonderful rest of your week!

Donna

For Goodness Cake

Happy Monday! My computer didn't go to the shop yet, so I still have it to work on. I finished a card this afternoon for a couple of challenges. I need birthday cards right now so that's my focus.

The cupcake image is the progressive image from Limited Runs this month. It's so adorable. I colored it with Copic markers and fussy cut it out. I added white gel pen accents. Above and below the image I added some dry embossed pieces from the Cuttlebug With Love embossing folders. The yellow background is a scrap from my scrap box, The sentiment is from Create with TLC die cut with MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags and inked with Shaded Lilac distress ink. The chevron die cuts are from the MFT Blueprints 32 die-namics. I backed those with the yellow scrap also. This will make a great feminine birthday card. 

I am entering these challenges:

• Limited Run Progressive challenge: use the  cupcake image
• The Outlawz Wednesday sketch challenge: sketch 
• Anything Goes with Create with TLC: use a Create with TLC element
• Creative Knockouts: birthday wishes
• Alphabet challenge: H is for Happy Birthday
• Seize the Birthday: anything goes

Thanks for stopping by today. I have a bunch of work to do but I hope to get back to my desk tomorrow and create something else. Hope your week is off to a great start!

Donna

5 Little Speckled Frogs

I am back again today with a quick card for the final lesson for the My Favorite Things Summer School. This lesson was on symmetry.

The twins love the song 5 Little Speckled Frogs so I noticed that in  the MFT Witch Way is the Candy stamp set that there is a frog. I colored the frogs with Copic markers and then cut them out with their coordinating dies. I added some speckles with a white gel pen. I added the sentiment from the same set, white heat embossed and die cut with MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags. So my card is symmetrical if you folded it down the middle right to left. The background is inked with Spiced Marmalade distress oxide ink. The patterned paper is from my scrap box. I am entering these challenges:

• MFT Summer School: symmetry
• The Outlawz Sunday songs and rhymes challenge: 5 Little Speckled Frogs
• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter 
• Work it Wednesday: the great outdoors

Thanks for stopping by today. I am going to miss my computer so hopefully I will be able to use my hubby's during the day when he isn't here. Have a wonderful week!

Donna

Complementary Colors

Happy Sunday! Sadly my computer is having problems so I hope to get some cards posted today before Tom takes my computer to be fixed. I know I am going to have computer withdrawal issues. While I know I can use his computer, it doesn't have the same files on that mine does. Ugh! I hate when this happens.
Today I have 3 cards that I made for the MFT Complementary Colors challenge. I made the same cards almost but just different sets of complementary colors.

I don't have any MFT flower stamps. (I guess I need to correct that!) So I used two sets: one from Simon Says 2013 kit Life is a Journey and the other from Hero Arts Stamp and Cut Flowers. I positioned them in my MISTI and then removed some and stamped one color at a time. I filled in with some tiny dots, leaves and flower shapes that were in the Simon Says set. I used distress oxide inks: Salty Ocean and Orange Marmalade; Candy Apple Red and Lucky Clover; and Seedless Preserves and Fossilized Amber. Each sentiment is different.

For this card I used the MFT All About You stamp set for the sentiment and then I added Wink of Stella to the "YOU." The shimmer is very pretty IRL.

This is my first Christmas Thank you card. I make these each year. I like that they are Christmasy colors but not necessarily Christmas stamps. The sentiment on this card is from the Hero Arts Stamp and Cut Flowers set.

This sentiment is from the MFT Essential Sentiment stamp set. I added some lines as they showed us in the Altenew class and I had a booboo with the black pen that left a bigger dot on one of the lines so I added the small flower at the ends of the lines.

This was a fun way to make several cards at a time and you can use them for any occasion by adding different sentiments. I had fun doing this, I am entering these challenges:

• MFT Summer School: complementary colors 
• Crafty Sentiments Designs: bright colors
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Simply Create Too: no patterned paper
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes

Going to dinner at a friends house this evening and playing bridge. So I have to get a bunch of stuff done this afternoon before my computer disappears. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a lovely start to your week!

Furry and Bright

OMG! I can't believe I am actually home on the weekend without the twins and time to play. That happens so rarely. What a treat! The weather is beautiful to boot, at least for today and then our temperatures will start going back up. Last night I got our garden back into shape. No more weeds. Tom cut the grass and then we mulched with the grass to hopefully keep the weeds at bay for a while. I picked some jalapeno and regular peppers, a zucchini and a couple tomatoes.  I love it when the garden starts to produce!
So today I have another card for the My Favorite Things Summer School. This one is all about white space.

It's definitely a CAS card this time around. I added some Lucky Clover Distress Oxide ink directly to the white card stock base. I used the MFT Happy Pawlidays stamp set and coordinating dies for the image and sentiment. The sentiment is actually cut from MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags. And for embellishment I added a few of the cute light bulbs that come with the set. I used a white gel pen for some accents and some Crystal Stickles on the Santa hat. I am entering these challenges:

• MFT Summer School: white space
• Happy Little Stampers CAS: animals
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes Christmas
• The Outlawz Festive Friday challenge: Christmas
• Addicted to Stamps and More: CAS 
  

I have some housework to do and some volunteer time to put in and then I'm going to craft today. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Donna

MFT Summer School - Repetition

Hello, from sunny Bloomington! The heat wave we had going this week was broken and we have a pleasant 80 degrees today rather than the 105 heat index that we've had all week. I am working on the summer school classes for My Favorite Things, but I am not posting them in order so I don't remember which day this is but the theme was repetition.

There's plenty of time to play along if you'd like and lots of prizes to win! Here's my card for repetition.

The hearts are die cuts from the MFT Blueprints 32 dies. I die cut several shades of red for the hearts. covered them with Wink of Stella and added a white gel pen accent. The sentiment (which I love) is from the MFT Grateful for You stamp set and black heat embossed. I added a couple lines to give the sentiment more weight as I learned in my One-Layer Wonder class. I did add some Picked Raspberry distress oxide ink in the background. I added that to a red card stock base card. To finish the card offI added a few sparkly sequins that I filled with glossing accents. I am entering these challenges:

• MFT Summer School: repetition
• Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch 
  
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: red, white and/or blue
• Addicted to Stamps: CAS 
  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Friday Outlawz challenge: anything goes

I hope to get another card finished this evening. Welcome to the weekend. I hope your days are spectacular! 

Donna

MFT Summer School - Day 1

Happy 4th of July! I am getting in kind of late tonight because I had the twins all day today. We started out at the Bloomington 4th of July parade but they were a little too young to be interested and it was too hot for them. The heat index today was 105. But we came home had lunch and then got their kiddie pool out. They had fun in the pool in the shade of an awning.
So I went from one class to another. I love to play along with the My Favorite Things summer school challenge. I always learn something new from there and it's free to participate! I love learning new things. This year it seems to be about color. Day one is all about primary colors: red, blue and yellow. The challenge was to use primarily those colors on your project.

I needed a masculine birthday card for a nephew this week so I chose to use the My Favorite Things Space Explorer Stamp set. You can see my primary colors of red, blue and yellow colored with Copic markers. The sentiment is also from the same set and die cut with MFT Blueprints 32 long rectangle die, cut twice. I backed it with a scrap die cut the same way. The sentiment is heat embossed with black embossing powder. I added Wink of Stella to the stars and the balloons. The background is inked with Distress Oxide inks: broken china and salty ocean. Although I don't often use primary colors on my cards I like the way this one turned out. I am entering these challenges:

• MFT Summer School - Day 1: use primary colors
• Freshly Made Sketches: sketch 
  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• The Outlawz Friday challenge: birthday

I am hoping to find the time to complete the summer school classes. I'm already getting started late but that doesn't seem to deter me. LOL! I do hope that you all had a wonderful 4th of July, especially those who are in the USA! Thanks for stopping by and have a great rest of your week!

Donna

One-Layer Wonders - Day 6

I finished the class! I do believe that's a first for me. I've started classes before and then either lost interest or just ran out of time. But I actually made cards for all the lessons in the alloted time. I wasn't very thrilled with my first watercolor card but this one turned out much better after the water color phase.

My problem with this card is that I found I had no stamps that were flower bouquets. That made it pretty tough. I finally found a retired Stampin' Up! image that had flowers in a vase and I tried masking them to make the image similar to the one in Kelly's video. The image is from the set called Bloomin' Beautiful. If I did this again I would use a different set. I had to do much more masking then Kelly showed us in the video and after I had the distress oxide water color on it, it was difficult to see the lines on the flowers. So essentially, I stamped the flowers and then masked them all. Then I used the Simon Says Leaf Background stamp (retired) to stamp the whole card over the masks. You can only see a hint of that stamp in the background. Then I used seedless preserves, fossilized amber, twisted citron and lucky clover to water color the image/background. I was pretty happy with the water color when it dried. When I tried adding color with Copics and adding drop shadows on the flowers I really didn't like it. So I stopped and left the coloring as it was. I added the sentiment from MFT Together Forever and then added some additional interest with the lines and some sparkly sequins filled with Glossy Accents just like Kelly showed us in the video. For the flowers that I could tell where the center was I added Crystal Stickles and also on top of the glossy accents. I'll have to try this one again when I get a stamp set that will make it a bit easier.
I am entering these challenges:

• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• Crafty Sentiments Designs: bright colors
• Friday Outlawz challenge: wedding/anniversary
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: anything goes
• QKR Stampede: anything goes

Thanks for stopping by today. And thanks to Kelly for the wonderful class. I learned a lot of new things that I hope to keep using. If you want a fun class check out Altenew Academy and look for the One-Layer Wonders class. For all my USA friends, wishing you a safe and fun 4th of July. I'm not sure what we are going to do yet. Head Start is not in session so I'll have to volunteer there another day, hopefully Friday. Our tractor and trailer is being used in the 4th of July parade (by a friend) so we may have to go see the parade. That will depend on how hot it is. It's been in the 90s most of the week with heat index near or above 100. Take care!

Donna

One-Layer Wonders - Day 5

Back to finishing up my class today. I've learned a lot about making one-layer cards. It's been a lot of fun! So Day 5 was all about taking what we've learned so far and putting it together. So here is my card.

I used the Altenew Bold Blossoms stamp set and my MISTI to create the design of flowers and leaves around the border of the card. These are layered stamps so instead of coloring the flowers and leaves I used ink layers. For the roses I used Altenew inks: Puffy Heart and Purple Wine. For the leaves I used Distress Oxide: Twisted Citron and Lucky Clover. The background is ombre colored with Copic markers. The sentiment is from Simon Says Prayers stamp set. I measured the sentiment and then created the black boxes over my design. I kind of hate covering up those pretty flowers with black. They I heat embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder, I added some accents with white gel pen and I discovered that my white gel pen doesn't do very well on distress oxide inks. To finish off  I added some sequins that sparkle. I am pretty happy with this one! Thanks Kelly!
I am entering these challenges:

• Incy Wincy Design challenge: flowers
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• The Outlawz Saturday Paper ala Mode: flowers
• Hiding in my Craft Room: freestyle

One more day of class to go. It's been such fun. Thanks for stopping by today anf hope to find time to visit you soon!

Donna

It's a Two-fer Day

I again set my class aside to work on a few cards that I wanted out by the end of the month. So I have two quick cards for you today. Not one layer types but just as fun.

So this sweet little image is from Bugaboo Stamps and I colored it with Spectrum Noir markers. I paired it with a sentiment from Create with TLC and some paw paper from Imagine That! I added a frame that I learned from my one layer class and I think it adds so much to the card. To finish it off I added a piece of washi tape to match the Stella Sketch that I used for the card.
I am entering these challenges:

• Stella Sketch: use the sketch provided 
  
• Outlawz Thursday challenge: anything goes
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• 4 Crafty Chicks: summer
• Digi Choosday: anything goes
• Anything Goes with Create with TLC: use a Create with TLC element (sentiment)

My second card is a Christmas card. I love to participate in Rudolph Days at the end of each month so I do get at least one Christmas card a month done. I am going to have to ramp that up very soon.

I had these cork pieces from Speckled Fawn laying around for quite some time and I decided to use them. The tree actually is backed with yellow paper but the stars do not look yellow in the photo. I added lots of red and green Stickles to the tree and frame. I added a piece of designer paper to the bottom and then a few holly sprigs. Pretty simple. I am entering these challenges.

• Rudolph Days: anything goes Christmas
• Crafting by Designs: get ready for Christmas
• Addicted to Stamps: holiday 
  
• Merry Christmas challenge: anything goes
• Hiding in my Craft Room: any holiday
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes

That's it for me today. If I have any extra time this weekend I hope to finish off the two more days of class but it looks like a busy weekend ahead. Hope you have time to relax and be crafty as we approach the July 4th holiday! Take care!

Donna