So Many Challenges and so Little Time

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!