Have a Honking Good Day

Happy Wednesday! The day started off bright and sunny but ended with storms and rain. We could use the rain though. It's supposed to rain more over night and I love to sleep while the rain is slapping on the roof.
This weekend we are going to visit my in laws so I won't get much time to craft. But it will be nice to visit with them again.
This summer I am again the Program Director for the Girl Scout Day Camp in June. So I'm beginning to work on examples for activities and crafts for the girls. That's what I have tonight; one of the crafts that the girls will be making.

The outside is a CD case and the girls will be decorating the inside edges with ribbon and will use a photo for the inside. We'll take pictures of each of the units and the girls can add their unit picture and then decorate the outside with buttons, beads and whatever other things we find in our boxes of excess materials we have around. I used a Doodle Pantry set called Clown Birdie. I just love the bright colors! Hope you do too.

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope your week is going well and your on the down side of things.


Donna

Love Our Earth

Happy Tuesday! Back to work today and cloudy so it was kind of a depressing day. But I got through it and tomorrow it's supposed to rain so it will likely make today like a fun time. Ha! Still working on my new project for Doodle Pantry but I cranked out this clean and simple card for a couple of challenges.

I missed getting something done for Earth Day because I was out celebrating it with all the Girl Scouts so I'm making up for that. I think you should celebrate Earth Day every day. So I used a new set from Laurie at Doodle Pantry called Love Earth. I used the already colored image and one of the sentiments. The background is embossed with the Victoria embossing folder. I added a ribbon as a little embellishment.

On to the challenges:

• CAS-ual Friday challenge: the sketch
• Sentimental Sunday challenge: Earth Day and sentiment
• Outlawz Sunday challenge: CAS anything goes

So glad you stopped by today. Please share what you think and leave me a comment.   I love hearing what you think. Have a wonderful week!

My Dahlia

A rare day time post as I am home from work today. I took a personal day to go to a surgical appointment with my daughter, Tricia. She does need shoulder surgery but the doctor said it could wait until after her internship so she doesn't have to have it immediately. Good news as she has two more weeks for her school term and then starts an internship for the summer. The doctor said she may have no recovery time or up to six weeks. They won't know until they get in to see how extensive the shoulder is damaged. So she has elected to wait a bit and have the surgery later in the summer. I did have a moments panic this morning when the receptionist told us our bill was $1,960.00. Because Tricia has no insurance they told her the MRI would be $450. I'm hoping that she didn't misunderstand that during her first visit. That would be a very big crimp on the budget!

On to more fun items. I wanted to use my Spellbinder's Dahlia dies to make one last flower for Joan's Garden Challenge. Check out the details here. I've added lots of pearls and rhinestones to this one as embellishments. It looked really plain without it.

I inked the dahlia pieces and used the flower kit that I bought from Joan to distress them. I used Sketches by Carly for the layout. The sentiment was embossed in black embossing powder on a Quick Cuts tag die. Everything looks kind of crooked but it isn't in real life. It must be the angle of the picture. I know I am a lousy photographer. That's on my bucket list fro when I retire. Hahaha.

Challenges I am entering:

• Joan's Garden challenge: make a flower using dies or punches; make it pretty.
• Sketches by Carly challenge: sketch
• Clearly iStamp challenge: spring

Thanks for stopping by today. It's back to work tomorrow so I need to get back to my desk and make the most of my time. I'm working with the new release for Doodle Pantry for May 1. You won't want to miss this one. It's very cool! Have a wonderful week!

Donna

Flower Box

Happy Sunday! Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Mine was very busy. I went to two Girl Scout events. The one on Saturday was in Indianapolis and was a camporee for the 100th birthday of the Girl Scouts. And today our county had a 100th birthday party and Earth Day celebration. I also took tomorrow off work to go with my daughter to the doctor to find out about her surgery on her shoulder. I'm hoping to find some time to work on some craft projects!
But my card today is another flower card for Joan's Garden challenge. Can you tell I'd really like to be one of the 6 guest designers for Joan's blog hop? You can get all the details at the challenge link. I have one more idea in mind if I get some time to work on it. But here's my card for today.

I used the Boho Blossoms punch from Stampin' Up! to make some very simple flowers. I used a Quick Cutz flourish die to add some greenery and the window and box are both dies at bought at Joan's Garden when I went to visit in March. I added a sponged sky background behind the window and an embossed white background with Swiss Dots. The black background makes it pop.

I'm also entering this card in this challenge:

• Hiding in My Craft Room challenge: April showers bring May flowers. 

Hope you have a wonderful start to your week. Thanks for stopping by today. I'm looking forward to the week ahead and hope you are also.

Hugs,

Donna

Beautiful Flowers Challenge

This week at Joan's Garden, Joan has a challenge to earn a chance to be a guest designer for a future blog hop in May. The requirements this week are fairly simple: make a card or project which includes flowers using dies or punches and make the card the prettiest that you can make it. I thought I'd combine this with a technique I had never tried before: making a brick wall.

My flowers are stamped from Heartfelt Creations stamps and cut with matching Spellbinders dies. The centerpiece of the flower is a snowflake punch topped with Fruit Punch Stickles. The leaves are also a Spellbinders die. I used the brick wall technique for the background and added a banner tag popped up from the bricks. The edge of the banner also is embellished with the Fruit Punch Stickles. I really was happy with the brick wall and the flowers. Head on over to Joan's challenge. Maybe you will be one of the lucky guest designers. Good luck!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I've got a busy weekend ahead but I'm hoping to squeeze a little crafting time in. Hope your weekend is very special!

Donna

Spring Flowers

Busy week this week. I didn't get to craft much over the weekend. I'm beginning to work on projects for Girl Scout Day Camp. I have a few that I'll share one of these days. I can't believe that camp time will be here very soon.
My daughter got her results back from her MRI and she has something torn in her shoulder and will need shoulder surgery. It couldn't come at a worse time since she will soon be starting her internship for her culinary degree. But we have to go see the doctor to find out exactly what he has in mind and how long recovery will be before she makes a decision on when to do the surgery.
My card tonight is a flower pot with some fresh spring flowers. The flowers have been so pretty and so early this year. Our May flowers came in March and that's so unusual. So here's a few flowers to match the spring beauties.

I had a difficult time photographing this one. Taking pics so late at night has it's problems. The colors are so much more vibrant. I used the tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers. The border punch is Martha Stewart, the flowers are Heartfelt Creations and the foliage is Spellbinders. I used self-adhesive gems for the flower centers and then added Stickles to the foliage and the butterfly.
I'm entering this card into a couple of challenges:

• Joan's Garden challenge: use a flower pot; make flowers; use greenery' any color combination.
• Do You Stack Up challenge: glitter/bling

Hope you are having a fabulous week! Tomorrow is hump day and then we'll be on the down side of the week. Wahoo! Busy weekend ahead. Lots of Girl Scout events. Thanks for stopping by.

The Apple of my Eye

Happy Thursday! It's been a very long day for only working  a half day. I had to take my daughter to the doctor's office today. She's having trouble with her shoulders. The doctor narrowed it to two possible things but wants an MRI before making a final diagnosis. So she has an MRI scheduled for tomorrow morning. That means late to work tomorrow. St last tomorrow is Friday. Yeah!

Last night I worked on this card. I used the sketches from Sketches by Carly.

 Here's my take:

This is an image from Doodle Pantry called Apple Snack. I used the colored image. Both of the patterned papers come with this set. I used baker's twine for the accent at the middle of the sketch and tied bows on each side. The corner embellishments are punched cork leftover from another Valentine's day project. I glued the pieces of cork with Crafter's Pick. Do you think I should put Stickles or glitter on the cork to give it some sparkle?
I'm entering this card in the following challenges:

• Sketches by Carly challenge: sketch
• Clearly iStamp challenge: go green (use mostly green or earth day project) I used the leftover pieces of cork.
• Sunday Outlawz challenge: use shapes

You have lots of time left to play along with the Doodle Pantry challenge. The only requirement is to use a Doodle Pantry image and there are plenty of free ones for you to choose from. And if you play along you get another free adorable digi set from Laurie. Everyone is a winner in this challenge. Stop over at the Doodle Pantry blog and check it out .

Squeaking By

It's Tuesday already! Time is flying by. Work is ramping up again as I need to get ready to shed one job and move to another. So while there is still plenty to do in the old job and I have to document everything I can to help the next person in the job they have already started meetings for the new job and I have to start to learn the new materials for the next job. I have a feeling that I will be very busy for the next few months.
So I haven't felt much like creating this week when I come home from work but I needed to push myself tonight and get something done. So here's the card I came up with.

I thought the D'vine Swirls embossing folder reminded me of the Swiss cheese. Isn't this little mouse just the cutest! He's a Doodle Pantry image from a set called Quirky Mouse. The set comes with this colored image as well as the outline, several sentiments including the one I used and two background papers.
I am entering my card into these challenges:

• Just Us Girls challenge: sketch
• Paper Makeup Stamps challenge: bright colors and a digital stamp
• Do You Stack Up challenge: cheerful critter

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


 

Donna

April Showers

Happy Friday! It's Easter weekend and I want to wish you a very special and wonderful Easter! May the Lord bless you and your family with his love and protection. We aren't traveling this weekend and we hope to spend some time in our getaway place, Baby Creek. No Internet, no TV. Just lots of peace and quiet and a skunk who has suddenly appeared in the evenings. Last week we were dog sitting for friends and the poor dog found the skunk. Yikes! Fortunately it didn't get sprayed too badly. But the dog itched it's nose a lot after that.
My card today is about April Showers and features another Doodle Pantry new release called Umbrella Ants. For a limited time this set is free with any purchase. In my card I've used the already colored image but the set also comes with outlines too.

I used a Martha Stewart border punch, some Spellbinder's and Quick Cutz dies, ribbon, buttons and some tear drop self adhesive bling. I am entering this card into these challenges:

• Card Patterns challenge: sketch
• Do You Stack Up challenge: friendly critters
• Paper Playtime challenge: use an umbrella and any type of die cut
• Hiding in my Craft Room challenge: anything goes

Hope you have a super Easter weekend.

Donna

From the Inside Out

Happy Monday! Hope your week is off to a great start. Yesterday I posted about the new release from Doodle Pantry and today I have another card using another new release image set. This set is called Sombrero Hat. It comes in both outline and colored images. I used the colored images and then blinged it up with some Stickles. But what I did differently on this card was that I created it from the inside out. I normally create the front of a card and often leave the inside blank to finish later. But this time I made a tunnel card so I started with the inside first.

You can see the maracas on the inside and I also added some zig-zag stitching on the inside flap. You can see a close-up of the tunnel:

 

And finally the outside of the card:

 The sentiment is from Scrapbook Eden and the sombrero is from Doodle Pantry.  I embossed the background with D'vine Swirls. Don't forget the sale at Doodle Pantry until the 3rd. While you are there be sure to check out Laurie's new header. It's totally adorable!

The challenges for this card:

• Outlawz Thursday challenge: anything goes
• Do You Stack Up challenge: sew it

Have a wonderful Tuesday and take care!

Donna

It's a Doodle Pantry Release

Happy April! Where did March go to? Time is moving fast these days. Does that mean I'm getting older? Yikes!
Today is the day that the Doodle Pantry Design Team shows off all the wonderful new release sets for April. I didn't get to use all the great sets for March yet but this month Laurie again wowed us all with the fun sets for April. So I think I will be very busy this month creating lots of Doodle Pantry projects. Today I am showing you my project for the new digital stamp set called Vintage Bicycle.

I designed a candy dish for a "older person's" birthday party. LOL! I used Copics and Sharpies to color the image and added the tag that's been sponged to match. I think the bowl colors really look better in person. That plaid pattern doesn't really show well in the picture. I used several Spellbinders to cut the image and decorate the top of the candy bowl. So check out the new sets at Doodle Pantry today and all the lovely design team projects.
A couple other Doodle Pantry specials to check out: 

• Laurie is running a special for the next three days, April 1-3. Use the coupon code NOFOOLING to receive 25% off anything but gift certificates and water marks. What a deal! Also April 1-3, Laurie will have a free Ant Paper Pack available with purchase. Another bonus! So check out the Doodle Pantry Shop.
• Don't forget that the new challenge will start today at noon. Use any Doodle Pantry image and create a project for the challenge and connect it to the Doodle Pantry blog challenge post. Not only could you win a fabulous prize but everyone that participates receives the brand new set Quirky Parrot. This set won't be for sale until after the challenge has closed.

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday and a start to your April. Here's hoping the weather is beautiful wherever you are! 


Donna