My Ship has Sailed

TGIF! This has been one busy week and I am glad it's kind of behind me. We have a party tomorrow night at Baby Creek so I'll spend tomorrow cleaning. Most of the cooking is done. Just have to make a salad yet. Sigh of relief.
So I have a quick card to share and a special announcement. First the card.

For this card I used the Tuesday Morning Sketches sketch. The image is Doodle Pantry's Old Ship colored with Copics. The background stripe paper is a scrap from my box. I added some ribbon and some square rhinestones that look like nail heads. The inked edges are Tea Dye distress ink from Tim Holtz.

I am entering this card into:

• Tuesday Morning Sketches challenge: sketch
• Simon Says challenge: anything goes

Announcements! Announcements! Announcements!  Did you ever sing that as a kid. We used to sing that at camp. LOL! 

Sunday evening I will be part of the OWH VCMP: Virtual Card Making Party. All the fun starts Saturday morning at the OWH blog. You'll have an entire week to play along so no need to worry if you haven't got time to play this weekend (like me!) Check back with me Sunday evening for some fun! Be there or be square! (Did I just say that?)
Have a super weekend!

Donna

Blessings!

I am popping in for a quick one tonight. This is a busy week for me. I am working on a special project for OWH. Stop back on the weekend to see what that's all about. And on Saturday we are having a party at Baby Creek to "Pack down the New Gravel Driveway." I've invited all my coworkers out to see our place and help us pack down the new driveway. Lots of prep to get ready for the party.
So I have a card tonight to celebrate some fall colors. We neither have the colors or the weather for fall. Heat index is supposed to be above 100 all week, just in time for our party on Saturday. So this card is helping to cool me down!

The background paper is Basic Grey. The image is from Dearie Dolls. The sentiment was from my stash and I don;t remember where it came from. I added some brown background layers and some ribbon. Pretty easy peasy but I love the result.
I am entering this into these challenges;

• Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge: dotty
• Party Time Tuesday challenge: anything goes

Thanks for stopping. Blessings on you this week. Hope it's a great one.

Donna

Celebrate!

Welcome friends! I am so glad you stopped by today. The weekend is approaching and I couldn't be more thrilled. It's been a pretty good week but I am looking forward to the weekend. Tonight I have 2 cards for you. The first is the card that I made at my Copic class Tuesday evening. I really liked the finished product.

This is a LaLa Land stamp that we were given to practice coloring skin tones. Moat of the rest is paper pieced. All the pieces were cut for us. It took a while to actually color and paper piece the image. I sponged the sentiment and the writing layer with tea distress ink. The background paper is a very cool brick. Then we added the twine and the flowers and pearls. Pretty cool!
I am entering this card in the these challenges:

• Paper Playtime challenge: use pearls
• Cutie Pie challenge: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door challenge: anything goes

My second card is a real CAS card. I needed a quick birthday card.

The image and sentiment is from a retired Stampin' Up! stamp set. Colored with Bic markers. It's very difficult to see but the sentiment is double stamped with green. It looks good in real life but hard to see on the photo. I added the ribbon at the top.
I am entering these challenges:

• CAS(E) this Sketch challenge: sketch
• Party Time Tuesday challenge: colors yellow, blue, red and green.

That's it for tonight. Hope you make it an amazing Friday!

Donna

Owl Always Love You

Hump Day! Yeah! It means we are on the down side of the week. I am looking forward to the weekend and some time to relax. Our last few weekends didn't go as planned so I am hoping that this one is a bit more laid back. My card tonight uses the Operation Write Home sketch for this week.

I used a new freebie from Beccy's Place. This is the colored version. I thought it was just too cute and perfect to send to OWH! I tried to pick up the colors from the picture in the background but it just wasn't popping for me so I added the black layers in hopes of making it all stand out a bit better. I added the twine as an embellishment.
I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place August challenge: use a Beccy's Place image
• Cutie Pie challenge: anything goes
• DigiStamps4Joy challenge: anything goes

Well, I am just extremely tired this evening, so I am hoping to get to bed earlier tonight and get some extra sleep. Thanks for stopping by my blog. Tomorrow I will show you the card I made in my Copic class last night. It turned out pretty good, I think. I hope you'll stop back again.

Donna

Cheerfully Out of my Comfort Zone

Happy Monday! Hope your day went well. We are supposed to start heating up again this week. High 80s and low 90s most of the week. Can't really complain too much. The weather has been fairly nice most of the summer. Work went well today so that's a good way to start out the week.
I have 2 cards tonight. I've been thinking about both of them for a couple days so they just kind of fell together this evening. The first one is a cheery Christmas card.

The image is from Bugaboo stamps. He was a freebie at some point. That's when I got him. I cut the image out with Spellbinders circles and backed that with a Picot Lace Edged Circle. The candy striped paper is a scrap from my box. I cut a banner from a Simon Says banner die and stamped the Merry Christmas on it. I used faux stitching around the image in a light green shade and then added pearls around the edge of the picot lace circle. I colored half of the pearls red with Copics and alternated colors. The image is also colored with Copics. I am entering this one in these challenges:

• Catch the Bug Challenge: Tic Tac Toe; I used Bugaboo image, sewing and pearls.
• Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Challenge: Christmas stitches
• Paper Playtime challenge: use pearls
• Hiding in my Craft Room challenge: stitching

My second card tonight is way out of my comfort zone and very different from my usual style.  But I do kind of like it for a masculine birthday card.

The Friday Mashup challenge was to use your stamping block as a stamp. I hadn't tried that before so I thought what the heck, let's see what happens. So I inked up my block. I can't say it inked really well. I even reinked the stamp pad. I stamped with the block several times to get my background layer down and overlapped the block several times too. Then I stamped the tie and the speech bubble on top of the block layer. Both of these are from the Simon Says June Stamp kit. The sentiment is also from Simon Says and comes with the banner die. The sentiment is made especially to fit the die. I embossed the sentiment in clear embossing powder.What do you think? Do you like this one?
So I am entering these challenges:

• Simon Says challenge: monochromatic
• CAS(E) this Sketch: sketch
• Friday Mashup challenge: clear block stamping
• Seize the Birthday challenge: anything goes
• Outlawz Paper ala Mode challenge: birthday

 That;s it for today. Tomorrow evening I am headed for my LSS and I am going to take a Copic class. I need all the help I can get with shading! But I hope it's fun. Make it a super Tuesday!

Donna

In My Dreams

My second post for today. Scroll down to see the birthday card I made. Have you ever had a card that just fell out of your head onto the card stock? Well this one is just such a card. I woke up several times last night thinking about a Back to School card that I wanted to make to send to Tom's nephew. And this is exactly as I envisioned it. It just kind of fell out of my head. LOL!

Looking at the front of this card you probably wouldn't guess that this was a back to school card but stay with me for a minute. The image is from Doodle Pantry called Picnic Ants, part of the August release. I used the pre-colored version of the stamp. I used the sketch from Tuesday Morning sketches to make the card. The twist for the challenge was buttons and bows and since it's going to a boy I went with the buttons.  The sentiment is my own typed out on my computer. So here's the back to school part!

The pre-colored image again is from Doodle Pantry called School Bus. And the sentiment was done on my computer. All the designer papers come with the Picnic Ants stamp set. I just love the way this one came out. I think Tom's nephew will like it too!

I am entering this card into these challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketches: use the sketch and the twist is buttons and bows
• Party Time Tuesday challenge: Back to School
• Clearly iStamp challenge: School Time
• Outlawz Thursday challenge: anything goes - mixed media

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope your next card falls out of your dreams! LOL

Donna

Birthday Mice

Happy Sunday! It's been another weekend of things changing and having unexpected time to craft. I am not complaining! We've had some gorgeous weather for the past few days. The weather held this week and we were able to put gravel on the new driveway on Friday so we are very happy that we now can drive up the driveway with a less than 24% grade. I have guests coming for dinner so I guess I better get a move on! I needed a female birthday card for a swap so here is what I came up with.

I like the way it turned out. I used the sketch from the Outlawz Wednesday challenge for the layout. I have a box of random things that I have punched/stamped and changed my mind and never used it. So I've decided that it's time to use some of those things up. I can probably make cards for a year and never use everything in the box, but I am going to make a concerted effort to use some of it from now on. So the punched border piece is from the box. I then cut the white cardstock to fit and decided on the stamps to use. The background paper was a piece laying on my desk and it had little flowers the same color as the punched piece although I don;t think you can see that in the picture. So I colored it up with Copics and popped the image up off the punched background and then added the flowers. Fairly easy.
I am entering these challenges:

• Outlawz Sketch challenge
• Seize the Birthday: anything goes
• Lady Anne's Stamp challenge: anything goes with a stamp

Well, I am off to play some more before I make dinner. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Take care!

Donna

Playing Catch Up

Happy Wednesday, friends! I have several projects to show you tonight. I am catching up on several things that I mad e but haven't blogged about. My first project I really did make tonight. I read a book recently and I was going to give it to my MIL to read but she left our place without it. So I mailed her the book but realized too late that I had left my favorite bookmark in the book. So I needed another one. Here's what I made.

I am not happy with the photo but the best I could do tonight. I cut the base of the bookmark from an envelope with the Magnolia berry punch border die. I covered the triangle with Doodle Pantry paper from the Lemons and Blueberries set. The image is from the Doodle Pantry Pears and Raspberries set. I pop dotted the raspberry so it stuck up a bit from the bookmark. I threaded the ribbon through the berry leaves and tied a bow. The ribbon is really a better match for the raspberry then the photo shows. I am entering this into Paper Makeup Stamps challenge to make anything but a card.

My second project tonight is a birthday card for my BIL.

This is a one layer card. I used the template that came in the August Simon Says Stamp kit to make the background. I sponged several colors to get the looks of the sea, sunset and sky. It reminds me of sunsets in Hawaii that we saw in April. I stamped the boat and sentiment from a Gina K Summer Stamp set called Enjoy the Sunshine. Pretty simple. I am entering this card into Sentimental Sunday challenge of one layer.

Any my last project tonight is another birthday card for a friend.

The image is from a Gina K set called A Charmed Life, although I could no longer find the set on her web site so it may have been retired, and is colored with Copic Markers. The sentiment was a freebie from Ginger's House. She often has some really cute sentiments. It's pretty CAS card because I wanted the sentiment to be the focal point. I am entering this card into the Scrap Creations challenge: girls just want to have fun (especially with those flawless dance moves).

That;s it for me tonight. I am heading to bed. Hope your Thursday is spectacular. I know our weather should be that way tomorrow. I could get really used to the weather being like this all the time! Big hugs to you all!

Donna

In My Heart

Hope your Tuesday has been phenomenal! I wanted to show you this card tonight. I really like this one. It went out today with a shipment of cards to Operation Write Home. I hope it finds a happy home.

I used strips of paper in the background (a wonderful way to use up scraps). Stamped the sentiment and sponged color to the front panel. The cut outs are Spellbinders heart dies. I used a black pen to make the stitiching around the hearts. I thought it came out awesome!
I am entering this card into these challenges:

• Hiding in my Craft Room challenge: Super Scraps Saturday
• Simon Says Stamp and Shoe: make the cut
• Scrapbook Stamp Society challenge: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door challenge: anything goes

Hope your week has been wonderful. Thanks for stopping by!

Donna

Big Bear Hugs

Happy Monday! How was the start to your week? I thought it would rain today but so far nothing. Work went quickly today. Last night I was able to make an extra card that I really liked.

I just love the cute little image from Doodle Pantry called Pumpkin Peeps.  If you play with the Doodle Pantry challenge this month you will get this stamp set for free. It comes with images (both outline and pre-colored), sentiments and background papers. The sentiment is also from the set. The background papers is recycled wall paper. The dies cuts are pendants from Spellbinders cut from my scrap pile. The sentiment is cut with a die from Clear Dollar Stamps.
I am entering this card into these challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge: make the cut
• Through the Craft Room Door challenge: anything goes
• Hiding in my Craft Room challenge: super scrap Saturday

Thanks for stopping by. May your week be wonderful!

P.S. I almost forgot: Doodle Pantry is having a sale!
Aug 12 thru Aug 18 - ALL PRODUCTS are 35% OFF (excludes gift certificates) when you use the coupon code BACK2SCHOOL - Required at least $3.00 minimum must be in your cart prior to entering coupon.        
Here how it works:

• Add items to your cart and click to view your cart
• Add the coupon code BACK2SCHOOL in the field at bottom of cart and CLICK SUBMIT to see discount apply
• Continue checkout and pay

Happy shopping!hat a deal. And don't forget to add the free with purchase set too.

Donna

Friendship

Happy Sunday! I hope it's as bright and cheery where you are as it is here. The sun is hot though and I am opting for the air conditioning for the moment. Our weekend didn't quite go as planned. I had not planned to be home this early. We had an inch of rain Thursday evening into Friday morning so we had to cancel the gravel we were supposed to get for the driveway. So sadly, our driveway is still not finished but we'll try again next Friday and with fingers crossed the rain won't come again on Thursday evening. Tom was afraid the heavy trucks would rut the new driveway with that much rain. So instead of working on the driveway, we cut down a tree that had broken off and was hanging. I did take some pictures of that huge tree. I will post those a little later.
I have two cards this afternoon. I had  a blast making them mostly while it rained. What better way to pass the time.

The image in this card is from Floppy Latte Designs. I colored the image with Copic markers and used Spellbinders large circles to cut out the image. I backed the image with Spellbinders Scalloped Circles and then added pearls along the edge. The green background is embossed with the Victoria embossing folder. Then I added two ribbons and one piece of cardstock stamped with a sentiment. I added three pearls on the edge of the cardstock.
I am entering these challenges:

• Try Stampin' on Tuesday challenge: sketch
•  Creative Craft challenge: tic tac toe: pearls, flowers, lilac
• Cutie Pie challenge: thank you
• Through the Craft Room Door challenge: anything goes

And my second card:

So this card was really fun! At Clearly iStamp, the challenge was to lift the person before you. So the person before me was Debi at That Might Look Good on a Card. And this is the card I decided case from Debi.

 

I didn't quite have the border embossing folder so I used a full embossing folder. The image and sentiment are from Clearly Digi Stamps called Sweet Stuff. I used the pre-colored image from the set but there are outlined images also. I just love the sentiment. The embossing folder is called Spots and Dots. I used a crap of ribbon to give the card a bit of embellishment and the image is popped up to accommodate the ribbon. I also inked the edges with So Saffron. I was trying to keep the yellow theme that Debi had but wanted to give it a bit more definition. Besdies entering the Clearly iStampchallenge I am also entering:

• Party Time Tuesday challenge: friendship
• Paper Playtime challenge: lots of yellow
• Delightful Challenges: make it pop

Well, that's it for today maybe. I am hoping to get some more play time in today. Thanks for stopping by and spending some time with me. Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!

Donna

Thank You so Much!

Happy hump day! One more day in my work week this week. Tomorrow after work we'll head for Baby Creek and at 8 am on Friday morning the gravel trucks will be arriving to put gravel down on our new driveway. I will be so thrilled to have a driveway that I can get up during the winter. Tom went out tonight and came home and said that a big tree fell some time today. So maybe it's a good thing we have a three day weekend. Work ahead this weekend.

My card tonight I made for several challenges. I started by picking the image with a sketch in mind.

The image is from Beccy's Place. The sentiment is from the Simon Says March Stamp Kit. I found some scraps for the background designer paper that matched the colors in the image. I backed the image with Spellbinders Picot Edged Circles and embellished with pearls and blue self-adhesive gems. I added a printed ribbon.

I'm entering these challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketch challenge: sketch
   
• Beccy's Place challenge: use a Beccy's Place image
• Kaboodle Doodles challenge: anything with scallops
• Lady Anne's Stamp challenge: use a rubber or digital stamp

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you are on the downside of your week and looking forward to a wonderful weekend!

Donna

Magic of Christmas

Happy Tuesday! I am halfway through my week since I am taking Friday off this week. I am looking forward to a three day weekend. It was a tough day at work today. Two people on our team were out which made things a bit more difficult for the two of us left. But we made it through. I was glad the day was over! I wanted to finish the other Christmas card for the Christmas Progressive Challenge at Lady Anne's Challenge blog before I forgot and missed out on getting the next set of freebies.  So here's my card:

The Santa image is by Nana Vic and was a freebie for the challenge. Thanks Nana Vic! I colored it with Copic markers. I backed the image with Spellbinder Lacey Squares. The sentiment is stamped on a Simon Says folding banner tag. I layered a scrap of Christmas paper and punched the edge with a Martha Stewart punch. Behind the punched area I added more of the designer Christmas paper. I added the flowers as embellishments. Besides entering this card into Lady Anne's Progressive Christmas challenge, I am also entering it into the Christmas Stampin' All Year Long Christmas flower challenge. That's it for today. Hope you are having an awesome week. Take care!

Donna

Wrapped in Happiness

Howdy! We started out bright and sunny this morning but ended cloudy and dreary. Maybe we have some rain heading our way. My garden would like that a lot! The temperatures remain pleasant here so I'm grateful to have the windows open and just our ceiling fans on. Over the weekend I made a Christmas card that I want to share.

The card is very simple because I wanted a lot of the paper pieced background to show. I just took scraps of Christmas paper and cut them in half inch widths whatever lengths they were and then fit them together into a background and gluing them on a piece of white cardstock. The sentiment was a freebie from Lady Annes's Progressive Christmas challenge created by Nana Vic. Since it was in the shape of a tree I tried sponging the areas: green for the tree, yellow for the star and then red for the trim. Thanks to Nana Vic for providing the wonderful digis this month. I am off to use the other one so I can finish the challenge. Have an awesome week!

Donna

In Sympathy

Happy Sunday again! LOL! So I'm not sure if I screwed up setting the post or if blogger added it a day early but my last post for Doodle Pantry and OWH was supposed to have gone live at 6am this morning and apparently it went Saturday morning. What a pain when you are out of Internet. I scheduled it Friday evening before I left. Oh well. Guess it won't hurt too much.
I really dislike making sympathy cards and I guess I should make them ahead because I always have a tough time getting it together in short order. I actually like this one that will be sent to a friend whose husband passed this week.

I used Cheery Lynn butterfly dies to cut out the butterfly shapes from the white cardstock. I stamped the leaves from a Simon Says stamp kit and added the flowers that I got from Michael's $1 bins. I used a Bic marker to draw the border around the butterflies and the frame around the card stock. and added the 3 little dots (a stamp from the Simon Says kit). The sentiment is from Heartfelt Creations Sympathy Sentiments. It is heat embossed with clear embossing powder. The background layer is a purple swirl paper from Create with TLC; very pretty in real life.  I am happy with this one!

I am entering these challenges:

• Joan's Garden challenge: die cut image using the negative (butterflies), colors of purple and white, textured layer (flowers), leaves, and you must use something purchased from Joan's Garden (Cheery Lynn dies, Heartfelt Creations Sympathy sentiments and Score Tape).
• Simon Says challenge: anything goes

Hope your weekend has been awesome and you have a wonderful start to your week. I have a 4 day week this week. Tom and I will be spending Friday out at Baby Creek. Our new driveway will finally be finished on Friday when they lay 6 trucks of new gravel. We are excited to have that much finished. Have an awesome week!

Donna

OWH Sketch Challenge

Happy Sunday! Today Doodle Pantry is sponsoring the OWH Sketch Challenge. I am honored to be part of the team that supports Operation Write Home. The card I made today will be in my box this week as I send it off to OWH. Here's the sketch:

And here's my card:

I used Lil Scare from the July Doodle Pantry release. The papers are from the set also and the solid green is from the Doodle Pantry Country Flavors Solids Paper Pack, a perfect match to the green in the patterned paper. I just love when everything goes together so well. I hope you'll have some fun and try out the sketch challenge and then send your cards to OWH and honor a soldier who is putting his life on hold or giving his life for you. Thanks for stopping by today. I hope your weekend is perfect!

Donna

Something for Everyone!

Welcome to the August Doodle Pantry release. Can you believe that July is gone? Everything is just going way too fast for me. But one of my favorite days of the month is the 1st because I get to show you some of the awesome new releases from Doodle Pantry. Laurie has something for everyone this month. I worked with two sets this month. The first set is Lemon & Blueberries.

I didn't use the lemon image but added the yellow paper and background to bring out the blue. The image, sentiment and papers are from the new set. This was a bit of a challenge. I usually make my cards 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 but I just got carried away. This is a much bigger card. It's difficult to read the sentiment but it says "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above. James 1:17a". I colored the image with Copics: B24, B29, B00, YG09, YG17. I used Spellbinders Picot Edge Circles and Standard Circles and added some glitter glue dots to the corners. The pearl flourish is from Zva Creative. The image is cut from the tag die from Clear Dollar Stamps.

I am entering this card into the Through the Craftroom Door challenge of anything goes.

The other new set that I worked with is called Pumpkin Peeps. There is just the cutest little panda and pig peeking out of a pumpkin. I used the pig on my card but I already have the panda printed out to use later.

I'm going to send this to my son in Boston. I haven't seen him in a while and I think he'll get a kick out of it. Again the pre-colored image, sentiment and designer paper comes with the set. I used Spellbinders Standard Squares and Lacey Squares to cut and layer the image. I added some black brads for accents and the sentiment is cut from the die from Clear Dollar Stamps.
I am entering this card into these challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketches: the sketch
• Party Time Tuesday: anything goes

Don't forget to visit the Design Team and see all the other wonderful projects with the new release stamps. And how about a sale? Laurie is offering 25% off EVERYTHING in the store, even the new releases. How awesome is that! And don;t forget about the August Doodle Pantry challenge that will start at noon today. I hope you have enjoyed the new release projects! Have a wonderfully doodley  day! Blessing!

Donna