Blog Candy for 1000 Posts

The blog candy is now closed. And the winner is:

#4 Pam

Pam please email me your address at drinckel at yahoo.com. Thanks to all those who visited and entered my blog candy!

Happy Monday! I've been trying to get together a blog candy for some time now but just hadn't made the time to put it all together. Back in June I published my 1000th blog post and I thought that was deserving of some candy to my friends who have stuck with me for so long. You truly inspire to continue this hobby and a love you all. So from now until August 31st you can leave a comment on this post and you will be in the draw for this blog candy.

Here's the line up:

• 5 textured note cards of various colors with emvelopes
• 6 crocheted flowers
• small envelope of Halloween goodies
• red and blue sequins
• Dimensional Stickers from Recollections
• Cottage Cutz Country Hen and Nest
• Retired Stampin' Up! Send a Celebration stamp set (gently used)

Here's the stamp set a little closer. If you'd like to win these goodies just leave me a comment. Thank you all for stopping by my blog. For those who come often and big hug goes out to you. If it's your first time at my blog I hope you will come back and check it out again. Thanks so much!

Donna

Puppy Pile

Welcome to the new CAS challenge at the Outlawz for this week. I've been away without Internet this weekend so I am a little late getting this card up. This week Linda asked us to show her some four legged fur balls for National Dog Day! So here is my CAS card:

Our sponsor this week is Bugaboo Stamps and my image is from Bugaboo called Puppy Pile. I colored it with Copic markers and inked the background with Distress Ink. The image is cut out with a die from MFT Blueprints #3. The sentiment and background banner is cut from MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags. The sentiment is from a set from Clear Dollar Stamps which is no longer open. I used Dimensional Magic on the dogs' noses and added Crystal Stickles to the dandelion.

I am entering these challenges:

• Crafty Friends challenge: use a sentiment
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Hiding in my Craft Room: freestyle

I hope you will join us this week for the CAS challenge and show us your furry foot-footed fur balls. Tomorrow is the last day to leave a comment on my 1000 post blog candy. Thanks for stopping by today and hope your week gets a wonderful start.

Donna 

Holiday Wishes

Happy Thursday! Beautiful weather this week. I've been able to walk every day at lunch time at work. It's very unusual to be so pleasant in August. It's usually hot and humid. We'll probably pay for this a some point. LOL! So the cooler weather must have been on my mind when I was thinking Christmas.

This stamp set is from Simon Says Stamps called Big Holiday Wishes. I used several of the stamps from the set. I used the Freshly Made Sketch for this week. I used an embossing folder called Flurries. The images and sentiment are die cut with the Inside Out Stitched Rounded Squares from MFT. I embellished the card with some punched snowflakes covered with Crystal Stickles. The paper is Simon Says Island Blue card stock.

I am entering these challenges:

• Freshly Made Sketches: sketch shown above
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• Rudolph Days: anything goes Christmas
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: use patterned paper
• Inspiration Destination: anything goes

Are you looking forward to the weekend? I am hoping for some craft time this weekend. Of course I always wish for that but it doesn't always happen. Wishing you a relaxing, crafty weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

Donna

Pencil Me In

Happy Monday! If you are visiting me for the first time or returning, don't forget to leave a comment on my blog candy. I am celebrating my 1,000th post. I can't believe that I have posted that many times.
Since Monday is my extra day off I always think I will get lots done and I usually do around the house but just not crafting. There is always something else to take up my time. I really think I just need to retire, then I might have time for all the things I want to do. {insert smiley face here!}
I did manage to get a little bookmark done today. We only have one school-aged child in the family and he's older so I made this bookmark to give to a friends grandson who is starting kindergarten this year.

The pencil was a freebie from 2 Cute Ink and I just couldn't resist using the cute little image. There was a girl pencil and a boy pencil in the set along with a sentiment and a pencil mark. I just used the boy pencil, colored with Copics. I made the background paper by using my EK Success Paper punch after die cutting my QuickCutz tag. Then I drew in the lines with a Bic marker to resemble filler paper. I heat embossed the sentiment and added some raffia at the top. I think it turned out adorable!
I am entering these challenges:

• Simon Says: Back to School
• SweetStamps challenge: anything but a card

That's it for me today. The dinner bell is ringing and I have to get a move on to have it ready on time. Later! Thanks for stopping by.

Donna

Birthday Girl

Wow! Two cards in one day. I haven't done that in quite a while. This is just a quick on as I did this one for a challenge that will be closing this evening.

I used the sketch at Tuesday Morning Sketches for this card. The image is the progressive image for August at the Outlawz challenge from Make It Crafty. I colored the image with Copic and Bic markers and inked the background with Salty Ocean Distress Ink. The sentiment is cut from MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags. Best die purchase I've ever made. And finished it off with some sequins. Here's the sketch:

I am entering three challenges with this card:

• Tuesday Morning Sketch: sketch above
• Outlawz Progressive Challenge: use the Make it Craft image
• Seize the Birthday: anything that flies (how about the dandelion!)

Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget to enter my blog candy. Happy Sunday!

Donna

Santa Died

It's another challenge at the Outlawz CAS challenge and this week we are celebrating Women's Equality. I am hosting this week and asking that you use a female (human or animal) on the front of your card. You really should stop over and see the DT cards. Most of them made me hot with laughter and the rest are just gorgeous. Here's my card for the challenge.

Our sponsor this month is Bugaboo Stamps so I used this Bugaboo stamp called Stella Santa Died. Stella is one funny lady! I colored her with Copics and Bic markers and fussy cut the image. My favorite MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags cut out the sentiment. And to finish it off I used some sequins and stars. That's my CAS card. I hope you will join us this week and show us your Woman Power at the Outlawz  CAS challenge.
I am entering these challenges:

• ABC Christmas: Q is Quantum Leap (Keep it Simple, Colorful, Die Cuts)
• Addicted to Stamps and More: holidays
• Inky Impressions: Christmas in August
• Craftyhazelnut Christmas challenge: use some gold (sequins)
• Crafthazelnut Christmas extra challenge: anything goes

Thanks for stopping by today. I got up very early to post this morning so I may just go back to bed and nap a little. Make it an awesome Sunday!

Donna

Days Like This

Happy weekend! We made it. Tomorrow Tom and I are helping with a Girl Scout camp out. I am doing the craft (we are doing dip candles) and he's the life guard for at the swimming pool. We help fix lunch and dinner and then we come home. So we are just gone for the day.
I made my card tonight for my brother who is having health problems but Tom said maybe I should make another for my son and his wife who are having problems with their jobs.

The squirrel image is from Doodle Pantry called Just Nutty. I colored the image with Copics and fussy cut the image. The branches in the background are stamped from a Simon Says stamp  et called Best Mom Ever. The sentiment is stamped from a Gina K stamp set called Hang in There, which is a retired set. I used the Freshly Made Sketch #200 for the card.

I am entering these challenges:

• Freshly Made Sketches: sketch #200
• Ants in the Pants Digital challenge: anything goes
• Inspiration Destination: anything goes

That's it for me tonight! It's past my bedtime. Hope you have a wonderful weekend with time to craft and relax. 

Donna

Absolutely Unforgettable

Gorgeous day today! Bright sunshine and low humidity and a wonderful high of 79 degrees. Awesome day weather wise. And at work I accomplished a few things today. So over all it was a good day. I bought a WPlus9 stamps set called Unforgettable and I just love the set. I just loe those adorable elephants and the great sentiments in the set. I missed one of my coworkers birthdays and she was back today so I made her this card.

I colored the elephants with colored pencils.The lines were stamped from a Simon Says Stamp set called Only Have Eyes For You. (I wasn't able to find the set on the Simon Says site) And then I stamped the sentiment. Pretty easy card but I love it. I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. They have their 200th celebration this week with some amazing prizes!

So I am entering these challenges:

• Freshly Made Sketches: sketch
• Digi Chooseday challenge: all about the men
• Scribbles Design challenge: boys will be boys
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

Thanks for stopping by today. If you get a chance please leave a comment on my blog candy post. It's almost the weekend and I hope you get some fun crafty time to relax!

Donna

Basket Full of Wonderful

It's Wednesday! We are on the downside of the week. Are you working your way to the weekend? My favorite time of the week; the weekend. We were supposed to have rain all day today. We had lots of lines of storms and they seem to just move around us. Not a drop all day until Tom and I went out for a walk tonight. We got half way around the block and then we got drenched. Just too funny!
My card tonight is a basket full of wonderful!

The image and sentiment is part of DeeDee's digi stamp of the month called Seasonal Baskets. I used the pre-colored version of the basket. The sentiment I cut out with the MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags. I cut it twice so that I could make the flag smaller and then inked it with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink. They are fast becoming one of my favorite dies. I cut the frame from MFT Inside Outside Stitched Rounded Squares. I inked the frame with Salty Ocean Distress Ink and then doodled around the outside of the frame. I popped up the sentiment so that it hung off the card.
I am entering these challenges:

• DeeDee's August Digi of the Month: Seasonal Baskets
• Penny's Paper-Craft challenge: anything goes
• Papertake Weekly challenge: to die for

I hope the rest of your week is awesome. Thanks for stopping by. Don't forget to leave me a comment for me on this blog candy post before August 31st. Take care!

Donna 

Happy Christmas

Well it's Tuesday and so far today we haven't had any rain. Although tomorrow they are saying rain most of the day. I noticed when I came home from work that I missed picking a few zucchini so I'll have to get out to the garden shortly and pick those before they become baseball bats. LOL! I need to start cooking all things zucchini this week.
Today I have a Christmas card that I really like. This one may be my card for the year but we'll see.

The image is from From the Heart Digital Stamps and it's the digi of the month Candy Cane for Snowman. He is just the cutest little guy. I colored him with Copic markers and used a corner punch to secure the image on the card. Then I added the layered corner pieces made from another type of corner punch. Both punches were from Stampin' Up! I finished off the card with some sequins and some Crystal Stickles. I really like the card!
I am entering these challenges:

• From the Heart: stamp of the month
• Crafty Sentiments Design: anything goes
• 52 Christmas Card Throwdown: for a child
• Merry Monday Christmas Challenge: green, dark green and red
• C.R.A.F.T. challenge: Christmas: animal

I am off to pick my zucchini and see if I can find time to play tonight. I hope you had an awesome day. Thanks for stopping by. Please check out my blog candy here.

Donna

Popcorn Challenge

I didn't have a lot of time to craft over the weekend. One Saturday we went to Indianapolis and after walking The Canal we had dinner and then went to an Indianapolis Indians game. They are a farm team but it was great fun! I haven't been to a ball game in years and this year we went to 2 of them: one in Maryland with our son Dan and then one this past weekend. Then Sunday I watched my Colts lose to the Eagles, but it's just preseason and they usually lose all the preseason games. I think they do it on purpose sometimes so they don't give away any of their secret weapons until the real games start. While watch the game I started on this card and then finished it today. The inspiration came from Kathy at The Daily Marker. The challenge was all about lines and Kathy explained an eyelash technique that she likes to use. I tried it on this card.

I drew a bunch of lines on the card stock and then straightened some by making them thicker. I colored the background with Copics using saturated colors that I learned last from My Favorite Things. I added the little eyelashes to give more detail to the background. I heat embossed the sentiment on vellum so that the background would come forward. I really love the outcome. I think it's a great guy card! I am entering these challenges:

• The Popcorn challenge: use lines
• MFT Summer School: color saturation
• Hiding in my Craft Room: birthday/anniversary
• Simply Create Too: anything goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: anything goes

Please check out my blog candy for my 1000th post. Thanks for stopping by today. I hope your week is off to a wonderful start. Come back and see mt again soon.

Donna

This Little Piggy

One day closer to the weekend. Tomorrow is my short day at work. I am off at 2:30 p.m. Happy dance! It's been really busy this week just trying to keep up with everything that came in. My card tonight is a departure from my usual. I'm usually not a "yellow" kind of gal. But this card is yellow and pink and it's really out there!

The cute little piggy is PigWit Cheer from From the Heart Stamps. I used the i {heart} sketch with a twist. The twist this week is to use an animal.

I turned the sketch and used the twist too. I used the Spellbinder's Picot Edge Circles. I used My Favorite Things Pierced Fishtail Flags Stax. These are fast becoming one of my favorite dies. I used washi tape for the background. The sentiment is also from the PigWit Cheer stamp set.

I am entering these challenges:

• i {heart} card sketches with a twist: sketch and use animals
• MFT Summer School: asymmetric card (and rule of thirds)
• Penny's Paper-Crafty challenge: anything goes
• Sweet Stamps: anything goes

That's it for tonight. Thanks for stopping by. Hope your Friday is awesome and you find some crafting time this weekend. Take care!

Donna

Sittin' and Thinkin'

Halfway through the week! Just love it when we are on the down side of the week. The weather was bee-you-tiful today! Hardly a cloud in the sky and just about 80 degrees. I went for a great walk at lunchtime. It was nice to get away from putting out fires all day. Every time I thought I was going to get something done someone sent me an email with another problem. Fortunately the day finally ended. LOL!
How about a card tonight.

My image is a pre-colored digi from Imagine That! It's the stamp of the month called Beach Blanket Girl. Perfect for summer cards! The sentiment is also part of the set. I cut it out with My Favorite Things Cross Stitched Ovals. The flag is cut from MFT Stitched Fishtail Flags. And finished it off with a Zva rhinestone flourish. The background paper is recycled wall paper that I thought gave the appearance of sand. The triangle and flag are from my scrap box paper.  I used the Tuesday Morning Sketch as my inspiration.

I am entering these challenges:

• Imagine That! Digi of the Month: use Beach Blanket Girl
• Tuesday Morning Sketch: sketch
• Digi Chooseday: punches and/or dies
• Hiding in my Craft Room: super scraps

Do you like free digital stamps? This month at Imagine That! you can jump into the progressive challenge for free. Go to the link for this month's challenge, download the free parts of the Beach Blanket Girl set, make and enter your card, and next month you'll be in for more free digis. Who doesn't like free stamps? I hope you'll play along!

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my creations. Time to do a little exercise and then hopefully crafting. Take care and see you soon!

Donna

Button Hello

Happy Tuesday to you. The lawn is mowed and I need some craft time. It didn't happen yesterday as things around the house took over. I am hoping that I can learn some new things with the MFT summer school.

So I tried the first lesson this week to try out the technique of design repetition.

I used the MFT Button Quartet dies and used the repetition of the colors and buttons to create the card. The background paper is recycled wall paper. I used a Simon Says hello because I didn't have any words from MFT. I backed the hello with craft foam to pop it off the card. And I placed it toward the bottom of the card for the rule of thirds.

I am entering these challenges:

• Day 1 MFT Summer School: design repetition
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

Short and sweet today. Maybe I'll get some other crafting done. Thanks for stopping by.

Donna

Mister Old Fart

Thursday is almost in the books and the weekend is on our doorstep. Friday is my short day at work and as you probably know I love my weekends. LOL! This weekend my FIL is visiting. I'm hoping to find some time to continue organizing my crafts stuff. I've got a long way to go. It rained all day today which was really good for our garden. But the rain is supposed to move on by tomorrow and it's supposed to be a gorgeous day. I am looking forward to it.
My card tonight is definitely masculine. It's for a friends birthday next week.

I've been organizing my dies, so I used several of them on this card. The image is from Bugaboo Stamps called Gus Birthday - Old Fart. I die cute the image and sentiment and the background sheet with Spellbinder's Inverted Circles. The banner is MFT Fishtail Banners. The arrow is from the Momenta Arrow dies set. I used the sketch from Bugaboo Stella's Sketch.

I am entering these challenges:

• Stella's Sketch: sketch
• Inspiration Destination: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my work. I hope your weekend is awesome and you get some time to craft away!

Donna

How Tweet It Is

Busy day today. Everyone had a question at work and I couldn't get away from just putting out fires all day. I don't feel like I get anything accomplished that way. The project I am working on is going to take me months so I guess one day isn't going to make that big of a difference. Beautiful weather today. Not terribly humid or hot. We had the windows open in the office and there was a nice breeze. Everyone else has their air conditioning on but I love having the breeze. Not too many people come to visit because they say it's too hot in my office. Works for me. LOL!

I really like my card tonight. I love the soft colors and the cute image. The image is from From the Heart called Apple Blossom Birds. I colored the image with Copic Markers and added a sentiment from a Gina K stamp set. It was called Heartily Yours but I no longer see it on the web site. I used the sketch from i {heart} card sketches with a twist #114. The twist is to use water color so I water colored the background and used washi tape to finish off the sketch.

I made the card a 4x4 square. I don't often make square cards but I think it turned out rather cute. This is an anniversary card that I sent to my friends. The die cut is a new one that I just got from My Favorite Things. It's from the Inside Outside Stitched Rounded Square Stax. I just love some of the new dies that I just got. I'm sure you will be seeing more very soon.

I am entering these challenges:

• i {heart} sketches: sketch with a twist (used the sketch and the twist of water color)
• Paper Players: hip to be square
• Friday Mashup!: it's all square

Hope your Tuesday has been lots of fun. I am off to work on the organization of my dies. It's going to be a while until I get everything organized but every little bit helps. Have a super Wednesday and see you again soon.

Donna

Yay! It's Your Birthday!

Happy Monday! I really expected to get this posted earlier but the garden jobs were calling me. I picked green beans and prepped them for dinner. I picked basil and made two batches of pesto. And then picked the tomatoes and peppers. We had so much rain early in the summer and now it's very dry. My zucchini are about the only thing that's going to keep producing I think. Most everything looks like it's declining quickly. Sunny and warm today. I haven't gotten in much exercise today so I probably should take a walk this evening. I got a package in the mail from Simon Says but told myself I couldn't open it until I had most of my jobs crossed off my list. I have this post and one other thing to do. So without further ado, here's my card:

Yesterday, I said I had another card using the WPLUS9 Unforgettable stamp set. Here it is! I used all three of the elephants in the set. Aren't they just adorable? I can't get enough of this stamp set. I stamped a couple of the other smaller stamps; the flower and the grass. I don't often use gray on my cards but I love gray and pink together so that's what I chose to use. The balloon is also from the set and I filled the balloon with Glossy Accents. The sentiment and banner die are from Simon Says. The flower is from the dollar bin at Michael's. I used the Try Stampin' on Tuesday sketch. I really liked the layout of the sketch.

I am entering these challenges:

• Try Stampin' on Tuesday: sketch
• Cards in Envy: it's a birthday party
• Crafty Friends challenge: movie (the elephants remind me of the elephants marching in Jungle Book)
• Cupcake Inspirations: embellishments

I am off to get my last job done so I can check out my goodies from Simon Says. I hope your Monday was wonderful. Make Tuesday even better. Thanks for stopping by.

Donna

One Layer Challenge

Happy Sunday! It's time once again for the Outlawz CAS challenge and let me tell you today's challenge was REALLY a challenge for me. Please don't let that deter you from playing along with us this week. I'm sure that this would be easy peasy for lots of people, but for me it wasn't. Let's just say I have never started a card over so many times in all the years I've been paper crafting. LOL! But I love the result. This week's challenge is to create a one layer card. So everything you do has to go on the base of the card with no embellishments.

So I used my favorite stamp set du jour which is Unforgettable from WPLUS9. I colored the image with colored pencils. Haven't used those in a very long time. Stamped the sentiment and spritzed with Glimmer Mist. Sounds easy enough but it just didn't come together the way I thought. It took me several times to mask the hat on the elephant's head. Stay tuned I have another card using this set coming up too. I just think these little elephants are adorable.
I am entering these challenges:

• Friday Mashup: pink, grey and blue
• Simply Too Create: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

I would love to see what you can do with a one layer card. Come join the fun at Outlawz CAS and check out what the fabulous design team did with this challenge. They so inspire me!

We are having friends for dinner tonight so I have to scoot and get things cleaned up around here. But that mean I won't have to clean tomorrow so I'll get more time to play. So looking forward to that. While we were out at Baby Creek yesterday I started organizing my sequins. Ugh! I didn't know I had so many of them. I bought some and then inherited a bunch from my MIL. But soon I'll have those nice and neat and it will make life easier! Have a super day and thank for stopping by.

Donna