Oh Deer!

Happy Wednesday! The week is flying by. My cold or allergies or whatever this is is keeping me home. I was afraid I might pass something on to the twins or the other kids at Head Start today so I didn't go in. I really missed that. That is often the highlight of my week. But I did get a card done. And believe it or not, it's a Christmas card.

That cute image is from Dasher and Dancer stamp set from Beccy's Place. I just love the expression on the deer's face. The sentiment fits perfectly from the same set. I used the Sketch Saturday sketch for inspiration. I tore the edges of the plaid paper and punched the snowflakes. The image was colored with Spectrum Noir makers and die cut with Gina Marie Designs Cross Stitched Rectangles. The sentiment was die cut with MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags and then inked with Barn Door distress ink. I used Glossy Accents on the bells around the deer's neck.

I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place April challenge: bingo (die cut/masculine/tutorial-paper tearing)
• Sketch Saturday: sketch above
• Rudolph Days: anything goes Christmas
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• The Outlawz Festive Friday challenge: Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes

I think I am heading for bed early tonight. I keep hoping that if I get more sleep this will go away. Thanks for stopping by today and come back and visit again soon. Have a wonderful Thursday!

Donna

Dimensional Sunflower

Happy Monday to you all! Another week is on its way and I've either come down with a cold or allergies. My nose is turning red and sore from all this blowing. But I got inky this afternoon and evening and had some fun with some new goodies. I won a Prizm from Scrapbook and Cards Today and Spellbinders.  Not only did they send me the Prizm but they also sent several dimensional flower dies and the Tool 'n One. So I had some time this afternoon to break out the goodies and have some fun.

I was very impressed with the Prizm and will be using it on the go. Very light weight and easy to use. You can't use bigger dies in it; the biggest die it would cut would be 2.5 inches. But it die cut everything on this card. The flower is Create a Sunflower by Spellbinders. I die cut 10 of each size of petal, 4 leaves, 4 bases and one center. I inked all the petals with Fossilized Amber distress ink and inked the leaves with Iced Spruce. I curled each of the petals and then added them to the bases, and finally stacked the bases together and added the center. The flower is gorgeous! I added the leaves to the flower and then also added more leaves from Spellbinders Foliage die set. The background is inked with Distress Oxide inks: Peacock Feathers and Fossilized Amber. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things Essential Sentiments and die cut with MFT Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips. I hope you like this as much as I do! Thank you Spellbinders and Scrapbook and Cards Today for my new goodies.

Although I'd love to try out the other flowers, I have to get back to wedding stuff. We are almost 1 month away from the big day and I still have 12 centerpieces to do as well as finish up 64 tags to go with the favors for the rehearsal dinner. Sooo,,, high-ho, high-ho, it's back to work I go. LOL! I am entering these challenges with tonight's card.

• Simon Says Monday challenge: flower power
• Crafty Friends challenge: flowers
• The Outlawz Thursday Twist challenge: handmade flowers
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: anything goes
• A Perfect Time to Craft: anything goes

That's it for me tonight. I want to get rid of this cold or whatever so I can go play with the twins on Wednesday. They shared so much sickness with me this year. I really don't want them to catch anything from me. Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

Donna

May All Your Wishes Come True

Happy Friday evening. Unexpectedly I was able to finish one more card this week. I don't think you will see me over the weekend but possibly Sunday night. Just depends on how things go. I was playing with Distress Oxide inks again and came up with a background that I used on my card today.

The oxide inks I used were Spiced Marmalade, Fossilized Amber and Lucky Clover. I didn't like the background at first but I'm liking it better with the rest of the card. The image is Bugaboo Stamps's Teacup Flowers 1. Those flowers look red in the photo but they really are orange. The plaid paper is from my scrap box and the card base and layering are black card stock. I used these dies: MFT Stitched Circles and Spellbinder's Heart Circles. The sentiment is from MFT Birthday Bears stamp set. I am entering these challenges:

• Stella Sketch challenge: sketch 
  
• The Outlawz Tuesday Color challenge: yellow, orange, white, black and green
• Seize the Birthday: vibrant colors
• Cards in Envy: birthday party time
• QKR Stampede: anything goes

The weekend is upon us. Tomorrow we'll be heading for our other property to return on Sunday. No twins this weekend; so sad but we'll see them next week. I hope your weekend is wonderfully crafty , fun and relaxing. Thanks for stopping by!

Donna

We Have a Birthday

Welcome to you all! I spent my morning doing errands today. Had quite a few stops before I was able to come home and play a bit this afternoon. And I am happy with the results.

This is one of the stamp sets that I recently got from My Favorite Things. It's called Space Explorer. Both the image and sentiment are from the set. I colored the image with Copic and Spectrum Noir markers. I fussy cut the image because I haven't bought the coordinating dies yet. I added some green Stickles to the front of his space suit and doodled some dots with a white gel pen on the suit and stars. I heat embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder and die cut it with MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags. The background is distress oxide ink of Broken China, Seedless Preserves and Black Soot. I sprayed it with water and although you can't see it in the photo, there are tiny white spots that really looks like far away stars. I hated to cover up the fun background.To finish off, I added some self-adhesive glitter stars for dimension. My little space man is also popped up from the card with foam tape. I really like this one! I am entering these challenges:

• MFT Sketch Challenge: use the sketch 
  
• Simon Says Monday challenge: let's doodle
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Tuesday Throwdown: glimmer and shine
• Seize the Birthday: anything goes
• A Perfect Time to Craft: anything goes

Tom is taking tomorrow off work so we are going to work on reconstructing a retaining wall for the garden. So I probably won't get much crafting time tomorrow. But you never know. Thanks for stopping by and come visit again soon. Hugs to you all!

Donna

Gnome Place Like Home

How did it get to be Wednesday already? The bad news is that time is flying but the good news is that my meeting got cancelled for tomorrow and now I have two days that I can get some things done. I am hoping I get some craft time Thursday and Friday. Yippee! But my hubby said today he may take Friday off so that might make a difference. The card I finished tonight is for another progressive challenge.

The image is a merged image. I used a Dearie Dolls Mushroom Cottage with this month's progressive image from Gerda Steiner called Gnome Couple. The card came together pretty easy. I am still playing with distress oxide inks and tried another one of Jennifer McGuire's tricks for making easy rainbows with distress oxides. After inking the card stock I sprayed the MFT Sun Ray stencil with water and held it to the card stock for a couple minutes. The water leaves the design of the stencil. Pretty cool. I colored the image with American Craft and Spectrum Noir markers and die cut it with MFT Inside and Out Stitched rounded Squares. To finish it off I used a computer generated sentiment: "There's Gnome place like Home". My youngest son and his wife are looking for their first house so I thought when they moved I would be able to send this card. I used the Tuesday Morning Sketch for inspiration.

Since the sketch had an embellishment in the top right corner of the rectangle I put the sun circle right there. I am entering these challenges:

• Gerda Steiner Progressive challenge: use Gnome Couple
• Tuesday Morning Sketches: above sketch
• Craftaholics R Us: anything goes
• The Outlawz CAS challenge: make someone laugh
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

I hope to be back tomorrow with another card after I get some shopping and housework done. Always have that to do. Thanks for stopping by and hope you are having a wonderful week!

Donna

The Purr-fect Day

Happy Tuesday! I haven't had much crafting time lately but I managed to get this card put together tonight. I made the background a while ago with distress oxide inks and MFT Chunky Herringbone stencil. I turned the stencil to get the background. I was hoping for a mixing of the colors but it didn't really work like that on this one. Not my usual color choices but I think it turned out okay.

The image is from Sheep Ski Design called Virgo Cat and is the progressive image this month at The Outlawz.  I colored the image with Spectrum Noir markers. The sentiment is from Crafty Cat (no longer able to find her on the web). The banners and background paper is scraps from my scrap box/
I am entering these challenges:

• Outlawz Progressive challenge: use Virgo Cat image
• Hiding in my Craft Room: super scraps Saturday
• Sketch Saturday: sketch  
  
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• Digi Choosday: anything goes

I keep hoping that something will shake loose and I'll have more time to craft but with the wedding closing in on us my time will just be sucked up doing other things. I'll get back here as often as I can. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week!

Donna

It's Dueling Darlings Day!

I can hardly believe that half of April has disappeared already. It's been a busy week as you can see by how much I've posted this week. Not much crafting going on here right now. But today is our Dueling Darlings post day. This month our kits were provided by Barb and Tracie, and they chose the theme of April Showers. Since we've been without Internet this weekend my card is getting posted a bit late.

Tracie sent these things in the kit:
Whipper Snapper "Sophie" image
Papers from Photoplay "Spring in the Garden" and Doodbug "Anchors Aweigh"
Sentiments from Two Paper Divas "rain or Shine" set
Green umbrella die cut from Memory Box
Yellow ribbon and miscellaneous gem embellishments

So I colored the image with Copic and Spectrum Noir markers. I used several of the patterned papers and one of the sentiments. I used these die cuts: Impression Obsession Rectangle Tags 2 (sentiment), MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags, MFT Blueprints 13 (umbrella paper for stitched background), and Spellbinder's Lacey Ovals. To finish it off I used three of the fun embellishments that Tracie sent. Thanks Tracie, for such a fun kit!
I have to go get ready for the twins to arrive. Can't wait to see them. Please check out the other Dueling Darlings fun take on the kits. Links on the side panel. Have a wonderful Sunday!

Donna

Furever Friends

It's the start of the new week and already it's been a busy one! Hope your week is off to a good start! This afternoon I got to play some more with my new Distress Oxide inks. And after watching another video from Jennifer McGuire I came up with a couple of backgrounds. Si I used one for a card this evening.

I created the background using MFT Star Grid stencil. I fist inked it with Salty Ocean Distress Oxide ink and then rotated the same stencil and inked with Picked Raspberry Distress oxide ink. It left this really neat pattern (almost mesmerizing if you look at it long enough). I die it with MFT Stitched Basic Edges 1. All the stamping was done with Memento Rich Cocoa ink. The kitties were stamped on kraft card stock and then I stamped paw prints as a border around the top of the card. The kitties and the sentiment are from the Furever Friends set from MFT. I also used the coordinating dies. The sentiment is heat embossed with Winter Wonderland embossing powder and then die cut from MFT Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips. I am entering these challenges:

• MFT Sketch challenge: sketch
  
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• The Outlawz Monday Greeting challenge: animals
• Addicted to Stamps: anything goes 
  
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes

We had quite the shock this morning when we woke up. I had no idea that it was going to snow but Mother Nature left us a little present.

This was the winter wonderland that we saw this morning. Most of it was gone by noon although it stayed pretty chilly all day. By Wednesday they are predicting a high of 73. Nothing like yo-yo weather. And I promised some pictures of the twins last week. We took some new pictures on Saturday while they were visiting. 

Valerie is holding her favorite little bear and Arthur is just being Arthur - inot everything. And he has gotten really fast. You can't turn your back on him or he disappears. And his usual smile is in place. 

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you have a lovely week!

Donna

Sending Lots of Love

One more quick card for today! I was playing with a new stamp set and Distressed Oxide inks that I just recieved from AlteNew. This set is called Heart Flowers.

This started out as a one layer card but I made a mistake when stamping the Sending Lots of partand had to cover it up. That part of the sentiment is heat embossed with white embossing powder and die cut with MFT Essential Sentiment Strips. The leaves were stamped with Mowed Lawn ink but I use first generation stamping for the veins and second generation stamping for the leaves.  I'm happy with this first try. I'll be playing with this one some more. I am entering these challenges:

• The Outlawz Monday Greeting challenge: just because
• A Perfect Time to Craft: anything goes
• Hiding in my Craft Room: spring is in the air
• 4 Crafty Chicks: flowers
• Simon Says MOnday challenge: a trio of something (flowers and stems)
• AAA Cards challenge: a favorite technique (second generation stamping) 
  

Thank you for stopping by once again. Hope you have a wonderful start to your week!

Donna

Deviled Eggs

Very unusual for me to get a chance to craft on the weekend. But I got another card in today. This one is a little unusual for me but I was trying to use the chicken image from Limited Runs and found this sentiment that I thought was quirky so I went with it.

I colored the chicken with Spectrum Noir markers and the eggs with American Craft markers. I created the background for the chicken with distress ink and then die cut the image with MFT Stitched Squares. I backed the image with Spellbinder's Lacy Squares. The sentiment is from Hudson Holidays and punched with ek Success label punch. I inked the sentiment with Distress Oxide inks. The flourish is MFT Fancy Flourish. The background plaid is from my stash. I am entering these challenges:

• The Outlawz Sketch challenge: I turned the sketch a little 
  
• Limited Run Progressive challenge: use the chicken image
• Simply Create Too: use die cuts
• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• Crafting By Designs: anything goes

That's it for me today. Although I may get a bit more crafty time this evening. We'll see. Thanks for stopping by . I got some new pictures of the twins yesterday while they were visiting. I'll have to get them up so you can check out how much they've grown. Hopefully next post. Have a wonderful new week!

Donna

Happily Ever After

Happy Saturday! I don't often get a chance to post on the weekend but I am waiting for the twins to arrive for the day and thought I'd get the card up that I made yesterday. This card was inspired by Jennifer McGuire's post yesterday about dimensional sentiments. If you haven't seen it, it's definitely worth the time to watch. I modified it a little bit from her instructions.

The flowers are popped up from the card and have the sentiment stamped on them so you can still read the sentiment. A very cool affect. The bold sentiment is from MFT Together Forever stamp set. The flowers are from Heartfelt Creations Daisy Patch Flowers and the leaves are from AlteNew Bold Blossoms stamp set. Jennifer popped up the leaves too but I left the leaves as part of the layer because it would have been too many small pieces since I stamped them too close to the flowers. I think it looks really good though. I added some Neat & Tangle sequins for some sparkle and shine. This will likely be my son's wedding card unless I make another that I like better before the wedding. Hehe! I am entering these challenges:

• My Favorite Things Sketch challenge: 
  
• Crafty Friends challenge: favorite color (green and pink)
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• The Outlawz Color challenge: pink and green
• 4 Crafty Chicks: flowers
• Crafty Sentiments Designs: anything goes

Well my time is about up. The twins should be here very soon and then I will have to start thinking about lunch. It's amazing how much food those two can eat. They eat just about anything which is good. Hope you have a lovely weekend. Thanks for stopping by and taking some time to check out my blog.

Donna

Walk in the Rain

That's pretty much what we've been doing this week. It's rained a lot this week and tomorrow they are predicting snow. I can't believe that we just can't catch a break on the weather. So my card tonight reflects a couple of things. Earlier this week, Monday April 2nd, was World Autism Awareness Day. Autism has touched our family. My daughter, who is a Mom to the twins, was diagnosed with autism when she was in the second grade. She's a remarkable woman and has come a very long way in her life. Veronica Zalis put together a super blog hop to raise awareness of autism. I hope you will check it out. There are lots of prizes to be won. But more importantly you might learn something about autism along the way.

My card tonight is for the blog hop.

The sentiment says it all for me. "Maybe I can't stop the downpour but I will always join you for a walk in the rain." The sentiment is from Piece of Heart. I had a really difficult time getting this card to come together. I couldn't find any designer paper that was rainy or cloudy so I finally decided to just use the main colors of card stock that I colored the images. The two images are from Bugaboo; two of my all time favorite images from Bugaboo. They are Brat Boy Spring Umbrella Digi and Brat Girl Spring Umbrella Digi. The blue card stock is embossed with a Swiss Dot embossing folder (my attempt to make it look a little like rain). I used MFT Pierced Fishtail Flag to die cut the sentiment. The embellishment is a button from MFT Button Quartet. 

I am entering these challenges:

• Autism Awareness Blog Hop
• Sketch Saturday challenge: use a sketch from the archive #299 
  
• Catch the Bug: recipe challenge: 1 button, 2 images, 3 layers
• Thursday Outlawz challenge: rain
• Addicted to Stamps and More: anything goes 
  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you are looking forward to a relaxing weekend! Take care.

Donna

Hop, Hop, Hoppy Day

Happy hump day! It was a busy one for me. Lots of errands after I volunteered at the twins' Head Start class. So I didn't get home until right before dinner. So not much time to craft today but I managed to get a card completed tonight. I am in desperate need of birthday cards.

So I finally took the plunge and bought some Distress Oxide inks. Every time I shop near Hobby Lobby I go in and get another color with the 40% off coupon. I was so glad to see that they were carrying them in the store because I haven't seen them in JoAnne's or Michael's. So far I've purchased Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry and Fossilized Amber. I used all three on this card. I applied them with a brush and they mixed beautifully! The image is from QKR Stampede called Being Silly. I colored the cute bunny with Spectrum Noir markers and die cut him with MFT Stitched Circles. The black background is also cut with that same die. The chevron pattern is from Spellbinder's Chevron border die. I cut the die apart to get two distinct pieces. I chose that die because I really wanted the background to show through. I chose the black card stock for the base and the layering because I thought it emphasized the colors in the background. The fun sentiment is from Create with TLC. I love the way this card turned out, especially the colorful background!I am entering these challenges:

• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• Anything Goes with Create with TLC Element: use a Create with TLC element (sentiment)
• Cupcake Inspiration: bunnies 
  
• Tuesday Morning Sketch: use the sketch 
  
• Scribbles Designs challenge: bunny hop 
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter

That's all I have time for today. I thought I was going to have Thursday and Friday to play this week. Something always changes. They needed help at Opportunity House tomorrow so I will be there tomorrow afternoon and Friday I'll have to clean as my FIL is coming for a visit this weekend.  We have the twins all day on Saturday. So never a dull moment around here. Thanks for stopping by and visiting. Hope the rest of your week is awesome!

Hugs,

Donna

Sunny Days to Come

But definitely not today! Our weather has been bizarre. Easter Sunday we had snow and woke up Monday morning to a winter wonderland. The trees were beautiful. I wish I had snapped a picture of them. But by afternoon most of it was gone. The storms started Monday night. Torrential rains all night long with lots of lightning and thunder. We had a bit of a break this morning and more storms this afternoon and evening, I am hoping that the weather calms down. It was a mild 65 today after the 28 we had on Easter. We are bouncing around like a rubber ball. The warmer weather put me in a spring mood. So I made a spring card today.

The poppy flower image is from Beccy's Place. It's a freebie image so you can go download for yourself. I printed it three times and added the sentiment from Create with TLC. The frame is made with designer paper from Home Basics by Recollections. I used Spellbinder's Inverted Scallop Squares and MFT Inside and Out Stitched Rounded Square die-namics. The card base is red card stock. A pretty easy peasy card. I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place April challenge: use a Beccy's Place image
• Atlantic Hearts Sketch challenge: sketch 
  
• Anything Goes with Create with TLC Element: use a Create with TLC element (sentiment)
• The Outlawz Thursday challenge: anything goes
• Simon Says Monday challenge: a trio of something
• Sweet Stampin' challenge: bingo ( sentiment, flower, cute)

I can hear the wind howling outside. I suppose we have another round of storms moving in. So far they haven't been too severe. No power outages or trees down. So I am thankful (that it's not snow!) Tomorrow is my day to go play with the munchkins at Head Start. My favorite time of the week! Have a super Wednesday and come back and visit soon.

Donna

New Challenge at 12 Months of Christmas Link Up

Happy Easter! With the twins here all day I totally forgot to post my card for the new challenge at 12 Months of Christmas Link Up. The new challenge began a few hours ago and the theme is always anything goes but the optional theme this month is feline festive. We want to see your Christmas cats. Our sponsor this month is Ike's Art. Here's my design team card.

The image is Bauble Cat colored with Spectrum Noir and Copic markers. I used several papers from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles from the Bokeh Solid Color set and 2 papers from the Holiday Decorations Mini Kit. All the layers are backed with red card stock. The sentiment is from The Crafty Nomad (couldn't find the web site anymore). I hope you will join us this month and show us your festive felines. For more inspiration, all the details, and to enter, check out the 12 Months of Christmas Link Up. Hope to see you there!

I am entering these challenges:

• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• The Outlawz Friday challenge: Christmas
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Patterned Paper challenge: use patterned paper
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: anything goes
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to get some crafty time this week. We'll see how it goes. Have a great week!

Donna