It's a Two-fer Day

I again set my class aside to work on a few cards that I wanted out by the end of the month. So I have two quick cards for you today. Not one layer types but just as fun.

So this sweet little image is from Bugaboo Stamps and I colored it with Spectrum Noir markers. I paired it with a sentiment from Create with TLC and some paw paper from Imagine That! I added a frame that I learned from my one layer class and I think it adds so much to the card. To finish it off I added a piece of washi tape to match the Stella Sketch that I used for the card.
I am entering these challenges:

• Stella Sketch: use the sketch provided 
  
• Outlawz Thursday challenge: anything goes
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• 4 Crafty Chicks: summer
• Digi Choosday: anything goes
• Anything Goes with Create with TLC: use a Create with TLC element (sentiment)

My second card is a Christmas card. I love to participate in Rudolph Days at the end of each month so I do get at least one Christmas card a month done. I am going to have to ramp that up very soon.

I had these cork pieces from Speckled Fawn laying around for quite some time and I decided to use them. The tree actually is backed with yellow paper but the stars do not look yellow in the photo. I added lots of red and green Stickles to the tree and frame. I added a piece of designer paper to the bottom and then a few holly sprigs. Pretty simple. I am entering these challenges.

• Rudolph Days: anything goes Christmas
• Crafting by Designs: get ready for Christmas
• Addicted to Stamps: holiday 
  
• Merry Christmas challenge: anything goes
• Hiding in my Craft Room: any holiday
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes

That's it for me today. If I have any extra time this weekend I hope to finish off the two more days of class but it looks like a busy weekend ahead. Hope you have time to relax and be crafty as we approach the July 4th holiday! Take care!

Donna

One-Layer Wonders - Day 4

The temperatures here have started to climb again. The rain has finally moved out and we are supposed to be in the 90s for at least a week. I didn't look any farther on than that. If I could find a place where it was around 75 degrees all year long I do believe I would move there, after Tom retired. LOL! I've been working on my class again and I am sharing my Day 4 card.

The images for this card are from a blog candy that I won a while ago. The package didn't have the company name on it so I don't know where this came from. The flowers are sweet peas. I colored them with Copic markers and accented with white gel pen. Kelly showed us how to add the bottom color with masking and how to add the sentiment into the image and then outline with the white gel pen to make it readable. And I used the frame again. I really like this card. And I think it will make a perfect sympathy card. The sentiment is from Stampabilities. I added some sequins. Unfortunately the silver hearts turned out black in the photo. Those really aren't black.
I am entering these challenges:

• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Monday Outlawz: summer colors
• Work it Wednesday: the great outdoors
• Scribbles Designs: anything goes

A busy weekend coming up. My FIL will be visiting and we'll have the twins one day. We are supposed to have dinner with some friends on Sunday. It's hard to believe that June is almost gone. Where does the time go? Thanks for stopping by.

Donna

A Million Thanks - Day 3

I finally finished my Day 3 card for the One-Layer Wonders class. I have to tell you this card was a real process for me. Our homework was to use messy water colors on our image. Now I am definitely no expert on water color and I can get messy with the best of them, but when I finished water coloring I hated this piece. I almost threw it away, but decided to finish the process that Kelly talked about in the video and see what happened. Here's what happened.

I wish I had taken a picture right after I water colored because there is a huge difference. I'm not sure if I am a fan of water coloring just yet. I need to practice more for sure. After water coloring the image from Altenew Beautiful Lady stamps set, I used Copic markers to add in some extra color and white gel pen for some accents. I added a drop shadow and some definition to the leaves. I also outlined the image again with black marker. The sentiment is from MFT Essential Sentiments. Kelly also showed us how to create the frame around my image. Fairly simple to do but I think it adds a lot, don't you? To finish it off I added some Neat & Tangles sequins with Glossy Accents on top. I am pleasantly surprised with how this turned out given I was about to trash it. LOL!
I am entering these challenges:

• Crafty Sentiments Designs: anything goes
• Friday Outlawz challenge: anything goes
• Alphabet challenge: G is for great outdoors
• Creative Knockouts: for the girls
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes

Thanks for stopping by. I've been working on Day 4 of the class and really excited about how things are turning out. Hope you'll stop by again.

Donna

Thinking of You

I took a break while on of my projects for class was drying and decided to finish off a progressive challenge that I needed by the end of the month. This is the free image at The Outlawz for June from We Are 3 Digital Shop called Flower Delight.

I love how colorful this is. I colored the image with Copic markers. Then I used a white gel pen to doodle on the flowers to make them pop. The sentiment is from Stampabilities Card Phrases that was a gift from a friend. I heat embossed the sentiment in white on black card stock and then die cut it with MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags. I added some bling with the small pearls in the center of the flowers and Diamond Stickels for the necklace and a twinkle in the bird's eyes. It's a square card 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches. So that's a bit different for me. I am entering these challenges:

• The Outlawz Progressive challenge: use the We Are 3 digital stamp/
• The Outlawz Tuesday color challenge: green, orange, and purple plus bling
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Crafting by Designs: flowers
• Simon Says Wednesday: bright and cheerful

So now I will return to finish another class project. I had to let the watercolor dry completely before I could do the next step. Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon!

Donna

Cheers to You

I finished another card for my Altenew Academy One-Layer Wonders class. We used a background stamp for this card.

The sample card used a rainbow of colors but I decided to go with kind of monochromatic. I have one ink cube set from Altenew: Cosmic Berry, Purple Wine, Puffy Heart, and Rose Quartz. That's what I used to stamp the Penny Black Allover Pattern background stamp. I masked the Spellbinder's Labels 35 die in the middle and tried the shadow affect that Kelly talked about in class but I obviously need more practice with that. The sentiment is from MFT All About You stamp set. I colored a few rows of the background with Spectrum Noir markers and then added Crystal Stickles to those rows. To finish it off I added several sequins from Neat & Tangled with glossy accents on top. Kelly showed us how to add the little box and then heat emboss the white part of the sentiment. It makes it look like you have lots of dimension but it's really all one layer. Pretty cool!
I am entering these challenges:

• Saturday Outlawz Paper ala Mode challenge: framed
• QKR Stampede challenge: anything goes
• Scrapping4Fun: birthday with bling
• Seize the Birthday: anything goes
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: bright and cheerful

So we had the twins last night for dinner. My SIL came home from the hospital and the doctor will likely adjust some medication today. So we didn't have them overnight but we did have a ball with them while they were here. Today is a "me" day. I haven't done that in ages. I'm going to do what I want to do, I hope. I did start the laundry. Some things are just a necessity. LOL! Rain storms are moving in so it's a great day to craft. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a crafty day!

Donna

Hey Dude

Finished up day camp last week and it took me most of the weekend to put everything away, laundry and dishes caught up and pricing for Opportunity House. I worked as a cashier this morning and they neglected to get a second person so I was by myself today. Not too bad. Last week I did win a seat in an online class called One-Layer Wonders at Altenew Academy. Of course I am getting started way late because the class began last Friday but I did manage to get one card done so far.

So this is really one layer. The shadow for the banner was created with markers. In no way does it looks as good as the sample for class. I really need to practice my flicking technique. The stamp set I used is a retired stamp kit from Simon Says Stamps. I used masking to create the banner. The "Dude" is a stamp from the retired kit and I used Lawn Fawn's Quinn's Alphabet for the "hey". It's the only alphabet stamp set that I have. This is colored with Prismacolor pencils, except for the shadow on the banner. This will be my nephew's birthday card.

I am entering these challenges:

• Simply Create Too: for a male
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• Digi Stamps 4 Joy: for the men
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• The Outlawz Friday challenge: birthday

I have to scurry off and pick up the twins from Head Start. They took their Dad to the hospital a bit earlier so we may have them all night tonight. Just not sure what's going on yet. Thanks for stopping by.

Donna

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Bundle of Flowers

Two days of Girl Scout day camp are now history. Monday and Tuesday had heat indexes of around 100 degrees so I am really glad that they are over. Storms moved in this evening and they are supposed to stick around until Friday which really makes life more difficult for camp, as we go rain or shine. Rain itself isn't a problem, but the storms are definitely a problem. So I am hoping that the storms will just come through after 3pm when the campers aren't in camp anymore. My edible rock activity went really well yesterday. I do that for the rest of the campers on Thursday. Today I helped make slime monsters. First they created slime and that was stored in a baby food jar that was decorated as a "monster". They turned out really cute. Tomorrow we are making floam. By the way, the camp theme is ooey gooey in case you haven't figured that out by the activities.
Since I am not program director this year I don;t have to come home and work for hours getting ready for the next day so I actually had time to create a card.

The image is from Bugaboo stamps called Teacup Flowers 1. I colored the image with Prismacolor Pencils and die cut the image with MFT Inside and Out Stitched Rounded Squares. The background is inked through the AlteNew Deco Wallpaper stencil with Picked Raspberry, Lucky Clover and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide inks. The sentiment is from Create with TLC. I added some ribbon from my stash. I am entering these challenges:

• Catch the Bug Bingo challenge: distress. die/punch, Bugaboo image
  
• Sketch Saturday challenge: sketch 
  
• Cupcake Inspirations: pink, yellow, green 
  
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: anything goes
• Outlawz Saturday challenge: use ribbon
• Anything Goes with Create with TLC Element: use an element from Create with TLC (sentiment)

I can't ever remember a week that I was at camp that I actually created a card. So this year is quite unusual. I am just hoping the weather holds for the rest of the week. I will leave you with a picture of the twins from last weekend. We got a little pool for them to play in and they had a ball.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful hump day!

Donna

Dueling Darlings: Everything is Coming Up Roses

It's time once again for The Dueling Darlings challenge. This month Shelly (Darlings) and Carol (Divas) are our hostesses. Shelly sent me a wonderful kit to work with. June is the month of roses so that's why they picked this theme. Since we get two images in the kits (in case we mess one up) I was able to make two cards this month.

My first card uses lots of what's included in the kit. I colored the rose image with Prismacolor pencils. I used several of the designer papers included in the kit. I also used a strip of lace that was included as well as 3 of the flowers and some gems for the centers. The sentiment was also included. I added some pink card stock for the base and Peeled Paint and Barn Door Distress ink around the edges of the sentiment and image.
Here's what I used from the kit:
Image and sentiment are all Stampin' Up! from the 2002 collection
Design paper: green and green with peach roses from The Paper Studio Kirby Teasdale
Flowers and yellow gems (Recollections)
I am entering these challenges:

• Outlawz Wednesday Sketch: 
  
• If You Give A Crafter a Cookie: roses were used from cookie inspiration 
  
• Addicted to Stamps and More: anything goes 
  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• Simon Says Wednesday: frame it

My second card is very CAS:

I needed another sympathy card so I used my second image from the kit. I added some leaves from Simon Says Stamps die cut. The sentiment is from Heartfelt Creations Sympathy Sentiments. This image is also colored with Prismacolor Pencils and then fussy cut. I popped up the image with foam tape. The leaves were die cut and then partially inked with Peeled Paint distress ink. I am entering these challenges:

• Atlantic Hearts Sketch challenge: sketch 
  
• The Flower challenge: #21 use a previous challenge (used #14 CAS) 
  
• A Snowflakes Promise: anything goes

Be sure to check out the other Darlings' creations (links in my side panel) Thanks for stopping by and thanks to Shelly for such a wonderful kit this month.

Donna

Light of Our Lives

Father's Day is this week and I was behind in getting cards done. I finished the most important one last night. This is for Tom's Dad. I see him as a lighthouse for his family. A focal point and a guide for how to live our lives. A very special man.

The image is from From the Heart Stamps. I miss Faith and her lovely stamps but I still have a collection that I can use. The sentiment is from Desert Diva. I fussy cut the image since it had a nice frame on it and die cut the sentiment with Quickutz Tags. The background is a scrap of paper that I had on my desk for a project the other day. It reminded me of waves and thought it fit perfectly. The image is colored with Koh-i-noor Woodless Pencils. I am entering these challenges:

• The Outlawz Thursday challenge: tall and skinny card
• Crafty Sentiments Designs: water
• Simon Says Wednesday: frame it
• Digi Stamps 4 Joy: for the men
• Scribbles Design: make it masculine
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

I am off to work on some sympathy cards. Not my favorite things to make and I've need far too many of them lately. Unbelievably, I've sent three to one family in the last 2 months. Have a wonderful day!

Donna

Do you have Cof-fee-dence?

I am coming down to the wire for this progressive challenge. I didn't have time before the wedding and I haven't had a lot of time since we've been home so I needed to get this done today. The challenge is for Limited Runs digital stamps.

The image is Cuppa Mouse. I paper pieced the cup and colored parts of it with Spectrum Noir markers and then used Wink of Stella for a bit of sparkle. I printed the sentiment from Create with TLC on the same paper that I paper pieced with. All the paper is scraps from my scrap box. The card base is grey. I die cut the mouse with an MFT Stitched Circle dies and inked with Broken China Distress Ink. I am entering these challenges:

• Limited Runs Progressive challenge: use Cuppa Mouse
• Sketch Saturday: sketch 
  
• Cutie Pie challenge: spots or dots
• Outlawz Monday challenge: use at least one die cut
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• Anything Goes with Create with TLC element: used a sentiment

I have a list of cards that I need to send this week. Still haven't done a Father's Day card for my FIL so I need that right now. Back to my desk to get moving. Thanks for stopping by. Take care!

Donna

Advice from a Pineapple

Good Tuesday morning! I thought I would post a quick card and then get back to my long list of things to catch up on. There is a never ending list! I stitched this tag before I left for the wedding but hadn't gotten it into a card yet. I love the sentiment from Create with TLC and knew it was perfect for this image.

I found the pineapple cross stitch pattern in one of my many cross stitch books. The image is cross stitched on the MFT Cross-Stitch Tag die. The background colors don;t quite look the same in the photo. The fossilized amber and clover green dioxide ink is really closer to the colors in the pineapple. But they just didn't come out in the photo. The sentiment is from Create with TLC and reads: Advice from the Pineapple Stand Tall, wear your crown and be sweet on the inside. Love it! I added a scrap of ribbon and a scrap of patterned paper die cut with MFT Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips. I am entering these challenges:

• My Favorite Things Sketch challenge: sketch 
  
• Tuesday Throwdown: tag it
• Hiding in my Craft Room: super scraps Saturday
• Friday Outlawz challenge: anything goes
• Creative Knockouts: anything goes
• Anything Goes with Create with TLC Element: use a Create with TLC element (sentiment)

Well, it seems I have to go back to my list of things to do. Crafting is on the list so I am hoping I find time today. We've gotten over 3 inches of rain in the last three days. I managed to tie up my tomato stalks and mow the grass last night in between downpours. More rain today and tomorrow and we have a flash flood watch. Have a wonderful day!

Donna

Love You So

Oh My Gosh! I can hardly believe that's it's been more than 3 weeks since I last posted on this blog. Our two weeks away for my son's wedding and then moving our other son into his new house took it's toll on me. I had a lot of stuff to catch up on and crafting wasn't in the cards last week after we returned home. But yesterday I finally got a chance to work on a few cards that I need for upcoming birthdays and such. Yesterday was my sweet DH's birthday so this card I made for him (yesterday). Can you say last minute. I should have done this one before we left for Boston.

My honey is a real handy man (not the James Taylor style). We spent yesterday out at our other property and I grabbed a bunch of crafting stuff to take with me but a Happy Birthday stamp was not in the mix. So he got this sentiment instead from Altenew Heart Flowers stamp set. The building tools are from Beccy's Place and are a freebie. I used a Neat & Tangles Polygon stencil for the background, inked with Broken China Distressed Oxide ink. The sentiment is die cut with Spellbinder;s Inverted Scalloped Circles. I kind of thought that looked more manly (like gears). The inside sentiment talks about putting aside your tools to celebrate your birthday with friends and family. This one turned out good, I think.

I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place: use a Beccy's Place image
• The Outlawz Sketch: sketch 
  
• Cards in Envy: let's hear it for the boys
• Tuesday Throwdown: what a guy
• Scribbles Design challenge: make it masculine
• Simply Create Too: for a male

We are still going through pictures of the wedding and waiting for the photographer to get back to us. I don't really have a good picture of the family yet. So I am going to wait a bit to see if we can find a better picture to post. But pictures are in the works. Thanks for stopping by and hanging in there in my absence. As I get caught up I hope to get back to commenting on your blogs too. Have a super week!

Donna