Belated Birthday

It's been a busy day today. We volunteered at Head Start this morning and Teacher's Warehouse this afternoon. Tomorrow we are on Halloween duty with the twins. It's supposed to be cold and rainy tomorrow so we will likely take them to the mall for trick or treat. They really don't understand what Halloween is all about so they will likely just run up and down the mall and tire themselves out. I'm sure their Mom will be happy about that.
I needed a belated birthday card for a birthday that I missed this month. So I made it a fall card.

The pumpkin image is from Bugaboo stamps called Pumpkin Season Tag. The sentiment is from WPlus9 Unforgettable stamp set. I heat embossed the sentiment with black embossing powder. The smaller line of the sentiment reads: It's your birthday that's hard to remember. The background paper is a tone on tone with little jack-o-lantern faces on it. It' kind of difficult to see in the photo.The orange stripes are very nice textured paper that has a fun grainy texture to it. I backed everything with black card stock to make the orange pop. I finished off with some black enamel dots.
I am entering these challenges:
Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch

Catch the Bug: photo inspiration 

Addicted to Stamps and More: pumpkins 

Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes

Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

Another busy day tomorrow. I volunteer at Opportunity House tomorrow morning. Need to make a grocery stop and then cook dinner before we pick the twins up from Head Start at 3pm. Trick or Treat with the twins in the evening and then take them home. I'm sure I will be ready for bed early tomorrow night. Hope you're week is going well. Thanks for stopping by today.

Donna

Magic Birthday Card

Tonight I have a quick birthday card for my BIL. Just a magic thrown in to make this card very simple.

Image is Magic card from QKR Stampede. The star-studded paper is from DCWV. Card base is white card stock.  Here's the inside of the card:

This image is One Year Older from QKR Stampede.
I am entering these challenges:

• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• Seize the Birthday: anything goes
• MFT Birthday Project: Feeling Sentimental
• Scrapping 4 Fun: anything goes
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• Twisted Thursday Outalwz: cute or creepy (I think this is cute!)

I hope your week is off to a great start. They finally began reconstructing our chimney after getting 2.5 inches of rain on Saturday that ran into our bedroom. Our ceiling is coming down. Hoping they have it fixed by the end of the week. Thanks for stopping by.

Donna

Joy of the Season

Happy weekend! Thanks for stopping by today. It's been a busy week. Tomorrow I volunteer at Opportunity House for their half price sale. It will be busy and time will go fast. Although we have 100% chance of rain so that may keep some people at home. Tonight I had a chance to work on a Christmas card.

The other day I found this stencil out in our garage. I have no idea where it came from. So I cleaned it up and used it on this card. I used Distress Oxide inks in Lucy Clover and Candied Apple. I then die cut the card stock with the Stitched Background from MFT Blueprints 13. The silver frame is from MFT Blueprints 32. The silver paper is from a package that I found today, so I am recycling. The sentiment is from Great Impressions and is heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I added some Lucy's gems and also I die cut 4 hearts from Paper Smooches Paw Prints and then glued them together for more texture. I am entering these challenges:

• Rudolph Days challenge: Christmas cards anything goes
• Creative Knockouts: embossing delight
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Lil Patch of Crafty Friends: anything goes
• The Outlawz Festive Friday challenge: Christmas

That's it for today. I hope to get some more creating time later tomorrow. So maybe I'll be back tomorrow or Sunday. Thanks for stopping by. Make it a creative weekend!

Donna

Fall Birthday

My last October birthday card today. I kind of started with this idea earlier this week but changed my thoughts and made the focal point the sentiment.

The sentiment is from Create with TLC. It's die cut with Gina Marie Designs Cross Stitched Rectangles. The background paper is from my stash. The leaves are fussy cut from some background paper by Lozzy. I popped each leaf up with dimensional tape. The card is kraft card stock.
I am entering these challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch 
  
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• MFT Birthday challenge: sentimental
• Pattie's Creations: autumn/halloween
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• The Outlawz Monday challenge: fall colors/halloween

I am a little under the weather today. Hope that things improve for tomorrow. We are supposed to start rebuilding the chimney tomorrow but we have 100% chance of rain. Hope we don't get water coming in. Make it an amazing week!

Donna

A Purrfect Birthday

Trying to catch up on birthday cards for this month so that's what I've been working on. The one I have tonight is for my youngest son. They have 2 kitties, a dog and then they also foster dogs quite often. The cats came first so that's what I used for my card this time.

The image is from Eureka Stamps called Big n Little Cat. I colored the image with  Spectrum Noir and Copic markers. The sentiment is from When the Scrap Hits the Fun. The paw stamp I found at the thrift shop I work at. A ten cent find! I finished it off with some Doodle Twine. I am entering these challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketch: sketch 
  
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• Seize the Birthday: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• Crafty Sentiments Designs: birthday

That's it for me tonight. We volunteered for the last time at Early Head Start today. So sad to leave those special teachers behind. They all do such an amazing job. But the twins turned three at the beginning of October and next week they will be starting at regular Head Start classes. So we;ll start volunteering at a new location next week. We'll still be with the twins. But they are growing up way too fast. {sigh} Have a super rest of the week. Take care!

Donna

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Here Comes Santa

Normally I post on the first of the month for the 12 Months of Christmas Link Up. But this month I was away on vacation for 3 weeks in September so my card for this month's challenge got pushed back to the 15th. So this is a reminder of the always "anything goes" Christmas challenge. We do add an optional twist each month. This month is Sensational Santa. Our sponsor this month is Limited Runs.

My image is Santa Mug from Limited Runs colored with Spectrum Noir markers and I added some Recollections glitter glue to give the Santa some texture. The sentiment is from the same set. The papers are from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles: 

I sure hope you will join us before the end of the month and show us what you've been working on for Christmas. I am entering these challenges:

• Try Stampin' On Tuesday: sketch 
  
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: Christmas
• The Outlawz Thursday challenge: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything goes Christmas

That's it for me today. Please check out my Dueling Darlings post by scrolling down. Have a super week!

Donna

Hello Pumpkin

It's already the 15th of October and time for another Dueling Darlings showcase! This month our challenge hostesses were Barb and Tracie. Tracie wrote: How could we not celebrate fall for the month of October? So Barb and I decided our theme for October is "Pumpkins."
Here's what was included in the kit:

• Image and sentiment are from Newton's Nook Designs called Harvest Tails; stamped on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.
• The designer paper is called Autumn Splendor by Simple Stories.
• Embellishments: ribbon is Pumpkin Pie from Stampin' Up, Flowers from Prima Flowers, twine and button from her stash.

I made 2 cards with Tracie's awesome kit. I colored both images the same with a mixture of Bic, American and Spectrum Noir markers. Here's the first card

:

I fussy cut the image after coloring and made a beeline for the plaid paper that Tracie included. (I LOVE plaid paper!) The 4 squares are die cut with MFT Inside and Out Stitched Rounded Squares. I used a different sentiment from Jillibean Soup's Jar Goodness. I added the pumpkins included in the kit to the middle of each square. I am entering these challenges:

• Atlantic Hearts Sketches: sketch 
  
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• Alphabet challenge: O is for one word sentiments
• Catch the Bug: happy fall y'all
• The Outlawz Monday Greeting challenge: fall colors or Halloween

Now for card #2.

For this card I just squared up the image with my paper trimmers. I distressed the image and sentiment with Gathered Twigs Distress ink. The scalloped border is from  a Stampin' Up punch. The sentiment is die cut with Impression Obsession Mini Rectangle Tags 2. I am entering these challenges:

• Stella Sketch challenge: sketch (turned sideways) 
  
• Creative Knockouts: fall
• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• Incy Wincy challenge: autumn (fall) colors

I hope you will check out all the dueling cards today. The links are in my right hand column. It's always a treat to see how the same materials can look so different on the cards. Thanks for stopping by today!

Donna

Christmas Cards Galore

Each year I have made my in-laws Christmas cards to send out. My FIL now does the sending and he likes to send religious cards. So each year I try to find a design that's fairly easy to do. I didn't succeed in that task this year. I was hoping to finish these while we were on vacation but I barely got them started. Hard to color while driving in the mountains. LOL!

I used a variety of markers on these cards. I was trying to use up older markers so not all the cards were colored the same. I did 31 cards in all. the image is Mother and Child by Paper Dreams of Mine. This was a freebie at one time but it isn't posted any longer. The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday Christ is Born. I used Gina Marie Designs Wine Bottle Labels to die cut the sentiments which were white heat embossed on black card stock. The cards are pretty simple but they took a while to make. I am entering these challenges:

• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: Christmas
• C.R.A.F.T. challenge: Christmas
• Christmas Crafting All Year Round: Angel or Nativity
• Winter Wonderland: merry & bright
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes
• The Outlawz Friday challenge: Christmas

I am super happy that I have these all done this year. So now I can't get back to making my own cards; Christmas or otherwise. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a wonderful day!

Donna

Grateful

There are so many things in my life that I am grateful for and I don't often enough recognize those people to whom I am grateful. I need to say "thank you" more often and let people know how much I appreciate what they do for me. So today I have some cards that I want to send for their kindness after my brother passed away in early September.

Details:

Stamps: MFT Grateful for You; leaf is digital but source unknown

Ink: Distress Oxide Spiced Marmalade

Dies: MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags

Embossing: white embossing powder on black card stock

Border: Zig Millenium marker

I am entering these challenges:

• The Male Room: stay cas 
  
• Incy Wincy challenge: autumn (fall) colors
• Simon Says Monday: fall/autumn
• Give a Crafter a Cookie: leaves 
  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• The Outlawz Monday Greeting: anything goes

Here are two of the things I am most thankful for in my life. My twin grandchildren. As promised I have a picture of the their third birthday party. Since we were on vacation I didn't have much prep time so I ordered a cake. Not what I would usually do but they seemed to enjoy it.

I can hardly believe they are 3 already. They grow so fast. Thanks for stopping by today. Have a super week!

Donna

Happy Birthday

After several weeks away and a wonderful trip to New England that gave us some time with our sons, we are back home and almost back to normal. I got through the mountain of laundry and dishes and shopping for the twins' 3rd birthday on Sunday. I can hardly believe it's been three years. We are having a party at brunch tomorrow. Our youngest is visiting for a wedding this weekend so he's really excited to be here for their birthday party. Since we were gone 3 weeks in September I didn't get their cards made but I did have a tag done for Arthur (last year) and I finished Valerie's tag today. So this year is the tag year.

Details:

Stamps: Bugaboo Autumn Brat Leaves

Dies: Lawn Fawn Stitched Party Banner, My Favorite Things Happy Birthday Circle, My Favorite Things Stitched Circle, Lawn Fawn Quinn's ABCs

Paper: My Favorite Things Sweet Celebrations 6x6 Paper Pack, purple card stock

Embellishments: ribbon, flowers, ric rac, and enamel dots from my stash

I am entering these challenges:

• MFT Sketch challenge: sketch 
  
• Catch the Bug: anything goes
• Creative Knockouts: lots of layers
• A Bit More Time to Stamp: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Addicted to Stamps and More: anything goes 
  
• Seize the Birthday: geometric shapes
• QKR Stampede: anything goes

Now I need to go wrap gifts for tomorrow's celebration. I'll be back with pictures of the twins party/ Thanks for stopping by. I hope to get back to crafting this next week. Hugs to you all!

Donna