Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards

 This is one of my favorite challenges of the year! Beccy of Beccy's Place does a month-long challenge and if I am reading the rules correctly, the projects can be for any holiday, not just Christmas. In years past I always thought it had to be Christmas projects but I read it differently this year. Technically, we here in Indiana aren't in November yet so my first card is a bit early. But it is November in Australia and the challenge is already up. I've been thinking about this card for a week and I really just did get it put together today. So I hope this one counts!

The prompts for the challenge usually follow the alphabet so I was thinking "A" when I did this card: A-frame and aperture card along with the antlers on that adorable deer. I fussy cut the deer and mounted him on a white textured background on the inside of the card. This cutie is a free image at Beccy's Place called Quilted Deer. I die cut the aperture with Gina Marie Designs Wonky Stitched Circles. So the fun stitched pattern gets embossed into to the card stock. I was going to do the same with the sentiment however I didn't have enough space to get the stitching around the oval. So I settled for just using the die cut from the Wonky Stitched Oval dies. I inked the oval with Candied Apple distress oxide ink and added some self-adhesive gems. The sentiment is from a Beccy's Place stamp set called Dasher and Dancer, one of my favorites (and I use that sentiment several times a year, so cute!) I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Month of Holiday Cards: my "A" card
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: anything Christmas goes
• The Outlawz Festive Friday challenge: Christmas
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• Crafty Sentiments Designs: anything goes

Last year I dedicated my November alphabet challenge to my grandson Arthur who was having fun learning the alphabet. This year I am going to dedicate it to his twin sister Valerie. Valerie let Arthur talk for her for more than a year and we were worried that she wasn't going to speak. And all of a sudden in the middle of the pandemic she started talking away. She would sing songs and recite nursery rhymes. And she is reading too. They both amaze me for just turning 4 years old. So here's to Valerie, this month. Thanks to Beccy for the fun challenge. I hope you'll join in. Thanks for stopping by. I have to scoot and get dinner ready as we are having guests this evening to play bridge. Stay safe, take care and God bless!

Donna

 

A Card Drive

 If you follow Jennifer McGuire you may have seen the new card drive that she promoted the other day. Ricky Bromero is asking for help in a card drive for Wild Hearts. I think I mentioned before that my son and DIL foster dogs and have their own pets: 2 cats and a dog. So I decided in honor of them to participate in this card drive. So here are the first of the cards that I made. It's a set of 9 cards but I only took a picture of 4 of them.

The image is called Paw Size Hole in Heart by My Scrap Chick. I printed the digi 9 times and fussy cut them out. The rainbow of colors in the background are scrap pieces that Teacher's Warehouse was going to throw away. I've got a huge stack of them in all different colors. So I thought I'd dig into my scrap box to find pieces to make the frames. The frames are die cut from Gina Marie Designs Scalloped Stitched Rectangles Frames. So I'm using up a bunch of scraps. The sentiments I used are stickers: Just for You and Thank You. I like the way they turned out and I have a good start on my collection for Wild Hearts. I am entering these challenges:

• Creative Knockouts: border time
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Simon Says Monday: movie inspiration (Benji)
• Love to Craft challenge: anything goes

That's it for me this evening. I hope that things go well tomorrow and I find some time to play. We'll see how things go. I hope your weekend is amazing. Stay safe, take care, God bless!

Donna

Joyful Thanksgiving

 Happy Thursday! Today I am volunteering several different places but finished a card last night that I wanted to get up on my blog.

My colorful card today features the freebie from Beccy's Place this month. I used the pre-colored version and the sketch from The Outlawz Wednesday Sketch challenge. The outside border is die cut with Gina Marie Designs Scalloped Stitched  Rectangle Frames. I used some striped designer paper from my stash and a ribbon from my ribbon stash. The sentiment is from Create with TLC. I am entering these challenges:

• Beccy's Place October challenge: use a Beccy's Place image
• The Outlawz Wednesday Sketch challenge: sketch 
  
• Creative Knockouts: border time
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

We've had over 2 and a half inches of rain overnight last night and more on the way. We need the rain but of course right now is when we are replacing things around here. Our furnace and AC will be replaced on Monday. Our 30+ year old system hasn't given out but we want to be proactive on that one. Our water heater will be replaced too and than lastly the roof. Hope you are creating and staying warm. Thanks for stopping by! Stay safe and healthy and God bless!

Donna

Puppy Pockets

 I am back for my second post today. It's raining now and looks like it could rain all night long (unless it turns to snow if our temperatures drop). My schedule is clear until Thursday so I won't mind if it snows tonight. LOL! It's way too early for snow but it wouldn't be the first time we got snow in October. I did get to play a bit more this afternoon and I took a page from Jennifer McGuire, who likes to make more than one card at a time. 

The images and sentiments are all from a new stamp set and dies that I bought during Stamptember from Simon Says Stamps. The collaboration set was from Newton's Nook called Pocketful of Happy (no longer available). I colored the puppy pocket with Spectrum Noir markers and used the paw print from the set to add some embellishment. The designer paper is from Francis Meyer, Inc. I die cut the A2 die from MFT Blueprint 13 and then cut it in half diagonally, to use on two different cards. The sentiments are different for each card. One says "Sending you ... paw-sitive thoughts!" The other says "Pocket full of ... Birthday Wishes." I am entering these challenges:

• Sketch-N-Scrap: World Cardmaking Day Sketch #4 
  
• NBUS challenge: use never before used schtuff
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Patterned Paper challenge: use patterned paper
• Jan's challenge: anything goes

I am going to try to find more time for crafting tomorrow. We'll see if my DH has other ideas. Thanks for stopping by. Stay safe, be healthy, and God bless!

Donna

We Three Kings

 Happy Monday! The start of another week and a feeling of relief. I finished my FIL's Christmas cards. All 30 of them are finished and ready to be written out. I just have to get them to him. Right now Ohio is closed to those of us who live in Indiana as we are a red state for Covid. Hopefully by Thanksgiving we'll be able to visit him and take him the cards. So here they are!

I will admit I had a little help die cutting some of the die cut pieces. My DH volunteered to die cut for me. I did all the yellow borders die cut from Gina Marie Designs Scalloped Stitched Frames. Tom helped with the Gina Marie Designs 3 Wise Men die cut and the star (for that I used another Gina Marie set called Crossed Stitched Rectangles (retired). Besides the rectangles it also has a heart, a flower and a star.) All the inking I did with Distress Oxide inks: Seedless Preserves, Orange Marmalade, and Fossilized Amber. I alternated which order I put the ink so I think some look like sunrise and some sunset. The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday's Christ is Born Stamp set. They look like such simple cards until you have to do 30 of them. I think the inking was the hardest part.  I did mention that my DH helped out so I wound up with several extra cards because of his die cutting skills.

Of course he was very confident that he didn't need tape to hold the dies in place and this was the result. I kind of liked the uphill climb so I used a few of the die cuts that weren't quite "perfect." I'll use these myself and won't give them to my FIL. LOL! I am entering these challenges:

• Rudolph Days challenge: anything Christmas goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas: make your own background
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: Layer it Up
• Merry Little Christmas: anything Christmas goes
• The Outlawz Festive Friday: Christmas

We got our flu shots this morning. Since we are over 65 now we get the heftier shot. Always fun! I am hoping to get some more crafty time this afternoon to work on some other things. I need to look ahead at November birthdays to make sure I have them all covered. I hope your week is off to an amazing start! Stay safe, stay healthy, and God bless!

Donna

Greetings from the Grave

 They have posted the Monday Greetings challenge over at The Outlawz. I am the guest designer for the month of October. It's been so fun to work with the team over there and the Oddball Art images that are sponsor gave us to work with. The theme for the next two weeks is to use parchment paper in some way on your project. Hmmm! I really thought about this one for a while and finally decided to ink the parchment paper for a background.

I used several colors of Distress Oxide inks to create the background from parchment paper and then used Gina Marie Designs Scalloped Stitched Frames (2 different sizes) to die cut the parchment paper. My parchment paper was very thin so this wasn't easy to work with, but I thought it came out okay. The images are from Oddball Art Creepy Cute Boo Baby Monsters. I colored them with Spectrum Noir markers and fussy cut each image and popped them up with foam tape from the background. The sentiment is from Craftin Desert Divas Batty For You stamp set (retired). I hope you'll come over to The Outlawz and see the other fun inspiration from the design team and then play along with the fun challenge. I am entering these challenges:

• Catch the Bug: color challenge 
  
• Creative Knockouts: Halloween 
• Modsquad challenge: spooky
• Sweet Stampers challenge: autumn/Halloween
• Crafty Sentiments Designs: anything goes

We had a blast with the twins today! They get cuter all the time. You just never know what's going to come out of their mouths. I needed to change Valerie's shirt so I got two shirts out of the drawer for her to choose from. I said, "I have a pink one or a blue one. What would you like?" Ans she said, "A cookie." LOL! Here's some pictures we took at the playground this morning. 

Arthur                                  Valerie

Thanks for stopping by today and checking out my card. Hope you have a wonderful week this week. Stay safe and take care! God bless!

Donna 

Birthday Girl!

 Happy Saturday! I spent the afternoon writing out Halloween and fall cards to send out. I can't believe it took me all afternoon to get them out. But with letters to write and the insides of each card to finish it takes a while to get them all together. I often wish I would do the insides when I do the front of the card but then I think I might not like what I put inside so I don't finish them. That's why it takes me so long to write them out. I feel like I should start finishing Christmas cards now so it doesn't take me forever to do those. But on a happy note I did finish a birthday card to add to my stack.

The image is the progressive image from The Outlawz challenge. The image is from Oddball Art by Lizzie Love called Sugar: the Zombie. We were given the zombie image and the same image without the zombie lines. I used the non-zombie image. The image is colored with Spectrum Noir markers and die cut with MFT Stitched Ovals. The background papers were given to me at a class on making a scrapbook. I found them on top of a stack and liked the color combination. I added some Doodlebug twine and some self-adhesive flowers. The sentiment is from Create with TLC. I printed, colored, and fussy cut the sentiment. The base is rusty brown card stock. I am entering these challenges:

• The Outlawz Progressive challenge: use Sugar image
• Sketch-N-Scrap challenge: sketch #179 
  
• Seize the Birthday: texture 

  
• Simon Says Wednesday: Layer it Up
• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes

Tomorrow we have the twins all day. So not much craft time tomorrow. I hope to get my FIL's Christmas cards finished this evening. I almost have all 30 of his cards done. Just need to finish up a few small things. Thanks for stopping by today. Hope your weekend is relaxing and crafty. Stay safe, take care and God bless!

Donna

Just Ducky!

 Happy Thursday! A Busy day today as we volunteer all day long at several different places. I actually started this card last night so I just needed to finish a few things on it this evening. I had to redo the stenciled background as the stencil glue got all over the card the first time. I learned a valuable lesson. LOL!

The image I used was from Eureka Stamps called Duck Border. I used Koh-i-Noor Woodless Pencils and mineral spirits to color most of the image. The edges I used a Spectrum Noir marker. The sentiment was a freebie from Create with TLC. For the leaves I used AlteNew's Leaf Burst Stencil and Mowed Lawn and Evergreen Bough distress inks. I die cut the front panel with the A2 die from MFT Blueprint 13 (retired). I like this one. I am entering these challenges:

• QKR Stampede challenge: anything goes
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• Scribbles Designs: feature a creature
• 613 Avenue Create: winged things
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

Tomorrow I hope to get some more play time but I have a few things to do around the house too. Hope you are excited about the coming weekend. Thanks for stopping by today. Please stay safe and God bless!

Donna

My Little Pretty

 Tuesday has almost come and gone but I managed to find time to make a card this evening. Finishing up some Halloween cards so I can send them out very soon. This one is for my darling granddaughter, Valerie.

The adorable little witch image is from Bugaboo Stamps, part of a set called Mini Set Cutesy Halloween Blocks. There are so many fun images in this set. I can't believe I haven't used this set before now.  I colored the image with Spectrum Noir markers. The sentiment is from Create with TLC and I don't think I've used this sentiment before either. I die cut the sentiment with Spellbinder's ATC Card dies, inked the rectangle with Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide ink and then outlined the rectangle with a black marker. The circular element behind the witch is Gina Marie Designs Wonky Stitched Circles. The background dotted paper is from my stash. Since Valerie likes to pick the gems off my cards I try to keep everything flat for her so she doesn't choke on anything so I used Orange Stickles on the witch's frame, buckle, and hair bows, also on the sentiment rectangle, and I dotted randomly on the spots on the background paper. So IRL this has a lot of sparkle. I think she'll like this! I am entering these challenges:

• Catch the Bug: bingo (sparkle/orange & black/die or punch or dots or stripes/Bugaboo image/die or punch) 
  
• Sketch-N-Scrap: World Card Making Day sketch #3 

  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• If You Give a Crafter a Cookie: photo inspiration 

  
• Cutie Pie challenge: too cute to spook

Thanks for stopping by to check out my latest. I thought I had a free day tomorrow but I got a call to help at Opportunity House tomorrow as a cashier and Thursday is my regular day to work there. So I'll be busy fr the next couple days. Stay safe and healthy and God bless!

Donna

Pizza my Heart

 Happy Thursday! We are heading toward Friday and the weekend. My FIL and DH's nephew are coming for a visit this weekend. I hope to work on my FIL's Christmas cards since he wants 30 of them. I've got a start so while they are out playing with all of Tom's equipment, I can work on putting together his Christmas cards. It would be so awesome to get them done this weekend. But before we leave for baby Creek I needed my son's birthday card done because I'll need to mail it first thing next week. So here's what I came up with for his birthday card!

The designer paper is from Imagine That! Digis by Kris as is the pizzas from a stamp set called Love You 2 Pizzas. I mounted the DP on a kraft card stock base. Then I added the top and bottom pizza and popped up the middle pizza to give it some dimension. The sentiment is from My Favorite Things Pizza My Heart stamp set stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink. The inside sentiment is also from the MFT stamp set (at least most of it. It says, 'Here's a Big Slice of Happy" and I added Birthday to it. I think this came out so cute. Hope he likes it! I am entering these challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch 
  
• Seize the Birthday: anything goes 

  
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• Tuesday Throwdown: sunny sentiment
• NBUS challenge: never before used schtuff (just got the sentiment set from MFT)
• Love to Craft challenge: anything goes

I am hoping to be back early next week with some more cards. Have to get through the weekend first. The twins will be coming out with their parents for lunch on Sunday. So we'll get to see them and they'll get to see their great-grandfather. Hope it's a fun weekend. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

FaBoolous Halloween

 Back again this evening with one more card today. Another Halloween card, this one using the progressive challenge image from Limited Runs. 

I used the pre-colored image this month since I was a little tight on time. IAs you can see I flipped the image to get the reverse and then printed them together and die cut them with MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags (retired) and inked along the edges with Black Soot Distress ink. The sentiment is from Create with TLC, die cut with Gina Marie Designs Wonky Stitched Circles, and inked with Spiced Marmalade Distress ink. The background paper is from my stash. I used scraps of four different papers on an orange card base. I am entering these challenges:

• Try Stampin' on Tuesday: sketch; optional spooky 
  
• Simon Says Monday challenge: spooky
• 613 Avenue Create: winged things (bats)
• Pattie's Creations challenge: autumn/fall
• Love to Craft: anything goes

That's about it for me tonight. It's been a very busy day. And tomorrow they asked me to cashier at Opportunity House in the morning. So it will be an early rise tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by and checking out my project today. Make this a wonderful week, stay safe and God bless.

Donna

Guest Designing at the Outlawz

 Happy Monday! Today I am guest designing with The Outlawz Monday Greetings challenge. The sponsor this month is Oddball Art by Lizzy Love and out theme is My Halloween. 

The adorable Dracula image is from Oddball Art. I colored the image with Spectrum Noir markers and die cut the image with Gina Marie Designs Wonky Stitched Ovals. The sentiment is from Create with TLC. I used three Halloween papers from my stash and black card stock for layering. I am entering these challenges:

• Cheerful Sketches: sketch 
  
• Sweet Stampers challenge: autumn/Halloween
• Catch the Bug: hello fall
• C.R.A.F.T. challenge: Halloween/Autumn/Thanksgiving
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes

I hope your week is off to a great start. As Covid cases continue to mount please stay safe out there. You are all in my prayers! God bless!

Happy Fall Y'All

 Another card for you today! I wanted to get some more crafting done since we will have the twins tomorrow and I can guarantee there will be no crafting while they are around, at least not card crafting. 

This was a fun one to make! The pumpkin frame image is from Eureka Stamps called Fall Frame. I colored it with Spectrum Noir, Copic and American Craft markers. The sentiment sign was added digitally into the frame and is from My Paper Craft World. The base is orange card stock, the layering is dark brown card stock and the patterned paper is from my paper stash. The image is die cut with MFT Stitched Squares as is the dark brown layering piece. The orange scallop is die cut and embossed with QuickKutz Doilies (retired). The banners are die cut with MFT Pierced Fishtail Flags (retired). I am entering these challenges:

• Tuesday Morning Sketches: sketch 
  
• C.R.A.F.T challenge: Halloween/Autumn/Thanksgiving
• QKR Stampede: anything goes
• Modsquad challenge: Hello pumpkin
• Crafty Friends challenge: use more than one die 

  

I hope you like my card today. I hope to have a little more time to craft today. We'll see how that works out as I have laundry, dishes and cooking to do. Hope your weekend is awesome. Thanks for stopping by. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Happy Birthday!

 I had a little bit of time this afternoon in-between our two volunteer Thursday jobs. So I played with a card. 

The image is Bugaboo Flower Teddy. I colored the image with Spectrum Noir markers and inked the background with distress oxide ink. The dotted paper is a 12 inch scrap that I pulled out of my box. The image was die cut with Lawn Fawn Stitched Party Banners and I die cut the rest of the dotted paper to add it to the bottom middle of the card. I tied the top of the banner with a scrap of green ribbon. I am entering these challenges:

• Catch the Bug challenge: anything goes
• Seize the Birthday: scraps
• 2 Crafty Critter Crazies: use a critter
• Through the Craft Room Door: anything goes
• QKR Stampede: anything goes

That's it for me this evening. Have lots to do before the twins come for the day on Saturday. Then we are taking a short trip in to Cincinnati to help my FIL with jobs around his house. So my crafting time won't be a lot in the next few days. Thanks for stopping by! Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

Spooky Pumpkins

 Happy middle of the week! I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted, but there hasn't been a lot of time to craft lately. The twins turned 4 yesterday and we had them and their parents for dinner and a little celebration. Lots of fun! And after they went home I did get a chance to sit down and craft a little bit. And finished up today.

The pumpkin images are from Pattie's Creations called Three Pumpkins. I colored the image and the sentiment with Spectrum Noir, Copic, and American Craft markers. I pumpkins were die cut with Gina Marie Designs Cross-Stitched Rectangles (retired). Also used those dies to make the black card stock mat for the image. The sentiment, from Create with TLC, was colored and fussy cut. The stripe designer paper is from my scrap box. I added an orange border die cut with Spellbinders Classic Triple Scallop dies. The card base is a very shiny black card stock. I'm not sure what company or where I got it. To finish it off I added three self-adhesive pearls. I am entering these challenges:

• Sketch Saturday: sketch (rotated) 
  
• Pattie's Creations challenge: autumn/fall
• Modsquad challenge: hello pumpkin
• Catch the Bug challenge: anything goes
• Love to Craft challenge: anything goes

Hope your week is going well. Thanks for stopping by today. Stay safe and God bless!

Donna

New Challenge at 12 Months of Christmas Link Up

 Can you believe it's October already? Our leaves are turning here and though it seems a bit early for us, there has been little rain for many weeks so I don't think we will have a very colorful fall. Everything is brittle so I believe the leaves will just drop off and there won't be anything left. So now that October is here have you started your Christmas cards yet? There is a new challenge at 12 Months of Christmas Link Up. The challenge is always anything goes but we have a fun twist each month if you care to incorporate it. This month we have a color challenge.

You can use any three of the colors in your design. I happened to use all the colors on my card because it was so easy to do so because of the image I chose to use.

The image is from this month's sponsor, Pattie's Creations. The image is called Christmas Wreath 2014. I simply found Spectrum Noir markers for each of the colors and randomly colored in circles of the wreath. I used the Magnolia Berry Lace die to die cut the edge of my card and then colored the berries in leaves with a marker. I fussy cut the wreath and added a Birch Press Merry Sugar Script die cut. The word "Christmas" was stamped from AlteNew Halftone Holidays stamp set. The designer paper is on from the new set Lisa Designed for this challenge called Foil Textured Festive Colors Patterned Paper Mini Kit.

You can win the entire kit or the most popular paper in the pack. Check out all the rules at 12 Months of Christmas Link Up. While you are there check out what the rest of the design team created. You won't be disappointed. Then come play along with us this month.

I am entering these challenges:

• A Bit More Time to Craft: anything goes
• Simon Says Wednesday challenge: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Christmas challenge: anything goes; for someone special
• Penny's challenge: anything goes
• Crafty Hazelnut Patterned Paper: use patterned paper

Thanks for stopping by today. Welcome to October. Hope it's a great month for you! Please stay safe and God bless!

Donna