Last of the March Birthdays!!!

When March rolls around, I know that I need to get busy making birthday cards. There are so many of them between my family and my friends. This one will be for my aunt. Her birthday is tomorrow.

I used Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge to start me off. The more I look at this card, the happier I am. This is a good thing because this card has taken me close to two hours to make!!! Nothing seemed to go right at first, but it finally took a turn for the better. Thank goodness I had such a great sketch to start off with...Thanks Beate! I used many of my new goodies...Square Nesties (Scallop and Classic), Imaginisce paper, and my new flower stamp is also from Imaginisce. I picked it up for $1.00 at my local scrapbook store. I colored it up with my Watercolor Pencils and Stampin' Up Blender Pen. I also used Papertrey Ink's Paper Tray set for the sentiment, some May Arts ribbon, and some of Stampin' Up's Pumpkin Pie Card Stock. Hopefully, Aunt Loretta will like it too!

Thanks so much for stopping by...Toodles! :D

Happy Friday!

One of the best days of the week...isn't it! I'm having such a good day! I've gone to the gym, the beds are made, the dishes are done, I had a fun time chit-chatting with a friend on the telephone, and I had the chance to make a card!

This delightful Stampendous stamp arrived yesterday and I couldn't wait to make something with it. I also used a sweet sentiment from A Muse and some more of that adorable For Peep's Sake paper from Imaginisce. My little owl friend is stamped with Black Stazon onto some Paper Trey White Card Stock and then colored up with my colored pencils and a Stampin' Up Blender Pen. My new square Nesties also arrived yesterday (yes...I'm spending some of my birthday cash...lol!) My card base, Scalloped Square Nestie, and the one inch paper pierced strip are all made from Stampin' Up's Chocolate Chip. I used my Stampin' Up Ticket Corner Punch and some Doodlebug brads in each corner and I added some May Arts organdy from Sweet Miss Daisy to finish the whole thing off.

I hope that you are having a happy day too! So glad that you could stop by...Toodles! :D

A Color Challenge and a CASE!

Stampin' Up's Seeing Spots is one of those stamp sets that sits in my pile of "Do I keep these, or let them go!" It's a great set, but I just don't use it enough. I saw it sitting there today and decided that it needed some much deserved inking. Then I was looking through some cards that I have as Favorites and found this FANTASTIC one made by Jillery over on SCS! I decided to pair off today's color challenge with this wonderful design and this is what I came up with. Thanks so much to Jillery for the inspiration! I used Whisper White, Bashful Blue, and Basic Black. My Creative Memories circle punches and cutting system came in handy today. Big Lots had this terrific black, stitched grosgrain around Halloween, so I snatched some up, and the Bashful Blue Grosgrain is from Sweet Miss Daisy's store. A lot of paper piercing to tie it all together and here is my version of Jillery's card!

I hope it is Spring-like in your neck of the woods. Thanks so much for stopping by...Toodles! :D

Happy Easter!

Well, the Easter festivities are finishing up here. The dishes are done. The eggs have been found, and a few chocolate bunnies are missing some ears! Did you enjoy your day? I certainly hope so!

I thought that I'd share a quick card that I made in minutes this morning. It starts off with an A Muse 4 Bar Kitchen Note Card in Blueberry. The Elzybells Daffodil Chick is stamped in Black Stazon and then colored up with watercolor pencils and a Stampin' Up Blender Pen. I quickly free handed a tag shape (I know...it's not perfect, but that's okay) and then layered that onto a scrap of Pumpkin Pie. Next, I added a little black button and some orange thread to finish it off. The Certainly Celery piece was made by using the A Muse Scalloped Line and then I just cut the scallop part out and added some of the new A Muse Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon. The Happy Easter sentiment is from one of the Studio G $1.00 Clear Packs from AC Moore.

This has got to be one of the quickest cards that I have ever made, and best of all...I am actually happy with the way it turned out! So glad that you could stop by...Toodles! :D

Such a Fun Sketch!!!

Putting all of these different patterns and colors together is not usually something that I do...but it is definitely something that I think others do very well. (Yes, I'm speaking of Becky Rusher and Michelle Wooderson...lol!)

Here's my attempt at this past Tuesday's Sketch Challenge over on Splitcoaststampers. I was able to get my hands on some of that adorable Imaginisce For Peep's Sake paper that Trudee has been designing up a storm with! This was such a fun sketch and a great excuse to cut into this delightful paper. My card base is Papertrey's Stamper's Select White. After I decided on which papers to put together, I then added some touches of Certainly Celery. I see so many cardmakers use their oval punch as an accent and it seemed to work well here with the addition of some Doodlebug Brads. My Scallop Circle Punch fit perfectly with this circle shaped Happy Easter which is a Studio G $1.00 Clear Stamp from AC Moore. The center of the circle originally had an Easter egg, but when I discovered that this little fellow from A Muse's Elzybell collection fit in the center...well, you know how much I LOVE my Elzy stamps, I just HAD to use it. A few dimensionals here and there, some paper piercing, and some celery striped May Arts ribbon and there you have it.

I hope that all of you that celebrate Easter have a beautiful day! I am so glad that you took the time to stop by...Toodles! :D

Technique Challenge Gone Wrong!!!

Before I go into detail about the card, I just want to send a big THANK YOU to all of my A Muse Addict friends and to my SCS friends for all of the Birthday cards and wishes! I had a wonderful day and you all made it even more special!

Now...onto the card! I was thrilled to be able to participate in today's SCS Technique Challenge, but no matter what type (or color) of ink I used, I couldn't seem to achieve the whole look. I'll try again later on because it really is a neat technique, but this is the best that I could do for today.

I have had this wonderful stamp for over a year and decided that it needed some inking! It's made by Inkadinkado. After choosing Rose Red and So Saffron for my color choices, I got right to work. The image is stamped onto watercolor paper with Black Stazon and then colored with my watercolor crayons. I added Star Dust Stickles for some sparkle. The card started off being a rectangle, but then I folded part of the front panel back and tied on the May Arts Polka Dotted Ribbon and the Saffron Grosgrain from Sweet Miss Daisy. There seemed to be too much Saffon on the right side of the card, so I just cut that part off and turned my rectangle into a square. It has taken me a little while, but I'm finally happy with the way it turned out. So glad that you could stop by today...Toodles! :D

Jen's Sketch!

It feels so good to have a chance to stamp!!! Because it has been a little while, I went looking for some inspiration to get me started. It didn't take me long to find Jen del Muro's Weekend Sketch For You to Try. Her blog is always filled with inspiration and I love it when she gives us a challenge as well! You can find the sketch here if you'd like to play along too.

My last Stampin' Up order (Boho Backgrounds and One of a Kind) was just sitting there waiting to be cut and inked up, so I quickly got to work! One of my favorite color combinations is Not Quite Navy and Certainly Celery, so that was my choice for today's card with some Whisper White thrown in here and there. I also used my Boho Blossoms Punch and Scalloped Circle Punch (both from Stampin' Up) and some of those Kaiser Craft Pearls that I have completely fallen in love with! This is for a friend's upcoming birthday. Let's hope she likes my favorite color combination too!

I'm looking forward to a lot of stamping this upcoming week!!! So glad that you could stop by...Toodles! :D

A Card to Share With YOU!

I am told that in one more week, my long-term substituting position will be finished, and then things will be close to "back to normal!" Whatever normal may be...lol!

Here is a card that I made for some of my loved ones that will be celebrating anniversaries very soon. I just love this Stampendous image. I was able to snatch it up from Anna Wight's eBay store. I can see this fun couple of owls being used in many different ways, but I really like them for anniversary cards. The sentiment is from Penny Black (another one of my favorite stamp companies). Bashful Blue was used for the card base with accents of Chocolate Chip. These two colors seemed to go well with my Chatterbox designer paper. I added some paper piercing and chocolate colored brads to finish it off. Where I need so many anniversary cards, I thought that simple would be best.

Have a wonderful week everyone! I hope to be able to get a few more cards done this week to share with you. So glad that you could stop by...Toodles! :D

It Has Been Awhile!

Now, I'll be the first to say that my photography skills are not the greatest, but I just had to share something with you...lol! I have been quite busy substituting which has left little time for creating anything along the lines of crafty. The Principal needs me to stay on two more weeks, but hopefully I will be able to find a moment to make a few cards to share on my blog.

Our area was hit with about 8 more inches of the fluffy stuff this weekend! As much as I am longing for Spring, I just love freshly fallen snow! Once the storm was over, we headed out to Old Sturbridge Village for a lovely walk. This photograph is one of the historic buildings on the site. It is such a lovely place to visit any time of year.

On another note, I still haven't heard from my last blog candy winner, so I have pulled another name and the new winner is Anna Wight!!! (Now, that is someone who really knows about photography!) Congratulations Anna! I'll get these stamps out to you this week. Have a wonderful week everyone! So glad that you could stop by...Toodles! :D