Happiness Always

Happy Friday everyone! It has been a beautiful day here in New England...warm, but not too humid. A perfect, summer day! The card I have to share with you today is for this week's Blogger's Challenge...Black, White, and the color of your choice (in this case, Baja Breeze). This challenge came at just the right time. My in-laws have a wedding to go to soon and these are the colors from the invitation. My mother-in-law asked if I could come up with a card for her to give to the bride and groom, and here it is. I pulled out a set that I that I really like, but seldom seem to ink up...Stampin' Up's Baroque Motif. The sentiment comes from an older SU set, Happy Harmony (one of my favorites). I used my Nesties for the squares and I added a few pearls to give it an elegant look. Let's hope she likes what I came up with!

Be sure to stop by and see what the other Ladies from the BC group have come up with. The links to their blogs can be found here. Thanks so much for visiting with me...Toodles! :D

Just Splashing By!

Good Monday to you! I hope that you had a wonderful weekend! I thought that I was going to be able to post this yesterday, but the day got away from me. My family went golfing and I went shopping with my parents! It was a very good trip. I bought a new shower curtain and some bathroom accessories, a couple of new pairs of pants for when I head back to school, and then we headed out to a stamping/scrapbooking store, and of course, I found a few things there as well. It was a terrific day!

On Saturday, I somehow came across a "new to me" stamping company when I was exploring some crafty things on etsy. It is called, 2 Cute Rubber Stamps. You all know how much I {heart} cute stamps, so I bought a few of Heidi's digital images, and I must say...they are quite CUTE!! This adorable pair is called Manatee Friends. I printed them on Beckett Expressions card stock and colored them up with Copic Markers (BG10, C0, C1, C3, C5, C7, C9, E00, E01, E35, E37, R20, R29, YG13, YG17, YR15, and the Colorless Blender). Some Star Dust Stickles were added for a bit of sparkle too. I needed a layout with a large area for the main image so I headed over to Karen Giron's blog and just as luck would have it...her Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge for this week was perfect! I dug out my Coluzzles for the ovals and then I distressed them a bit. The patterned paper is from yesterday's shopping trip. It is from TPC Studio. I love these polka dots. The other side has these wonderful rows of ocean critters, but that was much too busy for this creation. I sewed the polka dotted square to a layer of Certainly Celery and attached that to a white card base. Then I added a strip of Certainly Celery with a touch of May Arts gingham and some more sewing to dress it up. The sentiment is a free digital one from Pink Cat Studio. I added an American Crafts button to finish it off. I don't make too many square cards, but I really like how this one turned out. Hope you do too! Enjoy the rest of your day, and thank you so much for stopping by for a visit...Toodles! :D

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Can you believe that it is already Friday? I don't know where the week went to! Friday brings Blogger's Challenge and this week's challenge is to create a project with something recycled.

We are big fans of the Toy Story movies in our home. I bought my little one a shirt at Target after our family saw Toy Story 3 and I decided to recycle the price tag from the shirt. With the large "3" in Rex's mouth, I thought that this would work perfectly for an upcoming three year old's birthday that we will be celebrating. The papers are reused pieces from a scrapbooking page that I did many years ago. They are so old that I don't even remember the manufacturers, but I thought that the bright colors would work well with my Disney/Pixar image. My scrap pile is being reduced now, so that's a good thing! I used a Making Memories button to cover up the hole where the tag was attached to the shirt.

A rather quick and easy creation, but I'm happy with how it turned out. I'm anxious to see what the other Ladies have recycled. If you'd like to see what they have come up with, just click on the Blogger's Challenge logo on the right side of my blog. Have a happy Friday and thanks so much for stopping by for a visit...Toodles! :D

Bloggers Challenge Sketch!

Here we are...Sunday evening, and I'm just posting my card for Friday's Blogger's Challenge. Our challenge for this week is this wonderful sketch from our "Challenge Mom" Lisa Somerville. I'm late with my posting because I went to Cape Cod this weekend to have a little stamping fun at A*Muse*a*palooza. My card was ready for Friday, but I couldn't post because even though I'm lucky enough to stay with my dh's aunt when I travel to the Cape, I'm not so lucky to have internet access...lol! Now that you know why I'm posting so late (so sorry) and you've seen the sketch that we were given, here is my card...

I recently placed an order with Elzybells Stamps in the United Kingdom and they arrived this past week. This sweet image and sentiment came all the way across the pond to have a new home in my little stamping studio! The image is colored with Copic Markers (B0000, B00, BG10, BG18, BG72, C9, G21, G28, Y11, Y21, YR15, and the Colorless Blender) and I embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder. The card base is Stampin' Up's Not Quite Navy and the patterned paper is from the Girl Friday collection by Cosmo Cricket. The image and the patterned paper are layered with Cool Caribbean. I added some matching organdy ribbon and a button to go along with the sketch. A rather simple card, but I'm quite happy with how it all came together.

I'm having withdrawl from not having my computer all weekend...lol, so I'm anxious to see what the other Ladies from the BC group have come up with. If you'd like to see their creations too, just click on the Blogger's Challenge logo in my right side bar. I hope that you have a beautiful start to the week! Thank you so much for visiting me this evening...Toodles! :D

Mary Jo's Sketch?!?!?

Happy Tuesday! I have quite a few question marks in my title because what started off as Mary Jo's Monday Lunchtime Sketch Challenge went a little off track...lol! After I had the card all glued together, I realized that I forgot to put the vertical strip that is shown on the left side of the sketch...ugh! (You'll just have to use your imagination and picture it there...lol!)

I started off with this Heather Ellis/My Favorite Things Pure Innocence image. She's colored up with Copic Markers (BG000, BG10, BG11, E000, E00, E01, E29, E37, R20, R27, R29, Y21, Y32, YG13, YG17, and the Colorless Blender) and I used my Nesties for the rectangles. The patterned paper is more retired Stampin' Up pieces from my stash with some Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, and retired Cool Caribbean accent layers. A touch of ribbon, a pair of buttons, and some different stitches done with my Janome Sew Mini complete my card.

I'm so glad that you could drop by this evening for a visit! Thanks a bunch! I'll see you again soon...Toodles! :D

Fun in the Sun!

Happy Monday Everyone! I hope that you had a great weekend! We spent yesterday at a pool party with a bunch of family friends. After a day of soaking up the sun and cooling off in the water, I was inspired to start this card. It is for Jen's Sketch For You To Try over on her blog. Her SFYTT Sisters (who has also provided me with an abundance of inspiration) have had some beautiful creations with sweet mermaid images from a company called Your Next Stamp. I don't have any stamps from this company, YET...lol! However, I do have this delightful mermaid image from Pink Cat Studio so I set off to work. My little mermaid girl was colored up with Copic Markers (B0000, B02, C1, C3, C5, E000, E00, E01, E29, E37, R20, Y21, Y35, YR00, YR15, and YR18.) Then I applied Star Dust Stickles to give her lots of sparkle. The colors came from a piece of Crate paper that I found in my stash. To go with the sketch, I added a piece of Making Memories polka dotted paper and a few Making Memories buttons. I used my Janome Sew Mini for the zig-zag stitching that attaches these papers to some Stampin' Up Pumpkin Pie. I also used a square of Pumpkin Pie with my Nesties to get the scalloped square. The blue square is a piece of Core'dinations card stock that I embossed with my 'Bug. Then I added a sentiment from A*Muse to finish off the sketch.

Enjoy your Monday and thank you so much for stopping by for a visit...Toodles! :D

An Inspiration and a Sketch Challenge!

Happy Friday Everyone! I hope that you had a wonderful week! We have been blessed with some beautiful weather here in New England...very hot and very humid! Luckily, we have been swimming everyday and just enjoying all that summer has to offer. I've been getting a lot of stamping time in this week too. I'm very thankful for that! For today's creation, (I actually posted two other times this week...lol!) the Blogger's Challenge players were given the above photograph as inspiration. From that photograph, I created this card...

I was really inspired by the colors in the bedding (a teal blue, chocolate brown, a bit of yellow, and a touch of green and pink). This week's Wednesday Stamp Club from My Favorite Things is a sketch challenge, so I started with that and from there I added this MFT Pure Innocence image called Happy Mail. She's colored up with Copic Markers (BG11, BG13, C1, C3, E000, E00, E01, E25, E29, R20, R27, R29, RV11, RV34, Y21, Y32, and the Colorless Blender). Following the sketch, I used some Stampin' Up patterned papers from an older Simply Scrappin' kit. The colors in the paper were a great match to the bedding. I added an MFT Die-namics sun of So Saffron to my card with a button for the center and then I added a few Making Memories brads. The Chocolate Chip panel was embossed in my 'Bug for some added texture. For more inspiration with this fun bedding, you can check out what the other Ladies from the Blogger's Challenge group have come up with here. Enjoy your weekend and thank you for stopping by for a visit...Toodles! :D

Color Throwdown #100

Like I said last week, part of my goal this summer has been to stamp more and to participate in some of the challenges that I can't always seem to do during the school year. I always enjoy the color challenges that the Color Throwdown team comes up with, so today I made time to try out their 100th challenge! This week's colors are some of my favorites...Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Real Red, and Baja Breeze. You can find their challenge here if you'd like to join in too. I went with a clean and simple design. The sentiment and leaves are from Papertrey Ink's Everyday Button Bits and then I used some buttons from my stash (Foofoola, American Crafts, and Making Memories) to coordinate with the challenge colors. I added a piece of Certainly Celery Twill to finish this design off. I hope that you have a beautiful day and thanks so much for stopping by for a visit...Toodles! :D

More Challenges!

This evening I decided to try my hand at the Guest Designer Challenge for My Favorite Things! In honor of Independence Day here in the United States and Canada Day in Canada, we were to make a card using red and blue. The other challenge for me was to pull out my Janome Sew Mini and try some actual sewing on a card for a change. It's not perfect, but not bad for my very first attempt! (If I do say so myself...lol!) A huge thanks to Gina K. and StampTV for helping me figure out how to use the machine.

My main image is from MFT and it is called Start the Day with WHEE! Then I used one of the sentiments from another MFT set called Tree Swing. I used my Copic Markers to color everything up (B0000, B21, B23, B24, E000, E00, E01, E25, E29, E33, E40, E42, E44, R20, R27, R29, YG13, YG17, and the Colorless Blender.) The patterned paper is from Scenic Route. My Nesties worked well for the circle and scallop circle. I also used my Die-namics Jumbo Scallop Border from MFT and dressed that up with a few buttons and a touch of gingham ribbon.

Have a lovely evening in your neck of the woods! Try to stay cool...we are having a heat wave here in New England! Thanks so much for visiting...Toodles! :D

Happy Birthday America!

Fourth of July weekend is upon us here in the United States, and our Blogger's Challenge for today is a patriotic theme. I started off with my little Biker Bee from Stampendous. He's colored up with Copic Markers (B00, B12, B14, C3, R20, R27, R29, Y21, and the Colorless Blender) and I added a little touch of Star Dust Stickles for some sparkle. I used my Nesties for the square and the scallop square. The gingham papers are from A Muse and they are accented with Stampin' Up's Real Red. The happy birthday sentiment is from the My Favorite Things set Little Loveosaurus. I finished this one off with some American Crafts buttons and a strip of ribbon from my stash. I'm off to check out what the other Ladies from the Blogger's Challenge group have come up with. You can find the links to their blogs here. Have a beautiful day and thanks so much for stopping by...Toodles! :D