Where, Oh Where...

...Has my stampin' mojo gone? Oh where, oh where can it be? I just can't seem to get things to go together the way that I want lately. Please say that this happens to you too sometimes!! Here is my best effort at the sketch from the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club. You can find all of the details to play along here.

I started off with this Pure Innocence cutie called Something Special Just For You. She is colored up with Copic Markers (C1, C5, C7, C9, E000, E00, E01, E23, E25, R81, R83, and RV11) and paper pieced with some Memory Box polka dotted paper. The other patterned paper is from Echo Park and it is accented with Pink Pirouette and Basic Black card stock. My other accents include some black brads, the My Favorite Things Die-namics Decorative Doily Duo Die (the larger of the two pack), the MFT Die-namics Notched Tag Die and Stamp Set, some MFT felt for the sweet, little heart, the Seeing Spots embossing folder, a Papertrey Ink button, and lots of machine stitching.

That's about it for me this afternoon. I'm off to finish making dinner. Thanks so much for visiting with me! I truly appreciate it! Enjoy the rest of your evening...Toodles! :D

Making Blogger's Challenge Shiny!

Happy Friday Friends! I am trying something new today. I have always wanted to make a calendar with some rubber stamps and other crafty things. This week's Blogger's Challenge is to make anything but a card, so I thought that this would be a great time to try one. Just head over to Lisa's blog to play along with this week's Blogger's Challenge.

I started off by inking up this sweet image from The Cat's Pajamas. He is from the Deep Breath set. I used Copic Markers (B41, B45, C1, C3, E01, E11, E13, E15, R20, R22) to color up my skating friend and then I fussy cut him out. This week's TCP Tuesday Challenge is to create shiny embellishments, so I added a skating pond and some snowflakes made with some mirror paper. To make the snowflakes, I simply used the new Snowflakes Lace Paper CutUps die. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this new CutUps die!! I also added the sentiment from the TCP Skating Bunny set. The patterned paper is from Memory Box. Here is a close up of the crafty part.

So there you have it...my first calendar page. I'll be ready for 2012! Hopefully, I'll be able to make a new page each month. Thanks so much for stopping by to visit with me. I really appreciate it! Have a wonderful weekend...Toodles! :D

Sending Smiles!

Hello Friends! It's Columbus Day here in the States so I have the day off from school. I was able to squeeze in a little bit of stamping this morning, and here is my card for the sketch from the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club. You can find all of the details here on the My Favorite Things Blog.

I started off with Fred Bear from the MFT Oopsie Daisies set. He's colored up with Copic Markers (E23, E25, G82, G94, R29, R59) and then I fussy cut him out. The sentiment is from the My Favorite Things Pure Innocence Poppy set. I used some Papertrey Ink (Kraft card stock), October Afternoon (yellow print), and Memory Box (red dots) papers and I added a couple of different stitches to the layers with my sewing machine. The circle piece was cut out with the Classic Circle Nestibilities and then embossed with the Seeing Spots embossing folder. My other accents include some Kraft seam binding from Stampin' Up, a Papertrey Ink button, and a kraft heart made with the MFT Die-namics Hearts a Plenty dies.

I hope that you enjoyed your day! Thanks so much for stopping by to visit with me...Toodles! :D

Hello Pumpkin!

Happy Monday Friends! Hope that you are all well. It was a beautiful day here in New England...sunny, cool...my favorite time of the year!

Autumn is definitely my favorite season. My card for today has some of the wonderful colors of fall and of course, a big ole pumpkin. My inspiration came from Tuesday's Challenge from The Cat's Pajamas. You can find the inspiration photograph here. I knew that I wanted to use the Hello Pumpkin set from TCP, but I wasn't quite sure how the whole thing was going to come together until I came home from school today and saw the sketch from the Mojo Monday Challenge blog. You can find the sketch here. My main image is paper pieced with some My Mind's Eye paper and colored up with Copic Markers (C9, R29, R29, YG95, YR16, and YR18.) I used a wide assortment of papers...Recollections, My Minds Eye, Memory Box, and Papertrey Ink card stock. The ribbon is from May Arts and the button is from PTI.

That's about it for this creation. Thanks so much for visiting with me this evening...Toodles! :D

God Bless America!

Happy Sunday Friends! Today's card is for this week's Blogger's Challenge...Stars. (Please click here to go to Lisa's Blog for more details and the link to play along.) We could interpret the theme however we wanted. I held off until today to post because today marks the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks here in the United States. I had hoped to write something eloquent about my feelings on that day, but I still fill up with tears each time I think about it. All of the memories and the emotions of that fateful day fill my heart whenever it is even mentioned. So on that thought, here is my very simple card for the challenge. I used cream and navy card stock, and some red patterned paper from Memory Box. The stars were made with Die-namics from My Favorite Things, and the sentiment was made on my computer. The button is from Papertrey Ink and I finished it off with some Divine Twine from The Cat's Pajamas. My family and I made a few more of these cards today so that we can send them to our soldiers to express our gratitude for all that they do. Thank you for stopping by today. I wish you all a beautiful day...Toodles!

Mixing Things Up!

Happy Monday everyone, and to my friends here in the States...Happy Labor Day! It has been a busy weekend, so it's nice to have a day off from work and do a few things around the house. It also gives me some extra stamping time. I have two cards to share with you today. They combine some of my favorite challenges too. First up is this adorable penguin trio from the Hello Pumpkin set from The Cat's Pajamas. The TCP Tuesday challenge is to use an image with wings, so I went with penguin wings. I used a few Copic Markers (YG13, YG17, YR15, YR16) to color up the small areas of the image. My sketch is from Jen Del Muro's September Sketch For You To Try. The patterned papers are from Memory Box. I added a Papertrey Ink button with some TCP Divine Twine to the sentiment and then I used the Button CutUps from TCP to dress up the bottom corner of my card.

My next card combines the sketch from the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club with the My Favorite Things Guest Designer Contest. This month's contest is to use ripping and rolling in our designs. I took care of the ripping part by using a ruler to rip the straight edges on my Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934 patterned paper layers. I also ripped a few of the card stock layers. I used a distressing tool to clean them up a bit. The rolling part was easy. I used the MFT Die-namics Rolled Rose die with some MFT Banana Wool Felt and a pearl for the center of the blossom. My other accents include the MFT Die-namics Simply Scallops Die with a few pearls and the sentiment was stamped onto a die cut made with the MFT Die-namics Textile Rectangle set. The star of this card is this lovely girl from the MFT a la modes - Cheers set. She is colored up with Copic Markers (B0000, C7, C9, E00, E23, E25, E40, R11, Y21, Y32, and the Colorless Blender.) A touch of Star Dust Stickles on the champagne flute complete my creation.

Thanks so much for visiting with me today. Have a wonderful week...Toodles! :D

Sketches!!!

Good Morning Friends! Our power just came back on, so I thought that I'd better post quickly before we end up losing it again. We lost a little bit of food in our refrigerator, but aside from that, we faired Hurricane Irene pretty well. I'm grateful that we only lost power, water, and telephone for 17 hours. Things could have been much worse.

Luckily, I had Jen's August Sketch For You To Try and last Wednesday's sketch from the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club printed out. Just click on the colored links to see the sketches and play along. I couldn't do any sewing on my cards, but I was happy that I could still make cards.

First up, Jen's sketch. I used this darling little ant from High Hopes Rubber Stamps. She's colored up with Prisma Color Pencils. I used Papertrey Ink Kraft card stock for the card base. It's embossed with the Seeing Spots embossing folder. The sentiment and gingham paper are from A*Muse. The flowered paper is from October Afternoon and the orange print is from Stampin' Up. I also added a Stampin' Up button and some Divine Twine.


My other card is for the MFT Sketch. I colored up and paper pieced this sweet little Pure Innocence girl from the MFT Make Mine A Double set. This time around, I used my Copic Markers (BG000, BG72, E000, E00, E01, E23, E25, E33, G20, G21, G94, G99, and R11). The white and Kraft card stock is from Papertrey Ink and I used some papers from the Minuet collection from Memory Box. My accents include the MFT Die-namics Textile Rectangle for the sentiment piece, Baker's Twine, a Stampin' Up button, and the MFT Die-namics Little Open Scallop Strip.

Thanks so much for visiting with me. Have a beautiful day...Toodles! :D

Challenges! Challenges! Challenges!

Happy Friday Friends! We have one more week before school starts here and I feel like the summer is slipping away! We are trying to squeeze in everything that we can before we head back. Today, we went to the SEE Science Center in Manchester, New Hampshire. They have a LEGO display of the Millyard in Manchester from the early 1900's. It was wonderful! The science center is perfect for children around seven years old and younger. It's well worth the trip if you are in the area.

My card for today combines a few challenges. The sketch is for this week's Blogger's Challenge. You can find all of the details to play along on Lisa's Blog. Then, last week, I wanted to play along in the TCP Tuesday Challenge, but I ran out of time. The challenge was an inspiration challenge. You can find the photograph on Alma's blog. It was filled with reds and greens and Christmas items (trees, ornaments, holiday place settings), and made for the perfect opportunity to pull out my TCP Deep Breath set. I colored up this sweet bunny with Prismacolor Pencils and fussy cut him out. I used some papers from Memory Box and The Girls' Paperie. This week's TCP Tuesday Challenge is to use felt. (You can find all of the details to play along here.) I grabbed my MFT Let It Snow Die-namics to make some felt snowflakes and then I added some little buttons (made with the TCP Buttons CutUps) and Divine Twine to each snowflake. I dressed up the bottom of my card with the MFT Little Open Scallop Strip Die-namics. I used a rhinestone flourish from Michaels and the Seeing Spots embossing folder on the main panel.

Now, you may be wondering why I pulled out my Prismas. I'm usually a Copic Girl, but I had the pleasure of taking a Dave Brethauer (owner of Memory Box Stamps) coloring class last Monday night with my friend Linda. It was fabulous !! I was thrilled to learn how to use my pencils again and I thought that it was time to give them a little love too!

Thanks so much for visiting with me! I hope that you have a fantastic weekend...Toodles! :D

Blogger's Challenge Sketch!

Happy Friday Friends! I'm sorry that my posts have been so sporatic lately. My summer cold kicked me to the curb!! I have a lot of commenting to catch up on, but I'm feeling so much better. I can't wait to see what everyone has been up to lately!

Today's card is for this week's Blogger's Challenge. Lisa gave us this fantastic sketch to work with. Of course, I had to change the panels around...lol! When I stamped my sentiment the first time, it turned out terribly, so I flipped things around to hide my mistake. If you'd like to play along with the sketch, you can find all of the details here.

I picked up this new Inky Antics set at Right at Home Scrapbooking store last night. I was there for Joanne Basile's My Favorite Things class and I treated myself to a couple of the new TCP CutUps, this new IA set, and a few new Copic Markers. This sweet little bird is colored up with BG10, BG53, E23, R27, R29, R59, YR16, YR30, and the Colorless Blender. The blue background paper is from The Girls' Paperie and the red polka dotted paper is from Memory Box. I used Papertrey Ink Kraft as well. The circles were made with the Classic Circle and Lacey Circle Nesties. I finished things off with a pearl flourish and some machine stitching.

Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit. Have a beautiful weekend! Until next time...Toodles! :D

A Masculine Blogger's Challenge

Happy Friday Friends! We have a masculine challenge today for this week's Blogger's Challenge, and with Father's Day just around the corner, it couldn't have come at a better time. I started off with Jen Del Muro's June Sketch For You To Try and I pulled out lots of older supplies for this one. First of all, the main image is from a 2001 Stampin' Up set called Wonderful Woodcuts! It's an old set, but a great one! I colored it up with Copic Markers (B0000, B00, B12, B14, C1, E000, E01, E11, E33, R29, R59, YG13, YG63, Y32, and Y35.) It is mounted onto a layer of Night of Navy and then I tore the edges of a Creamy Caramel layer and stamped the speckles from the Itty Bitty Backgrounds set (another SU oldie, but goodie). The polka dotted panel is from Memory box and YES, that is a square of MAGIC MESH!!! Do you remember Magic Mesh? I told you that I pulled out a lot older supplies...lol! I did some machine sewing around the main layer and then I added a button and some Blueberry Divine Twine from The Cat's Pajamas. Thanks so much for visiting with me today. If you'd like to play along with this week's Blogger's Challenge, just click here. I'll be back soon with some more stamping projects. Until then...Toodles! :D

Nature Inspired

Happy Friday Friends! My card for today is for this week's Blogger's Challenge. The theme is Nature. If you would like to join in the challenge as well, just head on over to Lisa Somerville's blog. The link is here. I found this new Outlines stamp the last time I stopped by my LSS and I just had to buy it! It was so much fun to color up with my Copic Markers (B02, B12, BG000, G24, R81, R83, V12, V15, Y21, YR12, and YR21). The main image is mounted onto a layer of rose colored card stock. The yellow patterned paper is from Memory Box. I added some stitching, some Baker's Twine, and a rose colored button to finish it off. Thank you for visiting with me! Happy Mother's Day to all of the Moms out there! I hope that you enjoy your very special day...Toodles! :D

Key to My Heart and Better Get Better!

Happy Monday! I cannot believe that it is the last day of January! We've had so much time off from school because of snow that this month went by in the blink of an eye! February isn't looking much better weather wise either. We are expecting at least two feet of the fluffery stuff starting tomorrow morning! TWO more FEET! ACK! Good thing I'm not the one that does most of the shoveling...lol!

I have two cards to share with you today. I needed another Valentine card so I decided to try the My Favorite Things Recipe for Love Guest Designer contest again. You can find all of the details here. I started off with the MFT a' la mode set called Key to My Heart. This sweetie is colored up with Copic Markers (E000, E00, E11, E25, E29, E40, R20, R30, R32, R35, Y21, and Y26) and then I sewed on a panel of Papertrey Ink Berry Sorbet. To follow the recipe, I used Quite Contrary paper from My Mind's Eye for the one patterned paper, Berry Sorbet and Aqua Mist for the two card stock colors, and my three embellishments are Berry Sorbet Ribbon and Buttons and a little key charm that I found in my stash. I also added a piece of Berry Sorbet that I ran through my 'Bug with the MFT Die-namics Little Open Scallop Strip die on the bottom of the patterned paper. A little paper piercing on the top and the bottom of the card finishes this Valentine off.

My next card follows the My Favorite Things sketch from last Wednesday. You can find the sketch and all of the details about playing along right here. This time I used one of my Pure Innocence stamps from MFT. This precious little one and the sentiment are from the Better Get Better set. She is colored up with Copic Markers (C3, E000, E00, E11, E33, E35, E37, G20, G21, R20, R81, R83, and R85) and then cut out and then added to an embossed circle of Stampin' Up's Pink Pirourette. I then layered that onto a piece of Chocolate Chip that I ran through my 'Bug with the MFT Die-namics Dainty Lace Doily Die. The patterned paper is from Memory Box and I sewed that panel onto a layer of Chocolate Chip and then attached that to a Pink Pirourette card base. The chocolate satin ribbon is from Michaels. This card is for our school nurse. She is having some neck and back troubles, so I thought that this might help her feel a little bit better.

Thank you so much for visiting with me today. Enjoy the rest of your evening and try to stay warm...Toodles! :D