Catered Crop - Quick Fire

Sometimes I have to step away from card-making to work on a 3-D project.. gotta get my fix. This week for our challenge at Catered Crop we were treated to a selection of ribbon from Corinna McGregor, owner of Ribbon Carousel. She has a Ribbon Club Kit each month and I just know that I'll be weakening and sign up.... Her selection of ribbons for the kits is delish! You can check out the entire package of all of the lovely green ribbon I received here.

I took a simple white box that had a tent top fold and an acetate oval window in front. Sorry, but I failed to take a picture of the box before I started attacking my project. I cut the oval on the main piece of the designer paper using a Nesties and allowed for the white border to offset the black papers.

The sunflower stamp is one I had to have now that I live in the Sunflower State of Kansas.. it's from Rubber Stampede... and I use it often. I stamped and colored the flower several times and popped up the pieces with dimensionals for a 3-D effect. My papers were all picked from my scrap pile and the ribbon, of course, is from Ribbon Carousel. And to make it even more fun, it's filled with Ghirardelli Dark & Mint chocolates. Viola.. it's now ready for gift-giving.

I hope you will check our Quick Fire challenge at Catered Crop... the chefs are always cooking up something fun. If you need a bit more inspiration, here's the board that Linda McClain, our fearless Top Chef, put together for us.

Thanks so much for stopping by my little spot in blogland. Have a fantastic day.

I'm also entering this in these challenges today....

Bloggers - Something 3D

Crafts 4 Eternity Recipe Challenge - Special Mom 

Crafty Ann's - Anything But A Card

Crafty Catz - For a Special Lady

Fairy Tale - Paper Piecing

Hotshot Crafts – Ribbon

Poodles Parlour - Birthday

Raise The Bar – Go Green

Stempelsonnen Challenge - Easter

Totally Papercrafts – Favorite Things

Wags 'n Whiskers - Spring Break

CCEE Stampers - Flowers, flowers, flowers

Crafty Ribbons - Celebrate Mom

Crop Stop - Use at least 4 different colors

Delightful Challenges - St. Patrick's Day

Do You Stack Up? - Go green

DRS Designs - Green, yellow & black

Paper Crafting Journey - Anything made with paper goes

Pixie Dust Studio - Show us your Irish

Sweet Treats & Easter Projects

Hi everyone.. I'm just trying to catch up on some posting... these are things left over from Easter and the last few weeks that I didn't get to post. 

These little darling chocolate bars were a result of inspiration from my friend Judy (Jaydekay on PCP).. she made something similar for a Sassy Cheryl's challenge. I quickly remembered the chocolate I bought for Easter that I hid so my family wouldn't help themselves before Easter.. problem was that I hid them so well even I couldn't find them! Using inspiration from Judy, I CASEd it up a bit.

This cute little bunny image is a digital image from Isabella's Sketchbook.

Here's just a few more of my last minute Easter cards and paper projects that I haven't had the chance to get posted.

Some House Mouse images for Easter baskets for the dinner table...(sans the chocolate)

A darling Easter card that never got mailed.. .(yikes!!)

Another Easter card (image from Sassy Cheryl's) that never got mailed... (super yikes!)

Made 25 of these little purses for a wedding shower for a friend...

and my Sis and I decoupaged eggs for the mantel...

Whew... 'glad that's finally done.

AND... if you need something to celebrate, tomorrow is Blame Someone Else Day... you know I'm not making this up. You can read all about it at the link. So, if you are into finger-pointing you have a great excuse!

Thanks so much for stopping by.. 'til next time, happy coloring and be safe in all you do.

The Colors of Easter

Happy weekend everyone! I hope you are having a terrific day with a bit of time for crafting.

I've been checking out several challenges this week and had to jump in with both feet. There's so much Spring and Easter inspiration right now at so many blogs. So I had to pull out this image from Penny Black as it begged for soft pastel colors.

I'm entering this in several challenges...

Charisma Cardz - Spring theme
Colour Create Challenge - Pastel colors with an extra option of Spring or Easter
Trimmies Craft Challenge - Easter theme
Cute Card Thursday - Add dimensions and layers
Crafty Creations Challenges - Babies
Penny Black Friends - Butterflies & bees
The Secret Crafters Saturday Challenge - Pink, green and flowers
Sweet Stop Sketches - Sketch
Scrap Pile - 3 designer (scrap) papers
Sew Many Challenges - Punches
Daring Card Makers - Egg-citing
No Time To Stamp - Easter
Fussy and Fancy Challenge - Easter

Wow.. that was fun.. that's got to be my all-time record!  Think about checking out some of these challenges... there's so much great stuff to see. Thanks for stopping by today. 'Til next time, be safe in all you do.

 

Details: Penny Black stamp (title unknown), Neenah Solar White cardstock, SU pink and yellow cardstock, various DP's from my stash, Nesties butterfly die, MS fence punch, QuikKutz grass die, SU border punch, Cuttlebug swirl embossing folder, Prismacolor pencils, white gel pen, miniatures from my collection.

A Sassy Cheryl Challenge

Hi everyone.. it's time for our weekly challenge at Sassy Cheryl's. Our hostess, Tracy, has an Easter project or Easter card as our theme. You should see what the team has put together this week.. what creativity!

I used this darling bunny digital image from Sassy Cheryl's to create this 3-D project using one of the nesting boxes in the set that I purchased. I was ready for a bit of a change from making cards.

The fence is created using a Cricut cartridge, and the flowers, leaves and grass are cut using Sizzix and QuikCutz dies. That little cottontail is liquid applique.

I think it's perfect for a change from a traditional Easter basket - a bit more adult perhaps? I can imagine it filled with Reese's peanut butter eggs and a few 'Peeps'. 

Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your comments and love to hear from you. 'Til next time, be safe in all you do.

Signs of Spring

Happy Sunday everyone! Hopefully you are seeing the true signs of Spring since yesterday was the first day of this wonderful season. As I look through the window from my craft grotto, all I see is snow, snow and more snow and a little ice thrown in for good measure!

Crummy weather just gave me another excuse to be inside coloring some Easter and Spring images.  If you've checked out challenges in the last few days most teams are thinking Spring and Easter. So, this card was made with a lot of those challenges in mind.

This is a darling image from Judith Stamps. I paper-pieced several parts of this little fellow and kept the colors very Spring-like.  In my opinion, it's not too gushy and perfect for a masculine Easter greeting. Agree?

I'm entering this into these challenges...

The Pink Elephant - Spring
Just Us Girls - Spring colors
Stampin for the Weekend - Easter
The Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - Think Spring
All Sorts Challenge - Spring colors
Our Creative Corner - Easter
Crazy 4 Challenges - Spring

By the way... our obscure holiday today is Fragrance Day... so don't be a stinker.. just load up on that perfume you've been hoarding! Click on the link to read more about it.

Have a terrific Sunday wherever you are! I hope you aren't shovelling 6" of 'partly cloudy' like we are. Thanks so much for stopping by and 'til next time, be safe in all you do.

Easter Greetings & a Mini Tour!

Happy Wednesday everyone... it's a beautiful sunny day here in the Mid-west...just warm enough to get all that snow melting before temps drop to single digits and everything freezes up again. Yikes! Hurry up Spring!

Here's a card that is definitely Spring... this adorable bunny is an image from Daisy Dee that I colored with Prisma pencils and added some glaze pen to the polka dots and for accent on the sentiment. His cotton tail is puffed up with Liquid Applique and a touch of glitter.

These cute little props that I've been adding to my photos all come from the miniature general store that I created over 30 years ago with the help of my sons. My sons were just little tykes and they were so enthused about creating all kinds of furnishings.. even things like eggs, pickles, potatoes and cinnamon rolls out of Fimo clay.

Even the country mouse wants some of those cinnamon rolls..

One day my oldest (seven years old at the time) surprised me with this doll house for the store. He made it out of scraps of balsa wood, paint, fabric and bits of wallpaper. 

Two years ago, for Mother's day, that same son found this stashed away in the box in the basement, revived it with new wallpaper and electrical wiring.. and bought some new additions, including this dress for the sewing section. What a wonderful Mother's Day that was.. I hadn't had this out for at least 20 years when the electrical wiring stopped working. And don't even ask how much that dress was...!! Money is no object when it comes to my oldest son.

In it's new spot in the house, I see it every day.. the lights stay on all the time and it's a great nightlight. It conjures up such great memories of my innocent little freckled-faced boys. Today, I appreciate this creativity even more.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a terrific day full of fond memories.
'Til next time, be safe in all you do.

Pretty in Pink

Hi everyone... Happy Friday to you!

Often I come across images that are perfect for a little girl and perfect for pastels and soft colors. This is one of them.  'Can you tell I'm a mom to two sons?

Isn't this little one darling...? She's so perfect for Spring.  On the stamp, she actually doesn't have a mouth, but since I've got a thing about kids without mouths, I added one! But this pet peeve of mine is another story for another day.

This card was made with several challenges in mind...

• The Pink Elephant - polka dots, a bow, and pink
• Paper Play Challenges - colors of pink, white and green
• Cute Card Thursday - something blooming
• Crazy 4 Challenges - theme of pretty in pink

Today, Friday the 29th is National Kazoo Day and National Puzzle Day... not much to celebrate or get too excited about as far as obscure holidays go. Did Tiny Tim play a kazoo??  Yikes, I'm aging myself with this little bit of trivia!

Hope you are having a terrific day that leads to a fantastic weekend. And, lest we forget, we are now another week closer to retirement! Enjoy!

So what season is it anyway, Peggy?

Okay.. so you probably know that I’ve been anxiously awaiting Autumn since it’s my favorite season. But here I am making Spring-like cards.. go figure!

It’s just me coloring some of the newest stamps that I picked up at used stamp sale. You know how it goes… ‘one man’s junk is another man’s treasure’. So, I picked up a lot of treasures – all new to me, of course. This birdhouse stamp was a real find and I can’t just wait until Spring of 2010 to color this…no way!

This next card is made using a stamp that I purchased a while ago. I love the way this colors up whether I’m using pencils or Copics.

So, I’ve been asking several of my friends… do you color and then try to put the designer paper together.. or does the designer paper give you the inspiration? I typically color and then TRY to put stuff together. Maybe that’s why I drag my feet making the actual card.

My friend Lelia visited today so we inked up a lot of stuff and enjoyed our crafting time together. She suggested that I pick the paper for my inspiration and then go from there. So I did it, I really tried, and this Fall card is a result of using a piece of paper from Basic Gray for inspiration. I think it worked well and I’ll be trying to approach card-making from that angle more often.

How do you design your cards? I would love to hear how you do it. Do you color first.. or use the paper as your inspiration? Leave me a comment and let me know.

Don’t forget that Mo’s Digital challenge is every Thursday. So make sure you stop back to see what the Challenge Team has conjured up. This week we are concentrating on unusual folds for our cards.

Until then… be safe in all you do, and thanks for stopping by.

Dare You 2 Digi Stamp Challenge 5

Hello everyone..

Today I have a card to show you that I designed for the fifth challenge at Dare You 2 Digi Stamp (DY2DS)… It’s a sketch this week, hosted by our friends Sandra and Chris, from across the Pond. This is a Friday challenge, but since they are currently at least six hours ahead of us… and very close to Greenwich Mean Time, they are fast asleep (well, maybe).. and I have had the opportunity to design this while enjoying a hot cup of PG Tips… the most wonderful tea that the UK has to offer!

This beautiful digital image is from Chris of Sketching Stamper and you can view her wonderful designs here. With Mother’s Day approaching here in the States, it would be perfect. I have always loved the combination of yellow and black. I think it’s such a striking contrast and a perfect Spring card.

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy your Friday and have a wonderful weekend!

Details: Paper Pizzazz designer paper, SU designer paper, black and white linen cardstock, SU Vanilla Grosgrain ribbon, So Saffron paper, Copic markers, Sketching Stamper Digital Image.

Spring has Sprung??

Well, not exactly here in the Kansas City area. We were due to get 6-10" of snow last night, but the weather gods have been nice to us. So the old adage "March comes in like a lion, and goes out like a lamb" may not be true this year. Everyone I talk to is soooo ready for Spring! You know the way the weather people predict the weather, I could qualify for this kind of job! I can't tell you how many times I've shoveled 6" of 'partly cloudy'!

Here's a little something I made to get me in the Spring mood - and yes, I've been doing that a lot lately. It's a digital stamp from Fred, She Said Designs. These images are so cool to download, print, and color. I used Copic markers, stickles for the center of each flower, cut them out and popped them up with SU Dimensionals. It's a pretty simple technique but it packs a lot of 'wow', don't you think? This is definitely a card to hand present to someone or mail in a small corrugated box perfect for this size card.

Something for Unk!

I'm about to send off a package of goodies to my Aunt who just had surgery for a new pacemaker. Knowing my Uncle (Unk), he'll try to snitch the Godiva candy I'm sending.. so I made this little Easter Egg basket just for him. Unk's getting the runner-up chocolate, Lindt. Either way, it's a great chocolate day and they always are so appreciative of my care packages!

I painted white cardstock with Pebbles Inc. pastel scrapbook paints after assembling my template. I used the SU oval punch to shape the handle, added a colored lamb I had in my colored items bin, and popped it up with dimensionals. 'Filled it with Easter raffia, a chocolate marshmallow bunny and this little chickie from Lindt.

Copic Bunny

This card is so much nicer IRL. Sometimes the lighting in my craft grotto is just too much and the colors seem to fade to oblivion.

This is one of those images I colored weeks ago..it was a fast and easy coloring job using Copics. Finally this little bunny has a home.

Details: Copic markers, White linen, green linen cardstock, SU DSP 6" pack (retired), Nestabilities rectangle and scallop dies, ribbon brads (Oriental Trading), pop-ups.

Easter is Around the Corner!

I have been coloring and coloring for weeks and promised myself that I would turn these colored creatures into card creations. So, I am going through these images to create some Easter, Spring and all-occasion cards. Here's one that I created using the Gingersnap Spring Thing line from http://allthatscraps.com/ Their digital images are terrific. If you are looking for a new image to color, digital images are perfect and there's no tell-tale sign of the man in brown arriving with packages at your door! Just download and print them out - use them over and over! How's that for immediate gratification? I got the inspiration for this card from a card Carolina created and you can check out her blog here http://creativepad.typepad.com/creative_pad/

Details:

Image: Spring Thing digital images from Gingersnap

Ink: Primsa pencils w/Gamsol, Copic markers

Accessories: glitter, SU dimensionals, Martha Stewart ribbon, Scor-Pal, paper piercing tool, Cuddlebug Swiss Dots folder, all items paper-pieced.

Paper: Whisper White, Kraft, So Saffron

Easter Chicks

Aren't you sooo ready for Spring?? Perhaps this will help bring the warmer weather along sooner! I did this with copic markers, egg-shaped punch, some glitter, SU punches, cuddlebug folder. This was fun to design. Too cute!