An Easter House Mouse

Great googly moogly! I do believe the miserable rain is finished! I think I even saw a hint of sun this morning! There is nothing better to start a day, than sunny skies, flowers blooming, and the promise of 84 degrees on Saturday. Can you believe there were snowflakes mixed into that rain yesterday?

Anyway, on to my card. When I saw the House Mouse Monday Challenge this week, I was a little bummed, because I do not have any Easter stamps. My smarty pants DD came up with this idea. I must say I kind of like it. There really is not much to say as the image takes up most of the card. I colored it with Copics and I believe I used almost every color I own (LOL).

Most of you know, that the dog is chasing after a bone. Well, I decided that an Easter Egg would get him on his way! That egg and the few I hid in the grass, are from an older PSX stamp and I cut them out. My sentiment is from Rupa Shevde's new set called Spring Has Sprung by Gina K. Designs. The fringe border is from one of those new Prima clear stamp sets with the gems included. My only addition are the pearls to the fringe.

I really hope you like this Easter card. Comments are always welcome!

One Template and Two Challenges

The crew over at There's Magic In The Air have challenged us to make an Easter Basket. I downloaded and used the bunny image that Nina May gave us to use this week.

Not only did I complete that task, but I also realized it was template week over at Just Us Girls! How lucky can a girl get? Here is what I came up with.

The template I used to give my girls at work little eggs, is a new one that I just purchased from Inky Antics. It is their tall bag template stamp. My image was colored in Copics and then cut out with a Nestabilities Label Four die. I cut it off to fit the bag. For embellishments, I used different Sateen Flowers with pearl centers. My basket base is DCWV textured card stock. I added panels of dp to the front and back. I stuffed crinkle stuffing inside to cushion my eggs.

Thanks so much for taking a peek!

Piece By Piece for 2 challenges

There is a cute challenge over at Melanie Muenchinger's blog right now that asks us to create a card using the scraps from our desk. You can check it out on her blog here! How messy is your desk? I had all kinds of stuff there! You get extra points if you use Gina K. Stamps, so no points for me this time. Now, I do tend to clean up more than I use to, but having stamping company this last weekend accumulated some extra goodies. I believe I will also enter this over at Moxie Fab World for Cath's Piece by Piece challenge.

I used an ivory base card with a panel of Soft Sand, Pure Luxury card stock. I ran that through the Cuttlebug with the swiss dot folder and added Old Paper Distress Ink. The pattern paper is a scrap from K&Co and the dotted paper is from Brenda Walton's Maison collection. I paper pieced the butterfly using a new template I just bought that creates 15 different butterflies. It is from Hot Off The Press, Inc. It's a nifty little tool. To jazz it up I used some cut outs from Brenda Walton's Mira collection. The sentiment is an unmounted and unknown. I added a few amber gems for sparkle.

So, those are my scraps and I hope you like what I whipped up! Have a great day!

Tuesday Trigger- Butterfly Dreams

The trigger this week over at Moxie Fab World, is this adorable little girls sundress. I am such a lover of seersucker and the freshness in the plaid just makes you want to put your hair up in piggy tails!
I used a plain white card base with layers of lavender and sand card stock. My stamps are from Basic Grey, except for the bow on my flowers which is from Judith. My butterfly is paper pieced is assorted Basic Grey scraps, and I added gems for eyes. Mixed buttons were used on flower centers before they were pop dotted. I hand drew stitching for the stems and then added color with Copics. I kept it simple.

I hope you are having a fun weekend and finding time to be crafty! Me, I have my DD here till Sunday and I am lovin it!

A New Challenge !

Kim Wilson has been waiting for weeks to get her followers # up so she can start her challenges. Her blog is Off The Wall Craftiness and it would be great if you could stop over and and show her a little love. She has chosen a great inspiration piece and I just wanted to start playing.


My first card is a more mature card. My papers are from Making Memories and Bo Bunny. I owned one piece of that shabby chic blue paper and I have been hoarding it ages. The stamps are from Melanie Muenchinger's stamp set called "A Year of Flowers". It is from Gina K. Designs. I used different methods to color the roses, including Copics, OMS and pencils, and chalk inks. My border is an MS punch. To accent I used gems, ribbon, and piercing. I created the little butterflies with a Judith stick stamp of a heart and all you do is add bodies.

My second card is a wild, off the wall, baby card! I stuck with the colors but over embellished it. It was so crazy fun. This one was just for a hoot. Heck I even made my first handmade flower! You know we all have those stashes of things that we don't want to admit to. It's okay to giggle........ honest. Look at those awesome Sticko stickers!

On a serious note, I tried something new. This is the first that I colored pearls with Copics and it does a great job to match colors. That I will use again. So how about you go visit Kim at her blog and try her challenge? Did I mention that there is a prize sponsored by Simon Says Stamp.com? Scoot...... go try it!

JUGS 25 Color Challenge

The challenge this week over at Just Us Girls, is a color one! The colors are very soft and pretty. They are soft yellow, blue, green, and light brown.I started playing with this sweet digi image early this morning and then got called into work. Here it is right before the challenge closes and I am trying to get it loaded. Goodness!
I really wish I knew where this digi kitty was from. My file says 2009, so I have had it for a bit. I would love to give credit but sorry. I colored it with Copic Markers #'s 0, B21, E31, RV10, Y21, YG11. I added diamond Stickles to the wings and wand. I colored sateen flowers with the Copics to match. My papers are from Making Memories. My accents are a chipboard word, blue organza bow on the tutu, and some pretty green gems.


Thanks for taking a peek!

P.S. Thanks so much Janice for the info! It seems my image is from the Prairie Fairy! It's a fairy good thing!

CPS 159 Friends

Here is my entry for the latest Card Positioning Systems challenge. It is being hosted this week by some of the designers from over at Gina K. Designs. They have some wonderful new sets that have been recently released and there is a chance of winning one of them!

Here is the sketch we are to follow.........

My card base is made from the newest Pure Luxury card stock, called Little Boy Blue. My dp's are from the Basic Grey Wisteria collection. This pretty lilac is a stamp from Penny Black called "Lovely Lilac". I colored the image with Copic markers and the #'s are BV02, BV04, E31, Y19, YG03, YG91. The image was then coated in Versamark and clear detail embossing powder was applied and heated. This gave the lilacs more body to be cut out. I masked and stamped a few of the leaves from the stamp directly onto the top layer of dp and then colored them. My sentiment is from The new Friends stamp set which is the free w/ three set this month at Gina K. Designs. I added an MS butterfly punch that I decorated. A simple row of tiny pearls finish off the design.

Thanks for stopping by, and I would sure appreciate it if you would consider becoming a follower!

PBSC Sketch 2

Morning everyone! I received an order yesterday that included the new Basic Grey "Green At Heart" paper pad, and I knew I just had to use it. Over at the Penny Black Saturday Challenge blog, the new challenge is this sketch.

This week, for my stamp, I used Jump For Joy. This froggie is so darn cute!

My image was colored with Copics and sponged with a few colors of Versamagic. I added some green gingham ribbon, buttons, and a pre-printed tag from Cosmo Cricket as my accents.

I hope to be back again today with more projects. Have a crafty day!

Color Dare #60

I decided to play with some nice bright colors on this dreary, rainy Monday morning! This is an inspiration piece for the color challenge at Color Dare.

I used a stamp set from Heartfelt Creations, which my DD left here for me on her last trip home. This company usually has a booth at my semi local stamp show in Allentown, PA., and I am looking forward to checking out some of their new items. They have amazing new flower stamps that fit right in some of the new Nestabitities shapes, and they make gorgeous creations. Anyhow, I colored the petal stamps with Marvy markers and then used OMS with pencils to add some shading and highlights. The sentiment is also from this set. I tried to find it on their site so I could link it, but it is possible it has retired. My designer papers are from Memory Box's Glitterati series. I popped up the petals on their outer edges to add some dimension. I used a large white daisy folded in half and some red buttons with twine as my accents. What do you think?

Moxie Fab World.... Tuesday Trigger

The MFW Tuesday Trigger is brought to us this week by the wonderful Carolyn King. I am familiar with Carolyn's work from over at Stamp TV. She brought us an amazing inspiration piece and titled the challenge "Texture + Color = Fun". here is what we had to work with.

I tried for not only texture , but also dimension. I used the hounds tooth embossing folder on my main flower and then distressed it. It reminded me of the weave in the chair. My dp is a culmination of all the pillow colors plus. I added a whimsical bird, also from the pillow.

Card stock: Pure Luxury from Gina K. Designs, Scraps

Designer Paper: Assorted K&Co.

Inks: Memento rich cocoa, SU! ridinghood red, Versamagic

Embellishments: Natural twine, gems, brad, tag from Cosmo Cricket, Sateen flowers

Stamps: Inkadinkado, Penny Black

JUGS #24 All In A Flap!

Well, here we are again with another great JUGS challenge! I have to admit that this is my first time making a card like this. I love the way you can hook the flap under the image to keep it closed! Thanks for making me stretch my imagination, ladies!

My card base is lemon drop Pure Luxury card stock that has been partly embossed with the Cuttlebug, hounds tooth folder. I used a large scalloped circle, Nestabilities die to create the edge on my flap. My image is from Lindy's Stamp Gang. The set is called the Rain Lover's Gang. I masked the main image to add the extra puddles at the ducks feet, before I colored with Copics. The Copic colors used are: B00, B02, B21, C1, RV11, RV32, Y11, Y13, Y19, Y38,YG03, YR02, YR16. The puddles were edged with Crystal Effects to look wet. I added buttons with pearl centers as accents on my flap. My inside sentiment is "Just let a smile be you're umbrella".

The sun is shining and the temps are suppose to warm as the week progresses. Yippie!

It's Raining, It's Pouring!

I think we may have to build an ark soon. We have had 5 inches of rain since Friday. On top of the rain, there were 70 mph gusts of wind. I can see the tulips and daffodils growing inch by inch right in front of me. There are sprouts of green everywhere! This is so much better than dirty old snow. Spring brings the rain and lots of it!

My card was created for the shear pleasure of it and then I saw how very many challenges this fit into. I will be entering this into 3 challenges:

StampinB's Challenge #49 - Spring/Easter

Daring Cardmakers - Daffodils

Rosie Dee's Challenge #66 - Spring

I am new to each of these challenges and I am thrilled to participate.

Here are the details of my card. My dp used is from Debbie Mumm's, Noah's Ark collection. I found these beautiful vellum daffodils from Jolee's that I have been hording forever. My stamped image is from Lindy's Stamp Gang. The set is called The Rain Lovers Gang. I colored the image with Copics and OMS w/pencils. My sponging is with So Saffron ink from SU. It was cut with a Labels four Nestabilities die. I added clear Dewdrops and Crystal Effects for a little sparkle and wetness.

Thanks for taking the time to stop in and take a peek.

What's In Your Closet? Inspire 14

Wednesday's Inspire challenge from Gina K., over at Stamp TV, is to look in your closet and find something to use on your card. Well this card uses 2 things. The first thing I found, was a brand new pack of round 4" paper doilies form Ben Franklin stores. The store around here closed in the early 90's so I think that was a good find. They may even be out of business! My second find was this pair of bright blue woven fabric buttons. I thought they off set the blue in my card.

My papers are an assortment of K&Co and Pure Luxury. The stamps I used are from the Signs of Autumn stamp kit at Gina K. Designs. That flower spray is one of my very favorite stamps. Crystal Lacquer was applied to the flower centers. I used the leaf sprig on patterned paper as an accent for the back of my bouquet. As for the sentiment, it is an unmounted, unknown. I added texture with a Cuttlebug folder and dimension by popping up the heads of my flowers. All of my sponging is with Colorbox, moss green. Images were colored with Copics #B23, B24, Y15, Y17, YG93, YG95.

Everything is flooding here. The lake in my lower yard and the stream that feeds it, will be one and the same within the hour. The rain is blowing so hard that it looks like puffs of smoke. I am very glad to be inside, warm, and dry! Thanks for stopping by.

CPS #157 and CD59

I just love the weekly sketches over at Card Positioning Systems. Here is the sketch that have have chosen for us to use

I will also be entering this for the color challenge over at Color Dare, who have given this great inspiration photo to work from. This is their sketch for us to follow.Here is what I came up with!

My base is cocoa card stock. The dp I used is from K&Co's Urban Rhapsody. My 2 side circles are Gina K. Designs, Pure Luxury card stock in the ocean mist color, that has been distressed and pierced. My center image is from Nina Brackett's new set called Lovely Labels and is stamped in rich cocoa, Memento ink. I used a Copic to add touches of blue to the flourishes. The sentiment is from a set by Gina K. herself called Sweetest Memories. For embellishments, I added an MS butterfly punch adorned with blue gems, some buttons threaded with floss, and a dotted swiss ribbon in the aqua color. I hope you enjoy my color combo!

TMITA "Pot Of Gold" with metal

Good evening everyone! I decided to try and fit in a challenge before dinner and American Idol. There was this cute lil' dude swimming in his pot of gold and I think he was calling my name. He is the challenge image for There's Magic in the Air this week. We are also suppose to add metal. My real metal are the gold half beads but I also found some Irish gold coins which I printed out and added.

This is a great time to find some wonderful digi papers that you can use for St Patty's Day, and I did just that. I love to be able to pick 4 different and print them out in quads so they can be mixed and matched. The ribbon I chose to use has gold metallic threads woven into it, so that is more metal. (hee hee) My sentiment is an unmounted stamp from my unknown stash. My image was colored with Copic markers. I hope you likee!

I just received the sweetest award form Geri Utterback whom I have gotten to know from Stamp TV. Geri does the most amazing work and she always thinks up the most clever ways to use stamps. Her creations are so fresh and original! You can find her over at Geri's Cards.

There are rules with this award:

Pass it on to six bloggers.

Place a link to their blog within this post.

Let the nominees know you are passing it on to them.

Link to the log of the person who gave you this award.

Now that isn't too hard! Most of all enjoy the award and let me thank you for bringing me sunshine! I couldn't have made it through this rough winter without all of you.

I would like to pass the award to:

Denise

Olga

Colleen

Patti N.

Linda

Janice

Have a wonderful evening!

JUGS #23 and STVCCTG1

Wow, you just never know! I can not believe I am making another post today! I would like to share with you a card I made for the color challenge over at Stamp TV. It was made using the latest sketch challenge #23 over at the amazing Just Us Girls challenge blog.

My background paper is from g.c.d. studios and is from their Rose Colored Glasses collection. I short cut the front of the card and added an inside border of scallops that was made with the Fiskars threading water punch. For the 2 stripes, I added a contrasting paper for one and a beautiful embroidered trip of white daisies with pink centers as the other. My flower w/ leaves, are stamps from Melanie's A Year of Flowers stamp set and Nina's Heartily Yours Additions set. Both are from Gina K. Designs. I used a jumbo white brad for the center of my flower. All images were stamped with Melon Mambo from SU. Fun, fun, fun!

It was another beautiful day in Pennsylvania. Sunshine and 50's are such a welcome treat! Enjoy the Oscar's everyone!

A Yummy Post!

For the Inspiration Challenge over at Stamp TV this week, Gina asked us to create a background from embossed diamonds. Mine was created with my Scor Pal. I decided to use the new sketch over at I {Heart} 2 Stamp, and together they created this fun card! What do ya think?

I used 2 of the newest colors of Pure Luxury card stock from Gina K. Designs. They are Ocean Mist and Creme de Menthe. The stamps I chose to use are from Rupa Shevde's set called "100% Sweet", also from Gina K.. My cones were colored with Copic markers in the colors of B00, E00, E31, Y21, and YG11. Diamond Stickles were added for a sparkle on the ice cream. I did piercing, added a double layer of ribbon and some pastel buttons as accents. The little corners I added are from K&Co's Tim Coffey paper line. Pop Dots were used to add dimension.

Have a wonderful Sunday and I sure hope the sun is shining in your part of the world.

I have a great feeling!

I am sealing up the card box to send off to Taylored Expressions Dragonfly Card Drive. I am so pleased that I was able to make 20 cards for this worthy cause. I did a few group shots and there is a little glare, as I didn't want to mess up the bags that protect them or have any more stray puppy hairs invade from static. LOL. Many of the cards I made over the last few weeks, but some are ones that I had made and was able to revamp with dragonflies. Here is a link to the info on the drive.
I truly enjoyed making each and every card, and am so glad that they will be used in such a special way. There is one other card which I had just recently posted on here so I did not repeat the photo. Have a wonderful night!

Baby Mouse Gift Box

Today I would like to show a gable box that I created for a baby gift. It is just perfect for a gift card. Perhaps one for the local pharmacy, for those items you forgot to get before baby got home?
I try really hard to do the weekly challenges over at Just Us Girls, but I run out of time sometimes. This week is their template challenge. I made this from a template that my DS bought me for my birthday. It is one of a ten piece set by Fun Expressions.

I am also going to submit this for the House Mouse Monday Challenge, which is a new one for me. It is an "Anything But A Card" challenge #64. I have stalked their blog for many months. There are some amazing paper artists that submit over there!

Once I created my base box, I used some pretty paper scraps from my bin. Sorry, I don't remember the maker. I used a House Mouse stamp I just purchased called Butterflight, by Stampabilities. My sentiment is from Rupa Shevde's new set called "Oh Baby", that cane be found at Gina K. Designs. I found the mouse stamp a little hard to work with because it has a straight edge on the bottom. I colored with assorted Copic Markers and then sponged with chalk ink to make a sunny sky. JoAnn's Fabrics had this beautiful, yellow braided edging by the roll and it just jumped right into my cart! I added some pearls and a soft green satin bow for embellishments.

We have lots of melting going on and in one bed next to the house, I see daffodil heads trying to poke! Woo Hoo! It needs to go now because it is dirty and ugly. Can this winter be on its way out? Along with the melting, I found my new sidewalk lights that my DH had installed last fall, all snapped off from the weight of the snow. Our last set was installed in 1989 and were a house warming gift. This new set lasted six months. Isn't that a real example of today's product workmanship? Anyway, thanks so much for taking time to pop over. Have a crafty day!

Trying Trigger Tuesday Challenge

I have never done the Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab World, so now is as good a time as ever. I just loved the inspiration piece that they had for us to play from! We are all dreaming of Spring and those soft Eastery colors. I'm so ready!

I was starting to get carried away with this creation, me thinks. I used papers from Tim Coffey's Super K collection at K&Co. I did lots of cutting and piecing and popping for dimension. My stamps are from Nina Brackett's new Lovely Labels stamp set over at Gina K. Designs. As I am still gathering cards to send to the Dragonfly Card Drive, over at Taylored Expressions, I just had to add one of those little critters also. I added Stickles, Kaiser pearls, and MS branch punches as my accents.I hope you enjoy what I made tonight, and that you stop back again soon.

Just a little after note...... It came to my attention after posting, that one of my pearls went rogue and stuck to my shirt during it's photo shoot. He was captured and returned to his proper home.

A New Sketch at CPS

This may seem silly, but I get flustered when I have to make cards that are odd sizes. Isn't that funny? Well, this week at Card Positioning Systems, they have a sketch that has me making a tall narrow card.

My base card is made from Pure Luxury, soft sand card stock from Gina K. Designs. All other papers are from Brenda Walton's, Maison collection from K&Co. The stamp set I chose is Nina Brackett's, Lovely Shelf, which she designed a couple months ago for GKD. Some simple coloring and 2 gems, complete this simple work.

I hope all is well in your little part of the crafting world. Life got a wee bit hectic here last week, hence the lack of posts.