The Leaves Have It!

It is hard to believe that another week has passed and it is time for another challenge at Joan's Gardens! This week, Joan has asked us to design a card with either fall leaves or pumpkins. Since I already had my favorite leaf set on the desk from another project, I went with that.

Most of the papers are scraps from my bin. I believe the leaf squares are Susan Branch papers. I used different leaf punches that I have had forever and popped them up, then applied Champagne Stickles. I punched a scalloped oval for my sentiment, which is from Melanie Muenchinger's set called A Year of Leaves. It can be found at Gina K. Designs. The oval was punched on the scallops and ribbon was woven and tied in a bow. It's a very monochromatic card.

Okay, have to work today. Maybe I can play again later. Thanks for stopping by!

Everything Looks Great in B&W

I created this card for a current challenge over at StampTV, but realized that there are a few other places that this might work for. Over at Artful INKables they have challenge #25 going on and we are asked to create our own background paper.

The Play Date Cafe Challenge, is #40 and it is their Color Splash week. The challenge is to do black and white with a splash of any shade of green. I think that works also!

I created my background, using a stamp from Stamp Camp. I sponged and distressed with Old Olive from SU!. My focal image of Queen Anne's Lace, is from the Botanicals stamp set from Gina K. Design. Hugs and Prayers is from Nina Brackett's set by the same name. This pretty distressed wrinkle ribbon is from Michelle Wooderson's, Etsy shop. Here is a link to her blog.... you can get to it from there Fair warning, the stuff disappears fast. I added olive gems, black string and button as accents.

Thanks for taking time to come by. I always appreciate your visits and comments. Oh, and for those of you who have recently become followers, muah!

How A Musing !

Just a quick post of a card I made from playtime scraps that were haunting the top of my desk. A couple of weeks ago, my DD brought all of her stamps she purchased from the Everything's Rosy collection of A Muse stamps. These beautiful flowers are called Marigold and Solid Marigold. We had a grand time stamping, playing, mixing images. This was one of them and I just wanted to make sure it got used. I used Bermuda Bay and Melon Mambo ink with a card base of Bermuda Bay textured cs, all from SU!. I had some matching twill ribbon and added colored pearls to my flower centers. I used a fancy Fiskars corner punch on the one corner. My sentiment is from Nina Brackett's Hugs and Prayers set by Gina K. Designs.

This card is for someone who has been quite ill, but has been improving slightly. I hope she likes it, and continues to improve! She is such a sweet person, and makes some really amazing cards. Happy Monday, everyone!

Joan's Gardens Challenge #7

This is my first time joining a challenge at Joan's Gardens. Had a call from one of my blogging friends this afternoon, telling me to get busy! Okay, okay, I made a card. Sheesh! Joan asked us to create a Birthday card that is bright and cheerful, and includes a flower/flowers. I think I achieved my goal. Tropical makes me happy and it seems to be a real "in" thing, this summer! There are some gorgeous sets out there to play with! I have chosen to use Theresa Momber's set called Aloha, which is her latest from Gina K. Designs. I have many tropical scraps in my bin, since we have hosted a few Luau's here at the house, and I have scrapbooked the events. I wish I could remember the designers. The coloring was done with Copic Markers. The small HB is an unmounted that I can not ID either. Does it make you want to do a birthday hula? How about sip on some celebration cocktails? Yum!

Speedy The Cat Has a New Challenge!

It is number 13 to be exact! This week we are asked to create masculine cards. I decided to make two. My first card is using stamps from Mark's Finest Paper.

I used the Tropical Vacation set, and look how I used Speedy! I stamped him in the gazebo waiting for his master to return. I think he is really missing someone. To keep it masculine, I used digi polka dot paper and ribbon knots instead of bows. The structure is also digi which I colored in Copics. My inside and outside sentiments are from the same stamp set.

This next card, was made with stamps from River City Rubber Works, that have been laying on my desktop for ages. I just love those Groucho glasses! Since many of our friends have been hitting milestone birthdays lately, I figured this one would be super to have on hand. I think it is a great "guy" image. The papers are from my scrap bin and I added large brass brads and twine for accents.

Well today they are telling us to stay inside because of such poor air quality, so I guess it is a stamping day. Works for me. I am not partial to 100+ degrees. Keep cool!

OTWC Challenge #16

Whenever I do one of Kim Wilson's challenges over at her blog, Off The Wall Craftiness, I always fall in love with the inspiration pieces she gives us to work with. This week it is pink, white, and grey. How gorgeous is this?

You all know that I have weddings on the brain right now, so I have to change up my thinking a bit. I went with birthday. Don't want you all to get bored. I found some digital images buried in a file on my computer and thought I needed to bring them to life. I saw the medallion on the wedding invite and thought my fancy circle was a good focal point. Then I just started building layers. I just love the pink lacing in the white eyelet ribbon. I used my bow easy for that double loop bow. My sentiment is a stamp from DOTS that has recently resurfaced in my stash. I added extra dashes of color with my Copic markers and then accented with pearls.

Have a wonderful day, and I will see you again real soon!

Speedy the Cat's Friends Challenge #12

Over at Mark's Finest Papers, this week, there is a color challenge. It is to use red, yellow, and orange. Since the weather here on the east coast has been so tropical, these are very fitting colors. Here is what I came up with.The stamps I used are from Mark's Finest Papers set called Cupcake Birthday. I used mostly scraps from my bin, even when I was paper piecing the cupcake. I tried to make it look a bit down home and patchwork. For accents, I used gems, button, twine, Prima's w/ brad, and a faux stitching stamp with red ink. Stickles add a bit of sparkle.

Hope you are having fun with what is left of this steamy weekend.

Isabella's Challenge #15

I had this image from Isabella's Sketchbook printed out for ages and when I saw that her challenge this week was an open, anything goes, again this week, I just had to get to coloring.

I used some navy stock from my scrap bin. I colored the image with Copic Markers, and the colors used were, 0, BV04, BV20, Y19, YG91, YG95. My background was embossed using one of the new Tim Holtz Texture Fades called Checkerboard. There is a small butterfly punch from MS which I embellished with pearls. The Happy Birthday sentiment is not marked, and I used SU! circle punches to mount it.

It's another downpour day here in PA. Quack, quack!

It's All About A Muse and Weddings

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I know I sure did! There were a series of great events that kept me smiling. First I got to spend some nice time with the kids and hubby. Saturday was spent looking at wedding venues in the pouring rain, for my DD's special day. She will probably shoot me for this, but I must share just one picture of the place she has chosen. She wanted rustic and I think we found it, but I would call it more rustic elegance!

Next, when she arrived on Friday evening, she came toting goodies she had scored at her local stamp/scrap store. She told me this whole story about how she had fallen in love with this group of stamps from A Muse, called "everything's rosy". I had won a couple of these stamps from a blog hop, so I knew how awesome they are. Here are a few cards I made with the stamps she shared.



As we were stamping, I remembered I had left a comment on the A Muse blog and went to check out the winners. You guessed it, I was a winner of an amazing gift pack because I correctly guessed the yards of ribbon in a gumball machine! Woo hoo!
Here is what I won!

I am truly blessed by all the good things that have happened recently, but I am also blessed by you friends, that allow me to share it with you. Thank you.

A Milestone Challenge

The designers over at The Color Throwdown have cooked up a wonderful challenge this week, to celebrate their 100th anniversary. The prizes to be won are amazing, and the sponsors that are helping them celebrate are abundant! You must go check it out! Here are the colors that we were asked to use.

Easy peasy, right? If you don't have the exact colors, they ask you to get close, and please use a direct link. I created the background by loading the ink and spritzing to make a tye dyed effect. Sorry is my flower is showing purpleish, but it was inked in Baja Breeze.Supplies:

Inks: Stampin Up!

Papers: Basic Grey, GKD Pure Luxury, Glossy

Stamps: chair- Third Coast Stamps, Lace Doily and sentiment- Nina Brackett for Gina K.

Designs

Embellishments: Making Memories

Thanks for taking a peek!

Summertime Ane The Living Is Easy

When I saw this adorable image of the little boy and his dog, by Mo Manning, It reminded me of the lazy summer days when I was young. The friends I had in my neighborhood, always were up to something even if it was sitting quietly together under a tree. Baseball, catching fireflys, and pulling big jugs of homemade root beer around in a wagon to sell, were also on the top ten list.I colored with pencils and oms for a change. My inking was done with SU River Rock and Versamagic Sea Breeze. The papers are scraps from my bin. The little letters were from a Cosmo Cricket kit. I added baseball brads and bright blue pearls as my accents. The image was cut out with Nestibilities, Labels Ten.

I would like to enter it in the following challenges:

Drunken Stampers #23 - Summer/Vacation

Crafty Cardmakers #24 - Inky Fingers

Penny's Challenges #32 - With A Dog

Speedy The Cat's Friends #10 - Die Cut

Thanks for stopping by!

Isabella's Challenge #14

Over this past holiday weekend I was one of the winners at Isabella's Sketchbook. They held their first Blog Hop and it was so wonderful! I was double lucky, since I won 2x. Woo Hoo! Her images are just so beautiful and fun to color!

Isabella asked for me to show her what I made with them and since her challenge this week is "Anything Goes", I just had to enter! My first image is called Garden Gate, and I chose it as one of my prizes, because I thought it would be really versatile. I see using this for Sympathy, Anniversary, Thank You, or just to say I Love You.

My papers are from K&Co. I colored with Copics and sponged with VersaMagic inks. My image was cut out with Nestabilities Label 11 and I used an MS punch to make my fancy edging. I thought it was the perfect time to add one of my sugared Prima roses and some felt leaves. There is even a bit of pink grosgrain ribbon on there. The sentiment is from Gina K. Designs.

Hope you had a great weekend. If you are still off, horray for you! If you are heading back to work, please keep cool! We are expecting 100 degrees today, and it sure is not going to be pretty. Camping in the stamp room sounds perfect to me.