November Rose's Challenge

This month, I am the hostesss for our beautiful bouquet of roses.  I decided on a theme of "Birthday, Buttons, and Bling". 

My card base is Pure Luxury Lipstick Red, with a scrap of snowflake paper from my bin.  I layered that on white.  There are different layers of lace and trim, with a tulle bow.  The button in the center of the bow is antique milk glass with a silver luster.  I added MS snowflake punches with big clear gems for sparkle.  As for the sentiment, I combined 2 stamps.  The Merry and Bright is from Unity and the birthday part is from Making Memories. 

I have a friend who has a Christmas Eve birthday and I thought it would be a festive card for her.

Please be sure to check out what the rest of the Rose's have come up with.  Links to their blogs can be found on my sidebar.~~~~~~~~~>

Sorry for the short post, but I have been down with the virus my hubby had last week.  This is the first I have been able to lift my head.  Worst birthday gift my DH has ever given me!  Ha ha!

I would also like to thank all of the friends who sent birthday cards and wishes.  You are all so sweet and talented!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is a beautiful, crisp morning in Pennsylvania, and I did not want this day to go by without wishing all of my friends, family and followers, a blessed Thanksgiving.  It truly has been a year of joys and sorrows for our family, with each event making us stronger and closer. 

May God bless each and every one of you as you feast, travel, and share special moments with those you love. 

Mary Anne

Love These Mousies!

The new challenge was posted for House Mouse Monday Challenge and  the topic is Warm Fuzzies.  I bought this new House Mouse stamp on my last trip to Ephrata along with a cute saying that I will use at a later date. So, I started thinking fuzzy.  I use to have a pair of socks that had an angora band.  Hence I colored the shared sock like them, and added some white Fun Flock for the fuzzy part.  I found the perfect green velvet ribbon and a round fuzzy, sticky dot to finish off my snow flake.  Here is a close up to show the texture.

Over at Art Impressions, the challenge is to use red, green and metallic.  I think I covered that as well, with the silver backing snowflake. I have also used Dew Drops, Stickles, and my Copic markers to create this card.

These have been my two favorite challenges lately, and I am so glad I was able to get them done! 

So far, the week has not started out on a good note.  Hubby came down with a virus yesterday afternoon, right as were were being taken out to dinner by our best friends as a birthday celebration.  He got as far as ordering his food and then when it came, begged them to box it and take it away.  We rushed through our food, did not order dessert and got him home.  He is still laying around today, and the pup is so confused, because daddy just does not do this!

I am staying in a different part of the house to try and avoid catching it.  Have a great day.  Hee Hee!

Quick and Simple

Here is an easy card I created with my Unity Kit Of The Month for November.  I just love their stamps, and I finally took the leap!  They always give you such an assortment.  I have other KOM sets that I have gotten second hand, and I love each one.

This months kit is called "Take Your Time", and that is exactly what I am doing in regards to Christmas.  I started with a base of kraft and a layer of black card stock.  My designer paper is from My Minds Eye, Signature Christmas pad.  My sentiment and birds with holly are both from the kit.  I really like the distressed look of both stamps.  My sentiment was stamped in Versafine, and the birds were done with the marker direct to stamp technique.  I think the next time I use them, I will try the thumping technique.  I added a couple wraps of green and white bakers twine and a simple red button.  I lightly touched the berries with a bit of sparkle.

I would love for you to give the kit a look!  Hope you have a fantastic Saturday! 

Celebrate the Season

I have this thing about starting to make Christmas cards before Halloween.  Call me crazy, but it just does not work for me.  This week I had to make two separate trips to different Michael's stores for silly supplies, and this little Nativity set from Recollections jumped out at me both times.  That and the fact that it was 50% off, sealed the deal.  I am not sure if I will ever use the little children that are dressed as animals, but the Holy Family, star, and cute angel in the set are so adorable.  Oh, and there is a cute Shepard that might look good with the star...... hmmmmm!

I struggled with creating a setting for my little figures, and had this brain storm to use quilling strips to make a stick figure manger!  I love it!  I also used my new MS, Pine Needles punch, which was an early birthday gift from my DS.  I used kraft and navy card stock with scraps of designer papers from my bin.  My sentiment is from Hero Arts.  There are Stickles on the popped star, and blue gems for sparkle on my vine.

I have been a wee bit under the weather, so have to craft when the urge hits me.  Thanks for visiting, and you have a wonderful day!

Art Impressions Challenge # 39 Fun and Funky Folds

Today is my new son-in-law's birthday and I wanted to make him a fun card.  Not only is it his birthday, it is his 30th birthday!  When I saw that Art Impressions had their challenge using a special fold, I began planning.

I saw my sentiment first, and started building on that!  The inside sentiment is a digital by Marlene, over at Disguised As A Grown-up.  She creates the funniest things!  The fish images are unknown.  They are called Funky Fish and Funky Fish 2.  I used an old designer paper of an ocean scene and white card stock for my base, with panel layers of Grass Green PL.  The fishes are colored with Copics and my inside fish is popped so he can fold.  There are tons of Stickles for sparkle and Crystal Lacquer on eyes and teeth to make them look meaner.

So by now, you have figured that my fun fold is a gatefold.  I used a Velcro half circle to keep things closed, since the card came out on the thick side. Oh, and please ignore the sun sticker I digitally applied to cover where I signed the card before I remembered to photograph it!  Duh!

He will not be coming to visit until this weekend, but I know he does not visit my blog.  I am very anxious for them to arrive, as I will get my own copy of the wedding photos to play with!  Woo Hoo!

House Mouse Challenge # 108 Give Thanks

     If you take a little side trip over to House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge, you will see some amazing works.  With it being November and with Thanksgiving coming, I thought all of the cards would take on that theme.  I was wrong.  The design Team went in all kinds of thankful directions!

     I too went in a different direction.  I started with a base of Pure Luxury card stock in Onyx Black.  My designer paper is a real oldie from Frances Meyers.  It's been around for so long, that it is a sheet of 81/2x 11.  Have not bought that size in years!  My house Mouse stamp is called "Dragonfly-ing".  The circle sentiment is from Unity.  I stamped it with Versafine ink and sprinkled it with Clear Detail EP.  Coloring was done with Copics, and sponging is with VersaMagic ink.  The glittery gem flowers are from Jolee's, and the pearl swirls were a gift from a friend for my last birthday.  They are made by Zva Creative.  The dragonfly has Stickles on his wing, but it is not showing today.  My inside saying is "you raise me up".

     Thanks for stopping around.  Sounds like our temperatures are going to be a bit milder this week, here in PA.  Still have a wee bit of yard work to complete before winter.  Please, no more surprise snow storms for a little while!

New Home

Hello friends!  Just wanted to share a card I made for my DS and his beloved, to celebrate them buying their first house.  So glad they are able to get out of the rental scene, even if they have to struggle for a bit.  When they rented their apartment last December, that was exciting for them.  When the nice weather hit, all the unsavory characters came out to play and show them what the place was really like.  Too many times of calling the police, to suit me!

So my card is created with a base of Pure Luxury card stock, and one of my very favorite designer papers from Memory Box.  I used a sheet of Pure White and stamped my images and sentiment.  My house with balloon is from Unity's April 2011 KOM called "small things Matter Most".  I decided to use my Art Impressions cloud stamp and cut a few and pop them.  Coloring is done with Copics, sponging is done with VersaMagic, and Stickles were added for a touch of glimmer. 

That is it for now!  Since hubby and I both worked today, I am hoping he feels bad and wants to go out to dinner.  See you soon!