Surprise!

At the moment, I am beaming! LeAnne will be so proud of me because I remembered her post from a couple of days ago AND I used another recycled product for my card! (She knows how I love "recycle" challenges!)

We had homemade potato chips from the other day, which we ate last night. I threw the bottom of the takeout container away but kept the top. This morning I looked at it and the light bulb came on for the Freshly Made Sketches (FMS293) Challenge by Karren

Et voila! 

My card base is Basic Black, the silver is the top of my takeout container, the mat for the sentiment is Basic Black cardstock punched out with SU's Pretty Label punch. The "thanks" was die cut from silver glimmer paper before we left FL almost two weeks ago. This was quick, easy, clean and simple! I don't normally do CAS but since I did, I decided to enter this in AAA Cards CAS Game #93.

I knew we would need a lot of thank you notes, but this one was a total surprise!!

Thanks for looking.

Paper Pumpkin Time Again!

I didn't think I'd have time to make a card while we were in Latham BUT when I checked the Saturday challenges, there was only one that I was able to do. So, without further ado...

I used pieces from my March 2016 Paper Pumpkin kit and stamps from the April 2017 kit. My color is Bermuda Bay.

Sketch Saturday #469 was what I used for my layout. Thank you, Alex, for your design.

We are now off to meet my sister and niece at the Cheesecake Factory. We have never been there. Tonight we will be dining with our daughter and son-in-love, along with his parents. Tomorrow I will be buying a size larger outfit...lol!

Thanks for looking!

Heartless? No Way!

Alphabet Challenge - H for Hearts and Just Add Ink Sketch Challenge #365 

made it easy for me this morning before we leave for the hotel in Latham, NY! I changed the orientation of the sketch a little. My inspiration came from Brandy Cox.

I brought along the tin box from this year's Stampin' Up Sale-a-bration, filled with goodies. Little did I know how handy it would be.

I also brought a bunch of card bases with me, different shapes for embellishments and some pieces I had intended to throw away. I had run a piece of aluminum foil through my Big Shot using the retired Honeycomb TIEF and had mounted it on a Real Red mat. The hearts were pre-cut and pre-colored. The banner was going to be a "throw away" because I didn't like the way I had cut it or stamped it. It was stamped with the retired Alphabet Rotary Stamp. That stamp is not easy to use but it is so versatile.

Thanks for looking!

One Layer Flowers!

I can't believe I did a one layer flower challenge...here ya go people, it's late and I'm tired so check these sites out :-)

Less is More #333 - Personalize It

and

The Flower Challenge #9

My colors are Bermuda Bay, Fresh Fig, Lemon Lime Twist and Emerald Envy. When I take stamp sets on the road from Paper Pumpkin kits, or wherever, I need to write down what they are...I have no idea!

Friday, Saturday and Sunday we are on the road in different motels/hotels so I won't be entering any challenges or making cards. Please don't give up visiting me though!

Thanks for looking.

Stampin' Up Paper Pumpkin - April 2017 Alternative

TSOT #326 Sketch by Kaylin was one that appealed to me.

When you are traveling, there is nothing greater to take with you than a Paper Pumpkin kit.

For my left side panel, I chose Lemon Lime Twist (no surprise there, Mary!) and for the right, I used the inside of one of the envelopes. The 3 pearls on the upper right corner were colored with the LLT marker but it hardly shows in the photo. 

In the kit was a watercolor panel that had geometric shapes. I colored one of them with Basic Black and LLT, then fussy cut it. I made my banner with Basic Black and Whisper White sponged with LLT. I used the stamp set from that kit to stamp on the banner in LLT. 

On the inside, I stamped the remainder of the sentiment. I'm not sure if the "You" is supposed to look like that but no matter how much I inked the stamp, the "Y" stayed the same. I sponged the edges of the Whisper White mat with Lemon Lime Twist. It's a shame I don't like that color...lol. I may use another stamp from the kit to stamp the dots on the mat to match the front. What do you think? Too plain and I should add dots or leave it alone?

I think I made the right choices with what I brought with me. However, if I get bored, there's a Michael's 30 minutes down the road.

Thanks for looking!

What, Me Worry?

My card today is quite pink, with many butterflies, and stamps from the March 2016 Paper Pumpkin kit. I'm getting mileage out of that kit while we are traveling! So with that set and the Shopping Our Stash - Think Pink - SOS #308 challenge, I used the sketch idea from Retro Rubber Challenge RRC65 Feeling Sketchy. I hope you will visit SOS to see why they chose Pink for their challenge. With Retro Rubber, you always have to use at least one stamp that is a year old or older.

I found a new site through Paper Playful...Mustard Seed Faith Challenge - Worry. I'm very glad I did because, not only is it a card challenge, it's a devotional with sagely advice. So, with all that said...

I happened to have a pad of Mariposa DSP with me and brought along my pre-cut butterflies for embellishments. I used a Calypso Coral marker to ink up my stamps because I only brought 4 colors: Bermuda Bay, Fresh Fig, Lemon Lime Twist, Tranquil Tide and Black ink pads. The Powder Pink and Berry Burst were 2 I left home :-( They would have worked perfectly.

Monday night we had a wonderful meal prepared by our son-in-love and his sous-chef (our daughter). He makes a wicked Chicken Piccata! Last night we met them at the Raindancer in Amsterdam. It's been over 20 years since we were there and it hadn't changed! I have more time to make cards because I don't have to cook or do dishes!!

Thanks for looking.

TSOT and I Did!

If you've been following my blog, you know we are on the road traveling from FL to NY. Before we left, I knew I was going to have to make a card as Guest Designer for Try Stampin' - or not - on Tuesday. I brought two SU Paper Pumpkin kits with me,  just a few pieces of cardstock, and DSP from the new Stampin' Up In Colors 2017 - 2019. I brought one punch and the coordinating stamp set. I also packed my trimmer and scoring board. At the time we left, I didn't know what the sketch was because I didn't have time to look at Facebook or my email. If I had seen it, I would have embossed the cross piece with my Petal Burst TIEF.

When I saw the sketch from CherylAnn, I loved it immediately. We were staying at the Holiday Inn Express at Childress Vineyard and I suddenly became smarter as a Guest Designer. It's only funny if you know the ad! 

With the ample space for creating, I came up with this card. Hope you like it.

Cardstock used was Whisper White, Tranquil Tie, Fresh Fig and Lemon Lime Twist. The flowers and pearls are from the April 2017 Paper Pumpkin kit. The DSP panel is from the Color Theory paper stack. The sentiment is from Label Me Pretty, stamped in Fresh Fig, punched with the Pretty Label punch. I adhered it with dimensionals from the kit.  

This card will take extra postage because the flowers are quite thick and breakable. I am still hoping to hand deliver it but our vacation plans had to change. We're not sure if we are going to be able to go to the Finger Lakes to see my brother and sil. It's her birthday in July and I was hoping to give it to her.

It was such fun being given the opportunity to do this and I am very thankful for Paper Pumpkin coming to my rescue yet again!

Thanks for looking.

Father's Day

We had a wonderful father's day with our daughter, son-in-love and grandson. It started out at their house in their beautiful new kitchen. After some lovely Malbec, we went to Black & Blue Steak and Crab Restaurant, Albany, NY. The ambiance and service was great. The appetizers, entrees and dessert were fantastic. If you go there, try their Crab and Lobster fondue...oh, my! Perry and I don't like oysters, but Kerri and Gene ordered them so he tried one and he liked  it. Jacob had a crab cake and it was quite tasty. Four of us had filet mignon and one had a Kansas City strip. Everyone said it just melted in their mouth. I had truffle butter with mine...yum!  

It might have been the Achaval Ferrer wine taking the pics :-)  I need to practice selfies! 

The greatest part about the day was that it was the first Father's Day in 17 years that we have been able to be together.

Birds of a Feather

I have chosen three colors from 

Sunday Stamps SSC155

and the sketch from

 Sketch Saturday Week #468 

and the theme from

Jaydee's CAS at The Paper Players PP#349 

for my challenges today. Because I don't have many supplies with me. I'm not sure if this card will qualify for a CAS but I'll give it a go because it was simple! I also had to loosely interpret the sketch.

My birds are talking about this "egg" they just laid! I hope I didn't lay an egg with my card!!

Thanks for looking.