Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Wet Wednesday!

It's raining in Florida...yippee! In a few weeks, we'll be hoping for no rain. Usually in June/July/August the lake almost comes up to the road in front of our house. So, it was a great afternoon to spend in the "craft" room.


I adore these colors together and used to have a dress that was navy and pink. CTD #435 
involves those colors plus gold and white. Thank you, Jodi, for picking those colors!

My layout was inspired by My Favorite Things - MFT 335
Sketch Challenge 335 #mftstamps
Just like yesterday, I used a bunch of scraps to make my card so it was a quick and easy one.

Thanks for looking.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Scrappy Doo!

Do you know who Scrappy Doo is? Well, he has nothing to do with my card today except that I used up a number of scraps for it! 

Is it really almost the end of May? June 1 will be here before we know it and the stamp I used on the front of my card will be a year old Thursday! However, the inside stamps, from Stampin' Up's Love & Sympathy set, were introduced in 2011 and were retired in 2015. Retro Rubber Challenge 63 Color My World chose colors I love!

RRCB 63

I also am entering it in Tuesday Throwdown's Stitching Challenge.



My card base is Perfect Plum. My lime green is from the defunct Office Max, the blue is Pool Party and the yellow is also from Office Max. The stitching on the outside is a die from Elizabeth Craft Designs Stitched Rectangles. The stitching on the inside was done free hand with a Wisteria Wonder SU marker. There is a boo boo underneath the yellow butterfly :-)  I used a Wisteria Wonder "swirl" that was in my stash from a former mistake and the butterflies on the front are what I made at cards last week. 

After I had the card completed, I realized I hadn't read the colors correctly as I had a choice of lime/yellow and I chose both...lol. I reversed the colors on the inside to add more interest. The image and sentiments were stamped in Perfect. I'm so happy I used up some scraps. That's my goal for the remainder of the year!

Thanks for looking.

Monday, May 29, 2017

Sam is Graduating!

Our last grandchild is graduating from high school next month. He is an actor/singer/dancer and has been in many plays. We have missed them all in person because he lives in NY and we live in FL. However, thanks to FB we have seen videos. He performed in plays at the Saratoga Children's Theater and all through school. One of his lines from Seussical - The Musical was quite appropriate for the card I made him this morning. I chose to make it today because of
Grab our button




His school colors are green and white. The only stamping involved was the biplane from Stampin Up's The Sky Is The Limit stamp set. There was a lot of fussy cutting with all the sentiments that I printed from the computer! The DSP is from SU's retired Going Places. 

Oh, the places he'll go! He'll be attending college in Manhattan and once he graduates, maybe he'll move to Florida and work for Walt Disney World! What a dream...the sky is NOT the limit for this young man. We can't wait to see him get his diploma and hope to see him graduate college. It will be an emotional day for all of us.

Thanks for looking.

Sunday, May 28, 2017

Paper Pumpkin Alternative

I needed a masculine retirement card for a friend who has driven a school bus for children who have special needs. He was so kind and loving to them but also had to discipline them. He will be missed, I'm sure. Now he will have more time in the morning to have his doughnut and coffee!


The inspiration for my layout came from Dragonfly Journeys Gettin' Sketchy Challenge 93.

My card base is Sahara Sand. The mat is Early Espresso. The donut came from this month's Paper Pumpkin kit. I took the back side of the pink frosted donut, sponged it with Sahara Sand, stamped the sprinkles with Sahara Sand, Soft Suede and Early Espresso. I adhered the swirls in the kit to make it look more like a frosted donut. I cut up one of the bags and adhered it to the bottom. My sentiment is stamped in Early Espresso on Very Vanilla, cut the edges with pinking scissors and adhered it to an Early Espresso mat. I then adhered that to the card with dimensionals.

I hope he enjoys my card and his retirement.

Thanks for looking!



Saturday, May 27, 2017

Negatives Aren't Always Bad!

At our card club the other day, I punched out two daisies for our card using the punch from the Delightful Daisy Bundle. I am very frugal and didn't want to scrap the paper and the sentiment so I tucked it away. We had also made butterfly embellishments in the group. Tonight I was cleaning out my craft basket and came across the negative daisy panel. Earlier this morning I was looking through my Saturday challenges and saw Less is More - Shimmer #330 and thought, well, "maybe". Now, it is no longer "maybe", it is reality! I still had the glitter paper from Owl & Pussycat, plus the other side of the DSP I used yesterday on my desk. All I had to do was add a mat of Night of Navy (SU) and a Whisper White card base. As Mary would say, "Et Voila"!

This card was not only fun, but a total surprise as I was only in the craft area to clean up and had no intention of making a card. Life is full of surprises.

Thanks for looking.

Friday, May 26, 2017

Cut Up Birthday Bash!

Strange title for a post you say? Well, the recipient of this birthday card is a real cut up. I hope she is not reading this blog! We are also going to have a birthday bash for her.

So, it is fitting that I would enter this card in Cut It Up Challenge #122 Fun Folds. For this challenge, you must also use a die. It also fits the Mod Squad Birthday Bash Challenge. I included various shots, one before I remembered I hadn't stamped the sentiment (SU Vertical Greetings)...it's late for me people!

















The card base is Blackberry Bliss. The length was 11" and the height was 5 1/2". It was scored at 1 1/4", 4", and 6 3/4". I got the idea from Gaynor Boyce. The first 1" piece of DSP is glitter paper I bought at The Owl and Pussycat in Ft. Myers. The second piece is Stampin' Up Succulent Garden. The last piece is from a pad that a friend gave me. The die cut is Stampin' Up's Stylish Stems Framelits. I used a lime glitter paper that came from O & P for the piece underneath the Blackberry Bliss. It was the first time I used this die set and I had fun trying to line it up! The panels are all cut 1/4" less than the size of the folds. This was a fun card to make even though it's almost past my bedtime.

Thanks for looking!

Thursday, May 25, 2017

No Time, No Stamping!

From 11 AM to 3:30 PM, we were in the car on the way to the hairdresser and my husband's oncologist. He had to have blood work and an antibiotic IV for what they think is an infection in his port area. Tomorrow he has tests to rule out other problems with the port. They want to make sure everything is okay for him to have chemo again Wednesday. We are so thankful our plans for Disney fell through.

So, as you can see, I didn't have much time to make a card. However, tonight I saw that CAS(E) This Sketch #223 

had a very easy sketch for me to CASE and keep it clean and simple. Perhaps it's too much so but at least I made a card...my first for St. Patrick's Day 2018!


My card base is Whisper White. That's the only item that is Stampin' Up! The rest is from Authentique Emerald DSP.

Tomorrow is a full day of doctors again so who knows what I'll come up with, but thanks for looking!


Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Stampin' Up! Secret Garden




I have a friend who means the world to me. We've been friends for 49 years and the only school we've gone to together is the school of hard knocks.  I made this card for her today just to let her know I love everything about her.

I got my inspiration from three challenges:



Paper Craft Crew Tic Tac Toe Challenge #245. Play along at www.papercraftcrew.com

All products are Stampin' Up. The stamp set I chose for my flowers and leaves was Secret Garden. My card base is Smoky Slate; the leaves, flowers and sentiment are Old Olive. (The sentiment came from the April 2016 Paper Pumpkin kit.) The flower centers are Old Olive enamel dots. The Whisper White square was die cut from Stitched Shape Framelits. The flowers and leaves were die cut from the Secret Garden Framelits. The column I chose for my tic-tac-toe is the center column, down. 

I think I'm getting to like CAS cards better now. Thanks for looking.





Tuesday, May 23, 2017

It's Official!

Yes, it's official...I have flunked cutting diagonals 101! My friend gave me written instructions today on how to do it and I still couldn't do it. I am a visual person so I guess she needs to do a video :-)

In any event, I am happy with my card.
It's masculine, I hope; it's all Stampin' Up; it's musical;it's based on an inspirational sketch AND it was my choice! So, it was made for these challenges:





The stamp set is Country Livin' and it's my favorite this week because I borrowed it and have to give it back Thursday! The colors are my favorites for masculine cards: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla. The sentiment is from Picture Perfect; I added a musical note to it and punched it with a 1" circle punch. The DSP is from This Christmas, which will be gone May 31, if it's not already. I'm so glad SU has come out with a background music stamp. You can be sure I will be making my own DSP! I fussy cut the boots and guitar after coloring them with my SU Early Espresso Watercolor Pencil. I used a sponge dauber to add a little Early Espresso to the Very Vanilla piece. I can't give you measurements because I eye-balled everything for the art piece and diagonal. Like I said, I'm hoping someone will do a video!

Thanks for looking!



Monday, May 22, 2017

Stampin' Up! Tuscan Vineyard

I think my mojo's working today in the card room as this is my second challenge for the day. I really liked the 498 sketch at Mojo Monday...thank you, Julee, for a great choice.


and ta-da...


All products are Stampin' Up. Someday I will get a VERVE stamp! In any event, my card base is Very Vanilla. The mat was embossed with the Petal Burst TIEF and I adhered it so the debossed side was up. I made my own DSP by stamping on Very Vanilla with Blackberry Bliss, Mossy Meadow and Sahara Sand using the Tuscan Vineyard set. I love making my own DSP. The paper strips are Mossy Meadow and Blackberry Bliss. I now wish I had used Sahara Sand for one of them or Very Vanilla but I was being frugal and used scraps! My grape cluster was stamped in the same colors and I fussy cut it and adhered it with dimensionals.

Thanks for looking at me twice today :-)

Merry Monday Christmas

I'm trying to clean out my Paper Pumpkin stash so the best way to do it is to start with Christmas!

MMCC #249 Mistletoe was my inspiration for this card.


My alternative Paper Pumpkin card was made from parts of the October 2015 and November 2015 Paper Pumpkin kits. I created the poinsettia with the flower stamp from the October kit. I stamped it on Cherry Cobbler for the flower and on Old Olive for the leaves then fussy cut them. I created the sentiment on my computer, printed a bunch and punched it out with a retired SU scallop punch. I sponged the edge and added the red pearls that came in the kit. The card stock, white pearls and holly came in the kit as well. This was one of my favorite kits and I wish I had ordered two. I'm going to save what's left for Merry Mondays!

Thanks for looking.

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Three Challenges









MY CARD!


All products are Stampin' Up. The stamp sets I used are all retiring May 31...Gorgeous Grunge, Oh So Succulent and Papillon Potpourri. I heat embossed the butterflies in black. The border is Marina Mist. The ink blots are Dapper Denim, Island Indigo and Marina Mist. I really don't see too much of a difference in the three blues, but it is a little more noticeable in real life. The sentiment is stamped in Marina Mist and heat embossed using Clear Embossing Powder. The dot is Lemon Lime.

Thanks for looking!

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Stampin' Up! Vertical Greetings

The problem with following a sketch challenge from memory, rather than having the computer in front of you, is that your brain interprets it at 99%. I switched my orientation of Sketch Saturday Week #464 and enlarged my elements but they say it's okay. So then why the 99%? Here's their sketch and my card follows.

I didn't remember their banners were evenly together at the top. If my card is not accepted, I will understand and will retry.

However, I did comply totally with two other challenges. 

and


I love lime green and navy. When I had my golf cart accident, I had a lime green and navy outfit on and the EMT had to cut my clothes off. That was VERY traumatic!! I now have a lime green and black outfit so I've gotten over it!! I'm so pleased that Stampin' Up has come out with inks and cardstock that will make me totally happy!!!

Thanks for looking, said the "Queen of exclamation points!!!!

Friday, May 19, 2017

Cowgirl

This is my second post for today because I didn't enter my other three cards in a challenge.

My layout is a copy of this one...

All products are Stampin' Up. My card base is Pool Party, then a layer of Dapper Denim covered by a mat of Moroccan DSP. My ribbon is glittery Pool Party (retired) and the boots are from Country Livin'. I used Shimmery White card stock, stamped them with brown Stazon and colored them with Bermuda Bay and Early Espresso watercolor pencils. Then I used my blender pen to spread the color. The art piece was die cut. I love the fact that the Pool Party, Bermuda Bay and Dapper Denim worked together. 

Thanks for looking!

CASEd Cards

Yesterday our Thursday card group met for a light dinner (Papa Murphy's Chicken Bacon Artichoke pizza), salad and Meg's homemade Toll House pie. YUM!

Once our tummy's were full we started on the cards she had chosen for us. The first one is by Connie Stewart...a "now to WOW" card; the second by Dawn Griffith (both of whom are on You Tube) and the third by Teri Pocock.


Connie Stewart CASE

Dawn Griffith CASE
Teri Pocock CASE











Thursday, May 18, 2017

Camping

Like yesterday's card in honor of Mary Deatherage, and based on the sketch at MOJO497I made this card for a friend who goes camping with his wife. 



From looking at their sketch and my photo, I have determined two things: I need better photography skills (my brother got them all in my family) AND I need to learn how to cut on the diagonal better! Mary, can you do a tutorial on that?

My DSP is from Scrapberry and the remainder of my card stock is SU's retired 2014-2016 colors. I think I could use the inside for the outside too. I will add sentiments when the time comes.

Thanks for looking!




Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Stampin' Up! Tuscan Vineyard

Yesterday I made a birthday card for our son-in-law. I decided today that I wanted to make another one that I will hand deliver because it is over .9 oz. Mary will get that! So yesterday's will go to someone else.

My inspiration came from the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. Thanks, Jen, for a nice clean sketch.

The Card Concept provided the inspiration for a vintage look based on their photo.

Their challenge is very challenging as there are other rules that you must meet for style and I must comment on the card ahead of me and behind me in the link...my husband had to help me with that one. I get confused between going forward and going backward. I think I used all the styles except for CAS! It's definitely monochromatic!!

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge provided the theme for my card..."masculine".

And now for the great reveal...

All products are Stampin' Up. I made my own DSP using Timeless Textures and Tuscan Vineyard stamp sets with Soft Suede, Sahara Sand and Crumb Cake inks on Very Vanilla cardstock. I used the Layering Ovals for the vineyard...that is my sentiment and our son-in-law will get the message! The image was stamped with Sahara Sand on Very Vanilla and matted to a Sahara Sand oval. My DSP was adhered to a 4  x 5 1/4 Sahara Sand mat which was adhered to a Very Vanilla card base 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.

For the inside I took the picture after I had started signing it...so now you know my son-in-law's name. It is also my son's name, my brother's name, was my father's name; it's my daughter's father-in-law's name, his father's name and his father's name so we have Jr.'s, Sr.'s and III's in our family...confused yet?
I used stamps from the Tuscan Vineyard set. The grapes were done with markers in Garden Green and Wisteria Wonder. The corkscrew was stamped off once with Crumb Cake as was the round stamp. The corks are first generation.

OK, so here's the Mary picture!
I added my DSP to the envelope flap. On the front I stamped the wine bottles (or they might be olive oil bottles because there is an olive branch in the set) but I didn't take a photo of that because I felt like I have taken up enough your time and it's time for me to have a glass of vino!

Thanks for looking.





Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Cupcake

I needed to make my son-in-law's birthday card before we head north in June so my inspiration to do it today came from two Tuesday challenges. Here's my card...



... cooking, baking and making...who doesn't think of chocolate and cupcakes? Yum! 

My sketch is based on Tuesday Morning Sketches #403


I left the bow off because it's a masculine card! I noticed some of the DT cards had no bow so I knew I was safe.

All products are Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted. The stamp sets I used are Lovely Amazing You (retired) for the outside sentiment and Sprinkles of Life for everything inside.

Ink colors I used are Early Espresso, Crumb Cake and Daffodil Delight.

Papers I used are Kraft Corrugated cardstock (retired), Early Espresso, and Crumb Cake. The DSP is called Safari and I got it years ago at JoAnn's.

The scalloped oval and center piece were cut with the Layering Ovals framelits.

The dots are Neutral Enamel dots, which are no longer available.

Measurements: 8 1/2 x 11 scored at 4 1/4

Top panel: Mat 3 x 3 3/4; DSP 2 7/8 x 3 5/8

Bottom panels (2): Mat 2 x 1 7/8; DSP 1 7/8 x 1 3/4

I aimed for a 1/4" border all around the mats and in between. I think I got it, but I'm no mathematician! Now that I think about it, all I needed to do was cut an Early Espresso piece 4 x 5 1/4 for a solid mat and then adhere the cut DSP!! I have just proved to myself that I overthink things...lol.

Thanks for looking.



Pammie's Inky Pinkies Challenge #2411

Welcome to another PIP Challenge . Here is what I created for it... I just love the background digital from our   awesome sponsor ... This w...