Happy for our Libraries!

Coffee of the Day - Maple Pecan

Good morning everyone! I hope your weekend is starting off beautifully! It is a gorgeous one here - temps in the 40's, clear skies, sun peeking through the clouds, kittens chasing leaves that blow across the driveway...... truly enough to make your heart smile!

I would like to share a card with you that I have made for our local library as a way to say thank you for all that they do. We recently had a huge tax levy on the ballots for our county. thankfully it passed, as our libraries are crucial in my opinion. I don't think a week goes by that we aren't there checking out books, movies, or CD's. I made this card to fit into a legal sized envie - large enough so that everyone in our family could jot a note of thanks. The image, Avid Reader, is by Cheryl Alger for Squigglefly. oh, I so remember the days of lying in that same exact position, caught up in the magic of a book. I am still that way. I MUST read every day. I probably go through 3 or 4 books a week. and thankfully everyone in our family reads as well.

Papers are from the Cosmo Cricket Togetherness collection. lots of little buttons were added, as was an actual library card. remember those?! grins! a little netting bow and homemade flower finish it off. can't wait to drop this off later today.

• Sassy Cheryl - use tulle or ribbon

A few fun cards....

Coffee of the Day - Pumpkin Spice

Hello! I am slowly getting caught up on my crafting projects. just one or two more and I can play to my heart's content! I have actually printed off a few 'play' images in anticipation, but they are all 'play' imo! ;)

First card up uses a fun little guy and sentiment set from Create with TLC. Paired him with some of my all time fave Basic Grey papers - Indian Summer. these colors are just magnificent and the patterns so true to nature in many ways. I love them! the main image and sentiment were sprayed with walnut gold glimmer mist to add a bit of age and shimmer shine! gotta love that! ;) a few vintage buttons, crochet trim, & fabby Making Memories glitter leaf finish off the festive Thanksgiving card.

Next is a creation using the beautiful free image I mentioned in yesterday's post offered by Tammy at A Day for Daisies. if you join either of her groups at SSC or CDAC or sign up for her newsletter, this is the image that you will receive. isn't she stunning? I couldn't wait to make something with her! Gorgeous papers from Webster's Pages, little touches of glitz from shimmerz paints & spica glitter pens, a most fabby-licious frosted Prima rose, and of course trims make this a card I hope some lady would love to receive. just need to pop it in the mail to some special someone who needs a little pick me up........ BEs ure to check out the new releases in the store, too. for today only, they are 20% off!

Have a wonderful day, beautful lady! :)

Break a Leg, Ryan! :)

I wanted to quickly post this card before it gets delivered to Ryan up at the school in just a bit...... tonight is the grand opening of the play he is in. last night was the 'soft' opening so to speak, but tonight is the grand-daddy of them all!

I was printing off a bunch of digis earlier and came across this one from Tammy at A Day for Daisies. it is PERFECT for Ryan tonight - he plays the Best Man in the wedding. This digi is aptly called, 'Best Little Man', so I couldn't resist making him a congrats/break a leg/so proud of you card for tonight. we'll be dropping off dinner to him in just a little while, so thought David could ever so quietly slide this in the bag for him to open when he finds it.

The papers are Basic Grey Jovial, so even though they are Christmas in theme, I loved the way they went with the image. Kept it pretty simple since it is afterall going to a guy!

While I am thinking about it, new subscribers to the ADFD newsletter as well as new members to both the CDAC and SSC groups will receive a beautiful image Tammy has drawn especially for you! Head over to the blog to get a looksie and for more info. :)

A New Addition to the Baby Bud Family! :)

Coffee of the Day - Maple Vanilla

I would love to take this opportunity to introduce you to the latest member of the Baby Bud Designs cutie family, Noelle! she just makes me smile with her precious little boots and adorable winter hat!

Unfortunately I am a few days late with my release project since being sick, so please check the BBD blog for the other DT members' creations. Every one is a treat indeed!

I have made this card for one of my fave people, who happens to look just like a Baby Bud! Jocelyn, close your eyes for this post, sweetie, 'cause it's coming to you in the mail! She loves all things purple, so I paired Noelle with the beautiful papers from the Cosmo Cricket Mitten Weather collection. in order to get the beige portions on the card with my watercoloring, I took a dry brush to the SU! vanilla craft ink. works like a charm! that also gave me the chance to add a few little polka dots to her winter cap! The buttons down the front were covered with rock candy distress stickles to maintain the cream color but still add some sparkle. I added the same distress stickles along the ground to simulate a light snow cover, just like the one we had here over the weekend! ;) The sheet music covers a chipboard coaster. it was distressed and sprayed with walnut gold glimmer mist. I then added this amazing snowflake sticker from Making Memories. doesn't that baby glow like all get out?! The sentiment comes from Create with TLC. a vintage button and some scrunched seam tape finish it all off.

Ryan's play opened last night and it was fabulous!!! he did such a wonderful job! Tyler comes home Friday so that he can go. I sure wish there was some way Mick could be here to see his little bro hamming it up on stage. we will try to videotape if possible.

Everyone have a most glorious day!

Paper Sundaes - Let it Snow

Stampin Sisters in Christ - weather

Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes

Belli Challenge - Old, New, Borrowd, or Blue (old- button & chipboard coaster, new-snowflake sticker & digi, blue- bg paper)

Crazy 4 Challenges - square card (I think that is all I make anymore!)

Golf is for Girls

Coffee of the Day - Pumpkin Spice

Sorry to have been away for a bit. Haven't been feeling too well, so have been tucked away in bed. But the good news is that I am up drinking coffee again today and was able to start catching up on my crafting. yipppeeeee!

I just love this fun vintage image and sentiment from Create with TLC. it makes me giggle every time I see it! ;) especially the look on that guy's face and his posture. me thinks she is kicking his pants on the links! tee hee! now we know that would never happen here at my house. David still plays golf like the pro he used to be, but who knows, I might just give him the card anyway. or send it to my MIL who enjoys a round of golf every week, too.

Once I finished watercoloring the image, I took my SU! ink squirty tool and sprayed both soft suede and river rock over the top. The papers are Daisy D's Autumn. I just love the beautiful brown trim I found on Etsy. it really adds to the 'girly' touch of the card. a golf tee adds a bit of whimsy, especially tied with the tea stained twine.

enjoy your day! I hope to be back to posting regularly now, with DT posts to catch up....

Pumpkin Cheesecake Please :)

Coffee of the Day - Pumpkin Spice with a bit of Pecan for fun :)

Good morning! Today begins a fun new challenge over at A Day for Daisies - "Please Pass the Traditions". Everyone is to make a card using a recipe that is part of your holiday traditions year after year. Well this pumpkin cheesecake recipe has been made faithfully every Thanksgiving for over 20 years in my family - back when David and I were first married to now, only now I make at least 2 to keep up with growing appetites and sons! :) it is soooooooooooooooo good and is looked forward to more than the turkey!

I decided to go with a fun gate fold card format so that the recipe could be tucked inside. This precious new digi from Tammy, 'Playing in the Pumkin Patch'. the image on the outside was watercolored; the image on the inside was lightly shaded with chalks. the papers are from Pixie Press, Earth Stripes. They were wrinkled and distressed, sprayed with flower power glimmer mist, and then lightly sponged with vanilla craft to age further. the leaves and pumpkins are from Making Memories and were treated the same. orange lace is some vintage from my stash. the little gliter chipboard pieces add just the right touch of shine and sprakle! buttons were touched with a bit of vanilla craft as well. the recipe card was lightly sprayed with the same flower power glimmer mist, which is actually a pale orange with gold spray. beautiful for fall!

I do hope that you can play along this fortnight! there is a super holiday freebie available for you to use and wonderful prizes are always up for grabs with ADFD challenges. plus, for today only as with every Friday release, all new release images are at a special discounted price. You need to check them out. Some beautiful Indian maiden images for Thanksgiving and adorable little friends for Christmas you most certainly don't want to miss! and as always, stop by the other DT members' blogs to see how they will inspire you with their creativity! :)

Alleluia Nativity

Coffee of the Day - Pecan Pie

Hello! I know I have been away for several days. David had taken a few days off from work - much needed days I might add - and we have been having a wonderful time spending some fun together visiting antique shops, little local restaurants & coffee shops, and just driving around northeast Ohio taking in the fall scenery. it has been truly glorious spending time together! not much crafting has been done, but that is okay, too. just so wonderful to be with my lovey dovey man! :)

I do have a Christmas card to share with you using Shady Tree Studio's Nativity set, just released last week. this is such a versatile set and I am having a great time using it! this time I kept the main image fairly simple, stamping it onto a piece of patterned paper from Basic Grey's Jovial collection. all papers are from this beautiful collection. the edges are sponged to accent the various shades of color. it was also sprayed with walnut gold glimmer mist, while the star was painted with candlelight shimmerz. The music sheet in the bg was sprayed with the same glimmer mist, sa was the poinsettia & little sentiment tag. I added a bit of bright gold ribbon and some wonderful vintage buttons. The card base was edged in vanilla craft to help age. A little border punched edge adds just a touch of color.

We are expecting snow here tonight or tomorrow, so you know just how happy I am about that!!! I can't wait! :)

chat with you tomorrow! love ya! Jennifer

A Baby Bud Bee Hive

Coffee of the Day - Pumpkin Spice

Good morning! We are all moving a bit slow around here. Last night was our little town's trick-or-treating. While we don't really celebrate Halloween, there is one tradition our family proudly upholds every year. We get together with another family and give out hot dogs, chips, hot cocoa, & water to the people out trick-or-treating. The house has become known in the community as the 'hot dog house'! We have such a great time doing it! Tyler even came home from college for the weekend so he could help pass out hot dogs again. It began over 10 years ago as an outreach from our church, but then the church stopped doing it. We decided it was too good of a project to discontinue, so we started doing it on our own. Neither our friend nor us attend that church any longer, but God's love supercedes church walls anyhow. Everything is given out for free and no donations are accepted. God just says give to our neighbors, so we do. and people love it. they can't possibly know that we ourselves are gifted far more than they will ever be. :)

"Love your neighbor as yourself" Luke 10:27

So in that same spirit of sharing, I want to move on to my card project for the day. it is another card for the Hope You Can Cling To challenges at SCS. but again, I made 2 so that I could pass along one for the card drive I mentioned yesterday for children with spina bifida. This one is going to Bekah, an 8 year old girl. I sure hope she enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it!

The cutie little bee comes from Baby Bud Designs. (hey, the 2 freebies are still up at the blog if you haven't snagged them yet!!! hurry hurry!) I wanted to put her next to a bee hive and finally found a coloring page of one online. this was printed onto paper from the Basic Grey Lemonade collection. such a happy line of papers and perfect for precious little bee girls! The challenge was to use 3 designer papers, 2 embellishments, and 1 ribbon. So my embellies are these great little rhinestone flowers that I colored with my SU! daffodil marker to match the paper. Of course every bee needs to have some sparkle, so I painted her wings with opal shimmerz, her antennae with beeswax shimmerz of course, and her black stripes with sparkle spritz shimmer spray. so shine she does!

Have a most beautiful day! It is in the 40's again here today, but the sun is just as happy as can be in the sky shining down upon us all! May you find comfort in the Son that provides love, peace, and joy to you today! :)

Hold onto your seats, there's a buncha cards in this post......

Coffee of the Day - Pumpkin Spice, of course! ;)

I have been busy trying to play in as many of the Hope You Can Cling To challenges over at SCS, so hang on while I show you several of my latest creations. All images can be found at Squigglefly.

First card up is one made for the Four by Four challenge - Four embellies, 4" square, 4 layers. Balloon Fun image is by Cheryl Alger. Papers are Basic Grey Cupcake. the balloon was painted with sparkle spritz shimmer spray as I have mentioned in posts earlier this week. It is a simple card because I made 2 - one is going to a little boy who has spina bifida. a fellow DT member of mine from Baby Bud Designs is doing a card drive on her blog. For more info, please visit Giovana and see if you can contribute a card. I know it would mean so much to these children! :)

Next card is a paper pieced birthday card. I used a new image from Teresa Ward called Flamenco Dancer. The papers are Jenni Bowlin Grandma's Apron. I used both the mini and standard 12x12 size on the card. The dancer's blouse and scarf were painted with the sparkle spritz shimmer spray. the rose was sprayed with the same. gorgeous trim comes from Etsy, little tag was tea stained, and prima leaves were sprayed with graphite glimmer mist. vintage button is from my stash.

and lastly I have a shaped card with another image by Cheryl Alger. this is also for the challenge going on over at her blog. I love this cute little Prim Annie! Cosmo Cricket paper was applied to a chipboard star and then distressed. the card base is SU! red riding hood, but doesn't show in the scan. the prima rose was sprayed with walnut gold glimmer mist. the bow, star, and blouse on main image were painted with shimmerz. I punched mini stars for more patriotic fun! a little snippet of crochet trim, button, and finally the twine line with clothespins were added. This was a treat to work on! I haven't done prim in a while, so need to get back to it more often.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! :)

A New Challenge begins at Baby Bud Designs! :)

Coffee of the Day - Pumpkin Spice!!!! woooo hooooo! I am drinking coffee again! :)

Welcome to a brand new challenge with Baby Bud Designs! I am going to try to be quick today, because I want you to do 3 things for me:

1. race to the Baby Bud Designs blog to pick up not one, but TWO adorable freebies today and

2. be sure to stop by the other Lady Bud's blogs to leave them some lovin' for their beautiful contributions! :)

3. get started making your card so you can have a chance at winning the fun digi and card making prize pack!

now here we go ~

the challenge for this upcoming month is "Scallops, Buttons, and Bling", so baby I went to town! first I used one of the free images available today, "Woof Doggie". His little leash is part of my bling although David tells me no self respecting dog would allow a bow on his leash. I beg to differ! grins! The scallops are obvious in the lace and canvas portions, as are the fun buttons, but it is some of the other 'bling' I want to tell you about.

As I was taking my dogs out for a walk the other day, I was once again marveling at the beautiful colors of fall and the leaves scattered around me. I picked up a handfull and thought I would see what I might create with them. About that time a very fun package arrived at my door from i {heart} papers containing some birthday bash goodies I had won. inside was the spritz shimmer sprays I have been telling you about. I already had the frost and loved it, but I now have the sparkle and copper in my collection. Today's card is pretty much covered in the copper spray! The Jenni Bowlin Afternoon Tea papers were sprayed with it, the SU! canvas scallop strips were sprayed with it, and then the leaves were also sprayed with it! yes, way! you can spray leaves!!! and oh my stars, it is so beautiful irl! the little flecks of copper mingle with the various shades in each leaf. They were sealed with cheapo hairspray on both front and back, which helped to add some shine all in itself.

so there you go - 'Scallops, Buttons, and Bling'! please join us and play along. and a big hearty congratulations go out to Nataliya for winning the first BBD challenge! way to go! :)

• City Crafter - Autumn Leaves Falling

Don't Dance in a Small Boat.....

Coffee of the Day - Pumpkin Spice... gonna try and see how it goes... the temptation is sooooo strong! grins!



Good morning! I hope today finds you doing well!

I want to share another vintage set with you from Create with TLC. This sentiment just makes me giggle every time I see it. I hope it brings a smile to your face as well.

Please forgive the funky colors from my scanner. it didn't seem to appreciate the greens and yellows last night as I entered the card in..... irl there is a much greater difference I assure you.

I tried something fun and new on this card - I used the spritz sparkle spray as a paint here on the water. and oh my landsakes, I will most certainly be doing it again! there is such a beautiful shine that went exactly where I wanted it! it gives a lighter coverage than my beloved shimmerz paint - just a subtle shine. gorgeous!!! you will see another project using a different use for this fun spray tomorrow, too, so be sure to tune in! :)

I grabbed some neat goodies from my stash on this project - this great flourish transparency gifted to me by my friend, Melissa, some paper from my Rhonda stash, and lovely Daisy D's paper that I try so hard not to hoard, but love so very very much. some fun punches, a few unique buttons, a Prima, and good old fashioned twine finish this off.

enjoy your day and I will see you tomorrow! btw, I am sooooooo close to being caught up on craft projects! yeeehaw! :)

• Creative Card Crew - punches
• SCS HYCCT25 - buttons

Shady Tree Studios New Releases for Christmas! Hooray!

no coffee today.... :( strictly Gatorade diet for me for a while....

Today is the day that Shady Tree Studios releases 6 wonderful sets designed especially for Christmas! wooo hoooooo!

(and yes, I am behind.... everyone else was showing you glorious samples earlier this week while I was lounging in my lovely vacation home in Maui being hand fed grapes by my honey bunny...... well, in my fevered dreams anyhow! ;) but I am trying to catch up, so bear with me...)

I have 2 cards to show you today made with the set "Nativity". this is a gorgeous set with so many pretty images and sayings. Please be patient with me as I have been away from crafting for almost a week now, and am having a tough time getting my mojo back into it. I did my best, even though it took me double digit hours to complete just one card. yikes! hopefully that won't last long!

The first card (my first attempt at card making) uses the shepherd. I wanted to convey the feeling of him being in the mountains, so tried to create that with some Basic Grey Wassail papers that were torn. The edges were inked and then the entire thing was lightly sprayed with sparkle shimmer. The star is painted with my handy dandy shimmerz. you know how much I love that stuff! :) I added some fun trims and a pretty flower that was also sprayed, but this time with glimmer mist. finally a pearl pin was tucked in. The sentiment was stamped in a light ink, river rock to match all edging. I didn't want to distract from the main image by stamping it in black or brown. A very different card for me, but I still like how it turned out. much fewer layers than I usually do.

The next card shows me getting back into my groove, but still taking way toooooo long to complete. maybe by next week I can get things back to finishing a card in 3 or 4 hours per usual. I know, many of you are picking up your jaws from off of the floor at that one..... I really like to take my time to get things right. it takes me about an hour just to paint the images. okay, enough of that.... tee hee! This time I used Basic Grey Jovial papers and walnut gold glimmer mist for my shimmery shine. I used the same masking technique with sponging to show the star's reflection. again, the star is painted with shimmerz. The wonderful little corner embellie comes from Making Memories. flowers are Prima, buttons from my vintage stash, and seam tape is some I coffee stained a while back. love the bit of fabric still attached to the one button! how fun is that?!

Please please check out the other DT members' blogs. I haven't had the chance yet, but I KNOW they have created some of the most gorgeous things to inspire and tantalize you! then head over to Nancy's blog to see the new sets! she is a wonderful artist and just down-right nice person!

• SCS HYCCT08 - Fab Flower Power
• Sentimental Sundays - Distressing

Shady Tree Studios New Release Contest!

I have a big announcement -

hurry hurry hurry over to Shady Tree Studios blog RIGHT NOW for your chance to win the ENTIRE NEW RELEASE!!!!!! all you have to do is leave a comment on this post (on her blog, not mine. grins!) for your chance to win every single wonderful stamp in Nancy's Christmas line debuting tomorrow! but you have to have your comment posted by 11 pm EST!

I am so sorry to have been remiss in getting this info to you. I have been sick in bed since the end of last week. Went to log into my email, and over 1000 were sitting there staring me in the face. yikes! still not doing so good, but will try to get something made with a set from this beautiful new series for you.

Do stop by the other DT members' blogs to see all of the amazing things they have for you, and see what Nancy has created as well. now hurry off to get your entry posted! :)

A Vintage Flower Child! :)

Coffee of the Day - Pumpkin Spice (probably every day as long as I can find it in the stores!)

When I say the phrase, 'flower child', I am betting that this most precious image is NOT what first arrives into your head! giggles! But when Paulette of Create with TLC sent this to me, that is one of the first things I thought of. y'all know I am goofy like that! ;)

For an entire month, I am priviliged to be a guest designer for TLC for Paulette's vintage line. you know how right up my alley that is! and boy, was I ever excited when I received the news! I simply adore the little flower children images, so was tickled to get this one to start the journey! It comes with the matching sentiment, which I have turned into a tag.

I used one of my fave ever techniques on the main image, cracked glass. I realized it had been way too long since I had last played around with this. I added some highlights with my gold glitter pen to the flower stamens and also sponged gold ink over the entire piece prior to layering on the glassy glaze ep. The gorgeous Webster's Pages papers have been sprayed with frost shimmer spray. The card base is edged in vanilla craft, and then sponged with same vanilla then gold ink. I love this May Arts vintage looking ribbon with the gold edging. it really helps dress up the violet stitched ribbon, which was the only ribbon I had that matched the cs (of course with SU! it ALWAYS matches! grins!)

have a most wondrous day! love to you all! :)

• SCS HYCCT18 - Vintage Style

Come to Me Autumn....... plus a hugey huge announcement!

Coffee of the Day - Pumpkin Spice, of course! ;)

What a truly glorious day! God is in His majesty, of that I am most certain! of course He would be even if it were pouring down rain, but the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the colors of Autumn surround me with so much beauty as I gaze out my windows...... there is so much to be thankful for! :)

I want to share a card with you that I hope reflects just a bit of what I feel as I see the colors of this most awe-inspiring season. and with it I get to make a humbling announcement as well. I have been asked to join the ranks of some of stamping's most talented EVER ladies by joining the DT of Shady Tree Studios! Honored doesn't even begin to express the way I feel!

I used the stamp set, 'Come to Me Autumn', with the image stamped directly onto my patterned paper. For this special card, out came the much hoarded Daisy D's! ;) I intentionally gave the image a muted feel, lightly adding color with my SU! inks and water color brushes rather than going bold with markers. The tag, polka dot ribbon, and glitter leaf are from Making Memories. The lace and buttons are from my vintage stash. The card base was edged in saffron craft ink. of course I had to get some distresing in there! ;) The little bit of twine is actually a bit of a tea tag that soaked while I was making tea one day! repurpose repurpose! The tag is popped up on foam tape for more dimension.

Please do check out the Shady Tree blog, store, PCP group, and of course the DT members' blogs for TONS more inspiration! Nancy has sneaky peeks starting today for next week's big release, so you for certain don't want to miss any bit of that! :)

• Our Creative Corner - 3+ embellies
• MelJen - tags
• SCS HYCCT10 - Walk On By
• City Crafter - vintage

Imagine a World of Mermaids....

Coffee of the Day - Caramel Hazelnut

Good morning! and what a glorious one it is! As I was driving Ryan to the High School for his PSAT bright and early at 7:30, we saw 3 deer running through the houses along the street. Then as I was returning from the grocery on my way back home, 5 more were grazing in the field. The mists were still hanging in the air, so it was truly a scene of beauty!

Yesterday Tammy introduced a few new images over at A Day for Daisies. While touring blog land I came across a few challenges that this precious Vintage Mermaid Child seemed perfect for. Opal shimmerz paint covers the fins for a wonderful shine irl. more shimmez paint is on the pretty little lily pad flowers as well. The soft papers are from Prima First Blush collection. The irridescent shells come from Making Memories. The paper flower was sprayed with frost spritz.

I hope you have a most wonderful weekend! and may you find scenes of beauty just outside your door, too! :)

• SCS HYCCT15 - Colors of Hope (pink, olive, aqua)
• Creative Card Crew - Fairy Tales with Digis

Trick or Treat Ellie

Two Posts in one day! woooo hooooo!

Trying to make a few cards to send off to the guys away at school..... thought they might like a box full of candy treats, no tricks at least if Mom has anything to say about it. Dad is another story entirely!!! :D

This cute little jester elephant from Tiddly Inks out trick-or-treating caught my eye as a fun one to use to send. Since I had to resist the urge to 'paint' the toenails, I went with 'emo' black. grins! perfect for Halloween, don't you think?!?! I added just a few touches of shimmerz paint on his pumpkin bucket and jester's hat. The boo bat rub on is a verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry oldie from Basic Grey that I found at the bottom of my drawer....... but it turned out perfect for here! Seems I only use the BG Ambrosia papers for Halloween, but I do love them for this. hard to believe it was last year when I last pulled them out. The seam tape scrap was the last bit remaining from my card posted earlier today. I pulled a few strings off of the ends to make them raggedy. It was stapled to the ticket (another oldie but goody - you can actually see where the sun has discolored it... sheesh, I am so bad about using up some of my stash) with my tiny attacher. I don't know if any of you have this amazing little tool, but it is a must have for any of you who like to staple. these itty bitty staples are so super-dee-super cute and fit into the tiniest places! A simple button and some Maya Road pom pom trim finish off the card. not too much to the card, but it is going to a guy....... always have to remember the no fuss, no frills rule the guys have imposed on me for their 'manly' cards!

catch up with you tomorrow!

• Tiddly Inks - Halloween
• Creative Belli - Pumpkins
• Papertake Weekly - Three of a Kind (decorative papers)
• Pile it On - Things in Threes (decorative papers)

Black Cats for Sale

Coffee of the Day - Maple Vanilla

Today begins a new challenge over at A Day for Daisies - Black and Spooky! I couldn't resist this adorable little kitten image 'Black Cats for Sale' when Tammy first introduced it a month ago, so this seemed the perfect opportunity to get it all inky! :) As I was growing up, my bestest friend in the entire world was my beautiful black cat, Samantha. oh my gosh, she went absolutely everywhere with me. I had a basket on the front of my bike so she could go on every bike ride, if I went to visit relatives - along she went, she slept with me every night (probably why I insist our labbers sleep with us! grins!), she truly was my partner/shadow/confidante/friend. So coloring this image was great fun and brought back so many memories!

Their cutie little whiskers are outlined with my black spica glitter pen. The doily is sprayed several times with graphite glimmer mist, as is that most delish flower in the lower corner. isn't that thing just enough to make you drool? I won it in some blog candy and sure do wish I knew who made it and where I could find more.... if you happen to know, please let me know. Under that most gorgeous hunka hunka lucious vintage lace is a piece of Basic Grey Ambrosia dp that has also been sprayed with the graphite glimmer mist. A crinkledy wrinkledy piece of seam tape divides the doily and lace. some fun black rhinestones add a final bit of decoration while black diamond stickles edge the entire card.

Why don't you see how much black you can incorporate into your creation and play along with us? I bet you will find that it is much easier than you think! ;) and probably not so very spooky after all..... stop by and visit the other DT members, too! you know they will have some gorgeous things for inspiration!

edited to add - for today only a cutie patootie little witch freebie is available on the challenge blog for you! so grab it while you can!!!

see you tomorrow! :)

Shabby Tea Room - Pumpkins

Bee Crafty - Halloween

Paper Sundaes - Change of Seasons

Really Reasonable Ribbon - Halloween

Cupcake Crafts - Scary Creatures (but these black cats are awfully cute, not scary! grins!)

Happy to be Square

Coffee of the Day - Tiramisu

Hello everyone! Sorry to have been away for a bit. We had the entire fam at home for the weekend. Mick had Fall break until Tuesday, so what a joy to spend some extra time with him! didn't even know such a thing existed, so that was a treat indeed! then had a few other not-so-treatful things to deal with, but don't wanna talk about ickies here.... so suffice it to say, my crafting has been on hiatus for a while.

But now I am back and better than ever! tee hee! I don't know about better, but I am back! :D

I have a card to share with you made for the SCS Hope You Can Cling To challenge - Let's Dabble in Some Scrabble. The idea is to make a square card with pink and then add at least 4 other squares. I chose to use this adorable little Baby Bud Designs image called 'Heidi'. I used fun papers from the Cosmo Cricket DeLovely collection, added some faux stitching with my white gel pen, popped up the main image with some foam tape. added a few highlights with shimmerz paints, and then put on a few more little embellies to accent. The card is a smaller square than I usually make, coming in at 4 1/4" square.

I hope all of you have been well! see you tomorrow! :)

Digital Tuesday - Stitching

Wild Orchid - Stitch it Up

Doilies of Hope

Coffee of the Day - Toasted Coconut with Butter Rum

As you know I have been participating in a few of the challenges going over at Split Coast Stampers in their Hope You Can Cling To challenge forum. It really feels good to create something that you know is going to someone whose day needs a bit of brightening......

Today's card is for the Somekinda Hope challenge - create a card using something old and something new. We have a similar challenge starting today at the Squigglefly PCP group to parallel this one in hopes of collecting more cards for MD Anderson Hospital. Please, if you can, we would love to have you participate!

I used an image from the new set by Michelle Bertuzzi, Doilies and Laces, and printed it onto some of my old beloved Daisy D's papers from the Snowflakes & Holly collection. The doilies were highlighted with a black spica glitter pen, sprayed with frost spritz, and then edged with rock candy stickles. the little flower was sprayed with a new to me candy corn glimmer mist and then lightly touched with the same rock candy stickles. the buttons are all from my vintage stash, so they are old old old. most everything was adhered with my fancy schmancy new pink ATG gun that David bought me the other day! boy, am I lovin' that puppy! ;)

we are off to pick up Mick from Bowling Green in just a moment, so had best go..... everyone enjoy your weekend! love ya!

My First Attempt with Copics..... yikes!

Coffee of the Day - Creme Brulee

Well the time has come..... I have slowly been adding to my itty bitty Copic marker collection. My dear friend, Gina, was amazing and sent me a few of her duplicates! isn't that the coolest?! love ya, Gina!!!!! it is still an itty bitty collection, but I decided to be the gal full of adventure and actually use a few of these precious beauties & attempt to create with them. oh, the fear, the trepidation, the sweat filled brow.... and that was just as I looked at the markers in the box. it is one thing to look at the markers and gaze at the beautiful colors. it is another completely to contemplate actually USING them! oy!

but this adorable stamp set from Shady Tree Studio had been so quietly calling to me for long enough..... "play with me, please" it was saying. Well you will most certainly be seeing more from this cute set and wonderful company in the future! :) I grabbed my Basic Grey Pyrus papers since I have already told you how much I am enjoying them. I then thought how pretty the Little Birds stamps would look on a canvas tag, and the Copic markers would do well with the fabric from everything I had read. So I took 3 or 4 shades and went straight to blending for the bird, plant/leaves, and flowers. there is a blush oval behind the bird that IS intentional. I wanted to very slightly hightlight this wonderful little birdie without bringing too much focus onto it. unfortunately in the scan it looks as if I spilled pink lemonade on it..... oh well, the best intentions......

lots of glimmer mist colors were used here, too. both the ribbon and the lace have been sprayed with different colors as well as the bg BG piece with several shades.

yes, I will use my copics again. most especially after getting over the first time fear. blending on cs is going to be an entirely different experience, but I am woman, hear me roar! tee hee! ;)

• HYCCT03 - SCS UnSentimental
• Stampin Sisters in Christ - Nature

U Rock!

Coffee of the Day - French Vanilla

U Rock! Every Day! grins! just in case someone hasn't told you that today, I thought I would let you know. and I am sending this card off to Mick to let him know I think he rocks as well.

This image from Tiddly Inks always cracks me up. David thought it was a muffin. Even though I did everything I could to make this card look 'rockish' to go with Mick's love for rock climbing, David looked at me and asked, "You muffin?" I just rolled my eyes and took the card over to Ryan. he got it. phew.... I haven't completely lost it.... yet.

The rock bg paper was fun to make. Christy had offered up a freebie on the Tiddly Inks PCP group last week of some crinkly paper. I printed it out in b & W, sponged it with shades of browns & greys, sprayed it with graphite & walnut gold glimmer mist, wrinkled it up really good and tight while it was still wet, hit it quick with a heat gun, then sponged it with crystal effects. after this was dry, I sponged white craft ink over the top. voila! a rock face! perfect for my rock climber! Ryan knew it was rock paper immediately. I still am holding out hope for my hubster...... it has great texture and shine irl.

The papers are Basic Grey Boxer. I had forgotten how fab this collection is. The little ROCK in the boy's hand is also sponged with crystal effects. the zipper pull is actually repurposed from the pocket on a pair of Mick's shorts. he will get a kick out of seeing it here.

• Tiddly Inks - Diamond Glaze/crackle accent

Thanks for You

Coffee of the Day - Pumpkin Spice

Good morning! Just a quickie little post to start us off. It was a BRISK 45* here this morning when I woke up. add the rain on top of that and my toes were chillin'! think it is time for a new pair of pink fluffy slippers for these tootsies! hope you are comfy cozy wherever you are today!

I wanted to send Tyler out the door this morning with a card for his girlfriend. He told me that her fave flowers are daisies, so I printed out this precious little one from Baby Bud Designs.

To do something a little different, but still try to keep with a fall feel, I went with paper from Basic Grey's Sugar Rush collection. I like the fun, fresh colors in this pack, in addition to the funky, hip mood it inspires. Added a bit of vintage lace tied with some buttons, a scalloped photo corner, and Prima with rhinestone center. a few little glitter pen accents complete the card once a rub-on sentiment was added. Pretty simple, but I think she will like it.

The fall/Halloween challenge is still going on over at Baby Bud Designs throughout the month, so we would love to have you play along! A great prize pack is up for grabs! :)

• Digital Tuesday - Thank you/Give Thanks

Bunnies are Angels Too! :)

Coffee of the Day - Tiramisu

Sorry to be so late posting today. for those of you who aren't aware, today is World Card Making Day!!!! woooo hooo! doing the old lady fist pump over here... btw, that is becoming my signature move much to the delight (cough, cough, sputter, sputter) of my beloved family. hey, I figure at 46 years of age, I need a signature move. so why not the fist pump that so many 'noted' celebrities have adopted as their own? I can be so ghetto right along with them! ;)

anyhow, I think we need to start a petition stating that all take-out should be free and there should be mandatory pedis on WCMD. anyone want to be the first to sign? I have a pen right here.......

okay, on to my card -
the other day I was blessed beyond belief to discover I had won the challenge over at Sassy Cheryl's. so on a shopping spree I went! this adorable angel bunny was the first image that went into my cart. it is my new fave digi by her! isn't this little cutie just as precious as can be? I sparkled her up with so much glittery shimmer shine, but of course none of it came through the scan.... sigh.....

the wings were painted with opal shimmerz and then sprinkled with white glitter. I rubbed off a bit of the glitter to add to the prim feel. the hearts on her dress are painted with the same opal shimmerz, stars with sunny shimmerz, and dress lace with candlelight. I made a flower from pink tissue and a portion of a hymnal page that were all sprayed with pearl glimmer mist. The glitter leaves behind the flower are Prima. Papers are Basic Grey Figgy, pearly buttons are from my vintage stash, little baby tag is Making Memories, and vintage seam binding finishes it off. oh yes, can't forget the doily!

I am trying to get back involved over at SCS, so was reading about some of the WCMD challenges going on over there today. I will be sending this card off to the cancer hospital in Texas as part of their month long drive. I know I will be making more cards for this great cause, so will have more info for you in future posts.

• City Crafter - frills & flowers
• Ellen Hutson - EHWCMD4 glitter
• Little Red Wagon - make your own embellies
• Paper Sundaes - things with wings
• The Shabby Tea Room - Pearls & Pastels
• Stampin' Sisters in Christ - Peace
• Sassy Cheryl - fave image
• Flutter by Wed. - glitter

A Spooky Tree with Treat Bag

Coffee of the Day - Maple Vanilla

Holy Toledo Batman, it has been almost a week since I last posted! eek! talk about scary spiders and petrified pumpkins! sorry about that! we have had some illnesses and such around the house, so not a lot of crafting had been done. but this weekend I hope to rectify all that and celebrate World Card Making Day with a bang!

Today marks a new challenge over at A Day for Daisies. The challenge for this fortnight is Lots of Layers! You can do that however you see fit, just so long as you use an image from the store. I chose this fun Spooky Fall Tree because I thought it would be neat to try to add some dimension by cutting out the leaves and pumpkins & popping them up with foam tape. the leaves are popped up with glue dots which really gave more depth than I at first thought. The entire main image is sprayed with walnut gold glimmer mist. The little spiders are touched with a black spica glitter pen. I added a vintage treat bag I picked up on Etsy just for the occassion. We don't normally celebrate Halloween, but I thought it might be nice to send a card to both Mick & Tyler while they are away at school. so yes, I did make 2 of these babies! :) I know there is both lace AND flowers on here, but hey, black lace adds to the spooky effect and the flower is a pale one, so perhaps it will blend........ papers are Basic Grey Indian Summer.

Check out the new group Tammy has started over at Simply Scrapping Crafts. We are having such a great time chatting, sharing projects, and just getting to know one another! Why don't you join us? :) and please stop by my fellow DT members' blogs to see what they have created. They will inspire you with their creativity and talent!

• Sentimental Sundays - Dimension