Oh, Ship!

I realized this weekend that my Aunt Rose has a birthday today.  And since I didn't have a card ready to send her, I knew any card I ended up sending would be late (since she lives three hours away from me!) So I made this quick card on Sunday night to send her, and hope she'll get the joke and love it!

I've had this Naughty Nautical stamp set from Simon Says Stamp for what seems like forever, and finally got around to using it!  I kept it simple and used the sketch from the current Share Joy Challenge #12 for this week.  AND (I'm SO happy!) I finally got my Silhouette working properly again, so I was able to cut out that little set of banner flags across the top! 

AND, I'm so happy that it's a 3-day week, and that Thanksgiving is on the way!  I hope you have a blessed day!

Color Throwdown #369

It’s time for another Color Throwdown challenge, and I’m your hostess this week!  I’ve got a nice warm and cozy Fall color palette for everyone today.  What will you create with this rusty orange, rich burgundy and pear-like green?

For my card, I pulled out my sweet Wreath Confetti Cuts die from Reverse Confetti to make this birthday card for my wonderful friend, Beth…

I started by stamping the background with my Wide Stripes background stamp from Simon Says Stamp, and die cut the wreath from kraft card stock.  (Remember, neutrals are OK!)  Then I added a Fall Florals  bouquet to the side, and stamped a birthday sentiment from the Totally Happy stamp set (both from My Favorite Things.)

Please be sure to visit the CTD blog today for more inspiration, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration….

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins
Lori Tecler
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Karolyn Loncon, November Guest Designer
Annie Rosenstiel, Guest Star Stamper

Your visits and comments bless my day… thanks for stopping by!

Seriously…

I’ve always had intentions of participating in the Montly Meet-Up challenge from Lil’ Inker Designs...

I’m getting in under the wire for the challenge this month with this card that I made over the weekend…

The challenge this month is to use stars in your design, and unfortunately my Lil’ Inker collection isn’t that big so I don’t have any star dies or stamps.  So I used a star stencil and a watercolor wash of Spun Sugar and PIcked Raspberry distress inks to make my background.  Then used my favorite Seriously Word Die from Lil’ Inker and added a sentiment from the Seriously Awesome companion stamp set.  I added a thin layer of Glossy Accents to the die-cut for a little extra texture…



It’s kind of marginal as far as qualifying for the challenge, but it was fun to make anyway, and will come in handy next time I need a thank you card!  :)

I also utilized CAS(E) This Sketch #149 for my layout on this card, and even though the challenge is over I used the Runway Inspired challenge #95 as inspiration for the starry background and the colors.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Color Throwdown #368

Hello friends!  It’s Wednesday and that means it’s time for another Color Throwdown challenge.  This week, Lori is our hostess and with this combination of colors she picked, you can go in quite a few directions with your creation…

I chose to create a Christmas card with these colors, utilizing some fun products from Reverse Confetti…

I die-cut the word merry from pink card stock using the Winter Words Confetti Cuts, then applied some Glossy Accents for dimension and shine.  I completed the sentiment by stamping “Christmas” from the Winter Word Coordinates stamps on a strip of dark gray card stock, embossing with detail white embossing powder.  The Christmas tree was die-cut using the Branch Out Confetti Cuts.  My layout was inspired by the Freshly Made Sketches #211 from last week.

Please be sure to visit the CTD blog today for more inspiration, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration….

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins
Lori Tecler
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Karolyn Loncon, November Guest Designer
Andrea Whisman, Guest Star Stamper

We hope you’ll join us this week for the Color Throwdown!  Thanks for stopping by today!

A Latte Birthday Wishes

Happy Monday!  Well, OK... maybe it's not THAT happy?  I'm bummed that the weekend is over because I spent the last three days in a hotel conference room with some of the best stamping friends ever, and all we did all weekend was stamp, eat, stamp, talk and STAMP!  It was awesome... can't wait to do it again in the Spring!  I managed to crank out 8 cards, which is less than what I had hoped for but still pretty good.  One of the cards I made included this one, using the current Sweet Sunday Sketch #294 for the layout... 

 

I used the LLD Stay Cool stamp set, and LLD Cool Cup Die-Namics from My Favorite Things for this card.  The cup was die-cut from watercolor paper, and I used an ink blending tool to add Ground Espresso, Vintage Photo, and Antique Linen distress inks to look like the cool coffee drink.  I used an aquabrush to smooth out the colors a little, then when I was satisfied I used a watered-down mixture of Glossy Accents to give the cup a shiny look.  This photo below shows a little bit of that gloss, as well as the acetate dome-lid on the cup… 

Hopefully she won't see this before next Saturday as I made this card for my Starbucks loving niece, who has a birthday coming up!  And because it’s for my niece, this fits perfectly into the “Create Something with the Letter N” challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.

I hope you had a great weekend, and that your week is off to a good start!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Coffee is ALWAYS a Good Idea!

Hello friends!  I have a little project to share with you today… I made this for my daughter as part of the Share Handmade Kindness challenge for this week…

My daughter is a coffee lover, and an animal lover… and she’s particularly partial to her black cat, Finnick.  So I picked up this adorable Newton Loves Coffee stamp set from Newton’s Nook when I was at the Simon Says Create event a few weeks ago, knowing it’d be perfect to make things for Kelsey.  And the other day I remembered these denim mini canvases that my BFF Barbara Anders sent me for my birthday last Spring, and an idea was hatched!  So I made this for Kelsey to put on her kitchen counter (she’s away at school right now, training to be a Vet Tech!) next to her Keurig!  I got to give it to her last night when she made a quick trip home with some friends to retrieve a much-needed item, and she loved it!  Without me even saying anything, she said “I can put this on the counter by my Keurig!”  That’s my girl!

I hope you have a fantastic day!  Thanks for visiting me today!

Color Throwdown #367

The fabulous Jodi Collins is our Color Throwdown hostess today, and she’s got a lovely palette of colors for you to play with…

As far as I’m concerned, coral is always a beautiful color to play with so I really enjoyed this combination of colors.  I used my Clearly Besotted Fairytale Ending stamp set to create this sympathy card…

I used the matching die to cut out the floral spray from watercolor card stock, then used my MISTI to stamp the image in Versamark and embossed with detail white embossing powder.  Then I colored with my ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers.  The watercolor background was created with Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint distress inks. For the “gold” in our color palette, I went with a muted gold and used Liquid Platinum embossing powder on my sentiment.

Please be sure to visit the CTD blog today for more inspiration, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration.  And help us welcome our new Guest Designer for November, Karolyn Loncon!

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins
Lori Tecler
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Karolyn Loncon, November Guest Designer

Your visit to my blog today is a blessing, and I appreciate it!

You Make Me Smile

Hello friends!  I just wanted to pop in quickly today with this card I made.  I really wanted to join in the CASE’ing Genius One Year Anniversary challenge being sponsored by Kelly Latevola.  I hope to make a few more cards, but for my first one I decided to CASE my genius friend Lindsay Amrhein …



I just loved Lindsay’s card HERE (well, I love pretty much everything Lindsay makes!) and it’s what got me started with ink smooshing, which is what I did for the background on this card.  I used the same Smile Circle die from Simon Says Stamp that Lindsay used on her card… picked it up last week when I was in Columbus at the Simon Says event, and am glad I did!  There were some darling sample cards on display using that die!  I embellished with a shiny silver bundle of thread behind the circle (check out the picture up at the top for a better view) and embellished with some Sparkling Clear Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

And this makes another card I can enter in the Share Handmade Kindness challenge for this week for friends and family.  I plan to send this card to my awesome cousin Pam, who so sweetly sent me something in the mail last week!

My card definitely isn’t as fabulous as Lindsay’s but I hope you like it!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Color Throwdown #366

Hi friends!  We’ve got another Color Throwdown challenge for you today, and Joan is our hostess with this wonderful Fall color combo…

I have always loved shades of orange with shades of aqua, so this was right up my alley!  I decided this week to try my hand at some no-line coloring with my Copics using this sweet Harvest Mouse stamp set…

For my card layout, I used the current Sweet Sunday Sketch #292.  The polka dot paper I used is from Papertrey Ink.

Please be sure to visit the CTD blog today for more inspiration, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins
Lori Tecler
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Michelle Boyer, October Guest Designer
Ashwini Rao, Guest Star Stamper

Your visit is a blessing to me today!  Thanks for stopping by!

The Apple of My Pie

I had a pretty joy-filled weekend… I spent all day Saturday with my wonderful hubby, who so willingly drove me to Columbus so I could go to the Simon Says Create event!  While I went shopping, he headed to the metro park across the road and went for a hike.  He doesn’t have pictures of his adventures (because he stubbornly refuses a smart phone!) but here’s a great photo of the fun I had…

Doesn’t it look like I had fun???  I even got to meet Heidi from Simon Says Stamp, and she was such a sweetheart!  I didn’t take any of the classes that were offered, but the ladies who were there for the classes sure seemed like they were having a great time, so I’m thinking I will probably partake next year!  (Especially since hubby had such a nice time at the metro park… plus there was a Cabella’s nearby!)  We even stopped at Hobby Lobby on the way home, and had Bob Evans twice!  LOL

The first thing I had to do after getting home was a little bit of organizing, and then some STAMPING with my new goodies!  Since hubby has a birthday this coming Thursday, the new Apple of My Pie stamp set from Simon Says was just perfect…

I tried several variations of coloring the images with watercolors, but just didn’t like the look so I went with my Copics.  I fussy-cut the slice of pie and mounted it on front of the apples with foam boosters.  Then thought it needed a little something more so I added the leaf.  The papers I used are just from my stash, and I embellished with some sequins.  For the layout, I was inspired by the current Retro Sketch #187.

OK, back to stamping… there are a LOT more new goodies to play with!

Thank you for taking the time to visit me today!

Color Throwdown #365

It’s Wednesday so that must mean it’s time for another Color Throwdown challenge!  Broni is our hostess today, and she’ll have you clicking your heels three times and repeating “there’s no place like home…” with this inspiration photo for our colors today…

I really, really loved working with these colors today… SO fun!  I played with some fantastic new Reverse Confetti products for my card…

Using the October Sketch for You to Try (and taking some inspiration from Amy Rohl’s fabulous card here) I created my card using the new Wreaths and Holly Confetti Cuts dies.  I cut the wreath from silver glitter card stock, then used my Copic airbrush gun to color it a shade of hot pink.  The holly leaves were cut from gray card stock, and sprayed pretty heavily with some shimmer spray, as you can see in the photo up at the top of my post.  I also used the brand new Winter Words Confetti Cuts to cut the word “joy” from hot pink card stock, and colored it with a clear Wink of Stella pen.  The holly and “joy” were layered onto a vellum Tag Me Confetti Cuts tag.  The background was stamped in a pale gray ink using the Wide Stripes background stamp from Simon Says.

Please be sure to visit the CTD blog today for more inspiration, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins
Lori Tecler
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Michelle Boyer, October Guest Designer
Lin, Guest Star Stamper

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Birthday Cheers!

My sister had a birthday this past week, but I’ve waited until today to post her card so she wouldn’t see it pop up in her Facebook feed.

I mentioned my sister two months ago when I posted this card for her husband.  They have a barn full of horses, and dogs running everywhere, and even an old pot-bellied pig at their farm.  I really struggled with what to do for her birthday card, since I felt like I had already outdone myself with the card for my brother-in-law.  But anyone who knows my sister even just very casually knows that she likes the color purple, and she likes her beer!  :)  So here’s what I came up with…

I used the LLD Soda Pop stamp set and Soda Pop Bottles Die-Namics from My Favorite Things to create this card, only I cut the bottles from a medium-brown card stock, and sponged on a little bit of Aged Mahogany ink to give them a reddish cast, like a beer bottle.  I added the “Cheers” sentiment from the Uncorked Words dies from Papertrey Ink, and sponged the background with the Concentric Circle stencil from MFT.

My sister goes to the mailbox about once a week at her place, so I’m still waiting to hear whether she received and liked the card… crossing my fingers that it’s perfect for her!

Thankful Pumpkin

I was on Facebook yesterday and caught the sneak peek of the new Curtain Call challenge, and was stamping last night and came up with this card for the challenge, along with using the current Retro Sketch #185…

I just love the sweet Pumpkin Patch Confetti Cuts dies from Reverse Confetti, so I die-cut a pumpkin from some orange polka dot paper, and added the stem and tendril and a gingham leaf.  For the sentiment, I cut out the Thankful Pretty Panels Confetti Cuts and just used the word.  A few more patterns with stripes, chevrons and burlap and some gold enamel dots and this simple card is done!

Thanks for stopping by again today!

Color Throwdown #364

It’s time again for another Color Throwdown challenge, and this week my BFF Barbara Anders is our hostess.  She snapped this photo of this very ornate shoe while in Italy this past summer, and she thought it’d be a good inspiration photo for our challenge today…

Now, I have to admit… the colors for today are supposed to be lime green, aqua and coral.  I should have checked that before I started.  Because I saw pink instead of coral so I started with a piece of Bubblegum card stock from MFT.  Then, when I realized I needed a darker shade for my flower, I went with Ripe Raspberry and now my card is a little off from the intended colors…

But it’s still a nice card, no?  :)  I finally used my Quilted Flower Die set from Lil’ Inker Designs for this card to send to a friend who’s birthday I forgot over a week ago!  The Seriously Word die is also from Lil’ Inker Designs, as is the matching Seriously Awesome stamp set.  I played along with the current CAS-ual Fridays challenge #144.  (I followed the far right Tic-Tac-Toe column and did stenciling, die-cutting, and embossing.)

Please be sure to visit the CTD blog today for more inspiration, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins
Lori Tecler
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Michelle Boyer, October Guest Designer
Claire, Guest Star Stamper

My blog readers are seriously awesome!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Pumpkin Birthday

Since Monday was Columbus Day, I had the day off so my glorious 3-day weekend has come to an end, but it sure was nice to have!  I got a LOT of stamping time, saw a movie with my hubby (go see The Martian.... GOOD movie!), had time to sit by a fire, went to the orchard for apples and made an apple crisp (which we enjoyed while watching The Walking Dead on Sunday night!) and had some good quality time with my oldest daughter, who was also off work all weekend.  So thankful to God for my family!

Here's another card I made over the weekend, using the sketch for this week at the Share Joy Challenge #6.  I'm REALLY loving this challenge...

I rarely buy any designer paper anymore, but this Die Cuts With a View 6x6 paper pad caught my eye while I was waiting in line at Joann Fabrics last week.  I just loved the shades of orange paired with the sage green.  So I paper-pieced this Outlines pumpkin with some of the paper, and added some gold accents with metallic card stock and cord.  Buttons are something I don't use very often anymore, but it just seemed like a good fit on this card!

Hopefully she doesn't read my blog... this card will be perfect for my sister-in-law's birthday coming up on the 26th!

Thanks for visiting my blog today!

Random Cards

Hey friends… I’m kind of slowing down on blogging lately, but having a handful of recently made cards I thought I’d share with you today.  I tend to post a lot more on Instagram… it’s so much easier to like and comment there, especially from my phone.  If you’re not in Instagram, you ought to be!  :)

This first card is actually a revision of this card I posted the other day.  I really loved playing with the Haunted Headstones stamps from Papertrey Ink, but kept looking at my card thinking it needed something, know what I mean?  And I woke up Saturday morning with this idea…

The night before, I had asked my BFF Bar what the original card needed, and she said “do you have any ghosts or skeletons?”  And I said no, I didn’t.  But when I woke up Saturday morning, I remembered these spooky faces from the new Make-It Market Min Kit:  Halloween Pin-Ups.  So I added Frankenstein, and a ghost for a little more added character to my card!  :)

Here’s another card I made a few weeks ago using this sweet Lawn Fawn Into the Woods stamp set that I won from the MarkerPOP challenge.  (I was supposed to win a different set but it was out of stock, so I picked Into the Woods instead!)

I actually made this card intending to enter it in the Share Joy challenge #5 but didn’t get it blogged in time.  I followed the sketch and the colors.  (Many thanks to my friend Katie for letting me borrow her dies for this set!)

I made this card way back in early September for Color Throwdown #358.  But the longer I looked at the card, the more I just thought it was too plain…

So then I made this card instead, but for some reason I ended up making yet another card for that CTD challenge, and never blogged either one of these!

On both of these cards I used the BG Grid background stamp from My Favorite Things, and the center was die-cut with the Luminary Circles die from Simon Says Stamp.  Then I added the Wishing die-cut, and a sentiment from the Sending and Wishing stamp set, also from Simon Says.

Finally, my husband and I have this friend who’s always bugging me about sending him a card. (Last night his dog got skunked, and he actually said I should send a get well card to the dog!)  And back in June, I was just overly busy and didn’t get a birthday card sent to him, and he became relentless in wanting a card!  So I finally sat down and made this…

I used all of the Crazy Birds from the Tim Holtz stamp set, masking them in this arrangement.  I was a little ticked off at myself for making them so off-center, so I tried adding the sentiment at the bottom to off-set.  I don’t think I succeeded, but Rick didn’t care.  He loved the card… even the inside!

LOL  I was afraid he wouldn’t get the sarcasm there, but he did!  :)

I hope you enjoyed this line-up of “catch-up” cards!  Thanks for stopping by today!

Haunted Headstones

Some of the goodies I recently got from Papertrey Ink also included these fun Haunted Headstones stamps and matching dies.  I mostly wanted them because the Haunted Headstones Sentiments mini set is so dang cute!  I just love the over-the-hill themed sentiments in the mini set, but in the meantime I thought I’d make a Halloween card for the current Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge!  The challenge this time is “Going Batty” so I added some bats to the sky above my cemetery…

**I came up with a slightly updated version of this card the day after I posted this! 

 

 

Now, anyone who knows me well knows that I HATE bats with a passion!  I don’t care how many people tell me they won’t hurt me, they’re harmless, they’re more afraid of me…. blah, blah, blah.  I HATE those darn little flying rodents!  LOL  We get them in the house every now and then and I turn into a basket case.  Right now I still haven’t put Fall decorations out around the house because I won’t go into the crawl space to get them!  LOL
But anyway… I made my card with the Haunted Headstones stamps and dies, watercolored the night sky and spritzed it with some silver sprays, and added some bushes around my headstones using the Topiary Trio dies.  (Will link those later when I’m able… it appears the PTI site is down as I’m typing this.)
Happy Saturday, and I hope you have a fantastic weekend!  I have a 3-day weekend, so I KNOW it’s going to be great! 

Color Throwdown #363

Hi friends!  Welcome to another Wednesday and another Color Throwdown challenge!  Wanda is our hostess this week and was inspired to choose this weeks colors by this pretty Fall arrangement…

Have to admit… I struggled terribly with these colors.  I guess there’s just not enough contrast there for me.  So I added some brown (remember, additional neutrals are always OK!) and even threw in a tiny bit of rusty red in some of those little flower buds.  Here’s my card…

I did a little shopping at Papertrey Ink last week, and just couldn’t resist this pretty Twig Wreath stamp set and matching dies.  For my card layout, I was inspired by the current Sweet Sunday Sketch #289.

Please be sure to visit the CTD blog today for more inspiration, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration…

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins
Lori Tecler
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Michelle Boyer, October Guest Designer
Christine Dring, Guest Star Stamper

Thanks for stopping by today!

A Special Request...

Hello friends!  I know how giving and caring the stamping community can be, so I'm hoping you'll help me with a special request!

There's a very sweet lady who I used to go to church with... her name is Dottie.  Dottie and her husband Brad have a 22 year old daughter named Kathy.  A few years ago, Kathy was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension.  You can read Kathy's story here on how she has struggled with this disease, and received the blessing of a double-lung transplant on September 18th!  As of today she is making a steady improvement, but has a long road ahead.

Dottie will be celebrating a birthday this coming Monday, October 12th and Kathy had high hopes of being able to throw a party for her Mom, but this of course was before she knew she'd be having a transplant!  Would you be willing to make this birthday a little more special for Dottie by sending a card?  She's currently staying at the Ronald McDonald House near the hospital, and I'm sure that an onslaught of birthday cards would be such a wonderful surprise to her!  If you have a spare birthday card, please send it ASAP (remember, Monday October 12th is Columbus Day so there won't be mail delivery that day!)  You can send to...

Dottie Ridenour
c/o Ronald McDonald House
10415 Euclid Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44106

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Happy Boo to You!

With yesterday being October 1st, I had to get started again with the fabulous 30 Day Coloring Challenge sponsored by Kathy Racoosin at The Daily Marker blog!  Even though I’m sure I’ll probably struggle to keep up, I love the fun of this challenge! 

So yesterday morning before work I started coloring this image, and then finished it last night so here it is for today…

This Halloween Buddies image is from Whipper Snapper Designs, and for the simple card layout I used the current sketch from The Paper Players blog.  I colored with Copics on X-Press It blending card stock.  And with this Halloween image, my card is also for the current challenge #78 at the MarkerPOP blog.

Happy Friday!  Thanks for stopping by today!