What's the Weather like where you live???

As I've mentioned more than a few times (anyone tired of hearing of our weather??) the weather here has been snowy...like setting records. Today's challenge on SCS by Judy (Joy in a Jar) was to make a card depicting the weather. I had made this card front a little while ago practicing the brayered sky look. It just seemed plain, so I had never done anything with it.

Today when I was flipping through my blue cardstock, I found a card front with this Irish blessing script already stamped, another discard. I decided to use my Top Note die on the script cardfront, and then played around with it and decided to put it on the side with the moon peeking out behind it.

Well, you put two discards together, and you get one pretty decent card. I really like it when that happens, as I don't like anything to be wasted. So, this is what I came up with and it will most likely be used as a sympathy card.

I hope you enjoy it, and hope you are able to use your discards today!! Thanks again for stopping by...

And really, what's the weather like at your house today???

Magnolia-licious Challenge: Clean and Simple!!

I love clean and simple, and am striving to go back to that for my designs. We are in thaw mode in Colorado today and the white fluffy stuff is melting away. I brought out these Fall colors for my Tilda, two of the in-colors from SU that I have completely forgotten about!! My Tilda is presenting the last of the Fall harvest, a sunflower, for your enjoyment! The white border and sentiment is a rub-on.

Thanks for looking, I have uploaded a few cards in the last couple of days, so scroll down if you have time. Hope you like my card, it took much longer to color than assemble!

Purple Pretties

Yesterday I wore my purple cabled sweater and a two tone purple/lavendar coat. The challenge on SCS was to make a card using purple, and the inspiration carried over into my wardrobe!

So this snowman was an image sent to me by my good friend, Pat Smethers, along with a pile of others. The white buckle is a piece of Maya Road chipboard that I painted and added a dusting of glitter. The ribbon is a lavendar polka dotand an aqua button is tied to the bow with floss...Layout is simple, I love simple layouts, and was this week's MojoMonday sketch, seen in my sidebar. Just click on the logo! I like the whimsy in this card, it makes me smile.

We had at least a few more inches of snow yesterday will have to look at the paper for the final numbers, but at least 20 inches total of snow here. I was so ready to get out of the house yesterday after being inside for 3 days...it was great~ With the upcoming weather forecast in the 50's, most of it should melt off in the next few days.

Thanks for popping in, and hope you're having a great day!!

Kraft Elegance

This is one of those experimental cards that took me three times longer than it should because I didn't know what I was doing...I stamped this tree with Stazon white, no luck, Craft white, (looked good at the time but by the time my card was finished you could barely see the ink), then Craft white with dazzling diamonds, didn't work, then Craft white with Pearl white embossing powder, didn't work, then Craft White with Winter White embossing powder by SU, we have a keeper!! I was up past 1:30 so please tell me it wasn't a waste of time. Hee...well, I am writing this down so the next time I pick up these colors, I'll remember which combination of ink to powder to use. This tree is from Papertrey Ink, and I love them...so many possibilities. The buttons are from the Poppy collection, the paper is also Papertrey Kraft, and the ribbon is SU.

I love the outcome, even though it took awhile! What do you think? Please scroll down to the next post to see what came to our house yesterday, it definitely got me in the mood to stamp Christmas cards!!

Hope your day is happy!!

Copper gets Snow!!

Good morning! It has been snowing here since night before last, steadily slowly and without let up!! These pictures give you an idea just how much...the first one is our Corgi named Copper . He didn't get to tunnel far off the back deck before realizing it was an insurmountable task for his short 4 legged body and turned around! No potty breaks for him for at least another 8 hours, hee!! The other photos show the back deck railings with the snow piled on top and in the background, the giant evergreen tree overladen with snow. It is supposed to snow more today, and I hope it doesn't as my husband's flight was cancelled once and he is scheduled to arrive here this afternoon...hopefully before dark and with shovel in hand!

While this is beautiful to look at and wonderful to stamp inside when the sparkly snow is falling, it is a worry with loved ones traveling the roads!

This snow is supposed to set a decade long record for our state...I'll let you know the latest in inches on my next post but as of last night it was 17 inches in Fort Collins!!

I have a card to upload later today, so I'll look for ya then!!

I thought I had put this set away until next summer, but decided to try it out with brown as an accent color, and love it! The berries took me awhile to color because I was trying to achieve the shading of the berries, other than that this went together pretty quickly. The button in one corner is a chocolate colored with a polka dot sheer ribbon added to the top with my fast grab tacky glue. Then the other corner needed "something," so I tried a double looped bow with two ribbons using my bow-easy and it worked!! That was an exciting discovery. I had spent a bit of time making a sentiment for this card, then by the time it was assembled, had forgotten about it. So when I found it, I tucked it on the inside, that way when it's ready for sending I can add it if I want.

Thanks for coming by for a quick visit today. The weather is cool outside, but the sun is shining!! Another beautiful fall day here in Colorado!!

Mothermark's Birthday Surprise!!!

It's pretty certain that all those who love Mothermark (Da Muddermark or Cindy as I know her) on SCS have either heard or played a part in this year's momentous birthday surprise!!

The Plan was "hitched" months ago by Pat and Shirley, to search and rescue the Wild Wild West Man (stamp set) and lassoo him up, landing him on Mothermark's doorstep. Pat made a very cool, very large distressed chest with the Buckleman's help and put a buckle on the top using the WWW cowboy!! If you haven't had a chance to see her "stage coach box"...here is the link:http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1515797?&cat=500&ppuser=76845

She and Shirley contacted many many friends of Mothermark's months in advance with the opportunity of contributing to the gift and adding a card to the chest!! What fun it was, and how proud I am of everyone's secrecy, as we all know it takes tight lips to carry out a plan of this magnitude!!!

Another SU friend decided to join in on the fun and with a little bit of prankster, donated another "WWW" stamp set that had those exact words, along with a cowboy hat, and rope. At a small dinner at Texas Roadhouse, I had the fun of handing over all of these goodies to Cindy and watching her reactions unfold. Two other stamping friends, Pam and Carn, joined us for a small dinner out.

Cindy was amazed as you can see from the pictures!! Starting with the little package of round stampers, progressing to the beautiful chest holding cards from so many friends from all over ...was by itself a little overwhelming.

My assignment was to bring the ladies a picture of Cindy's reaction to receiving the long coveted and joked about Wild Wild West man ...and the only way I thought I could do that was to hand her the stamp before she lost control of her tears!! She was that moved, and there was not a dry eye among us. So as she was sifting through the cards and getting more and more choked up, I reached in, and pulled the set out from the bottom of the chest, and showed it to her. She was the most surprised I have ever seen anybody!!!

Thanks to all the wonderful friends on SCS for making this all happen for Cindy...It was a surprise of a lifetime! And thanks to Pat and Shirley for making this such a memorable and fun event to take part in!!

Season that Sparkles

This card was made for the Flourishes Design Team October challenge celebrating the debut of the October release set. You were to have fun creating a card that sparkled, and I did!
I do not own any Christmas Flourishes stamps, but two of my friends contributed to this sparkly ornament card, Joyce provided the shimmery burgundy ribbon, and Peggysue the cute penguin image last year. Thanks so much friends!! I made a frame from the ribbon, added stickles and shimmerz to the image, and a little stardust glimmer to each individual snowflake for added sparkle.
On the back of the round mat I only added one small dimensional, in case the recipient wants to remove the center ornament for hanging. This was a lot of fun, though time consuming to make.
And wouldn't ya know it, our snow has melted just in time for a sunshiney day to take this lil guy's picture!!
Thanks so much for stopping by...and your comments are always so fun to read!!
Have a wonderful day, and great weekend!

Just Ducky!!

In the stamping world, I find inspiration from so many things...window shopping, a front porch, a swatch of fabric, and in this case, a great piece of writing!!

A great friend of mine, known as Peggysue on SCS, wrote an article recently on a blog that is new to me. I am including a link :http://womentowomensharingjesus.blogspot.com/ so you can have the pleasure of reading it for yourself!

I have a long time affection for ducks, so her title caught my attention right away! Even though Peggysue's words weren't related to stamping, my mind settled on these things. I thought about how even in stamping, I go through times when I don't know where my style fits in, or somedays, even what my style is. If I compare myself to others I easily become discouraged and lose my joy of creativity. While I enjoy learning different techniques, I sometimes become overwhelmed with all the new and latest die cuts, gadgets, and now the world of digi images is emerging. Sometimes I just want to run and hide. So rather than run, I think I will waddle on over to my stamp desk now... and find contentment and happiness with creating in my own little corner.

Thanks Peggysue, for inspiring me with your words and insight.

And I've given this some thought...there is only one kind of duck I don't want to be...look at my card...you've heard of a "sitting duck..." so I will keep moving and hope you will read the entirety of Peggysue's entry and be blessed!!

Oh, and this uses this week's Mojo Monday sketch which you can check out on my sidebar.

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Yes, we have no bananas!!

I have a few bananas, actually, still left in my freezer. Yesterday I went to a really fun Christmas workshop that my SU demo and friend held at her house. We had several projects to choose from and this is one I made a few of, a bread or goodie box! I had the box but nothing to put in it , so spent the afternoon baking up a few loaves of my favorite banana bread. I am going to include the recipe below, just in case anyone wants to try it.

This was a pretty easy project to make...but I don't have the exact directions.. I really like that it used only one sheet of paper, and then your designer paper was minimal since it only accented the panels. I like to give home baked treats at Christmas so this was a good one for me.

I just kept my loaf of bread in the little foil pan, but it was a bit big for it, so I might remove the next ones from the pan first, and just wrap in clear wrap and tie a pretty bow on it!

The picture isn't the best...we have snow outside...do you remember my last snowman post stating I could wait awhile?? Well, the next day we were hit with snow and ice, and that is early for October. It didn't make for the best lighting and two of my desk lights are out and have to be replaced before I can stamp or take pictures in my stamp room!

Okay here is the recipe from Southern Living. This bread comes out almost the consistency of pound cake and is a whiter version than most...I like the creaminess of it.

Cream Cheese Banana-Nut Bread

3/4 Cup butter, softened

1 (8oz) cream cheese, softened

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

3 Cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3-4 very ripe bananas, mashed (1 1/2 cups)

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted

1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition.

Combine flour and next 3 ingredients in separate bowl; gradually add to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in mashed banana, pecans, and vanilla.

Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured 8 x4 inch loaf pans.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and sides pull away from pan. You may need to shield with foil the last 15 minutes to prevent over browning.

Cool bread in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove and cool 30 minutes on wire racks before slicing. Yields 2 loaves.
Thanks for popping in, and I'll share a couple of the other projects in the next few days here. Happy Stamping!

Silly Snowman

Ever have one of those days when there are a million other things you SHOULD be doing, but you can't because a challenge is calling your name?? Today is one of those for me, first the sketch challenge by Rox on SCS and secondly, a Mothermark Teapot Tuesday issued by one of our fun teapot friends, Marilynn.

You can visit the teapot challenge by going to the regular Teapot Tuesday challenge thread and viewing yesterday's post. Cindy is taking a leave from stamping, and Marilynn has so kindly filled in the past two weeks. To keep the spirit of the teapot challenge alive, I made this with a stamp that my wonderful friend and walking buddy, Cindy, loaned to me. She told me I could borrow it until the "crocuses bloom." Now that's clever...I think I had it until the crocuses bloomed, the crocuses died, the leaves on the trees blossomed, withered and fell, before she saw this stamp again. I love this stamp! Thanks Cindy, and if you happen to read this, hope to see you back soon.

This sketch just worked for this image. I used some really cute polka dot brads that my sweet friend, Linda B gave me last year and some stickles for sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by, and as for snow, well, I can wait another month or so for that. Or maybe until the crocuses bloom...whichever comes first!

Hope you're having a wonderful day!!

World Card Making Day!

Well, it's the end of the weekend and I was able to spend most of a Sunday afternoon participating in the World Card Making Day challenges on SCS!!

The first card is my Flourishes Stamps submission for this sketch. This set is a flourished sweet pea boquet embossed in a pearl white and then watercolored. I had a humdinger of a time trying to figure out what was leaves and what were blossoms, as it was white on white. This is one time a paint by number would have come in really handy! All in all, I liked the end result though not sure I like this tilted off it's axis!

The next card was for Gina K's challenge to use the colors pumpkin, chocolate and vanilla in your card creation. I was able to whip this out using some designer paper that I have had forever, and my bowmaker for the silk ribbon. A quick and hopefully elegant card!

The last card was my Magnolia's challenge requirement to make an ornament. I have several Magnolia images, but alas no Christmas or holidays, so was delighted with the paper piecing and if you look really closely, Tilda is wearing cherries on her pinafore~~With a little glitter, it looks pretty Christmas-y, and pairs well with her patterned tights. A couple of ribbons were added, some distressing, and a couple of hours later, here ya go!!

I hope you were able to participate in one if not more of these challenges.

And anybody want to come over...we can clean up my stamp room and eat some of the chocolate hiding underneath the piles!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mojo Sketch Challenge 106

Good morning! This lil card was made using this week's Mojo Monday sketch challenge (Found on my sidebar.) I don't use Kraft enough so wanted to try it with a new stamp that a friend gave me, this cool make your own gingham cling stamp that I used for the background. It is more subtle on the kraft paper, but it melds so well with all colors! I paired this with bravo burgundy paper and inks, and this cute scalloped border gingham ribbon...and added a couple of pretty red buttons for accent. Rectangle nestabilities were used for the teapot and the mat for the sentiment.

The teapot lid was stamped twice, and cut out and mounted for added dimension. The entire teapot was covered with the crystal effects for some added color depth.

Question: do any of you have a kraft knife that you love? I have the hardest time using them and getting smooth cuts. This last one is a fingertip control by fiskars, I believe, and the blade doesn't seem very secure. If you have a tip for using them, I'd be so appreciative!

Thanks for looking, and hope you're having a great day!

Serendipity and Socks!!

This is what is going on in my life today...I am getting ready for a big batch of ladies for the first time and driving myself a little bonkers, trying to fit in chairs, clean, decorate, and bake...but it is all going really well. I just needed a silly break.

So the previous card posted was using this same stamped image from SU's set, Country Blessing. When I punched it out with my nestabilities , I threw the scrap piece of cardstock into my pile. Yesterday I go to grab a scrap paper and what did I see? Not one punch, but two, perfectly spaced, perfectly aligned...honestly better than I could do if I had tried. How this happened, I don't know. But I wanted to try to utilize this "scrap" for a new card creation. This Country blessing set and sentiment fit perfectly! So this card is serendipitous.

I looked the word up in my dictionary:

serendipity: The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.

Or maybe a "happy mistake."(my definition.) Don't we all make those in stamping??

The other picture is a follow-up action step I took after reading one of my friend's comments on my last Tilda's entry. My lament had to do with the serious business of socks. I love socks...I like them much more than shoes, because I am limited in the style of shoe I can wear due to arthritis in my feet. But I can go fashionable in my choice of socks. However, I commented that Tilda had matching socks and I did not! That is true...so my friend, Dawn, mentioned I needed a sock makeover!! Now why didn't I think of that?

Meet the Brown family! This is my tribute of socks to browns. I got them yesterday during s sock shopping spree after pulling out my sock drawer and tossing a few mismatched and giving a few I don't wear to Goodwill. I have room now for the Brown family and am truly excited beyond anyone's rightful mind should be!! These browns are so rich in hue, so don't be fooled by their solid color. I plan on adding slowly to my sock deficit when I see a color that inspires me. Hopefully soon I won't be outdone by Tilda's socks!!

And while organizing my sock drawer, I found an old hand written letter from my dear younger brother. It was his birthday this week and I was trying to think of what to say in my annual birthday letter. Once I read his, I knew just how to respond. Now that was serendipity. Don't you think???

Foliage in Metallics

This is one of those cards that took a couple of days to put together. Saturday I had purchased some metallic pearl ex powders with the hopes of bringing some of the Fall foliage colors to life. This set is from SU's Country Blessings and is one of my favorites. I embossed the image with copper embossing powder, practiced a few techniques over an hour and this is the finished product. The sketch is taken from today's Mojo Monday 105 sketch to use circle punches for the bottom 2 borders of your card. These were different designer papers punches and then sprayed with the pearl ex powders for a little glimmer. Satin ribbon was tied around the base of the first row to hide the tops of the circles. Copper SU paper was embossed with the" finial press"and tiny gold rhinestones added for accent. I love this look in person, even though it is difficult to capture on photograph all the subtle shimmer. You can always click on the card for a larger image.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful day!!

Magnolia Moments

This is my submission for Magnolia's weekly challenge on the Just Magnolia blog (a link is on my sidebar.) This week's was to use embossing on your card...and my designer paper was embossed using a new SU folder I ordered. I love the subtle look with this one. The not so subtle colors are my nod to purple, actually rich razzleberry is the name! I love this color, and it matched up well with this already colored Magnolia.
I won the sentiment stamp at my demo and friend, Carn's, last month!! How fun is that?? Nobody else even put their name in the bucket, so I had pretty good odds of winning. I like to bake and figured I'd use this stamp set, and I have! I am wanting to make an apple pie or apple crisp soon.
Tilda is holding out her prize winning apple pie!! Her secret ingredient...you'll have to wait to find out! One thing I love about coloring my Tilda's is she always has matching socks! In real life, that is my aim, but too often my socks not only do not match my outfit, they don't match each other!
Have a super day!

Rupert Romps

So it's another Tuesday and to get the whole story, you need to visit Mothermark's blog (on my sidebar), This is my Story! Rupert is wanting to romp in all the Fall leaves and is hoping Barney Bear will drop the basket and join him!

It's all about teapot fun!

Oh, and this is also a sketch challenge on the Crazy4Challenges blog.

Thanks for stopping by, and wishing you some fun leaves to romp in or stomp on today!

My Favorite Things

Today is Featured Stamper at SCS...and the featured stamper is Shannon Steubner. Congratulations Shannon on being chosen...wonderful gallery and a style I love!!

So the assignment of the day is to take a card and CASE it...and this is my take on one of Shannon's cards.

As much as I like this set, "Like it a Latte" I felt I had exhausted it's use...until I saw this layout. This card is 51/4 inches square, which helped to accomodate all the elements.

The coffee cup and steam were stamped in Tim Holtz Walnut distress ink...then heat embossed. This added some texture and made the image dark enough to show up with my patterned paper.

I have a coffee date tomorrow, it is one of my favorite things. Just the smell when entering a good coffee shop is intoxicating to me~~

Thanks for stopping by, I always enjoy your comments.

Just sharing a treat with you!!

Today's inspiration challenge on SCS is from a children's clothing site~~ Talk about cute!!

I found my inspiration at the bottom of the screen with this adorable little outfit that featured a pumpkin! Since I had already colored my hedgie and pumpkin, all that was left was assemble it, and the colors and designer paper came after seeing the inspiration! I guess that's why they call it inspiration challenge! Hee~

Also, sharon on Notimetostamp's Friday's blog challenge was to make a Halloween card. I don't make cards to celebrate Halloween, but I love the idea of Fall cards, and this image fit the bill on both counts. Not too scary, I don't think.

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Flourishes Feel of Fall Challenge

Fall is definitely in the air!! We just drove through the mountains of Wyoming and Colorado over the Labor Day weekend and surprisingly the tips of the aspens are beginning their seasonal golden glow!

In celebration of Fall and the new September releases, Flourishes has a "Feel of Fall" sketch challenge ending Friday at 4:00 p.m.

You can view the challenge here on the Flourishes Blog:

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This card was made using one of my favorite Flourishes sets, "Thinking of You." The main panel was stamped in versamark and embossed with bravo burgundy SU embossing powder. The designer paper was punched with the arch lattice punch from Martha Stewart and both main panels made with the rectangle nestabilities. The bow was made with some wonderful silk ribbon from Sharon's (notimetostamp) online store. You can find her blog in the sidebar.

My favorite thing to do with pearls is color them with copics. I did not have the color I was looking for, so I swished a copic in "burnt umber" on and it is definitely pearlized in pretty tones of amber and umber!

Thanks for stopping by and I wish you many beautiful days to enjoy this season!!

Magnolia Mini Accordian File

Good morning! I wanted to share a project with you today that I found while cruising Becca's Blog at Amazing Paper Grace. (view sidebar for link) This is a Mini-Accordian File!! I am excited about this project partly because I love the idea for sending a little gift...think of the possibilities here: little tea bags or apple cider packets, tiny prima embellishments, or even as a way to send images to a friend and make them a gift!! Secondly, this project's tutorial by Valerie Strangle seen here: Valerie's Blog that I just couldn't mess up! The only thing I changed about this project was I used my Martha Stewart lacy flower punch on the top of each envelope before assembling. That's right, this project uses business sized envelopes cut in half so a portion of the cutting/measuring is already done for you! That brought the height of the pocket down a little bit, but it added a lot in design interest!

This is a challenge from Magnolia-licious to make one of these projects by September 29, and upload it to their blog. There are a lot of very cute inspiring projects found on the

Magnolia Hi-Lights blog also: The prize for the drawing was a 25.00 gift certificate for Magnolia stamps!!

My Tilda was watercolored using reinkers and Tim Holtz distress ink. The papers were a mix of different companies that I just loved together. The bright gold primas and top of the file were embellished with chocolate pearls...yumm!!

Thanks for looking, and hope this project inspires you to stretch yourself and try something new!!

I'll have a Tilda with Everything on It!!

It's one minute from morning, so good morning! I have been missing my favorite little girl lately, so wanted to make this card for this week's SCS sketch challenge and the Magnolia challenge for this week. The Magnolia challenge was to use ribbon, and I did, with this sheer organza in a double bow made so much easier with the bow-easy!!

I feel like I must be hungry lately, because this Tilda is a real smorgasbord of garnishings (not embellishments, we're talking food language)...we have ribbon, an oh so delicate crocheted flower from a dear friend, coupled with two primas, then two pearls and a generous topping of stickles!!

Tilda is thinking of you, wishing you a beautiful last days of summer!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I always love to read your comments!

Summer or Fall??

Just returned a few days ago from a trip over the mountains to visit my parents and a good friend...and it is so good to be home back in my own bed again! One night I spent on a fold out couch and though it felt fine at the time, I don't think my old back liked it too much, so have been having to nurse it along before I could sit still long enough to stamp~~

This is a set I won (miracles do happen!!) from my wonderful friend, Dawn B (flowergal36) blog candy!! I was so excited, and wanted to get this inky just as soon as I could!

This set is from Clear Dollar Stamps and is called Jar-Gone...it is filled with all sorts of fun things to put in a jar.

I attempted two looks with this set, one for Fall and one more summer. The fall one is colored with copics and a bit of glitter, crystal effects, and those shiny lil rocks along with a big bow. The summer is colored with copics in more yellows, and I made a frame inset for this one, used blue gemstones for embellishing, and the scor pal for score lines. The two looks shows the versatility of these flowers!!

Just a note, for some reason my cards never come out as close up as I would like, so please click on the image for a better view. (and ignore the mistakes!!)

Anyways, it is late and I need to scoot...but wanted to let you know I am back and thanks so much for looking!

I love this set...thanks so much Dawn!

Edit: For those of you who want to know: my Mom is down in weight again, dangerously low. She is in good spirits though, but mostly sleeps. She and I had some good visiting time while I was there, and I was so thankful for that. My Dad is slow in recovery from his knee surgery. The question remains whether Mom will need to go back to the nursing home so Dad can continue rehab...right now she is putting her foot down and saying "No!! She doesn't want to go!"

I so appreciate everyone's prayers and support for all of us as we continue to go through this long haul!! I know the prayers help so very much!!

August Papertrey Blog Hop!!

This is my first Papertrey Blog Hop, and I sure hope I did it right!! I have been wanting to participate for the past few months, and unable due to travel.
This month's theme was Fall...and here is how I picked up on it: I used my Top Note Die and quilted squares from the In Bloom Paper pack in some of my favorite fall colors. When there is a note of crispness in the air, I always grab a quilt or afghan and get all cozied up. I also used the PTI sentiment from the Quilter's Sample. The "quilt" stitches were drawn in with a white signo gel pen.
The ribbon is ruffled using a great tutorial found on Lisa Johnson's blog this month for "ruffled ribbon trim." found here: http://http//poppypaperie.typepad.com/poppy_paperie/2009/08/ruffled-ribbon-trim.html
I pulled out a needle and gathered one side of the stitching to ruffle it, then used red tape to attach it to one side of my quilt. A Papertrey button in green leaf was added with a twine bow for accent.
Thanks for looking at my submission this month! I am excited to see everyone else's ideas!!
Details:
Stamps: PTI Quilter's Sample
Ink: SU Rich Razzleberry, White gel pen
Cardstock PTI confetti, PTI In Bloom, SU Rich Razzleberry
Other: Top Note Die, PTI Button, twine, saddlestitch ribbon, red tape, Allene's Fast Grab glue for the button

Tulip for Joanne (JoJot)

Today is Featured Stamper today on Splitcoast Stampers...and this time I even know the featured stamper!! I have been a long time admirer of Joanne's ability to stamp at least or sometimes more than once a day. I looked in her gallery, and there were over 1,000 cards!! (all beautiful, by the way~)That alone tells me she is heads and shoulders better than me, as it takes me that long to usually find my stamp set. Here's an example...this morning I log on to see that Joanne is featured stamper. Yipee!! After spending at least an hour in her gallery, I decide to CASE one of her many examples using the Snow Swirled set. I spend at least two hours turning my stamp room upside down looking for the Snow Swirled stamp set. By about noon, I am questioning whether I ever actually bought this set...maybe I am imagining stamping with it, or maybe I made a card at stamp class?? I do this way too often, being such a visual person, I can see myself stamping with this set. I just can't see where I put it when I was done.
Meanwhile, Joanne has probably stamped a few stacks of gift sets...something she probably does in her sleep!!

This is Joanne's card I chose to case:
here:


Oh, well, so I turned to Joann's signature style of red and black...ohh...la lah...And I do have the perfect tulip from Flourishes. So coloring this was the quickest part of my card...the rest was cutting and making layers, another thing I don't do often enough. This baby is layered up, for sure!! But I did it all for Joanne, and I stretched myself with those layers!! Oh, and I made my own designer paper using black paper and a white craft stamp pad run across the inside of my cuttlebug folder. I liked that part...it was fast!!
I really enjoy featured stamper day, and Joanne's style is one that I hope I can CASE more of. Congratulations Joanne!! Enjoy your day...
And now back to my stamp room to search for my lost set.
Thanks for stopping by today!!

Lighthouse Inspired

This lighhthouse card was started before my trip to see an actual real one...(See the next entry for pictures) but it wasn't fully assembled. I brought these tiny seashells home and finished up my card. The set is from Our Daily Bread Designs, a gift from a friend. The paper colors are Vintage Violet(SU retired), Almost Amethyst, Night of Navy and Sahara Sand. The lighthouse was colored in with an aqua painter. I added the sentiment with oval nestabilites...
I wanted there to be light emitting from the top, so added some gold perfect pearls powder with a versamark pen.
Thanks for looking...and hope you get a chance to be inspired to stamp soon!!

Coastal Inspiration

Here are a couple of pictures from a trip my daughter and I took accompanying my husband on a business trip. The destination was Half Moon Bay in California. Because this little community sits right on the coast, the weather was very cool (not above 70 degrees) and the fog never lifted! So no sunny pictures, and if everything looks kinda fuzzy, it's probably the fog.

The lighthouse was not very big, and I am not even sure if it was operating...but it was one of the few I have been able to see. It looked like all the stamps I've seen, anyways!! The lighthouse was at Montara Point so I think the name of it was Montara Point Lighthouse!