Outlawz Monday Greeting Card Challenge

Here I am again today, boy I'm really catching up on my card making. YEAH! Today's challenge over at the Outlawz Monday Greeting Card Challenge was to recycle something and the card has to have a sentiment on it. I think my card qualifies. I recycled this piece of orange Rice Paper for the background piece and a couple of flowers. When I say recycled, I really mean it. This particular piece of rice paper was actaully in the waste basket ready to go out with the trash. Then I found a very small piece of green rice paper and was able to punch out a couple of leaves from that piece. The Top Note die piece is left over from a batch that I had cut up for a project I was doing a while back. The challenge reminded me I had them hiding in the back of a closet, good thing for this challenge or they probably would have still beeen there five years down the road. I added a little flower and three green gems for the final touches. Thanks for stopping by again today. See you tomorrow.

Valentine Mouse

Good Morning All, I know it is Halloween, but I'm past that and into a Valentine mode this week.
Operation Write Home needs plenty of time to get their cards to the military personnel so they can get them home to their loved ones. For this card today I used a Cocoa image from Sweet N Sassy Stamps that I just love. I colored him with Copics and cut him out using the Scalloped Circle Nestability. I traced the inside of the scallops with a gold Uni-ball pen. The tiny sentiment is from the SU set titled Fancy Flexible Phrases. I also used The Lotus Pendant Nestability to mat the image. The designer paper is from Stampin Up. I added some red gems on the top and bottom, but I just noticed in my picture that the top ones are not even. I have since straightened them out. Sorry about that. Well that's it for me me today. Be back tomorrow. Enjoy your day.

Outlawz CAS Challenge 1030

Well I'm here today with an Outlawz CAS challenge card. CAS meaning Clean and Simple. We could either go with Think Pink or Anything Goes, so I went with anything goes. I used colors today that I don't normally pair together: pink and grey, but they came out pretty good. The card base is Whisper White from SU embossed with the Swiss Dot embossing folder. Both the grey and pink papers are from SU as is the heart. The sentiment is from My Sentiments Exactly. That's about all there is to say about this one. thanks for stopping by. See you tomorrow.

S & S Sketch #93

Good Snowy Sunday Morning to all of you. Yes we did get 2 inches of snow overnight. We are very lucky though, some people just about one hour away from us got 22 inches. Anyway I have power so I can see to craft. Operation Write Homes's Stars and Stamps Blog gave us yet another Sunday Sketch Challenge to work on. My card base is Whisper White card stock that was embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder. My designer stripped paper is from my stash and the two green panels are double sided Mulberry Collection from The Paper Company that I've had for about 5 years now. I embossed the light green side after inking up one side of the embossing folder to create the two toned design. I originally planned to run gold pen around the edges of the two panels, but I found that with that with this particular paper it seems to bleed even if I try using tape under a ruler. The panels seemed too plain so I added a layered flower and my sentiment is stamped from SU's set titled Teeny Tiny wishes. I cut it out with a Rectangle Scalloped Nestabilities and sponged it with SU's Lavender Lace ink while it was still in the die. I added three green gems to one side only because the sentiment was off centered so I had to find away to even it off. I did deviate from the sketch a tiny bit, but I don't think anyone will mind, at least I hope not. Thanks for stopping by today. I hope to see you again tomorrow. Enjoy your Sunday.

A Doctor's Thank You

Good Friday Afternoon,
My card today is one that I made for my doctor that "fixed" my two frozen shoulders yesterday by manipulation under anesthesia. It WORKED just fine. This morning I was actually able to comb and curl the back of my hair, something I haven't been able to do in months without extreme pain. I had even resorted to a short spiked hairstyle that I could, at least, manage. Believe me it was not a pretty sight. I still have to go through another two weeks of intense therapy, but I am so very happy with my results that I just had to make the doc a card. I used a stamp from Inkadinkado. I stamped it with SU's Crumb Cake ink and sponged the edges with SU's Certainly Celery while still in the Nestabilities die. I ran my gold Uni-ball pen around both dies to give them some definition. The designer paper is from DCWV The Winter Combo pack. I just love that pack. I stamped the retired SU sentiment stamp, in VersaMark and then embossed it with Black embossing powder. the blue card stock is Pacific Point from SU.

thanks for stopping by and I'll see you tomorrow. Enjoy your evening.

S & S Mid Week Throw Down

Good Evening, Today is Midweek Throwdown over at Stars and Stamps Blog and they have asked us to make a card with Polka Dots on it. I think I acomplished this or else I went over board, not sure which one. Any any case, here is my card. I used a Penny Black stamp titled Snuggle. I stamped it with Versafine Black Ink and then embossed it with clear embossing powder. I colored it with Copics and sponged it while it was still in the Labels Nine Nestability die. I then matted that onto a Circle Nestabilities. I used a heart border punch from Martha Stewart and the heart punches are from Creative Memories. The background paper is from Jillibean Soup. Operation Write Home is looking for more birthday, miss you, thank you cards so this one fits the bill. As you can see I dotted everything I could with white and gold gel pens. I used my little trick again with my red mat paper. It's just copy paper and I ran a Copic Marker around the edge. This will help keep the weight down, which in turn helps keep the postage down for OWH. I know everyone is very busy and your time is very limited so I just want to say thank you for taking the time to stop by today, I appreciate it. Enjoy your evening.

Cards That Care

Well Another week starts and I began the week by making a couple of cards for a cause titled "Cards That Care". If you get a chance please take a minute and read all about it here on Jennifer McGuire's blog. They are gathering up hand made cards to distribute to elderly people that reside in nursing homes. Some of these people don't have a lot of family so they may not receive a lot of company or cards for the holidays. This will be a nice way to bring a smile to their faces. How wonderful!!! Beside feeling great about doing something so nice for others, you could win some prizes. For every card you send in, your name will be entered into a drawing for some terrific gifts donated by some great crafting/stamping companies. How can you resist? You don't have to make a lot of cards, even just a couple or a few will help a lot but the more you send in the better your chances are of winning those prizes and the more smiles you will be responsible for. So my card today is made with a stamp from DeNami Design that I've had for years and every single year I pull it out to make at least one card with it. I stamped it with VersaMark and embossed it with Black embossing powder, then colored it with Copic Markers. As you can see I cut it out and matted it with both Circle and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities. The designer paper is from KandCompany and the sentiment is a retired stamp from SU, that I embossed in Detail White ep. I edged my sentiment piece with a gold pen. Hope this does bring a smile to someone's face. I am pleased with the way it turned out. That's it for me today, see you tomorrow. Enjoy your day and thank you for spending a minute of your time here with me. I appreciate it.

S & S Sketch Challenge #92

Happy Sunday everyone, It's sunny but a little bit cool here in south eastern Ma. today. My card today is for the sketch challenge over at Stars and Stamps Blog . We were asked to make more Any Hero cards. I used a Freebee image you can find at Operation Write Home . This is our trusty mascot, Ciara proudly wearing the American Flag. I thought it was a great image to send to one of our many deployed heroes. I colored it with Copica and sponged the edges with Tea Dye Distress Ink. My Sentiment is from Hero Arts and I framed it with a Star Nestabilities. The strip of white paper was embossed with the Swiss Dot ef and the kraft paper was spritzed with Sapphire Ritzy Ditzy Glitz and then I embossed it using a Star embossing folder that I rolled Silver ink on prior to embossing. It doesn't show up too well in the photo but it kind of looks nice IRL. Three little star gems finished it off. I hope to be back tomorrow. Thanks for taking a minute to check out my blog. Enjoy your day.

C4C20 Challenge Make It Sparkle

Hi Evryone, Well today I really got into the challenge over at Close to Cocoa Weekly Challenge. This week our challenge was to use glitter, stickles, glossy accents, anything that sparkles. I think I met the challenge. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but then it didn't fit on an A2 card, so I ended up with a 5 1/2 X 5 1/2" card. The digital image I used today was Cocoa Christmas Tree from Sweet N Sassy Stamps. He is just so darn cute. I colored it with Copics and added red, blue, gold and silver Stickles for the ornaments and star. The image was cut out with an Oval Nestabilities and sponged with SU's Barely Banana ink and gold striped while still in the die. I then backed that up with both a Scalloped Oval and a Square Nestabilities. I embossed the square with the Swiss Dot embossing folder and striped that also with the same gold pen. My designer paper is from KandCompany and I added some red Stickles here and there on the flowers and a few little green rhinestones as flower centers (didn't have any yellow gems). The sentiment is a retired stamp from SU that I stamped with VersaMark and then embossed it with red embossing tinsel. My card base is SU's Very Vanilla. The green card stock I used for the square is SU's Handsome Hunter and then I wanted to add another layer of green behind the dp, but I felt like the card was getting too heavy, so I just used a piece of thin white paper and colored the edges with the Handsome Hunter marker. Well that's it for me for now. Thank you so much for stopping by here today. It is really appreciated.

Another K'nK Designs Image

Good Thursday morning everyone. Today I am posting a card that I made with another K'nK Deisgns image that they are selling to raise money for Operation Write Home's fundraiser. OWH needs $13,000 to cover the cost of mailing cards this holiday season. Please stop by K'nK Designs Blog and pick up one or all of their images to help in this fundraiser. I colored the image with Copics and used Nestabilities to cut out both the image and the sentiment, which is also in the bundle package from K'nK Designs. I sponged the image and sentiment while they were still in the dies and then I ran a gold pen around the inside of the die to give the appearance of a layered piece. This was a trick I learned from Carol over at Our Little Inspirations and I will be using this quite often as I love the effect it gives. Carol is a very talented lady that I learn a lot of tips and techniques from. Thank you Carol. I added a double layer of ribbon and a bow. Three silver brad type embellishments in two corners helped to finish off my card. I like the way it turned out. I hope the recipient does also. Hopefully I'll see you again tomorrow. Thanks for spending some time here today.

S & S Mid Week Throw Down

WOW- two posts one day! This is great for me. Today OWH's Stars and Stamps challenged us to make a "Thank You" card for our heroes to send home to their friends and family. I used a Lockhart Stamp that I love and I colored it with Copics. I cut it out with Nestabilities and matted it on SU paper then I draw silver lines along the edges with SU's retired Ziggy Pen. The designer paper is from Basic Grey and I used a SU border punch on that piece. The sentiment stamp is a retired stamp from SU also and then I just added some dots with a Copic Marker. Thanks for stopping by again today. See you tomorrow.

Card Drive for Kids

Hello, Today my card is for one of four children we are sending cards to for the Cards Drive For Kids. You can find all the information here. This is a drive to send cards to four children that are afflicted with Spina Bifida. These are truly some awesome little kids and all this drive is looking for is some cards. They are offering $500.00 worth of gifts from several different stamp and craft related companies for sending in just four cards. On this site you will be able to read a little history about each of the four children and their families. My card today is made with a stamp from Reflections which I bought at Michaels. I colored it with Copics and cut it out with Nestabilities. The designer paper is from the Winter Pack from DCWV. I just added a couple of stars and I was done. It took me no time at all to make this little card that will, hopefuly, bring a big smile to some little child's face. If you have a minute today, please use it to read about these precious children and their families and quickly make a card for one or all of them. Their goal is to receive 100 cards for each child. That should be easy to accomplish with all of us in the cardmaking community. Well enjoy your day, and as usual I want to thank you for stopping by here.

Another K'nK Designs Image

Good Morning All,
As promised I am returning today with another precious image from K'nK Designs. Their fundraiser continues from now until November 1st. They are offering 7 new images that can be purchased with all the proceeds (less Paypal fees) going directly to Operation Write Home who needs to raise $13,000 just to cover the shipping costs from now until the end of the year. So please stop by K'nK Designs Blog and make a small purchase that will help in a very large way. If you do not use digital images to make your cards or are not a card maker but would like to help, please feel free to stop by Operation Write Home's Blog and make a donation directly to them. Every penny counts and it would really be appreciated.
So for my card today I used this adorable image and colored it with Copics. I sponged the edges with both blue and green to bring out the colors in the designer paper. I ran my top piece of designer paper through the Big Shot using the Square Lattice embossing folder by SU and then I edged the top and bottom with my Krylon Gold Pen. My card base is Basic Grey from SU and I used a Sizzix embossing folder on that piece. I just matted my image piece with several different Nestabilities. The sentiment is also from SU. I had fun coloring this image and I am kind of happy with the end results. I managed to fit in "You" on the shipping label that is on the box. Thank you for stopping by today and I'll see you tomorrow. Enjoy your day.

OWH Fundraiser

Good Monday Morning,
Today I'd like to present you with a card I made using an image from K'nK Designs that I think is just adorable. I hope you feel the same way. I colored it with Copics, but it also lends itself nicely to colored pencils. the sentiment is also from K'nK. I am trying to entice you to purchase these and other images from K'nK Designs in order to help Operation Write Home, which as I'm sure you know, is a not-for-profit organization that collects and sends handmade greeting cards to American soldiers for their use in keeping in touch with their families back home. They need to raise $13,000 immediately, just to cover holiday shipping costs.* This week there will be other fundraisers going on but don't forget to do yourself a favor and check out K 'n K Designs. They will be selling 7 new digi sets designed exclusively for this cause. These include 4 sets by Katlyn at K 'n K Designs and 3 sets by Deedee Anderson. Each "set" includes an image and some greetings, in both .jpeg and .png file formats, all in a zip file.* These sets are available for just $2 each, or in various value bundles (e.g., get them all for just $10!), with all proceeds donated to Operation Write Home. * The sets can be purchased at the K 'n K blog (NOT their store) from October 17th thru noon November 1st. All purchases will be emailed out within 24 hours of payment clearance.
* Those who don't craft but would still like to aid the cause can donate directly to OWH. Info on how to do that is at this page: http://operationwritehome.org/donate.html

I will be back tomorrow with another card using another precious image from K'nK Designs so please come back to see the next image I have to show you, but you don't have to wait until tomorrow, you can hop right over to K'nK Designs right now and make a purchase. Everyone who is involved with Operation Write Home thanks you so much for any help you can give.

S & S Sketch #91

Good Sunday Morning, It is a beautiful day right now, however, they say it is going to turn cloudy this afternoon. For today's post I have a card for the Stars and Stamps Challenge. This was an easy one and probably the last Christmas card I can get in before I ship out my box to Dixie tomorrow. I just used an embossing folder from SU on both the card base and the red strip. I don't think you can see it very good but I added little gold dots to the centers of the embossed flowers. The sentiment is from SU also. Please come back tomorrow as I will have a special posting regarding a fundraiser and some special pricing on digital images that will benefit Operation Write Home. Your should not miss that. Enjoy today. See you tomorrow.

Twas the night before Christmas - - -

And all through the house, not a creature was stirring NOT EVEN A MOUSE! For my card today I used a House Mouse Design titled by the Chimney With Care. Isn't it just precious? I colored the image with Copics and I just edged the focal paper with a gold pen and added some stars, that I found in my stash draw, along the side. The designer paper is from K and Company and I matted that onto an old piece of gold paper that was in that same stash draw. The Real Red card stock is from SU. This one will go in my box going to OWH that I plan on shipping out this weekend. The deadline for Holiday cards is October 31st. Thanks for taking a minute out of you busy day to stop by. I really appreciate it and I'll see you tomorrow.

S & S Mid Week Throw Down

Our challenge today from Stars and Stamps was to make a masculine card for our heroes to send home to their family and friends. I used a digital image from Digital Two for Tuesday. They have wonderful images over there. You should go check it out. There are some nice images that don't even have to be colored if you are short on time or just have one of those days where you don't feel like coloring. You could take one of their images and just whip out a card in no time. Anyway, I colored the image with copics and matted it several times with SU papers and card stock. I used the diamond plate embossing folder which always reminds my of a garage and cars. I used an EK Success corner punch on the main image. I decided to go with this sticker for the sentiment because it fit perfectly and I wanted that touch of gold. I am so sorry I did that, but it is too late now. It really seems to stand out more in the photo than in real life. That's a real good thing. Once again I thank you for stopping by and I wish you a wonderful day. We are waiting for the rain to arrive here. See you tomorrow.

Seasons Greetings

Good Monday Morning All:
Right off the bat let me apologize for this very dark picture. I don't know what my problem is today, but I was having a very hard time trying to showcase the embossed stripes on this card and they only way they would show at all was by keeping it on the darker side. Anway, today's post is of a holiday card I am making for my daughter and her partner to give to their clinets. They started a small business last year and I try to help by suppling cards and hand made gifts for them to give out during the holidays. I found it funny last year that a lot of their clients had never even seen a hand made card or gift before. I guess when you do this all the time, you automatically assume everyone knows about them. Everything I used on this card is from Stampin Up with the exception of the embossing folder, which is by Sizzix. The tree is from the set titled Lovely As A Tree, which in my opinion is the best set they have made, so versitle. The greeting is a very old retired set from 2002 titled Seasons Greetings. I added blue dots and glitter to the tree to make it pop. I stamped the sentiment prior to running it through the Big Shot with the embossing folder. That's it for me today. I'm off to the yard again seeing as how I didn't get out there for too long yesterday. I had coupons for JoAnns and Michaels so I spent most of the day shopping instead. Much more fun that yard work. Now I have to find time today to use my new Nestabilities and little doo-dads that I purchased. It's funny how a whole day can rush right buy when you are shopping for craft items. I wish you all a great day and thank you for stopping by.
See you tomorrow.

S & S Sketch #90

Good Sunday Morning,
It's going to be a beautiful day here today. I need to divide my time between indoors and outdoors. We'll see how well I do with that. All my careful planning usually ends up going out the window once I start a project. Today over at OWH's Stars and Stamps Blog they gave us this sketch to follow. I found it to be quite easy. I am still trying to get a bunch of Christmas cards done for OWH so I went with that theme for this challenge. The other day I was looking through an old box of doo-dads and I came across these little stocking brads, which I thought I would use on today's card. They seem to fit right in. The top panel was an old piece of green and white paper from my stash and I stamped and colored the holly and leaves to brighten it up. The bottom panel is from KandCompany and I just added a few silver and gold stars along with some gold dots. I edged both panels with my trusty Krylon Gold Pen. The sentiment is from SU's Teeny Tiny Wishes. The card stock is SU's Very Vanilla. Well, I'm off to the outdoors for now. Thanks for taking a minute to stop by. See you tomorrow.

Joyous Christmas

Hello Everyone,

It's Saturday morning and I'm off to a good start here today. Don't know where I'll go from here. I am getting a new wall oven today, so maybe I can get some cooking or baking in this weekend, although it is going up into the 70's so I'm not sure I'll want to be in the kitchen that much. It'll be a good day to be outside. Today's card is quite simple. My background paper is from SU and the holly paper is from K and Company. The sentiment is by Hero Arts. I edged the dsp with my gold Krylon pen. Five minutes and it was done. If I could do them all this fast, I'd be able to send a lot more cards to our heroes, but that's doesn't always happen. Enjoy your Saturday. See you tomorrow.

Cocoa's Berry Pie

Good Friday Evening,
I was hoping to post this morning, but that just wasn't in the cards today. Still nursing our little Daisey Mae back to health. She will be allowed to walk starting tomorrow, but no stairs, or running. This could be a challenge if she starts to feel better. Right now she doesn't even feel good enough to try to walk. In a way that's good for today. On to my post. Someone was talking about pies today, so my mind went straight to cocoa and his pie. I decided Cocoa would bake a berry pie today. I colored him with Copics and as you can seehe is layered with several nestabilities. The designer paper, I think, is from Basic Grey and the punch is EK Success. I added some Hot Rock pearls from Imaginisce to perk up the punched piece. That is probably all I have in me tonight. Hopefully I'll get to post again tomorrow. We'll be back to summer weather here in Ma. for the rest of the long weekend. Thanks for taking the time to stop by today. I really appreciate it. Enjoy your evening and the holiday weekend.

Close to Cocoa C4C18

Hi All,

Today I planned to make a ton of cards, but my little Daisey Mae (my precious Yorkie) had to make a trip to the ER this morning. She was diagnosed with Medial Luxating Patella (her knee popped out of it socket). We are suppose to keep her completely still for the next 48 hours and then very little walking for the next two weeks. So my card making be have to take a back seat for a while. Seeing as how Daisey loves to follow her sister Molly's every move it could be a quite a challenge to keep her quiet for two weeks. I did manage to get one card made for the Close to Cocoa Weekly Challenge found here . Carol challenged us to give her Trips. Triples of anything. I had many thoughts running through my head, but instead I had to come up with a quick idea and execute it as fast as I could today. I picked Candy Cane Rhubarb, I just love him. I decided to go with a blue and brown color scheme this time. I edged the Bashful Blue (SU) card base with gold Kyrlon pen and I embossed the SU designer paper with the snowflake ef although it does not show up in the picture too well at all. I also embossed the card base with the Swiss Dot ef. Then I used three gold snowflakes to tie it all together. I decided not to use a sentiment on this card. Thank you for spending some of your time with me today. See you tomorrow.

S & S Mid Week Throw Down

Today's card is for the Mid Week Throwdown over at OWH's Stars and Stamps blog. They have asked for Christmas Cards for the heroes to send home to family and friends. This is a card that is quite simple, but I really like how it looks. My card base is Certainly Celery and I used the Snow Swirled stamp set by SU. After stamping the snowflakes in Garden Green and Versmark, I embossed the versmark ones with Detail White ep. I used the SU scallop border punch to finish it off. The Sentiment is from the same stamp set. There you go. I'm going back to coloring, so maybe I can get another card made by early evening. In any case, see you soon. Thank you so much for stopping by.

Christmas Puppy

Good Tuesday Afternoon Everyone,
The other day I received in this adorable stamp that I ordered from Sweet N Sassy Stamps. Being a dog lover I just think this is one of the most precious stamps I've seen in ages. I couldn't wait to try to color this one. I colored it with Copics and I ran my Krylon Gold Pen around the edges of the card stock and designer paper. The sentiment is from CC Rubber Stamps stamped in SU Real Red. I added the Prima poinsettia for some added punch. Thank you for taking the time to stop by to see what I had offered up for today. I truly appreciate it. I've spent that last few hours coloring so this is it for me today. See you tomorrow.