Anything Goes With Pearls!

The current challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog is:  Anything Goes - with pearls, that is!  I really like how they've added that little "twist" to the Anything Goes challenges this year.

I knew I wouldn't have time to complete my card for Dynamic Duo's triple threat challenge of wild wasabi, melon mambo and tangerine tango but I decided to use these colors anyway to make my card for the SSS challenge:

I didn't have any tangerine tango ink so I used calypso coral instead.  Since we've been sucked back into the polar vortex here in upstate NY it felt good to make a card with these summery colors and subjects:)  

Supplies Used:  Papertrey ink white cs and Delightful Dahlia Additions stamp set and die, Stampin' Up melon mambo ink and pp, calypso coral ink and ribbon and pink pirouette ink and wild wasabi cs, Hero Arts Antique Engravings butterfly, Memory box leaf die, MFT banner die, Queen & Co pearls

Quick post today as we're headed out to a large RV/Camping show to investigate a different mode of travel :)  Happy weekend and thanks for stopping by!

More February Birthdays!

Happy Sunday everyone!  I've got a couple more February family birthday cards to share plus a sneak peek at how I've been spending the past week:)

I decided to take advantage of a few sketch challenges currently out there to provide me with some inspiration.  CAS(E) this Sketch #65 helped me finish up my niece's birthday card:

At first I was going to go literal with either a canning jar or vase stamp and then I decided to make use of a cute little set I won at a Stampin' Up workshop:

I masked off the other 3 goodies in the image before stamping and embossing.  They were colored using Stampin' Up coastal cabana, calypso coral and crisp cantaloupe.  The dotty paper is from an Echo Park Dots and Stripes collection and it makes a good match with SU coastal cabana.  

Other Supplies Used:  Spellbinders Labels 4, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Making Memories eyelets, Papertrey ink white cs, SU calypso coral ribbon

My next card uses Seize the Sketch #14   :

This is for my brother-in-law who spends as much time as he can on his boat:

The computer generated sentiment was printed on some vellum.  This phrase is another one I saw online somewhere - I really need to get going with Pinterest so I can start remembering where I see these things!  I die cut the Paper Smooches anchor die several times and then glued the layers together for some dimension.  The life preserver was made using Spellbinders circle dies.  Stampin' Up kraft cs was stamped with Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain in SU chocolate chip.

Other Supplies Used:  Theresa Collins enamel dots, Martha Stewart baker's twine, SU bashful blue and real red cs and vellum and pp, Papertrey ink white cs and Cuttlebug anchors aweigh embossing folder

And here's a peek at what I've been doing the last week:

The hubster finished building a new work station for my craft room!  I've spent the last week emptying out my room so he could finish putting it together - what a mess (er, I mean project!) that's been!  It's definitely a work in progress and I'll share more pics when everything's done.  I'm just so excited to no longer be sharing half of my desk with my paper cutter:)

  

Life's So Sweet!

Happy Valentine's Day, my friends!  Just a couple of card shares today - first up is a Valentine one of my co-workers asked me to create for her boyfriend who builds things for a living:

I paired up this cute Taylored Expressions backhoe and sentiment from the set called "Dig In" with my fave Hero Arts cloud bg (S5215) and sun (CL439).  I die cut the dirt pile and sign using Cricut cart Walk in My Garden.

Other Supplies Used:  Papertrey ink white cs and cloud die, Hero Arts soft pool shadow ink, Stampin' Up Daffodil Delight cs and ink and heart embosslit, Doodlebug Designs pp, Amy Tangerine Sketchbook pp, silver gel pen, copper and silver brads

And I wish I could remember where I saw the idea online for the Valentine I made for the hubster this year:

Tee! Hee!  I computer generated the sentiment and used a WPlus 9 die to cut it into a banner.  Canning jar is from Hero Arts CL673 Love Jar and sentiment on die cut heart tag is from Paper Smooches Bee Mine set.  I covered the card front with Stampin' Up Love Impressions pp(discontinued)- I know it has polka dots on it but I also thought it was graphic enough for a masculine card:)

Other Supplies Used:  Papertrey ink white cs, Stampin' Up real red cs, WPlus 9 heart die, Doodlebug Designs baker's twine, googly eyes

And look what the hubster surprised me with!

Besides the fact my husband knows how much I adore chocolate (especially truffles!) I thought it was especially sweet he remembered that my friend Sue and I had stopped at this chocolate shop during one of our fall daytrips.  And he made a special trip just to get me a box of their chocolates for Valentine's Day!  Thoughtful stuff like that means the most to me:)

P.S.  And the Valentine he picked out for me was in monochromatic radiant orchid - Pantone's color of the year....yep, he really does listen to all my jibber jabber:)

And I've got to include another pic of my great nephew:

Doesn't get any sweeter than that:)

Lawnscaping Challenge #75: Dots & Hearts

Getting this post in under the wire- our computer monitor died again today:(. So frustrating!!  And it's taken me forEVER to figure out how to upload pics taken on my Ipad to blogger.  *sigh*

My boss asked me to make a fun & cute Valentine to give to his wife so I pulled out this sweet ewe from a Lawn Fawn set and did what I love to do most- make a scene!

I'm entering this in the current Lawnscaping challenge to use dots & hearts.  

Thanks for your patience as I figure all this IPad stuff out:)

Love Is In The Air - And a Card Share!

Love is in the air, my friends!  Does anyone remember who sang that song???  I've been singing it all morning:)  I'm definitely having a "love-hate" relationship with the month of February this year.  HAAAAATE it because it's been soooooo cold and snowy here in upstate NY.  I LOVE it because so far it's been filled with all things chocolate such as the treats featured in this display case I saw at Chocolate World in Hershey, PA when we spent a long weekend there earlier this month:

I would have bought one of each if I wasn't so worried about fitting into my skinny jeans:)  As it was the friends we were traveling with declared a case of "bag envy" when they saw how much chocolate I came away with - and Noooooooo, it wasn't all for me!

And we got to meet my great nephew Jackson (my mom's second great grandchild!) for the first time!  My mom and I fought over "holding rights" and who do you think won?? :)

And I tear up every time I look at this next pic:

My mom's always hated her hands as the rheumatoid arthritis she's had for most of her adult life has caused some deformity/crippling.  I wanted her to see the beauty in those hands:)

And February brought me another opportunity to give some purpose to my card-making.  A coworker who belongs to an organization promoting the advancement of women (Zonta) asked if I could help them out with their Valentine chocolate fundraiser by making handmade tags to decorate the boxes of chocolate.  140 tags in 4 days!!!!  I came up with 6 different designs.  Here's "fun and cute":

Here's "clean and graphic":

And here's "traditional":

The group ended up making $1000 to help fund scholarships to two local high school females who will be attending college in the fall. They loved the tags so much that now they're thinking of what else I could "tag up" for them to sell- LOL!

And finally, my "clean and graphic" tag design inspired me to create a card for the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Have a Heart

I rolled my masked cs panel with a brayer and ink from a Creative Beginnings spectrum pad given to me by my friend Sue (thanks Sue!) and then overstamped it with Hero Arts K5344 La Letter in black.  I really love all the cards I've been seeing using the new Penny Black rose die and I'm kicking myself as I had it in my hands last month and put it back on the shelf:(  Soooooo, I made do and cut the rose using Cricut Walk in My Garden cart from white cs and in deference to Pantone's declaration that radiant orchid is THE COLOR of the year I sponged on some old Stampin' Up orchid opulence and green galore inks.  Sentiment is from Hero Arts CL129 Anytime Messages.

Other Supplies Used:  Papertrey ink white cs, Stampin' Up orchid opulence cs, MFT banner die, WPlus 9 heart die, Amy Tangerine Sketchbook pp, Teresa Collins black enamel dots 

Thanks for all the constructive comments!

You're "Reel" Great!

This week's challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog is:  "Anything Goes with Twine or String".  I actually came up with the idea for my card when I saw last week's challenge "Let's Have a Laugh" but ran out of time to actually sit down and make it:

I'm still plugging away at February family birthday cards and thought my BIL who is an avid fisherman would appreciate this one:)  Sentiment, fishing pole and fishies are from Paper Smooches.  Used the flower and matching die from Hero Arts Bold Pop Design set for the "sun", Hero Arts Envie Pattern for the "grass" and Hero Arts Magical Background for the "waves".  And I tied a little bit of Doodlebug Doodle Twine together with some black thread to make my fishing fly!
Other Supplies Used:  Papertrey ink white cs and cloud die, Stampin' Up daffodil delight ink and cs, old olive ink and cs, marina mist ink and cs, various markers, W R Memory Keepers corner rounder

I also wanted to share another card I came up with for last week's challenge but didn't complete in time:(  So many cards, so little time.....*Sigh*

I computer generated the sentiment and then die cut it using a MFT die.  Used Hero Arts For You Gifts - I think this is a great stamp for girly birthday cards.  Lately I've been lovin' using enamel dots - these are from teresa collins.

Other Supplies Used:  Stampin' Up strawberry slush marker, cs and coastal cabana marker and paper piercing tool, Echo Park dots and stripes dotted pp and Everyday Eclectic pp, Papertrey ink white cs, W R Memory Keepers corner rounder, copic markers

One good thing about this awful winter we've been having is the time I've had to "reintroduce" myself to my craft room:)  My hubby has been busy in the basement working on making me an L-shaped work station complete with drawers - when you see my before and after pics of my work station you'll see why it's been desperately needed! - and I'm looking forward to giving the whole room an overhaul:)  As I start to weed out my supplies I'm finding things I forgot I owned or haven't even used and it feels good to put them to use!

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment - I really appreciate the input!

Dynamic Duos #87 Black and Melon Mambo

When I saw the current challenge at Dynamic Duos I knew exactly which combination of stamps I wanted to use:

I pulled out an Outlines Rubber Stamp Co vase stamp that hasn't seen ink in ages and my fave rose images and dies from the Papertrey Ink set The Sweet Life to create another birthday card:

The vase was embossed in black on black cs.  The roses were stamped with both Stampin' Up pretty in pink(for lightest shade) and melon mambo.  Sentiment (from Papertrey Ink Delightful Dahlias Additions set) was black embossed on Stampin' Up melon mambo pp.  Difficult to see in the pic but the black panel was embossed using a Stampin' Up/Sizzix Stylish Stripes embossing folder.  After adding the Doodlebug Designs enamel dots I still thought it was lacking some "pizzaz" so I added a strip of black and white houndstooth pp underneath the sentiment banner.

Other Supplies Used:  Papertrey ink white cs, Stampin' Up black cs, Spellbinders circle Nestie, MFT banner die

Thanks for all the encouraging comments!