Throwback Thursday

Happy Thursday Everyone!

It's in the 90's and humid here in Texas and I'm making snowman cards!  Wishful thinking maybe????

Today's card features two older Stampin' Up! sets:  1 - Frosty (I used the snowflake from that set), and 2 - Sweet and Simple Salutations (the snowman is from this set).  My card combines two challenges (hmmm, seems to be a two theme happening here).  I'm participating in the color challenge at Dynamic Duos and the sketch challenge at Retro Sketches.

And here is my finished card:

Isn't he sweet?  I colored his scarf and hat with Bashful Blue and his ornaments with Marina Mist and accented a couple of them with white gel pen.  You can't really see it, but his hat pom and the snow below him have shimmery accents courtesy of my clear Atyou Spica pen.  I thought about using Dazzling Details, but I wanted a more subtle effect.

Thanks for looking at my blog. I appreciate all the wonderful comments everyone leaves. Happy Stamping!

WOYWW 156

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

It's that time of week when we gallop around the globe visiting other crafty desks courtesy of Julia at Stamping Ground.  And this week is extra special, as we celebrate Julia's third anniversary in blog land with a special ATC swap!  Woo hoo!

Here's two shots of my desk.  I clean up between projects and was working on two separate jobs.

To see the finished project of this messy shot, you'll have to come by for a visit on Thursday for my "Throwback Thursday" feature.

And to see the finished projects from this mess, please come by on Friday as I unveil a special project I'm working on as guest designer for a well-known challenge blog.  I'm so excited to have been chosen by them to serve as GD during the month of June!

Now, about that ATC swap.  I am participating, and according to Julia's instructions, I'll be swapping with the next person on the list after me who has an asterisk after their name.  However, I made a total of 10 ATCs and, therefore, would like to swap with nine additional people.  If you are interested in swapping with me, please email me or leave a comment here.  If I have more than nine responses, I'll be glad to make more ATCs.

Thanks for looking at my blog. I appreciate all the wonderful comments everyone leaves. Happy Stamping!

A La Card Monkey #110

Happy Saturday Everyone!


I'm back among the living from my bout of cellulitis in my leg.  I'm still finishing antibiotics and have to be careful about how much I'm "upright" because of some residual swelling, but other than that, I'm glad to be back crafting!  It's amazing how tiring doing nothing can be!!!



The wonderful Shirley and Terry over at A La Card Monkey have asked me to step into the guest designer role again this week, and I am more than happy to oblige!  I love playing along with their weekly challenges, and I hope you all will join us!  This week's theme is The Sky's the Limit + Sketch, which features two circles (can be any shape), along with a sentiment and a little color blocking at the bottom of the card. Literally, the sky is the limit. Go where you want to go with your creation - add whatever embellishments you desire. Just have fun with it, and invite all of your friends to play along.



Here is the sketch:

And here is my interpretation, featuring the Triple Treat Flower stamp and Spice Cake designer series paper.  The card base is River Rock, although that's a little hard to tell in my photos, layered with a piece of More Mustard that I ran the top half through the Elegant Lines embossing folder.  You also get a little sneak peek at one of the 2012-2013 SU catalog items, as I've used one of the dies from the Bitty Banners Framelits set.  Love it!

I took one of my Grandmother's vintage buttons and layered it with an Everyday Enchantment brad.  I simply snipped off its' prongs and attached it to the button with glue dots.

Be sure you go over the A La Card Monkey and check out the other design team cards, then create your own and submit it!  I'll be looking for you!


Thanks for looking at my blog. I appreciate all the wonderful comments everyone leaves. Happy Stamping!

Out of Commission

While I love having blog followers, I hope no one lives weekly to see a post from me.  I have been out of commission since Friday evening with a bacterial infection in my leg (also known as cellulitis).  I'm on antibiotics and have to stay flat most of the time with my leg elevated, while using moist heat on it.  Makes stamping and creating kind of difficult!!  My sweet husband has babied me and taken care of all the cooking and cleaning for the past several days, bless his heart.  And this afternoon he's going to drive me to the doctor.  I don't know what I'd do without that man!

So, I said all that to say this:  more than likely, I will not be posting any creative projects this week (barring, of course, a miraculous recovery in the next 24 hours!).



Your prayers for healing would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for looking at my blog. I appreciate all the wonderful comments everyone leaves. Happy Stamping!

A La Card Monkey #108

I almost missed the deadline for one of my favorite challenge blogs, A La Card Monkey.  This week's challenge is a simple sketch plus a "girly" theme.  Here's the sketch:

When I saw the theme, I immediately thought pink flowers.  Enter "Apothecary Art" with a beautiful rose line art image, some shimmery organdy ribbon and a few pearls!

I know the original sketch showed a bow, and I had a beautiful light pink organdy one tied, but it just overpowered the card.  So I opted for a hint of white organdy ribbon behind the focal panel and called it good!

Be sure to head over to A La Card Monkey and check out the other samples.  And if you haven't entered a card, you still have time!

Thanks for looking at my blog. I appreciate all the wonderful comments everyone leaves. Happy Stamping!

Throwback Thursday

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Today's throwback features another "antique" Stampin' Up! Christmas set called Pretty Poinsettia.  I have had this set for ages and still love it.  My card design is based on this week's sketch over at Lesley's Christmas challenge blog,  Merry Monday.  Here's the sketch:

And here is my interpretation:

This stamp set is a two-step stampin' set, and I chose to emboss the outline layer with gold pigment ink.

On another note .....


I got my first order in my Etsy shop!  I about fell out of my chair when I received the message asking for a special order of five altered junior legal pads!!  I'm now awaiting approval and payment of the final projects before shipping!  Maybe someday this crafting thing and Etsy might pay off after all!  That would be a dream come true!



Thanks for looking at my blog. I appreciate all the wonderful comments everyone leaves. Happy Stamping!

WOYWW 154 Plus Two Challenges

Happy Wednesday Everyone!  I hope your week is going well.

It's time for our mid-week jaunt to see other creative desks around the globe courtesy of Julia at Stamping Ground.  This was taken last night in the midst of creating a card that combines two challenges.  The entire desk wasn't completely covered, so I'm not sure if my crafting session was a success or not!

Here is the card I was working on.  It's a coordination of the sketch challenge at Retro Sketches and this week's color challenge at Dynamic Duos using Pool Party and So Saffron plus neutrals.

The image is simply stamped in Crumb Cake and sponged over with So Saffron plus a little Pool Party on the leaf to give a hint of green.

I wasn't happy with this card last night and couldn't put my finger on exactly why.  I added the vintage button this morning, and I think that helps.  I've had this bag of buttons forever that I got from my grandmother ages ago, so there's no telling how old they are!

Be sure you pop over to all the blog links above.  You'll be inspired and have a chuckle or two as well!

Thanks for looking at my blog. I appreciate all the wonderful comments everyone leaves. Happy Stamping!

Mojo Monday 240 Baby Card

Happy Friday Everyone!

A young couple I know from back home in Missouri just welcomed their second baby -- a little girl.  So I kicked into "pink mode" and whipped up a card for them, using the sketch over at Mojo Monday.  Here's their sketch:

And here's my pink-a-licious baby card:

I added a bit of Dazzling Details to the umbrella and water to give it a little glitz!  (Sorry about the weird color on this picture...not sure what my camera was doing!)

And a little "love" for the inside as well.

Be sure to pop over to Mojo Monday and check out the other great cards.  Have a great weekend!

Thanks for looking at my blog. I appreciate all the wonderful comments everyone leaves. Happy Stamping!

Throwback Thursday

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Today's card is a dual-challenge card.  For starters, I used sketch #254 over at Stamping 411.
Secondly, I'm participating in the inaugural challenge at Dynamic Duos, where you're given a two-color combination, along with neutrals.

My first thought, as usual, was to gravitate towards something floral.  But then I got to thinking about the color Pool Party and decided a snowman scene might be cool (pun intended)!  So I flipped the sketch sideways and here's what I came up with:

The snowman set is oldie but goodie called "Frosty."  The greeting inside is also an old retired set entitled "Christmas Cheer."  I will definitely give Mr. Frosty an orange carrot nose now that I've entered him in the color challenge!  He looks rather anemic without it, don't you think?  But I wanted to stay true to the rules of the challenge!  Be sure you pop over to both sites and check out the great entries!

Don't forget to check out my Stamps for Sale tab above left.  I'm still trying to make room in my craft room AND my budget for stuff from the new Stampin' Up! catalog (may have to start playing the lottery since I'm not working).  For those of you that aren't demonstrators and haven't seen it yet, stand by .... there's some great stuff coming your way June 1st!!

Thanks for looking at my blog. I appreciate all the wonderful comments everyone leaves. Happy Stamping!

WOYWW 153

Happy Wednesday Everyone.

It's time for our weekly trek around the creative desks in the blogosphere, courtesy of Julia at Stamping Ground.  This is the state of affairs last night shortly before I went to bed:

I haven't had much creative mojo lately, so I went to some challenge blogs and was working on a card that I'll be posting tomorrow for my "Throwback Thursday" feature.  Be sure to come back and see it, as the finished product did leave me with a smile last night.  If you like snowmen, you'll be smiling too!

Something else that brought me a smile this past week was the arrival of my WOYWW button from Julia.  I quickly posted it on my mini bulletin board so it wouldn't get lost in the mess that is (usually) my desk!

Well, I'm off to see how many creative desks I can visit while sipping my vanilla latte.  I hope you all pop over and take a spin as well.

Thanks for looking at my blog. I appreciate all the wonderful comments everyone leaves. Happy Stamping!

A La Card Monkey #107

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I'm excited to tell you that I've again been asked to be Guest Designer over at A La Card Monkey.  This week's challenge is "Anything Goes" plus a great sketch.

Since I gave you a somewhat masculine card with last week's challenge, I decide to girlie it up a bit this week and make a Mother's Day card.  After all, it's just around the corner!

My personal challenge to each of my blog readers is for you to make your own entry and participate in this week's challenge.  A La Card Monkey is a great challenge site and I would totally love to help bump up their participation numbers.

Now get busy everyone!


Two "oh-by-the-way" notes:

• I have a new page (above left) where I have listed the retired stamp sets I have for sale.  Be sure to check it out.
• I'm experimenting with a new photo editing site called Pic Monkey.  I've been using Picasa for quite some time, and I like it, but you can't really do anything different with adding watermarks to your pictures or special effects.  On the second and third pictures above, I added a faint black shadow around the edge.  What do you think?  Does it help or distract from the photo?

Thanks for looking at my blog. I appreciate all the wonderful comments everyone leaves. Happy Stamping!

Composition Notebooks

Happy Friday Everyone!

I love making these altered composition notebooks, and it's a great way to use up retiring designer series paper.  You may recall that I've rented a booth at Tomball Arts & Crafts Showcase.  I was hoping that people would be scooping up the gazillions of cards I've made, but they seem to scooping up "other stuff" like these notebooks and other altered items.  I may have to rethink my strategy of what I stock in my booth!


Anyway, here's the group of notebooks I finished up this morning.  I forget to take pics of the last batch, and they've already sold!

When I first started making these, I followed Angie Juda's design and covered the spines.  After doing several of those, I decided it was kind of a pain to do that and trim around the curved edges.  So on this latest batch, I've left the spines original to how the notebooks come.  They go together in a flash!

I've been selling these for $5.00 each at the craft mall.  They seem to go pretty fast, which is why I haven't listed any in my Etsy shop.  But if anyone needs/wants some of these, just email me and I'll be glad to make some for you.

Have a fantastic weekend!  I'm looking forward to seeing my husband this afternoon when he flies in from Denver, where he's been all week.  I've missed him!

Thanks for looking at my blog. I appreciate all the wonderful comments everyone leaves. Happy Stamping!