Warm Wishes

 Good morning. Happy New Year's Eve Eve. Only 2 more days (including today) until 2021. I know we are all looking forward to a better year ahead. 

I do have a card to share today. It's kind of late, but no problem. Every month the Creative Card Chicks post a card on the 21st of the month. Usually it is from a card kit that we have received from the hostess for that month. The hostess sends us images, papers, and some embellishments to use on the card and then we create whatever comes to our mind with those ingredients. For December, we did not have a hostess so we were just encouraged to make a Christmas card with images and embellishments of our own choosing. I had dug out this Power Poppy stamp set to use for another challenge and liked this image that I have not used before.

Materials Used:

• Image - Power Poppy Bottlebrush Holiday
• Sentiment - Same as image
• Cardstock - Stampin Up Real Red; Xpress It Blending Card
• Designer Paper - Bo Bunny - Tis the Season
• Accessories - Hero Arts Holly Gems; Ribbon from my Stash; Nestabilities large scallop die
• Copic Markers - B000, B00, B01; BV0000, BV000, BV00; E40, E41, E42; G21, G24, G28; R24, R35, R56; Y06, Y13, Y18

This is a good start for Christmas cards for next year although this one is already going to be on its way to a friend for a Happy New Year card.

Season's Greetings - CYS

 Hello, my friends. Merry late Christmas and Happy New Year. It's been awhile since I posted. Things were really busy getting ready for Christmas. I was able to spend the day with my youngest daughter and her family - social distancing and outside. Lucky for us, the weather cooperated and it was a nice day. My children and grands spoiled me and I tried to do the same for them. I think we were all happy with our gifts. Dinner was wonderful. Again, so much food. After dinner and opening gifts, my SIL and the grands and I played a game of croquet. My daughter is recovering from back surgery on December 2, so she was taking it easy still. The croquet game was fun, but of course, I came in last again! I expect the New Year's Eve celebration will be a quiet one here. No plans except to be home with the kitties - watching some TV most likely and early to bed.

I do have a card to share with you today. This is one that I made for the Challenge Your Stash group on Splitcoast Stampers. The idea is to make a card using only items already in your stash - no new purchases are to be used to create your card. Each month there is a hostess who picks the theme for us. This month our hostess was Suzy (suzys1104) and her theme was to make a Christmas card but to include some type of tree on it. This was pretty easy for me. I had the perfect stamp set. Our reveal share date is on the 28th of the month, so I'm just a day late.

Materials Used:

• Image - Power Poppy, Bottlebrush Holiday
• Sentiment - Same as image
• Cardstock - Stampin Up - Crushed Curry; Xpress It Blending Card
• Designer Paper - Bo Bunny - Silver and Gold; Stampin Up, Tis the Season
• Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
• Accessories - Ornament glitter brad
• Copic Markers - E30, E31, E34; G12, G14; G16; R24, R37; Y15

That's all I have for today. I have another one coming up tomorrow using this same stamp set. 

Visions of Santa - IAS #98

Hello my friends. This should say Happy Sunday, but sadly I am a few days late getting my post up. This last week has been a bit hectic. I had a back procedure on December 2 and spent a few days recovering and not doing very much. I am most happy to say that it was completely successful. I have had low back pain for years and it had gotten progressively worse until I knew I had to do something. My doctor referred me to a pain management doctor who was able to diagnose my problem and then fix it. At least for now. We don't know how long the relief will last, but I count every day a blessing and take it one day at a time. I'm told if the pain reoccurs, then he can do the procedure again since we know that what he did was the right thing and brought me relief. I'm doing PT twice a week for the next six weeks and that seems to be helping also. God is good.

I do have a card to share with you for the International Art & Soul month-long December challenge. It's Anything Goes - With a Bow. So you can make any project you like as long as you include a bow on it. This challenge will be up for the whole month of December so you have plenty of time to hop on over and play along.

 

 

 

This is one of the slim line cards that seems to be all the rage right now. It was fairly easy to throw together. I used Stampin Up Visions of Santa stamp set for the images and sentiment and the Santa & Co. designer paper that matches it. The bow is a die made with Stampin Up Real Red as well as for the mats. The Copic markers I used were E23; E50, E51; R24, R35, R39; W3, W7; T10.

That's it for today. I hope that you are staying well and have no COVID issues.

Autumn Leaves - Challenge Your Stash

 Hello my friends and happy belated Thanksgiving. I hope that you all were able to spend time with family and friends for the holiday. I gathered with my daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren (adults) for a great Thanksgiving feast. There was so much food. Everyone made something so it was all a group effort. After we ate we played a round of croquet. I had not played that since I was a kid. It was slow going because the grass at my daughter's  house is a little rough. No problem, it was still fun and my grandson ending up the winner!!

Today I put up my Christmas tree. It's a new one and pre-lit. It took some doing just to get it all set up and the branches fluffed so there are no ornaments on it yet. It still looks very pretty with the white lights.

I do have a card to share today. I'm only a day late in getting it posted. This is for the Challenge Your Stash group on Splitcoast Stampers. For the month of November, Pansy (c-mouse) is the hostess and her theme is leaves and leaving. We are to use only products from our stash. Nothing new is to be used to make the card. That is never a problem for me. I've got tons of stuff in my stash. 

Materials Used:

• Image - Whiff of Joy. The package is not marked with a name and I could not find it on the Internet and they are no longer in business.
• Sentiment - Lili of the Valley - Sweet and Simple
• Cardstock - Stampin Up - Kraft, Kiwi Kiss, So Saffron; Xpress It Blending Card
• Designer Paper - Lily Bee Designs - Autumn Spice
• Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
• Accessories - Ribbon, Stampin Up Summer Starfruit; Spellbinders Fun Frame; Leaves?
• Copic Markers - E000, E00, E11, E13, E15, E17; E50, E51, E53; R46; Y11, Y13, Y18, Y19; YG61, YG63; YR01, YR02, YR04.

That's it for today. I need to work on a couple last minute Christmas gifts, but the shopping is all done. Have a great week.

Twas tbe Night Before Christmas - IAS #97

 Hello and here I am back again today with another card to share. This one is for the International Art & Soul challenge. The theme is Lots of Pink which was chosen by design team member Jennie. Unfortunately, I was late posting my card in the Design Team album, so you won't see it on the challenge thread. But that's okay. Go ahead and check out what the rest of the team has created and play along with your own Pink Project. 

This card was created using supplies from Heartfelt Creations. The poinsettias are hand made. I used Copic Markers to color the flowers and leaves - G21, G24, G28; R05, R12, R14, R17, and R37. The cardstock mat is Stampin Up Bashful Blue.

Have a wonderful week.

Nativity Scene - Creative Card Chicks

 Hello my friends and Happy Sunday.. Yes, it's a bit later in the day, but things are busy around here. I'm grateful that we have our church meetings by Zoom so I can attend and I attend a Sunday School meeting on YouTube. It's great. So much to be grateful for not only this time of the year, but all year around. If you are on Social Media, I encourage you to take the Give Thanks Challenge by posting one thing a day for seven days that you are thankful for and use #GiveThanks or #GiveThanksChallenge. 

Today I have two cards to share, but I'll share the other one in another post. This one is for our monthly Creative Card Chicks challenge. Unfortunately, the member who was supposed to send us a kit this month had to be out of state away from home taking care of her elderly parents, so in lieu of her kit, our leader Suzy sent us a sketch challenge to use and also had us use an animal in the design of the card and to use at least one embellishment. This wasn't too hard. I located a fun stamp that I have not used before. Here is the sketch.

Here is the card. I did enlarge the card in order to fit the sketch on it.

Materials Used:

• Image  - Whiff of Joy Nativity Scene
• Sentiment - Stampin Up Snowflake Sentiments
• Cardstock - Stampin Up Midnight Muse
• Designer Paper - Whiff Of Joy Winter Pretties
• Accessories - Sequins
• Copic Markers - B0000, B12, B14; E21, E30, E31, E33, E43, E44, E51; G21, R46; Y08, and Y17

That's all for this one. I sincerely wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving that you can share the holiday safely with your friends and family. I will be going to my daughter's house, but we always eat outside, so hoping we have good weather.

Grateful Heart - IAS #96

 Good morning, my friends. Happy Sunday. I hope all is well with you. We have a bit of a chilly morning today in H Town, and a bit of a mist maybe. I think the sun is trying to peek out so hopefully it will warm up later in the day as I head over to my daughter's house for dinner tonight. Because of COVID-19, we still eat outside social distancing from one another. At least we are able to get together. I know that is hard for some people right now.

This month is one of gratitude as we celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving. It will be very different for us this year too. Usually, our whole family gets together and we have fun things going on all that week, but not this year. Still, I am grateful for my family and that they are all well and keeping safe.

My card for this challenge is about gratitude which way my choice for the challenge. I think gratitude is a bit different than thank you although saying thank you does show gratitude. But gratitude should be an everyday occurrence. We should be grateful for every aspect of our lives - the breath we take, the fact that we can see, hear, smell, taste, have a roof over our heads, and so on. Every morning I am just thankful to be alive and that I know I have a Heavenly Father who watches over me and each one of us.

My card is pretty simple - no coloring. As I've been going through all my stuff in my craft room, I came across this Stampin Up Simply Scrappin Kit called Flower Fair. I have been making sets of cards that I want to give to each of my two daughters and three granddaughters for Christmas this year so I thought I would make some out of this set. 

 

 

 

I neglected to write down which of my stamp sets has this sentiment in it, but I'll look for it later and give recognition. I really like it. If we don't have gratitude in our hearts, we cannot be truly happy. The flower is from my stash - probably from Recollections. So that's it.

I hope that you'll stop on over at International Art & Soul and see what the rest of the design team has created to inspire you. Come join us with your "Grateful" project. You could be the Winner or one of the Top 3. It's all in fun.

Precious in Pink - CYS

Good morning my friends, How are you on this very chilly H Town morning I am so not ready for cold weather. For one thing, I still have too many Monarch chrysalises that are yet to hatch and they don't fly when the weather's cold. Hopefully, we'll get another warm spell when they can all hatch and be on their way South.

Also, asking for prayers for my daughter and her extended family that live in California. The Silverado and Blue Ridge fires that are burning in southern CA are close to them. So far their home is not in danger, but many others are. Please pray for all those that are in the path of these wildfires and that the first responders can get them under control.

I do have a card to share today.  This one is for a challenge that I am part of - Challenge Your Stash. Each month one of the group picks a theme and everyone makes a card using only items already in their stash - no buying new things to play. It helps use up the things that we already have. I could play this one every month for ten years and probably still have stuff left over. I better hurry up! 

This month our hostess was Vikki Y and her challenge was to make a card using PINK in honor of breast cancer awareness month. I had this image already printed off and cannot remember where it came from. I've looked through all of my saved images and can't seem to find it. Anyway, I thought it was cute and the sentiment was perfect for it. I believe the sentiment came from a set I purchased from Lili of the Valley called Sweet & Simple. The cardstock is Stampin Up Blushing Bride and designer paper came from My Mind's Eye Follow Your Heart collection. I didn't have to add anything to it since the designer paper already was embellished and I didn't want to crowd it up.

The Copic markers used were: B0000; E21, E23, E25; R20, R21, R22; R81, R83, R85; W0, W2, and W4.

That's all for today. I hope you all stay safe and healthy.

Fairy Nice - IAaS #95

 Good morning my friends. Happy Sunday. I hope everything is going well for you and that you are having a good weekend. This week was especially fun for me. I celebrated birthday 77 on Wednesday! Where does the time go? I really wasn't expecting to do too much with the pandemic still keeping most people in and away from others, but my youngest daughter who lives near me came over for a visit and then I found out that she had organized a Drive-By Car Parade!!! Friends and family members came and celebrated. It was fun, and I was totally surprised. As much fun as it was, I sure hope that we can celebrate in person next time.

Today I have a card to share for the International Art & Soul challenge. This fortnight the theme of the challenge is Fairies and/or Elves chosen by design team member, Debbie. Fairies are so fun for me to create with. They are close to little hummingbirds and butterflies. 

Materials Used:

• Image - Stampin Up - Fairy Nice
• Sentiment - Stampin Up - Fairy Nice
  
• Cardstock - Stampin Up - Bashful Blue
• Designer Paper - Summer Breeze - First Edition
• Accessories - SU Ribbon; Petaoo Flowers and Butterfly; Stampin Up Slit Punch; Nestabilities classic oval die
• Copic markers - BG0000, BG000, BG01; E50, E51, E53; G21; R20; Y08

That's it for today. I hope you will head on over to IAaS and see what the rest of the design team has created. Join in the fun. You could be picked as the Winner or one of the Top 3. It's fun.

Under Glass in Purple

Okay, so I've got one more card to share today. I don't think I have ever used the color purple to make a Christmas card, but that was the color that was chosen to be used for the Splitcoast Stampers Fan Club Christmas Challenge for the month of September!  I didn't think I'd be able to play along, but then I found this great designer paper pad from Bo Bunny and pulled out this stamp set and there it was.

 Materials Used:

• Image - Power Poppy - Under Glass
• Sentiment - 
• Ink - Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Card stock - Stampin Up - Rich Razzleberry
• Designer Paper - Bo Bunny - Altitude Collection
• Copic Markers - B0000, B000, B00, B02; BG0000, BG01; G21, G24; BV000, BV00, BV04, BV08; E25; E73; Y08, Y15; V01, V04, V06

 That is it for today. Hope you have a wonderful rest of the week.

Little Witch - CCC

 Hello, my friends. Happy Thursday. Yes, it's still Thursday, but close to the weekend. It was busy this week for me with a couple doctor appointments, one being an MRI on my lumbar spinal area. Hopefully, we'll see what is going on with my low back and what is causing all the pain I've been having. Then I hope it is something that is fixable without some invasive type surgery. Today it was just my annual eye exam. This is about the third or fourth year where I did not have to have my prescription changed. Glad to know that my eyesight is staying about the same.

Well, I am here to show you the card I created for the Creative Card Chicks Monthly Challenge over on Splitcoast Stampers. Each month  one of the members sends us a kit to play with. We all get the same things and then we each create our own card with the supplies that she sends. This month, the hostess was Sue (stampinspooky on SCS). She sent us some pattern paper and some embellishments along with a card sketch to use in order to create our card. We were to use our own image and sentiment. With Halloween right around the corner I decided to make a Halloween card. I stuck to the sketch and used the paper and bling that Sue sent. The image and sentiment were my choice.

Materials Used:

• Image - Bells & Whistles - Little Witch (retired)
• Sentiment - Stampin Up
• Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
• Cardstock - Stampin Up Crumb Cake; Xpress It Blending Card
• Designer Paper - Paper Studio
• Accessories - Bling from her stash
•  Copic Markers - C2, C4, C6, C9; E23; E50, E51, E53; Y15, Y18; YG63; YR12, YR15, YR18

That's it for this one. Thanks Sue for a great challenge.

White Christmas

 Hello. I am back again today to show off another of my Christmas cards I'm making in the Splitcoast Stampers Fan Club challenge. This year it's all about color. This is the card I made for July which color is White! I really thought I was going to have a hard time with this, but them pulled out this stamp set and it was a breeze. Ugh! The color for the background is making it look so off. Oh well. It is very striking IRL.

Materials Used:

•  Image - Stampin Up - White Christmas
• Sentiment -
• Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black and Rich Cocoa; Stampin Up Read Red
• Cardstock - Stampin Up - White Glitter; Xpress It Blending Card; SU Whisper White
• Accessories - Nestabilities Die - Opulent Ovals

This was pretty easy except for fussy cutting the birds, deer, and snowman. I did use a little Copic B0000 to outline the snowdrift and give it some definition.

 

Witches Night Out - IAS #94

 Hello my friends. Happy Sunday. I hope you are all doing well and not impacted so much with the bad weather. We were again blessed that Hurricane Delta did not come our way here in H Town. My heart does go out to those living in Louisiana who have been just pounded this season. Hopefully, there have been no serious injuries and they will be able to recover quickly.

Today I have a fun post to share. It is Anything Goes with Halloween over at International Art & Soul. The theme was chosen by DT Member CraftyGirl. I used to make and send a lot of Halloween cards, but not so much anymore. I'm lucky to get my Birthday and Christmas cards done. This image was gifted to me by the great folks over at Great Impressions for another purchase I made from them Wasn't that sweet?

Halloween was always a fun time for me when I was growing up and I think it should be a fun time now. 

Materials Used:

• Image - Great Impressions - Double Trouble
• Sentiment - Stampin Up
• Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
• Cardstock - Stampin Up Tangerine Tango
• Designer Paper - Bo Bunny - Fright Delight
• Accessories - Bling, Stamp Up window punch
• Copic Markers - E23, V06, W3, W5, W6, W8; Y19; YG01, YG11, YG23; YR02

 I hope you will pop on over to our challenge page and link up your fun Halloween project. You could be the winner or chosen as one of the Top 3. It's all fun!

Christmas Kitten

 Hello, my friends. It is afternoon here in Houston, Texas. We had a chilly start to our day here. The temp in my house this morning was 68*. Brrrrrr..... I like sleeping when it's cold, but I like it warm when I get out of bed.

I guess it's chilly enough to think about Christmas. Trying to get some of my cards done for this year. Won't be long now. I made this card for the Fan Club Christmas Card Challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. Each month of 2020 a different color is picked to be the main color for your cards. I'm a little behind for August which is YELLOW. I was going through all my Christmas stamps and found this one tucked away which I don't think I've ever used. The image just looked so adorable.

The image is Christmas Kitten from Stampendous and the sentiment is from Power Poppy's Under Glass stamp set. I found this designer paper collection from Stampin Up called Warmth & Cheer. It's a big 6" paper pad. I liked these papers for the background of my image and chose Stampin Up Going Gray for the cardstock base and mat. I added a little bling up in the right-hand corner and it was done. The coloring was done with my Copic markers - G21, G24; R22, R24, R2; YR21, YR23, and YR24.

That's it for now. I may make some more using this image and different colors.

Falling Leaves - CYS

 Hello, my friends and Happy Tuesday! Things are going along well here. I'm in the middle of my third week of this semester and doing well in both classes. The weather has turned a little cooler here. I know that my outside kitties are liking that since they are wearing winter coats. It's okay. It will be back up to the high 80s by next week. I'm so NOT ready for winter to come. 

I'm a little late with this card. It was supposed to be posted yesterday, but with school work, I just didn't get the chance to get a photo and get it uploaded. This was pretty easy. It is for the Challenge Your Stash challenge swap on Splitcoast Stampers. This month the hostess was Tracie and she wanted us to make a card using Leaves - any kind of leaves. I wasn't sure what to do for it, but as I was organizing my craft room over the last few weeks, I was going through leftovers from old swaps and found this one. It is from 2012!!! I'm not even sure which group it was from. It turned out to be perfect for this challenge.

The leaf images are from Stampin Up Gently Falling set which were embossed using gold, copper, and early espresso embossing powders. Each leaf is different. I used a sentiment from my SU Day of Gratitude stamp set stamped using SU More Mustard ink. I also used SU More Mustard cardstcok for the base and the mat for the sentiment. The designer paper is from DCWV Amber Autumn collection. The border punch is from Martha Stewart, but I'm not sure of the name. I colored the leaves using my Copic markers - E02, E04, and E07. It didn't take much to color them up. 

Enjoy and have a great rest of the week.

Jade Pumpkins - IAS #93

 Hello. Happy Sunday, my friends. I hope you are all enjoying your day. It is good here, but supposed to have a cold front come through tomorrow and bring cooler weather. I'm so not ready for winter to be upon us. It was a great week. I released all the Monarchs that I had in my hutch which were about 24. One day alone I had 20 all at once. It was so amazing to see them all fly off.

Finishing up the second week of classes - so far so good. 

My card today is for the International Art & Soul challenge. This is a for fun challenge blog that we post to every other Sunday. This time the challenge is to make a project with Autumn Colors! It can be any type of craft you like as long as it fits the theme. Here is my card:

Materials Used:

• Image - Simply Betty Stamps - Jade Pumpkins
• Sentiment - Stampin Up
• Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
• Cardstock - Stampin Up Hello Honey; Xpress It Blending Card
• Designer Paper - We Are Memory Keepers - Autumn
• Accessories - Stampin Up Ribbon - Hello Honey; Oval scallop punch; Oval punch; stitched die
• Copic Markers - B0000; E25, E31, E33, E34, E35; E50, E51, E53; G20, G21, G24; T4, T6; Y06, Y13, Y18; YR00, YR02, Y404.

That's it for now. I hope that you will pop on over to the IAS challenge forum and take a look at what the rest of the design team has created. Join us with your own creation and you could be picked as the Winner or one of the Top 3. See you soon.

Dancing Snowflakes

 Hello my friends. Happy Tuesday. It's been quite a day with pouring rain throughout. Tropical Storm Beta is causing havoc here as usual. Flooding all around town. Lucky for me, my house is set up off the ground so you need to step up to get in. That keeps the water out. Two of my outside kitties have been stranded on the patio since yesterday, but they are all curled up in their happy places with food and water, so it's all good.

Today I have another Christmas card to share. This one is very simple, and if I need to, I will make more of these to send out. It's great because I can make them whatever color I want.

I made this for the Splitcoast Stampers Fan Club Christmas card challenge. It is late. It was for the month of June. Each month this year is a different color and June was RED. Can you tell! LOL!

I used a card base of Stampin Up Whisper White and layered on a die cut frame cute from SU Real Red. The die is from Memory Box and is called Dancing Snowflakes. The sentiment was just perfect for this card. It fit just right in the center. It is from the Power Poppy - Flowering Santa stamp set, stamped using SU Real Red ink. Easy peasy.

I hope to have more to share tomorrow. I still have July, August, and September! Stay safe.

Winter Wonderland

 Hello my friends! Here I am again today taking a break from my online classes. There is so much reading to do, but lucky  me, so far I've aced all my quizzes. Let's hope that keeps up. 

I am playing catch up with my Christmas cards for this year. I am following a Christmas Card Challenge on Splitcoast Stampers where each month there is a different color to be the main color. I have two totally different cards for the May Challenge where the color was BLUE. 

This first card was pretty simple. 

Materials Used: 

• Image - Stampin Up - Christmas Cuties; Great Impressions - Snow Drifts
• Sentiment - Stampin Up - Christmas Cuties (inside the card)
• Cardstock - Stampin Up - Marina Mist and Mint Macaroon; Xpress It Blending Card
  
• Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
• Designer Paper - Fancy Pants - Winterland
• Accessories - snowflake die - Tree dies
• Copic Markers - E34, E35, E37; E50, E51, E53; B12, B14, B16; W00, W2, W4, W6 

I made this card with the Winter's Eve Collection from Heartfelt Creations using stamps and dies.

• Snow Kissed Spruce Stamp Set
• Frolicking Frosty and Spruce Die
• Christmas Cardinals stamps and dies (retired)
• Copic Markers - E23; G24, G28; R05, R17; T9, Y15; 
• Accessories - White liquid applique; foam tape

That's it for today. I hope to be back tomorrow with more of my Christmas creations. Stay safe

 

Wild Party Animals! Creative Card Chicks

Good morning and Happy Monday. We are dealing with lots of rain today. Glad that I don't have to get out in it to go to work or the store for anything. What would I have done without grocery delivery!!!

Today I have two cards to share for the Creative Card Chicks monthly swap. This month Terry was our hostess and sent us a fun party animal kit. So far I have made two cards using the ingredients and images she sent. The images are from the Taylored Expressions set - Mane Event as well as the sentiments. These would be great for a child's birthday.

For this first one I used Stampin Up Bashful Blue for the mats and card base. The designer paper is from Pebbles - Party Animal. I added some confetti looking blue dots for interest and colored the image using my Copic Markers - B000, B12, B14, B18; E23, E30, E22; G24; T6; T10; Y11, Y15, Y21; YR02; YR04.

The image and sentiments are the same for this card. I used Stampin Up Real Red for the card made and circle mat for the sentiment. The designer paper is from Pebbles - Happy Hurray! I added some red enamel dots from Paper Shoppe and some polka dot ribbon. Terry included a little pop up spring so I used that to pop up the lion. Fun times. The Copic Markers I used were B14; E23, E30; G24; R21, R22, R27; T6, T10; Y11, Y15, Y17; Y21, Y38.

Thanks Terry for a fun kit.

 

Life is Lovely

 Hello again my friends. Here it is still Sunday and I have another blog post. This is my last post of card kits I received back in May from the card kit swap that I am in. This kit was sent by Carol (momcgw on SCS) and contained a bunch of beautiful papers, die cuts, bling, and all kinds of pretty embellishments. She also sent me the lovely stamp set called Fiskars by Teresa Collins. I had a great time making these two cards and there is so much more to play with in the kit for later.

For this one I used Stampin Up Bordering Blue for the card base. I used one of my dies to cut out the flower image and then sponged a pink edge around it.

For this one I used Stampin Up Bashful Blue as the card base and I used my Copic Markers to ink one of the pretty die cuts Carol sent. I believe it is Memory Box Flower Border. The sentiments are cut from a piece of the designer paper from Recollections. All the embellishments were included in the kit. I also used my Copic Markers to color both images, but forgetful me forgot to write them down this time.

Such fun toys to play with. Thanks so much Carol for a beautiful kit and I can't wait to create more with the rest of the items.

Butterflies, Butterflies, and More Butterflies!

 Hello my friends. It is Sunday evening here. We are just getting done with a big rain storm and have more on the way thanks to Tropical Storm/Hurricane Beta heading our way. It's not a severe storm, so I'm not worried and I live inland rather than along the coast where it may be worse. My house sits on an uphill, so I also don't worry about flooding. I hope that you are well wherever you are located.

Today I have another card to share from one of the remaining card kits that I received back in May. My these was flowers and/or butterflies. One of the swap members sent me a kit with a bunch of butterfly images in it and some really pretty flower paper. So far I have just made one card from the kit, but I hope to do more in the future.This was from Linda a/k/a SkyNacho on SCS.

Unfortunately, she did not tell me where the images came from, so I can't pass that along to you. The sentiment is one that I picked out since there weren't any included in the kit. No problem since I have tons of sentiment stamps. This one from Stampin Up Party Pants was perfect. I used Stampin Up Delightful Daffodil for the card base and sentiment base. The ribbon was included in the kit. I used my Copic Markers to color up the images - T5, T9; Y02, Y08; YR01, Y402, YR04; YR23; YR24, and YR27.  I had fun designing this card, and I'm sure will use the rest of the images in the kit at some future time. Thanks Linda for the fun kit.

Gnome Friends

Hello, friends. Happy Wednesday! I hope you are all doing well and away from the fires and path of Hurricane Sally! We are on the dry side here, so no rain except for the usual afternoon showers that are common here in Texas.

I had an outdoor project to work on today - reattaching the metal back of my bench. Back in May, I went to sit on it when my kids came for a visit and it just fell off. I recently had a handyman refinish the bench and when he put it back together, he used screws that were too short, so they just all fell out of the holes. It took some doing, but I've got it all back together with a nice new cushion on it and an old sheet so the outside kitties can sleep on it without messing up the cushion. Besides, Frosty likes to hide under the bench whenever it storms, so the sheet gives her a little more protection.

So, today I have a card that I made from a card kit sent to me by Shelly which is another kit received from the card kit swap I am in with my theme of flowers and/or butterflies. She sent me these cute little garden gnomes and I had fun putting this card together to make it sort of look outdoorsy.

The gnome image, as well as the sentiment, is from Simon Says Stamps - Spring Gnomes. The flower spray is Bloom from Pink Fresh Studios. The blue DP is from Bo Bunny Harmony collection. I also used a strip of washi tape across the top of what is like a brick wall. I added a couple sequins and colored with my Copic Markers. The panel and sentiment are popped up on a base of Stampin Up Delightful Daffodil.

Thanks Shelly for the fun kit. I have more fun images and embellishments to play with later.

Together We Bloom

Hello, again my friends. Happy Tuesday! I have another card to share with you today. This is one that I received from the Card Kit swap that I am part of. I received the kits back in May/June but I am just now getting to finish up with some of the kits. Actually, I am nowhere near finished because I received tons of stuff with each kit that I can still use. This card is made with a kit I received from Emily a/k/a SkyNacho on Splitcoast Stampers. My theme for my kits was flowers and butterflies, and Emily sent me a whole flower stamp set from Studio Katia called Together We Bloom. It has some beautiful flower images in it.

I wanted something striking for the background, so I used a Stampin Up Real Red cardstock for the base. The sentiment is stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black on Stampin Up Whisper White and then cut using the Scallop Circle cut out die. I fussy cut the flowers and leaf images and popped up the largest on with SU dimensionals to give it some lift. I used two flowers and some bling to add interest to the design.

The flowers and leaves were colored using my Copic markers: G21, G24, G28; RV10, RV11, RV13.

That's it for today. I hope to be back tomorrow with another card kit card to share.

Brighter Days - IAS #92

 Hello, my friends and Happy Monday! I hope it was a good start to your week. If you are in the path of Hurricane Sally, I will be praying that you and your loved ones stay safe. We have been hoping for some cooler weather, but it hasn't materialized as yet. I was having dinner with my daughter and family yesterday outside and it got pretty hot with the sun beating down on us. We finally moved to the shaded back yard. We were supposed to have stormy weather so we started out in the garage. We do not all eat in the house together as yet. Mostly the weather has been good to us.

The last seven - ten days have been very busy for me trying to get projects done before classes started today. Didn't quite make it, but I think I can work on the other couple projects in my spare off time. I was so busy with other stuff that I did not get this card posted to the IAS DT site so it's not on the website this week, but since I had it done, I thought I would go ahead and post it anyway. The theme for this challenge was chosen by Jane and it is Tic Tac Toe. Here is the grid.

 And here is my card. I took the first vertical line - A bow (sort of), green, and an image.

Materials Used: 

• Image - Stampin Up Beautiful You
• Sentiment - same as image
• Card stock - Stampin Up Green Galore
• Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up Green Galore
  
• Designer Paper - Basic Gray Hillside collection
• Accessories from my stash - flowers; ribbon; Stampin Up scallop oval punch
• Copic Markers - G00, G02; E000, E01; E00; E33; R20

That's it. I hope that you will pop on over to the International Art & Soul website and see what the rest of the design team has created with the Tic Tac Toe grid. Then join in the fun and get creative. You could be picked as a winner or one of the Top 3. Have fun.

Blossoms and Blooms

Hi, friends. I'm here again today with another card kit. Is it just me, or are the days just flying by? I can't believe that it's already Thursday. Only one more week until classes start up again. I've been trying to get all my card kits caught up. In the meantime, I'm still working on cleaning up and organizing my craft room. Tossed a bunch of old card making magazines. since I haven't looked at them in years, I didn't figure there was any reason to hold on to them.

Meantime, I was able to put two cards together from a kit I received from Barb. This is another kit I received from the Card Kit swap I am part of from my turn as recipient hostess back in May. Again, my favorites are flowers and butterflies. Barb did not disappoint with this lovely kit. All of the elements I used were from Barb's kit except for the cardstock. I colored them with my Copic markers. On this first one, I put the sentiment inside.

•  Image - GinaK Designs - Bitty Blossoms
• Cardstock - Stampin Up - Blushing Bride
• Accessories - Classic circle die and scallop circle die
• Copic Markers - B0000, G43; R00, R21, R22; Y15, Y17

• Image - GinaK Designs - On My Mind
• Cardstock - Stampin Up - Barely Banana (it's too bad they retired this color. It's such a soft color and would be excellent for baby cards. I used up my last full-size sheet for this card).
• Copic Markers - BG0000; G0000, G00, G21; Y02, Y13; YR21, YR22; YG61.

This was a great kit. I'm glad to know I still have a few more images and supplies to work with to make some more cards. Thanks Barb for this fabulous kit.

Blooms and Butterflies

Hello, my friends. Happy Thursday! I hope you are all very well. This week has just flown by. I was hoping to get started on my dining room chairs recovering, but now waiting to get a tack remover. I did a really good job putting the old ones in when I recovered them the last time. It should arrive sometime today. In the meantime, I've had time to work on some more of my card kits from the card kit swap that I'm part of. I was the hostess recipient back in May and received lovely card kits from the rest of the members. My theme was flowers and butterflies. The four following cards were from a card kit that I received from Tracie. All the supplies were provided in the card kit.

•  Daisy Bouquets by Inky Antics and Loads of Blooms by Newtons Nook
• Designer Paper - My Minds Eye - Splendor collection
• Embellishments - Stash

Cardstock - Stampin Up Blushing Bride
Accessories - Oval die; Scallop Oval Die
Copic Markers - E50, E51, E53; G00, G21, G24; R11, R12

 Cardstock - Stampin Up - Not Quite Navy;
Accessories - Oval Die; label punch
Copic Markers - C0, C3, C4, C6; B0000, B000; B02, B03; G20, G21, G40, G43; R81, R83; RV19; Y15, Y19

Cardstock - Stampin Up - Pretty in Pink
Accessories - Die
Copic Markers - 23; E40, E41; E50, E51, E53; G20, G21; R11, R12, R21; Y13; T10, W1

Cardstock - Stampin Up - Summer Starfruit
Copic Markers - C0; E23; G20, G21; G43; Y04, Y11, Y13, Y15, Y18; YG61, YG63

Thank you for this lovely kit, Tracie. I had a great time putting these cards together.

Include an Animal - IAS #91

Hello. Happy Sunday. I am a bit late getting my card posted for International Art & Soul today. Our theme this fortnight is the Include an Animal - any kind of animal will do which was chosen by DT Member, Chriss. Of course, I love kitties and when I saw this snarky stamp set and dies, I just had to have it. This is just one of the images and sentiments from it.

 This set was from a company new to me - Granstamps - Snarky Cat - as well as the sentiment.
I used Stampin Up Pear Pizzazz for the card and sentiment base and also for the leaf branches punched using a Martha Stewart punch. The designer paper is Basic Gray - Out of Print collection and the flowers from my stash. Copic markers were used to color the image - G20, G21, YR20, YR21, YR23, and T8.

This is the inside. I used a scrap of the d/p and one leftover leaf branch to decorate it.

I hope you will pop on over to the challenge IAS BLOG

and see what the cute things the rest of the design team has created to inspire you. You could be picked as the Winner or one of the Top 3. See you next time.

Pink Hydrangea

Hello again. Happy Friday. I have another card to share with you today. This is a kit I received a few months ago from Diane (Glamour on SCS). It's the We are Creating Fun Card Kits group. Each month one of the members is the "hostess." All the other members send her a card kit with images, sentiments, die cuts, designer papers, and all kinds of ribbons and embellishments to make fun cards with. My hydrangea and all kinds of fun embellishments to work with.

I didn't get a list of any of the supplies so I have no idea where this image or any of the embellishments came from except from Diane. It was fun to color the image and put it all together. I colored with Copic markers - G20, G21, G24; R20 R81, R83; YG21, YG23; W3, T9.

That's it for today. Stay well, and stay safe.

Sweet Kitties Pets - CYS

Hello, my friends. I hope you are all doing well and not impacted by Hurricane Laura. Here in H Town, we were so lucky that neither Marco nor Laura came close to us. Not even a drop of rain. I have been busy, busy, busy with cleaning out my garage, workshop area, and laundry room area. The workshop area is storage and spillover from my craft room as is the laundry room area. I've also spent time cleaning up and cleaning out in my craft room. I can actually walk into it and not trip over stuff.

In the meantime, I have had some time to work on some cards. One I have to share today. This is for the Challenge Your Stash group on Splitcoast Stampers. Each month the hostess picks a theme and the rest of the group makes a card using that theme out of their own stash of supplies. This month I was the hostess and picked the theme of Pets! We are to make a card about our pets. If we don't have a pet, then we could make one up or use a friend's pet for inspiration. No problems. As I'm sure you are aware, I am owned by cats. I have four that live inside my house and I currently have three outside that I take care of. So you can imagine what my card has on it.

Materials Used:

• Image - Great Impressions - Sweet Kitties
• Sentiment - Great Impressions
• Cardstock - Stampin Up Baja Breeze; XPress It Blending card
• Designer Paper - My Minds' Eye - On the Bright Side collection
• Accessories - Nestabilities classic oval die; Recollections - Flower
• Copic Markers - W0, W1, W2, W3; YR21; YR23

Here is the inside. I stamped the top part for the partial sentiment on the front; then stamped the whole sentiment and cut it apart to put the other half on the inside.

That's it. I could have left the flower off to make it a CAS card, but it seemed to need something more.

Need a Hug!

Good morning my friends. I hope you all have had a great week and looking forward to the weekend. I know I am. I'm still busy with cleaning and organizing my house. This last week I've been working on my craft room sorting and moving ribbons from my room to a file cabinet in my garage workshop. It's an old microfiche cabinet so it has 10 short drawers, perfect for storing spools of ribbon. I've also reorganized my flower collection and now working on all my embellishments. I have been purging some that I know I will never use and trying to figure ways to use what I have. Step by step.

Today I have a card to share with you. This is for the Creative Card Chicks Monthly Challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. Each month the hostess sends out a card kit to the rest of the members including images, sentiments, all kinds of embellishments to make at least one card, and then we all post our cards the 21-23 of the month. This month I was the hostess. In light of our current situation in our country, I thought we could all use a little hug so I sent out a kit with this image and lots of other embellishments to play with. The embossing folder looks like wood, so I used the Dark Cocoa ink to distress it to give it some dimension.

Materials Used:

• Image -  CC Designs - Scaredy Cat
• Sentiment - Same
• Ink - Momento Tuxedo Black, Dark Cocoa
• Cardstock - Stampin Up - Delightful Dijon, Sahara Sand, Mossy Meadow; XPress It Blending Card
• Designer Paper - Stampin Up = Comfort Cafe collection
• Accessories: Circle Punch, Die - Tim Holtz Mixed Media Fresh Foliage; Embossing Folder - A Papaer Studio; Butterfly from my stash
• Copic Markers - E30, E31, E37; R11; YR00, YR21, YR23, YR24, YR27; W1, W4

 That's it for today. This will be going out to a dear friend to hopefully cheer her up during this crazy time.

More Flowers and Butterflies

Hello, my friends, and happy Monday! I hope you are all off to a great start of the week. We had a bit of a storm come through during the night. I heard some thunder, but it wasn't enough to keep me from going back to sleep.

I have some more cards to share today from the Card Kit Swap that I belong to over at Splitcoast Stampers. This kit was sent to me by Terry Ladwig (there are two Terrys in the group.). Terry sent me a Martha Stewart stamp set with all sorts of pretty flower, butterfly, and sentiment images in it. So far I have created three cards from it.
 

The card base is from Terry's stash of Gina K designs cardstock. The butterfly image was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black on to Stampin Up Very Vanilla cardstock. I used my Copic markers Y15 and YR15 to make it look like a Gulf Fritillary. The flowers were stamped with Stampin Up Eggplant Envy and the centers colored with the Y15. The designer paper (I LOVE) was from Terry's stash. I stamped the sentiment label in black and then added the sentiment and fussy cut it out and used my Copic marker V01 to outline it. The flowers and butterfly were all punched with circle punches, matted onto lavender circles, and adhered to a white strip of cardstock matted onto a strip of the cardstock and then adhered to the base to finish it off.

This card base is also from Terry's stash of Gina K designs. The designer paper is again from Terry's stash. I used Stampin Up Pink Passion to stamp the flower bouquet and then used a circle punch to cut it out and layered it on top of another circle of Pink Passion. The sentiment was also from the Martha Stewart stamp set which I stamped with Tuxedo Black ink and used a banner die to cut it out and layered it on a strip of Pink Passion card stock and fussy cut the end. Then added a strip of flowered ribbon and a couple pink flowers all from Terry's stash to finish it off.

This last card was pretty simple to create. The card base is also a from Terry's stash of Gina K Designs cardstock. the butterfly flowered paper is from her stash. I took some of the smaller images from the stamp set and used my Stampin Up Positively Pink and Glorious Green markers to color the images and stamped them on a strip of Stampin Up Very Vanilla. I used a couple of pieces of bling to add to the small single flowers and a drop of gold Perfect Pearls for the center of the flowers with the green leaves. I used another label from the stamp set and stamped it in Tuxedo Black and then added the Happy Birthday sentiment. I then outlined it using the Positively Pink marker and fussy cut it out. I adhered it to the card using Stampin Up Dimensionals to pop it up.

That's it so far for this set. I still have paper and cardstock left over so I know I'll be figuring out more cards to make from this great set. My thanks to Terry Ladwig for a fun kit.