Thinking of You - IAS #123

 Hello, my friends and Happy Sunday. I'm just a little behind the time getting this card posted. It's been a busy day with church and then trying to finish up decorating my Christmas tree and my house. It's about as done as it's going to get. I have items that didn't find a spot on the tree or any table, shelf, or cabinet. Where did all this stuff come from? I haven't purchased anything new in years although I did buy a new tree in 2020 so I could put more of my decorations on it and still not enough room. This is as big as it's going to get though - 6 feet since I have to put it up and take it down myself. I hope you are enjoying this wonderful season of the year when we celebrate the birth of the Christ child. I'm so thankful for His choice to come down here and set the example for us as to how we should live - with kindness and love for all.

So, here is my card for International At & Soul, challenge no. 123. This is the last challenge for the year and it will run for the whole month of December. This gives those of us on the Design Team time to spend with our families for the holiday. Our theme for this challenge is to use Dies and Punches which was chosen by yours truly. I think you can have lots of fun with this one. 

 

 

I'm sorry about the color of this. The photo does not do it justice at all. I even redid it after submitting it for the Design Team. This was used with Heartfelt Creations products including:

• Burst of Spring collection
• Cheery Pansy Die
• Cheery Pansy cling stamp set
• Eyelet Royale Die
• Ticket and Ties Die
• Cheerful Note Sentiments cling stamp set
• Flower and leaves shaping molds
• Rajni Chawla's cyrstal clear glitter and Heart of Gold prills
• Inks and sponge daubers

 Sorry I didn't make note of what colors I used from Stampin Up to color the pansies.

That's it for this card. I hope that you'll hop on over to the IAS challenge website to see what the rest of the Design Team has created for you. We have some talented ladies with all different mediums. I love to see the different things everyone creates. You could be the winner or one of the Top 3. Remember, you have the whole month of December to play. Hope to see you there and have a very Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas - Creative Card Chicks

 Hello again. I have another card to share with you today. It's the 21st of the month and the day we share our cards for the Creative Card Chicks Monthly Challenge. There is a hostess each month and she ends out a card kit to the rest of the members of the group. Then we each create a card or more from the items in the kit. This month our hostess was Sue (stampinspooky or SCS). She sent us each a winter kit, but let us decide what image to use. I liked the silver cardstock with the center die cut out, so decided to make a simple Merry Christmas card. I've been very busy the last few weeks getting ready to go out of town for the holiday so didn't have a lot of time to play in my craft room. No matter, Sue sent a bunch of stuff in the kit that I'll be able to use later when I have the time.

 Materials Used:

• Sentiment - Stampin Up, Snowflake Sentiments
• Cardstock - Stampin Up, Pacific Point and silver
• Ink - Stampin Up, Pacific Point
• Accessories - Bling, Stampin Up; Snowflake dies - Sue's stash

This was pretty easy and I can't wait to use some of the rest of her kit. I love using blues and silver for Christmas cards.

Let It Snow - IAS #122

 Good morning, my friends. Happy Sunday. I'm coming to you this morning from sunny southern California. Here to spend time with my oldest daughter and her family for the Thanksgiving holiday. We have a lot of fun plans for the week. I hope I can hold up with it all.

Today I have a card for the International Art & Soul challenge. This is challenge No. 122. I can't believe we've been going this long and plan to continue into next year. I hope you'll come join us in the fun challenges. 

This fortnight the theme for the challenge is Winter which was chosen by Design Team member, Tricia. I love winter as long as I don't have to be out in cold weather or snow. LOL! Had enough of that growing up. 

This one was pretty east. The snowy scene is slimline paper from Whimsey Stamps. The images are from CC Designs, Build a Snowman. The sentiment is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black on to Xpress It Blending Card as well as the snowmen. I used Copic markers to color them using G21, G24, R46, and R56. Simple, but I think it turned out cute. Love the Whimsey papers and slimline cards.

l hope you will hop on over to International Art and Soul and show us your Winter creations. Have a great holiday.

Christmas Cheer

 Good morning my friends. I hope you are having a great start to this week. It's going to be a busy one for me as I get ready to go see my daughter for Thanksgiving. I will also be attending the final performance of Sister Act in a community theater in California that my granddaughter is in. This is the first show since the pandemic and the first one I've seen her in since 2018. This is her dream to be on the stage. 

I have one more card to share with you from the card kit that Carol (momcgw) sent to me. It is a different stamp set so I didn't include it with the cards I posted yesterday. 

I love making these slimline cards. They are so easy and great to mail in a business envelope. Her kit did not include designer paper the size I needed so I picked one of the "busy" designs and cut two sheets of it to make it the right size and it turned out okay.

The stamp set is Jillibean Christmas Cheer. I used Stampin Up Cherry Cobbler and Handsome Hunter cardstock for the base and the mats. The ink used was SU Red Riding Hood and Handsome Hunter. The designer paper is Pebbles, Merry Merry collection, and I used a length of red ribbon Carol included in the kit.

These card kits are such fun. I'll have more to share in the coming days.

Holiday Filigree - Carol's Card Kit

 Good morning my friends. I hope that you are enjoying a lovely Sunday morning. The weather's a little chilly here, but the sun is shining and it will be a beautiful day. 

Today I have a few cards to share with you. I am a member of a card kit group on Splitcoast Stampers. At the start of the year, each member picks a month to receive card kits from the other members. They also pick the theme for their kit. Then during your month you receive all the kits from the other members and make cards from them. My month this year was October and my theme was Christmas. What a great way to get Christmas cards made. My first kit that I'm showcasing is from Carol (momcgw). So far I have made two cards from this kit.

The images and sentiment no. 2 are from Inkadinkadoo - Holiday Filigree. Inks used were Stampin Up Handsome Hunter and Baked Brown Sugar. Card stock was included in the kit. Designer paper was from the Pebbles, Merry Merry collection. Copic Marker for No. 1 was Y18. 

Accessories: No. 1 - The Paper Studio - red bling; Crafter's Square - Red glitter tag. The brown ribbon was also included in the kit.

Thanks Carol for a great kit. I'm sure I'll use this set again.

Remembrance - IAS

 Good morning, my friends. I hope you are having a great Sunday. The sun is shining here even though the temps are a little on the chilly side. Did you all remember to turn back your clocks? I did, but my kitties were still on daylight savings time. I'm sure they'll get used to it soon enough.

Today I have a card to share with you for International Art & Soul, which is a challenge just for the fun of it. We love to make crafts and share them with our friends. I hope that you'll come and join us and let us see what you can make. Today is the start of challenge no. 121.  Our challenge this fortnight is Remembrance and has been chosen by DT member Sall. This was so appropriate since we celebrate Veteran's Day this month.

 

This was a pretty easy card to make once I chose my image. The design just sort of came together.

Materials Used:

Image and Sentiment - Stampin Up. Bloom With Hope

Cardstock - Stampin Up Real Red and Gold Foil; Xpress It Blending Card

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Stampendous - Frantage glitter and embossing powder - white

Copic markers - G21, G24; B0000, B000; N6; R14, R24, R37

I hope to see your creations remembering someone from your life. Come join us.

 

Hotwheels Vintage Sports - CYS

 Hi, my friends and happy Friday eve. Are you all ready for Trick or Treating this weekend? We don't have any small children on our block anymore so I'm not expecting anyone to come to my door and haven't prepared anything either. Our church did a Trunk and Treat on Wednesday night so the kids did have something to dress up for.

I do have a card to share with you today. I made this card some time ago and I cannot find where I wrote down the ingredients for it. I know that the image is from Lili of the Valley and it's called Vintage Sports. The cardstock looks to be Stampin Up Real Red and the few sequins I used are also from Stampin Up. I used my Copic markers to color the image, but have no idea what colors I used. Sorry. I need to do better with writing down my supplies.

I made this card for the Splitcoast Stampers Challenge Your Stash group. The idea is to use only items we have in our stash to make our cards and not go out and make any new purchases for it. Our hostess for this month was Sue (stampinspooky) and her theme was to make a masculine card with at least one layer and to use an embellishment. I think I nailed all three of those requirements. I call it Hotwheels!

Boo - Creative Card Chicks

 Hello, my friends. Happy Sunday. Wow! This has been a really busy week. The week included my birthday which meant a couple of lunches. The kids came for dinner tonight, so there was on-going cleaning the house all week since I can't do it all in one day. I got it all done (well, most of it) and we had a lovely dinner (I thought). I hadn't made spaghetti in awhile, so that's what we had with plenty of sauce of the best meatballs. Brownies with fudge frosting for dessert. Also, got the Halloween decorations out since the kids were coming. All this is why I was late getting this post done which should have been on the  21st (which was my birthday date). 

This was for the Creative Card Chicks challenge group on SCS. Each month the hostess sends out a kit to the rest of the group and then we make a card or more with the items that she sent. This month our hostess was Kelly (ScrappinCEO) and she sent a fun Halloween kit. I did use my own image for the card, which was okay with Kelly. It was our choice. 

Materials Used:

Image - From my stash

Sentiment - From my stash

Cardstock - Black

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Designer Paper - Graphic 45 Midnight Tales; Stampin Up Halloween Night; Be Dazzling

Bling - Stash

This was a fun card to put together. I don't usually send out Halloween cards, but I may put this in my stack to send to a friend next year.

Celebrate You - IAS

 Hello, my friends. It's Wednesday which means I am very late with getting my post done for International Art & Soul. It should have gone live on Sunday, but life gets in the way sometimes. The theme this fortnight was to use mostly orange and yellow which was chosen by DT member CG. I had a time with this challenge until I came across this pattern paper and thought it went very well with the theme. I chose the image which is a new one that I've purchased because I'm always in need of a birthday card and there are so many in October.

Materials Used:

Image - My Favorite Things - Birthday Cutie

Sentiment - Same as image

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Cardstock - StampE5in Up Soft Suede

Designer Paper - My Mind's Eye - Reunion collection

Accessories  - flowers from my stash; border punch; Scallop Oval die

Copic Markers - B0000; E23, E25;  E50, E51, E53; Y13, Y15, Y18, Y26; YR02, YR04; YR20, YR21

That's all for today. I hope you will pop on over to the IAS challenge blog and see what the rest of the Design Team has created to inspire you and while you're there, add your mostly yellow and orange creation. You could be the Winner or one of the Top 3.

Double Scoop

 Hi my friends and Happy end of the week! I'm glad to see this one go. I think I'm finally over the crud that I've had for the last three weeks. Spent today trying to upload/download? the new upgrade for RootsMagic. No go. Spent hours trying to get connected to a support person. No luck. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow. Maybe not. It's just so frustrating.

Anyway, some happy thoughts. I decided to play along with the Outlawz' Monday Greeting card challenge. The theme was to use blue and yellow. I found this designer paper and it inspired me to create this card.

I kept it pretty simple.

Materials Used:

• Image - My Favorite Things - Double Scoop of Cute
• Sentiment - Same as image
• Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
• Designer Paper - Authentique - Essentials Collection
• Cardstock -  Stampin Up - Crushed Curry
• Accessories - Bling from my stash
• Copic Markers - B14, E13, E15, E23; E50, E51, E53; R46; R11, R12; Y15

I've also been purging my craft room this week. Time to scale down and find new homes for stamps, papers, and whatever else I think needs to go.

Friends Warm Your Heart - Stash

 Hello again my friends. I hope you are all doing well. We finally got a nice rain today after being dry for awhile. It doesn't usually take too long for the rains to come here. We get moisture coming up off the Gulf a lot. 

I do have a card to share with you today. This one I did for the Challenge Your Stash challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. There is a hostess for each month. The hostess picks the theme and then we all make a card following the theme and ONLY using items from our stash. We are not to go out and buy something new for the challenge. That's why they call it Challenge Your Stash. I must say it will be hard to go out and buy new things right now. I took a trip to Michael's yesterday and was surprised at the lack of stamping/scrapping items for sale. The pandemic has certainly taken its toll on them. I know that there is a big back log of items coming to the US from China, so once the shipping industry gets itself in gear, there will probably be a ton of stuff at the craft stores.

This month our hostess was Jeanette and her theme was to use something that began with the letter "S." That was an easy one. I pulled out this Build a Snowman stamp set and put this one together. I love how it has little clothes to cut out and can dress him/her however you like. Blue also seems to be a good color for winter and snow since it's kind of a cold color. I used the Bashful Blue cardstock from Stampin Up and a piece of designer paper that was in my stash as well as the ribbon. It might also be Stampin Up. Colored with my Copic markers. 

A fun challenge and another winter/Christmas card done.

Floral Butterfly - Creative Card Chicks

 Hello friends. Happy Sunday. I hope you are all well and enjoying your day. The weather here has been great the last few days, but will change starting tomorrow bringing rain. It's okay. We need it and I have no plans to be out and about. It will help clean of my milkweed plants. I had an infestation of aphids this last week and sprayed them all (over 60) with a combination of blue Dawn, vinegar, and water. It killed the aphids. Now I hope it doesn't kill my plants. They all seem to be doing okay after I washed them off to get the dead bugs off them. I still have seen some aphids on other plants, but not so many that I can't just squish them dead. I go check on them every day. I'm hoping that these will winter over and I'll have a good supply to start off next spring. I released the last Monarch of the season this morning.

So, on to my card for today. I'm a few days late getting this one posted. It is for the Splitcoast Stampers Creative Card Chicks challenge. Each month the hostess sends out a kit containing images, designer paper, and embellishments - bling, ribbon, flowers, etc. to each of the members and then we make at least one card from the kit. This month, I was the hostess and used the Heartfelt Creations Floral Butterfly collection for the images and they also have the dies to match. This collection was perfect since I love butterflies and flowers.

Materials Used;

• Images - Heartfelt Creations - Floral Butterly collection
• Sentiment - Stampin Up
• Card stock - Papertrey Ink - Lavendar Moon
• Ink - Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Designer Paper - Stampin Up, Beyond the Garden
• Accessories - Pearls from my stash
• Copic Markers - E21, E23; E93, E97; R11, R12, R81, R83; E20, E21, E24; Y15; N5

That's it for this card for today. 

Riley Birthday - IAS #116

 Good morning and Happy Sunday. It's a beautiful day here in H Town with no rain so far. We did get some yesterday evening which I was happy for. I can't believe the summer is winding down and it will soon be fall. I have a few birthdays coming up so I was glad to see our theme for this fortnight on International Art & Soul was a card for a birthday which was picked by DT member Chriss. I actually made this card some time ago, but never used it and hadn't posted it yet on my blog.

 

Materials Used:

• Image - Riley & Co. - Birthday
• Sentiment -
• Card stock - Stampin Up - So Saffron; Xpress It Blending Card
• Designer Paper - Stampin Up Birthday Memories; Birthday Basics
• Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
• Accessories - Die - Scallop Oval; Stampin Up Ribbon; Bling - Stash
• Copic Markers - B14; E25, E29; R17; W7, Y02, Y15

That's it. I hope that you'll come join us and show off your birthday cards. You could be picked as the Winner or one of the  Top 3. It's all fun.

Happy Anything - Challenge Your Stash

 Hello, my friends. Happy weekend. It is for us here in Texas who are not feeling any effects from Hurricane Ida. I pray for those in Louisiana who are in its path and pray that they will be kept safe.

I am back today to share a card for the Challenge Your Stash group on Splitcoast Stampers. For this challenge we make a card to go along with the theme of the month chosen by one of our members. Then we each make a card for that theme using only items we already have. We are not to go out and buy anything new to finish our card. This month I was the hostess and my theme was to use dies or punches - no stamps. Most all of my friends know that I love flowers and butterflies. I've had this die and paper in my stash for a very long time an it all just went together and easy since I didn't have to do any stamping.

I called it Happy Anything because I didn't put the rest of the sentiment on the card front. You can put anything you like on the inside like birthday or anniversary or anything else you want. I used Stampin Up Dusty Durango card stock for the mat and the die cuts. The designer paper is Authentic Delightful collection. I'm not sure where the dies came from. I keep a book with samples, but this one didn't have a name next to it. I used some bling from Studio 18 to finish off the card.

Off to see what the rest of the group came up with. Stay safe.

Cupcakes Party - Creative Card Chicks

 Hello, my friends. It has been a busy couple of weeks and I am very late getting this card posted for Creative Card Chicks. Our post date is the 21st-23rd. I had an unexpected, but pleasant, visit from my daughter who lives in California. It was great to see her and her husband. We had last been together for Christmas in 2019, before the pandemic hit so I missed my trip to see her for Thanksgiving in 2020. We had a great time together with my other daughter and her family that live here in Texas. Visiting kept me from getting my card uploaded.

Creative Card Chicks is a group on Splitcoast Stampers. Each month we have a hostess who makes up a card kit of images, designer paper, and embellishments and sends it out to the rest of the members of our group. Our hostess for August was Terry and she sent fun images of a tower of cupcakes to make a party card.

Materials Used:

• Image - Taylored Expressions - Sweet Tooth Tower
• Sentiment - Taylored Expressions - Sweet Tooth Tower
• Cardstock  - Stampin Up; Neenah Solar Crest Super Smooth White
  
• Designer Paper - American Crafts, Photo Play/Make Some Noise
• Ink  - Memento Tuxedo Black
• Accessories - Doodlebug Sequins; Ribbon - Stampin Up
• Copic Markers - B00, B02; E23, E25, E27; E40; G21, G24; R11, R35, R81; Y13, Y17; YG07

That is all for today. I hope I won't be so tardy for my next post which should be tomorrow. 

A Blooming Marvlous Day - IAS #115

 Hello, my friends. Happy Sunday. It's been pretty nice most of the day although HOT and HUMID. It does look like we might get some rain dumped on us this afternoon. Not that I'm complaining. We can use the rain although my gardens are looking pretty pathetic. I'm trying to decide what to do with them over the winter and then what to do in the Spring. I really want a butterfly garden, but I'm not sure I have enough sun in my backyard for that. My pecan tree really blocks out a lot of it. Maybe I'll have a tree service come and cut some back to allow in more light.

Today I have a card to share for International Art & Soul.  The theme for this fortnight is CAS - Clean and Simple. This means that the card should be relatively simple with a lot more open space and not a lot of embellishments. It was my turn to pick the theme.

As you can see, this one was relatively easy to make. I first stamped the flower image on a piece of Xpress It Blending Card and colored with my Copic markers. I then add the little bee and colored it and then added the sentiment. They are all done on the same piece of cardstock. The colored cardstock is from Stampin Up - Mauve Mist and Sweet Sugarplum. I then used some Diamond Stickles on the bee's wings and a yellow Liquid Pearls for the centers of the flowers. The images were all stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black. Only four Copic markers were used for the coloring - G21, G24; V01 and V04.

That's it for this one. I hope you will hop on over to IAS and join in the fun with your own creation. See what the Design Team has made to inspire you. You could be the Winner or one of the Top 3. I hope to see you there.

On the Dunes - Fun in the Sun - IAS # 114

 Hello my friends. Happy Sunday. It's bright and beautiful and HOT here today. Well, it is August in Texas. What else can you expect? It has been a quiet week compared to the last many weeks with going to school. It's nice now to be able to spend some time with friends (out to lunch and book club) or working on genealogy family research, or just some quiet time with a book. You know. That regular life. I did manage to spread out some cedar granules over my back yard and flower beds. They are supposed to help repel mosquitos out of my yard. I hope it works. I'll let you know next time.

With the summer here, I'm sure many of you are traveling around the country or your own state by various modes of transportation. Our them over at International Art & Soul comes at just the right time for this. The theme is A Mode of Transport and was chosen by Design Team member, Hazel. I don't have many stamps to go with this theme, but I actually made two different cards. I wasn't sure which one I liked the best. I chose this one and will save the other for another occasion.

Materials Used:

• Image - Lili of the Valley - Vintage Sports; Gina K Designs - My Island
  
• Sentiment - Gina K Designs - My Island
• Card Stock - Stampin Up - Whisper White; Confetti Tan; Xpress It Blending Card
• Designer Paper - Whimsy Stamps - Glorious Sky Slimline collection
• Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
  
• Accessories - circle punch; Silver gel pen; wavy paper cutter; Stampin Up Close to Cocoa and Glorious Green markers
  
• Copic Markers - B32; E25; E30, E31, E33; R12, R14, R17; N2, N2, N3, N5

That's it for now. I hope you will pop on over to the International Art & Soul challenge website and see what the rest of the time has done for your inspiration. Maybe you can get an idea for a project to enter into our challenge. You could be chosen as the Winner or one of the Top 3. It's all fun.

Blossom Bear - Creative Card Chicks

Hello! Happy Thursday night. It's been a great week. I finally GRADUATED with my Applied Associate's of Science degree in Family History Research yesterday from Brigham Young University-Idaho. All my classes have been online. The day started out kind of low key. I did have lunch plans with a few of my friends, but they turned that into a big surprise luncheon with more of my friends. They really made it so special. It was such a fun time. The Convocation was virtual yesterday afternoon. It had seemed so surreal until I was listening to them play Pomp and Circumstances and saw photos of all the graduates, and I got all emotional. Then I saw my own picture and it was real. I'm finally a graduate with a degree. That's not the end though. I'm planning to try for accreditation through ICAPGen - International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists. Hopefully I can complete that in a year and then I plan to go back to BYU-I and work on my Bachelor's Degree. When I get that, I most likely will be able to walk the stage to receive my diploma. I'm counting on it anyway. Here is a photo of my friends, from left to right around the table: Judie, Peggy, Carole, Liza, Pok, Thora, Me, and Sharon.

 So, on to the task at hand - posting a card for the Creative Card Chicks challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. This month our hostess was VikkiJo. She sent us all a kit with images, papers, and embellishments to use to make a card or two or how ever many we can get out of the kit. 

Materials Used:

• Image - Anita's Back Street, Inc. - Bear with Wheelbarrow
• Sentiment -  Whiff of Joy
• Cardstock - Stampin Up Pool Party, Whisper White
• Designer Paper - Flower and Field
• Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
• Accessories - Close to My Heart - pink brads; Stampin Up - pink ribbon
• Copic Markers - B0000, B000, B12, B14; E23, E25; E31, E33; G21, G24; R81, R83, R85; Y15, Y18; N10; W02, W04

That's it for today. Now that school is done for awhile, I hope to get more stamping done.

SCS Fan Club Christmas Card Challenge

 And here I am again for the third time this month. I'm a little late with this card also. It was supposed to be posted back in March, but life got in the way, and I didn't find the time to get it uploaded although it has been done. This gives me the chance to get my Christmas cards done although I better step up my game or I'm going to be way behind in getting them done. 

The SCS Fan Club is doing sketch challenges this year so each month there is a different sketch to follow and you can make whatever kind of card you want as long as you follow the sketch. It's okay to tweak it a little bit, but as long as they can see the basic sketch, you'll be fine.

This was a pretty easy sketch to use although saving the image didn't do so good.

Materials Used;

• Image - Great Impressions - Snowman
• Sentiment - Stampin Up , Warmth and Wonder
• Cardstock - Stampin Up, Soft Sky and White Glitter; Xpress It Blending Card
• Designer Paper - Fancy Pants, Timbergrove collection
• Copic Markers - B0000, B000; E30, E33; N0, N4; R56; YR04

I believe this is the final one for the day. I need to get back to stamping.

Happy Birdday! - Creative Card Chicks June 2021

 Hello again. Yes, it is still Sunday. I thought I'd do so catching up with posting some cards that are late getting posted. We're now experiencing the rainy part of the day. We've got light rain and thunder. I haven't seen any lightning as yet, and only a few drops of rain right now at my house. The loud noise does upset the kitties. 

This card is one I made for Splitcoast Stampers Creative Card Chicks hostess challenge. Each month, one of the group is the hostess and sends out a stamping kit to each of the other members and then we each can make a card to more with the supplies from the kit. Sometimes it is a challenge. Then we each will post our card(s) on the 21st-23rd of the month and see what everyone has done. In June, our hostess was Debby (littleDeb) and she sent this fun Flamingo kit. I used my own sentiment for it which I thought went quite well with the image.

Materials Used;

• Image - Innkadinkadoo - Flamingo Fun
• Sentiment - Whiff of Joy - Spring Sentiments
• Card stock - Recollections 110#; Stampin Up Pretty in Pink
• Designer Paper - Paper Studios
• Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
• Accessories - Twine & Pearls - from her stash
• Copic Markers - E02, E04; E40; G20, G21; R81, R83, R85

I don't know what the emobossing folder is and the paper that is embossed is a light weight and not sure where it is from either. This was a fun kit and had me thinking to get a card made.

Purrfect Birthday - IAS #113

 Good morning and Happy Sunday! It's a lovely day here in H Town, but so HUMID! I could barely breath when I went out to feed the kitties this morning. We have been having lots of rain lately, like for the past month or so. Mostly it's afternoon showers from the heat. At least it's not been a deluge like we had a few weeks ago. 

Butterflies are still coming. I have one in the hutch this morning to release later today after its wings dry and it won't have an issue with flying. 

This semester of school is just about over. I have reached a milestone - finished with my Applied Associate's Degree in Family History Research and will graduate on Wednesday, July 21! The graduation ceremony is virtual so I won't be going to Idaho for it.

Now to the issue at hand. Today I have a card to share for International Art & Soul challenge. This is the 113th challenge that we have done for IAS. Our challenge this fortnight is Use Thread or Beads and has been chosen by DT member Josephine. I have really been liking the slimline cards I've seen designers making and have jumped on the bandwagon. 

Materials Used:

• Images - My Favorite Things - Housecats
• Sentiment - MFT - Housecats
• Cardstock - Stampin Up - Whisper White and black glitter; Xpress It Blending Card
  
• Designer Paper - Whimsy Stamps - BW Cat Prints
• Accessories - WR Memory Keeper - Sewing Thread; Whimsy Stamps Slimline Card Builder Dies
• Copic Markers - E02, E04; G21, G24; R05, R11; N5

This one was pretty simple to put together. Be on the lookout for more slimline cards.  I hope that you will pop on over to IAS and see what the rest of the Design Team have created for your inspiration and then join in the fun. We love to see your own creations and ideas.

Beautiful Day - Creative Card Chicks

 Hello my friends. I know it's been a really long time since I posted anything. My school class has been keeping me busy with researching in England. I also took a week-long course through the Texas Institute for Genealogical Research in DNA. I know nothing about what it is and how to use it, but I'm learning. The great thing is that I was able to connect my paternal great grandfather's line to the corresponding line of one of his sisters. This now has helped me to proved that my paternal great grandfather was the son of our Common Ancestor. We thought that we knew this information, but until now had no way to actually prove it. I'm now working on a ancestral maternal line that goes back to England and hope to find out lots more information about that family.

Needless to say I haven't been giving my craft room much thought over the last few weeks, but I have managed to squeeze in a little bit of time to work on a couple of cards. This first one is for the Splitcoast Stampers Creative Card Chicks monthly challenge. This one was for the month of May!!! Yikes that was a long time ago. I have had this card done and sitting on my desk just waiting to upload it to post. 

For our group, each month there is a hostess who puts together a card kit and sends it out to the rest of the group and then we all make at least one card from the kit and post it between the 21st and 23rd of the month. As you can see, I am way late for posting this one. Our hostess for May was Joyce (ashjoy). The image and die cuts she sent are from The Greetery. I used Stampin Up Hello Honey cardstock for the base and Authentique Delightful designer paper collection.  The image was colored with Copic Markers, but sadly I did not write down the colors that I used. I do really love the way it turned out.

I'll be back tomorrow with another card to share. Have a good evening.

Christmas Topper - IAS #110

 Good morning. Happy Sunday. I hope that all is well where you are. I'm in my backyard building a boat! LOL! We have been having so much rain. I truly wish I could send it out west where they need it. 

I am half way through my last semester to receive my Applied Associate's Degree in Family History Research. In addition to card making and scrap-booking, genealogy is my other passion. It has taken me two and a half years to get this far and I'll be going on to get my Bachelor's Degree starting in Spring 2022. Yes, taking a little break.

Back to the task at hand. Today I have a card to share for International Art & Soul. This is our 110th challenge since it began. The theme for this challenge is to make a card or other project using a "Topper" or a pre-colored image which was chosen by Design Team member CG. Using a pre-colored image made it easy to put this one together.

Materials Used:

• Image - Lili of the Valley - pre-colored image
• Sentiment - LOTV
• Cardstock - Stampin Up Cherry Cobbler, Gumball Green, Red Glitter
• Designer Paper - Stampin Up
• Accessories - SU Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding, Memory Box - Kensington Christmas Tree Die

I  hope that you will pop on over to the IAS challenge website and see what the rest of the Design Team has created and then join in the fun. 

Merry Christmas - Slimline - Challenge Your Stash

 Hello my friends. Happy Friday and Happy Memorial Day Weekend. I hope you stay safe if you are traveling over this holiday weekend. I will be having a quiet weekend at home. I went to the nursery this afternoon and bought some more plants for my empty flower beds, so I hope that the weather will cooperate and I'll be able to get those planted as well as weed out the beds. That is an ongoing, never ending job.

Today I have a card to share for the SCS Challenge Your Stash challenge. Each month we have a hostess who chooses the theme for that month. Then we all make a card using that theme and supplies that we have in our stash. We are not to go out and buy anything to make the card. It's always fun to see what everyone comes up with. This month our hostess was Barb and her challenges was to make a slimline card or mini-slimline card. Your choice of vertical or horizontal, but be sure to include a sentiment. I am just  getting on the bandwagon for these cards and really love them. I did recently purchase a couple of dies to use when making them, but I didn't use them on this card. This card is actually doing double duty because the challenge over in the Splitcoast Fan Club Christmas Challenge for February was the sketch for this card. So I'll be posting it over there also.

Materials Used:

Kitty Cactus - Creative Card Chicks

Hello, my friends. I hope that you're having a great day. I have another card to share with you today. This is for the Splitcoast Stampers Creative Card Chicks Monthly Challenge. Each month the hostess sends each of the members a card kit which includes some images, pattern paper, and various embellishments to use to create a card or more. Then we each post our card starting on the 21st of the month. I'm also fascinated to see what each of the members creates out of the same kit. This month the hostess was Terry. She stepped in to do an extra hostess this month since our number of members has dropped by a few so some are doing something extra this year. If you're interested in becoming a member, check out our thread on SCS.

Here is my card from Terry's kit she sent. It was fun seeing the cute animal images as cactus.

Of course I had to pick the kitty cactus image. 

Materials Used: 

• Hero Arts - Cactus Animals
• Cardstock - Stampin Up Pool Party; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
• Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
• Designer Paper - Not sure which one this is.
  
• Accessories - Stampin Up Pool Party Ribbon; Gina Marie enamel dots
• Copic Markers - Neglected to write down the color numbers.
  

Congrats Grad - IAS #109

 Good morning. Happy Sunday. I hope you are all doing well. I think it's time for some sunny days. We have had so much rain over the last 7-10 days, my backyard is like a swamp. The kitties appreciate it after it stops because they like to go lap up the rain water. Granted they have a large bowl of fresh water every day on the patio, but there is something about the rain water that attracts them. Go figure.

Today I've got a card for International Art & Soul. The theme is Graduation which was picked by DT member, Debbie. I don't have anyone graduating this year, but put this one together. 

Materials Used:

•  Image - Whiff of Joy - Graduation Willow
• Sentiment - Stampendous - Cap and Gown Day
• Cardstock - Stampin Up - Crisp Cantelope; Xpress It Blending Card
• Designer Paper - Crate Paper - Confetti Collection
• Accessories - Stampin Up Ribbon; Wild Orchid Crafts - Flower
• Copic Markers - B95; E40; E23, E25; E50, E51, E53; Y13, Y15; YR21, YR23

 Do you have a graduate this year?  How did it go with the COVID restrictions in place? I hope that it didn't put a damper on the celebration. Hop on over to the IAS challenge website and see what the rest of the DT has created. I love that they are all so different and inspiring. Join in the fun and let's see your graduation creations.

I'm a Little Teapot - IAS #108

 Good morning. Happy Sunday. Most important - HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! Sending wishes to all my friends who are mothers whether it is to your own children, friends, nieces, nephews, furbabies. . . I hope you enjoy your special day. I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers  yesterday from my oldest daughter who lives in California. It is sad that we don't get to see each other as often as I would like, but I do enjoy chatting with her from time to time. 

I do have a card to share with you today for the challenge over at International Art & Soul. The theme for this challenge was chosen by Design Team member, Hazel, and was to make a card or project depicting a nursery rhyme. When I was trying to figure out what to do for this, I googled "Nursery Rhymes" and was amazed at how many there are. Looking over my stamps I decided to use one that I have not used before and I think was perfect for this challenge.

 

Ever since I made this card, the little jingle has been running through my head. I also thought this was a sweet image to use for a greeting for Mother's Day, "Sweet and Warm Thoughts of You."

Materials used:

• Image - Bildmalarna - Mimosa Tea Party
• Sentiment - Art Stamps - Teacup Blessings
• Cardstock - Stampin Up - Pretty in Pink; Xpress It Blending Card
• Designer Paper - Crafts Mark - Beautiful Day
• Accessories - Stampin Up Pretty in Pink Ribbon; Stitched Die, Scallop Circle Die
• Copic Markers - B0000, B12, B41; E23, E25; E50, E51, E53; R20, R21, R22; R81, R83; Y15

That's all for today. I hope you enjoy your day and that you'll pop on over to IAS to see what the rest of the design team has created for your inspiration and that you'll join us and show us your favorite nursery rhyme.

 I am entering this in the following challenges:

A Gem of a Challenge - Anything Goe

Crafter's Castle - Anything Goes

Di's Digi Challenge - Anything Goes

Just Us Girls - Layers

Classic Design Challenge - Anything Goes

Crafter's Cafe - Anything Goes

Crafty Hazelnut's - Use Pattern Paper

Creations in Pink - Anything Pink

Purr-Fect Playdate

 Hello my friends. Happy Thursday. It's been a busy week with school work and getting in some weeding and house chores. It's never ending. I finally got the front flower bed mostly weeded. You know that they are not all completely gone, but the big ones have been pulled and dug out. I still have a ways to go in the back yard. I'll probably have to replace a couple of shrubs. My gardenia bush is starting to put out some new shoots, but they are just tiny and way down at the root. It will take years for it to grow to like it was. I'm considering digging it up and replacing it along with my hibiscus that doesn't seem to be showing signs of new growth. 

In between all that, I was able to get a card done for the Splitcoast Stampers Challenge Your Stash group. For this group, we have a hostess every month who picks a theme for us all to use to create our card. We have to only use items from our stash - no going out to buy new things to create the card. This month the hostess was Shelly (mcschmidty) and the theme she gave us was ~~Kiss Your Mate Day is April 28th. Lets make cards showing a kissing couple, a couple in love, even love for a pet!

I don't have much use for a kissing card so I opted for a loving kitty pair. 

 Materials Used:

• Image - Heartfelt Creations - Purrfect Playdate
• Sentiment - Heartfelt Creations - Purring & Playful
• Cardstock - Stampin Up - Pink Pirouette
• Designer Paper - Heartfelt Creations - Purrfect Posies
• Accesories - Heartfelt Creations - Die for Purrfect Playdate; Stampin Up sequins
• Copic Markers - BV0000, BV000, BV01; E01, E02; E23, E25; G21, G24; R21, R81; Y15; W0, W2

That is all for today. I hope you like it and wish you a great week!

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Vintage Sport - International Art & Soul #107

 Good morning and Happy Sunday! I hope you are all doing well. It's a beautiful and sunny day here in H Town. Started off with having the sprinkler repair guy come out. The zone for my front flower bed and the one side of my house was not working. One of the sprinkler heads was just gushing water out. He said that's why the others weren't working because all the water was going to that one. Got that all fixed and a couple adjustments and now everything is working great. He even checked all the other zones to make sure they were all working as they should. This was the first time I've used this company and will call them again if I have any others issues. The company I used before couldn't give me an appointment until the second week in May. Couldn't wait that long since my front flower bed was not getting watered.

Today I have a card to share for the International Art & Soul challenge. The theme is A Card or Gift for a Man which was chosen by Design Team member Jennie. I've had this stamp for some time and haven't used it yet. I don't do a lot of masculine cards, but thought this one would be perfect. Most men love cars. 

Materials Used:

• Image - Lili of the Valley - Vintage Sports
• Sentiment - Stampin Up - Big on Birthdays
• Card stock - Stampin Up - Buckaroo Blue
• Designer Paper - American Crafts - Ready, Set, Go
• Accessories - Silver gel pen
• Copic Markers - B0000; E30, E31, E25; G21, G24; W1, W4; Y13, Y15

Simple card for today. I hope that you will check out our posts for this fortnight over at International Art & Soul. See what the rest of the Design Team has created. Then join in the fun and be creative. You could be the Winner or picked as one of the Top 3. Have fun.

Flowers For Someone Special - Creative Card Chicks

 Hello my friends. Happy Saturday. I hope you are all doing well. The weather was beautiful here in H Town today. A bit warm for weeding the flower bed, but I got some of it done this morning. Now just a small patch left. I'm not sure exactly what it is that is growing out there, but it is trying to take over the flower bed. I'm having to dig out the volunteer plants that are growing. It could be some Lantana that I had planted there some years ago and keep trying to get rid of it every year. It will just take over the whole bed if I don't keep it under control. My sprinklers that water that flower bed are also on the fritz and I have the repair people coming tomorrow to fix the ones that aren't working. 

That said, I do have a card to share with you today. I'm only three days late with getting this posted. Sorry, Kelly! It's been a little crazy here with school starting up again and so much to get done around the house - inside and outside. I'm trying to get ready for my kids to finally come back to my house to have dinner here again after more than a year. We've been getting together at their house - eating outside and playing games where we can social distance. I did get to have dinner inside their house two weeks ago and finally got a hug from my daughter. That was very nice.

Splitcoast Stampers Creative Card Chicks is the group that I'm spotlighting today. We have a hostess each month who puts together a card kit and sends one out to each of the members of the group. Then we are to make at least one card from the group to share. We post between the 21st and 23rd of each month. April was the month for Kelly (ScrappinCEO). She sent us some pretty flower images. 

I was going to use the other side of this paper because it has butterflies on it, but when I decided to use this flower stamp, I liked using this side of the paper better. It's from Stampin Up Butterfly Bijou. The stamped image is from the January 2018 Quick Cards Made Easy publication. The sentiment I used and the Just Jade leaf embossed strip is from the August 2019 Cardmaking & Paper Crafts publication. The butterfly was made by Kelly and I used one of my Spellbinders die for the flower image and some twine from my stash. 

That's it for today. I'll be back tomorrow with another card.

Winged Things - IAS Challenge #106

 Hell my friends. Happy Sunday. It's a beautiful day here today in H Town. So ready for winter and cold to be over. I spent a little time outside yesterday trying to get the flower beds cleaned up and ready for some more planting since everything died over the week of the Big Freeze! My Knockout Roses survived and are beautiful. I had the yard man cut them back about two weeks before the freeze and they also survived and are putting out a ton of new growth and dozens of beautiful flowers. So thankful.

Today I have a card to share with you for the International Art & Soul fortnight challenge. The theme this time is Winged Creatures which was chosen by DT member, Christine. This was not hard for me because I love winged creatures - fairies, butterflies, birds, etc. 

Materials Used:

• Image - Whimsy Stamps - Maya
• Sentiment - left it open
• Card stock - Stampin Up Blushing Bride
• Designer Paper - Stampin Up - Birthday Bouquet
• Accessories - Stampin Up Blushing Bride ribbon; Nestabilities Die- Marvelous Squares; Stickles.
• Copic Markers - B00, B0000, B12; E25, E27, E29; E50, E51, E53; R20, R21; G24; R81, R83; Y18

That's it for now. I hope you'll pop on over to the http://intaas.blogspot.com/ and see what the rest of the design team has created. They are very talented ladies.  Join in the fun and let's see what you come up with. You could be chosen as the Winner or one of the Top 3. Have a great week.

Christmas Tree - IAS #105

 Good morning. Happy Sunday! I hope you are doing well. It's a little on the cloudy, rainy side this morning, but that is not dampening my spirits. A week and a half left in this semester! It's also exam week in Math 108X so not looking forward to that. 

I do have a card to share with you today for International Art & Soul. Our challenge this fortnight is Shaped Card (no squares/rectangles) and has been chosen by DT member CG. I am not good at doing shaped cards but when I remembered that I had these great dies from Heartfelt Creations that I have not used before, I knew they would be perfect. 

 

This really came together pretty quickly. There was no coloring done on this card. I started out with a white 10x 7 piece of white cardstock, folded over to 5 x 7. I then use the Booklet Basics Die set to cut out the base of the book pages. I used the largest of the basic dies and a piece of Stampin Up Glitter red cardstock and which was glued to the white base card. That was then glued to the Booklet Frame die which I cut out of Stampin Up Cherry Cobbler. Two pieces of designer paper were cut out and adhered to the top of the Basic Die for the book. The top layer is from October Afternoon - Make It Merry collection called Make a Song. I made sure to cut it so that the song title and the tree were showing with some of the music bars. The flowers and leaves are from my stash. I didn't make them. I wish I could find more of those poinsettia flowers though. I love them. 

That's my card for today. I hop you will pop on over to IAS and see what the rest of the design team has created for your inspiration. Give it a try and join in the fun. I'd love to see your shaped cards to give me inspiration.

Easter Boy - CCC

 Hello my friends and Happy Sunday. Also, Happy Spring! I'm so glad to know that the cold weather is on its way out and it will start getting warmer now. We have still been having chilly mornings, but it turns out really nice in the afternoon. I've been getting out the last few days and with some help have gotten the flower beds all cleaned out from the leftovers of the big freeze! Sad to see everything go that has been growing for some time in the beds. I guess it's time for a do-over. Not sure yet what I'm going to do. Going to take my time and decide what would be best. Glad to know that my fig tree made it through without any major issues and it is starting to put out new leaves. I cut it back too so hopefully that will help with getting more and better fruit this year. I play to cover it with tulle netting to try to keep the birds and squirrels from grabbing the fruit before I can. The grapefruit tree looks terrible, but I see some very tine green spots on the limbs, so I'm hoping in time it, too, will start putting out new growth. I probably won't see any fruit this year, but hopefully next year we'll have some again.

On to my card for this month. This is one I did for the Creative Card Chicks group on Splitcoast Stampers where we have a hostess every month who sends out a card kit to everyone and all the members make at least one card from the kit and post it on the 21st of the month. For March, Roxie was the hostess and she sent us some cute bunny rabbits to use and we were to make a masculine card. Since it was to be a boy card, I used all the "blue" items that came in the kit.. Mine came together pretty easily.

 The image Roxie sent is from Inky Antics. I suppose that the sentiment is also, but not sure. The paper and the enamel dot are from Stampin Up. I mounted the d/p on some Stampin Up cardstock - Dapper Denim. I used a few of my Copic Markers to color in the bunny - G24, R30, YR02, YR04, YR09, W1.

I hope you are all doing well and able to stay warm. Have a great week.

Fancy Fold Snowman - CYS

 Good morning and happy Monday. I was able to enjoy a nice day yesterday and dinner with my daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren (who are adults) last night. We are still eating outside and it was pleasant. Today, the pleasant has chilled down a bit and gotten somewhat windy out. I think we'll be back to warming up by the middle of the week.

I have a card to share with you today. I made this for the Challenge Your Stash group over on Splitcoast Stampers. The idea is to just use items from your stash to make the card to go along with the theme of the month. This month's theme came from Danielle and it is to make a fun fold card- any fold as long as it's not just folded in half- and include the color red.

 The image and sentiment inside come from an unidentified stamp set. I believe it came in a stamping/papercraft magazine, but I wasn't able to find the correct one. The fold is made with a 5 1/2" x 12" piece of cardstock, scored at 2", 4", 8", and 10". There is designer paper on the inside and outside of the two folded sides. The snowman was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Xpress It Blending Card. It was then matted on a 2" square piece of red cardstock and then mounted on a piece of SU Whisper White. The image was colored with the Copic Markers - G05, R46, YR04, W0, and W7. I used some white liquid applique on his hat for the fur trim. The designer paper is from Stampin Up This Christmas collection. The snowflake die on the right side is from Memory Box - Frosty Border and then I finished off the card with some glitter red bling dots. I would love to have more time to play in my craft room.