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