Wine and Birthday Cake

Hi, I have a card to share with you that follows the sketch

this week at Palm Trees & Pogo Sticks.

I chose to make the card a longer version so it fits into a 

#10 business envelope.

I had such a hard time getting a clear photo of this card

for some reason.  In "real life" the sentiment is very clear and

reads "What kind of wine goes with birthday cake? It doesn't matter let's celebrate"  Both that sentiment stamp and the stacked wine glasses are stamps from Unity Company.  The stacked wine glasses are from

Let's Get Tips and the sentiment is from

What Kind of Wine.

I don't make this size card very often but I enjoy making them when I do.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by hope everyone has 

a great weekend.

Red Barn Birthday

Hello all, I hope everyone had a great time with family

and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday.

My daughter was born on Thanksgiving day 47 years ago.

Still loves the farm style decor so I made her this card

for her birthday.

It was created following the sketch this time over at

Mojo Monday. 

I stamped the barn using a GinaK stamp from the Farm Life set and

then colored in on kraft with Prismacolor pencils.

The background I embossed the Cuttlebug folder chicken wire and

added some corners and that was it.

Thanks for stopping to take a peak there is still time to play

along at Mojo Monday.

Loving Birthday Cross

Well hello there.  So sorry I have not posted in a 

while I have been working on a couple projects for a guy 

at church.

He asked me to make a religious birthday card for his wife

whose birthday is in December.

It is a large card, a letter size paper folded in half.

I love the pearl embossed background paper, I had used it for my son's

wedding card HERE.  The cross is one I found online

and uploaded it to Cricut Design Space and cut it out with

my Explore.  Since it is such an intricate design I put some

Stick-It adhesive on the back of the cardstock before I cut it out.

It worked great!  It is very thin and light so the Explore had no problem cutting it out.   The sentiment on the bottom is a Cricut file I had my Explore

write.  I love the new very fine point pens.

Here is the inside.

The verse I typed out in Word and then printed on pearl

paper.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you

all have a very Happy Thanksgiving, we have so much

to be thankful for.

What if Wednesday Sketch Challenge

Hi back to share a card I made following the sketch at

The House That Stamps Built, 

WHAT IF? Wednesday sketch challenge O3118.

Here is the sketch

This challenge is put out by Repeat Impressions stamps,
you do not have to use them but you get an extra entry if you do.

The Kokopelli is a RI stamp that I have had for years so
I am not sure if it is even still available.  Since I live in the
Southwest I love these kinds of stamps.
I colored it using Catherine Pooler Inks and a water brush.  The
purple panel I embossed using a Southwest pattern folder.  The
happy birthday is a Gina K design stamp.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by my blog.
Have a great day.

Challenges entered:

WHAT IF? Wednesday - sketch - ends 11/7

Art Impressions - Lots of layers - ends 11/7

Crafting with Attitude - anything goes - ends 11/25

Cute Card Thursday - anything goes - ends 11/7

Seize the Birthday - birthday - ends 11/6

Have a Beautiful Day

Hi, sorry I have not been posting too much lately

have just been in one of those funks that when I go in my

room I am all over the place and not settling down to

make a card.  But I have got some things cleaned up and

put away although you could not tell by looking at my room.

I did, however, get some Christmas cards done so that

is a good thing.

Today's card I made following this week's sketch over at

MFT Wednesday Sketch challenge.

Sometime ago I had bought a 6 x 6 pack of 

Bazzill Kraft and Foil paper pad.

So when I saw this sketch I thought using that paper

would be perfect.

The oval center I cut with my Explore out of pearl paper

and stamped with a Unity stamp oval frame and heat embossed it in gold.

The sentiment in the center is also a Unity stamp.  

Well that is it I hope you like my card and have

a great weekend.

Sunflower Wedding Wishes

Hi, I had to make a card for a niece that is getting

married this weekend. 

Usually when I make a wedding card and try and use the

wedding colors or the wedding theme.

So the invitation was Sunflowers on a woodgrain background,

so I went with that.

The background woodgrain paper is from Cricut and it is pretty neat,

it has a lot of texture to it and is more like material than paper.

I used a GinaMarie die to cut the oval and then stamped it

with a very old stamp that I had.  I stamped it in

           dark brown and then heat embossed it with clear sparkly embossing

powder.  Did not picture too well but is pretty in person.

I added some Martha Stewart sunflower stickers and

a few brown sequins.

Entered in the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments - use a 2 word sentiment - ends 10/8

Craft Rocket Challenges - Autumn/Halloween - ends 10/27

Crafting with Attitude - anything goes - ends 10/28

Moving Along with the Times - Autumn/Fall - ends 10/10

Coloring on kraft

Hi I haven't done this technique is a very long time

and thought I would give it a try on kraft paper.

I stamped on kraft cardstock using one of the stamps from the

December 2017 KOTM.  Then using my Prisma pencils I

colored just one of the flowers.

I cut it out using a Gina Marie stitched die and added a

banner sentiment.  The sentiment is also a Unity Stamp.

And that was it a very simple quick card to put together.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend.

A Sweet Friendship

Wow, a month since I posted last, well I have a good

reason for that.  A "sweet" friend and I went to visit my

                              Mom out of state for a few weeks.  It was a

fabulous trip.  

So when I got home I had to make her a card to thank her

for going with me.  My Mom loves her too and calls her,

her adopted daughter.  This friend means more to me

than I can out into words.

I used this week's sketch over at Tuesday Morning Sketches

to create this card.

Here is my card.

I LOVE how this card turned out.  I created the background

using Distress Oxides, Abandon Coral and Fossilized Amber.

              I really like how these two color blend together.  I recently got a

few spiritual stamp sets.  The above was from a stamp from the

Penny Black set called "Faith"  I am sure you will see

more card made using these stamp sets.  I stamped

it using the Catherine Pooler Ink Coral Cabana.  The

vine/branch is a CP die from one of the SOA boxes.

I will share this card on the following challenges:

Tuesday Morning Sketches - sketch - due 9/23

Crafting with an attitude - anything goes - due 10/3

Little Miss Muffet - anything goes - due 10/5

Through the Purple Haze - bright colors - due 10/6
CASual Fridays - break out the sequin - due 9/25

A Simple Card

Hello, hope everyone is having a wonderful day.

Today I have a simple card to share with you following

the sketch over at The Stamping Bug.

I have a hard time doing CAS so I embossed the background.  When

I was first picking out my paper, I could not decide whether to us

the coral paper or the turquoise paper so I just

used both for a matting.  I stamped the

sentiment and that was about it.

There is still time left if you want to play along with this CAS sketch

at The Stamping Bug. 

Here is the sketch.

Midnight Dahlia

Hi, today I have something to share with you that is

not a card.

Every month at Vanilla Arts, Amy Shulke does a live stream 

to teach coloring and she is am an amazing teacher.  I love

her style of teaching.

It is always a Power Poppy image so this month

the image was Midnight Dahlia.

I so could not color this without Amy's help.  I am pretty happy with

how it turned out, except for my stars in the background😏.

The background is made on Cryogen paper using distress inks,

Faded Jeans, Peacock Feathers, Dusty Concord.

It measures about 6 1/4 so I am not sure what I will

do with it.

Well, thanks for stopping by. 

Hot Air Balloon - Dreams

Hi today I have a card to share with you using a 

Close to My Heart stamp and pack of paper.

Over at the Outlawz they have a challenge every Sunday

that is called Songs & Rhymes, this week the song is

"Up Up & Away".

I knew right away what I wanted to do, I had had this

hot air balloon stamp and paper pack called Balloon Ride

for several years and it was perfect for this theme.

I stamped the image and then colored it with my Copic

markers trying to match the colors in the paper.  I cut it out using a

Gina Marie Die.  This card also follows the sketch this week

at the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge.

I kind of flipped the sketch a bit to make it work with my image.

The sentiment is a Unity stamp and thought it went well

with the image.

Thanks for stopping by hope you are having a great weekend.

Hip HIPPO Hooray!

Hi today I have a fun card to share with you.

I created following the sketch this week at

My Favorite Things.

Here is the sketch.

Isn't that Hippo cute.  The image the progressive freebie challenge

over at the Outlawz and is from Sandra Caldwell. 

I colored it using Copic markers.  I had the perfect stamp

to go with this image and it is from Pink by Design.

Thanks for stopping by you have plenty of time to play

along with the MFT Sketch Challenge.

Yet another Black & White Card

Hi, I have a simple card to share with you.

It is another black and white card for the 

Unity Stamps Facebook challenge, however, it is made

following the sketch over at Palm Trees & Pogo Sticks.

I am just getting in under the wire because the challenge ends

tomorrow.

The image is from a Unity stamp set called

Insightful Meadows.  The sentiment is also a Unity Stamp.

Well that is it for today, I will try and make something a 

bit more colorful next time.

Black & White Card

Hi, the current challenge over at the Unity (Shoe & Tell)

Facebook page is to make a card using only black & white.

It sounded interesting so I thought I would give it a try

and here is white I came up with. 

The flower image is from the Dec 2017 KOTM called 

"Start of Something New" and the sentiment I

stamped and heat embossed, is from the set

called "Butterflies and Sunbeams"

The lacey back piece is a die from Gina Marie and it

cut from a pearly white piece of paper, the sentiment is

on the same paper. You can't see it in the picture but

the whole center piece is pop dotted for a bit of dimension.

Now I thought it would be fun to do one with the colors

opposite, so here it is.

So tell me which one do you like better.  I think I

am leaning towards the first one.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hickory Dickory Dock.............

............the mouse ran up the clock.

That is the song for this week's challenge over at

The Outlawz, Sunday Songs & Rhymes.  

I had struggled a bit with this one and then I found this

cute little file on an Etsy shop called BoxerScraps.  The background

paper is also from an Etsy shop this one is called

PoppyMoonDesign.

So here is what I came up with.

I thought this could be a new baby card or a birthday card

for a small child.

I printed it out and then cut is using one of my Gina Marie dies.

The words I printed and cut using my Cricut Explore.  I amazed

myself because I made this card without following a sketch😁

something I never do.

So come on over and join The Outlawz.

Fireside Christmas

Hi, over at the Outlawz message board the challenge

on Sundays is Songs and Rhymes and this week the 

song is "It' beginning to look a lot like Christmas".

I was honored to be asked to be a guest designer this week.

So here is my card using that song as inspiration.

I created this card using my Cricut Explore.  All the images 

are from NitWit collection called Fireside Christmas.

I love the collections that they have.  I just import the images

into Design Space and then print and cut them out.

The tree and the chair are cut separately and then pop

dotted to add dimension.  I also used the Explore to write 

the sentiment.  I printed it on glossy photo paper

so the colors are very vibrant. 

So head on over to the Outlawz and sign up to be a member

and join in the fun challenges.

Tulips for Your Birthday

This was a fun card to color and design.

Over at The Outlawz message board, they have a freebie

every month for you to use and if you post a card using if you

will automatically get the image for the following month.

This is my first month playing along and our fabulous image

is from SheepSki Designs.

I colored this using my Copic markers and then did a little

detailing using PrismaColor pencils.  Something I have

learned from taking the monthly Livestream class from

Amy over at Vanilla Arts.  She is a fantastic teacher, I love her

approach to things. 

I knew right away when I saw this tulip border image

that I wanted to cut it out using the fancy frame die from Gina Marie dies.

I stamped the happy birthday using a Stampin Up stamp from the

Rose Wonder stamp set, added a few sequins and that is it.

Thanks for stopping by I hope you enjoyed my card.

Challenges entered

Aud Sentiments - Flower + Sentiment - ends 7/16

Crafting with Attitude - anything goes - ends 7/29

Cute Card Thursday - anything goes - ends 7/17

Little Miss Muffet - anything goes - ends 7/24

Sieze the Birthday - birthday option +sequin - ends 7/17

Christmas Snowflake

I thought I better get a little head start on my Christmas cards.

Every year I usually send out about 40 cards and most

of them are the same and then some random ones I made

during the year.

I am really thinking this might be my mass produced one.

I followed the sketch (of course) this week at 

Palm trees and Pogo Sticks.

Here is my card.

It was so hard to get a good picture of this.  The

snowflake is very sparkly and the Merry Christmas is

heat embossed in silver.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by, have

a great weekend

Playing with my Distress Oxides (again)

Hi, I had a little fun yesterday doing some

ink smooching with Distress Oxides.

 The colors I used are Squeezed Lemonade, Candied Apple and 

Faded Jeans.  I smooched some of each color onto a 

piece of acetate, sprayed it liberally with water and then

turned it over and placed on watercolor paper.  I put a large

clear acrylic block over the acetate so I could get even pressure and

since it was a clear block I could see the colors moving.

I stamped the flower from the Unity Stamp set "Rebuild Your Life" and

heat embossed it with gold embossing powder.

I went back after it was all dried and re-wet the flower area

with a water brush, let it sit for about 20-30 seconds and then

dabbed it with a paper towel to lift a bit of the color off.

I hope you like my card.

Challenges entered

Unity Show & Tell - CAS - Facebook page

Addicted to Stamps - CAS - ends 7/10

Crafting by Design - anything goes - ends 7/31

Creative Moments - anything goes/summer - ends 7/9

  

A Teddy Bear and His Poppy

Hi, I have a quick post for you today

as I am trying to sneak in at the last minute for

the challenge this week at CASology

Their challenges are always clean and simple style

with an added element.  This week that element 

was BEAR, so I hauled out my Wild Rose

stamps and stamped this cute little guy.

Isn't he cute?  I wanted to try and add some texture to

him to look like fur but it didn't go well, so I had to color it all

over again.  I have had this stamp for years but rarely use it

even though it is one of my favorites.

Well thanks for stopping by hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Beautiful Poppies

The current challenge on the Unity Stamps Facebook

page "Unity Show & Tell" is to do some water coloring.

                      I love to use my Zig Clean Color pens to watercolor.  

                                   The colors are so vibrant. Here is what 

I came up with, following this sketch from Stamp Nation.

I used the poppy stamp from the Unity Septemeber 2017

kit of the month called "Flowers, Foilage & Fall".

I love poppies when we go to see my Mom in Colorado

there are poppies all over the place.

I used 3 colors on the poppies, a red, an orange and a yellow

then blended it out with an aqua brush.  I added some

very pale blue to the background, it looks much better

in person, the picture makes it look much darker than it is.

I hope you like my card.

Challenges entered:

Crafty Addicts - anything goes optional flowers - ends 7/3

Simon Says Stamp - anything goes - ends 7/4

Creative Moments - anything goes - ends 7/9

Paper Piecing Daises

Hello, hope everyone had a great weekend.

Today I have a card to share with you using paper piecing.

I love to do it but often forget about it, so when the

Thursday challenge over at The Outlawz was

anything goes with a twist - paper piecing. 

For my card, I chose to use one of the Unity stamps

from the "Free Your Dreams" set for the daisies and the

sentiment came from the "Be My Bird" set. 

I use some small polka paper for the flowers and

colored the stems with Copics.  I love the way it turned out.

Thank you for stopping by. 

Lori's Garden Vines

Hi, hope you are having a great day and have lots of

fun stuff planned for the weekend.

Today I have a card to share with you that I made using

this weeks Wednesday sketch over at The Outlawz.

When I saw this sketch I thought "oh man what am I going to
use for that flourish in the corners."
I looked through my dies and didn't find anything so I
went to Cricut Design Space and searched for
flourish, and didn't see anything so then I search corners
thinking maybe some fancy corners would come up.
Well, I did find the perfect corner flourish for my card.

I spent a lot of time looking through my stash for the perfect thingsto use to make this card.  I had picked out my paper before
I found the pretty corners and they came from an
SEI pack called Aunt Gerti's Garden.  The center polka square
was from the same paper pack.
Then when I found that flower in my stash I knew it wouldbe great for this sketch. 
The vine corners are from the Cricut Imagine cartridge
called Lori's Garden.  I think this was my favorite Imagine
cartridge.  I am so happy that I can access all my Imagine
cartridges in Design Space.  I printed and cut them using
my Explore and they cut perfectly, I was a bit worried because
some of the branches were so thin.
The happy birthday wishes is a Catherine Pooler die and
I thought it worked great on this card.
I didn't realize that the vines corners and the paper
are both from a garden named pack.
I just noticed that there is nothing colored or stamped
on this card, weird for me.

I hope you like my card, would love to hear your thoughts.

Challenges entered:

The Outlawz sketch challenge - sketch

Crafting With Friends - anything goes 

Crafty Catz - anything goes/twist blooms

Creative Fingers - anything goes

Dancing Girl

Hi, I have a quick fun card to share today.

I am trying to do some cleans & simple cards sometimes I

have a hard time leaving so much blank space, but I find as

I am doing more of then it becomes a bit easier.

This week over at CASology the theme is "jumpy".

At CASology is always clean & simple cards and then with 

a theme.

Here is what I came up with.

The stamp is from Clear Dollar Stamps and I have had it for many

years, in fact, I don't think they are even in business anymore.

I colored her with my Prisma Pencils and then added a bit of 

watercolor background.  Stamped a sentiment

added a few sequins and that was it.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Multi Step Stamping

Hello, I have another card to share with you that is 

using the Kitchen Sink stamp multi stamping flower.

This is the same stamp as I used in my last post, while I was

making the previous card I had stamped out a few of the

flowers in different colors to decide which colors I wanted

to use.  So when I saw the sketch this week at 

Crazy 4 Challenges it was perfect to use one of those

flowers I had stamped.

Here is the sketch

and here is my card.

I replaced the center square with a circle that I die cut using a 

stitched circle. All the papers are from a Close to my Heart

paper pack called Roxie.  It is a few years old but I love the colors

and patterns.

Even the 2 strips across the card, they are the top strip

of 12 x 12 piece of paper that I cut off.

It was a simple card to put together but I love how it 

turned out.

Thanks for stopping by.

Flowers of Friendship

Hello, hope everyone is doing well.

Today I have a card to share with you that I created following

the sketch this week at 

Freshly Made Sketches

A couple years ago I heard of stamp company named

Kitchen Sink Stamps most of their stamps are multi-step stamps

so the images you stamp all the layers separate so it gives

them dimension.

Both of the flowers were stamped in 4 layering including the

center.  The sentiment is from the same set.  The set

is called Daisy you can check it out HERE.

I used Catherine Pooler inks to stamp them,

The yellow background in an embossing folder from

Cuttlebug.

That is it, hope you liked my card and I am grateful you stopped by.

Challenges entered:

Freshly Made Sketches - sketch - ends 6/18

4 Crafty Chicks - Birds & Blooms - ends 6/20

Aud Sentiments - anything goes/sentiment - end 6/18

Crafting with Attitude - anything goes - ends 6/24

Southern Girls - anything goes - ends 6/27

CAS(E) This Sketch

Hi I have another card to share with you today.

I have felt like messing around with my Distress Oxides to

make some background papers.  When I saw the sketch this 

week at CAS(E) this sketch I knew it was perfect for using some

Distressed paper.

Here is the sketch this week.

Here is what I came up with.

I used watercolor paper and did some smooching using my Oxides 

in the colors Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Abandoned Coral and Candies Apple.  I love this combination of colors.  I popped the 

                                 watercolor strip to give it dimension.

I stamped the flower using a Simon Says Stamp and then colored

it using the same colors then misted it with water and hand cut it out.

The happy birthday stamp is from Bo Bunny.

I added a few sequins to bling it up a bit and that was it.

I had so much fun making the watercolor paper I made a few

other in different colors while I was at it.

Thanks for stopping by.

A Humorous Birthday

Hi, today I have a card with a bit of humor on it

I have had this stamp set for a number of years and haven't

used it much.  I love chickens so when I saw this stamp set

from Rubbernecker I had to buy it.

I made this card following the sketch from last week over at 

The Outlawz.

I stamped the chicken on kraft cardstock using 

Catherine Pooler inks, Eucalyptus and Sauna.  I used my

MISTI (as I do for all my stamping) so I could stamp it

a couple times to make it show up on the kraft.

The chickens and the sentiment are both from the same

Mark's Finest stamp set, unfortunately, they have closed

down their shop.  I must have bought these stamps 6-7 years ago.

I used my chicken wire embossing folder for the background and

the background chicken paper is a single sheet I had.

Added a bit of twine and that was it.

I will enter this in the Retro Rubber challenge that

wants you to give your love to some old stamps.  The challenge

is open until June 15th so you still have time if you wish to play along.

Well, I hope you liked my card and got a chuckle out of it.

Just have to figure out who I can send it to that would get a chuckle also.

A Cheery Get Well

Hello all, when I started to make this card following the sketch this week

over at Sketch Saturday I knew I wanted to use the new

ink colors from Catherine Pooler.  As I was working on the pieces

and started to put it together I thought it was just

right to cheer someone who is sick up.  The colors are

so bright and cheerful.

This is the sketch.

I started out by stamping the atrip across the card with a 

dotted stamp that came in the last Stamp of Approval box using the

new inks, Limoncello, Grape Crush and Be Mine and then a 

little bit of All that Jazz.  I just love these inks, the colors are

so vibrant and the names are so fun.

Then using those same inks colors I watercolored the vase and flowers,

The vase & flowers are a Gina K stamp I have had for a long time.
The sentiment is a Rubbernecker stamp, stamped in Grape Crush.

I embossed the yellow using a Darcie embossing folder.

Thank for stopping by to take a peek at my card.

Challenges entered:

Sketch Saturday - sketch ends 6/8

Aud Sentiments - Anything goes + a sentiment - ends 6/18

Crafting with Attitude - Anything goes - ends 6/24

Creative Knockouts - Anything goes - ends 6/23

Kokopelli - Have a Great Day

Hi, back to share another card with you.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

For this card I followed the sketch this week over at

The House that Stamps Built.


Here is the sketch.

I live in the desert in Arizona so I love all the southwestern things, when
I saw this stamp from Repeat Impressions I just had to get it.

I colored it with my Poloychromo pencils and mounted it on a distressed piece of paper.  I embossed the side panel with a southwestern embossing folder
then a simple square embossing paper on the back.
To the corners I used my Nuvo drops to had some copper dots.

So that is it, I hope you like my card and thanks so much for stopping by.

(CAS)E this Sketch

I play along this week at the

(CAS)E sketch challenge, I love CAS or clean and simple

but I often have a hard time with them. 

So I made this card following this sketch.

So out of my comfort zone but I am pleased with how it turned out.

I wanted to use the latest 4 Catherine Pooler inks that

just came out.  A couple of them actually came on in a previous

Stamp of Approval box, but they were just added to the store. 

I wish the colors would show up better in the picture.

The bottom circle are stamped in Grape Crush, the dots above it

in Limoncello and Be Mine.  The dotted line was stamping

using All Tha Jazz.  I love CP inks they are so vibrant and stamp perfectly. 

Maybe I can get more comfortable doing CAS cards if I practice them and make some more.

Watercolor Background

Hi, woohoo posting 2 days in a row.

I love creating a card following a sketch and recently I ran across another

challenge that has a weekly sketch challenge it is

called Paper Craft Crew.

Here is the sketch for this week.

I was drawn to the watercolor look of the yellow in the background
so I got out my Catherine Pooler inks and went to work.

I used 2 of the colors from the Spa Collection for the watercolor look,
Stone Blur and Rose Petals.  Then for the strip across I cut out
a piece of paper using one of the new CP border dies that came in the
lasted SOA box.  Then I colored it using Daydream ink.
The butterfly is a Close to my Heart Stamp, that I stamped in
Stone Blue then with an aqua brush I filled in the pink area with
the Rose Petals ink.  To finish it off I added a couple
flower buttons.

Challenges entered:

Paper Craft Crew  sketch - ends 5/29

Clean and Simple - CAS card - ends 5/29

QKR Stampede  - Anything goes - ends 5/31