CREATIVE MONDAY - SACs Challenges

 Good morning!

Slow moving this morning but I did want to show you what I've been working on.

I've jumped back into the Spectrum Art Creations challenges in the Spectrum Art Creations Friends FB group. I love the products Madi gets in and the challenges she comes up with.

She started August with a new monthly challenge based on a prompt. At the beginning of the month she pulls a 'prompt stick' then we can interpret the prompt however we want. This month was Fairies.

I knew instantly I wanted to do a display of some sort then the project morphed from there.

I started with four things: a 4x6 easel board from $Tree, a Spectrum Art Creations original design postcard, Flower Fairy Diary stickers from Spectrum Art Creations, and a fairy light string that came in a Diverse Romance Writers conference swag box in July. The string has three settings - solid, slow bling and flashy blink. 

I positioned one small fairy nimph in the Y of the tree and an onery little girl fairy on the ground, looking up at him. Then I positioned the lights on the back of the postcard so some highlighted the jars, the pearl strings and behind the girl fairy. I anchored everything with strategically-placed spots of hot glue. 

I used glue dots double-layered around the edge and a couple in the darker spots of the postcard then placed on the easel.

the height of the legs on the easel bothered m so I had Bob cut them off level with the bottom of the flat part of the easel. Looked okay, but I felt the picture needed more so back to shopping for a round piece of wood, the grass, mushrooms, and pinecones. The wood base is actually a sign from $Tree that I flipped over so I had the flat back. Layered everything with the grass and embellishments for the forest floor leaving an opening in the center. I wanted to be able to pick up the easel and fold it flat for storage.

Oh.. I also had silk leaves in fall colors from $ Tree. I used a couple of small leaf dies from a Stampin' Up! set called Gorgeous Leaves and die cut them from the silk leaves to create a scattering/ pile of fall leaves. 

I'm really happy how this turned out.

The other challenge I took part in for August was SHAKERS.  We were to purchase our choice of shaker bits and incorporate them in anything of our choosing. I ordered three different sets of the shakers and used one of the sets in this card:

I used the Marianne's Designs ROMANCE shakables. I knew the pink hearts in the collection were perfect for a Pink Ribbon card and also matched the Polished Pink cardstock from Stampin' Up! The die cut is from the Support Ribbon from Stampin' Up! and a sentiment from my stash.

The deadine for August challenges is today and I have a couple more shaker cards planned. You'll see them in future posts.

I won't be doing a Tag Tuesday post tomorrow as I'll be finishing up the challenges, though there could be a showing of what I make today.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

MAKE IT- MAIL IT MONDAY! Plus Bonus items!

 Hi everyone!

I finally got to spend all day yesterday creating! Felt good to play with stuff again.

I took part in the TEA CHALLENGE in the Spectrum Art Creations FB group. Did you know, January is National Tea Month?  

I chose mostly items from Stamperia to work with, predominately from their Alice line.

I rice paper sheet with four teapots from the Alice collection started it all... so I made 4 different items. Each piece enters me into a drawing for a $5 GC from the Spectrum Art Creations on-line store.

We were required to use a minimum of three items on each piece we made.

Since this is Make It - Mail It Monday, let's start with the card I made for a friend:

I used a Merry Merlot card base with a Very Vanilla mat (Stampin' Up!) then used one of the rice paper panels on top of the mat.  Aside from the rice paper, I used chip board elements from the Stamperia Alice collection and Stamperia lace.

Next item:

I've been making items during challenges and tucking them away for a future Alice journal.

This one used all Stamperia items (background paper, rice image, chipboard elements( plus I added a metal spoon I'd purchased from Spectrum Art Creations (SACs for short). The lace and ribbon were from my stash.

Next item:

I'll try to incorporate at least one memory dex card from each themed challenge, or at least one per month.

Thie background paper on here was from Ciao Bella. The rice paper and chip board items were Stamperia and the brown braid trim from the SACs on-line store. You will find the trim HERE in a wife variety of colors. I have most of them LOL

Next item:

For my final tag, I knew I wanted to incorporate a shaker element:

I used Stamperia paper for the background and the front rim of the shaker. I used trim and the metal spoon from Spectrum Art Creations. For the shaker part, I used snowball micro beads from Stampin' Up!  Guess you could say I made Bubble Tea ;-)

There's one more item not part of the Tea Challenge, but separate.

Madison owns Spectrum Art Creations. She is on the autism spectrum. Such a delight, very talented and smart. Wow, what a memory that girl has. Every once in awhile she will drop something in our shipping box for a 'Madison Challenge'. This time she gave us circles. I think there were five in the baggie.

At first I thought about a mixed media piece but then I remembered my craft Christmas tree. Most of the ornaments are from the Christmas Notebook ornament swap going back twenty years. I decided I wanted an ornament from Madison. She is sending me a copy of her handwriting. I will shrink tht and add it to one of the leaves of the ornament. Madison will always have a place of honor on my crafting tree.

That's it for me today. My left eye is giving me issues. May have gotten some cat dander in it. 

I'll be back Wednesday for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday and show off my new cat.

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Challenge Pieces

 Good morning, friends!

I'm getting ready to head out to the garden but wanted to get this post up.

I completed a couple of challenges last week so thought I'd show you what I've been making. I'll drop in the video at the end that talks about them a bit more.

For Cara Brandon's May Mini's I got all three challenges done. We were to do ATC coins, Page Tabs and Specimen slides. My page tabs and slides will work beautifully with my June journal challenge.

And here's the video:

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

GERMAN SCRAP CHALLENGE - Photo Heavy

 Hi everyone!

I do apologize for not getting the Card Chicks card up last week as planned. After Bob left, I pretty much just dosed up with Nyquil and slept most of the next two days. By the time I felt better I had to start busting out a challenge I signed up for with Spectrum Art Creations. You'll be seeing me playing with more of things I've purchased from them in the coming weeks/ months as I turn my attention away from strictly Stampin' Up!

If I learned anything from this challenge, it was that I am so much more inspired when I can play with the toys I WANT to play with rather than the ones I HAVE to play with. My Stampin' Up! business isn't going anywhere so it's time I started enjoying the creative process again.

So what is German Scrap?

Scraps are small paper images printed lithographically. They have been produced in America, Germany, Scandinavia and more recently England. The German printers were the finest and most prolific producers of scraps in Europe - queensferry-at-war

Here is the sheet I had to work with:

For the challenge we were to incorporate the images into 5 different items. The 5 items counted as 1 entry for a chance at gift cards to Spectrum Art Creations store.  I'll be doing a video for Friday but for now, here are pictures of the items I made with a bit of description:

Inspired by vintage photo albums. The cover is 2 layers of Warm n Natural quilt batting on chip board then covered in an olive green velveteen. 

The doily is a  coaster crocheted by my late eldest sister many years ago. We never use the placemats/ coasters anymore so I've decided to incorporate them into keepsakes. The corners are Tim Holtz.

Inside of the album. This is one of five photo pockets I made. Each pocket holds 2 'photos' back to back.

The pockets were made from coffee-dyed Crumb Cake cardstock. I used a retired SU set - Very Vintage to stamp part of a doily beneath the banner (a Darice die) as well as the florals in Tip Top Taupe.

The photo mats were Very Vanilla cardstock lightly coffee dyed.

The images in the album are all Tim Holtz paperdolls

This piece is dedicated to my eldest sister - Barbara.

She loved roses and a true cowboy pistol she'd purchased a few months prior to her death.

I've been wanting to make an altered paint brush for about three years. This challenge was the perfect opportunity to step out of my comfort zone. 

I started with two coats of gesso then added a couple coats on the front of Tapioca acrylic paint.

You can see half of one of the coasters and I've done a pearl trim wrap.

For the floral, I chose the basket arrangement, photocopied the image five times in black n white onto cardstock then layered them up to create a 'chipboard' effect - this added dimension to the piece.

The pistols are a charm from CHARM ME that I purchased at Hobby Lobby.

This is a TAG BOOK

inspired by Jennifer Tritle. Her tag books are showcased in the April/ May/ June issue of 

Art Journal magazine by Stampington

You'll find her article beginning on page 48.  She was inspired by 

Jessica Rosengren (Jesson Art on YouTube)

While Terri was here, one of the things she brought me were several unused time cards. The were 14" long. I knew I wanted to use them as the base for the tag journal. Then following Jesson Art's tutorial, I got brave and played with layers, using gesson, Shimmering Embossing Paste (Stampin' Up!) and Pigment Sprinkles (retired SU). I used the Tim Holtz rose doily stencil. The ribbon is Stampin' Up, the lace and pearls from Hobby Lobby. 

This is a Gildan white t-shirt. 

I applied the German Scrap with Fabric Mod Podge, making the t-shirt washable. I added half of a coaster trimmed in what I call Barbara Pink ribbon (Stampin' Up!) Barbara always wore a beautiful bright pink nail polish.  The neckline is a loose wrap of the pearls and ribbon tacked into place. 

The last Sunday of each month we play TRINGO Live on YouTube to celebrate that month's birthdays. Anyone can join us!

We call it Tringo because it's a mix of Bingo interspersed with Trivia with Madison.

One of our regular members has a box she keeps her bingo card/ markers in. She inspired me to create a Bingo Box of my own. 

The box is made from 2 canvas frames ($ Tree), decopaged with coffee-dyed music paper. I distressed each torn piece of the music paper with Tip Top Taupe (retired SU). I took a bingo card I had in my game elements stash and shrunk it to 75%, layered it on a piece of thick chipboard to add dimension, then placed one of the German Scrap items on top. 

You can see other German Scrap elements decorating the corners. I applied them to all 4 corners with the box shut. When the glue had dried, I slit them with the Xacto knife so the box would open again but they'd look like one piece when closed. I use 2 vintage bingo markers stacked together to for the feet for the box.

BINGO is spelled out by cutting 7 layers of each letter out of cardstock (using Sizzix adhesive sheets) then adhering them together to create thick chipboard letters. The top layer is gold foil.

I lined the inside of the lid and bottom with chipboard covered in Garden Lane (retired SU)

I created a bingo card from the one Madi has for me. The squares are 1" then I stamped the numbers/ letters using Garden Green and retired SU stamp set - one of the first things I ever earned with Host Credits years ago. 

I'm using flat-backed glass marbles from $Tree. There re 5 clear ones to use for Wild numbers so I can see what's below them, a dark blue to cover the free spot and green for the rest of my markers. 

I'm exhausted but it was so much fun playing with lots of different mediums and stepping out of my comfort zone to try new things. 

What have you been wanting to try? Take the plunge and have FUN!

I'm off the rest of this week but should be back on track Monday. Thank you for your patience.

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Coffee & Avocados

 

Good afternoon, everyone!

I've been a bit busy today. I started dying papers - first avocado then coffee - at 4:30 this morning. I pulled the last tray out of the oven at 3 p.m. 

The stack in the top left isn't part of the process... those are book pages I'll be using for another challenge on Youtube.

The paper dying started as a result of the video below. I saw the hashtag #cwplanner and zoomed in like a bird on prey LOL. 

I didn't get her pre-printed planner but I did go to her ETSY shop and purchased the downloads. Looking at them, I knew I wanted to do them on coffee-dyed papers. So there you have my project today.

I've also posted my Creativity Planner recap for February. Here's the video for that one if you are interested in my progress:

I will be back tomorrow with a Color Challenge card. Those posts will run in the afternoon as they do not post the challenge until Tuesday mornings. 

Creative Blessings!

~ Kelly

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - So Many Projects

Good morning, everyone!

Wow, this has been a busy weekend in the craft room and I'm no where near finished with projects. Today is all abut quick picks of what I'm working on.

First, the BONUS challenge at Dearjuliejulie as part of the MAIN challenge was to create one or more journals from a single 12x12, 8x8 or 6x6 paper pad.

I've had the signatures in for several days but I spent the weekend adding tags, distressing... and now I find I want to add buttons - a tactile element so I need to finish that today. Deadline is tomorrow.

I chose this pad from Prima called PRINTERY. I loved the mix of cream/ white/ black and the overall elements. There were three sheets of each design. I did wind up breaking into a second pad (one of the few I had a duplicate of!) to finish tag bases. You'll see all the details in a video flip-through on Friday. I brought in Cherry Cobbler and Basic Black cardstock for accents and used file folder tag bases from my stash.

This is the front with the lace tie in place. I'm still planning to add buttons to the top right corner.

Next, there's the sewing journal I still need to DO by midnight tomorrow. I haven't started yet because I kept going back and forth on what I actually wanted to use for the main challenge.

I finally settled on the remains of a paper pack from Stampin' Up! called Suite Stitches.  This paper came out in the Occasions catalog in 2011. Since I have very few pages left, I've pulled from other paper pads in my stash to coordinate:

Working through the Bonus mini, I found a process that works for me so I'm hoping this March journal comes together quickly.

Finally, I am still working on the March challenge for April at Pink Odd Bird. I have all the elements together, just need to fine-tune and put stuff together. Hoping to have this one finished by the weekend. The plus side is that we don't have to have this one FINISHED in March so I can stretch just a bit.

Here are the four signatures. All the items are in order of how I want them within each signature. I just need to stitch around the large business envelopes, which will also secure corner tucks into place. I hope to run this video on Friday.  A note about that later.

Here are the tags for all of the pockets/ tucks. The great big tags in the background will go in the large business- sized privacy envelopes. TONS of journaling space. The purple tags will go in the medium tucks then I have the smaller tags to go in the tea bag pockets and other small places. 

My smart and creative husband suggested I stamp on the tags so that's what I did while moderating Dearjuliejulie's Beginner Journaling class last week. 

You can watch the video series beginning HERE   If you join her Scrap All About It with Dearjuliejulie Facebook group, she has given participants a 23 digi file to use in the class or you can just create from what you have.  I plan to use her digital kit for this class soon. Probably not until June after Book 2 - An Ozarks Sodliers' Homecoming is released.

Finally, April is my  month to host the Card Chicks group. I have my kit almost ready to mail. I just need to finish stamping images and make the envelopes to pop everything in to.  I chose a stamp/ embossing set from the January 2018 or 2019 issue of Cardmaking & Papercraft magazine.

Look for pics of my complete kit and cards around the 21st of April when we can post them to the group on Splitcoast Stampers.

A NOTE REGARDING VIDEOS

My internet has gotten increasingly slow. Uploading videos takes forever. I don't know when this will return to some sort of normal. I'll be keeping a closer eye on my data beginning in April and hope that things improve. My data allowance rolls over on the 5th of each month. 

Until this is remedied, any videos I upload will be very brief and only if I can get them uploaded before 8 a.m. when I have my 'free' window. 

We are on the final 2 days of National Craft Month.. let's send it off with TONS of CREATIVITY!

Creative Blessings!

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Video Flip Through

You would thing being up at 2 a.m., I would remember to upload a video. Well.. Not so much.

I talked to Bob on the phone for an hour since he was nearing the end of his shift and had some down time. I worked on cutting the papers down for my signatures for the main journal for the January Just Junk Journal Challenge #2 and put my Stampin' Up! paper order away - finally.

The video will go up tomorrow since I have to do that between 2 a.m. & 6 a.m. for faster speed. Go figure! LOL

In the mean time, here are pics of the items for Mini Challenges in the Challenge #1, #2, #3 & #4


#1
Use:
    A napkin
    A stamp or stencil
    Junk from our kit
    Garment

I didn't get this one done on time because I didn't have any garment I was planning to get rid of! Where was this challenge last spring when I took 4 bags of clothes to the thrift store?  Bob donated a pair of his jeans the week after the challenge.
I also failed to stamp or stencil on these items. Since I didn't meet the challenge deadline anyway, I'm not going to worry about it. I like them the way they are. The bottom left has a pocket.. edged with the denim and the one on the right is a flip out made form Stampin' Up! bling packaging.

#2
Make a mini journal.
Use:
     7 envelopes
     3 cards
     1 digital sheet
     1 full sheet and 1 scrap of scrapbook paper
     Binding kit.

This is the cover. I used a packet of square envelopes/ cards. I don't know why I had them. They are too expensive to mail here in the USA. Good use for them. The scrapbook paper is from SU - Share What You Love and the digital page is from Dearjuliejulie - Tiny Houses in her etsy shop.

We were only to make the mini journal and the cover. I was decorating the whole thing! So I have a second one to add to my big journal after the challenge is complete.

#3

Decorating the mini.

Make:

    1 Guest check

    2 Tags

    3 Pges in the Journal

    4 Journaling Cards

    2 flat Paper Clips

Each of those items must include:

    digi or magazine image

    washi tape

    Any item from #2 mini challenge kit

    Any item from main challenge list

Rogue items:

   3 punches

   2 doilies

  10 bling 

   7 stickers

   fingernail polish or stickles (1)

I chose not to use bling on my items but since they were rogue, they weren't mandatory.

The very top and the bottom right are journaling cards turned into flips. The 2 paper clips are on the top row, tags and guest check in the center.  Again, I used Tiny Houses. The journaling card bases were from The Paper Studio

From the left over pieces of scrapbooking papers I used the Blossom Builder punch from Stampin' Up!

#4

Stack A Sticker:

Ues:

    1 sheet of sticker labels for bases

    music sheet

    digital image

    Bling or puffy - can use up to 10

My sticker sheet came from $Tree and had 3 labels per sheet. I used tea-dyed music paper, Tiny Houses digi and the puffy stickers from Stampin' Up! 

I'll get the video uploaded in the morning and post it below.

Next Monday there will be a flip through of the compelted January Just Junk Journal Challenge 2 plus I'll tell you what the criteria is for the February challenge.

Creative Blessings!

WOYWW 475

Good morning, friends. 

Another hot day in the Ozarks is on tap for today. I really need to do some more yard work but that might have to wait... again.

My desk is the leftovers from a Christmas card I made for the SU blog yesterday. You can see it HERE if you'd like to peek. Not  my best work but limited on current Christmas until my order arrives today.  The card was for our Team Color Challenge. I need to get link up with my team leader today. Deadline is tomorrow. LOL

Also, for my mixed media friends, instead of cleaning my desk, I did a serious cleaning of my art area. You can see that post from yesterday HERE.

I have today's card to get up and will be linking up with the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. I got home too late last night to get the card made so that's next on my list. Good thing is, once I get something in my head the reality comes together pretty quick. I'll be using the Snowflake Sentiments set already on the desk. 

Speaking of challenges. This is VSN - Virtual Stamp Night weekend at Splitcoast Stampers. We start at 6 p.m. CST (?) on Friday night with 4 challenges posted - one each hour. Then we'll kick in again around 11 a.m. CST (?) on Saturday and go through til 9 p.m. with a new challenge posted each hour. We'd love to have you join us. HERE's a link to all the details. Sharon aka FoxyStamping is usually one of the challenge hosts. I'm determined to play this weekend.

That said.. if you want verification as to what a crazy woman I am, I invite you to check out THIS post on my author blog to see what I'm up to the next 8 weeks. Bizarre doesn't begin to describe what I have on my plate.  Don't let the content warning on the first page scare you. Unless you go back a couple of years, there isn't' anything risque. That is partially up there as a safeguard to parents against young people looking up 'romance' hehe. 

Okay.. done babbling. 

That's it for my desk this week. Who's Miss Julia and why am I here?  When you are done visiting me in the Ozarks, please hop on over to Stamping Ground  for all the details. Miss Julia has a long list of other studios you can peek into. No standing on an up-turned milk pail to look in the window. We open the doors wide and welcome you.  Please leave your number and you'll be among the first on my list. 

Creative Blessings!

~Kelly

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY - Cards Galore!

Okay... first off, I didn't think there would be a post this week. Well as you can see... LOL
Second, I plan to use this for my Document Life Project and I had hoped to play with that tonight. While traveling this weekend I bought a LOT of Washi Tape. However, I can better work with the yummy new toys - IF I hadn't left it at my sister-in-law's in Oklahoma LOL We were about 45 miles out when she called to say I'd forgotten something. Depending on how long it takes for her to drop those in the mail to me....

I also forgot the DCWV Vintage slab I bought to use but we're going to the city this week and I can pick up another one ;-)

In the mean time, while at my SIL's this weekend, we played with the challenges at Virtual Stamp Night (VSN) on Splitcoast Stamper (SCS). If you are not familiar with VSN, they do this big gathering on-line once a quarter (I think that's about right). Each quarter has a theme and there are 12 hostesses. Each hostess is assigned an hour when she will post her challenge for us to do. They may choose a color scheme, a technique, theme that coordinates with the big over-all theme. This month it was Weather Or Not - so all the challenges had something to do with weather.

Here are the 11 (I forgot to do the last challenge hehe) cards I made with a subtitle. Clicking on the picture will give you a larger view.

Use a world globe or a snow globe & Lots of Green

Love the snow globe set from SU (retired).

1 leaf or many leaves - just no fall colors

I used versa mark to repeat the leaf pattern on the background

In like a Lion with clouds or scene.

This lion is from a color page. Great place to get digi images!

Tone on Tone. Only color allowed was in the sentiment

Think Song Lyrics. 

Mine is a combination of Singing in the Rain and You Are My Sunshine

Gray tones with only 1 pop of color.

Baked Brown Sugar is my favorite new 'bear' color!

A Little Negative

I used Gelatos to color the background

Used the negative spaces from other punched out items

Weather Symbols. 

I used the Warm Front symbol

The world map background is for my husband who is my whole world

the symbol for he warms my heart (I know, corny hehe)

Sunburts. First time doing this technique

Already envisioning other colors to use

The paper and the bottle cap image are from the Vintage DCWV slab

Blowing in the wind

Blowing ink with a straw on glossy paper

Use an umbrella or parasol and make it CASable

This paper is from DCWV Four Seasons slab

The border trim is printed on the paper. 

Felt good to play with things. Amazingly, except for the slab and the twine I had packed almost everything I needed. Only used 3 or 4 items from Rhonda's stash!

TEAPOT TUESDAY - Kendra & Elke

This week we do something a little different - we are showering not one recipient but two with love and support.

Elke and Kendra are best friends. They work together, take their dogs to the park together and even sneak out for Pepsi and salted chips together. When Elke was diagnosed with breast cancer, Kendra was right there, lifting her up. After Elke's surgery, Kendra found a lump of her own.

So this week we honor both of these strong women with anything pink, dogs, friends and bosom buddies.
I had one plan in mind. You know the 2 pieces of the heart... one says best and the other friends. Well, while searching through my stamps for a heart to use, I came across this cute little puppy in a wheel barrow and had to use him. Who knows.. I might RAK these girls later when I can play more.

The sentiment on the outside says 'Nothing is worth more than this day.' ~ Goethe 

Inside I've stamped the sentiment... 'Of all possessions, a friend is the most precious'

I want to get involved in challenges again this year so I've started by returning to my old StampToSpend group on SCS. Ina's first challenge of the year was to reach back in our stash and use paper from 'way back when'. I found this 8.5x11 sheet in the file box. The paper is from 1996 - Hot off the Press - Muted Roses.

RECIPE:

Base and small mats - Pink Pirouette (SU)

Paper: Muted Roses (Hot off the Press)

Images on front - Summer Afternoon (SU)

Ink: Memento Black and edged the white mats with Regal Rose (SU)

Rose & Pearls: Recollections

Misc. ribbon

CHALLENGES:

MMTPT284

STS14A

WONDERING BLOG - DCWV Challenge

I LOVE DP! Some of my favorite DP slabs come from Die Cuts With A View. So when I found their blog I was thrilled to bits of paper.

Every month, DCWV Diary  have a layout challenge. Usually there is one for Scrapbook and one for a Card. Although I've not had the opportunity to play yet, I try to remember to check them out every month for layout ideas.

This month's scrapbook challenge, as you'll see when you follow the link in the above paragraph, uses things in sets of two. They have used Valerie Salmon sketches before. She is so creative.

2 TAGS
2 PHOTOS
2 STRIPS

The card is all about Pennant BANNERS as your focal point.

I can't wait to play with these but it will be at least another week before I have things back in place and can play again.

In the mean time, hop on over to the DCWV Diary blog and see what you can come up with!

Creative Blessings
Kelly

Magazine Monday Returns!

Yep, although it is late afternoon I do have a card for this week. As I told you a few weeks back, I'd selected several 'inspiration' items from the 2005 Take Ten by Stampington. This week I combined MM with my SCS August Challenge envelope from Shell.

Shell's items for us to play with were some stamped images from Clear Dollar Stamps, a couple of mats of DCWV Blossoms and Butterflies paper and embellishments. I decided to get ahead of the game and get my daughter's birthday card done ahead of time. Sometimes I manage this better than others.

My inspiration card is by Jenn Mason. Her concept was Gifting in Ten Minutes... cards that include either a handmade postcard or a gift card. I'll be including a Starbucks GC in my daughter's. Although she isn't a big fan of pink, the color lent itself to the paper I had to work with. She'll live through one year. With a new baby girl due in just 4 weeks, it's not the only pink she's seeing these days.

You'll find a link to Jenn's website HERE and a link to her BLOG For Birthday Kitty, she used a beautiful image of a cat with a birthday hat from Lost Coast Designs stamped to the far right of a tri-fold card. She also used ribbon/ bow to attach the mat on the front of the card bearing the sentiment. I went girly and simplistic with mine. With my daughter, the less froo froo the better.

Because I know this is not a 'keeper' card, I used ValuCS in Baby pink to go with the DCWV DP.

I cut the 2 scoops of ice cream apart and popped the caramel scoop with 1 pop dot and the cherry with 2 pop dots. I also added red stickles to the cherry.

The grandtoddler is here this week so I don't see a lot of stamping going on. Well - except for her. She picked out 3 of her own stamps at Michaels yesterday and was stamping with Grandpa before bedtime... and again right after breakfast this morning.

Creative Blessings

TeaPot Tuesday!

Yep, I'm finally getting in here with a TeaPot Tuesday Challenge post. I'm not sure if I'll get to post the actual picture of my card today. Depends on whether I can get it done to upload before storms take over my day. They say we're in for severe weather. I'm hoping it holds off til this afternoon. So I'm posting a picture of one using the same stamp I'll be using for this challenge.

The concept behind TeaPot Tuesday started at SplitcoastStampers using a teapot as the inspiration for your card. The hostess has sinc

e exhausted her personal collection of 100 tea pots and now searches on-line for teapots to share with us.

When we're not using tea pots for our inspiration, we are directed to make/ share a card with someone who could use some cheering up. A Random Act of Kindness (RAK), if you will.

This week's card is for a 'young' woman by the name of Kay in Canada. Kay is 91 years old and has had some challenges since breaking her elbow back in February. At first they didn't want to operate because of her age but have since done the surgery and she's healing fine. She also suffers from Vertigo and has been in the hosp

ital the entire time because she lives alone and wouldn't be able to do for herself with only one hand... things like use her walker to get around. They were discussing assisted living but that too has changed and she'll be going home in the next day or two with a visiting care assistant. Yeah! She must be thrilled. From what I read she's very independent. LOL

Kay loves cards and those cute little funny animal forwards. One of the things she's missed most in the hospital is her computer. She's been active on the net for a couple of years. She loves her email and computer games. Sounds like my grammy (stepmom). Like most women, Kay loves flowers so I'm going to make a card similar to this one:

I don't know the name of the stamp company. I bought the stamp from a LSS going out of business. I like to stamp the image as is, then stamp another image to cut apart and paper piece in to give the dimensional effect of stepping out of my garden shed and into my garden. May my garden truly look like this someday.

I hope Kay enjoys it.

Tomorrow, I'll finally be posting pics of my new kitchen curtains for Needlework Wednesday.

Creative Blessings!

Magazine Monday - on Tuesday

Good morning friends.

I'm sorry I didn't get this posted yesterday. I spent the entire day in a funk. I thought it was because I'd gone back to bed at 5 a.m. and not gotten back up til 10. Going back to bed in the mornings will give me that 'drugged' feeling so I try not to do it. I found out later, it was probably had more to do with a soul visit from a dear friend.

A couple months ago I posted an eagle 'get well' card that I'd made for my friend, Wally Bailey. I've known Wally, his wife Sonja and their families (both immediate and extended) for over 20 years. Yesterday we all had to say goodbye to the husband, father, grandfather, our friend. It's a difficult time and my heart aches for them. The only thing I know to do from this distance is to offer up prayers of healing and to pour my feelings into my art.

We had been told on Friday it was about making Wally comfortable. So the first card I made yesterday morning was a sympathy card I knew I'd need. I just didn't realize how soon.

The card was inspired by the March Card Kit Swap Soni and I both belong to on Splitcoaststampers. The Kit Hostess for March 2011 was Dody and she sent a great envelope of things to play with. I came up with 7 cards mixing and matching Dody's items with my own images and paper scraps.

The design idea came from the April 2003 issue of Crafts n Things Magazine and artist Melanie Douthit. She is a talented freelance artist who morphed into using scrapbook supplies in her art. I hope you'll take a few moments to click on her name - linked to her blog.

Here is the sketch from the inspiration:

And here's what I came up with from Dody's kit. This is the only card of the seven I didn't add anything to except Wild Wasabi card stock to accent the yellow and the scalloped circle Dody included.

I'm going to miss Wally. All of us who knew him, will. But it seems appropriate the items to make this card came from within Soni's circle of card artists to send her comfort and love.

Magazine Monday...

... with a twist.

First off, I apologize for not posting last week. The week passed in a blur of trying to get the attention of a literary agent and making my house presentable for weekend company. Oh yeah, and hubby came home on Wednesday after being gone on the boat for 3 weeks. I didn't tend to any business at all last week.

Today's Magazine Monday isn't from a magazine layout. A couple weeks ago I took part in Virtual Stamp Night (VSN) at SplitcoastStampers (SCS). I had a blast! Over the course of the two days, I completed all 17 challenges based on the theme You Make My Heart Sing. Seventeen Hostesses took a turn at offering up a challenge based on the theme. I had a couple of favorites.

The first challenge asked us to create a card based on the layout of the 4 champers of the heart. For some reason, my mind went directly to Easter LOL. I made this card for the challenge and liked how it turned out so much I made 20 more for a Easter card front challenge for Ronald McDonald House.

I used a combination of Studio G stamps (carrot and sentiment) and the bunny/ basket from Hello Spring (Retired SU) I'm still trying to use up as much of my Valu CS as I can so I eventually work exclusively with SU. The cardstock was from the ValuCS Garden collection. I added texture with the CuddleBug Dotted Swiss folder.

But one card really surprised me. I was challenged to use a technique I'd never done before (well, not on CS anyway) and to make it for a guy. The Soot Technique required using a candle flame to burn off the glossy finish on Glossy Cardstock to give you a black/ sooty effect to dry-stamp into. I knew I had to use the STAG from Noble Deer (Retired SU) The scorched edges were an accident but wound up adding to the overall effect.

This card was chosen for the Honors Award! I was soooo surprised. One card is chosen from each challenge for the award. I didn't even knew there was such a category! LOL I think what surprises me most is that it was on a technique I'd never done before.

This technique reminded me of the old burnt paper bag technique I learned years ago from Aleene's Crafts.

Because my three-year-old granddaughter is here for two weeks, instead of a magazine layout next week, I'll showcase a couple more cards from VSN.

Creative Blessings!