Wednesday blah!

No catchy title today.  It's Wednesday and I am either suffering from allergies or a cold that is really bothersome!  I have super big plans this weekend so I tried the Ziacam for a  cold, antihistamine for  allergies, breath right strips to help with sleeping, nasal decongestant to help with stuffy nose, and lots of soft tissues to prevent a chaffed nose.   I thinking the dripping is the worst part while at work, I am sniffling, sneezing, coughing, and generally tired.  Hoping it passes soon.

Today's projects feature LOTV digi stamps who is sponsoring Crafty Creations this week.

First up is my card made with Teresa Collins papers.  It's the front and back of the papers combined to make the panel and then I matted the image on a dark grey cardstock with the apron punch border.  I added a sheer black ribbon and button to embellish.  The sentiment is SP & Co. Bold Sentiments I in black ink.

with the left over pieces I created this tag:

I did add a polka dot ribbon and small piece of lace for embellishing. 

I wanted to try and get in the Halloween spirit, hence the colors.  I don't use orange too often so it was fun to play with Copics on these. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Challenges I would like to enter these into:

Crafty Boots: #2 Things with Wings

Creative Stamp Friends: #34 Anything but a card (tag)

Creatalicous Challenge: #26  Anything Goes

Digital Tuesday: #129 People

Flutterby Wednesdays: #172 Anything with wings

Going Grey with Scrap-Creations: Anything Goes

Lexi's Creations: #49 Card for Child

Lollipop Crafts: #49 Anything but a card (tag)

Quirky Crafts: #19 Anything but a card (tag)

Sketchy Colors: #85 white, black, and orange

Wednesday Thoughts

Hey there! It's Wednesday and I have a few items to share today.  We are experiencing absolutely beautiful weather here in Virginia.  I would say well deserved after an earthquake and tropical storm in one week.  My favorite part of the week thus far has been driving to work while listening to Cowboy Mouth as loud as I want with the windows down.  Instant dryer for my hair!  :-)

Here's a card made for Penny's latest challenge which is based on this photo.  That's Glitterbabe's, Cloumbian Daisy digi image you see floating atop the bright papers.  I used more of that great Cooredination's cardstock I mentioned earlier this week.  I distressed the edges to give a softer appeal with a nail file.  The pattern papers are Lush(polka dot) and TPC (Boho Blooms).  I adore my SP& Company bold sentiment set as you can tell because I used it again for this card today.  :-)

Challenges I would like to enter this card into:
Bearly Mine: #18 Flowers, flowers, flowers
Creative Card Crew: Anything Goes
Daisy Doodles Creative Challenges: #41 Anything Goes
Heart Song Inspirations: #13 Anything Goes
Paper Creations Ink:#7  Show Us Your flowers

I was in a envelope swap recently hosted by Teresa and my partner, Shawn, sent me these items:

For this swap you send 1 partner a regular size (3 5/8 x 6 1/2 white) mailing envelope filled with mystery items!

And with the contents of the envelope you receive from your swap partner, you must incorporate that into making a project!
Think ATC-Tag-Bookmark-Postcard,Alter a Mini Book,Journal Page etc.

Thank you Shawn for a great variety of items!  Here's  a card I made for this week's Crafty Creations using three or ore punches/die cuts:

and a tag:

This swap was a lot of fun! 

Challenges I would like to enter my tag in:
Creative Craft Challenges: Just Charming
Crop Stop: #34 Anything Goes

Okay, off to work I go!  Have a great day! 

Quit Your Whinin'

Hey there everyone.   The girls and I made it back home late yesterday after the earthquake struck in our area.  Such a rare occurrence here in the DC area and it shook up a lot of people.  Last night we had an aftershock of 3.8 which was considerably less than the original.  Is anyone else just as terrified of all these natural disasters happening?  Irene is picking up strength and is expected to be our in area by Sunday but thousands are  being evacuated along the coast.   I am saying a prayer that this hurricane turns out to sea and only brings us rain.  Please bring us something good.  I read a comment online from a man who asked what's next?  Locusts?  It certainly seems fitting. 
My Crafty Creations  card for today:

When I was growing up, my father used to say," Quit your whinin' or I'll give you something to whine about."  I am LOL thinking about this but at the time it was not appreciated at all.  Now, this little fella looks like he would cause you to have a bigger concern if you don't stop the whinin'  He's from Digis with Attitude.    I choose to keep him nice and orange.  I guess he's not a Maryland blue crab.  Since I just came from South Carolina, it seems more fitting.  I didn't eat one crab while there.  I used to love to pick crabs but now the work is too tedious.  I know, lazy huh? 

I used Sassafrass and Echo Park papers.  The bingo and grid is Sass.  The polka dots are EP.  I punched a black scallop border with my EK Success punch and embellished with a few buttons.  The rub-on is Wordsmith.  I love those and I can't find them anywhere now.  I bought them, are you ready? when Recollections was a store.  Yep.  They had a really great selection.  It was a sad day when they closed.  Please come and join us for the challenge!

Challenges for this card:

Card Patterns: #129  Sketch

Cards for Men: #17 Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion: #72 Snarky, Sarcastic, Funny Sentiments

Lollipop: #45 Make it Masculine

Top Tip Tuesday: Masculine Card

Thanks for looking!

*** My huge giveway is here!  ***

Wednesday Madness with a little faith

Wow!  I thought the last few weeks before school starts were going to be pretty relaxing but things are heating up!  I am going at full speed it seems and I am ready for a nap!  The best thing happened to me yesterday.  I had a doctor's appointment that was not the best because I have to go get some more tests completed before I elect to have the minor surgery I have put off for years.  So I decided to head to a nearby shopping center and take a gander at some new items to take my mind off the impeding doom I will face next week.  As I was walking up to the store, I saw a former student of mine with her mother.  It was  the greatest relief to see them and discover how things were going for them the last few months since school ended.  While talking with them, another student and his mother came out of the store so it was like a mini reunion!  What a blessing it was to me as I was feeling a bit sad.  I walked away thinking how quickly life changes and tickled that I was able to be a part off these people's lives.  What a glorious honor and the memories I have will always stay with me and keep me smiling.  It changed my whole outlook from doom and gloom to pure happiness.  As I type this, I am smiling because I do believe it was God's way of showing me everything will be alright.
Now let's head full speed into today's card! 
This week, DD's friend is turning 15.  She loves animals so I made this cute little card for her to celebrate her special day. 

My daughter really enjoys hanging out with her which is saying a lot since she is Autistic.  Her friend is also on the spectrum and she enjoys getting together with Jacquelynn to see plays, musicals, movies, eat dinner, etc.  I was so worried she would never reach this level of friendship.  In fact, next week I am taking both girls to the beach for a few days!  It's going to be such a hoot to see them together!  Another shining light I am so grateful for. 

This week Crafty Creations has a red, orange, and green theme.  Our sponsor, 2 Cute Rubber Stamps gave us images to create with I went for the rabbit because her friend loves to accessorize and she has a bow, flower, and heart.  I started by coloring her in with orange shades of copics and then hitting the bow, heart, and flower with reds.  I used warm greys to shade in the image, then cut out and placed on orange polka dot scrap paper with foam dots.  The papers are Imaginesce (red polka dot and floral), Sass Lass(green stripe), and October Afternoon (orange polka dot). I tied some orange twine around and tied with a button.  The sentiment is a SRM Sticker.  I keep forgetting I have these so when I pull them out, I go a little crazy using them.  It seems like my cards have all had a SRM Sticker on them lately.  More to come too!  :-) Hope you will join us for the challenge!

****Don't forget about my giveaway! You can read about it and enter here! ****

I would like to enter this card into these challenges:

4 Crafty Chicks: #50 Twine

Anything Goes: #47 Happy Birthday

Card Makin' Mama's: #26 Birthday Cards

CYDA: #26 Birthdays

Fabulous Friday: Animals

Try it on Tuesday: Anything Goes

Tuesday Throwdown: Non Stamped Sentiment (used sticker)

Thank you for stopping by!

Wednesday is golf day

Hey there!  Are you excited it's already Wednesday?  I sure am!  We are heading out of town for a short get away to Williamsburg which will be so nice.  I didn't want to go at first but now, I am ready to get there.  I love walking through the cobblestone streets and admiring  all the colonials.  I hope the heat will let up  but what will happen is not in my hands.  :-) What about you?  Any plans for the weekend?

I have a golf birthday card for today. My FIL plays golf every Wednesday.  This card is for his upcoming birthday.  I won't give away the age but I can say it's only a number to him.  Gotta love that!    Our theme at Crafty Creations is male birthday along with this sketch.  Our sponsor is Delicious Doodles. 
I think it's widely know my ability to create masculine cards is not the greatest.  In fact, it's down right pathetic.  I try and stick with muted earth tones, basic embellishments like brads, buttons, twine, and eyelets and little layering.  For this card, I knew I needed to keep it flat for mailing purposes. I added stitching which I think is fine for a masculine card.

I used more scraps :-) and then the golf ball & tee image which I cut out and added to the card.  I wanted to show you what I did to give the golf ball some dimension.

First I added white dots with my white Unibal pen.  Then I applied grey ink with an eyeshadow brush to give slight definition.  The last step was to add glossy accents for the dimples you would see on a golf ball.  I thought this turned out rather well  Better than I projected when I started.   That's a SRM sticker for the sentiment. 

****Don't forget about my giveaway! You can read about it and enter here! ****

Challenges I would like to enter my card into:
A Spoonful of Sugar: #162 Happy Birthday
Anything Goes: #47 Birthday
Birthday Sundaes: #21 Birthday
Card Makin' Mama's: #26 Birthday
Craft Your Days Away: #26 Birthday Celebrations
One Stitch at a Time: #64 Use digi
Tuesday Throwdown: #61 Birthday

Thank you for stopping by!

You're invited to a picnic!

Happy Wednesday!  I am back to share two cards today with you.  It's quite the pair. 
My first card is for Penny's newest challenge: watermelons in honor of national watermelon day. 

I used some MME papers(So Sophie) and g.c.d (Melody Ross) paired with this super adorable image from Digi My World. This is "Watermelon  Day Brittney" and she's ready to share some watermelon with you!  That's a SRM sticker I used with some rhinestones.  I brought this green seam binding back from Paris.  I love this color!  It makes perfect bows!  Sadly, it's already half gone.  :-( 

Challenges I would like to enter my card into:

Clear It Out: Use Old supplies and  Summer (button, sticker, and papers)

Crafts and Me: #46 Anything Goes

Creative Crafts Challenge: Summertime

Creative Inspirations: Summer

Divas by Design: #7 Summer

Going Grey with Scrap-creations: Buttons or  Bows

Tuesday Throwdown: #60 Summertime

My next card is for Crafty Creations Challenge this week which is by  invitation.  I made this card with Digi's with Attitude "Viagra Simon".  Ironically, my SO is named Simon.  Also his birthday is coming up and because he is older than me I like to tease him about being the oldest.  I know, it's not very nice of me.  I do it in a loving way.  Life's too short to be upset and uptight so I'd rather make a joke and smile about it.  Inside reads, "to old age!"

I made a pennant card for this.  Then lined with some older paper scraps from Sassafras Lass.  I cut a small piece of twill, stapled it down and then tied a button with brown baker's twine around it. That's a journaling spot from Elle's Studio.  A friend sent me the blue ticket and I just added another button.    I hope he smiles.  That's what I really want  for him to do when he sees it.  I think he will since he's clearly no where near this man's age and has all of his teeth.  Thankfully!  Also not a prune fan.   Challenges I would like to enter this card in:

Corrosive Challenge: #127 Manly

Crazy Amigos Challenge: Anything Goes

Digis with Attitude: #32 Anything Goes

Dutch Dare: #123 Birthday

For Fun Challenges: Anything Goes

Lexi's Creations: #45 Shaped card

Papertake Weekly: Anything goes with optional metal (used staples)

By the way!  This is my 500 post!  Yahoo!  I am going to take pictures of a give away I will post tomorrow! 

Christmas in July

Yep it's Christmas in July for me.  I am ready for it with the hot weather.  Only because my a/c units run non stop and my grass is crispy yellow.  It's almost like walking on a board of spikes.   I can't ever remember the water rotation for my area to water it.  It's nice to have hot weather sometimes but when it starts affecting my pocketbook (electricity & water) not so happy.  That's crafty supplies being sucked up for the cool air running on every level at my house and green dandelions.  Yeah, I admit it.  Not the green thumb here with the grass.  Simon could careless about it as well, so now it's two strikes against the poor vegetation.  I don't want to put the chemicals down on it to grow because it really needs to be completely re sodded which would be huge $$$$.  I would rather go to Europe for 16 days!  ;-)  LOL! 

I digress, my card for today feature's lots of Webster's Pages.  I took advantage of their warehouse sale a while back and was thrilled with my box!  I love the quality of their papers.  Does anyone else rub their fingers between a piece of paper?  Uh-oh.  I think I just admitted another quirky trait I have.  TMI?

This week at Crafty Creations we have a Christmas in July theme so break out all those holiday papers and take break from the heat if you live in the US. 
Challenges I would like to enter this card in:
Crafts and Me: #45 Ribbon
Craft Your Passion: #67 Christmas
Creative Belli: #122 Christmas in July plus old forgotten embellishments:rub-on and yellow stickles
Creative Inspirations: #65 Christmas in July
Papercraft Star: #55 Anything Goes
Paper Shelter: #24 Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by!  The give away will start next week.  Be sure to come back for it :-)

Seeing Double

We are seeing double at Crafty Creations this week.  I used a Hope Jacare  Doodle's image which I printed out micro small to print and then cut out to make this fun card to say Yippee! 

I used Sassafras Lass papers for the front panel and then added a strip of light blue card stock to highlight the images.  The rub-on is from American Crafts mini marks.  The tiny ric rac is Wright's.  I popped the images up with foam dots and added a touch of red stickles to the tiny stars inside. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Boyz to Men for Crafty Creations

Hey there!  Still in Europe but updating my blog with my design team challenges as I can.  I hope you are having a fabulous day. 

My card for Crafty Creations this week features a Lily of The Valley image.  I was ever so fortunate to receive this in the mail from a friend.  It's the sweetest little image entitled "Mr. Fix-It".  I did not get a chance to use before father's day, but I think this card would be a perfect little something to remind that Dad how much he means to you.  I know my father was the "Mr. Fix-It" man and would repair anything that needed it in my household.  I still take things to him to fix when I am clueless of how to fix.  I try but it's often in vain.  Love my Dad!
I used Fancy Pants papers that were in my scrap box leftovers.  I thought the polka dots were cute but not too cutesy.  I kept it simple to focus on the image and used four copper brads to attach to front.  That's it.  All done. I need to hit the that was easy button.  Don't have one but mentally envisioning. 

Challenges I would like to enter my card in:

Bearly Mine:#14 Anything Goes
HLSC:#30 Critters
The Paper Variety:Photo Inspiration
Shopping Our Stash:out with the old in with the new- used old brads and a new image
Use It Tuesday:Animals and hoarded brads







Thanks for stopping by!

City of Light

Bonjour mes chers amis! My french is tres rusty but I plan on changing that a tiny bit after this week because I am heading to Paris!  I can not wait!  Visions of architectural delights, fine cuisine, beautiful fashions, and more will be explored as I have always dreamed of.

I am the host for this week's Crafty Creations and my theme was Parisian inspired with an anything but a card.  I decided to create a little matchbook (you can view directions on how to make here) so I could carry it around with me to take a few notes if need be.  Translation-I don't know the French word so I write it down and look it up.  :-)   Here's a picture of the inside:

I used some My Mind's Eye American Made papers which I am still in ♥ with.  The Eiffel tower and postal stamp are from Black Leaf Studios, who are sponsoring us this week.  Have you seen their designs?  They have everything from digital stamps to cutting files to printable invitations and stationary.  They also have some great $1 items here.They generously donated "Poodle in Paris" for us to work with.   I  colored in the postal stamp with red and blue for color then layered it on top of the Eiffel tower.  I printed it three times because I wanted to add some depth to it.  The entire design is distressed with Papertrey Ink's Vintage Touch.  If  you have not bought this yet, what are you are waiting for?  I love this ink set!  I did cut some tiny postal marks out from 7 Gypsies paper to accent.  This was hard to do because I am so coveting that paper since it's hard to find anymore   Sigh.  I am trying to stop my hoarding ways though. Also added a date stamp for me to always remember.  As if I could forget. 
Also want to mention the new guest designer for the month is Shirl Leong.  Her blog is an eclectic mix of crafts that are sure to wow you! Stop on by and say hey!

I may be missing a bit because I will be away but when I come back I have a big surprise to share with my readers! **Hint it's something you might want to receive.** So please be sure and check back with me!  :-)

Challenges I would liket o enter this card into are:
Allsorts: #110 free and easy July
Craft Your Days Away: #23 vintage
Creative Inspirations: #63 red, white, and blue
One Stitch at a Time: #69 use a digi
Stamp Something: use a digi
The Pink Elephant: #106 red, white, and blue
Use It Tuesday: #10 red, white, and blue and used some hoarded papers by 7 Gypsies

Thank you for stopping by!

Drip, drip, drop little April showers

Hey there!   Hope you are having a fabulous week thus far.  I am back today with my Crafty Creations card for this week.  Our challenge is rain showers.  I really wanted to use this music sheet paper because I was thinking of the song, "April Showers" from Bambi while creating this. 

I used Some Odd Girl's "Sprinkle" image printed on American Crafts Gleam paper.  I paper pieced the eyes and then highlighted with a white gel pen.  The cloud paper is Twitterpated from Imaginisce.     I punched the bottom of this  with this tool  and then used a small circle punch for the centers.  I stamped the sentiment with a CTMH acrylic stamp from "Say It In Style" in black. 

Challenges I would like to enter this card into:
Craft Your Passion: Anything Goes
Heart 2 Heart: Spring (CTMH products used)
Make It Monday: Anything Goes
Make It Monday with Kraft:Spring Cleaning
Paper Playtime: Digi Monday
Tuesday Throwdown: Spring

Thanks for stopping by!