Anything But a Card Challenge 35-Live Simply

Hello! I am so glad you stopped by!  We are in week three of the challenge at Anything But a Card and it is my turn to share!  We are changing things up a bit with a color challenge this month!

The current Challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #35 - "Color Challenge"!! Last month was and open theme so this go round we are giving you a gorgeous color palette for your inspiration. Feel free to use one {and go monochromatic}, two or ALL of these colors to create whatever your muse desires... as long as it's anything but a card!

I decided to try using as many colors as I could and ended up with five out of the six offered!  While I loved the subtle shading in the inspiration photo, I ended up with a less 'blended' project.  My quotes journal received a new page and I had a great time playing with the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set to create a random background for my dahlia. I thought the three peachy shades worked pretty well for my flower.

I hope you will make the time to play with these colors and link up with us!  We would love to see how you were inspired!

I am preparing for my final week of school and can not wait to stay up late being crafty, without worrying about having to go to work the next morning!  I have some new stamping and coloring supplies that are begging to be used!

Have a wonderful week and I hope you find lots of time to play and be crafty!

Project Recipe: Stamp Sets-gorgeous grunge, trust God, regarding dahlias, Ink-midnight muse, wisteria wonder, crisp cantaloupe, calypso coral, blushing bride, pastels

Umm... Happy Easter??

As most of you know, things have been quite hectic in my household lately and I've not been able to do a lot of crafting or blogging.  I also just realized that I never did post the other cards I made at the crop I attended last month.  This wouldn't be such an obvious oversight except one of the cards is an Easter card... So here is my Easter card for this year!

I also made a few sympathy cards because I like to have these on hand.  I really have a hard time making them when the need arises.

I am so glad I got the Blessed Easter stamp!  The tulip image is so pretty and easy to color as well!  I love that I can color only the flowers to use this for birthdays and other occasions too!

There is less than a month left of school and I am hoping that soon I will be back to a regular visiting schedule!  I'm having blogland withdrawals...  See you soon!! Have a wonderful weekend and thanks so much for stopping by!

A special little guy turns 1!

Hello! Once again, I'm managing just a few minutes to post between ballgames and tennis matches!  My niece's little guy recently turned one year old and we actually had a free Saturday to attend his party.  Of course, Auntie had to make him a special card!

I pulled my design from a similar card I found on Pinterest.  It was a baby card with little zoo animals peeking over the banner, but I wanted something a little more fun and fitting this spunky little guy.  Just about everything used on this card is retired product except maybe the whisper white cardstock and white bakers twine, but he didn't seem to mind!

We had a great time at the party and he really enjoyed his gift from us-a little four key piano and a drum! Not sure his mom and dad will be speaking to us anymore, but he thought they were awesome presents!! Ha!  It was nice to spend a relaxing day with family and so fun to see him enjoying his little cake and all of the gifts.  I even got a little hug before we headed for home.

There is less than a month left of school and I am eagerly counting the days!  Have a wonderful rest of the week!!

A little crafty break!

Hi!  I finally managed to squeeze a few minutes from my week to get something posted!  Our spring has been so much more busy than I had ever imagined!

DD1 decided this year that she wanted to go back to playing softball and found herself as the starting right fielder of the varsity softball team.  She is so committed to keeping that position and has not missed a practice, and they practice 6 days a week! DD2 started playing tennis this spring and has been doing really well for her first year.  She has practices 5 days a week.  Add to this DD1's weekly voice lesson and my job, and there is very little free time for Mama...  I am really looking forward to summer vacation!

Earlier this month, I did manage to sneak away from my responsibilities to attend a Relay for Life sponsored crop.  It was so nice to have a morning and afternoon to create and visit with other crafty people and OH MY WORD-the FOOD!!!  They even came around with snacks every so often so we didn't have to leave our spots!!  I felt very spoiled!

I was in desperate need of birthday cards so I managed to get quite a few made.  Since I was at a crop, I only had a few different designs so I wouldn't have to bring all of my goodies along.  I made 8 of this design...

  

Unfortunately, I did not list my supplies and didn't have time to pull things back out and look so I don't have the name of the sentiment stamp.  The cardstock is pool party and everything else is retired product.

I also took along a Paper Pumpkin kit I kept meaning to put together.  I made four of these...

While I am really enjoying watching my girls (they will be gone before I know it...), I am a little sad that I'm not able to visit all of my wonderful blog friends.  I am looking forward to summer vacation when I can stay up til the wee hours of the morning catching up on everything!  Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope to see you (or at least your blog) soon!!

ABAC Challenge 34-Spring Has Sprung!

Hello and Happy Easter! It is time again for me to share my DT project for Anything But a Card Challenges.  This month's challenge is to 'spring' into spring, and we would love to see your spring inspired creations!!  Be sure to check out all of the other team members wonderful interpretations too!

After what seemed like a never ending winter, it was so nice to see the crocus and daffodils beginning to bloom this month.  The robins have also decided that winter is over and have returned to eat all of the wonderful bugs who have also made their appearance known!  All of this activity inspired me to make a new page in my quotes journal.  I think the quote by Emily Dickenson is so appropriate for the change in seasons.  Spring is full of hope and promise, and I wanted my page to reflect this.  I used pastels for the background and then stamped the flowers and birds.  I also added just a hint of stickles to mimic the frosty dew that is often seen in spring.

 We have a spring tradition in my family.  On Palm Sunday, we receive green palm leaves during our church service.  For as long as I can remember, Palm Sunday meant folding and weaving these leaves into pyramids before they could dry and then placing them around the house as a reminder to celebrate Jesus.  Grandma taught Mom, Mom taught me, and now I'm attempting to teach my girls.  Here are our palms from this year...

I hope you will find time to join us and share your creation! You still have a week!!  Have a wonderful week and thanks so much for stopping by!!

**For my blogging friends- We are in full sport mode with both tennis and softball pulling us in different directions!  I hope to be back to a regular visiting and posting schedule within a month!  Until then, know that I am looking forward to seeing all of your wonderful creations as well!!

No, really... I was cleaning...

Hello! I am so glad you stopped by because I need to share a true story with someone who will understand, and possibly believe my story.  Because my family doesn't...

**Warning: Extremely Lengthy and Possibly Boring Story**

It all started as I was cleaning the kitchen earlier this week.  I did a major purge of my cabinets and pantry resulting in a lot of things ending up in a donation box or the trash.  I did not, however, throw away several different sized empty coffee containers.  They were moved to my craft area under the eye rolls of my family members.  I told them that if I couldn't come up with a use for them by the end of the month, I would get rid of them (the containers, not my family-although I was quite tempted...).

After the kitchen was cleaned, I realized I needed a better system for keeping our daily medicines organized.  Since we no longer have any littles, I don't worry about keeping things up high and out of sight.  So our vitamins, advil, and prescriptions are sitting on the counter, which is great until one of them gets knocked onto the floor and rolls under something or gets pushed to the back of the counter where it hides behind the whole wheat flour container (found some of my allergy meds there during the clean).  As I was pondering where I could find something that would look nice sitting on the counter, my eyes spied the stack of coffee containers. Hmmm...

The next morning instead of cleaning up my crafting space like I had planned, I got busy transforming the coffee canister into a lovely medicine bowl.  This would have been perfectly acceptable except that I shared my cleaning plans with DH so I would stay accountable.  His smug grin said it all.  Nothing wiped it off his face either-not my insisting that it was divine intervention that called me to use one of the containers, not the reassurance that this was actually finishing the kitchen clean up, not even the reminder that "Hey! I told you I'd find a use for those containers you rolled your eyes at yesterday!".

So now I have a perfectly lovely container that keeps our medicines and vitamins neat and tidy, and a super messy work space.  But like my fellow procrastinator Annie always says "Tomorrow... Tomorrow... I'll clean ya, tomorrow!  You're always a day away..." or something like that...  I'm pretty sure the mess isn't going anywhere and since we are scheduled for wind and rain tomorrow, it will be a perfect day for tidying up the ol' crafting space!

If you've made it this far, you will be glad to know that I do actually have a few pictures of the medicine container that is causing my family to doubt my ability to get the house organized.

I placed the plastic lid on the bottom since the edge of the canister was metal

and I didn't want to risk the can rusting. The crochet ribbon is hiding it from view.

The butterflies are covered in dazzling details but it was hard

to get a good shot of all of the glittery goodness.

Now you have heard my tale, sad but true, about a royal family who doubts their queen's ability to stop crafting long enough to keep the castle in proper order.  But I know that you saw the deeper meaning of this story.  The queen just saved one of the coffee containers from imminent doom, and I'll let you in on a little secret...she has plans for the other ones too!  Don't you just love a happy ending?

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a marvelous weekend!!

Project Recipe: Precious Butterflies and Inspired by Nature stamp sets, garden green & not quite navy ink, rose red & not quite navy cardstock, bitty butterfly punch, butterfly punch (ret), First Edition DSP, dazzling details, crochet ribbon

Pinterest isn't just for looking!

Hello! Seems like it's been so long since I blogged.  It has been extremely busy around here and I wish I could say I have been crafting up a storm, but sadly that is not the case...  I have been playing taxi driver for both of my girls and attempting to keep a small sense of order in our home-not an easy task when no one seems to be home.  If anyone can explain how a house can get so messy when nobody is there, please share your wisdom!  I did however spend a few late nights browsing my favorite time waster, Pinterest.  I do actually make some of the things I have pinned and have even tried some of the recipes with great success.  But like most people, I will never have enough time to make everything I have pinned to my boards!  I was feeling a bit guilty about this when I decided to print off some of the free downloadable art.  The post card is part of a set that is wonderfully aged, and the water lily is from a cigar box art set.  There were a lot of beautiful images to choose from, but I liked the way the water lily went with the postcard.  You can find both free downloads here.

I was also inspired by some goodies I purchased last weekend during a family shopping trip.  I bought a TH stencil that had all of these fabulous dots on it and thought it would be a fun way to ink the background.  

My oldest DD always has to check out the remnant racks in the fabric department.  She loves to work on sewing projects and probably has about as much fabric as my sister.  Since I don't sew, I often get to be the color coordinating advice giver as she pairs her fabrics for a new project.  While we were digging for a neutral piece of fleece, I came across this wonderful roll of pink organza.  I had a sudden vision of a pretty pink flower and I wondered how well my big shot flower die would do on this material.  I ended up buying not only the pink but also some white organza as well.  DH raised an eyebrow at my purchase but didn't utter a word.  He knows about my lack of sewing skills, but he has also been married to me for almost 20 years.  Such a wise man!

The material cut like a dream and I didn't even have to back it with anything!  The flower looked a little too pretty for my otherwise aged journal page, so I wrinkled it up a bit.  The fabric frayed a little through this process, but I rather liked the effect.  I also did a little touch up on the heart from the SU artisan kit.  I rubbed a little Inka Gold metallic rub over the top to make it a little more 'old' looking.

So now I can proudly say that I used two pins from my Pinterest board and found a wonderful use for fabric that requires zero sewing skills! Not bad for a day's play!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Spring break is this week, so hopefully I will have a little more time to play and share!

Journal Page Recipe:  Digital art printed on white cardstock, lace and heart from Artisan kit, pink organza and fun flowers die, vanilla brad, Trust God stamp set, inks-early espresso, crumb cake, rose red, Inka Gold metallic rub

Anything But a Card-Sparkle!

Hello! My poor little blog is feeling a bit neglected lately!  But I do have a new creation to share with you!  We are on week three of our SPARKLE challenge at Anything But a Card, and for my DT contribution, I made a scrapbook layout of one of my favorite stars who always has a sparkle in her eye!

The pink background, pink flowers, and glitter spray are from Kellybell Designs.  I also used #16 from the Days to Remember DSP, black grosgrain ribbon, whisper white scallop edge punch, and going gray star punch.

The photos are from my daughter's debut in her first musical, Mame.  She was a member of the chorus and had five dance routines to learn.  The singing and being on stage was a normal occurrence, but she was a bit nervous about the dancing.  Of course, if I wasn't her mother, I wouldn't have known that she was nervous at all.  She loved the costume changes and really enjoyed the whole experience.  Her final dress was a sequined flapper with a matching headband. Her earrings were very sparkly as well.  I knew right away that these photos would be my inspiration for Sparkle! After all, I can't think of anything that sparkled more than her smile on opening night!

I would love it if you would share your Glitter! Sparkle! creation with us!  Here is a summary of our current challenge...

The Challenge... Anything But a Card Challenge #33 - the word"SPARKLE"!! What does the word sparkle represent to you? Sparkle can be a personality trait, or a physical appearance, or an attitude. You could be inspired with the written definition; go with a passage from a book or poem - or even quote a song... and of course we include going crazy with bling!

In Colors? Who knew?!

I have a confession... I do not normally get overly excited about the In Colors.  Not that I don't like them, but since they are usually only available for a limited time I tend to spend my money on the products in the catalog that can be used longer.  I do buy the markers and a mixed pack of the paper so I can share the colors with my customers and also use them in my classes, but overall they don't get a lot of attention from me.  I remember when the latest colors came out thinking they reminded me of ice cream and that they were pretty-end of thought.  Until I made this card!

I started out using the baked brown sugar because I thought it would be a great color for the wood.  This led to pulling out the coastal cabana and crisp canteloupe for the coordinating colors.  By the time the card was finished, I was in love with this color combination! This coming from a girl who usually does not like pastel combos...

Now I'm thinking I need the stretchy ribbon (this stuff is SO COOL) in every color, and I know I need to get more paper!  In Colors! Who knew?!

I liked this card so well it became one of the cards for my stampin' club! Don't you just love the punched out heart? This great design was found here. I noticed after making my card that she used in colors too, just different ones!

I hope I've encouraged you to experiment with the In Colors or at the very least, step out of your color comfort zone and try something new!  Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!

Card Recipe: Paper-crisp canteloupe, baked brown sugar, coastal cabana, whisper white, Ink-soft suede, coastal cabana, Stamp-Hardwood, Teeny Tiny Wishes, Hearts a Flutter, Accessories-heart punch, heart to heart punch, coastal cabana stretch ruffle trim, calypso coral bakers twine, vintage faceted buttons

Stamp Club- Super Simple birthday card!

Hello! I am so happy you stopped in to visit today!  I have a super simple birthday card to share with you today!  This also happens to be one of the cards that my stamp club is making.  While we don't always do really basic cards, I like to share this kind of design for quick cardmaking.  I found this fabulous layout here.

What makes this card super quick is using the circle framelits for the holes.  I randomly placed the framelits on the white cardstock piece and ran the whole thing through the big shot. All the holes in one run!  I think the hardest part may have been picking the paper scraps to place behind the holes... 

Since I was already prepping several cards for my club, I made some extras for my stash of birthday cards too.