Love Bites

Good Monday morning! I hope you had a great weekend. Mine was pretty great and I had lots of time at my craft table and that always makes me pretty happy. We also celebrated my BIL's birthday and Kip and I were able to catch a movie. We saw  The Cabin in the Woods, guess who's turn it was to pick the movie? I have a card to show you today using a Simply Betty image. Isn't this so fun? I LOVED watching reruns of The Addams Family when I was a kid so I was very happy when I won this image. We didn't have cable and I could only see it if I happened to be at my Grandmother's house in the afternoons, which didn't happen much during the school year, so I mainly saw episodes in the summer. I always though John Astin was such a good looking man! Anyway, my card uses the image from Simply Betty and it was colored with Copics. The paper is from a Recollections pack (I think), swirly things framing the image were cut using a Nestability die, the flowers are from Prima and the sentiment is from the dollar section at Target from a while back.

Another thing that I was able to spend quite a bit of time doing this weekend was reading. I read a lot and usually have a couple of books going at the same time and right now I am reading The Secret Life of Bees. I am going to check out a book club that meets at my local library next month and they are reading Light on Snow. Both of these are really good reads so far. I am almost finished with the first one and have enjoyed it very much. I randomly caught the movie on TV a couple of weeks ago and really liked it so I wanted to read the book. Normally I always read a book first and then see the movie.

Thanks for visiting me today!

April Showers

I am getting a late start posting today! I am off work today as I am on most Fridays, but this week I found myself caught up on my errands and other things so I am having a lazy day. That means I am pretty much spending the day in PJs, hair in a ponytail and I have been playing in my craft room almost all day and forgot to come upstairs to write my post! The challenge on the Sassy Cheryl Blog this week is April Showers and this is the card I made for that challenge. I love this image because it is just adorable, but that little duck makes me smile. I went with some brighter spring colors and wanted to use some paper that had flowers on it since April Showers bring May Flowers. Image is from Sassy Cheryl, papers are DCWV, image was colored with Copics and I used some brads from Hobby Lobby, there is a little Glossy Accents on her swim mask.

A funny story about April Showers bring May Flowers; my maiden name is Flowers and I have a grandmother with the name of Mae. My Mother almost gave me that name when I was born and I would have gone through life known as Mae Flowers. Talk about being made fun of on the playground! I am so thankful to the family members that talked her out of that one. 

Samantha has a blog post today too.

I have entered a contest based on the USDA's My Plate food guideline. If you can, would you please vote for me HERE. Thanks!!

Have a great weekend!

Tooth Fairy Box

Hello! I have a box to share with you today. The challenge on the Riley and Company blog this week is to make a small gift box or treat bag. I have been wanting to make one of these boxes with the pull out drawer for a while and this was my motivation. I used Tooth Fairy Riley/Sophie and made this box to give to one of my friend's daughter. She loves to leave drawings and things for the Tooth Fairy so I thought this box would be perfect for her. After coloring everything with Copics, I added some Stickles to her wings and some gold glitter glue to her skirt. The image has a tooth drawn in, but I also had these tooth shaped brads that I used for just a little more dimension. I added some shimmery flowers and some ribbon to finish my box.

Here's one slightly closer:

I mentioned in yesterday's post  that I am on a mission to use stamps that I haven't used in a while. I am also trying to use up some of my opened packs of embellishments and rolls of ribbon. You know what I'm talking about, the embellishments that you have bought for a specific project and then the rest of the package retires to the land of forgotten embellishments. And the rolls of pretty ribbon that are almost gone but got buried by all the other pretty rolls of ribbon that you keep buying, Yeah, those things! This project used up the last of the little jewels on the crown, the last of those blue and white flowers and the last bit of that pink and blue ribbon. 

What do you have too much of in your own craft room?

Samantha has her own blog now, you can check it out HERE. She loves reading comments.

Have a great day!

On a Mission

Good Morning! I have a card to show you that I made for a card drive that Card Cupids had asking for some birthday cards. One of the girls will be celebrating her 15th birthday. I am not sure what 15 year old girls are into since all my nieces and most of the daughters of my friends aren't there yet. I hope this isn't too young for  her. The stamp is from Inkadinkadoo, papers are from my stash, the sentiment is from a Clear Dollar Stamp set and it was colored with Copics.

I am on a mission right now to use some of my older stamp sets, especially my clear ones, because some of them were MIA. Way back in May of 2010 the Nashville area dealt with some major floods. We were lucky, we didn't flood like so many I saw but we did have water come into our downstairs area including my craft area. Fortunately we were home and we just madly threw things into boxes to keep them from getting ruined. My craft area was one of the areas that was hastily packed. I store most of my clear stamps in CD cases and those go into plastic cases. In the craziness of moving everything from downstairs to the upstairs I forgot that my MIL offered to take a few boxes to her house. I knew I was missing some stamps and a couple of other things but I could not find them. Evidently we both forgot about those boxes because they have been over there since. So I found my missing stamps and some socks and a missing shoe. I am not an organized packer under the best circumstances, but that day was insane and all the boxes had random stuff in them. In the next few weeks you might be seeing lots of older stamps make their way onto my new cards!

Have a great day.

Steampunk Card

Good Monday Morning!! I hope you had a great weekend, I did, relaxing and productive too. I have a project to show you that I made last week. I think this is one of my favorite things that I have ever made. I  think I am going to get a frame for it and use it somewhere in my house. It is a digital image and I was in a hurry when I was printing and I wasn't paying attention to the size I printed it out. It was a little large for the size of cards that I normally make but decided to see what I could do with it any way. I ended up loving the finished product so much that I don't want to give it away. As soon as I find a frame, this will be gracing a wall in one of my bedrooms. The image is from Simply Betty Stamps, papers are from DCWV, not sure about the lace and ribbon, but I think they both came from Hobby Lobby, brads and leather photo corners are from Making Memories.

I am entering this into the new Oozak Anything Goes Challenge. Oozak has a new challenge blog that just went live this month.

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Thanks for all the comments on my gardening attempts. I am having a lot of fun with everything. I grew up in a family that grew most of our vegetables and have done my share of picking and canning every year. I haven't done much since Kip and I got married though. We have a great backyard for sitting and relaxing, but not gardening. It is a very shady spot. I decided I really wanted to do something this year though and I think the moveable boxes will help me do that. Samantha had a sleepover here the other night and she is just as fascinated with everything that I am. I went to the back and was sifting through the compost to get enough to add to some more pots and she had so much fun with that. We also harvested our first strawberry! She ate it an proclaimed it delicious and juicy. 

Have a great day!

Wonderful Things

The daughter of some friends of ours is having a baby soon and her baby shower is this weekend. Can you guess what she is having?? That's right, a little girls is expected. I used this image from Deidre Mosher Designs (formally Shirley's 2 Girls) for my card. I don't have a lot of need to make baby cards anymore, but I like to have a couple on hand, just in case and this is one of my favorites to use. 

Image was colored with Copics, papers and buttons came from Hobby Lobby.

Today is my last day of work for the week so my weekend is getting ready to start. I have a Copic class scheduled for Saturday. I am hoping the pretty weather continues because I have some more plants and things that I want to get outside. Kip built me one raised bed for my gardening and he hinted that he might be willing to build me another one. If you want to see my gardening projects so far you can check them out here. He built my bed tall and it is up on wheels to make it even taller. I love it because even when my back is bothering me I can get out there and sit on my gardening stool and work in there without bending too much.

Have a great day!

Oldies But Goodies Blog Hop

Welcome to the April Oldies But Goodies Blog Hop!! The purpose of these blog hops. other than to get some great inspiration, it to encourage us to pull out some our more neglected supplies. Specifically to use stamps and other supplies that we haven't used in the past six months.

Hopefully you arrived here from Heather's blog, if you want to start at the beginning then hop over to Vicki's blog and you can see all the D.I.V.A.S inspiration.

My card uses an image from The Greeting Farm. I won this stamp about a year ago in someone's blog candy and I haven't used it since I first received it. I think it is just adorable though and I do need to use it more often. In addition to the stamp that hasn't been used in a while, I also pulled out those little purple flowers that I have had since I first started stamping, I added the pink brads to the center of each flower to change them up a little. The ribbon has been around for quite a while too, this was almost the last of the roll. Anya was colored with Copic markers, papers DP is from Jo-Anns and the brads are Making Memories.

Thanks for visiting with me today!

Seeing Spots

Good morning! This week's challenge on Mo's Digital Challenge Blog is "I See Spots". You know me, I love dots of any kind so this was right up my alley. I love  this image by Mo, it reminds me of Samantha when she was little. She has always loved cooking and helping out in the kitchen, even more as she is getting older and can do more and more. I am sure this card will go to Samantha soon, so I used her favorite color, yellow. The image was colored with Copics, the papers, buttons and ribbon from my stash.

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This is a picture of Samantha this past Christmas. Everyone got her cooking related things this year. She was pretty excited by all of her new gear that as soon as we were finished unwrapping gifts she was reorganizing a kitchen cabinet so she would have her own shelf in the kitchen. I gave her the cookbook she is holding because it is the book I learned how to cook from and two 6" chef's knives, one for my house when she is cooking here and another to keep at home when she cooks with her Mom. 

(P.S. And yes I asked her Mom before I gave a nine year old a real knife! I do ask if it is something that could potentially send a kid to the E.R. Samantha has been cooking for a long time and has been taught knife safety as well as general kitchen safety)

Another Journal for Card Cupids

I have another journal to show you, this time one for a girl. In addition to sending cards and other goodies to children in the hospital or with illnesses, Card Cupids also sponsor children at a homeless shelter. For the month of April the challenge is to create, decorate or alter a journal that will be passed along to children in need along with some school supplies. For my journal, I used an image from Michelle Perkett, some papers from my stash and some ribbon and flower rhinestones from Jo-Ann's. The journal is just a regular composition book that I decorated.

So you have extra cards you would like to donate? On the Card Cupid blog there are a couple of specific requests for birthday cards.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I was able to spend a lot of time at my craft table. I think I made more cards this weekend than I have ever made in such a short time! On a sad note though, my ATG gun finally bit the dust and I am going to have to break down and buy another one because this time I lost the screw that holds it together. It has been a great one, but it never quite recovered from being dropped on my sidewalk one day after a crop.

Have a great Monday!

In a Purple Mood

I have really been in a purple mood lately. Its not a color I work with a lot, but I have been using all those Vs and BVs in my Copic collection. Light purple, deep purple, dusty purple, I have been using them all! My card today uses a Sweet Pea image, and you guessed it, colored with my purple Copics! The butterfly came from the floral section at Hobby Lobby, the papers are from JoAnn's and the ribbon I have had for a long time.

I hope everyone had a great Easter. Ours was pretty low key, I ended up cooking dinner for just the two of us. My in-laws are passing around a cold so they weren't up to really doing anything and I was happy to not be in the range of their contagious coughs and sneezes. My spring allergies have kicked in full swing so I didn't want to add anything else to my sneezing and runny eyes. 

Have a great day!

Spinning Clown

The challenge on the Riley and Company Blog this week is "Spring-ing into Action" which means to make a card that moves. I decided to make a spinner card. I have made these several times before, but this is my favorite of all the ones I have ever made before. As soon as I saw the challenge, I knew that this Clown Riley would be the image I would use. I guess I just thought that a clown would look great spinning across the card! 

I took a couple of other shots of Riley making his way across the card.

One thing I did different with this card that I haven't done with my previous spinning cards was to adhere the patterned paper to a stiff piece of card stock. It seems to be much sturdier than the ones I have made before and it spins without getting stuck midway!

Image is from Riley and Company, colored with Copics, paper is Basic Grey, and the little swirly things are from Jolee's (I think).

Have a great day!

Card Cupids

Have you heard of this group? From the Card Cupids blog:

They provide encouragement and joy to children by sending cards, stuffed animals, coloring books and art supplies to children that are facing difficult challenges in their lives. The organization is designed to send a bundle of cards to needy children  for their birthday or in a time of need, along with a cuddly stuffed animal. Card Cuddle care packages are sent to numerous children hospitals, foster care and homeless shelters. 

I am so glad my friend Karen told me about them. Learning about Card Cupids touched a special place in my heart, because as a child I spent quite a bit of time in the hospital. I remember how long and boring those days were, and how exciting it was when someone would bring in mail to pass out. I grew up in Cleveland, TN but most of my back surgeries were done in Atlanta, GA far away from friends and family. My parents were able to stay with me but three hours (one way) was a bit much to expect any other visitors. Getting cards in the mail was something I looked forward to each day. Of course I got cards from my family and people from my church, but I also received cards from people I didn't know from my grandparents' churches and their friends. It didn't matter to me where those cards came from. Even as a kid I remember being touched that those people that didn't know me took the time to send me a pretty card. The joy didn't just come from opening those cards either, my Mom would hang them up all around my room and all of those cards really brightened up my hospital room. 

The Card Cupids blog has a monthly challenge. and for the month of April and that challenge is to make a journal. I decided to make a journal for a little boy. I had bought a bunch of these plain journals because I got them at a great price and I realized they would make the perfect journal for a young child because the pages do not have lines on them. That makes them great for writing and perfect for drawing! I have lots of little girls in my life and rarely get to make little boy things. For my journal, I used an older dinosaur stamp set from Clear Dollar Stamps.

If you have the time I would love it if you would check out the Card Cupids page and help out if you can or participate in the challenge. If you are like me and most other card makers I know you probably have a stash of cards. What a great way to help bring a smile to someone's face.

I am also very happy to tell you that I will be a Design Team member!