Banjo Playing Riley

Good evening! I found a new sketch challenge site and decided to play along. It is called Delightful Sketches and can be found here. While I was gone last week, I spent some time coloring with my niece Zoie and this was one of the first images she wanted to stamp and color. We each did our own version of Riley but she took off with hers before I could take a picture. I used the sketch at Delightful Sketches to make this card. I started with this plaid paper from DCWV and pulled the rest of my colors from there. Riley was stamped with Memento ink and colored with Copic markers onto Gina K paper. The belt stamp is from CTMH and was stamped with CTMH Desert Sand ink and then distressed with some powder from Making Memories. The buttons are some assorted buttons that were sitting in a jar on my desk, most are from American Crafts, I think. I used twine on the large button and the other buttons have very thin pieces of paper threaded through them. Thanks for all the comments on my last post and for the good wishes regarding the DT call, it really means a lot to me!

I don't know about where you are, but it is COLD here today! Last week I could still wear short sleeves and today I wore a long sleeved thermal knit shirt and still froze to death! I hate wearing a coat, I will wear a couple of shirts just to keep from wearing a jacket. I guess it is time for cold weather since we are closing out November. We sat down and made out Christmas shopping list tonight. So far we have exactly one present bought and a lot more to go. Thanks for stopping by tonight!

A Good Place for a Nap

This pretty much sums up my philosophy in life since I am a big fan of naps! Shirley's 2 Girls is having a design team call and you can read all the information here. Since I have been having so much fun with their stamps and playing along with their Twisted Thursday challenge, I decided to submit my projects and hope for the best! They provided a sketch for us to follow and gave us the twist of using Paper Piecing on our project. I thought this chair would be the perfect thing for the paper piecing part of the challenge. I stamped the image directly onto the striped paper and then cut it out and added the silver brads to the chair arms. Then I stamped the image twice onto white paper, on one, I colored the dog and cut it out and the other became my main image panel. The circles were cut out with Nestabilities and I ran the smaller one through the Big Shot with a Swiss Dots folder. The ribbon is actually a stamp from Clear Dollar Stamps, from a set called Embellish It. I haven't done a lot of paper piecing, but recently I found some small, very sharp scissors which makes cutting out those pieces a lot easier. so I think I might try it a little more often.  Supplies used: main stamp image from Shirley's 2 Girls, paper and card stock are DCWV, brads are from Jo-Ann's, CB Swiss Dots folder, circle Nestabilities and ribbon stamp is from CDS.

Gift Tags

These are the gift tags that I made for my Secret Sister Swap with the Designing DIVAS group. I used these adorable little images from Stampendous and colored them with Copic markers. The tags were cut our using a Sizzix tag die and I used some paper from Making Memories, it is just a little bit darker than regular kraft paper and I really like the color. I am almost out of it though! I used torn paper to make the snow and then stamped some snowflakes from a Martha Stewart set and embossed them with a holographic embossing powder from Ranger. To finish them, I added some ribbon that I got at Jo-Anns. The to and from stamps are on the back. Every year I think about making gift tags and never do. I had fun making these so I think I will actually make more this year for my own Christmas gifts. 

I am back from my vacation! I think this is the longest amount of time I have been gone from my house in a long time. We started out last Friday and headed to my parent's house. Saturday morning, we got up early and went to eat breakfast with my Dad while mom slept in. Then we headed to South Carolina with an extra passenger than was originally planned. My eleven year old niece wanted to come with us. After we found the place where my class was going to be and went back to the hotel, Zoie was begging to stamp and color with me so I stamped her several images. She decided very quickly that she really liked my markers! By the end of the week, she was coloring and said "Now, I know what I am going to ask for for Christmas!". I just apologized to my brother for introducing her to Copics. 

The next morning we headed to stamp store. Wow, what a day! I learned a lot in the class, some completely new things and several things that just added to some techniques that I already knew. Overall, it was definitely worth the driving time and cost. There was a lot of information presented in a short amount of time! I also saw two women that I had met at the Art Stamp Scrap Tour last year in Chattanooga, since I was so far away from home this time, I didn't think I would know anyone. so it was interesting to see people that I had met before. The store was awesome! They stocked the entire line of Sketch markers in addition to tons of other cool stuff. 

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We did. We alternate holidays with my family and my in-laws and if we are visiting my family we have dinners at my grandparents' house. They still do a lot of the cooking and then everyone else just brings sides and desserts. My contribution this year was just cranberry sauce, it was very good though and my hubby and Dad loved it!

Anyone do any Black Friday shopping? I went out with my mom, but not early, we went around lunch time. I didn't buy anything, but she lucked up on a couple of deals. Have a great rest of the weekend. I have missed my crafting space and plan on spending the majority of the day in there!

Non traditional Card

This card was another item I made for my Secret Sister swap. The challenge was to make a non traditional card. I decided to make a Crisscross fold card. I used DCWV Far East paper pack and card stock. The inside piece you pull out was made with the same purple paper as the outside, but I also attached a smaller piece of white so that you can write a message.

Christmas Tree Treat Box

One of the challenges in the Designing DIVAS blog group Secret Sister gift exchange was to make these Christmas Tree treat boxes. I loved them so much that I made a bunch of them! I was thinking that if you had a small table top tree that these would make a cute Advent type of activity. Each tree could be labeled with a number so they could be opened in sequence leading up to Christmas. The paper and ribbon both came from Hobby Lobby.

Dinner Party Invites

My friend Linda asked me if I could make some invitations for a dinner party that she and a friend are hosting. She wanted a single open invite, not a card and she wanted something with a little glitz and bling to it. Since she didn't need too many I was able to help her out and get them done before I left town. I am happy to report that she loved them! I didn't have a stamp that was quite what she was looking for so we started looking at some companies that have digital stamps and ended up with this one from Modern Sugar Blvd. I was glad she picked this one because it was one of my favorites too! We went to Hobby Lobby and she picked out the paper in the colors she wanted and then I went from there. The image was printed out on my Epson printer and then colored with Copics. I used a green Spica pen to color her earrings and some details on the purse. The center of each flower is a little rhinestone. I did blur out the personal information so that I would not be posting their address and phone number. Linda loved the invites and wanted to know if I was going to post them on my blog and I said yes, but that I would blur out the address and phone number, she just laughed and said it didn't matter, because it wasn't her phone! Of course she was just kidding. I hope she has a wonderful party.

Twisted Thursday--Ric Rak

Hello! First things first; Copic Certification this weekend! Now on to the card. This is my card for the Shirley's 2 Girls Twisted Thursday Challenge. The twist this week was to use add ric rak or ribbon to your card and to use the sketch provided. I love ric rak so this was a fun challenge, well they all are, but even more so this week. My circle with the ric rak border ended up being just a tad big, but I did follow the sketch. I started with this image from S2G called Bad Cat or Good Cat. Since we have three cats living in our house, the chance are pretty good that at least one of them is being a bad cat at any given moment, add in Christmas lights and then you probably have three bad cats! The image was colored with Copic markers to look like our cat Calvin and then I used a Sakura Glaze pen to color the lights.  I added ric rak around the circle and then used ribbon to make a bow at the top. Card stock is from my stash and the paper is from Target's Dollar Spot, not sure if you can tell or not, but some of the circles have glitter on them and it's very nice. 

I am headed out today to my Mom's and then the two of us are headed out on a girl's weekend to South Carolina. The Copic certification class is on Sunday and other than that, I am not sure what we are going to do. I am sure Mom will be looking for an antique store to shop in. I have a few things set to automatically post while I am gone and then I will probably add in some pictures from my trip here and there. 

Happy Birthday Kip!

Yesterday was my husband's birthday. We went out and ate with his family and some friends on Sunday and I have him his gifts then but I waited to give him his card until his actual birthday. Well, his actual birthday according to his Mom and the hospital where he was born. When he requested a copy of his birth certificate a year or so ago from the state of Texas they have him being born one week later, on the 25th rather than the 18th. I am going to go with his Mom's date, I think she would be the one to remember! Actually he said we could get him gifts for both dates or we could make it a week long celebration. So here is the card I made for him. I started with this image that I think is from an older Inkadinkado set. After stamping it, I colored everything with Copic markers and then covered the puddles with Glossy Accents. I love this paper from DCWV, I think the colors are just great. For the strip in the middle, I simply trimmed a piece of one of the green stripes. The buckle is a stamp from Clear Dollar Stamps, from a set called Embellish It. I embossed it with Expresso embossing powder and then cut it out and slid it onto the green strip. 

Wow, it's almost time for me to get up and get ready for work. I woke up around 2:30 and couldn't go back to sleep so I got up and started working on some craft stuff. I have cleaned my desk some, colored some imaged for some invitations that I am making, cut out some stuff and blogged about this card, all before it is time for me to actually get up. Work is going to be hard, because i will probably be ready to crash around 9:30! Thanks for visiting!

Scrap Challenge

I issued our first challenge on Paper World and that challenge was to make a card with all or most all of the products on your card coming from your scrap pile or things you have had on hand for a long time. If you are anything like me, not only do you have a pile of card stock and DP papers, a stash of ribbon and other embellishments, but I also have a huge stack of stamped images, some colored and some not. Everything on my card came from one of those piles! I had stamped and colored several of these Christmas trees from Karen Lockhart. The tree is colored with Prismacolor pencils and then I used a Sakura glitter pen to color in the snow. Other than that, I am not sure of where any of the other things came from. If you want to make a card from your scraps, leave a link to your project/blog so I can come and check it out.

Only three more working days until my trip! Does anyone else have any exciting plans for Thanksgiving? Since we will be traveling I won't have to do a lot of cooking, probably just make a dessert and cranberry sauce. My grandmother serves the cranberry jelly stuff straight from the can and I thought I didn't like cranberries. I have since found out that I do like them and have a couple of sauce recipes that I use. Thanks for visiting, I love your comments! P.S. Stephanie, I am still laughing about the comment about the bumper sticker!

Ahhh, Coffee

I love the look on Hanna's face here, it just seems like she is so enjoying that cup of coffee! I know I enjoy my first cup that much. Just imagine if I had a Keurig, I bet I would look as happy as she does here!! My card tonight was made using the sketch provided by Sandra for the Hanna Stamps November release. I started with Cafe Hanna, colored her with Copic markers and then used an oval Nestie to cut out the portion that would fit the sketch.  That cute little mug is one of the accessories available in the set; I colored it with Copics and then covered it with Glossy Accents. IRL my colors match a better than they do in the picture, when I edited the picture it looked fine, but now the colors look a little off. The orange panel is much more vibrant but here looks rather washed out. Supplies: Cafe Hanna from Hanna Stamps, flowers from K& CO (I think), Copic markers, glossy accents, oval and circle Nestabilities. Thanks for visiting and have a great night!

Happy Birthday Digi

Hello! Here is a birthday card I made with a free Digi Stamp that I got from Shirley's 2 Girls on SNR. Isn't she just adorable? I love the way she is popping out of that cake. After printing the image I colored it with Copic markers and added some glitter glue on the top and some black glitter on the inside portion where she is popping out from. There are some black pearls on the bottom cake layer. When I saw the image and was playing with ideas in my head, I was planning to used pinks and oranges for this image but when I sat down and started looking through my paper, I found that cool black and white paper with the numbers on it and thought that it would make a great card for someone that might be a little older, you know past twenty one that might not want to share their age with everyone. As the final touches, I added the black and white gingham ribbon and some sparkle with a Sakura glitter pen. Supplies: paper and card stock from DCWV, ribbon from my ginormous ribbon stash, pearls from Doodlebug, Sakura glitter pen, black glitter from Martha Stewart, glitter glue and Copic markers.

Speaking of birthdays, we celebrated Kip's tonight with his family and some friends. Our friend Mike took this picture for us. We had a great time and you can see some of his gifts there. Can you see how short my hair is? It's not tucked behind my shoulder. I decided to trim my hair last night and a little trim turned into about 5 1/2 inches or so. Oops. Now, it is right at the top of my shoulders. It feels pretty good. My hair is naturally curly and when Kip got home last night, it was brushed out straight and pulled back so he didn't notice. He left early for church and I was still in the shower, so he didn't see it until I showed up. He likes it though and so do I and I was ready for a change so all is good!

Twisted Thursday--Wire

What a great lazy Saturday morning I am having! When I came upstairs, Kip had already made coffee so I made breakfast and then we have just been hanging out this morning. I love these kind of days. The Twisted Thursday Challenge this week was to use the sketch provided and the twist was to use wire. I started with this Snow Woman image from Shirley's 2 Girls and then filled in the entire snow woman with glitter glue. After that dried, I went back and colored everything else with Copic and Prisma markers and then added some hi-lights with a white gel pen. I decided to try something a little different with my white pen. A lot of the time I will add a shadow around the image, but I wanted to see what it would look like to hi-light around my snow woman with the white gel pen. Since I was finished with everything else, I am glad I liked the way it looks so I didn't have to start over! For my twist, I made a little garland with beading wire and some snowflake buttons.  Supplies used: Snow Woman from S2G, DCWV paper and card stock, snowflake buttons from Dress Up Buttons, micro glass beads (on the holly), glitter glue, white gel pen, Copic and Prisma markers, Cuttlebug snowflake embossing folder, beading wire.

Only one more week until my vacation! I am getting very excited about traveling to South Carolina for my Copic Certification class. Kip and I are going to my parent's house on Friday I think and then my mom and I will be heading to South Carolina on our own. My poor mom, she has gone to Indiana with me twice to take classes and is now going to be driving with me to Columbia, SC. She's getting a really nice Christmas gift! After we get back we will be hanging out there until Thanksgiving and then will head back here. I have the whole week off and Kip can work anywhere that he has an internet connection. I can't wait!

I mentioned the other day about my rather odd sense of humor. I thought I would share this conversation I had with my mom to show where it came from.

Me: So I guess after we get back from South Carolina, Kip and I will just hang out there until Thanksgiving.

Mom: Really?

Me: If that's okay and you can stand us that long.

Mom: I'll think about it.

Me: Well I guess we can find a shelter or somewhere to eat. I'm sure if we volunteer, they will give us a plate of turkey and dressing.

Mom: Well there is one on Wildwood Avenue.

Of course she was kidding, I think, but just shows you a little of where I get it from! 

My First Tilda Card and an Award

Hello! This is a long post, all the card details are in the first paragraph though! On Saturday, Karen invited me to an all day crop/card making session to do a short Copic demo. I had so much fun! I was able to meet several new people. Talking, chatting, making cards, looking at other people's artwork, and drinking coffee, it was a great day. I think her group may be a bad influence on me though. First there was the Keurig coffee. I have heard of it before but after drinking it and experiencing all the different flavors, I think I need one of those coffee makers! I don't think you could possible go wrong when there are coffee flavors like French Toast, Gingerbread and Pumpkin Spice. The true test is if they have Peppermint because that is by far, hands down my favorite flavor of coffee. Not only was there the coffee but they had different stamps than what I and my group of friends have. Claudean had made some beautiful cards using Magnolia stamps. When I told her I had never used them before, she was kind enough to let me stamp some to play with. I loved this Giggling Tilda, I think she was my favorite of all of them. She was stamped with Memento ink and colored with Copic markers. The DP is DCWV Far East and the card stocks are from my stash. I also used pearl Dew Drops, a Fiskars butterfly punch and ribbon.

I have a confession to make: I buy embellishments all the time and then don't use them. I also save all manner of things thinking I can use them and then they sit in a drawer. And I don't even want to talk about all the ribbon I have that looks so pretty just sitting there. See that ribbon on my card? Left over from my wedding programs from almost four years ago! I have challenged myself to use all those beautiful things I have bought. So you should be seeing more cards wih embellishments. 

My friend Mandy sent me an award!!! I'm excited to play!!


The objective is to answer these questions with one word. Ok here goes:

1. Where is your cell phone? Desk
2. Your hair? Brown
3. Your mother? Tired
4. Your father? Funny
5. Your favorite food? Soups
6. Your dream last night? Non
7. Your favorite drink? COFFEE!
8. Your dream/goal? Create
9. What room are you in? Living
10. Your hobby? Cardmaking
11. Your fear? Ticks
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Home
13. Where were you last night? ASL class
14. Something that you aren't? Outgoing
15. Muffins? lemon
16. Wish list item? studio
17. Where did you grow up? Cleveland, TN
18. Last thing you did? dishes
19. What are you wearing?  jeans
20. Your TV? On
21. Your Pets? Cats
22. Friends? Lots
23. Your life? Better
24. Your mood? fine
25. Missing Someone? mamaw

26. vehicle? Jeep
27. Something you're not wearing? shoes
28. Your favorite store? Papertrix
29. Your favorite color? yellow
30. When was the last time you laughed? just now
31. Last time you cried? yesterday
32. Your best friend? Kip
33. One place that I want to go to over and over? Colorado
34. Facebook? Yes
35. Favorite place to eat? Buca di Beppo

That was fun!! Thank you Mandy! You really need to jump to her blog she's a wonderful crafter! great cards and projects...
I'm going to pass this on to Angela at In My Quiet Time. 

Snow Fun

Hello! Due to some changes in my job situation, I now have my afternoons free and I am really enjoying all this extra time in my craft room. I have been pulling out some things I haven't used in a long time and looking up some new techniques and ideas. I am having so much fun too! This image is called Snow Fun and is from the Victoria Case Winter Wonderland collection at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design. I stamped it with Memento ink and then colored with Copics. I added some snow accents on their hats with some snow glitter. I cut out the image and added it to the panel that had been sponged with blue ink from CTMH. The glitter on the ground is from Martha Stewart, so is the snowflake punch and the ribbon. I added an acrylic bauble in the center of each snowflake. Not only is this card heavy on Martha, my friend Angela is represented too! Not only was this her stamp, but earlier in the week she made a card and left the paper inside the Nestability frame while she was sponging on her ink, which leaves that nice white border. I really liked the way it look so I borrowed her idea! Thanks for visiting me tonight.

Something New

How about this for a complete departure from my normal style? I love the vintage look but have never felt very comfortable with the way mine turns out, especially compared with some of my friends in my blogger group! This card is full of new things for me: a stamp set from a new company (more below), a new style and a new technique. As soon as I saw this image I knew I wanted to try the cracked glass technique. I also don't think I have ever used lace on a card and I know I have never used vintage sheet music. The image was stamped with Brilliance Rich Cocoa ink and then I used several layers of UTEE on it. After cracking it, I went over the surface with some distressing ink and wiped off the excess. Since I was doing a vintage card, I decided to pull out some sheet music that my mother had gotten at a yard sale and left over here (she said I could have it and she knows I don't play the piano). The papers are from K& Co. and the lace was given to me by a friend. The leather photo corners are Making Memories I think. What do you think of my first attempt at vintage?

Here's the story about the image: A couple of weeks ago when I participated in the Hanna Fans Blog Hop I found Rebecca's blog. I went back to visit again a few days later and saw this card and I loved the image on it. It reminded me of my Grandmother, she loved vintage pins, like cameos that had these types of images on them. I had to see where it came from and it was from a company that I was not familiar with but I went ahead and checked it out. The name of the company is Clearly Vintage and there were several very nice sets that I liked. I wasn't sure about ordering since I didn't know then but since they were having a sale I decided to give it a try. I am happy to report that it was a great transaction and I will be back to buy more! The stamps are lovely, they stamp clear and clean straight out of the package, the prices are reasonable and they shipped very fast. Not to mention the fact that there are several more sets that I need!

Friday Night Craft Night was great. One of the things we did was collect food for the Food Pantry. I took a picture of some of the donations we received. Thanks to everyone that brought food items. There have been so many calls for assistance that they have had a hard time keeping the shelves stocked.

Twisted Thursday Challenge-Kraft Paper

Good Morning! It is going to be a crafty weekend for me. We had our monthly craft night last night and today I am going to an all day Crop/Cardmaking Day with a new group where I will be doing a Copic Demo. This is my entry for the S2G Twisted Thursday, and the twist was to use kraft paper or a paper bag. After pulling out my kraft paper I was looking for ribbon and other embellishments that would look good and found this ribbon and I pulled all the colors for my card from there. This image is from S2G and is called Baguettes's Accessories and was stamped with Memento ink and colored with Copic markers. I think this image is just too cute, even though I am more of a cat person (and anyone that knows me personally knows how true that is!). The ribbon is from American Crafts, flowers are Prima and the brads are from the Paper Studio. 

I hope to get a lot done today at the crop. I have stamped a bunch of images and plan to spend most of my day coloring images for our Christmas cards. I have new stamps and new paper and can't wait to play with both. I took advantage of the sale on the S2G website so I have several new images from them. That was my first order, the other stamps were bought at Papertrix, and wow they have super fast shipping!! I love that about a company. Of course images available is a great selling point for me, but very close behind is service and fast shipping. I am impatient when I order stamps, I want them to just pop out of my computer or something and they were almost that fast. I will be ordering from them again. And again. I use Georgia Pacific most of the time for stamping and coloring on but I have heard so much about both Papertrey's paper and the Pure Luxury from Gina K. My paper from Gina K arrived yesterday and my friend Julie gave me a couple of sheets of the papertrey to try until I can place an order there. I am on the hunt for the perfect paper to color on, is you have suggestions, let me know.

Penguin with a Tree

Hello! I want to thank everyone for the concern and comments about my grandfather. He is doing much better now, still sore and limping a little but on the mend. And thanks for not telling me I was crazy for making him that kind of card! I have a fairly simple card tonight. I did get an early start on my Christmas cards this year, did a few then kind of stopped. Since it is now November, I have decided I need to get busy making my cards! i started with this cute penguin from The Angel Company, stamped him with Memento ink and then colored everything with Copic markers. I used some white Fun Flock on his hat. I cut the tree out with a craft knife and then used scalloped oval Nestabilities to cut out the image. I like the way that looks, with the tree outside of the main oval. The sentiment is from CTMH and was stamped with their White Daisy ink. Papers are DCWV and the ribbon is from my stash.

If you are in the area, don't forget about Craft Night tomorrow night. We will be collecting food items for the food pantry, so please help us fill the shelves! This food pantry services the entire community and due to the economy has had many more requests than normal. Due to the holidays approaching, the calls will probably continue to rise in the next couple of months. SO if you are able, please help us restock.

My odd sense of humor

Okay, I admit, I do have an odd, quirky sense of humor. But it runs in my family so they understand me. About a week and a half ago, I got a phone call from my mom while I was at church. It was one of those phone calls that you knew something was up immediately. She was at the E.R. with my eighty three year old grandfather. Everything turned out okay. Here's the story: he was pulling his truck either into or out of the garage, put it in park and then got out. when he got in front of it, the truck started rolling, hit him, flipped him and then ran over his arm and his leg. Fortunately his neighbor was outside, stopped the truck before it went through her house and was able to help him into the house. By some miracle, he had no broken bones or permanent damage and only has cuts and bruises. So I call him to see how he is doing he is cutting up and saying he should have the truck arrested for attempted murder. So here is the card he is getting in the mail; a truck in a jail cell. The closest thing that I have to a truck stamp is this Riley in a van stamp. To make the jail, I added the Lockup bars from the Busted Hanna set. He will get the joke and it will give him a chuckle. It's a very basic, simple card because that is what he likes the most. Sorry for the wonky angle of the photo, I forgot to take a picture so I pulled it out and took a quick one. I also used a wishing you well stamp from EK Success, CTMH White Daisy ink, and a photo corner punch. Oh yeah, this was his old work truck that I think my mother has forced him to finally retire.

TTC--Use Something Soft

It is a beautiful fall day here in Tennessee, the sun is shining, the sir is a little crisp and I see lots of color when I am outside. Perfect day for a fall inspired card. This is my card for the Twisted Thursday Challenge from Shirley's 2 Girls. The twist this week was to use something soft--Flower Soft, Fun Flock or Felt. I chose this image from S2G called Fall Gracie, I think she is too cute. This was a digital image that was printed out on my temperamental printer on a day that it decided to print. Everything was colored with Copic markers and then I used Autumn Flower Soft to fill in the pile of leaves at Gracie's feet. On the plain panel behind my main image, I used two eyelets from Making Memories and some twine from Jo-Annn's, all papers are from DCWV.

I've had a great day today. I have gotten some more done toward getting my craft space moved. I knew this project would be a huge undertaking and that is why I had put it off for so long. Because of our work schedules, we have only been getting to do bits and pieces of it here and there. but I can see progress being made. I cannot wait to have that done. It's also been a day of cleaning and laundry, which has not been so much fun. I am making BBQ chicken pizza for dinner tonight and am waiting for the crust to finish rising before I can get it ready to go in the oven. Have a great night!