Sunday, March 31, 2013

Happy Easter

Here's another Easter card that I meant to post yesterday.  We had our family Easter celebration yesterday with all our children and grandchildren.  A wonderful time, but crazy!


The Queen this week at SCS is Sharon aka smadson.  This is Sharon's beautiful card that I chose to CASE.  

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Love and Sympathy, Teeny, Tiny Wishes
Ink:  Marina Mist, SU Markers (Pear Pizzazz, Marina Mist)
Paper:  Whisper White, Marina Mist
Other:  Fancy Fans EF, Essential Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercing Tool

Thanks for stopping by to visit.

Enjoy!

Easter Blessings

Easter Blessings to you.


He Lives

I serve a risen Savior,
He's in the world today;
I know that He is living,
Whatever men may say;
I see His hand of mercy,
I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him
He's always near.


He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives 
today!
He walks with me and He talks with me
Along life's narrow way.
He lives, He live, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives:
He lives within my heart.


In all the world around me
I see His loving care,
And tho my heart grows weary
I never will despair;
I know that He is leading
Thro' all the stormy blast,
The day of His appearing
Will come at last.

He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives 
today!
He walks with me and He talks with me
Along life's narrow way.
He lives, He live, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives:
He lives within my heart.
                                                                           Alfred Henry Ackley

Enjoy!


Friday, March 29, 2013

Bloomin' Marvelous Muse

Some Spring flowers for you today.


Inspired by this week's Muse 
muse

 Ardyth Percy-Robb.   Ardyth is an inspiration to so many not only with her talent in creating cards, but in her commenting and encouraging of others.

This is the card she made for our inspiration.


by Ardyth Percy-Robb

When I looked at this card, I was inspired by the Spring colors surrounding the sentiment and the black mat to enhance the lovely colors.


I masked an area for the sentiment and stamped the flowers and leaves.  My scale wasn't quite right so I ended up cascading my flowers down one side.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Bloomin' Marvelous, Heard from the Heart (retired)
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Pretty In Pink, Wisteria Wonder, Certainly Celery, Jet Black StazOn, SU Markers (Basic Black, Peach Parfait) 
Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black
Other:  Sticky Notes, Ruler

You have until Saturday noon to enter this challenge then the voting opens and  you can vote on your favorite three cards.  There is so much inspiration in this gallery.  It's really hard to narrow it down to three cards!

Thanks for the visit.

Enjoy!



Thursday, March 28, 2013

Hope is....

A  very simple card today.



CASology's code work this week is


The Color Challenge at SCS this week is More Mustard, Tempting Turquoise and Daffodil Delight.  Dessert is Spring.


If you look closely at the butterflies, you can see that I used More Mustard and Daffodil Delight on one and Daffodil Delight and Tempting Turquoise on the other.  They were stamped in black and colored with Stampin' Up! markers.

At Simon Says 
ANYTHING GOES

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Papillon Potpourri, Blooming with Kindness
Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, SU Markers (Daffodil Delight, More Mustard, Tempting Turquoise)
Paper:  Whisper White
Other:  Ovals Framelit Dies, Floral Oval Dies (Spellbinders)

I haven't seen any butterflies yet this Spring.  But it won't be long until they start to appear.

I'm so glad you could stop in.  I really enjoy your comments.  They keep me motivated.

Enjoy!

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

For Queen Val

This week's Queen for the Day at SCS is Val, aka Greywolf.  Val is so encouraging as well as a talented cardmaker.  When I saw this card in her gallery, I thought of this stamp I recently bought and hadn't inked up yet.




LOL, when I ordered it, I didn't realize it was so BIG!  This is only about a quarter of the image.  It's a full size background stamp.

I inked it with different colors of green.  I started with Certainly Celery at the top, Wild Wasabi in the middle and Gumball Green at the bottom.

The monochromatic colors work for the TLC challenge at SCS.  Much more fun than basketball in my book!
 Monochromatic Madness!

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Love and Sympathy, Leafy Vines (Hero Arts)
Ink:  Certainly Celery, Wild Wasabi, Gumball Green
Paper:  Whisper White, Gumball Green
Other:  Tulip Frame EF

I'm hoping we'll be seeing these soft Spring greens on the trees soon.  They started out but they're staying put waiting for warmer days.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy!





Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Poppies for Jennifer

The Featured Stamper at SCS this week is Jennifer Timko.  I've been following Jennifer for quite some time and love her work.  I've probably CASEd her before but welcomed the chance to do so again.  You can see the card I used for inspiration here.  I used her layout and changed the image, colors, location of the sentiment and ribbon treatment.



Dynamic Duos #45 picked my colors


The CAS challenge at SCS asks that we use only line stamps, no solids!

Addicted to CAS has a codeword
 

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Pleasant Poppies, All Holidays (retired)
Ink:  Soft Suede, SU Markers (Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake)
Paper:  Whisper White, Soft Suede, DSP
Other:  Blender Pen, Pretty in Pink Taffeta Ribbon

I recently had an email about the ribbon treatment on this card and thought I would use it again.  It's just a knot tied about an inch from one edge and the other end wrapped around to the back of the design piece.  A glue dot works really well under the knot (and under the tail as I found out when I was editing a picture with a droopy tail).  Another glue dot fixed it up just fine.

If you want some good inspiration I recommend a visit to Jennifer's blog.  What a treat!

I'm glad you could stop by to visit.

Enjoy!






Monday, March 25, 2013

Merry Monday Santa

I tried something very different (for me) for Merry Monday this week.  This week we're playing Tic Tac Toe.  Here's the playing card.


Have a look at how I played....


I went straight down the center.  Designer Paper, Paper Piecing, Santa

I saw this stamp on sale just before Christmas and since I didn't have any Santa stamps, I treated myself.   He reminds me of the Sanat's of my youth.  My Aunt Peg loved Santa's and I always think of her and remember Christmases with her when I see a Santa.

It's a really big image and the card ended up being 5" x 7". 

See what the rest of the Design Team has done.




I'm off to Pixie's Crafty Playground with the paper piecing snippets I used.  I see that Di really liked my hexagon snippets card from last week.  Thanks for the shout out, Di!  I'm so glad you liked it and provide such a fun place to play.  And a reason to use those little pieces that keep growing in the box.

I'm also going to take Santa to Sarn's for Rudolph Day.  On the 25th to the end of each month, Sarn asks for anything Festive.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps: Many Merry Messages, Take it to Heart (retired), Santa (Stampendous)
Ink: Real Red, Gumball Green, Encore Silver, Tuxedo Black (Memento),  Marker (Real Red), Copics
Paper:  Whisper White, Real Red, DSP 
Other: Dazzling Details 

I hope you'll join us at Merry Monday this week.  There's something for everybody on this Tic Tac Toe card!

Thanks for stopping by. 

Enjoy!

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Ears to You

I need to get my Easter cards in the mail!  Here's one for Aunt Marian.


I stamped all these bunnies 3 times each time inking in a different color.  Then I cut them out and adhered to the front of piece embossed with the Vine Street Embossing Folder. 

Pretty quick once the little critters were cut out.  For someone who hates to fussy cut, I sure have been doing a lot of it lately!

Someone asked me why I placed the tail so on the yellow bunny.  When I look at him I see a bunny looking over his shoulder.  Is that the way you see him? 

Simon Says Stamp is asking for EASTER/SPRING cards this week.  So we're hopping over there.

Shopping our Stash is also looking for EASTER/SPRING cards.  I didn't buy anything new for this but the bunnies are pretty new.  However, I used this grass punch that's been gathering dust on the shelf and a long ago retired Happy Easter stamp. 

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Ears to You, Something to Celebrate (retired)
Ink:  Primrose Petals, Gumball Green, Summer Starfruit
Paper:  Whisper White, Certainly Celery
Other: Vine Street EF (retired), Primrose Petals Ribbon, Grass Punch (Fiskars), Tiny Pom Poms (?)

I think I'll go stamp some little Easter Eggs and tuck them in among the bunnies.  What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!


Friday, March 22, 2013

Seize the Birthday Muse

I'd been pondering on the Muse challenge all week.  Then I saw the Color Challenge at SCS  that called for blues and thought about the Watercolor background with re-inkers technique. So I got out the blue re-inkers and water.  

Then yesterday,  I saw the Seize the Birthday sketch and this card just came together.  

Sometimes it pays to be slow.  Maybe....


Our Muse  this week is Marion Vagg and this is the beautiful card she inspired us with.


I focused on the horizontal lines, the blues and the white embossed flowers for my card.

The Color Challenge at SCS this week is 

cc418-colourlovers.com.jpg

Marina Mist
Midnight Muse
Baja Breeze
any neutral
DESSERT: add at least 1 gem or sequin

Seize the Birthday is for the girls this week.  Here's Lesley's fantastic sketch.


To do the background, I wet some shimmery white cardstock with my Aqua Painter an dropped some Baja Breeze and Marina Mist re-inkers on the wet paper letting it swirl and mix.  (I helped it swirl with the Aqua Painter.)  I let it cover the whole (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") piece of paper.  After it was dry, I cut off the piece I wanted.  (Some of it wasn't very pretty where I tried to add the Midnight Muse.  I learned that it's best to stay with the lighter colors.)

I used my Color Spritzer and the Midnight Muse marker to get some touches of the Midnight Muse on the background piece.

The flower was stamped in Whisper White and embossed with White Embossing Powder.

The sentiment is stamped in Midnight Muse.

Some score lines mimic Marion's stripes and added a little more interest.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps: Secret Garden, My Friend
Ink:  Whisper White, SU Marker (Midnight Muse), Re-inker (Baja Breeze, Marina Mist
Paper:  Shimmery White, Midnight Muse, Whisper White
Other: Aqua Painter, Color Spritzer Tool, Simply Scored, Basic Pearl

There's still time to check out these challenges and join in.

I'm so glad you could stop by today.

Enjoy!



Thursday, March 21, 2013

Honeycomb for Nancy

The Featured Stamper at SCS this week is Nancy Littrell.  I've been a fan of Nancy for quite awhile and she's answered many craft questions for me.  I printed off 5 cards that I really wanted to CASE.  But this card really stuck in my mind so I went in this direction.  I'm sure I'll be CASEing the others soon.  Nancy's CAS style always inspires me.



Dynamic Duos influenced the colors here.


Addicted to CAS gave the codeword

CASology has another codeword


My song is Honeycomb.  LOL, that's an old memory. Maybe I should have put a bee on this card instead of a butterfly.  Hmmm.

Pixie's Crafty Workshop is going to get sick of me stopping by the playground.  But with all these snippets, I couldn't stay away.  I used up some of those pesky little pieces of decorative paper from the snippet box.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Sincere Salutations, Papillon Potpourri
Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, VersaMark, SU Marker (So Saffron)
Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black, So Saffron DSP
Other: Honeycomb EF, Clear EP, Bitty Butterfly Punch, Black Scallop Dots Ribbon, Basic Pearl

This involved a lot of cutting, but it went pretty fast after I embossed all the papers.  One good thing about those little snippets is that I could fit more than one in the embossing folder.

After stamping and coloring the butterfly, I smacked it with the VersaMark and clear embossed it.  I love the Bitty Butterfly Punch.  It's so much easier than scissors!

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you'll pop over to the challenge sites for some great inspiration!  It's fun to play along too!

Enjoy!






Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Fabulous Florets for the Queen

The Queen for the Day at SCS this week is Rita (aka scootsv).  This is the beautiful card I chose to CASE.


The CAS challenge this week is to use this image for inspiration.  So I changed the butterfly from Rita's design to a poppy.


The flower was stamped on watercolor paper with StazOn ink and colored using the Marker Layering Technique.  You can find this technique here on SCS.  I found it very easy to follow and love the technique for this flower.  After fussy cutting it out,  I popped it up with dimensionals so it really stands out!

The leaves are sponged with a little Lucky Limeade to give them some depth.  I need more practice on sponging on the leaves though.

Addicted to Stamps and More has their Make Your Mark challenge starting today. I definitely used markers for this flower.

Pixie's Crafty Workshop is a busy place with all the gang bringing their snippets to the playground.  This is my second entry this week.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Fabulous Florets, Perfectly Penned
Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, Lucky Limeade, SU Markers (Calypso Coral, Poppy Parade, Riding Hood Red, Basic Black)
Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Watercolor snippet, Lucky Limeade snippet
Other:  Blender Pen, Little Leaves Sizzlit, Fancy Fans EF

Thanks for stopping by today.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Another Eagle Has Landed

Seize the Birthday is for the guys this week.  Here's the sketch we're using.


I'm still going with the Eagle theme from last week.



Quick and easy.  My favorite kind.  

The eagle was already stamped on Shimmery White.  I used the big white insert from the 12" x 12" DSP packs for the card base.  It's nice and heavy and a perfect match for the Shimmery White. 

And it used some snippets so I'm off to Pixie's Crafty Workshop to play at the playground.  It looks like it's pretty cold there so we'll need to bundle up.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  In Wilderness, Short and Sweet (both retired)
Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, Midnight Muse
Paper:  Shimmery White, Real Red, Print Poetry DSP, Insert from DSP pack for card base
Other: Zig Zag EF (Cuttlebug)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Enjoy!

Monday, March 18, 2013

Merry Monday Snow Family

It's Merry Monday Time.  This week is a theme week and the theme is



I love snowmen and I have quite a few.  I decided to use one of Torico's digital images this time.


Isn't this the cutest snow family?

I was able to incorporate some other challenges with this card.

Freshly Made Sketches had this fantastic sketch by Jennifer.  I rarely get a chance to play with this challenge and I'm so glad I could use it this week.  I flipped it and used the snowflake instead of a button.

ColourQ has some really good colors for Christmas this week.  I wasn't sure about the two shades of green and don't have Glorious Green.  I substituted Gumball Green, which I think is pretty close.  And I was pleasantly surprised at how much I like the colors together.


Come join us at Merry Monday and get the jump on that Christmas card stash.  Check out the other DT cards.  Prepare to be amazed!

Judy May (GD)


All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  More Merry Messages, Digital image (Birdie Brown)
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento), SU Markers (Lucky Limeade, Gumball Green, Basic Gray)
Paper:  Whisper White, Print Poetry DSP, Gumball Green, Lucky Limeade, Silver Glimmer
Other:  Dazzling Details, Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine, Snowflake Punch (MS)

I'm so glad you could stop by today!

Enjoy!






Saturday, March 16, 2013

Playing with Muse

My time is almost up for the Muse challenge and I finally got a card finished late last night.



This week's Muse was Therese Calvird and this was her beautiful card that we were to use as our Muse (or source of inspiration).  



The first thing that caught my eye about Therese's lovely card was the cut out circle with the die cut and the simple layout.  I tried to go with a flower but mine were either too big or too small.  Then I thought of this set of butterflies that I bought a year ago and never inked up.  I pulled them out and I amused myself by going off in a different direction than I planned.

I know this happens to you sometimes.  It seems to be happening to me a lot lately!

The door is about to close so I need to take this over to the Muse site.  Voting starts at noon. Did you know that the winners are determined by viewers?  Kind of a new concept.

These are some other challenges that I want to enter.




I used Cameo Coral and Calypso Coral to color the butterfly.  They came out darker than I'd planned.  I hope that's OK. 

Less is More is having a theme week

Frame it!

To get the matted circle, I cut a circle from the black with a Nestie then punched the white with my 2 1/2" Circle Punch.  LOL, I probably won't ever be able to do that again and have it come out right!  I should have added a ribbon, but it's too late now.  That panel is there to stay.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps: Butterfly (Lost Coast Designs), Blooming with Kindness
Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento), SU Markers (Cameo Coral, Calypso Coral, Basic Black)
Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black
Other:  2 1/2" Circle Punch, Circle Nesties (Spellbinder)

I'm so glad you could stop by.  Sorry I have to rush off, but I do want to join the party while the door is still open.

Enjoy!