No Shoes

I know that a lot of gals just can't have enough shoes.   When I worked, I was in that group.  Now that my work is at home, I don't wear shoes unless I have to.  And the shoe stamps are as sparse on my stamping shelves as they are in my closet!  So when I saw the CAS-ology challenge this week, my heart sank.

But, I do have a couple of boots.  I hope that's close enough.

I used this week's Freshly Made Sketch from Jennifer T. turned upside down.  I love the simplicity of this sketch.

The Technique Challenge at SCS was to make your own polka dots.  

I didn't exactly make them, but Joan said that we could use a stamp with polka dots.

And this boot has some polka dots.

I also made some dots with the Paper Piercer.  Does that count?

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Happy You (Hostess set)

Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, SU Markers (Gumball Green, Primrose Petas Daffodil Delight, Chocolate Chip

Paper:  Whisper White, Gumball Green, Primrose Petals

Other:  Big Shot, Perfect Polka Dots EF, Scallop Rectangle Clearlit, Paper Piercer Tool

Oh, and the lovely ladies at The Friday Mashup  named my Happy Autumn card as a Glamette from last week.  

Thanks ladies!

I don't know about you, but I'm really glad it's Friday.  I hope you enjoy the weekend.

Thanks for stopping by.  I love it when  you say hello.

Enjoy!

Colleen's Sketch

Hello peeps.  I'm going for another Autumn colors card today.

The CAS challenge at SCS this week is a sketch challenge.  And I was delighted to see that the card we are to use for the sketch was by my friend Colleen when she was a Guest Designer for this challenge.  You can see her beautiful card here.

I used a marker to ink the trunk of the tree then inked the leaves with More Mustard and thumped with Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and Cajun Craze.  After stamping, I used a blender pen to smooth it all out and dropped some leaves on the ground with the points of the markers.

I was so excited to find some scraps that were the size I needed for those strips! Me and my scraps are going to visit Pixie's Crafty Workshop.  There's always some fun going on over there.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree, Three Little Words (retired)
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, SU Markers (Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Cajun Craze)
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Snippets of DSP
Other: Blender Pen

I'm so glad you stopped by today.  Hope to see you again soon.

Enjoy!

Featuring Happy Thoughts

Here's a card for this week's Featured Stamper at SCS.

I chose this card to CASE from Jackie's fabulous gallery.

I used different stamps and although my colors are very similar they are a bit different.  I also rounded the corners to mimic the round petals of the flower.  I should have rounded the corners on the design piece too.  Too late for that now.

It also works for the Less is More challenge this week.  It's recipe week over there and the recipe is to 

TAKE 3 CHALLENGE

Week #2 - Flower or Tree

Week #28 - Use Ink 

Week #82 - 3-2-1

(3 stamps, 2 colors, 1 flower or pearl)

  

All supplies are Stampin ' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card recipe

Stamps:  Apple Blossom (retired)

Ink:  Garden Green, Riding Hood Red

Paper:  Whisper White

Other: Corner Rounder Punch

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Autumn Sunset

Here's a card for this week's Queen for the Day at SCS.  Her name is Joanne but she goes by jojot.  What fun to take a leisurely look at her gallery.  This is the her inspiration card.  Congratulations Joanne! Enjoy your reign!

Here is my card.

I'm also going to take this over to Shopping Our Stash where they're looking for 

Fur or Feathers

No Insects, Spiders or Bees.

The Peach Parfait cardstock and sentiment are both from my stash.

The background was done with the Watercolor Splotches technique.  You can find a tutorial here.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Serene Silhouettes, Three Little Words (retired)

Ink:  Jet Black StazOn

Paper:  Shimmery White, Basic Black, Peach Parfait (retired)

Other:  Re-inkers (Pool Party, Marina Mist, Pumpkin Pie) Aqua Painter

Thanks so much for your visit.  I really enjoy hearing from you and getting by to see what you've been up to.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Snow Much Fun Again

It's time for Merry Monday.

I think I'm wearing out these cute snowmen!  I hope you're not totally sick of them.

Here's Lesley's fantastic sketch

Just wait til you see what the rest of the DT have done! Fantastic!

Lesley Croghan

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

Narelle Farrugia

Bonnie Klass

Terry Blais FD

I'm also going to take this guy to some other challenges:

Jingle Belles; Dashing Through the Snow
Shopping our Stash;  Emboss It!  (With a retired EF)

I hope you'll join us for Merry Monday this week.  Only 13 more weeks til Christmas!

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Snow Much Fun
Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, SU Markers (Real Red, Island Indigo, Basic Black
Paper:  Island Indigo, Whisper White
Other:  Big Shot, Labels Collection Framelits, Finishing Touches Edgelits, Snow Burst EF (retired), Dazzling Details, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine

I'm so glad you stopped by.  I hope you'll let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

Happy Autumn

I love Autumn with the cooler temperatures, the changing colors and the smell of wood smoke in the air!

I used both the "Rock and Roll" and "Thumping" techniques on the leaves as well as "masking".  It sounds like a lot, but it came together very quickly.

It looks like this will fit 5 challenges.  I'm slightly dizzy from the thrill of that!

CAS at SCS to use this photo as inspiration.

ColourQ #155

CAS-ual Fridays #71

Friday Mashup #77

Gratutude Campaign

All supplies are Stampin Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  French Foliage, Small Script (retired)

Ink:  Perfect Plum, Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, So Saffron, SU Markers (same colors)

Paper: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry

Other:  Glossy Accents, So Saffron Grosgrain Ribbon (retired), Linen Thread

I'm really grateful that the wood smoke I've been smelling is from a fire pit in the neighbors yard and not a forest fire!  My prayers go out to those in the west who are having to deal with those horrible fires and those recovering from fires earlier in the year.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I'm grateful to you for taking the time.

Enjoy!

Gratitude Banners

Just a really quick post today.

I wanted to honor the Featured Stamper, Tricia, at SCS this week.  I saw lots in her gallery that I would love to CASE.  Time limits though so I chose this one.  I used Fall colors and changed the sentiment and ribbon.

And it fits the Paper Players challenge this week

It kinda looks like their sign doesn't it.  I didn't realize it until just now.

And since I used some of those little snippets that multiply like rabbits, I think I'll pay another visit to the ladies at the Pixie's Crafty Workshop playground.

And it will join the others in the Gratitude Campaign over at Simplicity!  Go see what she says.  She can say it so much better than I can. 

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps: Bright Blessings whacked up Jumbo Wheel (retired)

Ink:  Rich Razzleberry

Paper:  Whisper White, Snippets of DSP and cardstock

Other:  Pumpkin Pie Taffeta Ribbon, Corner Rounder Punch

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I really appreciate your visits and comments.

Enjoy!

Icky, Tricky Spider

Do you have a thing about spiders?  Big, fat, juicy spiders?  Halloween spiders?  If you do, you're probably not going to like this.  Or maybe you will.  She's pretty harmless.

When I saw this card by Sandi MacIver, I knew I'd have to CASE it.  I changed it up a bit though to fit some challenges.

CAS-UAL FRIDAYS

Dynamic Duos challenge

 Less is More challenge

                                                               simply incorporate an

OVAL

                                                       into your design somewhere. 

Pixie's Crafty Workshop

 to use snippets of card, paper, ribbon, lace, etc. 

and to play nicely in the playground.  

It's great fun to go there, let me tell you.  Always good for lots of laughs.

I thought it would be fun to do something on the inside too.

I even remembered to stamp before I embossed.  ;)

All supplies are Stampin' Up!  unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Spooky Bingo Bits, Wacky Wishes (Hostess set)

Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, Lucky Limeade, SU Marker (Basic Black)

Paper:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Lucky Limeade, Festival of Prints DSP Stack

Other:  Big Shot, Spider Web EF, Googlies, Quilting thread (non SU)

The legs were drawn with my Black Marker and a very shaky hand from the looks of them.

I'm so glad you stopped by.  I hope you come back soon.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Evergreen

It's time for Merry Monday again.  Can you believe how fast Christmas is approaching?

I just realized that I forgot a piece from this sketch.  Oops.

The rest of the Design Team is right on target.  Take a look.

Lesley Croghan

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

Narelle Farrugia

Bonnie Klass

Terry Blais (FD)

I hope you'll join us at Merry Monday this week.  Besides getting a jump on your Christmas cards, you have a chance at being a Guest Designer.

I'm also taking this over to Shopping Our Stash Weekly Challenge.  This week's challenge is 3-2-1.  These counting challenges always make me hyperventilate!  But when I take a deep breath, I can see the count in a card. I have 3 colors of cardstock, 2 stamps and 1 ribbon.  The ribbon by the way is the last piece of paper ribbon left over from my angel making days.  That was so long ago!

All supplies are Stampin' Up!  unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Evergreen

Ink:  River Rock, Early Espresso

Paper:  River Rock, Early Espresso, Whisper White

Other:  Labels Collection Framelits, Square Lattice EF, Paper Ribbon (non SU)

Glad you could stop by.  Let me know so I'll know it's OK to return the visit.

Enjoy!

Gratitude Inspired by Loll

Susan, at Simplicity, has kicked off her 2012 Gratitude Campaign.  In her words, "The Gratitude Campaign is my annual attempt to save Thanksgiving from the commercial limbo between Halloween and Christmas. I resent that Thanksgiving only gets an end-cap at Target...So every year for Thanksgiving, I send cards to random people in my life, telling them how grateful I am to know them."

I thought this was a fantastic idea last year but didn't get around to doing it.  I was really sorry that I didn't make the time.  This year I'm determined to do at least a few Gratitude cards.  Here's the first one.

One of the things I'm grateful for is inspiration from amazing card makers.  The Queen for the Day at SCS this week is one of these people.  You can see the card that inspired me here.  Loll does beautiful CAS cards and manages to add the WOW factor to each one.  Her blog is Stamping with Loll.  Have a peek.

And as if her inspiration isn't enough, Loll has given me the Liebster Award.  

Here's the details of the award:

ABOUT THE AWARD

This award was designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion. Once you've been nominated, you award it to blogs that you like that have fewer than 200 followers, to encourage new visitors to visit these new blogs.

RULES FOR ACCEPTANCE

Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog. Post the award onto your blog. Give the award to five bloggers who you appreciate that have fewer than 200 followers. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know that you have given them this awesome award!

Thank you Loll.  I am honored!  I have so many favorite bloggers that I don't feel like I can choose just 5.  If you look at my profile, you'll see the fantastic blogs that I follow and I try to link to them for you from time to time.  I hate taking time away from visiting all your wonderful blogs by naming just a few.

Another note on Gratitude.  Susan has also started another blog called transforming common days. It's a place to express "Radical Gratitude".  That caught my attention.  I don't get there every day but I'm always glad when I do.  I'm trying to at least add a special blessing to my journal each day and sometimes I get over to Susan's and share it.  It's helping me to be able to express the gratitude that I feel and just don't take the time to express.  There's so much negativity in the world.  This is a bright spot with lots of positive thoughts and sharing.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps: Bright Blessings (retired Jumbo Wheel)
Ink:  Cajun Craze
Paper:  Heavy White, Watercolor (non Stampin' Up!)
Other:  Re-inkers, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Aqua Painter, Little Leaves Sizzlit, Woodgrain EF

The panel behind the cut out leaves is a piece of the Watercolor Splotches technique.  You can see the tutorial here.

Thanks for coming by.  I'm grateful for each and every one of you.

Enjoy!

Autumn's Foliage

When I saw the Serene Silhouettes stamp set, I imagined these trees clothed in Autumn's splendor.  While I can't begin to create what God has done so beautifully, I can  have fun trying to share it on paper.

I think I can get this in the Less is More challenge in time. This week they're asking for FOLIAGE on a One Layer Card.

The One Layer Wednesday challenge, which I've neglected lately is hosted by Cheryl.  She's asking for an AUTUMN card.

The Ways to Use It challenge at SCS is to use Markers. Painting the stamp with my markers is one of my favorite techniques!

The Free for All challenge at SCS is to use the Corner Rounder punch.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Serene Silhouettes, Three Little Words (retired)

Ink: SU Markers (Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Lucky Limeade, Summer Starfruit)

Paper:  Very Vanilla

Other:  Blender Pen, Simply Scored, Corner Rounder Punch

Whew!  It's taken longer to edit the picture and do the blog than to do this card.  Well, not if you count the first try that didn't work out.  You'll be seeing part of that on another card though.

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit.

Enjoy!

Trees

Wow, it's been a busy couple of weeks!  I'm hopeful that life will slow down and I can begin to play a bit more.  Maybe....

I did this card while preparing for a class doing the Watercolor Splotch technique.

I used the colors from the SCS Color Challenge this week, Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie and Midnight Muse.

I needed some masculine, thinking of you cards and I thought this would work.  Looks a bit like a forest fire or, as DD said, a storm rolling in. This is such a fun technique!  You never know how it's going to look and each piece is different.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree, Teeny, Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Jet Black StazOn

Paper:  Shimmery White, Midnight Muse, Very Vanilla

Other:  Aqua Painter, Re-inker (Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Midnight Muse), Stampin' Dimensionals

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I really enjoy your visits and appreciate the time you take to say hello.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Frosty Friends

It's a snowman party for Merry Monday this week.

When I saw this stamp in the Holiday Mini catalog, I knew I had to have it.  These little guys looked like they were having so much fun getting ready for the holidays.

And Lesley's sketch worked perfectly when I tipped it a bit.  Don't ya think?

It's not quite an oval.  I cut the design piece with the largest die from the Apothecary Accents Framelit then whacked off the ends.

I hope you'll join  us at Merry Monday this week.  And check out the beautiful creations from the rest of the design team.

                      Lesley Croghan (off this week)

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst
Narelle Farrugia
               Bonnie Klass (that's me)
     Terry Blais (FD)

All supplies are Stampin' Up! Unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Frosty Friends, Teeny, Tiny Wishes

Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, Pool Party, SU Markers (Real Red, Lucky Limeade, More Musttard, Crumb Cake)

Paper:  Whisper White, Island Indigo, Summer Smooches & retired DSP

Other:  Northern Flurry EF, Apothecary Accents Framelits, Small foam applicator (non SU), Word Window Punch, Dazzling Details

I've been missing sharing with you nearly every day.  It's been pretty busy around here.  It's good to be busy, but I've had to do without some pleasures to keep afloat.  Hopefully I will be back in the swing later in the week.  I've really missed the challenges and blog visiting.

Thanks Darnell for letting me know that my Simply Simple card got honorable mention at Addicted to Stamps.  What a nice surprise! 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Pieced Poinsettia

I love poinsettias at Christmas and have been know to keep one well beyond Christmas and even had the pleasure of having one bloom again.  Hopefully this one won't fade.  It's for the Merry Monday challenge.

Here's Lesley's sketch for this week.

I pulled out the Blossom Builder punch, which I have rarely used. I actually bought it thinking it would work for building a poinsettia.  I think it worked really well, but it's pretty big!

After punching the petals, I used the stylus from my Simply Scored and the Stampin' Pierce Mat to make some veins on the petals and soften the cardstock a bit.  After putting the flower together, I used some faux flower soft pressed into some Crystal Effects in the center.

I will have to put this in a bigger envelope to mail, but it looked so much better off the card a bit.

I hope you'll join us at Merry Monday this week.  The design team has outdone themselves again!

Lesley Croghan

                    LeAnne Pugliese (off this week)

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst
Narelle Farrugia
   Bonnie Klass (me)
Terry Blais FD
Sherry Eckblad GD

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Christmas Blessings, Greetings of the Season

Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, Garden Green, SU Markers (Real Red, Garden Green)

Paper:  Naturals White, Garden Green, Real Red

Other: Faux Flower Soft (homemade: recipe follows), Simply Scored

Faux Flower Soft:  

• Rub 2 stryrofoam balls together and catch in a self closing sandwich bag.  
• Add a few drops of re-inker and smoosh all around.  
• Let dry and add to projects as needed.

Someone from Splitcoaststampers gave me the directions on how to do this. Sorry, I don't  remember who.

I'm probably going to be AWOL for a few days.  I've got to cut sets for some upcoming classes and need to stop playing until that's done.

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Simply Simple

I'm a bit late with this, but the Featured Stamper at SCS on Sunday was jandjccc aka know as Mary.  I am wowed by Mary's gallery.   She has lots of CAS cards with embossing and butterflies.  Is it a surprise that I love her cards?

I didn't pick a specific card, but rather enjoyed all of them.  So here's one for you Mary.  And thank you for all the inspiration.

I see that Addicted to Stamps is having a CAS week.  So I thought I'd take this over to their playground too.

And lastly, but not leastly, that little butterfly used a snippet of DSP so I'm going over to Pixies Crafty Snippet Challenge.  Sorry I'm so late to the party this week.  I can see lots of these elegant butterflies flitting out of that box of scraps!  Do go to Pixie's and see what the rest of the snippet users are coming up with.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Kindness Matters

Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, SU Marker (Basic Black)

Paper:  Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, Snippet of Summer Smooches DSP

Other:  Elegant Butterfly Punch, Big Shot, Flower Garden EF

Thirteen years ago today, our first grandchild was born.  It doesn't seem possible that the tiny infant is now a teenager!  Happy Birthday sweet boy  young man.  In my mind you're still that tiny baby that took my breath away.

Thanks so much for the visit.  Have a wonderful, safe Labor Day weekend.

Enjoy!