Keeping Cool with Snow Much Fun

Summer has arrived with all the heat and humidity.  So I pulled out a snowman to play with.

This was the picture on my January page of one of my calendars.  The more I look at it the more it looks like a giant snowman hanging in the air.  I should have cut his feet out to sit on the top flag.  LOL, I'll send this to someone with a good sense of humor!

I used the sketch from Merry Monday.  There's still time to play over there.

Rudolph days lasts until the end of the month.  Sarn has a delightful card up there and some fun Christmas stamps for a lucky winner.

Festive Friday wants to see a tree on our card.

Winter Wonderland has an interesting challenge

3 snowflakes

2 papers

1 image

3 snowflakes at the top of the DSP (lots in the snowman), 2 decorative papers.  It might be a stretch for the one image, but I'm hoping it's close enough.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Snow Much Fun (retired), Lovely as a Tree, More Merry Messages
Ink:  Jet Black StazOn, Always Artichoke, Handsome Hunter (retired), SU Markers (Crumb Cake, Island Indigo, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black)
Other:  Dazzling Details

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you're having a great weekend!

Enjoy!

Fifth Avenue Features Tina

The Featured Stamper at SCS this week is Tina Hale (aka tinahale38).  I browsed her gallery with my UFO box in mind and chose this card so I find a home for this flower.

Actually it was 2 flowers from the retired Fifth Avenue Floral set.  I want to try this technique with some of the flowers from the Secret Garden set.  I need to use these up first though.

The flowers were stamped with Whisper White on Shimmery White cardstock and embossed with white embossing powder.  Then I wet the flower all over with my Aqua Painter, picked up some re-inker with the same Aqua Painter and touched the tip to the wet flower and moved it around a bit.  After it dried, I fussy cut it out.  I did quite a few of this and the other flowers in the set so you may be seeing more of them this summer as I try to use my UFOs.

Addicted to Stamps and More! is having an Anything Goes challenge this week.

Simon Says Stamp is also having an Anything Goes challenge

Pixies Crafty Workshop will give me another pass with these snippets.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Fifth Avenue Floral (retired), You're a Gem (retired)

Ink:  Whisper White, Crumb Cake

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Shimmery White

Other:  Big Shot, Square Lattice EF, Ink Refills (Pink Pirouette, Cameo Coral), Madeira Die (MB)

Thanks for the visit.

Enjoy!

Best of Butterflies for Queen Lori

The Queen for the Day this week at SCS is Lori (aka saintsrule).  Unfortunately I was not acquainted with Lori's work.  I was amazed and found so much inspiration in her gallery.  This is the sweet card that I CASEd! I loved the soft pastel with the gray.

This butterfly. that I stamped with the new Smoky Slate, was sitting on my table.  It hadn't even made it into the UFO box.  It was a test piece for the inside of one of the upcoming Stamp Stack cards. I colored it with So Saffron ink and a blender pen.

Note:  To get softer and more even color, swipe the marker on a clear block or a plastic lid and pick up the color with a blender pen.  I go all over the image once and then go back over parts of it again to add a little more color.

I thought it would be fun to add a little sparkle so I outlined all the wing sections with a glitter pen.  See the sparkle?

CASology's challenge this week is

Butterflies are free to fly about and we don't have to pay to enjoy their beauty.

Edited to add:

Simon Says Stamp  has a new challenge  ANYTHING GOES.  Just can't pass that up!

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Best of Butterflies, Sentiment (Stamping Studio)

Ink:  Smoky Slate, SU Marker (So Saffron)

Paper:  Smoky Slate, Whisper White

Other:  Blender Pen,  Lacy Brocade EF (retired), Whisper White Taffeta Ribbon, Glitter Pen  (no name)

I'm so glad you could stop by today.  I hope you're having a good week.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday First Christmas

It's Merry Monday time again.  I love this sketch.  There's so much you can do with it!

Here's what I did.

This stamp set, First Christmas, was in last year's Holiday Catalog.  I'm sorry it didn't make it into this years Christmas stamps because I think it's so sweet. I can consider it a NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) that Darnell has challenged us to use.

I used some card and paper snippets so I'll go to Pixie's Playground with this too.

Be sure to check with the rest of the Merry Monday team.  What talent there!

Lesley Croghan

Allisa Chilton

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

Narelle Farrugia

Sue Joyce

Sherry Eckblad

Margaret Moody 

Vicki Burdick

Debbie Marcinkiewicz (FD)

Anja Curvers (GD)

I'd love to see what you can do with Lesley's wonderful sketch.  Have a play and bring one over to Merry Monday to share with us. It's a great way to add to your Christmas card stash!

All Supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  First Christmas, Come to Bethlehem (both retired)

Ink:  chocolate Chip

Paper:  Very Vanilla, Naturals Ivory, Chocolate Chip, Champagne Glimmer, DSP (retired)

Other:  Star of Wonder Die (MB)

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Everything Eleanor For Queen Diane

This week's Queen for the Day is Diane (aka pinkberry).  I loved all the butterflies in her gallery and was going to do a butterfly card until I saw this flower in my UFO box.  It looked pretty sad and lonely, so I cut it out, touched up the color, cut out some leaves from another UFO (leaves but no flowers) and CASEd this card.

I used the colors from last week's CAS challenge at SCS to use 

melon mambo, crumb cake, pear pizzazz, white

I'm a little late for that party, but SCS doesn't have deadlines.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Everything Eleanor, Simply Sketched (Hostess set)

Ink:  Melon Mambo, SU Markers (Melon Mambo, Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz)

Other:  Perfect Polka Dots EF, White Gel Pen

I've gotta say that this card makes me happy! I used some UFOs,  the sentiment is a NBUS and the flag is from snippets.  And it's perfect for a friend whose birthday is coming up!

Enjoy!

Fluttering by with Dynamic Duos

Hi again.  That UFO box of mine is getting a workout.  It's really fun to find items that work for a challenge card.  When I saw the Dynamic Duos challenge, I thought about these leaves that I had stamped a while back.  (Probably at least a year ago.) They didn't work for what I wanted that day and got tossed in the box.

Don't these pieces work perfectly for this challenge? I love it when that happens!

The butterfly was from a friend's punch.  She brought it for Stamp and Share and I punched a few of these beauties before she left.  I hadn't found just the right image to put them on until now.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Growing Green (retired), Blooming with Kindness

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Paper:  Acrylic Pad, Basic Black

Other:  Butterfly Punch (?)

Your response to my thoughts on blogging yesterday are heartwarming!  I'm not going to give up entirely and in a few months when the boys are in kindergarten and preschool, I'll be back full steam ahead.  Honestly, it's so hard to cut back. Making cards helps keep my sanity and I love to share and see what you are doing too.  It's hard to cut back on what you love.  I'll be around.  Thanks for the love!

I'm so glad you could stop by.

Enjoy!

Featuring Jodi and Sue

I've gotten behind on the Featured Stampers at SCS, again.  This is for last week's celebrity, Jodi (aka jodi r.)  She has lots of cards I'd like to CASE but I chose this one for the layout that worked with something from my UFO box.  I see that Jodi made her card from scraps. How appropriate is that!

The embossed and colored piece was in the box.  I added a butterfly from Papillon Potpourri that was in the butterfly box. (I have all kinds of boxes.)  I stamped a sentiment, added a narrow black mat and tied a knot in a snippet of ribbon. 

This week's Featured Stamper is Sue (aka Susiespotless).  I love that call name!  Again, such beautiful cards to amaze and inspire us!  I chose this card because it showed me what to do with the pieces I was working with the night before that totally stumped me.  

The flower, which had been stamped on handmade paper, was in my UFO box.  I fussy cut it and found the already embossed piece that I liked it on but couldn't get any further than that.  Then I went to bed and dreamed about that card all night.  Do you do that?  Not the most restful night's sleep!

When I saw Sue's card, it all clicked.  

I found the DP in the scrap box.  I couldn't find any ribbon that I liked so I used a scrap of Elegant Eggplant and my Scallop Trim Border Punch instead. 

I'm caught up with the Featured Stampers for now.  And I'm so excited to be using some of the UFO's.  

Some of you have commented that I should host a UFO challenge.  While I would love to host a challenge, my time is limited right now.  Like some of my blogging friends, I am thinking about slowing down with the blog.  It seems like I'm spending more and more time on the computer and the boys are only going to be little for a while.  Soon they won't want Nana to play with them and I don't want to look back and wish I'd spent more time playing with them and less on the computer.   

So I'll unofficially challenge you to use your UFOs (UnFinished Objects) and your NBUS (Never Before Used Stuff) and your Snippets and just have fun with them.  Isn't that what this is supposed to be all about?  We need to relax and enjoy the craft.  And if they fit in a challenge, so much the better.

I'm taking these to Pixies Crafty Workshop cause I used Snippets.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe (card 1)

Stamps: Papillon Potpourri, Short & Sweet

Ink:  Bashful Blue, Certainly Cellery, Tuxedo Black (Memento), SU Markers

Paper:  Bashful Blue, Basic Black, Whisper White

Other:  Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon, Bitty Butterfly Punch, Elegant Bouquet EF (retired)

Card Recipe (card 2)

Stamps:  Touch of Nature

Ink:  Perfect Plum

Paper:  Handmade (non SU), Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, DP (non SU)

Other:  Square Lattice EF, Scallop Trim Corner and Border punches, Bitty Butterfly punch, Basic Pearls 

Thanks for the visit.

Enjoy!

Father's Day

A quick share with my Father's Day cards.

Remember last week's Merry Monday sketch?  I tried to use trees as the banners and it didn't work out.  I might add that several of you did use trees and they worked out beautifully!  You can check out the gallery here.

Have I mentioned that DH thinks there needs to be a tree and/or duck or goose on all his cards?  Yeah, I thought so.  So he see's these geese a lot!  There's 3 for our 3 daughters.  He's such a wonderful Dad and Pop Pop!

And I hesitate to even share this one.  I bought this set of stamps at a sale and I had some trouble getting this chickadee to look right.  If nothing else you can see what not to do.

This is the second one I did.  LOL, the first one looked like he had a broken wing.  I sent this one to my Dad who loved getting the mail but didn't notice the imperfections.  What a blessing that I've had such a wonderful Dad!

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe (card 1)

Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree, The Pines

Ink:  Old Olive, Cool Caribbean, Certainly Celery, Tuxedo Black (Memento)

Paper:  Naturals White, Handsome Hunter, Whisper White

Other:  Simply Scored

Card Recipe (card 2)

Stamps:  Birds (MS), Sanded, Something to Celebrate

Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento), Sahara Sand, Soft Sky, SU Markers (Basic Black, Basic Gray, Peach Parfait, Handsome Hunter)

Paper:  Whisper White, Handsome Hunter

Other:  Ovals Framelits, Woodgrain EF

Thanks for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Holiday Peace

There's another great sketch at Merry Monday this week!

 

I pulled out an old stamp set.

The dove was stamped on Midnight Muse and Whisper White and embossed with silver.  I fussy cut the white dove and adhered it over the blue dove with dimensionals.  Someone asked what fussy cutting was.  It's just a fancy way of saying I cut it out with scissors.

The shaped bottom was also fussy cut.  In this case freehand.

After I die cut the circle from the Midnight image, I used the leftover piece for another card.

Two more Christmas cards for my stash!

Be sure to check out the other fabulous cards by the design team. 

Lesley Croghan

Allisa Chilton

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

Narelle Farrugia

Sue Joyce

Sherry Eckblad

Margaret Moody 

Vicki Burdick

Debbie Marcinkiewicz (FD)

Kim Badelt (GD)

Then grab  your stamps and join us at Merry Monday.  I'll be looking for your card in the gallery!

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  To You and Yours, Good Cheer Builder Wheel* (card 1)

Ink:  Encore Silver

Paper:  Midnight Muse, Whisper White

Other:  Silver EP, Silver Cord (card 2-non SU)

* I removed the rubber from the wheel and added Clear Mount Cling foam to use on a clear block.

Thanks for the visit! 

Enjoy!

Yellow

I've got to be quick.   I've had this card made for several days but couldn't get the photo edited. 

The CASology challenge this week is

If you haven't been over there, you've missed the sunniest, most cheerful gallery ever!

CAS-Colours and Sketches has a sketch this week that worked wonderfully for this card.

When I saw it, I immediately thought of the daisies I made a couple of weeks ago.  Directions and another daisy card are here.

And I used some of the leftover paper to make another card.

I'd better get over to CASology.  They're about to close the door. 

Edited to add:  In my haste I forgot a challenge.  Hope it's not too late.  Addicted to Stamps and More #49 is ADDICTED TO CAS.  This is a favorite of mine. 

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Made for You (retired)

Ink:  Daffodil Delight (card 1), Pear Pizzazz (card 2)

Paper:  Whisper White, Daffodil Delight, DSP (retired)

Other:  Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Paper Piercing Tool, Itty, Bitty Shapes Punch Pack, Crystal Effects, Daisy Punch (Paper Studio), Rose Leaf Punch (MS)

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you'll come back soon.

Enjoy!

Black, White plus One

The challenge at CAS on Sunday this week is Black, White plus One.

A black flourish from Baroque Motifs and a flower left from a flower making class, along with an embossed snippet go together perfectly for this challenge.

And I'll take another trip to Pixie's Playground to see what the gang is up to.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe
Stamps:  Baroque Motifs (retired), You're a Gem (retired)
Ink:  Jet Black StazOn
Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Melon Mambo
Other: Big Shot, Flower Fusion Sizzlit, Adorning Accents EF, Basic Black Brad, Basic Black Ribbon

I'm glad you could stop by today.  Hope you'll come back soon.

Enjoy!

Spring Garden for Queen Phyllis

This is the card I made for last week's Queen for the Day, Phyllis (aka tater), at SCS.  I used this card to CASE.  I really enjoyed exploring Phyllis' gallery.  So many new ideas for me there.

The image came from my UFO box.  This box is getting so full that I need to concentrate on making cards just from this box for a while!

The stamp set is a very old set called Spring Garden.  I have a lot of images that I stamped from the set.  I can probably make at least 20 cards from these images alone!

Shopping our Stash has asked us to use our oldest stamp.  This is probably the oldest image in my UFO box too!

Pixie's Crafty Workshop is always looking for cards made with snippets.  All but the main card were snippets. 

I did a second card with another of the same image.  I had stamped it twice on the same scrap of paper.  So I thought I'd get it on a card too.

I had this piece that I had cut off the Simply Sent Happy Hello card sets that was in the Sale-a-bration catalog.  I cut the cards up to get more mileage out of them.  This was a card back that I had embossed and didn't use.  This one went together really fast.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps: Spring Garden

Ink:  Not QUite Navy, Old Olive

Paper:  Whisper White, Midnight Muse, DP (from a friend)

Other:  2 1/2" Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/4" Circle Punch, White Taffeta Ribbon (card 1), Nestie Lacy Scallop Circle (Spellbinders; card 1), Basic Pearls (card 1)

I think I'm going to challenge myself to only use images from my UFO box for a while and see if I can get the contents down.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Enjoy!

Merry Monday Ornament Keepsakes

It's Merry Monday time again!  This week I'm going for the gold.

Here's this week's sketch.  It amazes me that Lesley can come up with a different sketch each week! She is amazing!

I've got to admit that this sketch really challenged me.  First I saw 3 trees.  Do you see them when you turn the sketch over?

I couldn't make that work. But by adding some trees I was able to make a great Father's Day card for DH.

I hadn't used my Ornament Keepsake set in quite a while.  (Even though they're not in the new catalog, the stamps and the dies are still available.)  So I pulled out my gold embossing powder and went to work.

When I saw the fantastic cards the rest of the design team did, I wondered why I didn't just pull out some DSP?  Oh, well, you know me.  DSP is to hoard and not to use.  Oh, it's not? 

Pixie's Crafty Workshop is looking for cards made with snippets and I was able to use quite a few snippets on this so I'm going to skip over to the playground.  Have I ever mentioned that Di has some lovely prizes each week?  Well she does and I am the happy (oh so happy) winner if Ryn's Water Droplet stamp that I mentioned 3 or 4 times last week.  I am so excited, Di and can't wait to stamp with them.

CAS-ual Fridays is asking for

  

Crafty Hazelnut's Challenge #128 is looking for Diecuts or Punched Shapes

Christmas Cards All Year Round is looking for Vintage Cards this month.  

Festive Friday Challenge #10 is looking for a vintage theme too.  These look like vintage ornaments to me.

All supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted

Card Recipe

Stamps:  Ornament Keepsakes, More Merry Messages

Ink:  Encore Gold

Paper: Very Vanilla, Brushed Gold

Other:  Gold EP, Holiday Ornaments Framelits, Square Lattice EF, Gold Cord

We're almost half way through the year.  Have you started on your Christmas cards yet?  Now's a good time to start and I hope you'll join us at Merry Monday.  And be sure to check out the rest of the Design Team's cards.  They're awesome!

Lesley Croghan

Allisa Chilton

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

Narelle Farrugia

Sue Joyce

Sherry Eckblad

Margaret Moody 

Vicki Burdick

Debbie Marcinkiewicz (FD)

Brenda Hofstatter (GD)

I hope I haven't kept you too long.  I appreciate your visit and especially your comments.  

Enjoy!