Of Mice and Women

Okay, this is a non-stamping post….so you can move on if you don’t want to see pictures of nature and stuff!  Yesterday was a glorious day in Pennsylvania---finally the sun came out and I got cozy with the other John in my life:

I was merrily mowing along the west side of my house when something popped up from the grass---I squealed and so did baby mouse:

I ran to get my camera, and he was still there when I got back, but boy did he run:

and run some more:

and try to hide:

Finally, I let him run and he hid under some leaves under our maple tree.  I went on mowing; about 20 minutes later, I was mowing along the south side of the house, near another maple tree and he jumped right up from under the leaves and scared me again!  This time he ran up the tree:

He was quick; it was hard to catch a shot; we played hide & seek:

And finally he won---and I lost sight of him!  What a riot!  I also snapped a few photos of my flowers:

Ooops!  Just kidding---wanted to see if you were still awake!  Thanks for humoring me and allowing me to share my little backyard nature event! 

I Love Paris….

actually, I have never been to Paris…..I am visiting it today vicariously through my card, which makes me laugh.  I love making these kinds of cards, which are sort of eclectic, shabby, odd….they make me smile, but does anybody but me “get” them?  Why does this style appeal to me?  It doesn’t have a message, or “say” anything…..but I still like it and it fulfills a creative need for me, so that’s my philosophical thought of the day.  Enough rambling, here’s the whole thing:

Oh, well I guess I’d better explain the reason I made the card:  the City Crafter Challenge Blog challenged us this week to make a card inspired by this:

I knew I had some vintage Paris-y things from the Graphics Fairy, and I already had the little orange flower on my desk, so I just printed everything out, tinted them with some Copics and daubers and adhered it to a BIG 5x7” card of Apricot Appeal.  I added some bling and glitter:

 

I had some really wide organdy ribbon that I tied around the postcard and heated the ends with my heat gun to make them curl up.  Fun!  So this is about as close to Paris as I’ll ever get, and for this country girl, that’s just fine with me!  Thanks for visiting today!  Oh, and if you want a nice tutorial on how to make these little flowers, go here to Lolly Chops!

• Stamps:  Sweet Bee, CHF
• Paper:  Apricot Appeal, WW, Haiku (ret SU), K&Co
• Ink:   Creamy Caramel, Basic Gray
• Acc:  Organdy Ribbon, Bling, Glitter, Heat Tool, Copics, Sponge Daubers, Computer

Card Patterns Sketch

After seeing Broni’s cute card here, I peeked at the Card Patterns Sketch blog….I don’t think I ever visited that one! The sketch was so sweet and simple, I used it to make two more quick cards that needed to go out in the mail today. First, here’s the sketch:

I did one the way the sketch shows, then flipped the other:

This one uses some LilyKate BG paper and images from Starving Artiststamps:

And this one uses a sweet little digital image from Kathy Martin, CC Garden Variety DP, and incorporates some paper piecing and coloring with Copics:

Thanks for visiting today….I think the sun is TRYING to peek out, which will improve my mood greatly!!!

Color Throwdown #93

Happy Wednesday and welcome back to the Color Throwdown!  Danielle is our hostess and what a lovely sweet palette she has chosen!  It reminds me of candy!

 

We’d love to have you play, even if you don’t have these exact colors….just hop on over to the CTD blog for all the details.  We can’t wait to see what you come up with!  I went with a clean & simple design—I am sure I have done a similar layout before; it’s a versatile one,  and it is fun to embellish the little punchouts!

Here are links to the other designers—be sure to check out their samples for lots of inspiration!

• Broni - Splashes of Watercolor
• Tammy - Stamp Happy
• Barbara - Paper Pursuits
• Danielle – Wild Dragonfly Designs
• Kristin - Mindless Creativity
• and our Guest Designer of the month of April, Laura Pryor from Lil’Inker

All products SU unless noted otherwise:

• Stamps:  Medallion, Best Yet (ret)
• Paper:  Pirouette Pink, WW, Razzleberry Lemonade, Urban Garden
• Ink:  Craft White, Melon Mambo
• Acc:  Curly Label punch, White EP, Heat Tool, Felt Flower, Pretties Pearl, Brads (BG and misc from my stash), bling, dimensionals, twill ribbon, TE; corner rounder

Sympathy Watercolors

A dear family friend passed away on Sunday; she and her husband were friends with my parents, and as children, we shared many happy times together.  I sat down on this dreary morning to make a couple sympathy cards. 

I used Watercolor Trio for both cards.  The first one uses a sketch from Stamping 411:

I used my Watercolor Crayons and directly colored the stamp, then spritzed it lightly with water and stamped on to Watercolor Paper.  Simple, but very sweet.  Here’s the inside:

The next one uses markers for directly coloring on the stamp.  This is a case from this card by Mary Fish:

I did not put many embellishments on the card and just let the image and sentiment be the focal points.  Finally, here’s a view of what my little Pumpkin has been spending her day doing:

A perfect way to spend a rainy day----I think I might just do the same!  Thanks for visiting---remember to come back tomorrow!  And thank you so much for all the kind comments you make about my creations—they mean so much to me!

All supplies Stampin’Up! unless otherwise noted.

• First card stamps: Watercolor Trio, Tres Chic, Thoughts & Prayers
• Paper:  Confetti White, Watercolor, Taken with Teal, Certainly Celery, Old Olive
• Ink:  Taken with Teal, Certainly Celery, Versamark
• Acc:  Nesties Labels 4, Spellbinders; Square Lattice EF; Watercolor Crayons, spray bottle,Vanilla HPH; Twill, Taylored Expressions

• Second card stamps: Watercolor Trio, Everyday Blessings, PTI
• Paper:  Confetti Cream, Dusty Durango, Old Olive, Apricot Appeal, K&Company DP
• Ink:  Old Olive, Close to Cocoa
• Acc:  CB EF, Corner Rounder, Markers, Daubers

ColourQ33

Welcome back to another ColourQ challenge!  Take a look at these bold, bright colors!

I chose to do another masculine-themed card using these colors rather than the floral shown in the challenge photo.  I had Holiday Blitz out on my desk, so I thought it would make a fun, easy Father’s Day card.  I also had a slender piece of textured Kiwi Kiss cardstock, so I just folded it for a skinny card:

Since the colors were so bold, I just used shapes and textures, rather than small details, to carry out my theme….although the brads and piercings could be called small details, I guess!  My dad does NOT wear a tie, so this will go to my FIL….he’ll be expecting a boating card, so this will shake him up a bit! :D

Hey, be sure to check out the other CQC Royal Court designers (just click on the blinkie in the right sidebar) to see their creative creations!  And of course, we want you to play along too!  You could be crowned the Color Queen!!!  And thanks so much for visiting today!

CAS Shabby Chic

This is a quick post---Mondays always seem to be a busy day for me, good thing the CAS challenge is on Mondays!!  Today’s is to do a shabby chic card.  This doesn’t usually translate into clean and simple for me, but I tried my best:

My flower is made from sponged vellum; you can find Corie’s tutorial here, The leaves are sponged as well, and cut freehand.  This is also for the Our Daily Bread Designs SLC13, which is to use flowers.  I stamped a portion of the verse on the bottom, then masked it and stamped the rest inside. A little gold-embossed flourish adds a little zing!  Everything was sponged with Close to Cocoa:

Thanks for visiting today!  Remember, tomorrow is ColourQ—make sure you stop back!

All supplies SU unless noted otherwise.

• Stamps:  Season of Joy, Scripture Collection II, ODBD
• Paper:  Vellum Paper, Naturals Ivory, Thrift Shop DP, October Afternoon
• Ink:  Versamark, Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, Cert Celery
• Acc:  Gold EP, Heat Tool, Ribbon & Lace from my stash, Daubers, Corduroy Brad, Crimper