Peeking in to say Hi!

Hi everyone! I am still on blogging vacation but I did have a few minutes this evening to steal a couple pictures from my daughter’s FB page to share with you. We have had a couple of rough days in the nursing department….as my DD says, “Why is something that is supposed to be NATURAL so darn difficult?” Good question! But she is persevering….we’ll see what this week brings.

Here are a couple of baby pictures to give you a smile:

All dressed up to come home from the hospital:

Check out the SHOES:

And we OBVIOUSLY do NOT like the car seat (this is the funniest picture I have ever seen!)":

A much more calm baby after her bath:

Thanks for indulging me….I am enjoying my first week being a grandmother! Even though my stamp table is gathering dust, I will be there this week getting ready for my Christmas card stamp camp, but I’ll save posting until after I come back! MISS EVERYONE!

Taking a Vacation

Good morning all!  In light of all that is going on in our family, plus the fact that we’re going on vacation soon, I am taking a little blogging vacation as well!  I will be lurking around, but not posting anything for a couple weeks, but I’ll be back the second week of September!  And I leave you with this:

and this:

I am ready for some snuggle time!!  Thanks again for all your wonderful prayers, well-wishes and mom-mom comments!!  Be back soon!

Baby News

FINALLY!  Little Cassidy has finally made her appearance and my DD and SIL are overjoyed, as we are!  She has a shock of dark hair and dark blue eyes, so considering my DD is a blondie, I’d say she is gonna look like her daddy!

She was awake, alert and making the cutest noises until I took this photo….hopefully I will have one of us together soon!  7 lb, 13 ounces of joy!  Thanks so much for all the prayers, well-wishes and blessings you have sent out!♥♥

Color Throwdown 106

Oh, I am just loving the colors that our hostess, Danielle, chose today! They are right up my alley! What do you think?

I pulled out some beachy stamp sets that I haven’t used all summer….gotta use ‘em quick, as summer will be gone before we know it!!! I used Impression Obsession’s Nautical and Crafty Secret’s Seaside sets for my collage-style card today:

I also used the Fall to Layout #103, shown here:

I stamped random images on the Soft Sky panel with Soft Sky ink, then did the starfish and sentiment with Memento Cocoa Brown. The cheesecloth background is from CHF, stamped in Crumb Cake. I just LOVE that effect!

And how do you like this snazzy knot? My CTD teammate Barbara has done these several times on her cards, and I actually remembered to look up her tutorial HERE so that I could do one too. It was very easy; her directions are perfect! I thought it added a nice nautical touch to my card. The knot is layered on a piece of Certainly Celery wide grosgrain ribbon; that’s where I snuck in that challenge color!!! I have left the inside blank so I can add my sentiment when I need a special card!

So now let’s see what you can create with these soft, subtle colors! Splash on over to the CTD blog to get all the details and to link your card so we can all see it. Remember, you don’t need to use these exact colors, but we do want something close and we appreciate a shout out on your blog! Now here are links to all our designers:

• Broni - Splashes of Watercolor
• Tammy - Stamp Happy
• Barbara - Paper Pursuits
• Danielle – Wild Dragonfly Designs
• Laura --Lil’Inker
• Kristen – Mindless Creativity
• and our Guest Designer for this month, Chupa Palamountain – Random Acts of Creativity

• Stamps: Cheesecloth, CHF; Nautical, Impression Obsession; Seaside, Crafty Secrets
• Paper: Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky
• Ink: Soft Sky, Crumb Cake, Cocoa Brown, Memento
• Acc: Twine, Ticket Corner Punch, Pearls, Daubers, Cert Celey Grosgrain, Dimensionals

CQC46

I just love today’s challenge---not only are these colors gorgeous, so is this little apron Arielle chose to inspire us today! I plucked some October Afternoon Thrift Shop papers out of my stash to make this little number:

I used this sketch from Get Sketchy:

and pulled out some neglected PTI sets, Vintage Picnic Sentiments and Mixed Messages. I totally cased my stampin’ idol Arielle with those little heart tags on my ribbon:

Those little doodads require patience!!! (Something that is hard to come by in my stamp room!!!) Well, I’m telling tales on myself….the central portion of the card are hearts punched out with SU’s small heart punch, but the polka dot image itself is a heart stamp from SU’s I {Heart} Hearts. I did substitute Real Red ink for Cherry Cobbler, only because it matched my DP better!!!

So hurry on over to the CQC blog so that you can play along and see what the other designers did with these sweet colors! Click on the sidebar to be whisked to the court!

• Stamps: I {Heart} Hearts; Vintage Picnic Sentiments & Mixed Messages, PTI
• Paper: Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight, Baja Breeze, Thrift Shop, October Afternoon
• Ink: Palette Noir, Real Red
• Acc: Small Heart Punch, 3/4” Circle Punch, Ribbon from my stash, string, dimensionals, sewing machine, Nestie

CAS80

This little thank you card is for today’s SCS CAS challenge, which is a sketch; unfortunately, this morphed into something a little more than clean and simple!  I just wanted ONE sheet of my cute Cosmo Cricket paper and I kept seeing more & more cute designs….that was it.  I had to add more.  Oh well!  This also fulfils the OCC Challenge, Back to School.  So here we go:

Short & sweet today….still no baby, please pray that DD goes into labor TODAY.  Otherwise they will induce her tomorrow and I hate the thought of that!!!  Thanks for visiting!

• Stamps:  Every Little Bit, Star PRints, PTI
• Paper:  Confetti Cream, Tangerine Tango, Joy Ride & Nutmeg, Cosmo Cricket
• Ink: Stazon, Tangerine Tango
• Acc:  Ret Polka Dot Ribbon, 1 3/4” Circle Punch, Markers

Paper Players Sketch Challenge 11

Morning, peeps!  Today, Lesley has a lovely sketch for us to use:

I love square cards; I always feel it’s a bigger canvas on which to create!!!  I just got some new goodies from the Holiday Mini, so I thought I would make a cute Christmas card….this is probably more work than I would normally put into one of my cards, but I’ll save this one for someone special:

This uses the new set, Merry Crittermas, along with the jumbo wheel Jolly Jingles….I usually don’t go for these little whimsical animal images, but I thought this one was kinda cute.  This actually uses two images.  I cut a mask from a Post-It Note to cover the critters and stamped the tree behind it.  Doesn’t it make a cute scene?  I just don’t know if I colored them “correctly”!! I used blender pens and ink pads, so the coloring is not as intense as if I had used Copics, but I wanted it to be all SU.  I trimmed down the Modern Label punch by cutting it in half and fitting it a little more closely to my small oval sentiment.  I added some snowy sparkle to the snowflakes and ground, too:

And stamped the little sentiment and some snowflakes on the inside:

Thanks for visiting today---we’d love to have you play along with us.  Skate on over to the Paper Players blog and share your creation with us and everyone else! 

• Stamps:  Merry Crittermas, Punch Pals, Jolly Jingles wheel
• Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Regals Patterns DP,  Jolly Holiday DP
• Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Sahara Sand, Crumb Cake, Old Olive, More Mustard, Wild Wasabi, Stazon
• Acc:  Nesties, Small Oval Punch, Modern Label Punch, Pinking Hearts Border Punch, DD Glitter, Post-it Note, Dimensionals

JUGS 46 Wild Wild West

Today’s JUGS 46 challenge is to make a project using the Wild Wild West as our theme!!  The purpose of this is to raise money for Ethan’s Rodeo; you can read all about it here.  The digi image and sentiment I am using for my card today are from last year’s fund-raiser, and I am thrilled to be able to use “Lily” and her little pony again!

My Copic-using skills are not quite what some of my stamping cohorts’ are, but I gave it my best shot with the limited supplies I had.  The card base is Pear Pizzazz; I used a mix of papers from Material Girl by CC and On the Boardwalk by Graphics 45; the ribbons also qualify this for Sharon Johnson’s Stamp Simply challenge 152, to use ribbon scraps!  These little pieces were in my ribbon bag…I only wish I could learn to sew straight.  (Actually, I think there is something off in my machine!! LOL!)  Anyway, this card is perfect for an encouragement card I need for a friend who recently took on a major ministry position in our church, and has been really discouraged.  She has horses, so although I am not sure she’s into rodeo, I think she’ll like this nonetheless!

I hope you’ll participate too and help out this great cause! 

• Stamps:  digital images 
• Paper:  Pear Pizzazz, Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla, Material Girl, Cosmo Cricket; On the Boardwalk, Graphics 45
• Ink:  none
• Acc:  computer, Copics, Circle Punches, sewing machine, Nesties, Twill, retired SU ribbon, Regals button, dimensionals

Four Easy Pieces

Remember that movie, Five Easy Pieces?  I do not remember a thing about it except that it was the movie I went to see on my very first date!!  I was so nervous that a boy (an older boy, even) actually asked me out, I couldn’t tell you what the movie was about….except maybe some scene about a sandwich???  ANYWAY….I digress.  My easy pieces today are four easy Christmas cards I did yesterday at a little stamp camp I held for some sweet stamping friends at a nearby church.  LOVE these ladies!!!  So here we go:

We used a lot of retired SU sets, and they loved them all!  Thanks for visiting today!  Email me if you have any questions.

SSC163

Oh my, this is probably one of the silliest cards I ever made….I wanted to use my new Night Owl DP and the Stamping 411 sketch 163:

but somehow the interpretation just didn’t pan out the way I had planned:

Maybe it’s that Concord Crush cardstock….just can’t quite get on board with that shade of purple.  I didn’t want to cover up any of the design, so I used vellum as my horizontal piece….maybe I should have sponged that as well as the DP.  Oh well……I am thrilled with the new little sparkly brads that are in the Holiday Mini catalog, though:

Well, this is short and sweet….still waiting for DD to have her baby.  Waiting is the hardest thing!!!  But signs are there that it may be soon!  Thanks for visiting today!  If you don’t hear from me for a couple days, you’ll know where I am!

• Stamps:  All Holidays
• Paper:  Vellum CS, Concord Crush, Tangering Tango, Perfect Plum, Basic Black, Night Owl DP
• Ink:  Stazon, Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango (for sponging)
• Acc:  Dauber, Circle Punches, Large Oval Punch, Narrow Black Ribbon, Sparkly Brad, SAMJ, dimensionals

CTD105

Are you singing that John Denver song?!!  LOL!!  Barbara’s color choices for today’s Color Throwdown were definitely masculine colors in my book, so I pulled out an Artistic Outpost set I haven’t used for a while called Home.  First, here are her colors:

A bit challenging, aren’t they?  But I persevered, and here’s what I came up with:

I always need masculine birthday cards, so I was glad to stretch myself with these colors!  I did some stamping directly on the DP, and I stamped the Cheesecloth backgrounder across the panel so that the cool edges were visible at the top and bottom of the card.  The layout is from Pam’s TSG67 sketch:

And since the Elegant Eggplant cardstock is too dark on which to write, I added a Confetti Cream panel to the inside:

You might notice that I actually used Old Olive in my card, and not Always Artichoke…..just goes to show that sometimes the designers goof up too!  No problem!  We always say “Use something close!”  So that’s what I did!  We’d love to have you play along with the CTD designers too!  Like I said, if you don’t have these exact colors, that’s okay---we just ask that you use something fairly close.  You can find all the details as well as the Inlinkz feature right on the CTD blog, so hurry on over!  While you’re there, you can check out what the other designers have created, or just check them out here:

• Broni - Splashes of Watercolor
• Tammy - Stamp Happy
• Barbara - Paper Pursuits
• Danielle – Wild Dragonfly Designs
• Laura --Lil’Inker
• and our Guest Designer for this month, Chupa Palamountain – Random Acts of Creativity

Thanks so much for visiting me today!!!

• Stamps:  Home, Artistic Outpost; Cheesecloth BG, Birthday Centers, CHF;
• Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Confetti Cream, Soft Suede, Old Olive, retired SU DP
• Ink:  Old Olive, Soft Suede, Elegant Eggplant
• Acc:  Nesties, Hemp Twine, Chocolate Chip Marker, Vintage Trinkets, 1/16” hole punch, dimensionals

CQC45

Isn’t this a serene scene?  So pretty!!!  Arielle’s ColourQ Challenge today is a sweet fluttering of butterflies against a white background.  The design is CAS, so I did a fairly clean card as well:

using the Things I Love set in the inspiration colors.  I added a little pearly embellishment on the chocolate, a bit of texture on the Wild Wasabi panel and some Wild Wasabi DP peeking out from behind.  The heart theme is carried into the inside:

Hmmm, maybe I should have put some glitter on that piece of chocolate…anyway, check out what the other designers on the Colour Court have come up with and show us your take on these pretty colors!  You can check out the ColourQ blog or just click on the sidebar for all the details! 

Before I go, I thought I’d share a couple of photos I took yesterday evening in my little flower garden:

A male American goldfinch:

A male ruby-throated hummingbird:

Same hummer, from the rear!!!

A grumpy female domestic shorthair cat, who thinks she is a much better “crop” than whatever I can put in this basket from my garden:

Thanks for visiting today!

CAS79 x Two

Today’s CAS79 challenge is gardens; I seem to use this CHF garden sentiment a lot, and pulled it out again for today.  I have to admit, these are two REALLY CAS cards….if you’re looking for fancy schmancy, it’s not here.  The first one has very little stamping, just the sentiment and Linen stamped over a digital image that was printed on some BG Porcelain paper:

The card base is Blushing Bride and the mat is BG Lily Kate.  The digital image is from Karen’s Whimsy—a fun site!  This will be a get-well card for my SIL.    My next card is the total opposite of the above card and has no stamping at all, except the sentiment inside.  My sister and I went yard saling on Saturday and she found me a musty-smelling 1961 reader full of Dick and Jane images….perfect for fun cardmaking!  (Elise, are you reading this?)  I looked through for a garden image and came up with this:

If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember these images---and of course, haven’t we all run through a corn field in our Mary Janes and little red dress?  OF COURSE!!  Anyway, I mounted the illustration on some BG Recess paper,  did a computer-generated sentiment and added a vintage button:

Poor Jane!  Just look at the expression of terror on her face, being lost in the corn field:

Well, enough of teasing Jane….I haven’t quite decided to whom this card will go….I have a lot of friends and relatives who are “of that certain age” and I am sure one of them will appreciate my humor!  Thanks for visiting today!!!