Summer Starfish

I was able to squeak in some stamping time yesterday, in between cleaning and working, and I made a card for three challenges:  Our Creative Corner’s Buttons ‘n Burlap or Bows; The Kraft Journal’s Good Ole Summertime Make It Monday Challenge; and the iSpy Sketches sketch #20.  Here’s the iSpy sketch:

and here’s my “good ole’ summertime” card:

I used a Crumb Cake base; some papers from Pink Paislee’s Indigo Bleu line; stamps are retired SU Beautiful Beach and Lizzie Anne’s Shore Thoughts.  I added a burlap panel and some buttons; the starfish is sparkly, but you can’t see it from here!  If you have any questions, please shoot me an email!  Have a great day—stay cool!  It’s HOT here today!

ColourQ142

  

Woohoo, happy Tuesday everyone!  I always look forward to Arielle’s challenges; she knows where to go for all the trendy stuff….good thing, because “trendy” would not be a word someone would use to describe me!  But I can be trendy in my crafting!  What do you think of this:

This reminds me of a needlepoint purse I made many, many years ago!  Now when I am faced with color combinations like this, I usually revert back to my old standard “four-part harmony” sketch:

I used some fun embossing folders (Square Lattice, Houndstooth, Fancy Fan and Chevron)  for three of the colors, punched them out with a 1” square punch and mounted them on a matching punchout from the Postage Stamp punch, popping them up and embellishing them each with a little doodad:

Oooh, that was the fun part!  I colored the pearl with a Copic, and the Summer Starfruit Dahlia matches that Crushed Curry square pretty closely!  Then I added a little sentiment from Touch of Kindness (ret) and some ruffled ribbon, both in Island Indigo:

This could be a note card or a birthday card, or a get-well card! Hope you are inspired to play along with us this week---share your creation over at the ColourQ blog, and be prepared to be “wowed” by all the DT samples! 

Here’s a photo of Cassidy I took last month; I was playing around with Picasa, trying to learn some special effects:

Thanks for visiting today! 

Merry Monday 25

 

 

Happy Monday, peeps!  I hope you had a great weekend….we did!  It’s time for another Merry Monday sketch!  I hope you’ll find some time in your schedule to use this to make another Christmas card to add to your supply.  If you’ve not played before, jump right in!  Here’s the sketch from Lesley for this week:

I went super, super CAS this week because I have company coming and I needed to make this QUICK!  I made a tent-topper card (at least that’s what I call it!) using two retired sets, Welcome Christmas and Jolly Old Saint Nick:

 

The card base is  4 1/4” square, and the topper extends just far enough to allow it to still fit into a standard-size envelope.  I stamped the image in Always Artichoke on Confetti White and used my Nestabilities to cut the circle and scalloped mats:

A really simple ribbon embellishment atop some pretty retired SU paper, and it was done!  Hope you find some inspiration in what the other designers have created this week as well….they are BEAUTIFUL!  Check them out at the Always Playing with Paper blog!!

Since I will have company this week, I may be blogging and commenting less frequently, but I’ll be back next week for sure!  Here’s a little Cassidy fix for you, awaiting her piece of “cake” as Grampy cuts it:

Paper Players 100

 

Happy Sunday---Happy Father’s Day---Happy 100th Paper Players Challenge!  WOOHOO!  This week, in honor of this absolutely stupendous event, the Paper Players are having a blog hop! 

Each Player has chosen a favorite challenge from the past 100 and made a new creation!  (You can read more about it on the Paper Players blog!)  And one lucky winner will receive ALL the cards created by the PP designers!  Wow!  For my card, I chose a pretty sketch from Anne Marie, sketch #65:

Here is my original card:

Now, for the new card----I just got some new goodies from SU, so I pulled them out---Decorate a Daisy, Fabulous Phrases (a SAB redemption set—woohoo!), and the new Dahlia embellishments in Midnight Muse!  The deep rich colors of the Comfort Cafe paper inspired the colors for my daisy:

The daisy is stamped in Cajun Craze and the center is Summer Starfruit; I added some banners from the Itty Bitty Banner dies, embellished with a little pearl, then added the dahlias and a button, just for fun!  Hmmm, seems to me last week’s card had a bird on it as well! Well, I do love my birds!

If you’re hopping around, you may have come from Jaydee’s blog, but here’s a list of everyone!  We’d love to have you participate in one or all of the designers’ challenges!

The Paper Players Design Team

• Ann Schach
• Anne Marie Hile
• Jaydee
• LeAnne Pugliese (that’s me!)
• Lesley Croghan
• Nance Leedy

Thank you, also, for all the sweet messages about Pumpkin…they are very much appreciated!  And now, back to the other love of my life, Cassidy:

 

 

I just LOVE that grin!  Have a great day!

Goodbye Sweet Friend FMS39

It’s been a bit of a sad week.  Last Friday I fed my sweet little Pumpkin her breakfast, which she ate like a champion, then ran off to do whatever a 19-year-old kitty does…..and she never came back.  I can only assume that her little heart gave out and sensing that feeling, went off to die in peace. 

 

 

  

 

She was a great cat…never gave me any trouble, never ran away, never clawed the furniture or jumped up on counters or tables; she slept a lot in her later years but still could catch a mouse like any young cat!  We miss her a lot but know she gave us lots of love & pleasure in her long life.  When I saw the new set SU came out with called Storybook Friends, I knew I had to get it!  I played around with the cat image, not really planning to use it for anything, as I was just using markers and coloring it hurriedly, but I decided to keep it and use it for today’s card, which uses the Freshly Made Sketches sketch 39:

I pulled out some retired DP in fun colors and here’s my card:

 

(It really doesn’t look like Pumpkin as she has white paws and chest, but as I said, I was just sort of playing around.)  I also got to use the Hearts Framelits; new stitched satin ribbon in Summer Starfruit; and the Fancy Fan embossing folder.  Sentiment is from Petite Pairs.

Here’s a last shot of Pumpkin (and an embarrassing one of yours truly!) with me on the couch.  We were both actually asleep when John snapped this photo.  Goodbye, sweet friend!

Catered Crop Banners for Father’s Day

 

I got  a happy little email from Linda at Catered Crop telling me that this card snagged me a little guest shout-out for the current challenge, which you can see here.  The theme is Baby Bunting, or banners, and the inspiration photos Linda has posted are divine.  I just couldn’t decide which one I liked best!  In fact, I think I made three cards before I settled on one that I was happy with; and even that one is questionable!  But life and toddlers must go on, so this is the card I finally decided on; it is my Father’s Day card for DH:

I have really been mixing up old & new this week; although it’s fairly CAS, this features current sets Word Play, Pennant Parade, French Foliage, The Open Sea and Woodgrain; and a new set called  Postage Due (LOVE THIS SET) as well as some new paper called Fan Fair---just gorgeous!  Love it too!  After collage-stamping the background, I punched the banners from the DP and shabbied them up a bit, then zigzag stitched some linen thread atop them:

I added my sentiment, stamped in Island Indigo and overstamped the world image from the The Open Sea and popped it up in the corner.  My DH would love nothing more than to jump on a sailboat and sail the world.  He would have to do it alone, however!!!  I am staying right here with my feet planted firmly on the ground!

 

I hope you will check out the Catered Crop and play along with Linda’s banner & bunting challenge!!!  Hope to see you there!
Cassidy had a very fun time yesterday playing in Grampy’s garden and mulch; look closely at her face:

 

 

A little dirt never hurt anyone!

SCH15, RCC57 & CCCB113

 

I spent a little extra time in my craft room yesterday since the man in brown came a day earlier than I expected!  I got to try out my new SU embossing folders, both from Delicate Designs, along with the coordinating Large Scallop Edgelit.  They are gorgeous:

 

I pulled out a retired Cornish Heritage Farms sewing set that I just love and created my own background paper by stamping the sewing images in Crumb Cake.  I added the little mouse image because she is just so cute! 

And the sentiment, stamped on an SU Lots of Tags diecut, fit perfectly with my sewing theme! 

I combined three challenges here!  The sketch is from Ribbon Carousel Challenge sketch #57, and the City Crafter Challenge #113 was to use buttons:

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And the Sugar Creek Hollow challenge #15 was to make your own designer paper!  Thanks for visiting today!

I’m trying to instill some motherly instincts into Cassidy and got her a little baby doll….so far, she just wants to poke her with her little magic pencil……we’ll work on that some more!