Merry Monday #72

Good morning friends.  Playing along with Merry Monday's again and have a super simple card to share with you.  Merry Monday's always has a sketch for you to follow and I love that as it always gets my juices flowing!  Here's the sketch for this week:

And here's my take on it:

This would be a great card if you had to mass produce...very clean and simple!  The background paper is new from SU! (Season of Style), and the circles reminded me of a stamp set that hasn't seen some ink in quite a while..."Deer Friends" (also SU!).  It's hard to see in this photo, but I pop dotted the image (and the gold glitter circle) onto the Cherry Cobbler scalloped circle, and then pop dotted it again to the background paper...it really stands out IRL (and sparkles too!).  I used PTI's Chevron die to make the 3 stripes from Cherry Cobbler and gold glitter paper.  To finish I just added a red sequin to Rudolf's nose and used my white gel pen to add some dots to the scalloped circle.  Easy peasy and done! :0)

Five episodes of Downton Abbey season 3 down, and 5 more to go...I LOVE this show!!!  Making salsa this weekend too...have been out for 3 months now and can't stand the store bought stuff anymore.  Homemade salsa definitely spoils you!! :0)  Have a great weekend everyone and I'll be back next week with some more inspiration.  Thanks for stopping by!  

Free is Good!

Good morning friends.  Have a card to share today that I made using a stamp set that I won from Dawn Griffith (Dawn's Stamping Thoughts).  I don't win things very often (in fact, almost never!!), but boy is it exciting when I do!  And it's even more exciting when it comes in the mail and it's not a bill!  So thank you Dawn for such a nice surprise...very much appreciated!  And FREE is always good, right?!!! :0) 

The stamp set Dawn sent me was "Gorgeous Grunge" (SU!), and while I tend to be a "flowery" type card person, this set was great to get me thinking outside my normal comfort zone.  After thinking about the title for a bit, it hit me that why not combine my floral love and the Gorgeous Grunge together?!  And here's what I came up with:

We haven't had much sun the last few days, so I apologize for the picture quality...it's much brighter IRL!  Dawn's favorite color is purple, so Wisteria Wonder was my starting point.  I used my favorite flower stamp (at the moment that is!) from the "Blooming with Kindness" (SU!) set, and then fussy cut it out.  I made my background using 3 of the different images from the "Gorgeous Grunge" set...the image that looks like washi tape I stamped onto Wisteria Wonder card stock just to add a pop of color.  And even though it's hard to see in this picture, I added Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the splattered dots to add a little more brightness, and also because I know Dawn loves glitter! :0)  I finished using an old (2002) sentiment from SU!, some silver nailheads (Gina K), and a button (SU!).  Other than the button (and the stem of the flower), it's a very monochromatic card, but I have to admit that I really like how it turned out!  Thanks again Dawn for such a lovely surprise! :0)

That's all for today friends.  I just picked up season 3 of "Downton Abbey" from the library yesterday, so I know the rest of my day is shot now...I am SO hooked on this show! :0)  Thanks so much for stopping by today...you know I love it when you do! :0)

Just a Note

Good morning friends.  It's not even the least bit "fall-like" here in my "neck of the woods", (wet and muggy!!) but I'm still having fun making Fall cards.  Here's a simple one using kraft and cream colored cardstocks:

I stamped the tree from SU!'s "Branch Out" set in Baked Brown Sugar, and used Mellow Moss, Marigold Morning, (both retired) Pumpkin Pie, & Cajun Craze for the leaves.  I also used SU!'s "First Edition" newsprint dp for my background and then randomly stamped some leaves on it.  I added a brown grosgrain ribbon and little tag (PTI's "Tiny Tags") to finish the card.  I took a bunch of my cards to our family reunion on Sunday, and this card disappeared pretty quick, so I guess I'm not the only one who liked how this card turned out! :0) 

That's all for today friends.  Going to my first "Thirty-one" party tonight, and even though I can't afford anything right now, I'm excited to see what all the "excitement" about these purses/handbags is! :0)  Say a prayer for me that I can stay strong and not be tempted!  Any extra these days HAS to go towards my stamping addiction...I just can't afford 2 addictions! :0)  Have a wonderful Tuesday, and I'll be back tomorrow with a card I made from a free stamp set I just won. Thanks for stopping by! :0)   

Happy 60th!

Good morning friends.  Just a quick post today as we have to finish packing the car for the big trip to take our "baby" off to college...sigh!!!  It's also another "big" day in our house as my hubby turned 60 today.  His sister sent a card that said it so perfectly: "A child of the sixties turns 60!"  To my husband, the sixties means music, and that is so totally what he loves!  And no greater "Beatles" fan exists than my hubby, so I created his birthday card and a nugget cake with the "Beatles" theme.  Take a look:

I loved the idea I saw on Pinterest of using circles to make record albums (that was what we listened to in our day!), so that was my starting point for this card.  The background music I found on a site that let me have a "sample" of the first page of sheet music for the Beatles song "Let it Be".  The sentiment came from different PTI stamp sets, and the "60" I cut out on my cricut.  Very simple and he loved it! :0)

Next up his nugget cake:

I took a close up of the nuggets so you could see that I printed a bunch of the different Beatle song titles (from their "Number 1" album) onto address labels, and then stamped a music note in red, green, yellow, & blue on each of them before wrapping them around each of the nuggets (Hershey's Special Dark with roasted almonds of course!).  I used 3 different size styrofoam bases from the dollar store for each of the bases, and then just simply hot glued each nugget on.  Added a "60" (used toothpicks glued on and pushed into the top) and a bunch of curling ribbon to finish off the top and voila!  Done.  Hubby was pretty tickled that I'd made it and I really like how it turned out too! :0)

Well, I guess it's time to get back to the packing.  Can't believe in just a few short hours we'll be "empty nesters"!  Where did the years go???????  Our older dog Brinkley sleeps with Calla, so it's going to be an adjustment for him too!  We'll get through it...just going to be different!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and thanks so much for stopping by...I love it when you do!

Merry Monday #71

Good morning friends.  I know with the heat and humidity we've had the last few days that it definitely doesn't feel like Christmas, but I'm on a roll here and lovin the fact that I'm ahead in the card department!  So anyway, playing with the Merry Monday challenge this week, and while this is not a "stamped" or traditional colored Christmas card, I really like how it turned out.  Must be the great design we had to follow:

And here's my take on it:

As soon as I saw the design with all those circles, I knew the design paper I wanted to use from The Paper Studio.  It is filled with all these little snowflake circles (and dots) that I simply used a punch to cut out.  A little hard to see, but to keep the circle theme going, I put the Merry Christmas design paper through my Cuttlebug with a the large circle embossing folder before attaching it to my off white card base.  I pop dotted 3 of the 7 punched circles and added some diamond bling to the center and two end punched circles.  I used PTI's die to cut out the "merry" (SU!'s Pool Party cs matched the greenish blue of the punched circles beautifully!!) and then added a punched out snowflake (MS) in red glitter paper to balance out the offset "merry".  I finished with a sheer ribbon (Michael's) that matched pretty close with the Pool Party color.  Another quick and easy card, so I made a few to add to my growing stash! :0)

That's all for today, but hope to be back tomorrow for a quick post of my hubby's 60th birthday card and nugget cake I made for him.  Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful Thursday! :0)

Festive Friday Challenge #15 - Theme Challenge

Good morning friends.  Playing along with Festive Friday's again and the challenge this week is to make a children's themed Christmas card.

Had a lot of fun with this one and even pulled out a stamp set that I "HAD" to have a few years back and then never used it!  GASP!!  I know, I'm probably the only one who's ever done that, right?  I'm thinking not! :0)  Anyway, the set is retired now (SU!), but I thought it fit the bill for this challenge perfectly!  Take a look:

The stamp set is called "Merry", and the sentiment that comes with this stamp set is what made me choose this particular set for the challenge.  It definitely makes me smile, and I'm sure it would for most kids waiting for Santa to arrive!  I kept my colors simple and traditional (SU!'s Real Red and Gumball Green) and made my background first with the snowflake stamps, and then added the sentiment and hat and mittens.  I fussy cut the hat and mittens, and then added some glitter and red sequins.  This was a fun card to make and in fact, I made a few of them, as I already know who I'm going to be sending these to at Christmastime. :0)  Thank you Festive Friday team for inspiring me to get these made ahead of time...I love it! :0)  Make sure you check out the rest of the inspiration over at the Festive Friday blog (http://www.festivefriday.blogspot.com/) ...there's some really cute cards over there!! :0)

Thanks for stopping by today and hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!

Fall Wedding Card

Good morning friends.  I'd like to share a wedding card with you today that was a little different for me...in that my cousin requested that this card be made with "Fall" colors.  I was a little stumped (guess I'm too traditional), until I asked what "Fall" colors?  My cousin explained the colors then and a little bit about the couple that are to be married next month, and after hearing about the special love story, it all came together for me as far as the card.  The colors are green, gold, and burnt orange...take a look:

I apologize for the lighting, as IRL it's a lot brighter!  If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see a lot more of the detail.  I started with cream colored card stock and then stamped the wreath from PTI's "Birds & Blooms" set with SU!'s Old Olive ink.  I then added a layer of gold embossed flowers, a layer of Really Rust inked flowers, and a layer of Mellow Moss inked flowers.  I love how these colors came together on the wreath...it is just so delicate and beautiful together!  I layered this 3" square with a piece of Old Olive card stock, and then a layer of gold glitter paper (POW).  Before I layered it to my 5" card base, I lightly stamped just on the left side of the card using SU!'s "French Script" background stamp in gold.  To finish I added a small sheer gold bow to the center of the wreath, and then embossed in gold the "Congratulations" (SU!'s "Love & Laughter" stamp set).  This card taught me that thinking outside the box is definitely a good thing!  I mean who would have thought???????!!!!!! :0)

That's all for today, but hopefully I'll get some photographing done, and then I can share with you some more Christmas and Fall cards I've made over the past few days.  Have a terrific Tuesday and thanks so much for stopping by! :0)