HAPPY I DO DAY......

It is rare that I get to make a card for a bride-to-be. This one is for a daughter of one of my hubby's cousins --- and she and her intended make the cutest couple. Now, to be honest, I hate shower games. Most are so lame. But the games done at her shower were so much fun. I guess that is because they were arranged by her friends and were new, hip games. I feel so old sometimes........

Anyway, I CASEd this from one done by my upline Debbie Naylor. You can check that one out here. (But don't stop at this card, her blog is full of awesome projects.) I did not have any of the DSP that she used for her dress, so I thought running it through the Big Shot would give it a nice texture. I kept to the basic black and white color scheme and added a little bling in the form of a rhinestone on the sentiment punch out and a rhinestone brad around the ribbon waistband on the dress. Clean and simple --- love it!!!!

Thanks for stopping by!!! Have a great day!!!

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!!!!

And a great big THANKS to all of the troops --- past, present and future --- that allow us to have the freedoms we normally just take for granted. God bless you all!!!!!

CHECK THIS OUT.......

You will not believe this. I am now a member of the design team for the Simply Paper Design Challenges!!! Eeeekkkk!!!! I am so honored. And excited. And nervous. I am in really talented company with Cindy and Debbie. I am hoping their talent will rub off on me. My last two posts were what I did for the May challenge. Then they asked me to be a member and I was soooo psyched, I did another one for the team post. Check out Cindy's and mine here on Cindy's blog. Debbie is still perfecting hers, but I am sure it will be worth the wait.

Here is my card:

The stamp set is Just Believe. I love that set and especially love this sentiment from it. This was a fun sketch and a great color combo that will be placed on my favorites list.

Thanks for stopping by!!! Have a great day!!!!

MAY'S SIMPLE PAPER DESIGN CHALLENGE - PART 2

This is my card for the color part of the challenge. I CASEd a card from one of our downline shoebox swaps from this past December. It was done by Wendy Booth and you can see hers here on Debbie Naylor's blog. I needed a quick card to send to one of my daughter's teachers who is retiring. She is also working through some health issues, so I am praying for healing for her and a long, happy retirement.

The colors are Whisper White, Not Quite Navy, Marina Mist and Daffodil Delight. The stamp set is Just Believe. There are some of the pearls added to the flowers.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look. Have a great day!!!!

MAY'S SIMPLE PAPER DESIGN CHALLENGE.........

Yes, it's time again for another challenge over on Cindy's blog. Here is the link to this month's sketch and colors. For today's post, I am using the sketch (I am still working on the colors). This is using the Beyond the Garden DSP and the cardstock colors are pulled from it. I ran the DSP layer through the Big Shot to give it some texture and sanded the high spots so it would show up a little better. The Wild Wasabi strip across the middle was pierced and then I added brads on each end. The cake and gift bag are from the Bitty Birthday stamp set and the sentiment is from Occasional Quotes

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Check out the challenge and play along. Cindy and Debbie will be posting their creations at the end of the month, but they do not put a time limit on the challenges that I know of. They have really came up with some interesting sketches and colors and I look forward to seeing what they come up with each month.

Thanks for stopping by!!! Have a great day!!!

MOTHER'S DAY........

After being pampered by my family with dinner out on Saturday night, we spent Sunday getting in visits with my mom and mother-in-law. This first card is the one I made for my mom-in-law. I normally do not do large patterns, but she loves flowers, so I loaded it up. The card is a CASE of this one on Splitcoast. I used the Beyond the Garden DSP with Melon Mambo and Pacific Point cardstock. The butterfly is from the Strength and Hope stamp set and the sentiment is from the Watercolor Trio set. I finished it off with some white and Daffodil Delight taffeta ribbon and a few pearls on the sentiment and butterfly. It turned out much better than I thought it would.

This next card is the one I made for my mom. It uses the Cottage Wall DSP (my all time favorite). The stamp sets used are Hope and Strength (Can you tell I love that butterfly?), Well Scripted and Inspired by Nature (for the grass). It is finished off with Old Olive satin ribbon and a few pearls (again) on the butterfly and above the sentiment. It was CASE'd from here.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope all of the mom's out there had a wonderful Mother's Day!!!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

To all of you moms out there, be it the two-legged or four-legged kind of child, Happy Mother's Day!!!!

       

IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED.....

Try, try again!!!

I must say, for the previous challenges that Cindy and Debbie posted for their Simply Paper Design Challenge, things went pretty smoothly. The one for April, however, has had me scratching my head. Check it out here on Cindy's blog. This also shows the sketch and colors:

The sketch was fine --- I actually also used it for one of my swap cards for May for my Little Debbies group (which I will post later). But that Debbie --- she really has challenged me with her color combo. But I figure it is not called a challenge for nothing. The Tangerine Tango is what threw me for a loop. I ended up only using it to color my butterfly and the belly of my Robin Red Breast (or, in this case, Robin Tangerine Breast).

I was planning on mailing this to a friend, so I wanted to keep it as flat as possible. No dimensionals or bling added. The bow is made using glue dots to hold it in place, not tied. The "Thinking of You" is from the Thoughts and Prayers set. It actually has additional sentiment on the stamp, but I had read on a blog somewhere to place scotch tape over the part of the sentiment you do not want, ink your stamp up and then remove the tape and stamp only what is inked. Worked great, except next time I need to remember to not attach the tape so well to the wooden block. I used the dots folder for the Big Shot to add texture to the Pear Pizzazz layer, which is attached to the Garden Green base. Soft Suede mattes my image layer, which comes from the Serene Spring set (retired).

But, I was not satisfied with that one. It is okay, but I feel I needed to use TT cardstock in some way. So, I came up with this one:

Lots of TT on this one. My styling alligator (from the Long Fellows Hostess Level 2 set) is Garden Green with a Pear Pizzaz fin thing on top and Tangerine Tango dots. She even decided to get a little fancy and painted her nails TT, too. The sentiment is from It's Your Birthday (retired).

But I still was not all that happy with it, so Try #3:

For this one I used the retired Sparkling Summer stamp set with the sentiment from the new Touch of Kindness set out of the Summer Mini that starts today. I placed strips of Pear Pizzazz, TT and Garden Green on a Soft Suede base. What better to have in the summer than a nice, cold orange popsicle, some sparkling orange drink with a slice of lime, or a triple decker ice cream cone with orange sherbet, chocolate and mint chocolate chip ice cream? Okay, I do not like mint chocolate chip ice cream, but the colors worked. This one looks a whole lot better in real life. You can click on the pictures if you want a little closer look.

I can't wait to see what Cindy and Debbie come up with. I am sure they will slay this challenge with their usual talent. As frustrated as I was with this at times, I had fun playing along. Thanks for the challenge, ladies. Looking forward to next month...... Check back soon to see my other card using this sketch, too.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!!!