The Birthday Sketch Challenge

Another of the challenges at Moxie Fab World is to make a birthday card, using a sketch by Betsy Veldman, and the twist is to use either all stamping or no stamping whatsoever.  The sketch is a fun one, and you can never have too many birthday cards on hand, so I did one of each:

supplies: pool layering papers, design papers from MME, Simon exclusive die "Oh Happy Day", Penny Black die "Flutter", embossing folder from Hobby Lobby

supplies: grass layering paper, Hero Arts Live and Laugh (sentiment) and Let's Chill (flower), and an embossing folder that Heather gave me when I visited her in Ireland, from a German company called CArt-Us

Here's the sketch:

One more Mixy Matchy

Skidding in at the last minute!  Time got away from me - I wanted to make another card for the Moxie Fab World's Mixy Matchy challenge.

For this one I used papers from Basic Grey's Mint Julep and the text paper is from October Afternoon's Thrift Shop.  The sketch is one I've used before and saved on my Pinterest sketches board.  Stamps are Hero Arts Let's Garden Silhouette and Verve's Bloom & Grow set.  I added a die-cut doily (MFT Die-Namics Decorative Doily) and some roses from Michael's.

Washi Tape Birthday cards

Over at Moxie Fab World, Cath is celebrating the publication of PaperCraft's newest release, Birthday Creations.  One of her challenges this week is simply to make some birthday cards.  That works for me, as I have to make some for my Mom and 2 of my sisters in August.  Thank you, Cath, for getting me in gear early!

I decided to use washi tapes on these 2 for my sisters:

supplies: yellow and black washis, Hero Arts Be Happy and Card Messages, BoBunny double dots papers

supplies: floral and dotted washis (Michael's and Martha), Hero Arts Sending Smiles Messages, Penny Black's new "flutters" dies, pink and green pearls

Just sharing......

I made this card for a CardMaker magazine call and it wasn't chosen, so I'm sharing it today.

supplies: Wplus9 Quilt Prints, Hero Arts mid-tone inks Bubble Gum, Green Hills, and Charcoal, Simon exclusives Flower Friend and Best Mom Ever, Sizzix Dots embossing folder, pink and green pearls

The humidity and heat have finally broken here in Ohio (aaaaaahhhhh) - have a great summer weekend!

Sweet Wishes

I'm sharing another version of a card I posted last month.  But this time I used a new Penny Black die instead of a stamped flower.  It's called Iris, and again, I love the way it looks against the Indian Wheel background, stamped in Brilliance lavender ink.  My sentiment is from the Friendship set.

Thanks for visiting me for today - have a great one!

Tangerine

These citrus colors for the Tuesday Trigger are just perfect for summer, and I had to give them a go.  I honed in on the ric-rac trims and pulled out my chevrons, some Lawn Fawn Bright Side papers, and a Penny Black stamp set called Petal Party.  The brad in the flower center is from a MME set called The Sweetest Thing, Tangerine.

Thanks for visiting today!  I hope you'll come back again.

Simon Says......Pin It!

It's time for another Simon Says Stamp challenge, and I think we're going to have lots of fun with this one!  The theme this week is "Pin It!"  I really enjoyed putting this card together - hope you'll like it too!

I have had these tiny little Hero Arts clothespins for years and have barely used them, so I started with them. I decided to use them to hang a bunch of banners using sentiments from the Simon exclusive Expressions for You set, and wanted to make them into a kind of list.  So first I found this notebook paper from My Mind's Eye Tangerine The Sweetest Thing.  It has some banners and flowers already printed on it, along with a pretty little doily, just my style!  Next I pulled more papers from my MME Collectable "Notable" pad, stamped my sentiments and made them into banners, then die-cut the "You" to put over the doily.   I wrapped some twine around my notebook paper before affixing it to my pool card base, and then used those little clothespins to attach each banner to the twine.

To finish, I punched out some hearts from the same papers and glued them to the clothespins and the notebook paper.  And added a few matching enamel dots to the centers of the printed flowers.

Our sweet and generous Heidi has provided another $50.00 gift voucher to the random winner of our challenge this week!

There are so many fun things at the Simon Says Stamp Superstore!!  Just type in almost anything in the search bar, and you'll be amazed at how well categorized everything is!  The other day I typed in "gingham", and I got 3 pages worth!!

Across the Miles.....

I just received this beautiful new butterfly die from Penny Black, called Delicate Wings.  What beautiful details!  I cut it out of some sparkly pink cardstock and let it be the star of my card, just adding a sentiment from Eloquence and some matching pink washi tape.

Thanks for visiting!

Simon's July Card Kit

Once again, Simon's July Card Kit is sold out, but you can sometimes find the individual components separately.  If this keeps happening to you, why not consider getting a subscription to the Kits and you'll always be assured of one? 

Here are 2 cards I made using this month's kit:

supplies: solid and design papers, circular stamp, and tiny hearts sticker from Kit, also Hero Arts Butter Bar and Tide Pool mid-tone inks, Simon's exclusive Leanna Butterfly and Expressions for You stamps and die, and Doodlebug Designs Bumblebee twine, enamel dots from Teresa Collins and My Mind's Eye

supplies: design paper, skinny gingham washi tape, border stickers, and stamp set (sentiment and hearts) from July Kit, Hero Arts Red Royal mid-tone ink

Thanks for your visit today!

TCM July Blog Hop

Hello! I hope you're having a relaxing holiday!  Today we're having our monthly Blog Hop at The Craft's Meow.  Our theme this month is our Mabelle R-O stamps. 

You should have arrived here from Julie Murray's blog.  If you want to start our hop at the beginning, just go to The Craft's Meow blog for a list of participating blogs (we have some special guests this month!).  Here's my card for today:

I used various aqua and yellow prints to paper-piece the cute image from Mabelle's Valentine Wishes set:

and my sentiment is from our Stitched Sentiments set:

Please leave a comment at each stop of our Hop, including the Craft's Meow blog, by 11:59 EST Tuesday, July 9.  Lisa will choose one lucky person to win a stamp set of your choice and the winner will be announced on Wednesday, July 10!

And I want to mention that today is the last day to receive a 20% discount on all orders at The Craft's Meow. It expires at 11:59 Pacific time tonight.  If you'd like to take advantage of this great sale, after choosing your stamps and logging into Paypal at checkout, enter the code July4thSale.  And don't forget that qualifying orders still receive the free gift with a $50.00 purchase (net of discount), and free shipping on orders of $65.00 or more in the USA.  If you're wanting some TCM stamps, now is the time!

Now hop on over to Sharri Seffen's blog.  Thanks for visiting!

A one-layer card

It's good to be getting back into the swing of things after our vacation.  Here's a card I made for the current Hero Arts Blog challenge, to create a one-layer card.  I used these Hero Arts stamps: Looped Circle Pattern, Pattern Hearts & Flowers, and Made with Love.  I stamped the flower and sentiment, then masked off a panel around them and stamped the looped pattern over that.  After coloring with various markers, I used a grey marker to outline the flower to make it appear to be above the card.

Thanks for visiting me today - hope your weekend is going well!

Summer Flowers

Hi all, are you enjoying your summer?

I'm sharing a card today that seems appropriate for the season, using Penny Black stamps Graceful and To You:

This flower looks so much like my favorite summer flower, the Gerbera Daisy, so I stamped it 3 times and colored each one in a bright summer color, cut them out, arranged them on a blue card base and added my simple sentiment.  

An easy card for summer!  Thanks for visiting!

I'm Back!

Some of you may know that I've been away for the last 2 weeks, travelling in Ireland and Scotland.  I have long wanted to visit, as my father's side of the family came from Scotland.  So my husband and I booked a tour that took us somewhat off the beaten path in these 2 beautiful countries.

We started out in Dublin, and it was there that sweet Heather, a friend I met through the Hero Arts flickr group, rearranged her schedule and came to meet me one afternoon, taking me on a walking tour of Dublin, while Denny visited the Guinness Storehouse.  She showered me with some fun local craft supplies, and some of her amazing stitched creations, and we had a lovely sunny day to get acquainted while we walked.  What a wonderful way to begin!

Ireland is a lovely place, as green as they say it is, and the people are so friendly.  We visited pubs for our lunches, with amazing seafood chowders for me most of the time.  We were there during the longest days of the year, and many in our group of 36 took advantage of the lack of darkness in the evenings and extended their days even longer.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from this beautiful place.  We had many days of "softness" (as the Irish call their rain), but it didn't detract from the beauty of anything.  First are some pictures of Ireland. We visited big towns to stay overnight, but my favorite places were the countryside:

We spent 1 day and night in Northern Ireland, visiting the city of Derry; and in that area we loved the Giant's Causeway, unusual hexagonal formations near the sea that extend into the water (supposedly all the way across the sea to Scotland), and are 39 feet at their largest along the cliffs.  These ones range from a few inches to 6 or 8 feet tall here:

This is a picture of the same area, looking inland - you can walk along that little path to get to the top of the cliffs above:

I'm so glad we did!  This was the view on the left at the top of the cliff, looking inland:

And this on the right.  Yes, those are cows grazing in that field at the edge of the cliffs!  And you can see a little farm down there on that little island, to give you an idea of the scope here!

Now we crossed by ferry into Scotland.  Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from there.  This is a cottage covered with roses in the town of Alloway, the birthplace of Robert Burns:

Here is a picture taken at a stop in the Scottish Highlands.  Most of the mountaintops were covered with clouds and mist. There was a piper there, adding the perfect ambience to the scene:

Our last stop was in Edinburgh.  Here's the Castle:

And 2 more fun photos; this one is a Highland Cow; isn't he cute?  Yes, they all had long bangs!  I have no idea how they navigate!

And finally, a picture of our bus driver, Billy, a Scotsman from Glasgow, in his regimental kilt.  And I'm wearing a scarf that Heather knit and gave to me:

We also visited a farm where the owner trains sheepdogs to herd sheep.  We got to bottle feed some little lambs, and see puppies, too!  Unfortunately we didn't get many good pictures there.

If ever you get a chance to visit these beautiful countries, do it!  Now I'd like to go back and do it more leisurely on our own. .......though driving on the other side of the road is still a scary thing for me!  

Thanks for visiting today, and Happy 4th of July to all my American friends!

Simon Says.......Patriotic!

Welcome to a new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp challenge!  This week our theme is Patriotic and the design team are using My Favorite Things products!  We'd love to see your creations using their products if you have them, but if you don't, just show us something Patriotic!  Make something that represents your own country, its flag, symbols, etc.  I'll bet our gallery will be full of color this week!

I used a Pure Innocence stamp set by My Favorite Things called My Little Firecracker.  The sweet Pure Innocence images were my first taste of My Favorite Things products, and they sure have lots of other things to tempt me now, too - their dies are some of the best!  

Back to my card, I used some older papers from my stash and paper-pieced this little cutie, adding a bit of glitter to her sparkler and some buttons.  

As always, there's a $50.00 gift voucher up for grabs for a random winner of our challenge.  Good luck to all of you!