Having An Art-A-Tack

2012-02-07T14:15:00.005-05:00

Wow, I can't believe I am actually blogging two days back to back! Just kind of wanted to post some odd pictures of some things I have made or did over the last couple months that were actually something other than a card.

This first picture is a canvas I made for our school's annual dinner auction. The dinner/auction is to help raise money for our school; of course a good cause! Since the school our children go to is a Christian school I wanted the piece to reflect that. So I decided I wanted to do a picture with all the children's and staff's fingerprints, but then you run into making a piece that is fun and looks more then just a canvas with finger prints stuck on it. Since I loved the "UP" movie I kept thinking of the bunch of balloons that lifted the house up and thought "ummm.... a bunch of balloons would be nice. I originally drew a simple drawing of the front of the church and was going to attach the balloons to that, but I didn't want the canvas too big and it was already 20x24, not real big, but not too small, but adding the building I would have had to go up to a 24x30 canvas, so I decided to leave off the house and in place of that I did the verse "Once Jesus touches your heart, the fingerprints last forever." So, after I figured out the design I ventured out to get the prints at school this past week and then placed their first name on top of their print. I color coded each class and the key is on the back of the canvas. (so first grade was blue, second was red and so on..) I actually placed each finger where I wanted it, mainly because I wanted the colors to be spread out and the overall shape in a heart. Hope that makes sense. After having all the prints I came home and drew a balloon around each print and then strings to each print and "tied" them to the word Jesus. I just loved how it turned out and I think the children really thought it was cool. I did a big cross for church many years ago with the children and had them each paint a tile and then my dad made a cross for me to place all the tiles in. The cross hangs in the main room which is part of our church/school and the children still still love to go and find their tile (and they have grown quite a bit since then). So I know the children will continue to love finding their prints as well.

This is the finished canvas. It looks a little weird, because I forgot to take a picture of it before I place the plastic wrap over it. So you can see the wrinkles of that and it was a harder to photograph because of that. Oh well, you get the idea. This would make a great project for any school or class or even a family tree type project. I used my cat eye chalk inks for most of the prints and then sprayed the canvas with Deft to seal it. I also place a cute ribbon all away around the side edges which gave it a nice finished look.

These next pictures are a canvas I did for the lady that does my hair. She has her own salon outside her house and I painted the salon walls a few years back and made two custom painting for her on canvas in black and white and added a touch color that I painted her walls with; back then. She also does nails, but I never get my nails done, but every time I go I see a dead spot that I felt needed a piece of art, which was above where she did her nails. So, as a Christmas gift I made this canvas for her. Not sure why I have such trouble photographing artwork on canvas, but I seem to! I also put ribbon on the outside edge of the canvas and it was black with white polka-dots like in the lettering and nails. I think it turned out cute and she seemed to love it. That orange/red and pinkish colors are the colors of her walls.

This is a quick card I made my girl friend for a recent birthday and just now getting around to posting it. The image is a new release at Paper Cupcakes-Stamps called Frilly Cupcake.

These are my daughter's fingernails that I painted a few weeks back. We seen this somewhere on the internet and so I gave it a try. They looked really cute with the orange and they were fun fun fun!

This is a cake I made back in December for a church function "Advent by Candlelight". I hosted a table and we were all asked to bring a special desert to share. This is what I made. It was a Raspberry Torte and it was YUMMY! Although it got a little "cockeyed" and slid a little on the way to church. It was a lot of fun to make and so so yummy too. The chocolate sticks were way fun to make and stick in the cake. Easy too. It made a lovely presentation, but a little harder to cut with all that stuff on top, but we managed to eat all of it.

Thanks for stopping by to lurk and if you read half of this I have to give you a big thanks! Now off to pick up from school!! Make it a great day!

For Someone you love - Magical Monday

2012-02-06T17:52:00.007-05:00

It's create something for someone you love challenge over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air. Plus a color challenge. You have to use pink & white and any other color "except" it "can not" be red. I chose green. I made a surprise pop up card. You can find a tutorial HERE. I seen this somewhere and thought I was up to try a new design and I love slider cards. I think it was pretty easy too.

I colored my image with my Bic-Mark-its and outlined it with a light blue copic. If you look closely you will see that my punched border actually moves when my image slides up. I thought that was pretty clever. I did this mainly because it was a little more of a challenge to add things since the image slid. I only connected that part to the part the slides and left the sides unattached (hope that makes since).

Oh and I forgot to mention this is a freebie image this week over at that Paper Cupcake Challenge blog, so make sure you snag it quickly, because it will only be there until Wednesday!

So, I highly suggest that if you haven't made a card like this you go to the tutorial and give a surprise pop up card a try!

Well, I am going to try to post another post tomorrow or Wednesday to post a few other things I have created in the last couple of weeks, but this one needs to get posted and I need to finish dinner!

Thanks for lurking by I always love luvins, but a good lurk is good too! Make it a joyful week!

Magical Monday - Be Inspired

2012-01-23T18:00:00.002-05:00

It's a be inspired challenge over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air.

The below picture is what you were suppose to get the inspiration from and create anyway it moved you to create.

This is what I came up with:

I used my colored pencils to color the image and added some stickles on the icing. It is a fairly quick and simple card. I mainly went with the colors and the swirl of the lollipops in the horn. Thanks for lurking by and have a great week!

Magical Monday - From The Heart

2012-01-09T18:00:00.001-05:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air.Paper Cupcakes is kicking the year off with a challenge that is "from the heart". The challenge is to use an image that has a heart in it and your overall card has to be some kind of thank you card or card of encouragement.

The twist to this challenge is after you have created it you are challenged to send/give it to someone who has touched your life with some type of kindness over these last several weeks or someone that needs some type of encouragement/lifting up.

So of course I used the freebie image "Know In Your Heart" that Paper Cupcakes is giving away for free this week, but only through this Wednesday, so make sure you snag it or you will miss it.

I used color pencils to color this and kept the design pretty clean and simple as I want to attempt to mail this without too much hassle, although the bow could cause me some minor problems.

I didn't want it to look too Eastery, so I tried to stay way from the pastel and bright colors and kept it more to earth tones with some blues.

I have several people in mind who I might send this too, so until I have made that decision I can't tell you right now who it is going to. I have several thank you cards to write, so I think I will be doing that this week and this will be one of them.

So that's it for me for this challenge. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and here's to a Happy 2012 filled with good health, family, friends, love and many blessings we take note of! Thanks for lurking by!

Magical Monday - Bird Image

2011-12-19T06:00:00.001-05:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air. This is the last challenge of 2011 at the Paper Cupcake's challenge blog. I bring the challenge of anything goes with design or layout, BUT you have to use a bird image of some type on your project..

I used the freebie image "Welcome Winter" that Paper Cupcakes was giving away as the freebie this week, as well as the sentiment that came with the freebie image. I colored my image with colored pencils and used chalk for the color of the sky. I used stickles to add a little sparkle in the snow, around the light on the post and the hat on the bird.

Although this was a fairly simple card I am up way too late this evening (1:09AM) typing this up right now. So, I am going to keep this short and sweet and thank you for stopping by and an extra thanks if you took some time to leave me some luvings. I hope you will stop by and grab the freebie this week it will be up all week and it is super cute if I do say so myself.

If I don't get around to blogging in the next few weeks, have a blessed Christmas and a Happy and safe New Year!!

Magical Monday - Winter Fun with Bling

2011-12-12T06:00:00.001-05:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air. For the month of December I am going to be hosting the challenges. This week I wanted to see everyone do some "winter fun". Using a image reflecting some winter fun such as sledding, skating, a snowman etc. With a twist of adding some bling as well to your project.

I used the image "Winter Fun" by Paper Cupcakes. I colored it with my colored pencils. I used chalk for the color in the snow and sky. I added some stickles for a little sparkle in the snow and used a white glaze pen to add some snow falling all over the image. I used scrap paper from my scraps and pre-made snowflakes from K&Company that I bought on clearance some time ago. My sentiment is computer generated. Kept it pretty simple and I love how the touch of black & red just makes it pop.

Had another busy week and a packed full weekend. My daughter does speech and she had a meet this weekend and she did a scripted duo with a friend and they walked away with first place this meet for that category. I was so excited for her since she is a freshman and this is her first year in speech. Her teacher has great plans for her if she continues in the years. Let's hope she sticks with it, because she is quilt the talented. It was a proud moment for her and for us. School has one more week before Christmas break. Which means I need to get in gear and get things completed before their release so I can enjoy the week prior to Christmas with them home and not feel stressed and rushed, so wish me luck for an organized task accomplished week!

That's it for me. Have a great week and remember to enjoy your time and days during this busy season!

Magical Monday - Sketch

2011-12-05T06:00:00.001-05:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air. For the month of December I am going to be hosting the challenges. This week is a sketch. I always love doing sketches, mainly because it takes a lot of the fore thought out of the work and makes it a little easier and quicker.

This is the sketch I came up with. Of course you can flip, rotate it, and/or stretch it as long as when your card is finished you can still see the initial sketch in the card. I pretty much left it the way you see it.

I used the images Penguin with Candy Cane which is a new release & Christmas Tickets by Paper Cupcakes. I used Bic Mark-its to color the image, except for the blue that I used to outline with which was a copic. Punched my snowflakes and added some Stickles. I also used all scrap paper. I thought the yellow ribbon and the yellow on his sweater was a nice pop of color.

Well, that is it for me today. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Magical Monday - Vintage Card or Shabby Chic

2011-11-28T06:00:00.003-05:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air. This week Sonia Rivera brings us our challenge. She wanted to see us make either a Vintage or Shabby Chic type Christmas card. This is always one of those challenges I am not sure if I am actually hitting the nail on the head when creating, but I love the distress look and inking along with homemade flowers and lace. So... with that all said, not sure which category you would place this in, so I will let you decide!

I used two images from Paper Cupcakes, Gingerbread Boy & Gingerbread Girl. I made several of each and made a little gingerbread line. I colored them with Bic Mark-its and then inked the edges with some cat eye chalks in brown. I dry embossed the red card stock and then I gathered some lace to run along the bottom and added some brown ric-rac on top of that. I made my flower using a large 5 petal flower punch. I punched some pages out of an old daily devotional book and then inked 6 flowers total; 3 red and 3 green and then placed a brad in the middle and then just scrunched them up for the look and fullness. I really liked how it turned out and have never made a flower like this with this particular punch. Added some brown buttons and then some white ink stitches and called it... well vintage or shabby chic...LOL... but mostly I called it completed! :oD

Well, that's it for me for this challenge not sure if I hit the vintage or shabby chic, but I do like the end result of my card and that is what really matters.

We had a very nice Thanksgiving. We got to spend some time with some family and then Friday we went downtown to the monument where they light the monument up. Fifty-two strands of lights are strung vertically from the top of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument to its base, for a total of 4,784 lights. Twenty-six larger-than-life soldiers and sailors, 26 peppermint sticks, and another 90,000 lights surround the monument. Santa's workshop was the theme of the stage where they put on free entertainment and where all the festivities took place. Over 100,000 spectators were expected to attend this year's ceremony and yes, we were part of those crazy 100,000 spectators that took part in the celebration. We had a good time and the temperatures were a nice 55-60 degrees, so we couldn't beat that. We parked far enough away so parking was not a hassle when it came time to leave.

I hope everyone in the US had a lovely Thanksgiving and for those who are outside the US I wish you many blessings as well. I hope we all can find something in our lives to be thankful for!

So, make it a great week and thanks for stopping by if you either came by to lurk or to leave me a lovely little note.

Magical Monday - Being Thankful & Colors

2011-11-21T06:00:00.002-05:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air. This week Gloria Westerman brings us our challenge. She would like to see us use Brown, Orange and Yellow on our cards/project, but with a twist....include/show "Giving Thanks" if can be words of gratitude or images...anything that shows being thankful....

I chose to do a more every day kind of card of thanks. I chose the image "Doodle Flower 3" & "Thanksgiving Tickets" by Paper Cupcakes. I used my Bic Mark-its to color my image and then I added some stickles. Punched a few butterflies. I kept this card clean and simple and I think it feels cheerful & happy.

Thanks for stopping by and for everyone in the US have a wonderful Thanksgiving day this week!

Magical Monday - Color & Shape

2011-11-14T06:00:00.002-05:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air. This week Shirley Quarry brings us our challenge. She wants us to incorporate a circle on our card and use a color theme of Brown, Blue and Orange. This week there is a freebie image "Owl on Pumpkin with Hat" with some "Thanksgiving Tickets".

I colored my image with Bic Mark-its and kept my card simple. I haven't been feeling good so a quick and simple card is what I went for. Here is what I came up with. The base of my card looks more grey, but it is a light blue card stock.

Well, that's it for me today, so if you stopped by leave me some lovins and if you want the freebies make sure you stop by the challenge blog! Have a great week!

Magical Monday - White on White

2011-11-07T06:00:00.001-05:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air. This week Audrey E. brings us our challenge. She would like us to create a card/project and use "White on White"; so paper, card stock and all elements = white (another wards monochromatic in white, except the image which may have color).

I used the image "Heart Felt Love" by Paper Cupcakes and the sentiment is computer generated. I colored the image with colored pencils, mainly because I wanted the black capped chic-a-dee to have a softness to it. I didn't really have other white papers, so textures with the embossing folders worked well for this challenge. Of course when I thought white on white I just thought snowy. So, I went with a Christmas card theme.

I really loved how this turned out and might make a few duplicates of this card. Well, that's it for me today, make it a great week!

Magical Monday - Trick-or-Treat or Something Sweet

2011-10-31T06:00:00.000-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air This week Jennifer Scull brings us a color challenge this week. She wanted us to make a card or project that was themed Trick-or-Treat or Something Sweet. So, another wards make a card/project that uses any sweet themed image i.e. candy, cupcakes, ice cream, etc.

Well, I used an image of a cupcake, "Elephant Cupcake" by Paper Cupcakes, along a ticket from the Halloween Tickets by Paper Cupcakes. It was a busy busy weekend and of course I didn't start making a card until early evening, after craving pumpkins with the kids and after dinner. So, I started looking through previously printed off images that I keep in a folder. I ran across a partially colored image started by one of my daughters, so I thought I would just finish it and us it; thus saving some time, plus it was started out cute. I only had to finish the cup holder and added the design on the elephants ears and trunk.

Well, I can't believe we are heading into November this week... my how this year has flown! I am off to bed now, so make it a great week! And have a fun and safe Halloween for all who take fun in it.

Magical Monday - Color Challenge

2011-10-24T06:00:00.001-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air. This week Tammy Newberry brings us a color challenge this week. She wanted us to make a card or project using a color theme of pink & black.

I made three cards using this color theme. The first card I made I used the image "Softly Afloat" from Paper Cupcakes which is also being offered for $1.00 image in the store. I colored the image with Bic Mark-its. It was a pretty quick, clean and simple card. I used the same pattern paper on all three cards.

On this card I used the image "Flower Tea Cup". I colored this image with colored pencils one of my favorite mediums to color with, especially when I want a softness to it. I made my punched flower. The ticket also comes from Paper Cupcakes; Variety Tickets. This card was also a clean and simple card.

This card has a little more going on in the design. I used one of the New Releases "Snider; Ice Skating" from Paper Cupcakes. This image cracks me up with him skating with one skate. Snider is suppose to be a boy, but I wanted to do him up in pink! I used my Bic Mark-its to color this image. The tickets are the "Christmas Tickets" from Paper Cupcakes as well. I punched my snowflakes. I will most likely add some Stickles on these cards, but it was getting late and I thought I would add it tomorrow when I wouldn't be photographing them. I think the pink, black and white made a really cute wintry card.

Well, that's it for me for this week. Have a lovely week and thanks for stopping by my blog and taking a peek. Leave me a message if you dare. I would love to hear what you think. Have a wonderful week!

Magical Monday - Halloween Color Challenge

2011-10-17T06:00:00.006-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air. This week Ildiko Cseh brings us the challenge. She wanted us to make a card or project using a Halloween theme using the colors green, orange and black.

I made two cards using the image "Aye Aye" & "Halloween Tickets" by Paper Cupcakes, which by the way "Aye Aye" is a freebie this week over there. I used my Bic Mark-its to color the image, except the blue on the ghost which I used a copic. I used scraps except for the base of the cards.

On this card I made my first medallion and love how it turned out. I certainly will be making more of these. The border punch is Martha Stewart and the little frogs are stickers from K&Company.

The border punch on this card is also Martha Stewart, but only the edge of the punch. The spider's my mom punched for me from one of her Martha Stewart punches too. I added some eyes to them and they became my "sugar bugs".

Well, it has been a tough week with the death of one of our dear friends at church who also taught at the school our children attend. Our children had him for a teacher and he will be so dearly missed. He taught there for 33 years and touched many lives and the children just loved him and he loved them and it was well reflected in their lives. So for now we will find comfort in knowing where he is and the great memories we hold of him. Make it an awesome week and make sure you count your blessings.

Magical Monday - Scripture

2011-10-10T06:00:00.004-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog; There's Magic In The Air the challenge is brought to us by Sonia Rivera. She wanted us to use scripture on our card/project this week.

I made 3 cards for this and used the images "Snider; Hanging with Friends", "Gnome On Pumpkin" and "Cap Napping". I used Bic Mark-its to color all the images. I also used all scraps too, except for the card base.

Image: Snider; Hanging with Friends

Image: Gnome on Pumpkin

Image: Cat Napping

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by if you lurked around.

Magical Monday - Let's Go Green

2011-10-03T06:00:00.001-04:00

I wanted to thank anyone who took the time to say a prayer for Patrick the 22 year old young man that needed a liver transplant. He was blessed with a new liver early Friday morning and is in recovery! I was so grateful to hear such wonderful news for him. Although now I will be praying that his body continues to accept his new liver and the family that had to loose someone they loved in order to give such a gift.

Now, as far as another Magical Monday over at Paper Cupcakes. This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Jennifer Bliss brings us our challenge. She wanted us to go Green. So, what does that mean? She wanted us to either make a card/project with greens/neutrals and/or reusing/recycling items in your project. I decided to recycle a plastic container that I bought candy in last year for Christmas. I divided the candy up and had these containers left over. I knew I wanted to reuse them and alter them, but then again they sat there since last Christmas. I think when you are creative you can also become somewhat a pack rat as well. So, I decided that I would alter one; I had two. I thought I would do a Christmas theme, this way I could fill it up with something come Christmas and give it as a teacher gift or have something on hand to give away. I used the image "Merry Moose-mas" by Paper Cupcakes. I added a little clip art Christmas tree and a border that come from Print Shop. I added the sentiment by computer. Added a trim to the top and bottom. I really wanted to use little brown pom-poms around the bottom, but I didn't have any, which I thought I did. So, I went with this trim. I kept it kind of simple in case I decided to give it to a male.

Well, another busy weekend and to be honest, our weekends just seem to be too full. When soccer is over then Speech kicks in and that is an all day kind of thing happening 2-3 weekends a month. So, if you stopped by thanks again, someday soon I hope to get around to blogs I use to love to visit, but my time just seems to be gone and too much to get accomplished in the real world. So, have a lovely week and it is always nice to read a note from someone that took the time to leave one. Have a great week!

Yep, it's Monday and ....

2011-09-26T06:00:00.003-04:00

It's been rainy this weekend and a little drab weather wise if you ask me. The kind of days where you just want to bum around and watch movies or nap. Ya know, the ones where it is hard to get motivated. Although, I wish I could say all I did this weekend was bum around, watch movies and take naps, but I didn't do any of those.

Also, I know I have a lot of friends that pray, so if you are reading this I would greatly appreciate if you could please join in a prayer chain for a 22 year old who recently found out he needs a liver transplant asap; his liver is in full failure. He is a family member of a dear friend of mine. Please join us in prayer that God will supply a liver for this young man in time. I always hate that, because I know when someone receives such a wonderful gift that means that someone else lost a life. Although I also see the beauty in it as well. I truly believe in organ donation for such reasons.

Well, another Magical Monday over at Paper Cupcakes seems small matter in the big skeme of things after such news. This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Audrey E. The challene was to use Die and/or Punches and to use at least 3. You could mix them as well, if you liked. I actually used 3 Spellbinders behind the teddy bear and then the larger flowers are a cuttlebug die cut and the leaves are a sizzix. The tiny white flowers are a punch. I colored the bear with colored pencils. This was a quick easy card, once I figured out what I was going to do.

Well, make it a great week and please hold Patrick in prayer, they gave him 2 weeks if he doesn't get a matching donated liver. I pray that he gets one and I hope you will pray too. Take time to count your blessings.

Magical Monday - Someone Special

2011-09-19T06:00:00.004-04:00

It's another Magical Monday over at Paper Cupcakes! This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Tammylee Newberry. She wanted us to make a special card/project for someone special. I made my card more masculine as I think we always tend to make them more female. I made this for my nephew who I forgot to send a birthday card to back in June! Bad Aunt! So, since he is the quarterback for the JV football team I did the card in their school colors which are blue and white. I am sending this since I am so late instead of a traditional birthday card. I used the image Football Cupcake by Paper Cupcakes and colored it with my color pencils. The sentiment was computer generated. It is a pretty simple card so I think you can pretty much figure it out. I love how the image has the same kind of look as the embossing folder.

Well, that's it for me today, we had a busy weekend and next weekend is even busier with constant things on our schedule. I think that is why I personally love the summer when my children are home and things are a little more down. Have a great week and thanks for stopping by!

Magical Monday - Shaped Card

2011-09-12T06:00:00.002-04:00

It's another Magical Monday over at Paper Cupcakes! This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Jenn Cochran. She wanted us to make a shaped card and it couldn't be a square or rectangle. I am not sure how well I did with this in keeping with the rules, but I did a coffee mug and I thought it was a great idea, but then I had reservations about it being kind of rectangle shaped with a handle, but I went with it anyway, because it is was officially a mug shape and there were plenty of circle cards. That's my story and I am sticking with it!! :O)

So, I used the freebie "Sending Love Your Way" by Paper Cupcakes and made it the picture on the mug as to make it a birthday mug. I used the name of the image as the sentiment on the tag on the handle. I made the inside of the cup pull up to reveal the inside sentiment of the card. I also made a stand on the back of the card so whoever receives this card can actually stand it up. I used Bic Mark-its to color the image and added some yellow Stickles on the envelopes and made my little tag and added it with some fiber. This is either the first time or second time I have attempted to do clouds with chalk. I thought it turned out pretty cute and will probably do this again. I don't feel like I am very good or creative when it comes to a shaped cards, but I really do like how this turned out.

Magical Monday - School

2011-09-05T06:00:00.001-04:00

It's another Magical Monday over at Paper Cupcakes! This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Gloria Westerman. She wanted to see us make a any type of card or project as long as it was school related.

I made a card using two of my images from Paper Cupcakes "Bee Mine & From The Heart". Since I discovered I really don't have any images that are truly school related, the designer team and of course myself had to do some thinking outside the box and incorporated some of my images to fit this challenge. With the help of the sentiment and of course another digital image, which is actually a coloring page from Elizabeth O. Dulemba.

I colored all the images with Bic Mark-its and added a little bit of stickles to the hearts and well, I wasn't sure I was going to like this, but I do in the end. I think it's bright and fun and I love the sentiment.

Well, of course I am writing this a head of time, so it is only Saturday. It's a holiday weekend for the US. And tomorrow is my youngest son's birthday who will be a big 8! So, we have some things planned and hopefully since everyone will be home again on Monday we will have a fun day then as well. Then back to routine.

Thanks for stopping by and make it a great week!

Magical Monday - Three's A Charm

2011-08-29T06:00:00.002-04:00

It's another Magical Monday over at Paper Cupcakes! This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Sonia Rivera. The challenge was to use ribbon either 3 times; 3 different ways, and/or 3 different colors and you cannot use white.

I used ribbon 3 times and used the Paper Cupcake image "Lady Bud Cupcake". I colored my image with my Bic Mark-its and colored the face of the lady bug with a black colored pencil. I am not sure I like where I placed the ticket, but it is on pop up dots and when I went to move it, it starting tearing the paper so I had to leave it, so it is what it is.

Well, that's it for me for my creativity this week. Busy week with my youngest going back to school. Today we spent most of the day after church at a park that was hosting a "Bug Fest". It was all about bugs and they had lots of stations set up around the park that were all bug related. We had a good time and learned some interesting facts about bugs. We seen lots of bugs on displayed and we even ate chocolate covered crickets! Yes, we tried them! They tasted like a Kit-Kat bar. Haha, I still can't believe I popped it into my mouth and Avery didn't even hesitate and he even went first! What a delightful little guy! I wish I would have remembered to have taken my camera.

Well, have a great week and thanks for stopping by!!

Magical Monday - Let's Make A Scene

2011-08-22T06:00:00.006-04:00

It's another Magical Monday over at Paper Cupcakes! This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Shirley. She wanted to see us "make a scene" by either using some type of scenery image or make a scene using some images. I decided to use several images from Paper Cupcakes. They were: Make A Wish, Kiss Cupcake, Much Love, Deco Flowers Vase 1, Small Orchid and Variety Tickets. I colored all my images with Bic Mark-its and added some stickles on some of the areas. Used pop up dots on a few of the images I cut out. I wanted it to look like a table that was set for a party/celebration. Of course after I added all those images that was pretty much the overall design, so I decided to add the ticket for the sentiment and the bow to add a little something extra.

The next card I made my mom for her birthday card. The image is called "Fair Fairy", but the image did not have the company name on it. I think it is from "A Day for Daisies", but if I am wrong please feel free to correct me in the comments. I wish everyone would put their company name on their images for easy identification. Anyway, I love this image and my mom loves fairies too, so I thought this would make a lovely card for her. I colored her with my Bic Mark-its as well and added some stickles on her to make her sparkle.

I also made her a book mark to match her card:

Here is another book mark I made using an image from "Whoopsi Daisy" I made this for the progressive challenge over at Crafter's Digital Art Center. They give you some free images and to receive the next set you have to actually take part in each challenge. I plan on using the others, so I best get on the move and get them completed. You actually only have to use one image and post it to get the next set, so that is doable, but I would like to attempt to use them all at least once. So, wish me luck.

I really liked the color combo of my mom's things, so I used the rest of my scrapes and made the following book mark for myself.

Morgan is now in her third week of High School and Avery starts second grade this Thursday. So, things should start falling back into a regular school routine once again. I must say I will miss those sleeping in days though and I do love having my children home for the summer.

Exciting news: Morgan made it through the auditions for the Musical and was in the top 10 for call backs out of about 150 children. She was the only freshman and the rest were Sophomores and Seniors who got called back to audition for the major roles of the musical. Needless to say she was thrilled. There were only 4 leading character roles(2-male and 2-female). Although, she did not land one of the leading roles, she is in one of the next biggest roles. She is just thrilled for her first High School musical and needless to say we are so proud of her and look forward to the upcoming musical which will be Guys and Dolls.

Well, going to enjoy my last few days with Avery prior to school this week. So you too, make it a great week and thanks for stopping by! Leave me a note, I would love to hear from you!

Magical Monday - Color Challenge

2011-08-15T06:00:00.004-04:00

It's another Magical Monday over at Paper Cupcakes! This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Leslie Krochta. She brought us a color challenge of Pink, Brown and White. I used the freebie image this week by Paper Cupcakes "Bee-ware". I colored it with my Bic Mark-its. Used scrapes to make the card, except the base. My sentiment is computer generated. I really liked how this turned out.

Also, please hold the people that were in attendance to the Sugarland Concert at our State Fair on Saturday evening. I had several friends that were in attendance when the stage collapsed. Several that were close to the stage. One that was in the roll right behind where the stage fell on people. She is really struggling with what she seen, heard and is still feeling very emotional as she tries to process through it all. I am certain there are many more, as well as the families that lost loved ones. We were not at the fair that evening, but I went outside to roll my car windows up when those straight line winds came through. They were instant, severely strong and came from no where. It was a sad way to end the day with such news from the fair. I had a hard time sleeping after seeing it on the news, so I can only imagine witnessing it in real life was just horrid. So, please lift up all those individuals and families suffering such trauma and loss.

Here is to a good week and a "big" shout out to my lovely mom as she celebrates her Birthday today! Happy Birthday Mom, I love you!!

Magical Monday - Let's Get Wild

2011-08-08T06:00:00.001-04:00

It's another Magical Monday over at Paper Cupcakes! This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Jennifer Schull and she wants us to use use any type of animal image and go wild on our creativity. I used the image "Sea Horse" and "Deco Hello" by Paper Cupcakes. I used my Souffle Opaque 3D Ink Pens to color my images. It really gave it such a soft feel to the overall image. I used some different Cats Eye colored chalks for the image's edge. My go to color for a touch of pop is always black. I am not sure why but even when I draw or paint I always put a punch of black in. It just makes things pop and since this was so much pastel in color I thought a punch of black would be nice and I must say I like how it turned out. Added all the black doodle with a thin marker.

Magical Monday - Mystical Creatures

2011-08-01T06:00:00.001-04:00

It's another Magical Monday over at Paper Cupcakes! This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Audrey E. and she wants us to use something mystical creatures such as a fairy, angel, unicorn and/or mermaid.... etc., you got the idea. This was a fun challenge and I chose to do a fairy and a unicorn image by Paper Cupcakes. I colored both images with my Bic Mark-its. Used scrap paper on both cards as well.

Image: Jessie & Variety Tickets

Image: Quiet Moments & Variety Tickets

This week flew by with business and adding a cake to it made my time a bit stressful, but I love how it turned out. I gave away 2 cakes at our school auction. They got a pretty nice donation for this and I was to make a cake of their choice up to a certain size and it had to be a cake flavor that could come out of a box. This cake was for a 5 year old little girl. She wanted pink horses and this is what I came up with. I made the horses out of color flow which is a soft flow icing that hardens. I made these days ahead of time and made two of each horse just in case one broke. I also made the flowers ahead of time too. Anyway, I spent Friday putting it together and grandma picked it up on Saturday. The larger horse was a little long so I had to attempt to cut it down without destroying it and so that is why it doesn't line up so well in the bottom left corner, but I think the overall cake still looked lovely for someone that hasn't had a cake lesson in her whole life and I hope Shelby loved. The cake was half strawberry and half white, yum yum... Such a girlie cake and fun too!

Well, thats it for me and I am now headed for bed. We were gone all day yesterday from morning until late night, then had Eric's out of town cousin and his son over for dinner tonight so I am ready to crash! Thanks for stopping by and thanks for leaving me a message if you did! Make it a great week!

Magical Monday - Le'ts Layer

2011-07-27T17:45:00.005-04:00

It's another Magical Monday over at Paper Cupcakes! This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Tammylee Newberry.. She wants us to layer and use at least 6 layers!

I used the image "After the Rain" by Paper Cupcakes and colored it with my Bic Mark-its. I am sure I have at least 6 layers. This was a fairly quick and easy card. Isn't that the cutest daisy trim? Thanks for thinking of me mom!

Well, this is a quick post as well, as I have lots to get completed and I am running behind. I have a birthday cake I need to have for the weekend. So I need to make some flowers so they can dry.

Morgan starts her first day of High School on Monday and I can't even believe how fast summer has slipped away and that school is already starting back. I only wish that winter went this fast! Oh hum...

Well, have a great rest of your week and thanks for stopping by if you did!

Magical Monday - Sketch Challenge

2011-07-18T06:00:00.002-04:00

It's another Magical Monday over at Paper Cupcakes! This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Lucy Marino. She made a sketch for us to follow and I always love sketches. At first I had a little tough time figuring out if the whole page was the sketch or just the circle part, but then I decided it didn't matter, it is how you personally interpret it. Which is what I love about challenges, mainly because we all see things differently and therefore interpret things differently. Just like how we create. So, I stopped stressing about if I was doing it correctly or not and just made a creation. I wanted to do 2 cards one each way, but I ran out of time and just got this done.

I made an easel card and colored the image "Orson; Many Thanks" by Paper Cupcakes with my Bic Mark-its. I used my cat eyes chalk to ink the edges of my image and used scrapes for my pp. The scallop is made from punched/embossed buttons that I glued around the circle. I thought the button holes would add interest and I loved how it turned out (thanks mom for the punch).

So, many thanks for stopping by and extra thanks if you left me some lovins! Have a great week!

Magical Monday - Birthday Card

2011-07-12T06:00:00.005-04:00

It's another Magical Monday over at Paper Cupcakes, but the only difference is that it is Tuesday! This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Gloria Westerman. She made it a birthday card challenge, so who doesn't need a birthday card?

I must admit I cheated. We got back from vacation later on Sunday and I spent a large part of yesterday setting up the blog with the new designers/links and and all of that while running a few well needed errands upon returning home. I then went to Bible study and didn't get home until after 11:00PM and I hadn't made a card. So, I am posting a few older cards I made a few months back that I never posted on my blog. This first one I made for my friend Ami's birthday back in February. I used the image "Who Loves You" by Paper Cupcakes. I colored it with my Bic Mark-its.

This card I can't even remember who I sent it too, but I used the Bic Mark-its on the cupcake & hat and colored the penguin with my colored pencils. I hand wrote my sentiment and used some stickles on the card as well. I crimped my green paper. The image is called "Penguin with Cupcake" by Paper Cupcakes.

This card I made my brother back in March and used several different digi images. I couldn't tell you for the world who's they are without going back through my images and hunting the names down, but they are not Paper Cupcake images. I believe they are buy 3 different people. I think the presents are by Nana Vic. I made my post and sentiment. This was a stair step card and it turned out really cute.

The next card is not a birthday card, but a get well card. I made this card for one of Avery's friend and classmates that got his tonsils out. The image is called "Get Well Dino" by Paper Cupcakes. I colored it with my Bic Mark-its as well.

Well, sorry these aren't new cards, but they have never been posted so in blog world they are new. It is now 1:30PM and my day has been long and I need to be up and going by 7:00AM so off to bed with me now, although I will most likely be up and moving when this pre-schedule post, posts. :o)

Have a great week and if you are kind enough to leave me a message, I want you to know I truly love getting them!

Magical Monday - Blast From The Past

2011-06-27T06:00:00.000-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Ildiko Cseh. She wanted us to make a project that reflected the era 1920-1930. Well, I am not so sure how I did, but I did give it a go and I like my card and I do think it has a vintage feel to it.... HAHAHA... so what do you think? I googled cards or postcards from this era and well, I was completely lost, but I did feel like this little image reflected some of the images I seen on postcards for Easter. So I went with it. I felt the colors, lace and pearls fit it as well. So, tell me what you think.

I didn't really add too much color to my image, just a soft color pencil to some of it. I kept it really light and sat in the the middle of this lovely design I picked up somewhere, but I couldn't tell you where. Added the sentiment and then I just cut it out by hand. I kept it pretty simple, because to be honest I just didn't know what I was doing for this!

Although I do love the overall card and loved how it turned out! I just love this little bunny, she looks so joyful and happy in the moment!

Well, that's it for me. I so be joyful and happy in your day as well and I will catch you later....

Magical Monday - Inspirational

2011-06-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Patti Painter. She wants us to be inspired by a beautiful picture in any way and then create! You can find the picture here.

I used the image "Cute Valentine" by Paper Cupcakes and colored it with my Bic Mark-its. My papers were scraps. This is a 5x5 card. Truly this was a quick simple card, but I think it turned out cute. I thought I printed my image on white card stock and I just thought my lighting was bad when I colored it and then when I went to go make my card I realized I actually printed my image on a vanilla piece of card stock! Oh well, it actually worked and I like the end result so sometimes our mess ups actually work. I will probably repeat it as well.

Well, our weekend flew by, as usually. I had my family over for Father's Day for a cookout. It was raining when we went to church and it didn't look like much hope for the sun to shine, but after my dear husband finished cooking all the chicken wings on the grill (in the rain), it actually cleared up and became quite nice outside! A little humid, but I truly had a wonderful time and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves as well. The only thing was I sat my camera out to take some pictures and I didn't take a one! Plus, I failed to take a picture of the card I made my dad for Father's Day! ((big sigh))

Well, it's going on midnight once again and so I need to head for bed, because I have a busy week, plus I am tired!! So, make it a good week.

Magical Monday - Pick Two

2011-06-13T06:00:00.005-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Gloria Westman. She wanted us to pick two of these elements: Flowers, Ribbons, Pearls/Gem and/or die cut and use them on your project in any way.

I chose Ribbon and pearls. I colored my image with Bic Mark-its and chalked my sky. I used a Martha Stewart punch for the border and a rounded the corners of the image. This was a pretty simple and quick card. I only wish the posting on the challenge blog tonight was a quick and easy one, but blogger is doing wierd things and I am not sure how to trouble shoot them.

OK, so keeping this short because it is now 1:00 AM and I have an early morning appointment with the high school to register my daughter, so I need to be getting to bed!

Make it a great week and leave me a note, well that is if Blogger will allow you to!

Magical Monday - Masculine

2011-06-06T06:00:00.000-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Belinda Lewis. She wanted us to make a card or project that was male/masculine. I used the image "Nate & Av; You're Special" by Paper Cupcakes. I used my Bic Mark-its to color the image and used chalk in the sky.

This week was a hectic and fun week. I went to St. Louis with my daughter on her 8th grade trip. We seen a lot and had a lot of fun. Her graduation was today and then we hauled her off to camp right afterwards. And then our oldest daughter moved out and we celebrated our 12th anniversary as well! Well, not sure how much we celebrated it, but it did arrive and it's on it's way out!

Changed this one into a colored pencil drawing... must say I love the effect and artistic feel of it!

Well, keeping this short and sweet I am extremely tired and heading for bed now so make it a great week!

Magical Monday - Easel Card

2011-05-30T06:00:00.002-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Suzi McKenzie. This week Suzi McKenzie brings us our challenge. She would love for all of us to make any kind of easel card, i.e. single easel, double easel, twisted easel

Below are some links to some of the other type easel cards if you want to try one that you have never attempted. I have only done an regular easel card, so it's exciting to have these links to the other easel cards I have always admire!

Easel Card
Easel Card Tutorial Video
Twisted Easel Card Tutorial Video
Double Twisted Easel Card Tutorial Video
Triple Easel Card Tutorial Video

Well, since I made my card a little late I went with the regular easel card, but be assured I will be doing some of the others really soon!!

I used the "Sentiment Cupcake" image that I had already colored up by Paper Cupcakes and to be honest I made the card and traded out the image at the last minute, otherwise I would have used a little be different paper, but this ended up OK, but I think I would have liked it with some other paper. I colored my image with Bic Mark-its and used scrap paper. It really was a pretty quick and easy card.

Well, Eric and Avery are out making a bon fire so I am heading out to join them!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Magical Monday - Let's make our own flowers

2011-05-23T06:00:00.003-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Sheng Vang. She wanted us to use to make our own flowers and then use them. Since I didn't start making my card until 10:30PM this evening I decided to go with punched. I have always loved my punches and this is why; so easy peasy. The image I used was "Girl with Pumpkin" by Paper Cupcakes and the ticket is from the "Summer Ticketes" by Paper Cupcakes as well. It is a great fall image, but I already had it all colored up and really liked it so I thought I would just use it and save some time. I colored my girl with colored pencils and the pumkins and flower with Bic Mark-its. All the papers/cs used were scraps except the base of the card. I kept it fairly simple, mainly because I want to head for bed!

Well, I almost didn't do my card tonight I am extremely tired from this past week and weekend. I worked most of the week doing a faux finish and then Saturday we had to be a the soccer field to play the first game in a tournament at 8:00AM. Our team didn't end up playing the last two/three games. It was just too much for 7 year old little boys. By the end of the 3 game most of out little guys were just wiped and in tears. We had just enough boys to fill the team to play so they never got a break from playing and got little rest between the games. Then 2 boys left which left our team with 4, which is two short and we thought that is just too much. So we decided as a team to leave the tournament. They still had 2/3 more games to play. Yes, it was too much and at that point the fun was gone. Then we had 2 open houses to attend for some graduates which were our niece and nephew and we didn't get home until after 11:30PM; because one was on one side of town and the other on the other side of town. Needless to say we were exttremely tired today. Avery slept until 10:00 the next morning and then we went off to church where he fell asleep again during the service. OK.. well I am sure that is way more then you care to read so I am thinking I should head for bed now!! :O)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can find some kindness to leave me a note if you stopped by! Have a great week!

Magical Monday and then some...

2011-05-16T06:00:00.012-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake Challenge Blog the challenge is brought to us by Molly Ritterbeck. She wanted us to use embossing on our project. Also, they are giving away a freebie this which is a lovely image "Peony in Bottle". The card I made to fit the challenge was this side step card. I actually cut my image out and set it up on pop-up dots on top of the embossed die cut piece. I used several Paper Cupcake images on this one card and they are as follows: Double Fudge Cupcake, Flower Cupcake with Ladybug, Double Heart Cupcake and Tea Cup with Daisies. I colored all the image with my colored pencils. I still am going to add some stickles, but just ran out of time to do it so I just took the pictures. My sentiment was computer generated. I really loved how this card turned out.

This is a card I made my sister for Mother's Day. I held it back because this image wasn't showcasing until this week. I colored this image with my colored pencils as well.

Well, the big middle school play was this week and the production was the Wizard of Oz. Morgan my daughter received the leading role of Dorothy and she did an awesome job and I was a beaming proud parent. All the children did a wonderful job and they put a lot of hard work into it and it certainly paid off. Here are a few of the mega amounts of pictures I took during the production.

Isn't this just the most beautiful/vibrant flower?! I bought this in a planted pot. I have know idea what kind of plant this is, because it was not labled, but is did state it was full sun so I bought it because the color was so awesome. The blooms are about an inch/inch and a half. Just thought I would share it with you.

This is Storm our cat and we ended our weekend thinking he got out of the house. It was rainy and cold so I thought is was hiding somewhere outside keeping dry and warm. Storm is strickly a house cat and if outside he is on a harness and lease. When we got home from church we couldn't find him anywhere and thought our oldest son accidently let him out. So, I walked the neighborhood in the rain and looked for him for quite some time, but never could find him. We leave for church early and he was there that morning. The good news is we found him and I was so relieved, but you will never believe where we found him! He somehow got closed in Avery's dresser drawer. I got some pants out for Avery to wear to church, but I am certain he was not in the drawer, after all it is not like Storm is small. But there he was closed inside the drawer. He had to be in there for over 7 hours, because we were gone for 2 1/2 and then didn't find him for another 4 after we got home from church. I just about died when Eric called me on my cell phone while I was out looking for him and told me where he found him. I am surprised he didn't meow when we were calling him in the house, but very grateful he was safe, warm and at home the whole time! Silly cat!

Well, that's it for me today. The next few weeks are going to be quite busy. 3 more weeks of school and 2 more for Morgan. She will go on her 8th grade trip to St. Louis during the third week and I am going along with her. I am looking forward to it as well. I also have another faux finish job to do before that gets here. Rainy and cold here right now. Went from 80 back into the 40's with rain. Blah!! Well, have an awesome week I know I will.

Magical Monday - Sketch Challenge

2011-05-09T06:00:00.004-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake Challenge Blog Lucy Marino brings us our challenge. She designed a wonderful sketch to use. Of course you can rotate, flip or stretch the sketch as long as you can see the original sketch in the finish card.

This first card is for that challenge. I pretty much left it just as it was. I used a new released image called "Daisy in Pot" from Paper Cupcakes and colored it with my Bic Mark-its. It was a pretty quick and simple card.

The next card I made my mom for Mother's Day. This image is a new release by Paper Cupcakes as well. It is called "Peony and Anenomes" I colored it with my colored pencils. The ticket is from Paper Cupcakes as well and can be found in the Variety Ticket set. I kept this pretty simple as well, but loved how it turned out.

This next card is an easel card. This image is a new release from Paper Cupcakes too called "Pansy Cupcake". Not really sure I like how this card turned out and I would do it in different colors if I were to do it again. I started with the pansy flower and I loved how the flower turned out, but then I had a difficult time deciding what color to do the icing and wrapper (I should have did the bow in yellow or white)and the wrapper in well.... still not sure. To be honest I don't really like the color skeme at all, but oh well I so wanted to color the flower like I did. Then I had a hard time finding paper to match. I also wish I would have done the butterflies in a brighter yellow or different color. hahahaha.. OK, not really loving this one; can you tell? I colored it in my colored pencils.

Well, I hope everyone in the US had a lovely Mother's Day. I had a nice day, but the best part of my day was enjoying my mom and dad's company for dinner and visiting with them and oh doing the Michael Jackson's dance WII with Avery after they left. That little stinker even beats me in that!!

Leave me some lovins if you stop by... (((pretty please)))

Magical Monday - Birthday Challenge

2011-05-02T06:00:00.002-04:00

This week Julie Smith brings us our challenge over at the Paper Cupcakes Challenge Blog. She would like us to make a birthday card/project; it's that easy! I used a new released image "Dogwood Cupcake" by Paper Cupcakes. It is sitting in the store right now and I will be adding 10 more new images by the end of tomorrow.

I colored my image with my colored pencils and used some of my Stickles on the cupcake icing as well on the leaves and ticket. I wish you could really see how pretty the sparkle is, but I don't think it shows up that well in the pics. The embossing folder is Tiny Bubbles by Cuttlebug. I crimped my patterned paper and layered my flowers and punched my butterflies. This was a pretty easy card to make. I just loved how it turned out. The one thing I love about digis is that you can resize your image and this cupcake is fairly large. The card is a 5x7. Yum yum, it would be deadly if you ate a cupcake that large! :o)

Well, it stopped raining for two days and the rain is back. We did get our soccer game in on Saturday and the fields weren't too bad either, but the wind was a killer. I had a nice weekend, although it was busy, but hey I am use to that. Hope you had a nice weekend as well and now I am ready to start another week!

Make sure you stop by Paper Cupcakes and check out my new images in the "new arrivals" area. I am hoping to have them all up-loaded by the end of today. There will be a total of 14 new ones. Four are sitting there right now as I had to stop and move on to something else. If they all aren't there, come back a bit later in the evening (my ETS of course) and they should all be there (I hope). If by chance they all aren't there it is because I had to take my car into the shop. I have a hole in my raditor and will need to address this asap or otherwise I have no transportation. Car repairs stink!

So, have a lovely day and leave a message or a hi if you stopped by. I always love to read them.

Magical Monday - Mulit-Fold Card

2011-04-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

This week's challenge over at the Paper Cupcakes Challenge blog Jenn Cochran brings us our challenge and she wants us to make a multi-fold card. I chose to make a tri-shutter card. I have made a few of these, but not too many. I always love the finished card though. The image I chose from Paper Cupcakes was "Ladybug Rides" and "Summer Tickets". I colored most of my image with my Bic Mark-its and the elephant with my colored pencils to make her soft. I had the little lady bugs in my stash and found them to be perfect for this card/image. So, I hope you will attempt some kind of multi fold card if you have never tried one before, they are quite the treat to make and I am sure to receive as well!

Well, I am typing this up early so I can spend time with my family on Sunday and not be on this computer. So, I hope everyone had a lovely Easter weekend, I am certainly planning on it myself even though the weather is calling for rain.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope if you stopped you would be so kind to leave me a note to let me know you have been here!

Magical Monday - Color Challenge

2011-04-18T06:00:00.002-04:00

This week Ildiko brings us our challenge over at the Paper Cupcakes Challenge Blog. She wanted us to use bright and cheery colors this week and she chose the colors green, yellow and orange. They certainy were bright and cheery and perfect for this image "Hello Sunshine" by Paper Cupcakes. The image is a freebie this week so make sure you stop by and snag it and consider playing along as well with the challenge.

I colored my image with my Bic Mark-its and used some of my Stickles and a few Jelly Roll sparkle pens as well. This was a pretty easy card to make. I punched out my dragonflies and added some Stickles to them as well. Sometimes you just can't have enough sparkle!

Another busy weekend for us, but that is not new. We had another fundraiser event on Friday evening; a trivia night Saturday we spent the morning at our son's first soccer game, in the cold and damp and misty rain. Not my type of fun at all I wished it would have just rained so we could go home. He now has a cough, but I must say he truly enjoyed himself. What little boy doesn't love to play ball in the mud with other little boys?! Mom aka me was sure miserable though. Morgan was confirmed today (Sunday) and then we headed to a high school play that her friend was in and then out to dinner to celebrate her confirmation as a family.
Well, that's it for me, going to keep this short and sweet, because I am headed for bed at a decent hour this Sunday evening! Have a great week!

Magical Monday - Fabric & Stitching

2011-04-11T06:00:00.000-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcakes Challenge Blog this week Chelsea Barnes brings us this challenge. She want us to be super-uper creative this week and let's incorporate some fabric and stitching into our projects. For fabric you can think outside the box and use a fabric covered brad, make a flower out of fabric or just use a piece instead of pattern paper. So, let's see how creative we can be with fabric and stitching!

Well, this is going to be a quick posting I have been busy all weekend long and at home very little at all throughout the whole weekend. It is now 2:32 and I just finished the challenge posting and now I am here and then I am in bed!

I used the image "Sunday Afternoon" from Paper cupcakes. The material I used was nylon tulle. You can bearly see it, but it is there. All I did was just knot it and placed flower onto of it like a bow. It looks really pretty in real life, but because it is white tulle, it didn't photograph that well. Or maybe it is because I am exetremely tired. I colored my image with my Bic Mark-its and added chalk to the sky to give it the look I wanted. All the papers were scraps.

We had our fundraiser this past weekend and I was in charge. It was a spaghetti dinner and I might add it was a great success and the children were excellent in helping setting up, serving and tearing down. That was literally an all day affair. Today I went to a bridal shower mid day and you all know how that goes. Well, to bed with me, because I have to be up in 4 1/2 hours and to be honest I don't function too well on that!

Have a great week and if you stop by leave me a note I would love to hear from anyone!!

Magical Monday - Let's use flowers

2011-04-04T06:00:00.001-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcakes challenge blog Belinda Lewis brings us our challenge of "let's use flowers". I went the image Ladybug on Hill & the ticket is from the Variety Tickets from Paper Cupcakes. I colored the image with my Bic Mark-its and then used chalk for the soft background. All the paper were part of my scraps. I punched all my little flowers too. This was a pretty quick and easy card and I think it turned out pretty cute as well.

Well, I worked some last week and it was also Spring break for the children so we were a bit busy. This week is another busy week with our 8th grade dinner coming up which I am in charge of as well. Morgan got the lead roll as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz for the middle school play that will be in May. She is nervous that she won't learn all her 400 and some lines in a month, but I know she will do a wonderful job and I am quite proud of her.

Well, as always I am always tired by this time of day which is normally past my bedtime for a Sunday evening, so I am closing this out and heading for bed.

Have a great week and I hope if you stop by you will leave me a note to let me know you visited!

Magical Monday - Color Challenge

2011-03-28T06:00:00.001-04:00

This week Gloria Westerman brings us our challenge over at the Paper Cupcakes challenge blog. The challenge is a color challenge and we are suppose to use yellow, green and pink. I love this color combination and knew exactly what image I wanted to use. I used the image "Lily's Morning Tea" and also a ticket from the "Summer Tickets" by Paper Cupcakes. This image would so be me if I were a cute frog on a summer day in the morning, although I would be drinking coffee. :o) I used my Bic Mark-its to color my image and and used my Signa Uni ball white pen to doodle around the image. I chalked my sky and water. That's a Martha Stewart border punch. It was a real quick and easy card to make and I loved how it turned out. It's a fun image and a cheery kind of card.

We are all now on the up swing of getting better. I got Avery to the doctor on Monday and he was back in school on Wednesday. He was finally fever free on Tuesday. Eric was home all week, not sure about all your men, but mine moans way too much when he is sick and it drives me crazy. I started my faux finish job on Wed., although I felt really yucky and worked the rest of the week. I got myself to the doctor on Friday morning and I must say I am feeling much better after a good dose of meds and cough syrup. This coming week is Spring break for the children, so I hope I get to do at least a few fun things with them since we are feeling much better. Our coughs aren't quite gone, but have subsided quite a bit thank goodness.

Well, I have to take Eric in at noon to have a colonoscopy and so that should be interesting. Well, more interesting for him then me, but I will have to bring him home so tomorrow for the most part will be a wash as a fun day for the children and well I guess Eric too. I don't really know what to expect afterwards. I just hope it doesn't include more manly moaning is all! :o)

Magical Monday - Vintage Card or Tag

2011-03-21T06:00:00.004-04:00

Carol West brought us a vintage theme over at the Paper Cupcakes Challenge blog and not only is it a vintage theme Paper Cupcakes is giving away the image "Doodle Flower 4" as well. So, why don't you stop by and join in with us.

Now, I am never really sure what falls into a vintage theme, so I am not sure if I am really good at this. Vintage always seems a little challenging for me, so I am not sure if my card fits it or not, but I do like how it turned out overall.

I went with blues and a subdued green color. I colored my image with my Bic Mark-its and then chalked the edges of my image.

The large die cut is from spellbinders and the small corner pieces are from Cuttlebug.

I am still fighting a horrid cough and Avery came home from school on Thursday last week and ran 104+ temp for two days. Saturday it finally went down to 103 and Sunday he woke up with a normal temp, but then it went to low grade again. I will be taking him to the doctor on Monday and hopefully me to med-check. Really, I am over this stuff. It just seems like we keep getting it in cycles. This week I start a job with a faux finish so the week should go quickly. The last 4 days we have had some fairly nice weather, although I wish I could have enjoyed it a bit more. I have taken naps the last two days, which is rare for me, but much needed. Here to a good week and hope that everyone starts feeling better.

Morgan's friend bought her a parakeet for a birthday gift and she decided to buy one herself one as well so she had a set. They are very pretty and they seem to be getting comfortable in their new home. She named them Angel and Artemis

I think Artemis is in love with his reflection. He has sat in front of the mirror since he discovered himself!

Angel

I also made a cake for a silent auction for a local youth baseball team. They wanted it to have the logo of the team; which I designed as well. Not like I didn't have enough to do this week. Now remember I have never taken a cake class in my life so this is just me borrowing my neighbors stuff to decorate a cake, but I think all in all it turned out OK. It was fairly large, two cake mixes, one chocolate and one white. It made it a tough day with a sick little boy though that wanted to be snuggled.

Well, that's my week in a nutshell and I am hoping for bed early tonight, so have a great week!

Magical Monday - Monochromatic

2011-03-14T06:00:00.002-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcakes Challenge Blog Katrina Benton brings us our weekly challenge. The challenge was monochromatic this week, which I always love to do.

The first card I made I used the image "Fluttering By" by Paper Cupcakes and thought I would use purples. I colored my image with my colored pencils and the rest was really pretty easy. I used 3 different punches for my my flower and punched holes where I tied my ribbon to that one layer. The border punch is a Martha Stewart punch which I also embossed with the swiss dot embossing folder.

This following card I received from my husband for Valentine's Day and thought it was so interesting and pretty. I was drawn to the punched designed of the leaves and flowers on this and wanted to attempt that same look using one of my floral images.

So this is what I came up with. I printed off the image "Easter Lilies" from Paper Cupcakes and then the side that you would normally color; which would normally be the right side now became my backside. I took an embroidery needle and and poked holes along the whole outline of the image. I laid it on a mouse pad when I poked the holes. When I turned it over and it really pretty much looked like the above card. The above card had a pearl look to it which is really pretty inside of their flowers and leaves, but I didn't have anything like that to add so I added a white glitter to mine. This is really so much prettier in real life and I wish you could see it that way. If you click on the picture is will get larger and you will most likely see it much better. I embossed the background with a Cuttlebug embossing folder to get the overall look I wanted. I matted everything very thinly in a light grey matting just to give it a little depth. I used pop-up dots to lift the image away from the background and added a pretty white bow and some rhinestone to set it off and I think it turned out quite elegant. It will either be a lovely Easter card or I might save it for a wedding or sympathy card.

Well, that's pretty much all for me. I have started coming down with some chest congestion and an awful cough. I actually took a 3 hour nap today after church, well, I think we all did believe it or not. I really needed it and I rarely take naps. I just haven't been feeling too great this last week, but keep on going. So, here is to hoping I start feeling better than worse. So, I am still really tired so as soon as 10:00PM gets here and I close out last weeks blog posting I am headed to my bed!

Have a delightful day!

Magical Monday - Sketch Challenge & turning 50!

2011-03-07T06:00:00.004-05:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcakes Challenge Blog Patti Painter brings us this weeks challenge which was a great sketch. I love sketches and should use them more often. I used the image "Text Me; Hugs & Kisses" by Paper Cupcakes. I colored it with my Bic Mark-its. I also used some borders that my mom punched out of some of her Martha Stewart punches as well as my Fiskers punch. I used my white Signo pen by Uni-ball. Which I might add that I love love love and if you have never had a white pen I would highly suggest you buy this one. I love to doodle with it. The rest I think you can figure out.

I also hit a milestone in my life and turned the big "50"! It really doesn't bother me much, mainly because I feel so blessed and look at it as only a number. I don't have to worry about such silly things I have no control over such as age. Eric brought me home 50+ roses on Friday when he arrived home from work. They were just beautiful and they started to open up and so I thought I would share a picture of them with you. Aren't the divine?

Saturday, which was my actual birthday we got up early and helped my sister move all day up until about 4:00PM. It was a rainly drizzly day to move, but for the most part it was good. I spent time with my family and also got to eat birthday pizza during the move. We left from her new destination and headed downtown where Eric booked us a room for the night at the Hyatt. We cleaned up and then headed out to Capital Grill for a yummy and fancy dinner. We then went back and changed into something more comfortable and then headed back out to our favorite dance spot Ike & Jonesys to dance the night away and then came back to our room and crashed! Slept in and then we ate lunch at Panaro Bread before heading back home. I must say I had an awesome birthday. It was a wonderful way to bring in my 50's. I have to laugh though on Friday in the mail I received "TWO" AARP cards that I tossed in the trash. I always use to give Eric a hard time every time he received that mail, now I am getting it. Then I also received an assisted living brochure! OK... I am only 50, although I guess I could use a little more assistance around here!! LOL....

Well, needless to say I am tired today and I will be heading for bed shortly after 10:00PM this evening. I am sure I will crash.

So, to anyone that stops by tell me what you think of my card or just drop me a hi and tell me you stopped by; I love to hear from y'all! Make it a joyful day!

Magical Monday - Color Challenge

2011-02-28T06:00:00.002-05:00

Well, we got some more snow at the end of last week and it has been warm enough these last few days that it is now almost gone again. I am certainly ready for the spring flowers, warmer air and some warm sunshine on my shoulders! So, when Pat Pedder brought us this spring color challenge this week I immediately wanted to color some spring flowers! So, I chose these two tulips images by Paper Cupcakes "Tulip Bunch" and "Tulips in Bottles". The colors that Pat wanted us to use was "yellow, green & blue". I really liked this combination and would have loved to have made a few more cards, but when I wait until Sunday evening to make them time just runs out quickly

I colored my images with my colored pencils, because I love the softness that it brings to the image. The boarder punch is Fiskers. I wish that punches printed their design name on the punch itself to make it easy to identify so I could just look at my punch and tell you the name. Without looking it up I can't tell you, but I love this one and it sure looks pretty in this springy yellow. These were pretty simple designs, but I really liked how they turned out. Plus, I will be mailing them out tomorrow to a couple of my friends so I tried to keep the bulk down for a less bulky mail. My tiny butterflies are punched as well. I would consider these cards clean and simple and certainly springy. Just looking at them makes my heart a little lighter knowing spring is just around the corner!

My green in the green bottle turned out a little brighter then I had wanted it. I accidentally picked up the wrong green which was a little more bright. I went back over it with the green I originally wanted, but it did not tone it down so much. Oh well, I still think the card is pretty!

I really loved this color combo and enjoyed making my cards tonight even though it always feels like I am working a deadline. Well, I am looking forward to this week. No basketball/cheer. Is that awful of me? Just need a break is all and and would like to have some of my weekends back too, even if it is just for a short time! My birthday is also this week; Saturday. I am helping my sister move then on to an overnight date with my dear husband! I turn the big 50 and to be honest it doesn't bother me a bit. Life is good for the most part so I will just rejoice in it for now!

Magical Monday - Children's Birthday Card

2011-02-21T06:00:00.002-05:00

Well, this challenge was perfect timing for my nephew's son's birthday who turned 2. The challenge over at Paper Cupcakes was brought to us by Gloria Westerman and she wanted us to make a child's birthday card. I used the image Baby Rhino's Day for this card and colored it with my colored pencils. I made the card and then stuck it in the envelope and hoped no glue stuck to the inside. The pictures aren't so great, but that's what happens when you do a make and take! The top picture is more true to color.

I have another card I started that was for an older child, so I will see if I can get it completed and posted this week as well.

Going to keep this short and sweet today, because we have been gone most of the weekend and got home around 8:00PM and I am going to bed early tonight!! Next weekend is all basketball again, but it is the last of the season.

Magical Monday - Shaped Card with Embossing or Texture

2011-02-14T06:00:00.003-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

This week over at that Paper Cupcake's Challenge blog, Gloria Westerman brings us our challenge. She wants us to make a shaped or die cut card or use a shape or die cut and use either some embossing or texture on it. I rarely think to make shaped cards, but I always love the challenge to do it. I really should make them more often. I decided to make mine in a heart shape. I think I must have Valentines on the brain so maybe that is why I went with a heart. My heart is cut at 4 inches from my cricut machine, I so love that thing. The image is called "Wild Flower Bouquet" and was a freebie today by Paper Cupcakes over at their challenge blog that you can find here. I colored two images and put some of the flowers on pop up dots to give it some depth. I glued the bottom heart on white card stock and then cut around it with my scalloped scissors. I inked the top heart to give it some darker color around the edges. My sentiment is computer generated. The scallops that go across and behind the sentiment is a Martha Stewart punch that I cut in half and then used on both sides. I am not sure which punch it is, because it was my mom's and one day she punched a lot of them out for me to use from different punches she had; so thanks mom! I then ran some thin pink ribbon across the lines. I totally forgot to emboss or add texture so I just sent the whole top heart through my cuttlebug machine with the swiss dots folder to add some embossing. I attached the top heart to the bottom heart with a tiny white brad on the left. this allows the card to swing open revealing the inside. I then attached my bouquet and then drew the tiny bee right oh my card flying out of the flowers. I really loved how this turned out and will most likely make this card again or at least try to think "shape" every once in a while!

Well, here's to a better week this week! This past week was way to hectic with a trip to the ER with my mother-in-law in the middle of the night. A trip to med-check with my daughter from a fall down the steps. A weekend away at a basketball and cheer tournament where my daughter was vomiting all weekend long (which I believe was from you meds they put her on) and was unable to join the cheer squad all weekend long and returning home at 8:00 PM from it all. Got on the Internet around 10:00 PM to add the finishing touches to my postings on my blogs and found I couldn't access the Internet to do any of it. So I had to call the service/tech people and 2 hours later I now have access. So much for going to bed around 10:00!! So, maybe I will get there before 1:00!!

Now have a "sweet" day! And don't forget to spoil yourself with a little chocolate... (((ya know I will be looking for some chocolate a little later tomorrow when I get up!))

Magical Monday - Recipe Challenge

2011-02-07T06:00:00.003-05:00

Carol West brings us this weeks challenge over at Paper Cupcakes challenge blog. Her challenge was to use the following recipe: 3 flowers (minimum), ribbon or lace, rhinestones or pearls and one die cut. This is what I came up with. I used the image Doodle Flower 2 & the ticket is Variety Tickets by Paper Cupcakes. I colored my image with my Bic-Mark-its. I wanted to keep my card clean and simple and was pleased with the way it turned out. I am so tired of winter so I wanted to do something summery and dream about the warm days to come! So I went with bright and summery colors! My die cut is the scalloped piece that the ribbon is tied around, but it is kind of hard to see with the pattern paper, mainly because how I placed it on the orange card stock I think. I actually have 4 punched flowers, the two big ones and the little white one in the center of the image with the jewel on top and then the little orange one on the ticket.

Well, that's it's for me today, so thanks for stopping by and hey leave me a note, I always love to hear from whoever stops by!

Magical Monday - Sentiment and Valentine Card for a Friend

2011-01-31T06:00:00.002-05:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake Challenge the challenge was to use the sentiment that is on my cards and make a Valentine for a friend. I made the 4 cards below with all new released Paper Cupcake images. I colored all my images with Bic Mark-its and used Stickles and Diamond Glazed on parts of the images, not sure if you can tell where or not by these pictures. These cards are just beautiful in real life so I wish you could really see them.

Image: Mouse Friends; After Your Heart

I just loved these cookies on a stick so I decided to do all three of them. And I must admit I love how they turned out.

Image: Heart Cookie On Stick 1

Image: Heart Cookie On Stick 2

Image: Heart Cookie On Stick 3

Well, that's it for me for today. We have the yucks back in our house once again. Avery started running a temperature mid day on Saturday and was at a whopping 104.1 upon waking up Sunday morning and is still holding that same temp as I type this at 7:00PM on Sunday. Looks like he won't be attending school on Monday. I hope no one else comes down with it!

Magical Monday - Tic-Tac-Toe Element Chart

2011-01-24T06:00:00.001-05:00

Good Day to everyone! This week over on the Paper Cupcake's challenge blog the challenge it to use the following chart to come up with an element combination. You are to pick 3 in a row like a tic-tac-toe and then use those 3 elements on your card at least once. You can find the challenge here.

The image was a freebie this week there as well and is called "Sent with Love" by Paper Cupcakes. The three elements I chose on the chart were: something punched (flowers & border); Ribbon and bling. I did my card in earthy colors which I just loved how it turned out. I think this image is quite versatile. I think this card could easily be used as a valentine card, anniversary card, shower card if you changed the sentiment it could be used as a sympathy also. Really this image is just endless in it's uses, plus it is an easy cut out. The ticket (sentiment) is from Paper Cupcakes as well and can be found here under the Valentine Tickets.

Well, that's it for me for now. We had an extremely busy week & weekend and it's after 11:00PM now and I am overly tired and heading for bed now! So, have a wonderful week!

Magical Monday - Sketch Challenge

2011-01-17T06:00:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone! Golly, I have been absent from here for some time now so it feels good to be back. Today I bring you a card I made for the Paper Cupcake's weekly challenge which is a sketch. I used the image "Girl with Heart" by Paper Cupcakes and colored here with my colored pencils. The ticket sentiment is from Paper Cupcakes as well and is from the Variety Ticket set. I made an easel card and like how it turned out, but my mojo wasn't quite there that day and it took me all day to get this one card together. Although, I did like how it turned out in the end. The punches are both Martha Stewart's. My papers were scraps.

This was the card I made last week for the Paper Cupcakes Challenge. It was to make a thank you card and then mail it. The image is from Paper Cupcakes and is called "Deco Flower with Flourish" I colored this image so long ago, but never used it, but finally did. I colored the image with Bic Mark-its and used some stickles on the flower. The border punch is from Martha Stewart. I loved how this card turned out.

Well, that's all for me today! Joy is contagious, commit to be a carrier.

Magical Monday - Christmas Card with Traditional Red & Green

2010-12-13T06:00:00.011-05:00

This week Dru Cabral brings us the challenge over at the Paper Cupcake's challenge blog. The challenge was to make a Christmas card using traditional colors "red & green". Paper Cupcakes also gave away this cute snowman freebie called "A Merry Little Christmas". I came up with this design/layout and decided to use it a few times with a little change to each card. Makes it more simple that way for this time of year. I colored my image with my Bic Markets and colored the hat with my colored pencils.

You can still see the same sketch here, but I did the ribbon treatment a little different.

Kept the same design to this card as well and used the images "Santa's Helpers" and the sentiment is "Christmas Tickets" by Paper Cupcakes. I colored this image with colored pencils.

If my stickles looks messed up here, it is because it is! I laid another card on top of this card before it was dry, dang, I hate when I do things like that!

I wish on this next card I would had used a white card, but I went with black. Oh well, I may pick the rhinestones off and cut a small white piece and place it in the top right corner and place the rhinestones back on that. Something about that top black corner that I just don't like. I think a pop of white is what it needs. Tomorrow maybe. Colored this image "Snowman Angel" by Paper Cupcakes with Bic Markets, the ticket is "Christmas Tickets" by Paper Cupcakes. There is stickles on the wings and the little heart and star.

This image "Friendship Never Melts Away" was colored with color pencils and I love the pinks and green. I used a white glaze pen to put the dots on the trees. This card is simple as well, but I love how it turned out. I think you can figure this out.

This is the freebie I give away a lot on the blog. I really like it, but had not yet used it so I colored a large image of it. I colored it with colored pencils and added stickles to it as well. All these cards are 5x7 so you can see how large this image is.

I colored a lot of these images weeks ago and today I spent most of the day at an indoor swimming pool volunteering to time the meets of the swimmers to raise money for our mission trip group. It was the first time I have done this and it was a little stressful, because there was very little time between swimmers and recording the scores and then being ready for the next round, but it was fun plus we raised quite a bit of money as well. When I got home around 4:00 I jumped in and made most of these cards today/this evening. I have had a busy week and it doesn't seem to be slowing down with Christmas drawing near. Believe me I still have plenty to do. This is the last week of school for the children so they will be around all next week, which I am not so sure I like for the things I still need to get accomplished.

I did do a mural this past week in someone's bathroom. It was a bit hard to photograph, so these pictures do not to the mural justice at all. The trees are not nearly as dark as what is reflected here. They really do show up and do not blend in with the background trees. But the bathroom was narrow and I just could not stand right in front of the mural and take a straight on picture, oh well, I may go back and try to get a better one later. This measures about 4.5x 3 feet. The lady was pleased, so I guess that is just dandy! Truly my horizon line is straight, but like I said I was pretty much taking these from the side or stretching my arm out to take the pic.

Here is a link to the mural I did in my own home. My kitchen is Tuscany and this mural sits on the wall behind our kitchen table. Look closely at the tile wall at the bottom. There is real tile on the wall (12x12 pieces) and I actually painted the top part of the wall which looks like the tile. Thought for those of you who have not seen some of my work before it would be fun. I should post more when I do it, but I just don't.

OK, I am dead tired. We got quite a bit of snow on the ground today and so I know I will need to be up earlier tomorrow to clean it off the car ((ugh)). With 4.5 inches of snow now on the ground this beach scene looks pretty inviting! So, have a lovely day and thanks for stopping by and visiting me!

Magical Monday - Christmas Ornament

2010-12-06T06:00:00.002-05:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake Challenge blog Carol West brings us our challenge. She wanted to challenge us to make a Christmas Ornament. At first I was a little stumped at how I was going to do it and then I decided I would use some felt with my image and this is what I came up with. It is way cute in person and I actually added some Stickle around the edges of the image after I took the picture so these pictures do not have the Stickles on the main image. This is actually stuffed and sewn together and you can hardly see the red thread on the outside in these pics. I used my spellbinders to cut the felt and the image. I just really kind of created as I went along. The main image is from Paper Cupcakes and is called "Moose Couple" and the little ticket on the back is the "Christmas Tickets" by Paper Cupcakes as well. I colored my image with my Bic Mark-its and used a glaze pen for the white dots.

Well, we had an extremely busy weekend, gone each night and I am extremely tired. I will be starting a small mural tomorrow and hopefully I will finish in a day or two, so I don't have any of that together yet and need to head that way and then bed. So thanks for stopping by and make it a great week!

Magical Monday - Anything Goes

2010-11-29T06:00:00.002-05:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's challenge blog Patti Painter brings us this weeks challenge of "Anything Goes". So, with that is is free range of creativity, which I love. I used the image Jingles; Flying High & Christmas Tickets by Paper Cupcakes. The dp is by DCWV and it already has the swirls on it with some sparkle, but I still added some Stickles on top of that. This is really a pretty simple card, just punched some holes on the sides and added all those little bow knots. Added the flowers, the punched snowflakes and rhinestones. I colored my image with both Bic Mark-its and colored pencils. I loved how this turned out and the color combo.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving and I made a full meal. Funny how long it takes to prepare and only minutes to consume, but it was a lovely day. I hope everyone in the US had a lovely Thanksgiving as well and those outside the US, well, hope your past week and weekend was just as lovely. Well, here's to another week, have a good one!

Magical Monday - Red & Cream

2010-11-22T06:00:00.001-05:00

This week's challenge over at Paper Cupcakes is brought to us by Nilla Berglie. She chose the colors Red and Cream for us to work with this week as the challenge. I loved working with this color combo and made 4 cards. This first card I used the image "Angel" by Paper Cupcakes and colored her red with my Bic Mark-its and used a cream colored pencil to shade her dress just a little and a copic for her skin tone, but left her mostly cream like the card stock she was printed on. I did not have any cream and red paper so I used red pattern paper and lots of cream card stock. On my image after I colored her I cover the whole piece of card stock that she is printed on in a holographic heat embossing powder, then embossed it and it turned out beautiful. You could also use any of the tinsel or transparent glittery embossing powders. I have used the Embossing Tinsel - Bridal and then the Holographic and both work beautifully. I wish you could see this in real life, because it is beautiful and it was hard to photograph the effect so it reflected how it really looks. The third picture represents it the best I think.

The Joy is a die cut by Sizzix which came with some embossing folders. I cut it out in cream and then added all the color and doodling to match the bottom of her dress. I then added the bow.

I did the same technique on the outside of the cream part of the card that I did on the image and then added some Stickles to the red edge as well. I punched and made my snowflakes.

This next image is also from Paper Cupcakes and is called "Praise Him". The background paper is a much richer red than it reflects here. I colored the whole image with Bic Mark-its and her skin with copics. I added some pink to the edges of her dress, because I thought it would be a lovely contrast and added some red Stickles at the top of each ruffle. I distressed the edges, because I thought that would give it the feel I wanted.

The leafy vine is a Sizzix die called "branch with leaves". I used 3 of them to make the vine and then used the Martha Stewart punch for the little flowers and punched them in two shades of red, then added the little pearls.

I then added the lace and bow. I really loved how this card turned out and it was my favorite of all four.

These next two cards are quite simple and I try to keep them somewhat flat, or kind of one layered. I colored this image quite a while back in photo shop. It was probably one of my first I tried to do this in. I wouldn't say I was overly pleased with it, but I printed it out back then and so I thought I would just use them to make a few cards for Christmas. They aren't awful, but not great either. I kept these simple and just used my scraps from the other cards. I kind of wish I would had used cream ribbon for this top card to make my bows, but the red looks ok, and shows up a little better than this in real life. I still might add something to this, but not sure what, so I will just sit it aside for now.

This is the exact some image, just printed twice back then. I kept this card somewhat flat as well. I did my Stickles a little different on the vase. I like the above one better, but I do like the design to this second one.

Well, that's it for me for now. All these cards look lovely together here sitting side by side in the red and cream. It was a great color combo and I would encourage you to do something outside of Christmas with it. That is why I did the girl playing the guitar and she turned out so lovely. I can't believe this Thursday is Thanksgiving in the US! Time is just a flying by and and before we know it, it will be Christmas, then the New Year! So it will be a busy busy week, but I am looking forward to it. So, have a great week and thanks for stopping by!

Magical Monday - Glitter, Ribbon & X-mas Card

2010-11-15T06:00:00.000-05:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's challenge blog, Pat Pedder brings us our challenge. She wants us to use glitter and ribbon and make a Christmas card. Well, glitter and ribbon are some of my favs and I love making Christmas cards. The only thing with this challenge was that I spent a day weeks ago making the cards for these challenges and then the DT cards starting pouring in and I soon realized I didn't use the assigned image; oops! So, needless to say I had to squeeze making this card in in between the basketball games during the tournament this weekend.

I used the freebie image by Paper Cupcakes "Who's Candy", the second time around :o) I colored it with my colored pencils and added some Stickles to it. I placed the hat, gum drops and the lollipop on the left on pop up dots. Punched my snowflakes and added my square rhinestones and the also added some on my ribbon bows. The dp is from one of my small DCWV stacks and the design is also glittery. I also added some liquid glaze on the lollipop that the owl is holding. The pictures are kind of dark, but I was taking them once again at 10:30 at night, so no natural light like I usually have to take them. This is much cuter and brighter in real life.

A big shout out to our Trojans that won the basketball tournament this weekend. The final game was a nail bitter and they ended up pulling it out in the end. Three of our players were named some of the All stars for the whole tournament and our cheerleaders rocked the crowd with their smiles and enthusiasm. As parents we were certainly proud of all the children. These tourneys take a lot of time and commitment and sometimes I dread them, but when I am there and in the mist of the excitement I do truly always enjoy them. Although now the weekend is gone and it is 11:00PM at night once again and my house is a mess, I also made a new recipe in the crock pot to eat when we got home. The children did not like it; Eric and I did. So if you have any great recipes for the crock pot I certainly could use them for basketball season which will be through February, so send them my way in an e-mail!

We also had a great message and powerful witness at church today from a veteran that was injured quite badly in road boom in the Iraq war and was also blinded, made me quite emotional as well. There was also a veteran that played the bagpipes which I might add was just awesome and when he played amazing grace, well, it was just very moving. All in all it was a great day and I have to say I feel very blessed and very exhausted. So, I am finishing up this post and also a glass of wine and then heading for bed to start another day. I am sorry I did not get around to blog hopping, but hope to this week. We only have one game (I think). I have to check the schedule! So, have a wonderful week and if you are adding glitter to your projects, glitter always makes the days better!

OK, I hope this doesn't offend anyone, but I thought this was just too funny! Who knows, maybe I will visit the snowcone stand this winter!

2010-11-08T06:00:00.003-05:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's challenge blog Debbie Schneider brings us this weeks challenge. She wanted us to make a Christmas card and use non-traditional colors on it. I chose a funny image "A Taste of Christmas" by Paper Cupcakes with purple and brown as my non-traditional colors. This image and sentiment cracks me up every time I look at it, kind of off the wall, but silly non the less. This was really quite simple. I cut my snowflake out in layers from my cricut using the the Winter Wonderland cartridge. I then added the white with my glaze pen and then some Stickles. I think my snowflake is lovely in the purple and brown and so much more prettier in real life. I couldn't find any purple paper that I really liked to go with this so I dotted my purple card stock with white dots using my glaze pen as well. I am not sure who makes the pp in the background it was in my scraps, but it looks like paint flaking off a wooden board to me or if you would crackle something. I then added Stickles to the snowman and snow and then some crystal rhinestones and called it clean, simple, fun and complete. I also colored this image with both my colored pencils and my Bic Mark-its.

I have to laugh at my colored image since I drew it, I just now noticed that I drew one mitten with the thumb up and the other with the thumb down, geeze, why did I do that I wonder? And why did I not notice it while I was coloring it or before now as well as before I turned it into a digi? I will have to go back and fix that image now or otherwise it will drive me nuts!

Well, I colored about 6 images up the other evening after the basketball games and while watching a movie so I am excited to get them onto cards now. So, I hope I can get them completed as well as a few scrapbook pages for our ETG this month.

The days are flying fast now that November and basketball is here which means cheering for Morgan, which means busy for mom as well. I am looking forward to the holidays and hoping to get my shopping done early; well we will see on that, but one can hope can't they? So, thanks for stopping by if you did and please know how wonderfully delighted I am when I get to read any comments left for me. So make it a good week and embrace the joy of the day!

Past Layouts, way past due for posting

2010-11-07T14:08:00.007-05:00

Just thought I would post some layouts that I did way back in June and August for the ETG. Sadly I haven't scrapped since then, but these were the last ones I have scrapped and did not post. So, I think I am way over due in getting some more scrapping completed. I do miss it and hope to join in the ETG's November challenges and still do the October ones as well. Wish me luck.

This first challenge we were suppose to do a layout about technology and what it means in your life. Do you depend on your laptop? Can't live without your cell phone? Addicted to your iPod? Tell us about the way technology is woven into your daily life. So the following layout is what I did and it was about my laptop.

The journaling reads:

Meet Toshi. Toshiba that is. Oh did I love her when we first met. She was bright, fast to respond and oh so much ram. Don't get me wrong I still love her, but there are times when I have grown to hate her, well maybe hate is a strong word, so maybe dislike her. She has become demanding on certain days and she has required more of my time. Truly it's not all her fault, in fact it is not her fault at all. Ever since I started my new journey in digital stamps I look at her differently, sometimes with resentment and stress. I use to only connect fun with her. Visiting my favorite sites, blog hopping and all my worldly wonderful friends live in her, so of course I love her for that. She has given me the opportunity of things and ventures of friendships I would never have without her. I love her on days and I hate her, BUT mostly I love her. (I think) :o)

This second layout is of Avery and Storm our kitty. The challenge was to do a layout, any subject, but include a handmade embellishment! This can be anything--but include an embellishment that is handmade (OK if it's not made by you, it just has to be handmade). For extra Points include the color GREEN on your layout somewhere!

I just love these pictures of Avery and Storm. I kind of did a doodle kind of page this time a round. I started with bubble wrap painting my green card stock with the blue with the bubble wrap and swishing some light blue paint across my page where the journaling is. Once I had my pictures down I did the journaling and did the doodling around that. Added some buttons on top of the bubble wrap painting and added my title which is cricut cut. The handmade embellishments are the "D" on the bottom right side which someone else made through a swap in my earlier days at sb.com and I made that simple/crude yellow frame around the picture.

The journaling reads:

You always loved your naps. Today was no different. Whenever you get really sleepy you quietly slip away and then I realize I haven't heard nor have I seen you for a while. So, off I go looking for you. This day I found you fast asleep on your bed with Storm. He too, loves his naps. Needless to say, you both enjoyed a good cat nap together. I just love these kind of magic moments.

This is the lo I did when visiting my friends from sb.com in Ohio. Mindy and Jordan and Robin are from Ohio and Jackie came from London and was visiting her son and daughter-in-law Robin. All of us are part of the ETG over at scrapbook.com. This is the second time I have got to meet Jordan and Mindy. We had so much fun that day I hated to leave. Jackie took this picture in the morning and I scrapped it that evening while there. The lo reflects the kind of day it was, cheery, bright and full of fun!

Well, posting these sure makes me want to scrap today, so maybe I can carve out a little time to do just that.

Thanks to all my fabulous friends that stop by and leave some lovings!

Magical Monday - Lets be Thankful Challenge

2010-11-01T06:00:00.007-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcakes Challenge Blog Jessie Fitzhenry brings us this weeks challenge. She wants us to make either a "thank you" card or a "Thanksgiving" card. I made both.

For this first card I used the image "Tulips in Bottles" by Paper Cupcakes. I kept this clean and simple as I love this image. I stamped the sentiment which is from Hero Arts in a soft pink. I colored the image with my colored pencils and Stickles the edges of the die. The background paper is from a DCWV stack. Yep, clean and simple. I love the softness to this card.

The next two cards I used the image "Fall Angel; Give Thanks" by Paper Cupcakes. I colored these images with my Bic Mark-its and used some Stickles on some parts of the image which you can't really see. These are really pretty in real life. My mom came over last week and I made these. The idea for this card was in a book she brought with her. The top right side of the card that you see with the pattern paper is actually the inside of the card which I thought was cool. I just cut the front top of the card at an angle which left the left side bottom half attached at the fold. Then you place your image like I did and then the inside paper is what you see behind the image. I should have taken a picture with it open so you could see it better. I will place the sentiment behind where the image sets which will work perfectly. The sentiment on this first card is "Gratitude" and was stamped and I wish I could tell you who's it was, but I am too tired to go look at the moment.

Well, I am thankful for you today for stopping by my little corner of the blog world and even more grateful if you left me some love. I really need to make my rounds again soon, seems like I just can't find enough time to visit everyone like I love visiting, so hopefully in the next week or two I can work a round of blogs in! And wow, can you believe it is now November? Geeze, I am not a big winter season kind of person so November never thrills me, but I do love the Holidays it brings which is the upside! Have a great week and I challenge you to notice things in your life to be thankful for!

Magical Monday...

2010-10-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

This week Gloria Westerman brings us the challenge over at the Paper Cupcakes challenge blog. She wanted us to use die cuts on our project. I used the "Asterisks" Cuttlebug die cuts. I have always liked these, but sadly I rarely use them so I decided to pull them out tonight and use them. I am glad I did, because I think they look great layered in the different colors with some stickles on them. I used the image "Girl with Present" by Paper Cupcakes. I colored her with my Bic Mark-its and her skin tone with a copic since Bic doesn't have a great skin tone color. I used a Martha Stewart and Fiskers border punch and my sentiment is computer generated. I also used some pretty photo corners I had hanging out in my stash as well.

Well, we are all feeling much better going into this week and I must say "YIPPEE"! So, here's to a good week! Thanks for stopping by and I hope your week is good as well!

Magical Monday - Tag

2010-10-18T06:00:00.002-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcakes Challenge blog, Dru Cabral brings us this weeks challenge. She wants us to make a tag of any kind, free range. I personally love making tags, but some people find it challenging because of the space. I made two; an Autumn one and a Christmas one.

The Autumn one I used the image "Pumpkin Cupcake" from Paper Cupcakes and colored it with my Bic-Mark-its and then added some stickles and cut it out. I embossed the background and then added the floral rub-ons added a folded paper strip and a layered flower. I added copper stickles and the folded paper, flower and the edges of the tag. Stamped my sentiment and added the coppery metallic ribbon, some soft fiber and a little leaf. Really pretty quick and easy peasy!

For my Christmas tag I used the image "Holiday Cheer" by Paper Cupcakes. I colored it with my Bic Mark-its as well. I messed her eyes up. I didn't mean to make them all black, but I started talking to Avery and ended up coloring them all black and oh well, so I attempted to fix them with my souffle pens, but now she looks a little odd, but I didn't feel like doing it all over, so it is what it is. I stamped my sentiment, I believe it was one of those you get for a dollar somewhere. I added stickles to the image and punched out my snowflakes from a glitter stack and added jewels to them. The flower, present and candy were out of an opened packet of stickers I had opened. I added pink and purple fibers and added a red bow with a snowflake on that and called it compete. I really like both my tags, well, my owls eyes I am not so pleased with, but let's just write it off as an "oops, I wasn't paying that close attention to my detail at the moment". Sorry about the top two pics being kind of gloomy and dark, but that is because I ended up retaking the pics after I fixed the eyes and it was ummm like 10:00PM and the first ones prior to fixing the eyes I took outside with the natural sunlight.

I believe we are finally passed all the flu! Thank goodness 4 weeks of that stuff is just TOO much. Although now some of this allergy/hey fever stuff has kicked in for me and Avery's asthma. Although, I must say today (Sunday) has been the best I have felt in a long time over this past 4-5 weeks. So I am hoping for a good week!

Well, I would tell you to have yourself a Merry Little Christmas if it was closer to Christmas, but it isn't, so have yourself a merry week, find some joy and count your blessings.

Magical Monday - Frame it out

2010-10-11T06:00:00.001-04:00

This week over at Paper Cupcakes Carol West bring us the challenge of framing it out. She wanted us to frame out our image. My images are Deco Flower Vase 2 and Flower Cupcake with Butterfly by Paper Cupcakes. I colored my flower and cupcake with my Bic Mark-its and then I used chalk on the vase and background. I also used some Stickles on my cupcake. I framed out my image with ric-rac and then added some sequins. Kept this fairly simple as I didn't think it needed a lot.

This second card I made in between being sick, it too is very simple and I bet you can figure it all out. :O) The background paper for both cards is from Prima; Sasha Collection.

Needless to say I keep hoping we are over this flu bug, but it seems like it is set on some kind of time release. I was in bed all day again on Saturday, but feel better today, still tired though, so who knows if we are over this or not. I am hoping all the children will be back in school tomorrow, well, except my oldest which was sick Saturday as well, her first round. Let's just say I will be glad when this is totally out of our house, we keep thinking it is and then BAM someone else comes down with a different symptom. Honestly I would just assume get it all at once then different symptoms days apart which is what we have seen happen over this 3 week spread of it being in our home. Well, that's it for me I think I will go lay down for a bit now. Have a good week and thanks for stopping by.

Magical Monday - A Christmas Card, including snowflakes

2010-10-04T06:00:00.003-04:00

This week's challenge over at Paper Cupcakes Challenge blog is brought to us by Pat Pedder. With Christmas just around the corner she wants us to make a Christmas card and use some snowflakes somewhere on our card. Well, I love making Christmas cards and I am crazy about snowflakes as long as they are on my cards and not on the ground outside! :O)

I used the image "Snowman with Cane" by Paper Cupcakes which is a new release. I used dp which was scraps for my background and I colored my image in my Bic Mark-its. Athough the snowman's snow was colored with chalks for the softness. I made all my snowflakes with various punches and added some Stickles and a rhinestone in the middle of each. My sentiment is computer generated. Really a quick and easy card.

The following cards I made for the CDAC blog hop. The images are also all new releases from Paper Cupcakes. This first image is "Jingles" and I colored the black and orange with my Bic-Mark-its and used chalk for his tummy, fins and his hat because I just love how chalk just adds such a soft feel. I used scraps for this card as well. It is actually an easel card, but I only took a picture of the main part.

This image is called "Oh Deer, It's Christmas". I must say this is one of my favs. I colored this image with my Bic Mark-its as well. Some think I use copics, but I only own a few skin tone copics because bic does not have a great choice when it comes to skin tones, but I think I am getting really good at blending them. I haven't invested in copics because I just still love the way my Bic Mark-its look.

This image is "Bed Time Stories". I think this image could be used for other things besides Christmas, but I just did a Christmas card since Christmas is just around the corner. I think it would make a great baby card as well. I also colored it with my Bic Mark-its. :o) I kept this card clean and simple

This image is called "Sunflowers in Vase". I love love love using floral images. They are so versatile . I loved coloring this image because sunflowers come in so many colors so I chose to color them in many colors. This too was colored with my Bic Mark-its. I kept this simple as well and used scraps on this card too. Yay me! I think this one is much prettier in real life with the Stickles around the edges and it being so simple as well. I love the torn paper look and it just seemed like the way to go with this image. It just felt kind of rustic.

Well, that's it for me card wise. We have had the flu running though our house for the last 2 weeks going into three. First it was me for 3 days, then Morgan, then Avery ending last week with it. We came home from church yesterday and Eric started coming down with it and has now been in bed since noon yesterday. Rachel came running upstairs about 8:30PM thinking she was going to hurl... but didn't... so hopefully she will make it through the night.... let's just say I am ready for it to be summer again and all this yuck out of our house! OK.. maybe that was TOO much information into my personal life, so if you don't see me around or commenting it is mostly likely I am just way busy in some manner, but please know I love visiting and will hopefully be by sometime in the near future! OK... hoping for a good nights sleep!

So, have a feel good kind of day!

Magical Monday - Be Inspired

2010-09-27T06:00:00.002-04:00

This week over at the Paper Cupcake's challenge blog Patti Painter brings us this weeks challenge. It was be inspired by a fall picture. I just love making seasonal cards and I was sick for most of the first part of the week, busy getting new images out for the second part of the week and so Sunday evening, which surprised me that I actually made 3!

My first image is called "Sweet Encounter". I think this is perfect for a little boy like my son who just loves bugs, spiders and anything creepy crawly! I colored it with my colored pencils and chalked my sky. I punched my leaves and added some inks to them and crumpled them all up to give them some leaf like looks. They look more awesome in real life. My sentiment cracks me up and is computer generated.

This image "Too Sweet to Spook" I colored also with my colored pencils and I did my background sky with all chalks as well. I dropped a wet leaf on the right side of the moon, but oh well. I love how this one turned out with the moon and shadows. I made several of those leaves and used them on this card as well. Added a few rhinestones and thought it was cute. The green around the edges is not part of the card. The image actually sticks up past the yellow which is the card base.

For this image "Autumn Solitude" I used color pencils as well. I love adding some pinks and purples to the fall colors so I thought I would switch this card up and add some of those lovely colors. I cut my image out and tore my dp from Dove of East to give it a more interesting look. I love how the black just pops in the background and the moon just looks awesome in the dark sky. I made this into an easel card and added all the flowers to add some interest, texture and color. I also added Stickles around both the edges of the color mats to add some sparkle.

Well, I really liked how all three of these cards turned out this evening and I wish I had more time to make some more, because I felt like my mojo was working well tonight, but my bed is calling and for once I am going to listen to it!

Thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think I always love reading your lovins! If you like any of the images you see here you can head on over to Paper Cupcakes and check out all the images HERE.
Have a Sweet Day!

CDAC Blog Hop

2010-09-24T15:50:00.001-04:00

Hi Everyone, I am running a bit behind giving this a shout out, because I had the flu. However, this is exciting... Crafter's Digital Art Center is having their first blog hop! This is a hop of several digital image companies that are coming together to highlight their new releases. You won't want to miss it. You have a chance to win through random drawings a free digi on every blog and a grand prize over at CDAC. The only requirement to win is that you leave a message on every one's blog throughout the hop and that you are a member over at CDAC. Now, of course you don't have to be a member to do the hop. CDAC is free to join this wonderful center for digital art and it has lot of great tutorials and lots of fun people and great challenges as well as some freebies from the companies sponsored there. So I would encourage you to join. You can find the site HERE. Paper Cupcakes will be part of this hop and we can also be found at CDAC as a group, so we would love for you to come by and join us in our group over there. The hop starts next Friday, Oct. 1st and goes through Sunday Oct. 3rd.

Help us spread the word and grab the icon and post it on your blog or even make a posting about it, we certainly would love that! We hop you can carve out some time to make it. Hope to see you there!

Magical Monday - PCC Image & Bling

2010-09-20T06:00:00.006-04:00

This weeks challenge over on the Paper Cupcakes challenge blog Patti Nelson brings us this week's challenge of using the freebie "Easy Does It" by Paper Cupcakes and also wants us to use some bling. Easy Peasy and who doesn't love some bling!? I kept my bling a little toned down. I so wanted to make my card lean towards more masculine so I kind of used some masculine bling! LOL.. OK... I am sure there is such a thing a masculine bling, so if you have never seen it before, well you can locate it on my card! :O)

I colored my image with my colored pencils (my fav) and used some scraps out of my big 'ole box of scraps. I just love this Martha Stewart border punch "Gothic Arches" that I used and I had some odd chipboard pieces which is where I got the "dream big" piece. I thought if you could balance that many cupcakes at one time without dropping any you had to be dreaming big. I usually always place my image straight on my cards so I thought I would try tilting it some and I must say I had a hard time leaving it that way initially, but I kept telling myself in the end it would be alright! HA! I think it did turn out alright as well. So what do you think?

Well, thanks for stopping by and realize just how much I love your luvins if you leave some! Also, don't forget to dream a little dream today and if you're going to dream a little dream think twice and dream big!

Magical Monday - Sketch & PCC image

2010-09-13T06:00:00.002-04:00

This weeks challenge over at the Paper Cupcake's blog is brought to us by Melanie Newby and she brings us a sketch with a PCC image. I so love sketches because it takes a lot of the thinking out of it for me. The image I chose was "Girl with Heart" from Paper Cupcakes. She fit this sketch perfectly and I pretty much just followed the sketch. I colored with my color pencils and then punched my flowers and added Stickles along the edges of them. The pp is from the DCWV Natural Stack. I did her in fall colors and really loved how the card turned out. I am thinking about sending this to a friend that just had heart surgery. I really like how clean this looks as well.

Well, that's it for me today, short and sweet.... thanks for stopping by and thanks for leaving me some luvins if you did!

remember to smile and make it a good day!

Magical Monday - Recipe Challenge

2010-09-06T11:00:00.003-04:00

Today the Paper Cupcake blog's challenge is a recipe challenge brought to us by Nilla Berglie. The recipe was 1 ribbon, 2 embellishments, 3 pattern papers and 4 flowers. I used the image "Hello There" by Paper Cupcakes
and colored it with my color pencils. I really do love the softness of the color pencils and I must said they are one of my favorite mediums to color with. The papers are from DCWV, Natural Stack.

Well, I going to keep this short and sweet today, because we have been running all weekend long and I am just ready to chill today away, but not on the computer, because it is so lovely out today! So I hope everyone in the US has enjoyed a great Labor Day weekend and everyone else had great weekend as well. Now off to a great week! Thanks for stopping by and make sure you leave me a note, I always love your comments! Have a magical day!

Magical Monday - PCC Image & No Store Bought Pattern Paper

2010-08-30T06:00:00.003-04:00

This week's challenge over at the Paper Cupcake's Challege Blog Marie Bridgeman brings us this weeks challenge. She wants us to use a Paper Cupcake image and no store bought pattern paper. This week I decided to mess around and do something I haven't tried before as a technique. So, I thought I would attempt to antique my image. I am not so sure I liked exactly how it turned out and I think I would do it a little differently the next time, but I decided to go ahead and used what I did.

The image that I started with is called "Orchid Tea Cup with Bird" by Paper Cupcakes. After I colored the image I crinkled it all up, then smoothed it out. I then sponged on some inks, pink and then a brownish color. It kind of adhered to the crinkles in the paper. I then added the clear crackle and let that dry and then went back and sponged back over that with a little darker brown to fill in the crackles. I think if I was to do this again I would just crinkle the paper, add the crackle, let it dry then rub the ink on and over the dry crackle. So, I will try that the next time and see what I like best. I don't hate this, but not sure I am thrilled with it either.

I made my flower with lace that I just twisted and glued to a card stock circle and then added a bead to the center to finish it off. The lace you see running up and down the card is the same lace I made to use the flower. Added the rhinestones and called it complete and then headed out weekend away to the water park.

I like this card much better in real life. My image doesn't really lay flat and I liked that and so it is not adhered flat to the card, but you really can't see that here at all.

Have a Heartfelt day!

Magical Monday - PCC Image & Punch It

2010-08-23T06:00:00.003-04:00

Well, here it is again.. Monday and of course it's a Magical Monday over at the Paper Cupcake's Blog! Not so magical for my kids, because it is their first day of back to school. Although, I think truth be known they are pretty excited to be back to see all their friends, not so glad when homework kicks in!

Any how, this week's challenge is brought to us by Jessie Fitzhenry and she wants us to use our punches! I personally love my punches so it is no big deal to pull mine out, because most likely some are already out. We are to use the freebie this week given to us by Paper Cupcakes called "Joyful Ride". I was going towards a masculine card with this image, but then I started punches some flowers and the rest is history! Pretty simple card and I colored my image with my colored pencils and chalked my sky.

Well, that's it for me for today, I have lots to get accomplished with the kids back in school, now I need to get back into my own routine again! Thanks for stopping by and have a joyful week!

Magical Monday - PPC Image & Let's make a flower

2010-08-16T06:00:00.007-04:00

This week's challenge over at Paper Cupcakes is brought to us by Gloria Westerman. She wants us to use any acquire Paper Cupcake image and make a flower of some type. I used the image Mouse Cupcake and colored it with my Bic Mark-its. I stickles my dots on my cupcake and now that I did it, I wish I hadn't, but oh well. The ink kind of smeared as it dried. I cut the image out and popped it on top of the Labels 5 Spellbinder and then matted it on black.

I used the embossing folders Swiss Dots, Spots & Dots & Organic.

For my flower I cut 5 pieces of ribbon the same length and then double each over and made a 5 petal flower with the ribbon placing a stitch in the center of them to hold them together.

Then I made a ribbon rose:

I then added this ribbon rose on top of my 5 petal ribbon flower and placed a stitch through both to hold them together, I suppose you could glue it, but I wanted to make sure they stayed united and added a little pearl bead. That is how I made my flower. Pretty easy peasy!

Well, that is it for me today, if you haven't hopped our Tea Party ~ Sketch blog hop why don't you take the time to join us you can find the beginning of the hop here. I don't think you will be disappointed and you get 13 new sketches and Kim also has some blog candy to give away as well! So, have a great week!

Tea Party ~ Sketch Blog Hop

2010-08-11T06:00:00.015-04:00

I hope you have enjoyed this Tea Party Hop!! If you arrived from Nilla's blog and have visited all 13 other blogs; you have now arrived on the last blog of the hop. If you did not arrive from Nilla's blog you will want to start at the beginning of the hop which is the Paper Cupcakes Challenge Blog which you can find here; as not to miss anything and to be eligible for the random drawings!

The image that I bring you is called "Tea Party Princess" I truly love this image. I really don't enjoy drawing people too much, but I really like how she turned out. I colored my image with colored pencils and kept my card fairly simple as to really showcase the image. I used both the Garden Trellis and the Hydrangea Petal punches by Martha Stewart to do the side of my card. Then of course I finished it off with pearls and rhinestones. It turned out just how I had envisioned it.

My Card:

My card is actually a Joy Fold Card. Because I have made this type card before I didn't follow these instructions. I think my card is actually bigger. My card is a 5x7. I have a little flower on the bottom left side holding my flap in place. If you haven't tried one of these, you should. They are easy peasy!

My Sketch: My sketch will work for a joy fold card or a regular card.

I hope you have enjoyed our Tea Party~Sketch Hop; the new releases and enjoyed collecting some fun sketches to work from. We would love it if you would come back and join us for our Magical Monday Challenges as well; every Monday. Big thanks to the Designer Team and of course to all of you hoppers who took the time to hop along with us this week and left us some luvins along the way!

PLEASE make sure you read:

I will pick 2 participants in a random drawings August 18th to receive 5 images of their choice from Paper Cupcakes. To be eligible for the random drawings you must have visited all 14 blogs and left a message on each. If you have completed that and want to be eligible for the drawings place your name here in Mr. Linky with any link and you will be placed in the drawing. Make sure you check back August 18th on the Paper Cupcakes Blog to see if you won.

Now don't forget to leave me a quick note below as well as leave your name on Mr. Linky!

Here's to good friends who craft and of course a good cup of tea! Thanks for being part of our tea party with us today! You can find all the images you seen today here under New Arrivals. XOXO

Just in case you got lost along the way!

Paper Cupcakes Blog
Amber
Dru
Gloria
Jessie
Marie
Malenie
Pat
Patti N.
Patti P.
Kim
Carol
Nilla
Nina (leave your name and a message & any link here)

Magical Monday - Sewing

2010-08-09T06:00:00.003-04:00

This weeks challenge over at the Paper Cupcakes Challenge blog Dru Cabral brings us the challenge. She wants us to use sewing. Well, I personally love sewing on cards and projects, but rarely do it. So I was excited to have this as the challenge. My machine has not been in good working order for a while so I usually will hand sew with some embroidery thread, which is what I did here. For this challenge I decided to stray from making a card and decided to make this cute single cupcake box. I wish I would have made some cupcakes so I could place one in the box, but just didn't have the time. I did however make some muffins, but they were all eaten before I could slip one in the box and take the picture!

I started out with double sided thick paper more like card stock since I wanted a design inside and outside, but a good card stock would work just fine. I read this template somewhere and only had the measurements and so I made my own template. You need to use a 12x12 piece of paper to use the template, mainly because my template does not include the little flap that goes into the box and then there are 2 little flaps on the inside top of the box. I did my template on an 8.5x11 piece of paper minus these flaps so you could easily make your own template by tracing mine onto a 12x12 piece of paper and then you can add/extend those 3 little areas that are the flaps onto your own template, which I thought would be easy (hope that makes sense).

After I had my box together I did my stitching on the front 2 corners of the box and around the lid with embroidery thread. I colored my image in my Bic Mark-its. I seen this little saying "Cupcake Taste Tester" "Somebody has to do it" and thought it would be perfect for my little box. I put the first phrase on the tag on top and the rest on the front with my image "just ducky". I added a few yellow butterflies on the sides and thought it turned out super cute.

You can download my template I made for this here. But make sure you add the little flaps that are not on my template or you won't be able to close your box lid. It is all in the instructions, but if you have questions just email me and I will try my best to explain anything.

Also, make sure you join us over on the Paper Cupcake Blog for our blog hop this week. It starts Wednesday and runs a week you won't want to miss out on all the great sketches and new releases!

Have a great creative week!

Magical Monday - Paper Cupcake Image & Pattern Papers

2010-08-02T06:00:00.005-04:00

This weeks challenge over at Paper Cupcakes was brought to us by Amer Hillman. She wanted us to use a Paper Cupcake image and use at least 3 different pattern papers. I decided to go monochromatic with white. I used the image Summer Breeze by Paper Cupcakes and the paper is by Paper Studio; back to basics. I colored my image with my colored pencils and chalked my sky. Made an easel card, I just love those, except when it comes to fitting it in an envelope. The sentiment is computer generated.

This card I did for last weeks CDAC challenge by Fairy Knoll. It was a 3-D challenge. I actually cut 5 inches and varied them on top of the original image, although I think it is hard to see the depth here in the pic. I then added the frame on pop-up dots to sit right above that, but like I said it is much easier to see all the depth and 3-D in real life. The image is also from Fairy Knoll.

This is a card I made my friend Mindy in Ohio. I placed a bookmark that I made from the image Deco Flowers from Paper Cupcakes and placed that under some vellum to make it part of the front of the card, but it slides out easily. I colored it with my Bic Mark-its and then added some liquid glaze on the vase and some Stickles to the center of the flowers. My butterflies are punches. The pictures are kind of dark here, because the colors were much more vibrant.

I actually made another card, but I made it with an image I haven't released yet, so I am holding off until I release it. :O) Well, thats all for me today, have a crafty kind of day and don't forget the cupcake!

Magical Monday - PCC Image & Dog Days Of Summer

2010-07-26T06:00:00.002-04:00

Not sure how it is for everyone across the nation, but it is certainly HOT here! How perfect the challenge fits from Paper Cupcakes this week which is brought to us by Patti Nelson and it is "Dog Days of Summer". We are suppose to be inspired by this phrase and be creative. I immediately think hot for summer weather and when it's hot I want to be in water! So, I picked this image to work with from Paper Cupcakes called "Ronan & Izzy; Summer Fun". I used my colored pencils to color the seal Ronan and the fish Izzy. Bic Mark-its to color the rest. I chalked my sky for the softness with a blue and yellow and popped my front side of the pool and ball on pop up dots, as well as the sentiment. Crimped my solid yellow piece of card stock. Added some glossy accents on the water in the pool and in the grass. My little bees were rub-on and I drew the trails behind them. Added some stickles and my ribbon.

The following cards are cards I made for some of the main challenges over at CDAC. They supply a free image that you need to use with their challenge. Heck, can't beat cute free images! Since I am taking them I kind of feel obligated to do the challenge, just a way to show some appreciation I think. After all I KNOW how much time and effort goes into one of these images, so I truly do appreciate them. Plus it is nice to be on the receiving end and I personally always love to see what people do with mine and I also love it when they leave a little post of thanks.

This first one was for Sew Many Cards which was a to use this cute image Eris and make a Christmas card. I kind of went non-traditional in color and then I made him pink! LOL.. but I think it turned out cute. Plus, all the following cards I made from my scraps, which I just love doing!

This next image was for the challenge from Shelly's Images which was a sketch challenge and of course her lovely free image. This image kind of reminded me of a vintage type image so I wanted to lean my card towards that and also masculine so I colored it with my Bic Mark-its and then rubbed some brown ink over the whole image to tone it down and give it a more vintage look. Then I went with browns, blues and black to lean it towards a masculine card.

This cute freebie was from Robyn's Fetish called "Katie Kitty" and it was a color challenge "Pink". I seen a card that opened like this somewhere, but it did not explain how to make it. So I spent some time doing my own thing, but keeping with what I had seen. So, I think this works good and I will be doing a tutorial on it within the week; (I hope) so check back because I took pictures while I made this and I also had to come up with templates so I will have that for you as well as soon as I sit down and make the time to write it all out by steps. So, check back here like I said in about a week and hopefully it will be posted in a new posting. The top picture is the card closed up and the bottom picture opened. The card stock has embossed dots, but you really can't see that. I think this one is way more cute in real life.

This is a card that is a straight lift from another card. I tend to save cards I like so I can later look back. This lift really caught my eye. I actually just drew all the doodles, but I copied what was on her card. Think the stamps are actually SU images, but like I said, I drew my own there. Than I just used my Bic Mark-its to color everything. I punched white flowers and then just doodled them as well. Thought it turned out super cute. It was a bridal shower card for my nephews bride to be. Kind of non-traditional, but I walk to a different beat sometimes and thought it was hip, cute and fun.

WOW, now that was a loooong posting. I spent one day last week making these. I certainly needed a fun day. Now this week I have a few layouts I want to get done for my group over at SB.com. So, have a great day and be inspired and inspire others!

You're Invited......

2010-07-22T19:12:00.007-04:00

Occasion: Paper Cupcakes "Tea Party Sketch Blog Hop"

Where: Starting on the Paper Cupcakes Challegnge Blog you can find here

When: August 11th - 18th

No need to RSVP just come and have fun, collect the sketches, enjoy the projects and as always have fun along the way!

We look forward to sharing some love, good conversation and of course a nice cup of tea!

So help us spread the word and grab the icon below, paste it on you sidebar on your blog, link it back to the challenge blog... blog about it, share it with your friends and followers and most importantly don't forget to come back and enjoy yourself!

Since I have been busy busy drawing all new releases for this hop I have not had much time to do the challenge for this week over at Paper Cupcakes, but I love to join in when I can. So, since I seem to have everything out and have a small breather here I decided to make a few cards today the first one for the challenge over at Paper Cupcakes. Nilla Berglie brought us this weeks challenge and it was create a card using the thought of "Strawberries & Cream" and the freebie image by Paper Cupcakes "Party Cake". So, here is my creation. I actually have some cream color on my cake, but you really can't see that too much in this picture. I used mostly my Bic Mark-its to color my cake. Made my layer flower, Martha Steward punch for the leaves and marvy punch for my little dragon fly. The pp is DCWV. I added the punch of green color, because I love the green top to strawberries and thought it would set off the red and pinks and the cream and white. Really pretty simple, but I loved how it turned out.

The second card I made was using the image by Paper Cupcakes "Summer Swim". I wanted it to be bright, cheerful and sunny. I used my Bic-Mark-its to color the image, chalk for my soft sky. My sun is on a pop-up dot and I wish I would have placed the chick on one as well, but oh well... the rest I think you can figure out! I think it one turned out super cute as well, or maybe it is just it feels good to be making something so it all looks good to me! lol

Well, I have one more, but I have to send it out to someone and will post it after they have received it. So, guess that is it for today, hope you are staying cool. Have a great weekend!

Extra, Extra... Read all about it..........

2010-07-15T01:13:00.002-04:00

Wow, what can I say, but time just does not stand still or slow down for me! These days have just flown by!

First I want to say good-bye to some of my designers that needed a break or needed to move. I have felt very blessed to have had all these wonderfully talented ladies share with us over these months. BIG thanks goes out to Kim McDonald, Olga Jewell, Selma Stevenson and Sue Walsh! I will truly miss your beautiful works of art here on my blog, but everyone can still check out their blogs! You can find all the past designer's blog links on my side bar over at TMITA/PCC.

Now let's welcome a new set of wonderfully talented ladies as well as our new Designer's to our team:

Amber Hillman
Dru Cabral
Gloria Westerman
Patti Painter
Marie Bridgeman
Melanie Newby

and the rest of our team:

Jessie Fitz Henry
Nilla Berglie
Patti Nelson
Pat Pedder

I feel very blessed to have all these talented ladies!!

Some of these ladies will be joining us this coming Monday and everyone will be here on July 26th, so don't miss out! Like I said our challenges will resume Monday, July 19th.

So you wonder what I have been doing all this time away. Well, I have been working really hard and I decided I needed to have a "Tea Party" with all my friends out there in cyber space! So I have planned for August 11th (not July 28th I have changed my date, I needed to wait for all the tea to arrive) something you won't want to miss out on! A "Tea Party Blog Hop"! The hop will be showcasing new images made just for this hop... just for your personal viewing and of course they are all "Tea Party" related! How fun is that? AND not only that.... Each blog will have a sketch on it as well so plan on attending/hopping our "Tea Party, Sketch Blog Hop"!

Also, on a down note regarding the Paper Cupcake site. We are experencing some major difficulities with the check out and purchasing when it comes to being Global. I have received several notices of not being able to check out. Please know we are working on this diligently. We have been working on this for about 2 weeks now and needless to say it is very frustrating. We are hoping it will be working soon

Alrighty, Now don't forget to tune back in on this coming Magical Monday July 19th when we will be back in the swing of things! Now I must head for bed, because 1:11 seems like a great number to head that way! ((ugh... not really)

OK.. Thanks for stopping by and have a Magical Day!

Magical Monday - PCC image & Box/Bag/Container

2010-06-28T06:00:00.003-04:00

This week's challenge over at TMITA/PCC is brought to us by Olga Jewell. She wanted us to use a Paper Cupcake's image and showcase it on a box or container. I made this cute little birthday box that you could tuck some special candy treats in that I think could be used for a treat box for school or for a special party. The image I used was called "Birthday Cupcake" and I colored it with my Bic-Mark-its. I added some cat's eye ink on the edges of my card stock box and then I also used some rub-ons for the word "celebrate". I stamped my big candle which is a stamp by Hero Arts, but I only used one candle of the five that are actually on the stamp. I added some Stickles to my image's hat and some to the candle's flame and a few stars, as well as the top scallop on my box. I placed my image on pop-up dots. Added some red fiber and thought it looked completed. I also added a big red flower on the other side of the box, but failed to take a picture of it, but it is centered on that side.

This is my youngest son who is six, who so wanted to make a special box too. So, we kind of created together which was fun, because I wasn't doing it late at night which seems to been the case so much lately.

He too used a Paper Cupcake image which was "Teddy Bear Sunday" and colored it with Bic Mark-its as well. I think he is quite creative!

He added 3 felt flowers on the one side and punched some holes and added a variety of fibers for extra fun.

He added on big pink paper punched flower on the other side as well and some more fibers through some more punched holes. Didn't he do an awesome job?! It is so festive!

It was quite the creative Sunday afternoon over here while my dear husband stained the barn in the humid hot part of day... yeah I would rather be creating! :O)

You can find the template for this cute little box here at my friend's Helen's blog. I actually made my box bigger. I brought it up on my computer just to view it and them made it bigger to fit a 12x12 and I actually traced it onto paper from my computer screen and then move the image down to be able to copy the whole image. Our boxes stand about 4 inches tall and about 3 1/4 inches across when folded up into the box.

So, have a great week and can't wait to see what all of you come up with!

Let's get spotty...

2010-06-21T06:00:00.002-04:00

Well, this week just flew by like all the rest, but Eric and I went on a mini trip to Niagara Falls, Allegany State Park and hit a few wineries on the way back. I must say I so needed it and totally enjoyed it. Although, the weekend hours have flown by with business as well, but all good. Spent yesterday with 4 girlfriends at one of their lake homes, just a girls day out. I left early and got back late at night. Sunday I spent most of the day at my brother's and we celebrated Father's Day with both sides of their family. I had a great weekend, but I am so ready to just crash in bed. My house is a pit of a mess, have tons of laundry and now this card mess ta-boot.

So, with that all said.... this is the challenge brought to us by Pat Pedder for this week's challenge over at TMITA/PCC. It was a "let's get spotty" challenge. I used some spots on my white card stock with my embossing folder and then my pp and bow also have spots. I kept this fairly simple because I made it upon getting home tonight and well, I think you know simple is good when you are tired! :O) I colored my image with my colored pencils.

OK... off to get my little A-man to bed as well as me... have a great week!

Magical Monday - PCC Image & Monochromatic

2010-06-14T06:00:00.002-04:00

Here is my card for this weeks challenge brought to us by Patti Nelson.... I am running around like a mad women getting ready to leave for a week without any children and just my hubbie. So, this is very last minute on the way out....

My image is from Paper Cupcakes and you can find the challenge at TMITA/PCC. I color my image with my color pencils and did my monochromatic theme all in purples. Well, that's all this mad women is going to write today... I will catch you next Monday, in the mean time have a great week!!

OK... it's almost a week later and not sure why my pic did not post and just gave you a blank box, but just got home and now we are on our way out for another hour drive to pick Morgan up from camp! ((( ugh.. back to like as norm! )) :o)

Magical Monday - Sketch Challenge

2010-06-07T20:15:00.004-04:00

This week's challenge over at TMITA/PCC is brought to us by Jessie Fitz Henry, which was a sketch. The first 2 cards using "Catch of the Day" which was a freebie to go along with the challenge are for the challenge. I used my Bic Mark-its to color my image.

This following image is called "Snails with Sign" original name I know, but naming the images I find hard to do, HA, so that's the kind of name ya get when I can't think of anything cutsie!

I actually did these 2 cards for Nilla's inspirational challenge from that pic of really pretty flowers. I used the colors and I loved how these 2 cards turned out, but I have been so busy I just never got around to photographing them and did last week, but then never posted them. The first image is called "Penguin with Cupcake" and the second one "Painted Cat". All colored with my Bic Mark-its.

Magical Monday - Summer Inspiration

2010-05-31T09:32:00.004-04:00

Oooops! I accidently posted my card on the wrong blog!!!! ugh.... now it is in the correct place.

This is my card for the Summer inspiration challenge over at TMITA. Kim McDonald gave us a poster to go by and I was inspired by the sky, trellis and the dock. My card is pretty simple, but here it is again 11:00PM on Sunday which happens to be a holiday weekend as well in the USA. I have been extremely busy and my design team has been more then patient with me waiting for me to upload my new images that I have not yet accomplish to date. :o/ With that large job coming to and end, softball, baseball, school ending for Avery, Morgan vomiting on Thursday/Friday this week, Nathan's graduation and then his graduation party yesterday which consumed the full day and attending other open houses I must say these last 2 months have been more then crazy for me. SOOOO... I really do think after a few days even with the kids all out of school I should be back on track in a much more normal way with my days. Well, that is what I am hoping and praying for.

So... back to my card. I used my cuddle bug to make my dock, Martha Stewart's punch to make my trellis and I chalked my clouds in the back ground and I just drew that tree and colored it with my Bic mark-its. Added some buttons and a bow; my computer generated sentiment and called it complete. It was fairly quick once I knew what I wanted to do. I partially cut my image out on the bottom and left the top attached where I chalked the sky. Well, that's it for now, not feeling so great at the moment so I am now headed for my bed and I think I might even sleep in for a bit with tomorrow still being the holiday!

Anything but a card....

2010-05-24T06:00:00.002-04:00

Patti Nelson brings us this weeks challenge over at TMITA/PCC. It was to make anything but a card with a birthday theme. I decided to make another candy bar wrapper. This one more for a boy. The colors seem a bit off here in my picture. All the blues are in the larger piece of paper, but you really can't see that very well. The ribbons are actually a bit brighter in blue, but they look really dark here, probably because I am taking the pic late in the evening. So, oh well... it really looks like it all goes much better in real life. Sometimes things just photograph that way!

This week has flown by and I hope to have new images uploaded this week. Our second graduated today and his party is this coming weekend. I hope things slow down for me after this weekend has past. So.. have great day and I am always thankful for you comments!

Be Inspired Challenge

2010-05-17T06:00:00.001-04:00

The challenge over at TMITA/PCC is a "Be Inspired" challenge brought to us by Nilla Berglie this week. She found a beautiful picture that you can see here. I was inspired by the colors and loved the dark vase and bright pinks and greens. I decided to use the images by Paper Cupcakes that were: "Flower Teapot" and "Raspberry Tart". I wanted my teapot to look in color like the vase and then I carried the green and pinks into the flowers on the teapot and the raspberry tarts. I colored my images with my colored pencils and cut them all out and placed them all on a table top. The pp is Minds Eye. My sentiment is computer gernerated.

Well, thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week!

Magical Monday - Clean & Simple

2010-05-10T06:00:00.003-04:00

Happy Monday everyone! OK, I know people in general look at Mondays and don't usually connect happy with it, but hey you have to start your week sometime, so why not make it a happy one! This weeks challenge over at TMITA is brought to us by Sue Walsh. It was to make a clean and simple card. Clean and simple can sometimes challenge me, but I really love the card I made with this image "Softly Afloat" by Paper Cupcakes this week. The only thing I colored were the stems on my flowers. I printed the image once on white card stock, twice and orange card stock and once on yellow card stock. I then cut out the orange flowers twice and glue the first ones down, then placed the second ones on pop-up dots and then just glued down the yellow ones as well as my butterfly. Then I just matted the image and then placed that on a larger mat, tied my pretty green ribbon on and it called it clean, simple and complete. The sentiment is computer generated and the font is Santa's Sleigh, which is one of my faves!

This week has just flown by and my time seems like I have no time. I have worked on mural type work all week during the days and the evenings have been consumed with softball and baseball games and practice. I will be working again this week on my work and hopefully will finish it up by the end of the week. We froze on Saturday during the games, it was really cold and there were high winds which made it twice as cold. I took like five blankets for the girls to keep warm with since they were in shorts (I was wearing my winter coat with gloves). I lost a blanket and my cell phone in the process of getting back to the car, but the day ended with good news both were returned to me hours later which made me quite happy. I had a nice Mother's day, attended church, went out to lunch, came home and took a nap, called my mom and made my card for today and will head for bed early since I have to head out for work in the morning.

So, have a great Monday and thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to stop by and visit me!

2010-05-03T06:00:00.000-04:00

This weeks challenge is brought to us by Olga Jewell this week over at TMITA/PCC. It was to follow a sketch, which I love to do, but rarely do on my own. I used the image "Follow Me" and used a fun summery pp that was in my scraps. Kept it fairly clean and simple. Colored with my Bic Mark-its. Well, this past week zoomed by super fast and the next 2 weeks I will be working on putting some paint on some walls for some designs I did for a church, so I will be away during the days and I am sure busy when home as usual.

So, thanks for stopping by and now I am headed for bed just short of mid-night. Thanks for stopping by I hope to get by some of your blogs soon, so please forgive me if I haven't been by to visit, believe me I certainly miss stopping by and enjoying all your inspirations! Have a Magical Monday, or at least a good one anyway!