What's Cooking?

Here is a card that I made for 2 challenges. Unfortunately though I didn't get it finished in time for one of the challenges which was to do a kitchen theme. The second challenge I made this card for was StampTV's Tuesday Sketch Challenge.
(as always, click on any image to enlarge)



Here's my take on it:


I LOVE this fun paper by Cosmo Cricket called Garden Variety. The lady is colored with copics and is from Sew Pretty by Asela Hopkins. I paper pieced the apron from one of the Garden Variety papers too. They are so fun! The flower was cut out of felt with Papertry Ink's Beautiful Blooms II dies.

On the inside of the card I used Papertry Ink's Background basics: tin types and Fillable Frames #5 for the frame. The sentiment and hot pot holders are from the Sew Pretty stamp set.

I've been trying to figure out how best to take photos of my cards. I am usually crafting late at night since my daughter (who is chronically ill) keeps me pretty busy the rest of the day. Below is a photo of a shelving unit that my husband made for me which is above my desk. I have a small (cheap) light that I shine over the card. As you can see, the light it shines is quite yellow. I always have all the lights on in the room when I take a photo to get as much light as I can. When possible, I try to take the photo during the day and then I also open the blinds to let in all the natural light. I usually take several pictures and upload them to my Creative Memories: Memory Manager where I can edit the photo by cropping, adjusting lighting and colors and even changing the size and other fun stuff. I bought it when I was a CM consultant and I really like it. If you have any other ideas on how to take good photos of the cards, I'm open to your suggestions! I'd also like to see how YOU take photos of your cards!



Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I hope you have a great day!

In God We Trust

Life has been so hectic lately that I didn't get a chance to post this card in time for the 4th of July. I finished the card on that day and am now using it at my profile photo on facebook. :)

I made this card for Stamp TV's inspiration challenge last week.


I first stamped the flag image which is from Flourishe's stamps. I water-colored the flag. After it dried I masked it and then sponged the background. I stamped the children's parade with Versamark and then embossed with detail black embossing powder. For the flag decorations below that I also stamped and water-colored them, cut them out and adhered them to the card.

I love Theresa Momber's beautiful sponging. She writes tutorials on each of her projects. I followed one of her tutorials and used similar ink colors (I used a different brand of ink) but I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I practiced on some scrap paper before sponging on the real deal.

Thank you for stopping by! Crafting is my "therapy" and it brings joy to my life. I'm glad to be able to share it wit all of you. Oh, and don't forget to leave a comment!

Once Upon a time

I had a little time to do some stamping and so I made a cute card for two challenges. The first challenge is on StampTV and you can find it here. The second was in celebration of Color Throwdown's 100th challenge!

I love the Magnolia stamps and Tilda is my favorite. Here she is as a Fairy God-Mother.



I used shimmerz to make her dress shiny. The red cardstock was spritzed with Pink Bubblegum Glimmer Mist and Stampin' Up's vanilla spritz. I used copics to color her and the designer paper is from Memory box.


Thank you for visiting! It means to much to me to have you stop by and leave a comment.

Taylored Expression's Blast from the Past Blog Hop

I'm so happy to be a part of Taylored Expression's  Blast from the Past Blog Hop!

I used the stamp set called Beary Special.

I paper pieced the back pack using Basic Grey paper. I used Copics to color the cute little bear. I used the Bow Easy to make the cute double looped bow. The background paper was embossed with a Cuttlebug folder and the images and sentiment were cut out using Spellbinders dies. I just love the bling too, of course! Below is a side view to show a little dimension.

Thank you for visiting today! I can't wait to see what everyone else has posted so I'm off to check out the rest of the blog hop!

Happy Valentine's Day & CHD Awareness Day

Happy Valentine's Day and CHD Awareness Day!

CHD stands for Congenital Heart Defects which my daughter was born with. Just a little fact: 1 in every 100 babies world-wide are born with CHD. Some die before even being diagnosed which is sad because with treatment they could have a great chance at life. My daughter almost died due to late diagnosis. 21 years later I'm still so glad that we got her treatment just in time!

Now on to the Valentine's Day card I made for my hubby. I used the sketch from MojoMonday to make this card. What a great sketch!



I received a shipment from I{heart}Papers and was soooo happy with the masculine paper that I wish I had ordered more! The paper is SEI Moravia. I just might have to place another order! lol The stamp on the front is JustRite Occasions. I used chalks to add a little color to the image but it doesn't show up very well in the photo.



I used Martha Stewart punches, nesties and CM tools to make the layout. The stamp on the inside is Verve's Thankful Hearts. I love that set - so many wonderful sentiments! Back to the paper... look at how it shimmers!



I hope you are having a wonderful Valentine's day and if someone you love is affected by CHD, I'm sending you an extra big (((hug)))!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday to Hubby!

I made the following card for my husband on his birthday last month. He really does a lot for me and our children. I appreciate him so much and I had just the stamps that told him so.

First I used JustRite's Decorative 2" Square Monogram Kit. Then I used the octagon nesties to cut it out. I used Verve's Thankful Hearts to stamp the sentiment inside rectangular opening. I LOVE the paper I used which is Basic Grey Origins. I also used a Spellbinder's Borderabilities - Latice and Stampin' Up's Scalloped Edge Punch to finish off the front of the card.


My husband is my hero and I was so happy to have a stamp that said so.



Love those pop-up dots to add dimension! I also used some distress Ink to make the card have a vintage feel.


I've been so blessed to have a husband who is so wonderful. He works so hard to care for our family. Since I got sick with fibromyalgia he has taken over some of the responsibilities that I used to take care of . I just love him so much for it. In April we will be celebrating our 25th anniversary. I am so much more in love with him now than when we first got married. Through the years we have faced many difficulties that most couples face but the most difficult thing has been watching our daughter go through countless medical and surgical procedures, strokes, lung bleeds, bowel issues, just to name a few. It has been the best and worst 21 years of our lives. (our daughter is 21 yrs old but at the level of a 7 yr old). We have grown so much as a family going through all of this together. It really helps to put things in perspective and know what is really important in life. My family is first in my book. (Crafting is a close second! LOL j/k) I love the Lord and am happy to serve Him by caring for His special daughter. Other things will just have to wait.

Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your visits!

I'm still working on images I stamped before Christmas. hehe...

I used Jennie's sketch challenge on Stamp TV to make this card. I had fun using this little candy cane girl (whiff of joy - I think) as the focal image of the card. I used copics for coloring, nesties and Martha Stewart punch, SU's poinsettia embossing folder, some stickles, lace, shiny brades, shiny paper and viola'! Lots of fun. LOL


Here's the inside view of the card.

The sentiment stamp is from Melanie Muenchinger's Festive Frames set. The punching was done using Martha Stewart's fun new punch set eyelet lace punch around the page... purchased at Michael's with a 50% off coupon! *yay!*


Thanks for stopping by!

Starting The New Year Off Right!

I have made several cards that I haven't had the opportunity to upload and share with you. Of course you all know I have a daughter with many medical problems and she requires a lot of my time and attention. I also have 3 sons who also need me from time to time. Thanksgiving came and went; we were able to have dinner with my sister & family, my brother and family and parents. It was a lovely time. Then my oldest son got married on Dec 19th! Of course I was busy helping with the wedding plans and am happy to say that the ceremony was just beautiful. All my children were able to participate including Miss Jess who was pushed (in her wheelchair of course) down the isle by a young man she has a little crush on! She was so happy to be a brides maid. Then Christmas was the very next week with New Year following close behind. Lots of fun times! But with the happy comes the sad. My next door neighbor who I mentioned in THIS POST passed away the week before Thanksgiving. Donna fought cancer valiantly but was called home. I'll post another card I made for her in a separate post.

This morning I'm sharing a fun card I made with Flourishes stamp set Life, Love and Lemons. I didn't write all the tools and embellishments that I used but by looking at it I can tell you that I used CM custom cutting system (circles), Sizzix scalloped circle, several Spellbinders dies and Basic Grey paper. The Blue cardstock and white card stock are CM.



The brad is Basic Grey and I don't remember where I got the flowers. The small blue one is paper and punched with a Stampin Up! punch. If you look closely you'll see some paper piercing. I'm not quite sure how the "pros" get theirs to show up better than mine. Oh well, it was fun to do.


Inside views.


I hope you've had a good start to 2010! I'm going to try to post more as I make my cards and scrapbook pages. I am really glad that you came by to visit today!

I made this card for Flourish's Favorite Things challenge which is to make a card inspired by the Sound of Music's "Favorite Things". The lyrics: "wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings" is what inspired this card.

World Card Making Day

World Cardmaking Day is tomorrow! I'm here to show you a card I made for this event. I'm just loving the colors on this card. I used Basic Grey's lemonade papers along with some yellow card stock. The gorgeous ribbon and the stamp set are both from Flourishes.



I used my copics for the coloring and SU ink for the redish-pink shading. I'm not thrilled with how the shading turned out but I've fretted over it enough. lol I'm not going to worry about it any longer. I am happy with the over-all card.


Some other shots to show you the dimensions.


Here's the inside of the card. I used my nesties, as always. I just love the Spellbinders dies!


I hope you have a great World Cardmaking day on Saturday and I hope you get an opportunity to do some crafting this weekend.

Check out some of the festivities here.

Just a quick post to let you know that I have something special planned for "World Card Making Day" on October 3rd, 2009!

Go here to see the other bloggers who are participating and to sign up yourself! yay! It's gonna be fun! (I'm #83 on the list!)

Here is my card that I made for the Spellbinder's Pendant Project Challenge. I didn't win but that's ok, there were many really amazing cards and other projects! I enjoyed looking at all the entries. I just love my Spellbinders dies.

The girl in this card is one of Whiff of Joy's Summer releases. Her name is Willow with strawberry basket and she has some really intricate designs which made her more difficult to color.. but my copics worked great! The ribbon was fun to use and guess what? The bling is actually an old button from my button box! How fun is that? As always, click on the photo to enlarge.


I used several Spellbinders shapes on this card and gave it dimension with pop dots.


Here is the inside. More Spellbinders shapes including the butterfly and the border. The center of the flower is a great place to write your own sentiment.


More fun dimension.


I had forgotten to use my glitter pen on the flowers on Willow's dress so here's a picture showing that little sparkle and a little of the glitter on the designer paper.


I really enjoyed making this card. I can't wait to color some of the other Whiff of Joy images and make more cards.

Thanks for stopping by!

Teaser

Here's a little teaser of my next card. I'm trying to get everything set to enter it into the Spellbinder's Pendant Project Challenge. I'm at the 11th hour... as usual! I thought you'd like to see a little teaser while you wait. LOL!

Enjoy!

Lazy Days of Summer

I love the new Lockhart Stamp Company's new Wicker Chair stamp. It makes me think of the lazy days of summer - no school - which means I don't have to worry about making my boys do their homework, school activities and all the other craziness that comes throughout the school year. I love spending time just relaxing on our back patio - that is when it's not too hot! LOL Last night after I got Jessica to bed I took Mary (Jessica's bunny) outside to her cage for the night. I sat on our bench swing and just enjoyed the night air. It was about 2am and it was very quiet. The night breeze was cool which is rare in July in Southern AZ so it was really nice.

I used chalks for the sky and grass; and colored pencils and OMS to color the chair and flowers. I just had to try out my new Spellbinders Pendant- Fleur de Lis . I used the sketch from Mojo Monday to construct my card. The paper is Stampin UP!: "Walk in the Park", Baja Breeze and Cameo Coral. Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black; SU Taken with Teal

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. As always, click on the photo to enlarge it.



Here's a picture of the inside.


I was actually able to take the pictures on my front porch. Most of the time I finish my cards during the night and have to worry about my light source but this time I was up ALL NIGHT and took the pictures this morning. Don't worry, I'm headed to bed in a few minutes and Jessica had a home health aide who will be here this afternoon so I can have a nap.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sketch Challenge for JustRite Stamp Company

I made this card for a JustRite sketch challenge found here. It was a fun sketch to work with and the prize is fabulous! Here is what is posted on their blog: "One lucky participant in the sketch will win today's release- Witch Way to the Treats, 1 3/16" Stamper, Autumn Blessings,2 1/4" x 3 1/16" Stamper plus the Harmony Rectangular stamper- set of 2 and your choice of two JustRite Fonts- Over $100.00 in prizes. "
There's already 129 contestants so it's not likely that I'll win... but it's always fun to play!




I used Basic Grey Wisteria paper pack and then distressed it a bit... maybe a bit too much in my opinion but I'm still trying to figure out how to use Tim Holtz's ink and distressing tools. I used my new JustRite "Tiny words" set for the sentiment and the swirls behind it. What a cute set! I stamped the flourishes onto the background using a stamp from Stampin Ups!'s "Yummy". It was a set I received free several months ago.



The cut-out is Spellbinder's new Lattice Borderabilities. What a fun set! Of course all the other shapes were done using Spellbinders dies. I hope you enjoy the card! I worked on it through the night inbetween putting my daughter back to bed multiple times. Darn tummy aches.... but now she is sleeping so I'm going to go catch some zzzzZZZZzzzzzZZzzzz's too!

Have a great day!

A Card for My Neighbor

This is my 3rd post in the same day... can you believe it? This is a special post so please read on.

I made this card especially for my neighbor, Donna, who is battling colon cancer. She is struggling and may only have a few months (or less) left. I took this card to her a couple of weeks ago and she LOVED it. We've been next-door neighbors for over 10 years. She was a surgical nurse, specializing in HEART SURGERIES before she retired due to the cancer. Of course we had a lot to talk about since Jessica has had 5 heart surgeries and Donna has assisted in hundreds of heart surgeries (but none of them Jessica's). She understands exactly what all of Jessica's defects are and knows all the complications that she has/is going through. Unfortunately the things that Donna is going through (bowel obstruction, abdominal pain, etc) are things that Jessica may have to look forward to with her ischemia of the bowels diagnosis. If you read my other blog, Are We Having Fun Yet?, you know that Jess already has a lot of abdominal pain. I am uber worried about Donna and of course, Jessica. None of this stuff if fun.

I just had to make a very special card for Donna. I wanted to make something that she could set on her table and see every day and know how much my family and I care about her. I wanted something very colorful and FUN!

The two images that I stamped are Magnolia's Tilda Picking Lilacs and Butterfly Background. This Tilda stamp is my favorite! She is so cute and fun to color - which I did with my copics. I outlined the clouds and colored in the flowers, butterflies and grass and then cut them out and layered it onto some really fun cardstock called The Citrus Stack that I bought at JoAnns. The swirls in the sky were just too cute to pass up!


You can't really see it but the strips of paper behind Tilda are shinny. Click on the images and I think you can see it a little better. I love the frame which is from Quickutz.

I added a few little pearls, punched the edge with an EK Success punch, added a shinny brad and glittery flower & leaves punched with a Martha Stewart punch and Viola'! A fun, happy, colorful card!

I hope it brings a smile to Donna's face. We sure love her.

Thanks for visiting and please leave me a comment! Everyone loves comments! :-)

Father's Day Card For My Dad

I made this card for my dad for Father's day. My dad used to have a cattle ranch and he wore a hat and cowboy boots exactly like the ones in this set that Theresa designed! Many years ago he would compete in rodeos and won most of the contests. This set really brought some great memories to me and I really enjoyed making this card for him. He isn't one to make a fuss over cards or gifts but I think he really liked this card.

I stamped the hat and boots onto the ivory leather paper and colored parts of them with copics. I used antique linen distress ink to make them look... well, antique! ;-) I stamped the horse head onto the neenah classic crest white paper and colored it in with colored pencils and then blended with OMS.



Here is a side view so you can see the layers and how cool the lasso looks.


Thanks for visiting!

Stamps: Out West by Theresa Momber
coloring: copics, colored pencils & OMS, antique linen distress ink
Paper: neenah classic crest (white), navy blue leather, blue leather & ivory leather paper by the Paper Temptress ( LOVE this stuff!),
other: coper sheet run through my big shot with a cuttlebug embossing folder, hemp for lasso

Father's Day Card For My Father-in-law

Here is the card I made for my Father-in-law for Father's Day. I wanted to mix it up a bit from the one I made for my hubby, so I changed out the tie for a bow tie and added a sweater vest (both of which I made up myself!) I did the stitching on my little Janome sewing machine that someone gave me. This cute little machine is perfect for use on my cards.

The paper is from SU and everything else is the same as the card I made for my hubby. My FIL and MIL both loved it. What's great is that even my teenage sons liked the cards. :-)



The inside before all the fun comments from my family.


I found the template for the card (jacket, shirt & original tie) at Stamping Mathilda . She has a lot of different templates on her blog and does some really fun things. Check her blog out if you get a chance!

Thanks for visiting!

Father's Day Card For My Sweet Husband

Here is a Father's Day card that I made for my sweet hubby, Karl. I love him so much and appreciate him taking Brandon and Austin to church every Sunday and also their youth activities.

Here is the front of the card:


You can lift up the front part to reveal the shirt and tie. Karl and the boys always wear white shirts and ties to church... which is one reason that I just LOVE this card.


I digitally erased the message I wrote only because it's a little personal but as you can see, the kids all just love their dad. The only reason that Justen didn't sign it is because he gave Karl his own card that he bought - and a t-shirt that says: DAD to the bone. hehe... Karl loved the t-shirt and both of the cards.


Thanks for looking! And I apologize for not posting more often. I have been crafting some but not posting... my bad! I hope you come back to see more cards I've made.

PS:
Do you like my new DIGS? I was tired of the old boring brown and greys. I thought I'd change things up a bit to show my poisonality. Yes, you read that right. My dad has always called "personality" : "poison-ality". Sometimes it fits, doesn't it?

Have a great day!

A Year Of Flowers Blog Hop!

I made this card for Melanie's A Year of Flowers Blog Hop! I used two sets that Melanie designed. First I used the rose, leaves and lady bugs from "A Year of Flowers". I stamped them onto watercolor paper and used "Peerless Water Colors" to add the color. It was so much fun using these watercolors. The sentiment is from Melanie's set "The Best Things in Life". Both these sets are MUST-HAVES in my opinion!



Here's a different view showing the dimensions.



The card partially open.


Inside of the card with room for writing.


A little dimension on the inside too.
The ladybugs were so much fun to make... but a little difficult to cut out. lol

I hope you enjoyed this card as much as I enjoyed making it.

Here are the deets:

Stamps: "A Year of Flowers", "The Best Things In Life"

Ink: Old Olive, Riding Hood Red, Moment Tuxedo Black

Paper: Basic Grey Sultry, SU: Barely Banana, Certainly Celery, Pretty In Pink, watercolor paper

Accessories: Martha Stewart punch, Quickutz Frame, Basic Grey brads

PS: I gave this card to my MOM for her birthday! It was so hard to give it away but who else deserves such a card except for the woman who gave me life! She also raised me so she REALLY deserves it! hehe!