April Round-Up

I can't believe 4 months have gone by already! Wow!!

Here are my stats for the month:

# of blog posts = 22 (Goal = 20)

14 scrap pages, don't recall the # of pictures scrapped offhand, but it was good! (I still need to photograph most of them to share still!)

30 CARDS!! (and I still haven't finished blogging them all yet.)

Only 1 book read and one started, it seems the more crafty I get, the less I read; plus with it being nicer out, I'm not reading as much during my lunch hour. Spending time walking is more enjoyable for now!

(P.S. If you click on the "The Reading Room" link at the top, it will show you my goodreads shelves, what a fun site!)

Here's a card I created in March for a weather swap. I followed a sketch but I'm not sure where my notes are right now. I think she turned out nice and colorful :)

This is a page of my niece that I scrapped for a sketch challenge on a Yahoo group I belong to. The sketch is a Julie Bonner sketch.


Another fun thing from this month ~

I finally started my stamp catalog, I've been wanting to do it for months so I started it when I was on vacation a few weeks ago. I've still got quite a ways to go, but I like it so far!

Thanks for popping in! Stop back tomorrow for a special National Scrapbooking Day post!

Sentimental Sundays meets Sketchy Thursdays!

TGIF!!! It's been a very long week here, so happy the weekend has finally arrived and so has the nice weather! We actually had to use the heat a few times this week, thought we were done with that a few weeks ago!

Anyways, the reason you are here...I made this card last night for two challenges, a new one called Sentimental Sundays. Great challenge that reminds you to put a sentiment on your card front, I don't always do that and need to remember to, after all it's one of the reasons I'm always buying sentiment stamps LOL! Challenge #1 is call Blooming Gorgeous and needs to include a flower and sentiment. Both my image and sentiment are from the same Sweet 'N Sassy Digi set called Fluttering By, it's so pretty!


The layout is the new sketch from Sketchy Thursdays, perfect for the image I was using!

Card Supplies~
Stamps: Fluttering By ~ Sweet 'N Sassy Digi Stamps
Paper: Basic Grey Green at Heart
Copics: V04, V06, V09, Y15, RV13, YG25, B000, YR65, YR68
Other: EK Success scalloped scallop border punch, lemon & spica pens

That's all for now! I'll be back tonight with the end of the month round-up!

Flutter By Wednesday #107

Happy Wednesday!

This week's challenge was issued by team member, Debby. She would like us to make a clean & simple card using a butterfly, fairy, or angel.

In other Flutter By news, this week we say goodbye to Chris and Shana. We will miss you girls!!


As soon as I saw this sketch at Clean & Simple Stamping, I knew I'd be using it for this week's challenge! This site is a fantastic source for making CAS cards!

If you'd like to play along with Flutter By Wednesday, please link your CAS challenge card using a butterfly, fairy, or angel to the FBW blog! For more CAS inspiration, please visit the blogs of my fellow team members. They rock!

Other challenges I was inspired by:
Paper Play #16 - No Patterned Paper (shocking, isn't it?? I didn't think I'd be able to not use dp!)
Kaboodle Doodles #29 - Embossing (still having lots of fun with my embossing folders!)
Splitcoast Stampers CAS64- CAS birthday card using orange for Miss Boo's birthday
Jacksonbelle Embellishments - Get Krafty (use kraft as a base, I thought this would look awesome with the orange!)

Card Supplies ~
Stamps: Birthday Greetings ~ Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps
Paper: PTI Kraft, misc. orange/white scraps
Ink: Memento
Other: Martha Stewart Monarch butterfly punch, leafy branch & swiss dots cuttlebug folders, Recollections pearls

Thanks for fluttering by!

Squigglefly Challenge #46

It's Monday again, boy did the weekend go fast!

Time for another Squigglefly challenge! Maria challenged us to use blues & greens and I dug through my images and pulled out this cute turtle illustrated by Ashley Summers :)

The layout is this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch #66, flipped to accommodate my image.

Card Supplies~

Stamps: For You ~ Squigglefly

Paper: Basic Grey Gypsy

Copics: BG15, Y15, YG03, YG25

Other: Marvy scallop circle punch, diamond glaze, crystal stickles

If you'd like to participate, please link your creation, using a Squigglefly image, to the Squigglefly blog. For more inspiration, please visit my fellow team members, links are on my sidebar!

Have a great day!

Hula Girl

At long last, here is my sample!

I just couldn't decide what to do tonight and then I found this sketch at Friday Sketchers and was inspired.


And now I present...Hula Girl! She is by artist Jackie Mathews, new to the Squigglefly family. I think she is adorable :) and I was lucky to locate my summer paper, it was still packed away in the closet.

{If you click the photo to see the bigger version, you will see lots of sparkle}

Card Supplies~
Stamp: Hula Girl ~ Squigglefly
Paper: PTI Stampers Select White, PTI Pure Poppy, PTI Kraft, DCWV Summer Stack (an old one!)
Copics: E00, Y32, Y35, Y38, R29, YG17
Other: red & lemon spica pens, prima flowers, Kaiser pearls

TFL! I'll be back later today with another card or two! I've got a backlog that still hasn't been shared yet...April has been so much more productive than March!

Willow and some Squigglefly news!

So if you stopped by last night for that Squigglefly sneak peek, sorry I didn't have anything up for you! I wasn't feeling good so I spent the night on the couch playing with digi stamps to print and playing FB games.

Guess what! The new stamps are up already and wow, are they cute! Squigglefly has a new artist and her name is Jackie Mathews! I will have a sample up tonight with one of the new cuties :)

This is a quick card I made a few nights ago...no sketch or challenges, I'm sure you all are shocked LOL!!

(if you click to picture to make it bigger, you can see the sparkle)

This neat tree is called Willow and is illustrated by Rich Davis. I'm sure it's not meant to be an orange tree, but I couldn't resist having sparkly oranges LOL!

More exciting news...the One-a-Day in May is back!

What is that for those that don't know?

Here is what the Squigglefly site says:

Join Squigglefly for some awesome fun! We're having a digital stamp fest the entire month of May, and for a limited time, you can pre-order all 31 new digital stamps for just $30. That's less than .99 cents an image!

• When Will My Items Be Delivered?
  On May 1st, everyone who has pre-ordered will be sent a link to download the first image of One-a-Day in May. You can use that same link to download your additional images. One new image will be added to your downloads every day in May.
• What Do I Get?
  You get the same great Squigglefly quality images you find in the store. Each day, you'll have a new image to download and play with!

TGIF! See you tonight!

3-in-1 challenge card

A quick post for this morning!


I made this card the other night for a few challenges:
Crazy 4 Challenges #34 - sketch

One Stop Craft Challenge #76 - Things with Wings
Paper Sundaes #14 - Card with no people

Card Supplies~
Stamps: Bee Showers ~ Stampendous
Paper: Basic Grey Urban Prairie
Ink: Memento
Copics: BG01, BG07, N7, Y35
Other: Lemon spica pen, MM brads, glossy accents, SU ticket punch, crystal stickles

Thanks for looking! Stop back tonight for a Squigglefly sneak peek!

The Squigglefly Rewind

*If you are here for Flutter By Wednesday, please scroll down to the next post*

It's time for the Squigglefly Rewind! The design team has picked out some favorites from the older Squigglefly digis to play with today.

Today I am sharing Pear, illustrated by Lynne Stansbery. I {heart} Lynne's images! They are so much fun for me to color with my copics.


I used a sketch from a new-to-me challenge site, I Love Digi.


To see what the rest of the design team chose to play with, please visit the links on my left sidebar!

Card Supplies ~
Stamps: Pear ~ Squigglefly
Paper: Kioshi ~ Basic Grey, misc. cardstock
Copics: E41, E57, YG25, YG03
Other: MM brads

Have a great day!

Flutter By Wednesday #106

Yay, it's the middle of the week!

Today's Flutter By Wednesday is a sketch challenge by the fabulous Mercy!


Here is my take ~

(sorry for the not so good photo, the gem brads are hard to photograph - for me anyways!)

This is such a great sketch that I will use again and again, the main panel is a great size for so many images! If you'd like to play along, please link your card using a butterfly, fairy or angel to the Flutter By Wednesday blog and for more inspiration, check out the links of my fellow dt members (on my left sidebar)!

Card Supplies ~
Stamps: Shaela Fairy ~ Paper Makeup Stamps
Paper: Kioshi ~ Basic Grey
Ink: Memento
Copics: E00, E02, R20, E25, E27, E29, V01, V12, V15
Other: misc. ribbon, MM brads, lilac spica pen

Come back soon for the Squigglefly Rewind! Have a happy day!

ESS #79

I love when I have time to use Tracy's sketches!

Here is this past Thursday's sketch ~

And here is my version ~

I've had this image stamped for weeks and finally had a chance to make a card with it, actually I made two but I'll save one for another post, he he he. This mousie looks so comfy in the pretty pink flower.

Card Supplies ~

Stamps: Flower Bed ~ House Mouse

Paper: Green at Heart ~ Basic Grey

Ink: Memento

Copics: R00, R20, RV14, E33, E35, N2, YG25

Other: pink spica pen, leafy cuttlebug folder, leaf punch ~ EK Success, prima flower, MM brad, SU corner rounder

That's all for now. It's American Idol time!

Stop back tomorrow for Flutter By Wednesday and the Squigglefly Rewind!

Baby Congrats Card

I made this card super quick tonight before going to visit a friend. I'm getting much better at planning and executing cards fast! It probably took me longest to tie the darn bow lol, I need to get a Bow Easy!

I pulled out one of the BEST baby stamps set that I have ever bought, Cuddles & Tickles by Stampin Up - $3 at the LSS tag sale a few years ago. The paper is from the Baby Boy Nursery DCWV mat stack that I bought ages ago and never used.


Challenges completed ~
CAS-tastic Challenge #1 - Anything CAS
Caardvarks - new baby card
Our Creative Corner - Bows
Papertake Weekly - Cutie Pie

Tomorrow is my last vacation day ~ sniffle, sniffle. I've really enjoyed being home getting things done...weekends just aren't long enough to be productive LOL!

Have a great night and thanks for looking :)

Makeup for the Weekend #23

I saw the Makeup for the Weekend challenge over at PMS last week and just knew I had to try it out! I checked out Lauren's shop, My Time Made Easy, and saw this cute Card Catch All and immediately thought of making a holder for my stamped images to keep on my desk.

Today was the first day that I've really had some playtime, have been spending my vacation either cleaning or painting and then today out and about.

Here is my creation ~ I am so pleased with how it came out!!

The adorable monster is Caliope with a flower colored with R01, BG23, R17 and YG03. The paper is Basic Grey Gypsy and the flowers are something I got in a goody bag from Susana. I {heart} both her store and PMS so much!! Letters are Thickers.

TFL!!

Flutter By Wednesday #105

Woohoo for Wednesday!

It's Flutter By Wednesday and this week it's an open theme as long as you have your butterfly, fairy or angel on your creation. I pulled out a stack of images and chose this Penny Black Poppy Fields for my card, it's been ages since I used it!

The layout is ESS78, although my image is a bit larger than the one of the sketch, oops LOL

Card Supplies
Stamps: Poppy Fields ~ Penny Black
Paper: Basic Grey Kioshi
Ink: Memento
Copics: E41, E55, E57, R24, Y21, YG03, YG25, V12
Other: SU ticket punch, Kaiser pearls, clear spica pen

If you'd like to play along, please link your creation to the Flutter By Wednesday blog and for more inspiration, visit the blogs of my fellow DT members. Links on my sidebar!

Have a great day! I'm off to the art store, a visit with my favorite nieces, and a haircut!

For the Birds

That's the challenge this week over at the Order of the Opus Gluei!

I decided to make 2 different cards using the Birds of a Feather set by Unity Stamp Company, it's one of my favorite go-to sets for birds. I incorporated textures for the Corrosive Challenge this week too. I always forget to use my cuttlebug folders, I managed to use 3 different ones making these cards.

The first card is for the sketch at I {heart} to Stamp - it's been forever since I played along there!


And this card is for the sketch challenge at Card Patterns, I flipped it to accommodate my image.


Card #1 Supplies
Stamps: Birds of a Feather ~ Unity Stamp Company
Paper: Basic Grey Two Scoops
Ink: Memento
Copics: Y11, R21, G21, YR65
Other: Marvy scallop punches, cuttlebug folders, blossom spica pen, recollections pearls

Card #2 Supplies
Stamps: Birds of a Feather ~ Unity Stamp Company
Paper: Basic Grey Eva
Ink: Memento
Copics: Y32, YR16, YG03, RV11, RV13, RV14
Other: Marvy scallop punches, cuttlebug folders, blossom & lilac spica pens, Kaiser pearls

TFL! Off to work on the to-do list a bit more.

Squigglefly Challenge #44

Happy Monday!!

No pre-posting for me today since I'm on VACATION!!!! Woohooooooo!! My plans are to work on the house, continue unpacking and of course, creating!!

Today's challenge is to use doodling with your Squigglefly image. If you don't have any yet, there are plenty of freebies on the site to play with.

I used Angie Davis' adorable Wise Owl image on my card. I've had him on my desk for weeks and thought he'd be so cute paired up with the Basic Grey Origins paper. The layout is SC275.

Card Supplies
Stamps: Wise Owl ~ Squigglefly
Paper: Basic Grey Origins, misc. cardstock
Copics: E35, E37, E57, YR68, YG63
Other: zig writer pen, Kaiser pearls, prima flowers, EK Success leaf punch, SU corner rounder, Nestabilities Labels 11

If you'd like to play along, please link your card or project to the Squigglefly blog and for more inspiration, visit the other DT blogs while your there. I still haven't had a chance to get everyone linked up on my blog yet after I messed everything up.

Have a great day!!

It's Release Day at Squigglefly!

My sneak peek has turned into release day LOL!

This pretty image is Vintage Flower Maiden and was drawn by Rich Davis for Squigglefly. I'll admit it is very out of my comfort zone, so I hope I did her justice.

I was unpacking some boxes and came across this paper and thought it would look pretty with the maiden, and I broke out the Bazzill! I've had this 8x8 package of cardstock for many, many years. The layout is ESS77 from Eat Sleep & Stamp. I also got to use my new EK Success leaf punch, a few friends have them and I loved the look with flowers, so I had to get one too!

Card Supplies
Stamp: Vintage Flower Maiden ~ Squigglefly
Paper: Bazzill, DCWV
Copics: E00, YR24, YR65, R43, BG96
Other: prima flower, SU eyelet border punch, EK Success medium leaf punch, EK Success corner punch, Queen & Co pearls, zig 2 way glue pen

Now run over to Squigglefly and see what's new, I spied a Shy Bear!

Flutter By Wednesday #104

Happy Wednesday!

We have a surprise in store for you today! We are being sponsored by our fabulous former teammate, Stef of Glitterbabe Greetings! How very cool is that?!?! You can find her Etsy shop HERE. Since we have Glitterbabe with us this week, the challenge is to use sparkle with your butterfly, fairy or angel.

She provided the team with a few butterfly images to use and I chose this one ~

I started playing around with my image and thought it would look cool with the scalloped square nestie, reminds me of a postage stamp! The fun paper is BG Junebug and since I made this card a few days ago, I went a little stickle crazy (especially on the background paper). Love to use them, but can't do it when I wait til the last minute LOL!

Card Supplies
Stamps: Butterfly from Glitterbabe Greetings
Paper: BG Junebug
Copics: R17, R29, Y15, BG07
Other: Classic square scalloped nesties, misc. ribbon from stash, yellow & diamond stickles, studio 18 rhinestones, Recollections pearls

If you'd like to play along, please link your card/creation to the Flutter By Wednesday blog. For more inspiration, please check out the blogs of my teammates, links of my left sidebar.

Have a great day!

Button Bear

I dug out a bunch of oldies to make this card tonight.

Here is Button Bear ~


The layout is TESC107 from Taylored Expressions and the buttons are for the "Break out the Buttons" over at Our Creative Corner. I think he is super cute!

Card Supplies
Stamps: Button Bear ~ Stampin Up
Paper: Provocraft (Red), Sandylion (denim)
Ink: Memento
Copics: R81, R89, E53, E55, E57
Other: Labels 3 Nestabilities, buttons from stash

Time to call it a night, hope your Monday was great!

Tulips!

I spotted this beautiful tulips image on the Squigglefly site last night and just had to have it!

Here are two cards I made tonight using it ~


More BG Origins paper, love it!! The layouts are both from SCS - SC255 and SC254.

Challenges Entered:
I {heart} Copics #8 - Sweet Springtime Inspirations
Crafty Creations #61 - Anything Goes
For Fun Challenges - Anything Goes

Card Supplies~
Stamps: Tulips by Jane Beljo for Squigglefly
Paper: BG Origins, PTI white cardstock
Ink: SU Close to Cocoa
Copics: Y15, YG17
Other: prima flowers, Studio 18 rhinestones, yellow spica pen

So far the Red Sox are kicking Yankee butt, let's hope this is the start of an awesome baseball season!!!!

TFL!

Sending out an SOS!!!

I need HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!!

I am having some problems with certain companies' digi stamps. There is a layer of speckles/dots on the images and since I use Microsoft Word to resize all my images to print a bunch of different ones at once, I never see the dots until I print the images. I just printed some on good paper and now I can't use them :(

I figured out once awhile ago how to get rid of them and can't figure it out now. I don't have Photoshop...I have Ifranview, a Canon program, and Picasa.

Does anyone have any advice to share?? Pretty please??

Hope you are all having a good day, Happy Easter!

Try it Out Tuesday with Taylor!

I finally had a chance to participate in another Try It Out Tuesday, I always have the best intentions and then never get to it. This week's challenge was a great sketch by Suzanne and we all know I love a sketch!

For this card I decided to use Taylor from Victoria Case for SCACD as I needed a western card for a swap. I stamped her on PTI cardstock and wow, LOVE it, will definitely be getting more when I run out. I've only had it a year before using LOL!!


A little story about this paper...I've been hoarding it for almost 4 YEARS...how do I remember this? I bought it at a LSS in San Antonio, TX while at a scrapbooking retreat in June 2006. I loved the paper and bought matching chipboard (who knows where that is lol) and I decided it was finally time to cut into it :)

So anywho, here is the sketch ~


Card Supplies
Stamps: Taylor ~ Victoria Case for SCACD
Paper: Simply Seasonal Inspirables by EK Success, misc. cardstock
Ink: Memento
Copics: E00, E17, E18, E41, B24, B26, B29, R89, R20, G24
Other: brown & tan scrappers floss, misc buttons from stash, SU corner rounder, copper stickles, gold lame smooch

TFL!

Happy April!

Happy April!

I totally forgot to do my end of the month roundup for March...let's just say it didn't stack up to the first two months of the year. Hopefully I'll do much better this month!

Here is a card that I created on Thursday night for quite a few challenges :)


I love, love, love this card and hated to mail it away this morning lol. The spotlight technique is one of my favorite to use. The layout is from a sketch posted on the House Mouse challenge blog a few weeks ago.

Challenges completed:

Pile it On #12 - Animal-riffic!
Corrosive Challenge - Easter or Spring
Everybody Art Challenge #84 - Spring
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Fab 'N Funky Challenges #17 - Spring is in the Air
Little Red Wagon #22 Rolling into Spring
Charisma Cards #13 Animal Magic
Treehouse Thursday #43 Spotlight Technique

Card Supplies
Stamps: Bed of Flowers ~ House Mouse
Paper: Basic Grey Euphoria
Ink: Memento
Copics: E31, E33, E35, R81, RV17, V06
Other: CM circle punch, Studio 18 rhinestones, prima flowers

Off to enjoy the nice weather for a bit, will be back later with a card I finished this morning!