A Little Birdie Told Me.....

Good morning everyone!! Hope you are all well and have found a little time to stamp this week!!! We had some stressful news yesterday...our good friend from the Ft. Worth area had some chest pain so they rushed him to the hospital. He had 4 stents placed in the Cath Lab which eliminated the pain and prevented a massive heart attach!!! Life is sooo fragile, my friends!!! We went to see him yesterday and got back this afternoon.....Terry went home this morning ready to change his life style with a healthier diet and exercise!! My hubby and I are committed to a healthier lifestyle, too.....I want to live long enough to see my great, great grandchildren!!! Anyway....

I made this card last weekend and finally had a chance to post it.....the images are from Our Craft Lounges Tweet Thang set and the paper is from Echo Park's A Walk in the Park. I used the Mojo Monday #243 sketch and the sewing, twine, and button finishes it off.

This is also for Ruby's Rainbow Challenge to use things with wings, Stampin Doodles get outside challenge, and The Perfect Sentiment anything goes challenge to use a sentiment on the front.

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

Color Throwdown #194

Good morning everyone!!! It's Wednesday again and time for another Color Throwdown Challenge!!
The fabulous and oh sooo talented Bar is our hostess this week and she has picked some gorgeous, soft beachy colors for us to play with!!
  

I used the I Spy #17 sketch and some fish, shell, and sea foliage stamps from Rubbernecker. The fish were colored with copics and the waves were made with a MFT's Die-namics. The sentiment is from Rubbernecker's Floral Silhouettes #467. 

This is also for a few other challenges:

1. Love to Create Blog Challenge - add a sentiment

2. Paper Playtime - Friendship with a sentiment

3. Fashionista Challenge - simply summer

Be sure to add CTD194 to the keywords when you upload your card to an online gallery so we can find your work!! 

Do you want to see some wonderful inspiration?? Here are the links to the Color Throwdown Designers..... check out what they created this week! 

Broni Holcombe - Splashes of Watercolor 

Barbara Anders - Paper Pursuits
Danielle Kennedy - Wild Dragonfly Designs 
Tammy Hershberger - Stamp Happy 
Lori Tecler - Inking a Loud
Lynn Put - The Queens Scene
Wanda Cullen - Cullen-ary Creations
Kerri Michaud - Cards by Kerri

Joan Ervin - Stamping With a Passion - that's me! 

Kittie Caracciolo - Kittie Kraft - The FABULOUS May Guest Designer!!!

Thanks for visiting....have a great week!!!  I can't wait to see what you create with these colors!!!

A Shabby Little Hello

Good morning everyone!!! Did y'all survive the Memorial Day weekend?? We will be eating our leftovers all week...LOL!!! I finally got to Lowes and bought a few flowers for my empty pots....boy, are the flowers looking puney!! They are pretty picked over this time of year....hopefully they will perk up once they get a little food and water!! Anyway....

I made this card yesterday for the TLC challenge on Splitcoast...Judy was the hostess and she had a real easy challenge for us today...distressing. I used Crafty Secret's Birdies at Home set for the birdcage, branch, bird, and sentiment which were all stamped with Versamark Onyx Black and lightly colored with Copics. Unity's music score background was lightly stamped with Sahara Sand over the images. I used Susan Robert's Rainy Day's May 2012 sketch and distressing and sewing was done on the layers and background paper. The Spellbinder's Rose Creations diecuts with pearl centers and the ribbon finish it off.

This is also for a few other challenges:
1. Crafty Cardmakers - distressing
2. House of Gilli - diecuts/punches
3. Karen's Doodles - stitch it up
4. Incy Wincy - vintage
5. Corrosive Challenge - not too shabby

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

May Artist of the Month - Week 4

Good morning everyone....I hope you are all having a wonderful Memorial Day!!!  First I want to thank all our soldiers...active duty, retired and their families....for sacrificing so much for our freedom!!!! We are soooo blessed to live in the USA!!!!

We had our family here on Saturday for some good food and lots of fun with the grands. Now it's time for a little stamping!!! This is my last Monday post as the May Artist of the Month for Our Craft Lounge. I have really enjoyed my Monday's posting on the Our Craft Lounge blog and sharing my OCL creations with you!!!.

I decided to play along with the Our Craft Lounge Friday challenge *You're a Grand Old Flag*. 
My card features stamps from OCL's Patriotic Parade....they were colored with Copics and punches were used for the stars. They were embossed with the Dotted Swiss folder and adhered with foam dots.  The sticker banner and the button with twine finishes it off.
Recipe:
Stamps: Patriotic Parade
Paper: Real Red, White, Brilliant Blue, Patterned Paper from Creative Imaginations
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Button, Sticker Banner from Creative Imaginations, Baker's Twine, Dotted Swiss Embossing Folder


This is also for a few other challenges:
1. One stitch at a Time - red, white, and blue
2. Crafty Pad Designs Challenge - colors of the flag
3. Craft Your Days Away - red, white, and blue
4. Stamp, Scrap, and Doodle - stars and stripes
5. Charisma Cardz Challenge - no flowers allowed

Thanks Kendra, Cami, and the Our Craft Lounge DT for inviting me to join you this month....it has been such a wonderful experience and I have had so much fun creating with Our Craft Lounge stamps.!!!

Try This Technique!!

Hello everyone!!! I hope you had a great week and are ready to start your Memorial Day weekend with a little stamping!!!! I had to work this week so I am really behind on everything...I actually cooked my poor hubby something yesterday!! We are having our May and June family birthday party today so I will have to clean up my house a little and cook an bunch....food always tastes better when you have loved ones around to enjoy it, too!!! Anyway....

 I am really in my element when I can make a mess....and last Monday's TLC challenge on Splitcoast was for everyone who likes to get inky!! My challenge was to make some brayered paper elements....to create a card or project with paper elements that were made from brayered cardstock. The instructions were easy peasy.....

1. Use a brayer to roll different colors of ink on a piece of cardstock or patterned paper. You don't have to make it perfect because you want to see the different shades, spaces, and patterns.
2. You can use different shades of the same color or use complementary colors...what ever strikes your fancy. If you have a spectrum pad, half the work is done for you!
3. Use dies or punches to cut out your images or stamp an image on the brayered cardstock, cut it out, and add to your project.
4. Now, if you are a rebel and want to do something different, cut your image out first, brayer the colors over it and then use it on your project.
5. You can use any stamped image or diecut as long as there is enough open space to see the combo of colors.
6. You can add a little texture if you want by distressing, embossing, or crumpling up the paper to add a little interest.
7. If you don't have a brayer, don't stress...sponging  or just swiping the ink pads on the paper will be ok, too!!!
8. Have fun and make a mess!!!!

For my sample card, the vanilla cardstock for the butterfly was brayered with Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, and Pink Pirouette. The butterfly stamp from Rubbernecker's Butterflies are Free set was stamped on the brayered paper twice, both were cut out and popped up on foam dots. The leaves were cut out of vanilla card stock that was brayered with Old Olive and Kiwi Kiss. The flower was cut out of vanilla cardstock that was brayered with Sahara Sand and Curmb Cake. Spellbinder's dies were used for the leaves and the flower. The brayer had a little Taken withTeal on it from another project...I like the added color. The sewing, corrugated butterfly, pearl flourish, twine, and the wood birdcage finish it off.

No excuses, now...you have got to give this fun challenge a try....let me know how it turned out!!!
Have a wonderful holiday weekend!!!

Color Throwdown Challenge #193

Good morning everyone!!! It's Wednesday again and time for another Color Throwdown Challenge!! The fabulous and uber talented Wanda is our hostess this week and she has picked some rich, bold, colors for us to create with!!! I was kinda nervous about this combo but once I started working with them, I fell in love!!!! 

My card features stamps from Our Craft Lounge's Swingin By set. All the cute little stamped images were colored with copics and the little owl was popped up with foam dots. The designer paper is from My Minds Eye Fine and Dandy and the dyed ribbon finishes it off.

This is also for a few other challenges:
1. Ladybug Crafts Ink TLT Challenge - things with wings
2. Oldies But Goodies Challenge - things with wings....ribbon is over a year old
3. Tip Top Tuesday - dig out the old....my ribbon is over a year old
4. Ooh La La Creations - ribbon or twine

Be sure to add CTD193 to the keywords when you upload your card to an online gallery so we can find your work!! 

Do you want to see some wonderful inspiration?? Here are the links to the Color Throwdown Designers..... check out what they created this week! 

Broni Holcombe - Splashes of Watercolor 

Barbara Anders - Paper Pursuits
Danielle Kennedy - Wild Dragonfly Designs 
Tammy Hershberger - Stamp Happy 
Lori Tecler - Inking a Loud
Lynn Put - The Queens Scene
Wanda Cullen - Cullen-ary Creations
Kerri Michaud - Cards by Kerri

Joan Ervin - Stamping With a Passion - that's me! 

Kittie Caracciolo - Kittie Kraft - The FABULOUS May Guest Designer!!!

Thanks for visiting....have a great week!!!  I can't wait to see what you create with these colors!!!

OCL Inspiration Challenge

Hello everyone...hope you had a great weekend!!! I was real ambitions and cleaned out a couple of closets...I found lots of things for the church garage sale and tossed a bunch, too!! Now I have room for more stuff...LOL!!! Anyway.....

 This is my third week to post on the Our Craft Lounge's blog as the May Artist of the Month. I decided to play along with their Photo Inspiration challenge....isn't this a beautiful picture!! I knew right away that I wanted to use Our Craft Lounge's Asian Garden set...the cherry blossom branch reminded me of the beautiful pink blossoms on the tree in the photo. 

The lanterns were all paper pieced with paper from Webster's Pages Postcards from Paris dp and the details on the lanterns, blossoms, and sky were all colored with Copics. I can't believe I didn't use a single embellishment on this design but the stamps speak for themselves...they don't need anything else to make them shine!!!

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

Stampin Sisterhood's Garden Hop

Hello everyone!! I'm  so glad you could join the Stampin' Sisterhood for our Garden Hop !! As always, we are SO excited to share with you! Rubbernecker Stamps has a wide variety of stamps for your garden/flower  projects!

HOP DETAILS:

**WINNERS**-
Each hopper, who does the following will receive a Shopping Code for 15% off your order (it will be emailed to you):
-leave some LOVE at EVERY stop along the way.
-collect our word search WORDS as you go!
- leave a comment on the Sisterhood Blog, along with the words you collected and your email addy's
-ONE winner will be chosen to receive 25% off!!

***You have until May 25 to complete the hop.....The winner will be announced  on the Stampin' Sisterhood Blog  Saturday,  May 26 in the evening.

BONUS!!

As a bonus  we will draw the Media  winner  for a STAMP SET of your choice, just for sharing our HOP on your Facebook page or Blog!!

After you have SHARED,  just go back to the Stampin' Sisterhood Blog  and let us know. 

                                                                     My word is GREEN   

My card features the sweet little Child With Bouquet stamp #532-09 which was paper pieced with Prima's Romantique and Glitz's Pretty in Pink designer papers.....the face, hair and skin were colored with Copics.  She was cutout and popped up on a piece of Romantique dp that was stamped with Rubbernecker's Ivy Frame #557. The sewing and seam binding finish it off.

Now, off you go, there's LOTS to see!! Hope you will join us in June, for our next hop because we have something NEW for you then!!  Be sure to check out the daily posts on the STAMPIN’ SISTERHOOD blog!! There's lots of inspiration to be found! Thanks again for joining us today and ENJOY!!

• Anne Harmon
• Bev Gerard
• Charlene Driggs
• Charlene Merrick
• Ellen Taylor
• Jacquie Peifer
• Jennifer Cuthbertson
• Joan Ervin
• Judy Rozema
• Julia Aston
• Juliana Swanson
• Karen Hunsaker
• Kecia Waters
• Stampin Sisterhood Blog

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!!!!!

Color Throwdown Challenge #192

Good morning everyone!!! It's Wednesday again and time for another Color Throwdown Challenge!! Tammy is our hostess with the mostess this week and she has picked some  bright, happy colors for this weeks challenge!!!  I even had a piece of Sage Shadow to use for the matting....Whoohoo!!!

My card features a Rubbernecker stamp called Dandelion Garden Border #540-02. Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Regal Rose, and Sage Shadow markers were used to color the stamp and then I misted it just a tad before stamping it on the white cardstock. The sentiment is from Rubbernecker's Floral Silhouette set #467  and colored rhinestones and Baker's Twine finish it off.

This is also for a few other challenges:
1. Opus Gluei - beyond the garden gate
2. Lawnscaping Challenge - CAS
3. Ooh La La Creations - ribbon or twine
4. Tammy's Scrapin Corner - show us your flowers
5. Amusing Challenge - flowers

Be sure to add CTD192 to the keywords when you upload your card to an online gallery so we can find your work!! 

Do you want to see some wonderful inspiration?? Here are the links to the Color Throwdown Designers..... check out what they created this week! 

Broni Holcombe - Splashes of Watercolor 

Barbara Anders - Paper Pursuits
Danielle Kennedy - Wild Dragonfly Designs 
Tammy Hershberger - Stamp Happy 
Lori Tecler - Inking a Loud
Lynn Put - The Queens Scene
Wanda Cullen - Cullen-ary Creations
Kerri Michaud - Cards by Kerri

Joan Ervin - Stamping With a Passion - that's me! 

Kittie Caracciolo - Kittie Kraft - The FABULOUS May Guest Designer!!!

Thanks for visiting....have a great week!!!  I can't wait to see what you create with these colors!!!

Bird and Butterfly

Good morning everyone....my mom, sister, and I are big  Dancing with the Stars fans so I had to go to Mom's last night to watch the semi finals....my dad even watched it with us....we all wished we could dance like that!!!! When I got home the Bachelorette was on so I settled into the craft room with Emily and all those cute bachelors...George found something else to do....LOL!!! I made this card with an adorable Tina Wenke stamp from Stampavie called Bird on Dogwood Branch...my DD Holly gave it to me for my birthday!

The image was colored with copics and I used Jen's SFYTT May sketch.  The outer wing on the butterfly was popped up on a foam dot and the paper is from MME's Fine and Dandy. The rick rack, gingham ribbon, and tiny yellow rhinestones for the flower centers finish it off.

This is for a few other challenges:
1. Hooked on Crafts Challenge - flowers
2. Ooh La La Challenge - ribbon or twine
3. Paper Creations Ink - in the garden
4. Catered Crop - rick rack
5. Paper Sundaes - things with wings

Thanks for stopping by.....have a super fab day!!!!

Wishing You a Tree-ific Day!!!

Good morning everyone!!  My sister has been visiting this week so we have been trying to stay out of trouble!!! I haven't been in the craft room for a few days....I'll have to fix that tonight!!!!!  I hope you had a great Mother's Day....my DH grilled steaks for us yesterday and they just melted in your mouth!! Sure wish he did that every day...LOL!!! Anyway....

This is my second week as the May Artist of the Month for Our Craft Lounge Stamps and
my card today features  the Tree-ific Trees set ....this is one of my favorite OCL stamps!!  The trees were all paper pieced with Bo Bunny Garden Girl and Basic Grey Out of Print papers. All the circles were cut out by hand except the tiny green ones...I used a punch for those.

The circles on the top tree were cut out twice and popped up with foam dots.
 I used a scrap of sky paper from my stash but I don't know the name of the company. The grassy hills were sewn together and a grass die was used for the grass.

 The banner for the second half of the sentiment was curled a little with my fingers to achieve the wavy look. I know I will be using this set often...the trees are sooo cute and I just love the fun sentiment!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by .....have a super fabulous week!!!

Color Throwdown Challenge #191

Good morning everyone!!! It's Wednesday and that means it's time for another Color Throwdown Challenge!! Lynn is our hostess this week and she has picked some  gorgeous colors for this weeks challenge!!!  

My card features an adorable stamp from Whipper Snapper Designs. It was colored with Copics  and mounted on an oval scalloped Nestabilities. The paper is a scrap that just happened to match the colors (yeaaa!!) and the felt flower, button, and Baker's Twine finish it off. 

This is also for a few other challenges:

1. Robyn's Fetish Challenge Blog - buttons, blue, and a bow

2. The Artistic Stamper's May Challenge - spots and stripes

3. Freshly Brewed May Challenge - Tic Tac Toe - diecuts, twine, flowers

4. Lily Pad - rainy day

Be sure to add CTD191 to the keywords when you upload your card to an online gallery so we can find your work!! 

Do you want to see some wonderful inspiration?? Here are the links to the Color Throwdown Designers..... check out what they created this week! 

Broni Holcombe - Splashes of Watercolor 

Barbara Anders - Paper Pursuits
Danielle Kennedy - Wild Dragonfly Designs 
Tammy Hershberger - Stamp Happy 
Lori Tecler - Inking a Loud
Lynn Put - The Queens Scene
Wanda Cullen - Cullen-ary Creations
Kerri Michaud - Cards by Kerri

                                                  Joan Ervin - Stamping With a Passion - that's me! 

                                Kittie Caracciolo - Kittie Kraft - The FABULOUS May Guest Designer!!!

Thanks for visiting....have a great week!!!  I can't wait to see what you create with these colors!!!

Asian Garden

Good morning everyone!! I hope everything is OK in your little corner of the world!!! Before my Dad was admitted to the hospital last week I had taken everything out of one of the bedroom closets. My plan was to sort the toys, sack up some of the clothes for the church garage sale, and do a real good cleaning, however, it's all still sitting there all over the room waiting patiently for me to get my rear in gear...LOL!!! Since I have to work today and tomorrow  it will just have to sit there till next weekend...unless the good fairy decides to pay me a visit....I can only hope...LOL!!!  Anyway....

It was my turn to host the TLC challenge on Splitcoast this week and since the challenge landed on my birthday (yesterday), I decided the challenge would be my favorite technique...paper piecing!!!

The sweet little Geisha Girl from Hero Arts Japanese Garden set was  paper pieced with Konnichiwa papers from Basic Grey. The shading and black details on the kimono, the face, hair, hands, and shoes were all colored with Copics. The background paper is also from the Konnichiwa collection and the paper pieced lanterns are from My Cute Stamp's NiHao set (I noticed they are having a 50% off sale on all their stamps....whoohoo!!). The felt *grass*, sewing, ribbon, and button finish it off.

This is also for a few other challenges:
1.Desert Islands Crafters - use 3 of 10 (I used bright colors, button, twine)
2. A Gem of a Challenge - pink, green, and blue
3. Crazy 4 Challenges - gardening or in the great outdoors
4. Stamp, Scrap, and Doodle Saturdays - ribbons and bows
5. Crafty Ann's Challenge Blog - stitching

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

May Artist of the Month

Good morning everyone!!  I'm thrilled and excited to tell you that I have been asked to be the May Artist of the Month  for Our Craft Lounge Stamps.....Whoohoo!!!!!   Since Saturday was National Scrapbooking Day and OCL's Friday challenge was to make a page or card with a picture on it, I decided to create a scrapbook page.

The balloons and sentiments from Our Craft Lounge's Love in the Air set were used along with papers, stickers, and a banner from Echo Park's Springtime paper collection. The balloons were stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black, colored with Copics, cutout, and popped up with foam dots. Flowers with pearl centers and a leaf diecut finish it off.

The picture is of my sweet friend Patsy and her youngest grandson, Ean.  I am going to surprise her with this page as a gift for Mother's Day...hope she likes it!!!


Recipe:
Stamps: Our Craft Lounge's Love in the Air
Papers: Prism Candle Glow Light, Prism Frosted Teal, Echo Park Springtime
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, So Saffron, Melon Mambo, Pool Party
Accessories: Doilies, Copics, Flowers, Pearls, Die-namics Leaf Die, EK Success Scalloped Border Punch

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

Sisterhood Sundays #17

Good morning everyone!! It's the first Sunday of the month and that means it's time for another Rubbernecker's Sisterhood Sundays!! 

We have another great sketch for you to try!!

I took a few artistic liberties with my design....I kinda stretched the sketch a bit so don't tell anyone!!!
The presents and sentiment from Rubbernecker's Party Time set #439 were used along with Basic Grey's Sweet Threads dp. The presents were stamped twice, once on the background orange square and once on the dp. They were  then cutout and popped up with foam dots. The seam binding, button, twine, and sentiment finish it off.

Mr. Rubbernecker is giving away a prize so check out all the deets and challenge rules on the Rubbernecker Stamps Blog!

I so hope you will join us for the Sisterhood Sunday Challenge  and link it on the Rubbernecker blog....while you are there check out what the other Stampin Sisters have created...you will fine lots of fabulous inspiration, I tell ya!!!! Have a wonderful Sunday!!

Sweet Victorian Girl

Good morning everyone!!! First I want to thanks all of you for the kind words and prayers for my Dad....we brought him home from the hospital last Wednesday and he is doing ok. He is still very weak and needs a little assistance but he is in good spirits, eating well, and moving about...yeaaaaa!!!!

I am up way too late but it was nice to get back in the craft room again!! I though I would play along with Splitcoast's Inspiration Challenge...my sweet friend Anne Harada was the hostess and she picked the Victorian Trading Company as the store to find our inspiration. I fell in love with this sweet little girl picture called Meadow Harvest. My card features the Rubbernecker Victorian image called Edwina. She was stamped onto the Glitz dp with Crumb Cake and Rubbernecker's French Script background was stamped right over the image. The vanilla card stock was also stamped with the French Script background. Then the background paper was distressed, sewn, curled on one corner, and adhered to the card base. The rolled fabric rose, Spellbinder's diecut leaves, twine, lace, and mini bloomers finish it off.

Since it's after 1:00 AM, I think I'll go to bed....have a great weekend!!!

Color Throwdown Challenge #190

Good morning everyone!!! It's Wednesday and that means it's time for another Color Throwdown Challenge!! Lori is our hostess this week and she has picked some bright, happy colors for this weeks challenge!!!  

My card features the fern stamp from Rubbernecker's Fall Trilogy set #480. It was stamped with Kiwi Kiss and the rolled roses were added with glue dots. The butterflies were punched out of Basic Gray card stock with a Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch. The sentiment is from Rubbernecker's Wildflower set #465 and the My Favorite Things die cut border finishes it off.

Be sure to add CTD190 to the keywords when you upload your card to an online gallery so we can find your work!! 

Do you want to see some wonderful inspiration?? Here are the links to the Color Throwdown Designers..... check out what they created this week! 

Broni Holcombe - Splashes of Watercolor 

Barbara Anders - Paper Pursuits
Danielle Kennedy - Wild Dragonfly Designs 
Tammy Hershberger - Stamp Happy 
Lori Tecler - Inking a Loud
Lynn Put - The Queens Scene
Wanda Cullen - Cullen-ary Creations
Kerri Michaud - Cards by Kerri

Joan Ervin - Stamping With a Passion - that's me! 

Kittie Caracciolo - Kittie Kraft - The FABULOUS May Guest Designer!!!

Thanks for visiting....have a great week!!!  I can't wait to see what you create with these colors!!!

I Believe in Miracles

Good morning everyone!! This will be pretty short this morning....my Dad was admitted to the hospital early Monday morning after 6+ hours in the ER. I finally came home last night to get a little sleep while my hubby took the night shift. I made this card last week end and thought I would share this morning. I think this is called using the negative...the leaf was cut out of the designer paper to show the embossed Mellow Moss
( retired Stampin Up! color) cardstock underneath. The sentiment stamped on vanilla c/s is from Stamp Oasis called Petite Words set #2000.  The stitching, large sparkly Prima, twine, and seam binding finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by this morning....I will take my laptop with me to the hospital today so I can visit all my blogging friends in between doctors, nurses, respiratory, lab, dietary, telemetry, and housekeeping staff....I tell ya...there is no rest for the sick while in the hospital...LOL!!!!