A Wonderful Honor!!!!!!!

This is my second blog post today,,,,,,,please scroll down for my PTT blog post.

Yesterday, I was honored to receive a blog award from one of my co-party planners at Party Time Tuesdays,,,,,Danie is such a sweetie, and I've so enjoyed working with her and seeing her amazing blog,,,,,,

you can find her amazing work here!

Thank you so much, Danie, for such a lovely honor!!!!!!

Liebster is German and means 'dearest' or 'beloved' but it can also mean 'favorite'. The idea of the Liebster award is to bring attention to blogs with less than 200 followers. So, in the spirit of good fun I am passing this award on to five other bloggers. Please stop by and visit them.

The Rules are:
1. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
2. Reveal your five picks for the award and let them know.
3. Post the award on your blog.
4. Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the blogshare-other bloggers.
5. Finally and the best rule of all..........have fun and spread the love! 





Let me tell you,,,,,,,choosing five blogs to give this honor to was difficult at best LOL.BUT, I think I've managed,,


and without further ado,,,,,,,,


my five picks are:


Melissa
Amarylis
Tiffany
Krafthead
and Jennifer

All of these ladies have amazing blogs with fewer than 200 followers! I hope they all enjoy their blog award!!!!!! Again, I'd like to thank Danie,,,,,,,it was such a pleasure!

Party Time Tuesdays challenge 53!

Oh my goodness, can you believe it's the end of the month ALREADY?? where does time go? I've been a party planner at PTT for a full month now, and I've been enjoying every single minute of it! I tell you what, these girls are just so AWESOME to work with!

The challenge this week is ANYTHING GOES!!!!!!!!! WOOT! Anything at all! the sky is the limit! So I've chosen to do a Valentines Day card because it's coming up fast, and I wanted really special cards for my loved ones this year.

We've been sponsored by the stupendous "There She Goes Stamps". And they were generous with each of us and gave us our choice of mini stamp set. I chose this darling set called "sending my love". And isn't it the cutest? I love these stamps! They ink evenly, the impression is wonderful, and they were TOTALLY fun to play with!



Here's a close up of the image:

I stamped my main image with black ink on white card stock and colored  it with copics. I added a few extra hearts that are included in the set, and the sentiment and cut it out with eyelet circles. My paper is MME and Recollections.  I've created three rolled roses. The larger two were cut free hand, but the smallest was cut with a MFT rolled rose die. I glittered them heavily and popped a pearl in the center of each..  I stamped the small XOXO (also included in the set) on a smaller eyelet circle and tucked it under the paper layers. Tons of bling and a pretty red and gold butterfly bow pretty much finished her up :)

I was so lucky to be asked to do a second card this week, and was able to use the adorable stamps of  Crafty Sentiments!!!! Since I really NEED valentines cards, I opted to make another,,,,,,,,

I colored this darling girl with copics, and then cut her out with Ovals large,,,,,,,layering on top of Lacey Ovals,,,,,,,,the flowers were both made by hand with my Rose Creations dies, inked and shaped using a stylus. The foliage is spellbinders foliage die. The paper I've used here is MORE of my favorite,,MME Lost and Found. And finally, I've created a bow on a peg bow maker out of tulle. A bit of ric rak, some blingy centers for the flowers,,,,,,,and she's all done!


I do hope you enjoyed,,,,,,,,,and I hope you stop by Party Time Tuesdays to see what the rest of the design team has for inspiration today! Thanks again for coming by, and I hope you enjoyed the card!

Good Morning!!!

Today,,,,,,,no card :) I spent the weekend with my grandchildren and children at Disney World. We all had a fabulous time and stayed at the Floridays Hotel,,,,,,,,GORGEOUS. We got a 3 bedroom suite with a balcony, and it was cheaper than cramming everyone into two hotel rooms. Awesome. We cooked breakfast each morning and had a full size kitchen and living room and  a small balcony. We took the grands to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. Too much fun!!!!!! I'll post a few pics of that tomorrow, but today I have another kind of project to show you.

You may have noticed, my blog posts have slowed down just a bit,,,,,,,and with good reason,,,,,,,,

THIS was my scraproom a couple weeks ago!

Yep,,,,,,,,total DISASTER!!!!!! I have such a hard time keeping my scraproom clean, that I joined a challenge on scrapbook.com to help me,,,,,,,,and BOY HAS IT!!!!!!!!

I've spent the last couple weeks doing THIS instead of making cards,,,,,,,,,,

Doesn't it look wonderful?????????

I'm scrapping in an old dining room that is really TOO SMALL to use as a dining room,,,,,,so I snagged it as mine for scrapping. I've cleaned everything (although it still needs organizing, at least it's READY to organize as the challenge goes on through the year),,,,,,,I've made some order of my nesties and dies, cleared the table of clutter, used some baskets to store smaller items that go together,,,,,,,,,


and most importantly,,,,,,,,I've gotten a trash basket in there,,,,,,it's AMAZING how much easier it is to clean when you have a TRASH BUCKET! LOL, you'd think that would be a no brainer, wouldn't you??????

I took two over flowing boxes of scraps and gave a ton to my grand children,,,,,,,,,,and organized the other ton by color. I hung them OVER the area where I cut the most so I can easily find and or put away scraps. Simple,,but it works! It's so easy to toss away the smallest and then organize by color in the bags,,,,,,,,

and when I want a piece of paper I know I have,,,,,,I simply go to the color of the paper (or the main color) and find what I want,,,,,,,,,

I've got a ton of space in the great big ugly dinosaur of a built in china hutch,,,,,,,it may be ugly, but it sure is BIG.

If you're interested in the challenge, stop over at scrapbook.com and drop in on the challenge,,,,,,,,the more the merrier!!!!!

And I certainly hope to be putting out more cards than ever now that I can find everything!!!!!!!

Thanks for looking, and have a wonderful week!!!!! My PTT post will be up tomorrow morning,,,,,,and I'll be posting a few pictures of my wonderful weekend with the grands!!!! Hope to see you then!

May Arts Ribbon Challenge

Recently, May Arts Ribbon chose 25 people to produce vintage valentines projects using their ribbon. I am proud to be one of them. This ribbon is so gorgeous, and drapes SO beautifully, it just floats. I can't describe it any differently,,,,,,it's just stunning.

So to show how beautifully it drapes, I just HAD TO make this double bow with quad bow attached and EIGHT tails. Yep,,,,,eight. They just FLOAT down the card.

Truly, this is luscious, beautiful, ROMANTIC ribbon,,,,,,,,so I chose a romantic theme for my card. The card itself is 6x6, gate fold and opens in the middle,,,,,,,I used MME Lost and Found paper (I know AGAIN!) and cut an oval window out of the card base, putting this beautiful vintage Valentines day image behind. All the flowers are hand made, inked, glittered, and dew drops applied with glossy accents. I've used the spellbinders foliage die and the MS winter branch punch for the foliage amongst the flowers that create this demi-wreath surrounding the vintage image.I used a hole punch and cupped them with a stylus, shaping them for the bits of tiny baby's breath amongst the foliage.

A Prima "say it in pearls and crystals" adds some shimmer,,,,,,,,and the gorgeous bow is the star of the show!

Here's some more pics and close ups,,,,,

The stunning ribbon that went to make this bow, the gorgeous vintage image and flowers,,,,,and finally the inside of the card.

I hope you enjoyed the card, and thanks for looking!!!!!!!

Party Time Tuesdays Challenge 52!

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday! It's time to party! Today over at PTT for challenge 52, they have a photo inspiration for us! Isn't this GORGEOUS? It almost makes me want to brave the snow!

I took my inspiration from the more subtle of the blues, the snow and the towering pines, and the touch of almost SILVERY white.

We're being sponsored this week by the amazing Paper Pretties and the equally fantastic Digital Delights. I've colored this adorable snowman Breezy by Paper Pretties with copics, and cut him out with Labels 3. I've matted labels 3 on top of Labels 18. My paper is MME "O' Christmas Tree". I've cut a snowflake with a sizzix die, heavily glittered the tips and added a small snowflake charm to the center. A double bow of white organdy and silver metallic, and one of my fav stamps from Justrite and she's DONE.

Here's a close up of this adorable stamp!

I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for stopping by. Now RUN, do not walk over to Party Time Tuesdays and join in the fun! You might win a prize!

Spread The Love

Good Morning!

I hope you noticed the button on my side bar. "Spread the Love" is a movement started by Mynette. Click the button and it will take you to her blog,,,,,,,The post is a sticky at the top, so just scroll a bit, and you'll find it.

It's basically a commitment for the rest of 2012, to make and blog about a card you're sending out to someone once per week in an effort to "spread the love".

So today I have my card. Someone over at Scrapbook.com posted that their father, David, was very ill. He enjoyed hand made cards, so would we make a card and send it?

Right up my alley!

Now guy cards are hard for me! I don't know why,,,,,,,,,but ask me to NOT use a bow or a flower and I freak out LOL. So when I finally got the design I wanted,,,,,,,,,,I made another! David's card is a "thinking of you" card,,,,and I made the same exact card a "Happy Birthday" card, because I can never have too many male birthday cards.

Here are the cards,,,,,,,

I used the NEGATIVES of spellbinders "foliage" (the fern) that was cut out of black card stock,,,,,,and layered it over gold mirror card. I embossed a sentiment with gold embossing powder and added a simple gold sparkle ribbon,,,,,no bow. And she's done. Really, it's too simple, but I thought it looked elegant as is.

I hope you enjoyed the card, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you'll choose to add your name to the "spread the love" movement!

Black and White and a splash of RED!

Good Morning! This is my SECOND post for the day, scroll down for my PTT DT card with Stampendous as our sponsor!

It's time for another Christmas card! 52 Christmas Card Throw down has a challenge this week. Black and White and a splash of red.

Well, I have to tell you,,,,,,,,those colors are NOT easy for me. It took me TWO HOURS to finally design SOMETHING I liked. And then it hit me,,,,,,,,I spent all that time designing ONE card,,,,,,why not make a quick second card and have TWICE the rewards to show for that time! Yeah, that's the ticket! So I have a new goal this year,,,,,,any time I have a card that takes more than an hour to whip up, or is a difficult card,,,,,or one that I need more of,,,,,I'll make a quick second. AFter all, all the paper and tools are out on the table anyway,,,,,,,,,it doesn't have to be EXACTLY the same,,,,,but I might as well use the design again NOW rather than try to reproduce it from memory six months from now.

So here is the one I designed for the challenge,,,,,,

 Now I've also got to tell you that HUMOROUS cards are NOT my thing generally,,,,,,but for some reason, this idea that I saw GOD only knows how long ago in Better Homes and Gardens stuck in my head. I don't know who to credit,,,,,but that magazine article had a very similar card.

I created the "eye chart" on my computer in word and added a free vintage/retro santa clause before printing.

so that you don't have to squint and figure it out,,,,,,it says "you have been a whole lot of naughty and a little bit of nice this year. Anyone can see that"

I made this card larger, so I could get everything I wanted on the card at a decent size. It's 5x7, and I covered the black card stock base with some Recollections "Naughty or Nice" paper (LOL!), matted in black and red and placed my eye chart on top of that. Some ric rak, a velvet quad butterfly bow, some bling and a tiny Christmas tree, and it's about as clean and simple as I ever get. Here's the inside!

I thought it was a cute touch!

And here's the two I made, together!

I hope you enjoyed this card, and thanks for stopping by. There's STILL time to run over and do a card for the 52 christmas card throw down (link above),,,,,,,,,and if you do TWO a week, you'll have OVER a hundred cards by December!

PTT 51! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Good morning!!!! So let's face it,,,,,,we all need birthday cards, right? I know we have a TON of birthdays in our family all coming up in MARCH. I like to get a bit ahead of myself and prepare a bunch,,,,,,that way if something happens, nobody goes without a hand made card,,,,,,,,,WHICH most of my friends and family have come to expect :)

Well, this is perfect for the Party Time Tuesday challenge of "make a birthday card" in honor of Ben Franklin's Birthday. Stampendous is our sponsor this week, and OH MY GOSH such beautiful stamps! They were so generous with our Design Team and sent us all a FULL set of clear stamps, which I was drooling over INSTANTLY,,,,,,and some Stampendous fragments which I have TOTALLY been wanting to try.

I stamped this gorgeous image from the Stampendous set "Amore Frame" which you can find HERE! 

Run, do not walk to buy these stamps!

I started by stamping this gorgeous frame with interchangeable sentiments on Neenah classic white paper (fabulous!) with Memento Rich Cocoa ink. I used copics to color the image, and then I used spellbinders nesties to create the focal point. From the bottom up, spellbinders postage stamps, big scalloped squares and Labels 18. I stamped the background paper with the gorgeous flourish  in the same stampendous set also using Memento Rich Cocoa, and then used Spellbinders Edgeabilities along the bottom of my card. I then mounted my focal point in the center.. I made a triple loop bow from this gorgeous light brown sheer ribbon and then layered another quad bow from this cream and gold ribbon. I created two roses with spellbinders Rose Creations, highlighting with a touch of gold embossing powder and Stampendous Fragments which you can get HERE! 

The paper is a  new one for me,,,,,,,Ella Blue from GSD. It's just gorgeous!

I added a few pearls, and I think it's stunning! 

Here's a close up of the stamp and the roses with the gorgeous fragments!

I hope you enjoyed the card,,,,,,,now run right over to PTT and show us your gorgeous birthday cards this week!

Sassy Cheryl's Challenge!

Good afternoon! I have a card today for the Sassy Cheryl's challenge blog!  The theme today is SNOW and they have a super sketch to start the inspiration!

I took inspiration from the layers on the sketch, and followed it a bit loosely :)  I used a Sassy Cheryl's Quilt digi that she was kind enough to send me and colored it with copics. I turned this into my focal point and created the layers from the bottom up: spellbinders lacy squares, two Holly Motifs set katty corner, standard squares large,,,,and I used a smaller standard squares large to cut the adorable quilt digi out with and finishing up with  the smallest snowflake in Spellbinder's 2010 snowflake pendant dies.

I then layered kraft cardstock with Recollections Oh Christmas Tree line, set the focal point in the lower right hand corner, saving the upper left hand for the largest die in Spellbinders 2010 Snow flake pendant. My sentiment is House Mouse and I hand cut the little flag. Some bling, a tiny snowflake charm a big double bow, and she's done.

Here's a close up of this gorgeous stamp!

I'd like to thank Cheryl for the gorgeous images,,,and I have a confession to make.

I have no idea why she sent them. I am wracking my brains to remember if she had a drawing or something, and she probably thinks I'm a nutcase, but for the life of me, I can't remember! . DH says I just have too many things, thoughts, plans and ideas cluttering up my head, and I think he's right! What's more, most of my reminders are saved in my computer,,,,,,,and it's being fixed by my DS right now LOL. So, I am at a loss!

Thank you, Cheryl!!!!! She's always super sweet, and you should run right over (link at the top) and join the fun. There's still five more days!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoyed!

52 Christmas Card Throwdown!

This is the SECOND post of the day. If you're looking for my DT post for Party Time Tuesdays, scroll down!

OK, I've had a short break, and I'm ready to start my Christmas cards for 2012! Yep, hard to believe, but I'd rather make them once a week than go nuts in November! Apparently, there are plenty more nutcases prepared people in the world, because there's a new challenge out there JUST with this idea in mind!

It's the 52 Christmas Card Throw down challenge! And I am so there!!!!!!

Today over at the challenge, they have a sketch for you! Isn't it awesome??

I played with it a bit, moving the sentiment to the center,,,,,,but I think it's pretty recognizable.

I started with a base of Kraft paper (Hum,,,,,I'm using that a lot)  and cut and embossed one of the inserts in Spellbinders Classic Ric Rak to the left of center. I backed it with a shiny gold ribbon, so that the gold was peeping through. I then layered on K and Company Christmas paper in this yummy sepia/goldy color and inked well all around the card. For my center focal point, from the bottom up, I cut and embossed Spellbinders Holly Motifs, 2010 snowflake Pendants, and circles large, stamping right in the center of the top layer with a Just Rite stamp "I believe". I love this set! I inked all the layers well and adhered them all with pop dots.

A bow, some gems and a little gold (fake) bell charm, and she's done!

Here's a close up of the layers!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoyed! And if you want to get your cards done and completed by November this year, come on over and play!

Party Time Tuesdays Challenge 50!

Good Morning and Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone is staying warm! It's been chillier than normal over night here in Florida, although not nearly cold enough to have snow!

Today I have a card for PTT challenge number 50! It's time to PAR-TAY! The challenge is to use a bird image in honor of Save the Eagles Day. That's IT! Easy peasy! It can be any kind of bird!

We're being sponsored by the wonderful and fabulous Digi Doodles Shop and the Paper Shelter! I've used this adorable image called Happy Penguins from The Paper Shelter! Aren't they adorable?

I took my sentiment from the name of the stamp! They just seem like they are doing the Happy Happy, Joy Joy dance to me :) See?

Paper is a mixture of DCWV paper and Hanukkah paper of all things LOL. I built the snowflakes out of glittery chipboard pieces and plastic embellishments I bought at Walmart and then added a gem for a bit more shine. I cut the adorable penguins with labels 4 nesties after some copic coloring and matted them with the largest labels 4. A nice bow with the snowflake on top, and she's finished!

So come on over to Party Time Tuesdays and join the party! You just might win a prize from our fab sponsors!

Thanks for looking, and have a great rest of the week!

Prize Pack!

Good afternoon! Saturday I got my prize pack from Stampin' D'Amour and I could NOT wait to use it!!!!

There were so many goodies, I couldn't decide which to use first! I wanted to use them ALL,,,,,,,but that simply wasn't possible there were so many lovely vintage goodies! So I settled on a collage type card, which would insure use of the MOST product I could possibly squeeze on the card LOL. I needed a birthday card for the 99 year old lady down the street, and these stamps and goodies were PERFECT for her!

So, without further ado, Here is my card!

I started with a kraft card base and cut and embossed the edge with spellbinders edgeabilities " Classic Ric Rak". All stamps are Stampin' D'Amour,,,,,,I used the birthday cake, the "Happy birthday to you", the "happy birthday" and the "Birthday Wishes" stamps on this, I stamped them directly on the vintage advertising sent to me (I copied it so I can use it over and over again) in Onyx black and Cocoa, put just the teensiest touch of peachy pink with my copics (R22) and inked everything with sepia ink. I also used the GORGEOUS tickets, inked them and also stamped Happy Birthday on them. the large red rose (I wanted a pop of color!) is spellbinders spiral blossoms 1.

A few pearls and gems, a messy bow, a heart charm, and I think it's gorgeous!

Here's the close up of the stamps and flower!

I hope you liked the card, and thanks for looking! Run over to Stampin' D'Amour for the most gorgeous vintage stamps! You won't be sorry!

I'd also like to thank Pamela, owner of Stampin' D'Amour and Free vintage Digi Stamps (button on my side bar) for the lovely prize pack! I'm having so much fun with it!

Happy Sunday!

So Valentines day is coming up QUICKLY! And I've been working on some Valentines Day cards in addition to my DT work. I've been meaning to blog since FRIDAY, but my computer is on the fritz, I've been using my husband's lappy, and I can't make his computer recognize my card reader. GAAH! (Not to mention, all my favorite challenges AND images are STORED in my computer!)

So, I finally figured this out on the FAMILY computer,,,,,my next goal is to find some of my fav challenges and work on those! LOL, I am so computer illiterate!

So today, I have a Valentines day card made with some old stand by paper,,,,,,yes, that would be MME Lost and Found! Love that stuff! The first thing I did was to punch the edge of my card with a MS punch (I wish she put the name of her punch ON the punch!)  No clue where this sentiment stamp came from, I think it was a dollar bin find at Joanns last year.  I've framed the sentiment with Nesties Postage stamps, Floral doily motifs, and standard squares large, the larger roses are spellbinders spiral blossoms 1. It's brand new, and I LOVE it. It took a bit of time and some staring at Amazing Paper Grace and Becca's roses before I figured out how to best roll them so that I could shape the outer edges, but I finally have roses that I love! Thanks, Becca!

The smaller roses are MFT mini rolled roses,,,,,they're so cute and great for tiny spots!  I tied a triple bow on my peg bow maker (Thanks again, Becca!), a few pearls, some lace and a heart charm, and she's done.

Here's a close up of the roses!

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoyed! And while I'm at it, I'm going to enter this into Sassy Cheryl's show me thursday challenge! I've missed her :(

A Card for a friend,,,,,,,,and a stash card

Good morning! this is my second post for the day,,,,,,scroll down for my Party Time Tuesdays DT cards :)

Recently, I had a friend mention that the young teacher of her twins was diagnosed with breast cancer. My heart goes out to her, and so I made a card my friend could give her.

I started with this gorgeous prima Madeline paper,,,,,,,it's just stunningly gorgeous. I created the focal point from labels 18 from which I made a frame,,and Holly motifs. I cut the holly off the die cuts so it wouldn't look christmassy. a bow, a stick pin, a pink breast cancer ribbon, butterfly with my MS butterfly punch and some bling and she's finished. I do hope the teacher likes it. 

Here are the layers:

Next, I need birthday cards for my stash,,,,it's nice to make them individually for people,,,,,,,,but it's also nice to have a stash in case one comes up quickly without much notice!

I used the prima madeline paper again (I love that stuff) with the gorgeous teal and brown color scheme.

I get sick of square cards LOL, so I made this one 4.5x7.5 and will fit in a standard business size envie. The focal point, from the bottom up is labels 18, nellie snellen die Lily  round (largest dies used) and then spellbinders floral doily motifs for the stamp. Stamp is fiskars.  A few gems, a ribbon bow, and some butterflies, again with the MS butterfly punch, and she's finished :)

Here are the details on this one:

I hope you enjoyed,,,,,,,your comments are appreciated! Have a lovely week, and thanks for stopping by!

Reveal Day! PTT 49

I can't even tell you how excited I am! I've kept this secret for weeks, and it's been KILLING me! But today is Reveal day, and I can finally tell you all! I have the incredible honor of being a new member of the fabulous design team at Party Time Tuesdays!!!! I couldn't be more happy or more thrilled! Every Tuesday, PTT hosts fabulous challenges with incredible prizes and fabulous sponsors and a ton of amazing DT creations for inspiration! This week is PTT challenge number 49 "Something new you got for the holidays".

We're being sponsored by the fabulous Crafts and Me for a prize and the uber gorgeous images of the Wax Fruit Company! Wax Fruit was SO generous with the DT and sent us each an image to play with! I chose the gorgeous Kindness Seed Packet for my card. I simply could not resist it!

I printed the image several times at various sizes on my printer, colored the beautiful pansies with copics on my main image and then cut that out with Spellbinders Lacy Squares (NEW for Christmas!). I then fussy cut several pansies from my extra print outs, coloring those with copics as well. I shaped the cut pansies with my bone folder slightly, and popped them up on pop dots next to the seed packet. for a bit of sparkle and dimension, I highlighted many of the pansies with Glossy Accents, finishing off with a simple yellow bow and a pinky purple stick pin to highlight those colors in the paper (K and co Watercolor Bouquet). I created a tiny tag out of a tiny paper bag containing a few pansy seeds, and adhered directions for planting on the front of the tag, slipping it behind the the lacy squares. Easy peasy and as simple as that!

And lucky me!  I had the opportunity to do a SECOND card with the BEAUTIFUL image from Crafts and Me.

Isn't this image GORGEOUS? I colored her in copics,,,,,

I created the focal point from nesties,,,,,,,,from the bottom up, lacey squares, fleur di lis, pendants, 2 layers of Holly motifs, angled slightly differently, and circles large was used to cut the image out.

Here's a close up of the layers and this stunning image!

The bow is a triple butterfly bow made with two different color ribbons. I left the tails of the gold ribbon long and allowed them  to peek out the bottom.

I hope you enjoyed, and I appreciate your stopping in! Run, do not walk, to PTT and enter this challenge for a chance at a fabulous prize! And while you're there, take a look at the new DT members work and revisit the talent of the Senior DT. I promise,,,,it's worth it!