Packing My Trunk and Riley Update

Hi everyone! Happy Friday! Surprise, surprise, Since the one a day starts this Saturday, Ashley decided to release this week's regular images early! They're upnow, so be sure to go take a look at what's new at Squigglefly!

I'm really glad to have this week over - it's been a rough one. But what a difference a few days and prayer makes! Look at this picture of Riley that I showed you earlier of the swelling under her chin



And that was after it had already gone down quite a bit! Now look at this that I took yesterday afternoon


Isn't that amazing? She's pretty back much to her old self! We just have to watch for signs of infection and tissue damage. I am so relieved and thankful that she is okay, and we all thank you for the prayers for her to be okay!
Here's one more picture of her sitting in her chair in our garage



Today is the day! What day am I talking about? It's the LAST day to get in on the One A Day in May! You don't want to miss your chance on this folks!

Today's card is a paper pieced one I did with an image recently added to Squigglefly called Trunk Picked. I love this image because it's so versatile! It could be used for a thank you, a baby card, or even a birthday (you know elephants never forget birthdays!) I really like the stitching around the image.


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There's not a lot of coloring on this one. I just paper pieced the elephant and colored in his cheek. The flower was colored and that's it! The background was embossed with the swiss dots embossing folder.

I haven't decided yet what kind of card I will make this one, but I'll put something on the inside when I do.

I wish all of you happiness in your day, and thanks for looking!

Row of Pears

Hi everyone! Wow, I can't believe it's already Thursday! This has been a stressful week with all that we've been through with Riley so I guess that is why it's sped by. Riley is MUCH better and so far there is no sign of tissue damage.



Just wanted to remind you again that tomorrow is your last chance to get in on the One A Day In May deal!

I have a simple card to share with you today.




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This image is drawn by Angie Davis and is called Pears. I colored with Copic markers and had a great time trying to improve my coloring on each pear. Can you tell which end I started at? It's a great image to practice shading and highlights on.

The Thinking of You is from clearly Stampendous. I stamped it once in a More Mustard ink, but it didn't show up well enough, so I re-stamped with black. You can still see a little of the mustard ink, but I think it's a cool shadow effect. A raindot is on either side of the sentiment. Simple, but very pretty I think!

I have a question for you. I've recently begun clearing out some of my stamps that I haven't used in a while. I was thinking I could offer some of them up as prizes or blog candy from time to time. Do you think it would be tacky to give something used?
I don't think I would mind winning a set of stamps if I liked them even if they were used, but I wanted to hear your opinion before I did it.

I hope you have a spectacular day today, and thanks for looking!

I'm Draggin' In To Say Thank You

Hi everyone. Riley is continuing to improve and we were able to bring her home last night! The swelling is still considerable, but so much better than it was this morning. I am hoping that there won't be a lot of tissue damage. The vet said that gravity pulls the poison down and where it settles is where it swells and causes damage. She said it was lucky to have her bit on the head because it doesn't have far to go. If she had been bit up on her torso, the poison would drain down and affect everything along the way and she could have a lot more damage. We have to watch for any draining and take her back if that happens. She's got three different medications to take twice a day. I am so thankful for all of your prayers. I know she wouldn't be as well as she is without them. And I am so very thankful for the people who are there to take care of our animals when they are hurt!
Here's a picture of her from the side and you can see the swelling uner her chin at her jaw area



and here is the snake bite itself on the top of her head



Today we take her back to the vet to get the catheter removed from her leg. They left it in last night in case she wasn't drinking or eating well at home and they needed to give her more fluids. It's so good to have her back home!

I have a couple of cards to share with you today. The first one is one I made after Stef Hughes sent me her adorable Draco Dragon image to play with!


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Isn't Mr. Draco just a charming fellow? I colored him with Copic markers and added some glitter to his wings. The sky and ground are chalked. This is being entered into the Tuesday Morning Sketch challenge.

The sentiment was printed out on my computer and here is the inside


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I'm always unsure if I should use the actual word "Dragon" in this case or "Draggin'". What's the rule for puns like this?

My next card is a thank you card I'm sending to my niece. She recently told me she had started crocheting. You know how it is when you first start a new hobby - you do a lot of it! so I mentioned if she felt like crocheting flowers for me I'd love to have some. So, she sent me an envelope full of different flowers and I made this card using one of her flowers.


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The Thank you is from one of Nina Brackett's Moments With Dad sentiments and punched a scalloped border on the bottom with a punch from EK Success. Then I sponged some Close to Cocoa ink on it.

The card base is embossed with a swiss dots embossing folder. The designer paper is from Stampin' Up! and is also lightly sponged with the brown ink. The lace is some more that my fabulous friend Freida gifted me with. I punched a large flower (Marvy punch) from brown card stock and then sponged it with the Close to Cocoa and popped the crocheted flower on top and tied on a square button. The leaves are another EK success punch.



Time is running out on the One a Day in May! Don't miss out!

I hope you have a wonderful day, and thanks for looking!

Color My World

Hi everyone! Thank you for the prayers for Riley. We picked her up from the emergency place this morning and took her to our regular vet. The emergency vet said he was glad we had opted for them to give her the anti venom because he would have hated to see how much swelling there would have been with out it. Her jaws are all swollen up like someone with a bad tooth infection or mumps, poor baby. She still had a catheter in her arm. Our regular vet said they wanted to keep her today and possibly tomorrow. The first 48 hours are the most critical and then after that they need to watch the tissue because the poison will kill cells and there will be tissue damage and then we have to watch for infection in the damaged area for about a week.

You know we had her on a leash, and we were in an area that we had just been fishing so there wasn't anything else we could have done to prevented this. She could have gotten bit by a snake in her own backyard. The only way to prevent anything is to keep her inside all of the time and what kind of life is that for a dog like her? Just please continue to pray for her.

I do have a card to show you today that I made a few days ago, and it was a fun one to make. I used an image drawn by Angie Davis called Whimsy Town available at Squigglefly.


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It's colored with Copic markers and the sky is chalked. See the ribbon at the bottom? A friend of mine sent me a really cute artist's trading card and she used a frayed piece of fabric at the bottom of it for grass. I thought it was a really cute idea so I tried it with some ribbon. My pleating leaves a little something to be desired, but the idea is cute don't you think?

I printed the sentiment out with my computer and then free hand cut the cloud shape. At least it's supposed to be a cloud, but when I asked my daughter if she could tell I was going for a cloud shape she said "no"! LOL!



Just wanted to remind you that there's only four more days to order the One a Day in May! It really is a super sweet deal, and so much fun! Don't miss out!

Also, there's still time to play in the challenge I've got going at the card universe! You can't win if you don't play!

Well, have a super fantastic day and thanks again for all of the prayers and support for our puppy dog!

Please Say Prayers For Riley

Hello everyone. I'm asking you all to please say prayers for Riley. We took her to the creek tonight to do a bit of fishing and on our way back she walked down to the bank for one last look and then came back up and just stood there. I could tell something was wrong with her. We didn't see anything wrong, but she wouldn't let us get near her face and one eye was squinty. We took her to the emergency vet and they had to sedate her to be able to get a look at what was going on.
In the end he determined that there was a puncture wound on her head and it was bleeding and had caused bruising to the back of her eye. He said he thinks it was a snake bite. She is now left there getting anti-venom, antibiotics, and pain meds. We will pick her up in the morning and take her to her regular vet.
I am only hoping that since that was only one puncture mark and not much swelling that there wasn't a lot of poison. Please pray for her! I will keep you posted.

Challenging Butterfly

Good morning everyone! Here we are back with another Monday. Ashley did great at the half marathon! She finished in just over 3 hours, which I find totally amazing.

Yesterday was the featured stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers and you know I love to play along in that when I can. If you want to see the card I CASED just click HERE. And here is my card



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I used another one of the acetate butterflies I showed you how to make a few days ago. The butterfly is from Nina Brackett's Fancy Flowers set available at Squigglefly. I printed it on to the acetate and then glued some hand dyed tissue paper to the back of it. The antenna was made with some wire and glued on to the back. I do think my sponging could use a little work!

I used the same tissue paper to cover the front of the card, and then I stamped the swirl on to the image panel and sponged some teal ink around the edges. The swirl is from a clear set of flourishes from Autumn Leaves and the sentiment is from Stampin' Up!'s Sincere Salutations set. It's a really quick card to make! I colored in a few of the scallops on the swirl with a BG34 Copic marker.

Today is a new challenge on the Squigglefly Blog, and this week Maria is asking everyone to use the colors blue and green so I think my card fits right in with that! I hope you'll play along too - you can win a prize!

Also, don't forget that you only have until the end of this week to order your One A Day in May! You do not want to miss this! Go check out the details here! I hope you have great start to your week, and thanks for stopping in!

Mother's Day Bear

(CLICK HERE to order the One A Day in May)


Hi everyone! It's Saturday and a busy day for me! I have to get to the grocery store and get our groceries bought for the week so that I can start cooking some of the things ahead of time. I hate to not have a plan for the week and it's always so helpful to have some stuff done ahead of time.

It's supposed to be a stormy day today, and that will make me happy because it's a good excuse to stay inside and get my stuff done. Ashley is running a half marathon in Nashville today though, and I hate for it to rain on her. She said people don't come out and cheer them on if it's raining and she likes that motivation.

I've got a card today that uses another one of the images just released at Squigglefly. This one is from Robin Willis and is called Mother's Day Bear.


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I think the expression on the bear's face is just so sweet. It was a cinch to color and with the sentiment already on there it made for a quick card! I used the sketch in the CCEE Stampers Challenge Blog, and I mixed up some different patterned paper for the Splitcoast Stampers Ways To Use It challenge. The flowers on the patterned paper and the two little flowers I added to the top of the circle also qualify this for the Dare You To Digi Stamp challenge!

I colored with Copic marker colors Bow - RV13 and YR09, Bear - E11, E15, E53, and E55, Flowers - Y13 and Y15, Flower stems - YG25

I cut the image out with a nestabilities circle die and left in in the die so I could rub some chalk around the edge. The little scalloped edge is a piece of ribbon that I got from my dear friend Freida. I love the look of it!

As most of you know Rich Davis is one of the artists at Squigglefly. I just recently learned that he has a blog, and it's such a fun place to visit! He gives drawing lessons that are fun to try and he's even got a little give away for one of his drawings going on right now. It's a fun place to visit and I wanted to share it with ya'll - so if you have a little spare time go say hi to Rich!

I hope you have time to do a little playing in your craft room today. Remember I've got a challenge going on at Squigglefly's group on card universe and if you join in you could win a prize!

Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

Butterfly Birthday

Hooray for Friday! If you've been to Squigglefly you might have noticed that this week's images were released a bit early. Ashley is on her way to Nashville today to run a half marathon tomorrow, and she wanted to get the release out while she was here instead of making us all wait! And the One A Day in May deal is up and ready! Believe me when I tell you that getting the One A Day is such a fun thing to do! You not only get a great deal on your images, but every single day in May you wake up to a new image waiting for you to download! It's such fun because it's like a little surprise present every day! You will definitely want to go see the new images because this week they are introducing a brand new artist! Jackie Mathews is making her debut on Squigglefly this week. Jackie's drawings are so cute and sure to satisfy that sweet tooth! Here's a peek at one of her images called Butterfly Bouquet.


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Isn't this little fellow just darling? I colored with Copic colors flowers -RV21, RV23, bug cheeks - R20, bug face - YR000, flower stems - YG23, bow around flowers - Y06, circles in wings and edges of wings - BG32, BG34, BG45, and the wings -Booo, Boo, Bo2. Then I used the Quickie glue pen to color in the circles on the wings and sprinkled some glitter on. I used a white gel pen to dot the centers of the flowers in his hand.

The sketch is from a fun challenge blog I found at I Love Digi. The words are from a clear stamp set I got at Michael's dollar spot and I stamped them with teal Vivid ink. The background paper is from Stampin' Up!

Today I have started my first challenge on the card universe group. I hope you will come play along. You have two whole weeks to get an entry in, and this week is easy - just use some glitter on your card!

Have a great Friday, and thanks for looking!

Dragonflies, Butterflies, and Bees Oh My!

Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the older images at Squigglefly yesterday. I think the design team did a wonderful job showing off the images! I have a fun post for you today with lots of pictures and a tutorial!

I like using acetate when making cards because it's something a little different and can take a simple image to whole new level. Using acetate with digital images is so much easier than rubber stamping on acetate! The printer will print your image on the acetate perfectly every time. I can't tell you how many times I've stamped on acetate and had to do it over two or more times because the stamp slips on the surface! If you've never tried using your digital images on acetate, I really encourage you to give it a try! Every one of my projects today uses acetate.

The acetate I used is a brand called Apollo. You can use any brand that is made to go through a printer. Most acetates made for printers have a smooth side and a side with a little bit of "tooth" to it. The ink is printed on to the "toothy" side, and this is also the side I colored on.

My first project goes back to an image I've loved since it was first released at Squigglefly. It's called Zen Dragonfly and is drawn by Angie Davis. I've used it several times before, but I've always had in mind to use it in this way


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I printed the image and then colored with Copic markers. I then applied some white glue all over the back of the acetate and pressed it to a piece of hand made paper. The paper I used is very light and full of holes so it's got a lot of texture to it that shows through the acetate. I then cut a piece of white card stock to fit my image panel and applied some chalk - a little yellow, pink, and blue. The color shows through the white to give a hint of color to the finished project.

The sentiment I used is from Stampin' Up! Sincere Salutations set. The designer paper is from DCWV Far East pack, and I applied a little bit of brown puffy paint to the cattail. I did this on the front of the card so it could puff up.

Now, how about some butterflies?



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Aren't they pretty? You should see them in real life! The light shines through them and they look like stained glass! These are super easy to make! I printed out a sheet of Nina Brackett's butterfly from the Fancy Flowers set and then just applied white glue to the back and stuck on some pretty dyed tissue paper. The tissue paper I used is hand dyed with different inks and bits of metallic copper, gold, and silver. I bought them a long time ago from a company called Enchanted Ink. Unfortunately Enchanted Ink is no longer in business and I really miss getting these papers from them. You could always make your own though with the spray mists and re-inkers. Messy fun!

Once the glue is dry, just cut out the butterflies and make some antennas out of wire. I glued the wire to the back of the butterfly's body and stuck magnets on mine. You can put them on pins or on cards too.

My last project is one that I used to do a long time ago only back then it was a lot more time consuming! Back then we didn't have digital images or Quickie Glue pens, so these kinds of cards weren't made often. They pack a big punch though, and when you see how easy it is now I'm sure you'll be making a ton!



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This is another wonderful image drawn by Angie Davis called Stained Glass Bee. There is no coloring on this image - all the coloring is done with glitter! Beautiful - no? Well, I made a video to show you how I did it! If you can't see the video from my blog, you can view it at Youtube by clicking HERE.

Before you go, I wanted to let you all know that Stef is going to take a break from doing the color challenge on the card universe group, and I'll be taking over for a while! I plan on doing different challenges every two weeks - not just color challenges. I will be posting my first challenge tomorrow, so I hope you will come and join in!

Enjoy the video, and thanks for coming to visit me today!

Squigglefly Rewinds!

Hi everyone and happy hump day! Today some of the Squigglefly design team members are showcasing some of the older images available at Squigglefly. You can see a list of the design team members on the left side of my blog. Just click on the name to be taken to their blog.

We just thought that some really great images may have been missed or overlooked - so we all picked out some of our favorites to bring them to your attention. My first card is a birthday one that uses a sweet little image called Bearing Gifts. It's drawn by Diane Carubia and I think would be a great image for a child's birthday!


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I love the little bird helping tie the bow on the package! I colored with Copic markers and added some stickles to the center of the flowers. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up!



My next card is a great birthday image because it can be used for male, female, young, or old! It's one that Angie Davis drew and it's called Owl Birthday.



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Take a look at this adorable image - each owl has a different expression on his face! I love the look on the one owl who has dropped his letter. He's got his wings pulled up to his mouth like "oh no!" LOL! I gave him some googly eyes! And you can see some of the other owls are looking at him and the one holding the R has his eyes rolled up like he's whistling and pretending not to notice. LOL! Here's a close up



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It was colored with Copic markers and each letter was traced with a Quickie glue pen and then glittered. I sponged the edges of my designer paper with some More Mustard ink from Stampin' Up! and wrapped the corners of the image panel with some twine.

Now, the inside of the card has a special surprise! I used my computer to print the sentiment "from owl of us" and cropped one of the owls from the image to use on the inside. What makes it special is that this is a musical card - when the card is opened it plays "happy Birthday"! Many years ago I ordered a bunch of musical modules that go inside greeting cards and I used one of them in this.

A company called National Artcraft makes these little musical inserts you can put inside your card. They used to have all kinds of songs to choose from, but when I checked them out for this post, they didn't have very many. If you're interested you can see them HERE. Anyway, I filmed the card being opened so you can see AND hear the inside of the card below. If you can't view the video from my blog, you can view it on you tube by clicking HERE




I hope you have a great day, and thanks for looking!

Way To Go Grad!

Hi everyone! Thanks for the prayers for my friend's daughter's surgery yesterday. She came through it fine and amazing as it sounds, she went home about four hours after the surgery! She has about a month of recovery time.

As you know school is almost out and there will be lots of kids having their graduation - be it from pre-school, high school, or college. I do not personally know anyone graduating from school this year - so if anyone reading this blog likes this card and could use it - just send me an e mail at usyungs@gmail.com and let me know. First person who asks will get it! edited to add - the card is spoken for! Thanks!



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The image I used is of course from Squigglefly and is the darling little Grad Shy Bear drawn by Lynne Stansbery. I colored it in my high school's colors - blue and gold. The Copic colors used are b-24, b-29, r-11, E-31, E-33, Y-35, Y-38, Y-13, Y-17, Y-19, N-0 and N-1.

I made a little tassel out of embroidery floss and threaded it though the card stock and then stuck the tassel part over the tassel in the image. The black card stock is embossed with the Textile embossing folder from Provo Craft. The sentiment was printed out on my computer.

I really hope someone out there can use this, because it's too cute to just sit here being unused!

Tomorrow the Squigglefly design team and I have something fun planned. We've all picked out a favorite older image from Squigglefly to showcase. We're calling it Squigglefly Rewinds so be sure to come by tomorrow and take fresh look at some of the older images!

Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

Hoppy Get Well Card

Well, here it is Monday again. Weekends just fly by don't they? I hate to wish my life away, but I hope the work week goes by as fast as the weekend seemed to!

Yesterday Pam teased me about digging up weeds and planting them in my yard. I told her that weeds are just un-loved flowers! If someone had planted some bright yellow dandelions in a pretty pot and wrapped a bow on it, we'd probably all be buying dandelions in florist shops! Anyway, I took a picture of the purple flowers (that I think are really weeds) so you can see how pretty they really are. They have runners that spread out so it will make a good ground cover, and I think the flowers look like delphiniums - only they aren't as tall as delphiniums. Anyone know what they are?



Today my best friend's daughter is going to the hospital to have back surgery. She's suffered with back pain since she was in junior high school, so I'm glad that she will get some relief. If you have time to say a little prayer for her and the surgeons who will be operating on her, please do so!

I have made a little get well card to send her, and I hope she likes it


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I used the cute little Squigglefly image called Get Your Bounce Back that Rich Davis drew. I think this bunny is so cute and I hope my friend's daughter feels as good as he seems to when she's recovered!

My image panel was a little larger than I wanted for my card layout, so I trimmed the edges a bit, and the bottom of the panel cut really ragged because I was trimming off such a small sliver. So, I trimmed again and my blade grabbed a piece of the ragged edge and tore it! So I had to trim yet again. It reminded me of when I was a kid and my mom would cut my hair. She'd keep getting it shorter and shorter to "even it up"!

Anyway, there was still a little bit of a tear on the bottom edge, so I cut a flower from the designer paper I used on the card (which is from Pink Armadillo by the way) and stuck it over the small tear.

The image is colored with Copic markers and the purple card stock piece was embossed with the swirl embossing folder and then sponged with lovely lilac ink from Stampin' Up!

Here's a picture of the inside



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I printed the words with my computer and then stuck another flower that was cut from the paper.

Remember that today is a new challenge on the Squigglefly blog! I never did get a card made for the last one - shame on me! I wish you all a wonderful day and thanks for looking!

Spring Has Come 'Round With Tulips

Happy Sunday! Well, yesterday I spoke too soon about the weather being too warm; it had been too warm all week long but a wonderful cool front moved in yesterday and there was a breeze and some cloud coverage - so it was pretty fantastic yesterday!

I got outside a little and enjoyed the day. There is a field next to our house that belongs to a church. My husband noticed some pretty purple flowers in the field and mentioned them to me. I went and investigated and I am pretty sure they are weeds, but they have a really pretty purple flower on them - so I dug a few up and transplanted them to my yard! The church maintenance guy is just gonna mow over 'em, and this way we can enjoy them a bit more! I figure if something can grow without someone watering it and fertilizing it, then it will do fine in my yard!

I have a card and a video to share with you today! First the card


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I used an image from Squigglefly called Pretty Tulips drawn by Robin Willis and colored with Copic markers. I love the little ladybugs! I tried to made the tips of the tulips a different color like some tulips I've seen in yards around here. I sponged the edge of the circle and that's pretty much it! The card is embossed with swiss dots embossing folder.

Okay, now the video. It's one you've all been waiting for - the Riley Goes fishing video! I have to tell you that after watching it, and hearing myself on the tape I almost didn't share it. I'm so annoying in it talking in a high pitched voice - but here it is anyway. If you have trouble viewing the video from my blog, you can go see it directly on you tube HERE




Enjoy your day, and I'll see you tomorrow!

It's A Fiesta!

Hi all! I know I said I was going to post every other day instead of every day, but I just can't stay away! Actually, I made this card for the sketch challenge on Splitcoast stampers and I thought it turned out so cute that I couldn't wait to share it with you!



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It uses the new Shy Bear Lynne Stansbery drew called Fiesta Bear which I think is just about the cutest thing! I colored it with Copic markers and chalked a little bit of blue in the background. The word "Ole" was printed out with my computer. I used an outline font and then colored the letters in.

Copic colors used are R20 R24, B24, YR17,YR18,YR25, Y19, E31, E33, W00, W1

I don't have any plans for the weekend other than the usual grocery shopping, and I actually like having my weekend wide open! It's too warm for me to enjoy being outdoors except for early in the morning and at dusk, so I'll probably be inside making cards most of the day. I hope you have a wonderful day whatever your plans may be! Thanks for looking!

Flower Maiden

Hi everyone! I'm so glad that today is Friday. This has been a long week for me! I wanted to tell you all about something that happened the other day that totally made my day and well, actually made my whole week! I woke up and checked my e mail just like I do every morning, and I had a comment left on my blog from someone named Deena who told me that she had something on her blog for me. I went to her blog and checked it out and saw the sweetest thing ever! Deena had asked her blog readers to share with her blogs that inspired them, and Freida had left a comment telling her my blog was her inspiration! Really Freida said the sweetest things about me and it just lifted my spirits tremendously! You can see what Freida said here, and while you're there take a gander at Deena's blog because it totally rocks! Thanks so much Freida for your support and friendship!

Okay, now to today's card. I used the new squigglefly image that Rich Davis drew called Vintage Flower Maiden. She's colored with Copic markers. I printed one image on card stock and one on vellum and cut her dress out of the vellum to piece over the colored piece. I thought the vellum softened it a bit. I was going for the look of a nightgown that has a filmy piece of fabric over the under layer. Not sure I achieved that exactly, but it is softer than the original.

After I colored her I clipped the corners and mounted it on some light blue card stock, and then I found an old necklace in a can of junk jewelery I have and I cut it apart and stuck two of the heart shaped pearls in the top corners. The designer paper is from K and Company and I used a notch corner punch on all the corners so I could string some iridescent thread around the edges. All of this is mounted on some ivory card stock.

I don't do vintage or retro type cards very well, so I don't do them often - but this image just charmed me. I had fun working with it!

Wishing you all a wonderful day and I'll be back tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by!

Cat Whisperer Winner

Hi everyone! I'm here to announce the winner of yesterday's card. Random.org picked #2 which makes Elaine Allen the winner of the card!

Elaine, please e mail me at usyungs@gmail.com with your address and be sure to let me know if you want "I'm not one of them" or "you're not one of them" or anything else you might want on the inside.

Thanks for the comments! See you all tomorrow!

It's Give Away Day With The Cat Whisperer

Hi everyone! Today is card give away day. If you'd like a chance to win this card along with an envelope so you can send it to someone, just leave a comment on this post and tomorrow around noon I'll have random.org pick a winner!

The card is for Mothermark's teaparty. You can read the story HERE, but the gist of it is that all of the tea partiers are going to Faith's house to celebrate all the comments she's made in everyone's gallery on Splitcoast Stampers. She's left almost 100,000! Can you believe that!?

Anyway, Faith wanted to send her cat Speedy to Orlando to take a class from Kittie, but she was having trouble getting Speedy to go! So, I called on a very special lady known only to a few - Clois Millan. Clois is a distant cousin to the famous dog whisperer Cesar Millan. Clois has the same amazing ability to communicate with animals as Cesar, only her specialty is cats! She has come with me to the party to get Speedy to straighten up and fly right!



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I used the Squigglefly image That Crazy Old Cat Lady and colored her with Copic markers. The paper is from Pink Armadillo and the swirls are embossed - very cool paper!

I printed the sentiment out with my computer. I was thinking of making the inside say "I'm not one of them", but decided to leave that up to the person who wins the card. So, if you'd like the card - go comment!

Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

Dogwoods in Teal, Coral, Pink, and Lavender

Good morning all! I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Betty from Scrapped Into A Friendzy and Becky from A Diamond In the Rough for giving me the following award.




Now there are the usual rules in accepting this award, but I've done it several times already and don't have anything new to tell you! But I do thank you ladies for honoring me with it!


I hope that you like dogwood blooms because I've got three cards to share with you today and they all feature dogwood blooms! I used the new image that Lynne Stansbery drew called Dogwood Delight, and I think it was aptly named because it was a delight playing with this image!

My first two cards are exactly the same except for the color combination. On all of them I colored the dogwood blossoms with Copic colors E41, R81, YG41, Y000, and G40. The branch was colored with E43, and the leaves are YG25.

Here's the first card done in teal


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The colors used on the vase are BG000 - 32 - 34

Here is one done in coral


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The colors used on the coral vase are R20 - 22 - 24. On both of these cards the greeting is from a Stampin' Up! set called Sincere Salutations. I freehand cut the curve on top and on the first card I used a border punch from Martha Stewart that extends beyond the front.


This next one is a little different design and is done in lavender. The colors used on the vase are BV00-02-04


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The greeting on the last card is from Kolette Hall, and the background stamp is one I've had for a long time and it's unmounted so I have no idea what company it's from. It kind of looks like a waxed paper resist though, don't you think?

Okay, can you stand one more? Yesterday was the featured stamper challenge on Splitcoast stampers, and they featured one of my very favorite people - Pat Smethers. I couldn't let the day go by without taking part in that challenge! The card I chose from Pat's gallery can be seen HERE, and here is my card


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I used R81-83-85 to color the blossoms and dotted a bit of Y06 in the centers. As you can see, I didn't change her layout at all and I stuck with her color scheme. I used a Spellbinders Impressabilites for my embossed layer.

Today is Monday, so that means there's a new challenge on the Squigglefly blog! Go check it out and play along for a chance to win a prize! Even if you don't want to play, it's worth seeing what the design team has done!

I hope you have an absolutely wonderful Monday, and thanks for looking!

A Friend Like You

Hi everyone and happy Sunday to you! I got so much stuff done yesterday! I cleaned the house, planned my menu for the week, bought the groceries for the meals, walked and played with Riley, did laundry, ironed my clothes for the week ahead, and made a couple of cards! Since I got so much done, today is mostly all play!

Here's a card I made that uses the Squigglefly image called Digging Dog.


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and here's the inside





I colored it with Copic markers and chalked the sky background. The words were printed with my computer in a Comic Sans font. I colored the ribbon with a Copic marker to match the pink in the designer paper, which is from Pink Armadillo.

After I had my image all colored the sentiment came to mind, and I wished I had thought of the sentiment first because I think it would have been cute to have the dog a little lower each time it said "and dig" until only his tail was showing. Don't you think that would be cute?

Well, I hope you are liking the new images at Squigglefly this week! I know I had a lot of fun yesterday making up some cards with the Dogwood Delight that was released yesterday. I'll show them to you tomorrow! Have a wonderful Sunday, and thanks for looking!

Celebrate Your Age

Hi everyone! I know I'm probably confusing you by posting two days in a row but hey, I had a card and wanted to share it!

I used the Inside Out Celebrate image from Squigglefly. What a fun card this set makes!



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I used Copic markers to color it and added a bit of real cotton for the cotton ball on her vanity. The designer paper is from Stampin' Up! Here's the inside



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Again, it's colored with Copic markers and I added some stickles to the confetti around her.

I have some wonderful news to share. Squigglefly has said they are going to have their One A Day In May again this year! One A Day In May is where they release a new image every single day in the month of May. If you don't know what that is - it's where they release a new image every single day, but you can pre-pay for every single one and get them for less than a dollar each! It's such fun too because you get a brand new image every day so it's like a little present for yourself each day. Fun stuff!

Speaking of new releases, there's good news and bad news about the one at Squigglefly. Ashley did get her computer, but she hasn't been able to get to some of the files that she had planned to release, so while there are some there are more to come. The ones that are there though are great! There's a new darling Fiesta Shy Bear from Lynne Stansbery as well as a delightful set of shops you're sure to love. And Rich Davis has drawn a beautiful vintage Flower Maiden! Be sure to head over to the store and see what they've got! Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

Sunflower Easel

Good morning and happy Friday to you all! I just love how today's card has turned out, and can't wait to show it to you.




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I used the big sunflower from the Shy Bear Butterfly Catchers drawn by Lynne Stansbery and paired it up with the beautiful calligraphy Friends Are Flowers that Roann Mathias did. I love this saying, and Roann's calligraphy is so pretty! It lends an elegance to it don't you think? Both are available now at Squigglefly.

I printed the sunflower image twice and cut out one leaf and several of the petals to pop up for dimension. The sky is chalked, and the flower was colored with the following Copic colors


YG21,23,25,17 - for the grass and leaves
Y13, 17, 19 - for the flower petals
E15, 19 - for the flower center

I matted it in black and then created an easel card to display it. This qualifies it for the Totally Stampalicious challenge too! The inside sentiment is a clear Wordsworth stamp, and I punched some little flowers and colored their centers with a brown marker. The border punch is from Martha Stewart and is mainly there to hold the card open.

Tomorrow is supposed to be another Squigglefly image release, and it should be awesome since the mini release didn't happen last week due to technical difficulties. I have my fingers crossed that Ashley will be able to get this week's release out without any problems - so cross yours too! In the meantime, enjoy the sneak peeks from the design team!


I hope you have a fabulous day, and thanks for looking!

Mother's Tulips

Good morning everyone! Even though Mother's Day is a month away I have a Mother's Day card to show you today.


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The image is one of Jane's doodles called Tulips available at Squigglefly. The sentiment is another included in the set of Fancy Sentiments by Nina Brackett that will be included in this Saturday's release.

I printed the image out twice and colored it with Copic markers then popped up the petals for dimension. I scored along the line that divides the petals so I could sort of mold it over the pop dot. One little tip if you do this - print the one you are going to layer on top a little larger than the original. That way when you shape it it will still fit correctly on the main image. Here's a close up of the dimension



I'm not that fond of my layout on this card. I had cut and embossed the circles and was just playing around with them trying to figure out what I wanted to do with them. I ended up cutting them in half still not sure if I even wanted to use them on the card, but in the end this is what I came up with. Not one of my best, but I do think the lady I'm giving this to will like it.

Did you know that Squigglefly is the sponsor of this week's sketch at Two Sketches For You? There's an awesome prize too! The winner will get their choice of one of Jane's Doodles from Squigglefly, plus some of Jane's fabulous home made fimo buttons and 5 Uni-ball Signo Broad White Gel Pens!

There's also a fun challenge going on at the Squigglefly blog this week. Kim has challenged the design team to make a flap card and the design team has come up with some wonderful examples! There's a prize there for you too - so head on over there and give it a try!

And if you still would like something to win, how about stopping by Linda's blog where she is celebrating one year of blogging and her upcoming retirement!

Yesterday we took Riley to a favorite walking trail of mine (because it's shady) and Brock fished for some perch in the little creek that runs by it. Boy, were they biting! I think he caught one every time he threw in and Riley had a blast! I filmed some of it, and as soon as I can I will share that video with you. It was a lot of fun watching her.

I'd like to remind everyone that now is the perfect time to do some flower pressing! With all of the pretty little spring violets popping up everywhere, they really make great spring cards! If you need a reminder on how to do it, you can take a look at this older post of mine HERE.

Well, I hope you have a wonderful day, and as always thanks for looking!

Spring Daffodils

Good morning and happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had an enjoyable Easter yesterday. We had a beautiful day here - perfect weather for the Easter sunrise service and Easter egg hunts!

Yesterday was the Featured Stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. You know I love to participate in that challenge whenever I can! There was a great gallery picked yesterday, and I will probably be getting a lot of inspiration from it for a while! You can see the card I chose to CASE here


And here is my card



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I used the Spring Daffodils image that Lynne Stansbery drew for Squigglefly, and the sentiment is from a set of sentiments called Fancy Sentiments by Nina Brackett. They will be available on Saturday the 10th of April.

I colored the flowers with Copic markers and added a bit of stickles the center of the one flower. The background is chalked as are the swiss dots embossed panel and the sentiment.

Well I hope your day is one of the best Monday's on record! Go out and try to make someone smile today! See you on Wednesday!

Mobile Copic Storage and more

Hi everyone! Sorry for the late post. So many things have prevented me from getting this posted earlier. I had some computer problems earlier in the week which resulted in my having to do a complete recovery. Then we had to go buy a new external CD drive and start the process of slowly loading everything back on to my computer. Needless to say, by the time I had time to create a card I just didn't have it in me. I have lots of images colored and ready to go, but the gumption to put them together into a card wasn't there.

Then the Squigglefly release that was supposed to take place today didn't happen, and it's because Ashley has also had computer problems of her own. Hopefully she will have that worked out soon and you will get to go shopping!

Anyway, I did make a card for you today and this uses one of the new releases called Wishing Birds from artist Angie Davis.



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I colored it with Copic markers and then chalked a little yellow around the birds. First I added stickles to the flower, but then I decided to flock it. I didn't have any blue flock in the color I wanted, but when I was at the dollar store I picked up a bag of these little different colored pom poms.



With these I can have all these colors of flocking for a dollar! I just applied some glue to the flower and then used scissors to snip fluff from the pom pom. Easy and quick! Here's a close up of the flocked flower



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Take a look at the bird's eyes in that picture too. I wanted little black pearls to make their eyes stand out more, but I didn't have any small enough. I found a tube of some large square cut black glitter I've had in my stash forever and I applied a dot of glue to the eye and then placed one square of the glitter on there for the eyes. It added the right amount of "gleam" I wanted.

Alright, the rest of my post gets long and there are a lot of pictures of Riley, so if you are bored with my doggie tales just scroll past that for the mobile Copic storage idea.


This morning I took Riley Easter egg hunting! LOL! Not really, but we went on a walk and she found a turtle




She has the best time with turtles. She carries them around with her. See her laying outside with her "pet"?



and then she hides them only to go check back later to see if they're still there. If they've moved, she hunts for them again! Here she has hidden her turtle in this pile of sticks




and this is her looking at me as if she's asking me if I know where her turtle is. Look at that dirty face!




Okay, I know I can't be the only person out there who likes to take their Copics with them. I am lucky enough to be able to color at work if it's a slow day, so having some mobile Copic storage is what I'm after. Plus, it's nice if you can carry your Copics with you if you're going to a stamp club or a friend's house to stamp some cards. Well, I finally found something that I think will work well and it's cheap!

I went to the dollar store and bought a couple of these baskets that have handles on them.



Then I got some elastic and threaded it through the holes on the side and stapled them on the ends to hold them together. This created little dividers for my colors. Every one of my Copics (so far) fit in one basket



Right now I have my blues and blue greens together, my violets, blue violets, and cool greys together, my greens and yellow greens together, my reds and red violets together, my E's are with my warm greys, and my yellows and yellow reds together. I am thinking I might punch holes in the ends and run a divider down the middle so I could actually split them up a little more and have my blues next to my blue greens and so on.

Now, I just pick up the basket of markers and go!




I've still got room for more in this basket and didn't even need my second basket! This cost me $2.05 to make!

Now, I'm going to tell you all a funny little story about one Easter when Ashley was about 3 or 4 years old. We had dyed Easter eggs and we were putting them in her Easter basket and I was telling her "now tonight the Easter bunny is going to come and he will take your Easter eggs out of your basket and hide them, and then tomorrow we will get up and go hunt 'em!" She looked at me with the biggest eyes and gasped and said "Will we use a gun?!" I still laugh about that all these years later. She thought we were going to hunt the Easter bunny down for taking her eggs! LOL!
And with that my friends I wish you all a wonderfully blessed Easter! Thanks for looking, and I'll see you on Monday!