Hog Wild About Stamping

Bunny Boo!

2012-01-29T07:05:00.001-06:00

I had several people ask me what font I used on my Queen Bee card yesterday, so I thought I'd just post here for all of you - it is called One Starry Night and can be found free at DaFont. Today I have a cut little cuddly kind of card to share

this adorable chubby bunny is from Fawn Palmer and is called Bunny Boo.
Fawn has some great knitting images that are new in the store this week that you should really check out!

My card was made for the sketch challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. I really like this sketch and will probably use it again with different layers for the areas behind the image. I used copic markers to color and chalked behind the image with pink chalk. The sentiment was computer generated. This card will be going to a friend of mine who is recuperating from some very painful back surgery. I hope it makes her smile!
And I hope I made you smile too! enjoy your Sunday!

Queen Bee

2012-01-28T06:26:00.003-06:00

Hi everyone! Happy Saturday and happy new release day! That's right, Squigglefly has a whole slew of new images just waiting for you to print and color! I've got a card here that uses one of them! This is Queen Bee by the ever so funny Suzanne Urban.

Don't you love her? I fell in love with this the minute I saw it; couldn't wait to color it up! I used Copic markers to do the coloring and added stickles to her wings and crystal lacquer to the honey. I printed the sentiment with my computer and added a little bee charm to it!

Be sure to go check out all of the new images. There is something to fit everyone's taste and style! I'll be back with more samples all week long!

Love Birds

2012-01-27T05:51:00.001-06:00

Happy Friday! Not only is it the last work day of the week, but it means that tomorrow is a whole new slew of artwork for us to get our hands on at Squigglefly! I can tell you that you are going to LOVE what's coming this weekend!

Okay, well they aren't love birds, they're blue birds, but they're IN love so it counts! These two little birds come from the talented pencil of Deena Perreault and she says they are Whimsy Love Birds!

I used copic markers to color and chalk for the sky. After the sky was chalked and I was erasing the chalk off of the birds I decided to make a little heart shaped cloud in the sky. If you look closely you might be able to see it. It's more noticeable in real life. For some reason when I chalk a sky it doesn't show up well in the photos. The sentiment is computer generated.

If you haven't checked out the entries in Squigglefly's blog challenge you should go take a look! So many wonderful cards have been entered!

Well it rained, but now it's stopped and the temperatures don't look like they're going to drop anywhere near snow weather so I think I can give up on that thought. We even have jonquils in bloom in our yard so I know that we are going to have an early spring. Winter is so fleeting in this part of the world!

I hope you have a fantastic end to your week, and thanks so much for looking!

Pure Fun

2012-01-26T05:51:00.002-06:00

Good morning all! It's still raining, and they are calling for the temperature to drop tomorrow night so we may end up with some snow! I do not want ice or icy roads, but some snow would be nice.

Before I get to today's card I wanted to tell you about a new tutorial that's been added to Squigglefly's tutorial section. What? You didn't know about the tutorials on Squigglefly? Well, HERE is where they are. They are a great resource for people who use digital images, and our very own Charlene has just finished a great one on using Serif Page Plus! It's wonderfully done and is downloadable in PDF format. You can see her tutorial HERE.

Now today's card wasn't done for any challenges or anything. It was just done for pure fun!

I love this image called A Bit Too Big by Monica Estill! I think Monica has a great imagination! I mean who thinks to draw an elephant bathing in a tea cup or ladybugs riding a bicycle built for two?

Anyway, I used Copic markers to color this and used stickles on the soap suds. The stitching on the left of the card is rub ons. He may be a bit too big for the teacup, but he's still managing to enjoy his bath! And the shower cap kills me - I mean what in the world is he protecting? LOL! It just tickles me and I hope it tickles the person I send this to!

There's still time to play in Squigglefly's challenge - go follow the recipe!
Enjoy your day, and thanks for looking!

I Followed A Recipe

2012-01-25T05:49:00.005-06:00

Happy hump day! I am sharing the card I made for the Squigglefly challenge which is a card recipe!
Rhonda stirred up this recipe which is to use a brad, a ribbon, and some glitter. I hope you will play along too!
I used the new Swirly Birthday Balloons by Betsy LePlatt and came up with this

My glitter is in the center of the flowers, and I sort of cheated on the brads and used rain dots instead. I think they are close enough to brads to pass don't you? The sentiment is from the Jane's Bakery set. I thought the font went well with this image.

It started raining last night and they are saying it will rain for the next couple of days. It would be great days to spend at my craft desk, but alas that is not to be! Riley will be going stir crazy with all of this rain keeping her indoors! Hope you have a great day!

Teaparty In A Bed Of Flowers

2012-01-24T06:01:00.003-06:00

Hi everyone! I hope your week is off to a great start! Did you get to see the Squigglefly blog challenge that started yesterday? I think the Rascals did a really good job with their cards for the recipe challenge. They've got me itching to make more cards!

Today is Tuesday and that means there is a Teaparty to go to! This week we are all asked to bring cards with lots of flowers and I thought the new Bed Of Flowers image by Fawn Palmer had enough flowers to please anyone!

This was a fun image to color. It comes with three different sentiments and I chose the one about friends because our cards are going to a terminally ill friend of a fellow teapartier, and I know that she will feel her friend's love when she receives all of our cards.

I used chalk on the sky and added some stickles to the butterflies. The yellow layer is embossed with a Spellbinders Impressabilites. Speaking of Spellbinders, I found out that I was one of the lucky winners in their recent blog frenzy! They had eight days of blog hops showing all the new things they are coming out with at the winter CHA show and you send in e mails to enter their give away. I was so excited when I found out that I won on the last day! I'm really excited about their new M-bossability embossing folders and I've won two of those! I have to wait until mid March to get the prize, but it's so worth the wait!

Wishing you a great day, and thanks for looking!

Featuring Orchids

2012-01-23T06:22:00.003-06:00

Hi everyone. Did you have a nice weekend? We had a great one! Lots of time in the woods letting Riley hunt for mice and squirrel. She did really well in the mouse department! It's so fun to watch her and she never tires of it.

I love the new images that were released at Squigglefly this weekend! So much wonderful new art to help us create our masterpieces! I had a lot of time to play in my craft room yesterday and have enough cards made to share with you throughout the week. Today's card is one I made for the Featured Stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. The card I CASED can be seen HERE.

I used the beautiful Orchids from Deena Perreault

I used Copic markers to color and went with sepia tones. The edges of the image panel were sponged with Creamy Caramel ink. It's a pretty simple card, but the image is so lovely it doesn't need much.

Speaking of challenges, today Rhonda's Rowdy Rascals are back at the Squigglefly blog with a recipe challenge! Go see the wonderful samples they've created with the new images - you're sure to be inspired to create something yourself!

What Gets You Quacking?

2012-01-20T05:52:00.026-06:00

Hi everyone! I just haven't had a lot of time to craft this week and it's driving me nuts because there are so many fun images at Squigglefly that I want to color! And to top that off there are even more images coming tomorrow! Aargh! What's a girl to do? Well, this girl is going to show you THREE CARDS today since they are still new in the store.

First up is this card I made a couple of days ago with the oh so cute Coffee Duck by Monica Estill.

I used Copic markers to color and then lightly flocked the duck. I thought the sparseness of the flocking made him look disheveled and sleepy which is what I was going for - I mean why else would the duck need coffee? The word "coffee" is part of the image, but I added the sentiment myself. Now that I have uploaded the photo I see that I neglected to draw in the apostrophe. The font I used didn't have punctuation marks, and I meant to draw that in before I took the picture.

Monica has such an imagination! I love the things she dreams up to draw! One of my favorites (and one I was going to use for this week's Button Challenge if I ever get time to finish it!) is Tandem Ladybugs. But not to worry because Pat Martin had the same idea as me and she beat me to it, so go take a look at the darling card she made with the ladybugs HERE. If that doesn't make you want to run out and buy the image I don't know what will!

Next up is a valentine using another of Lynne Stansbery's Punny Valentine's set.

This one is from Set Six which comes with 11 images and sentiments! What a value this is because you can use these images for more than Valentine's Day!

Ready for another one? This one comes from My Punny Valentine Set Four, another great value with 9 images and sentiments.

Well hopefully I'll get lots of cards made this weekend with the new images! Enjoy your Friday, and thanks for looking!

Impatient To Get To The Teaparty!

2012-01-18T05:52:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! Yesterday I played along in the Teaparty at Splitcoast Stampers. This week our cards are going to a seventeen year old girl. There was a meningitis scare at her school and all the students were asked to get tested if they were showing any symptoms. Amy was experiencing some symptoms so went to be tested. She tested negative on the meningitis, but they did discover that she has leukemia. So she has been in the hospital since before Christmas undergoing chemo. Everyone was asked to send her funny cards. This is the card I made for Amy.

I used the Inside Out Puppy Eyes image from Lynne Stansbery. This set does come with a sentiment for the front and inside, but I chose to use the Impatience sentiment also from Squigglefly because it seems a perfect fit for it.

I used Copic markers to color, and the papers are from K & Company's Carolyn Gavin pack. I just folded it over at an angle to show both sides. I hope this makes Amy smile. The cards the Teapotters made are so funny! If you get a chance you should go take a look at the gallery HERE.

A couple of days ago Heather, Squigglefly's Facebook coordinator asked Facebook fans to name their favorites of the new images. Just answering the question put you in a drawing to win one of the new images! Two people took the time to answer and they both won! Congratulations to Amanda George Teal and Alice Grower!

Please take the time to come see us on Facebook from time to time because you never know what you could end up winning! Remember to like us while you're there because as soon as we get 250 fans there will be an exclusive freebie given!

Also, just a reminder to play in the blog challenge! I still haven't finished my card. I have it colored, but I haven't yet made it into a card. I hope to finish that up this evening.

Yummy Donuts!

2012-01-16T06:00:00.004-06:00

Hi everyone! If you are one of the lucky ones who are off work for Martin Luther King Day, then please enjoy it! I have to go to work so no playing in the craft room for me today!

I did get to play in the Featured Stamper Challenge yesterday and I picked This Card to CASE. It was the perfect reason for me to use the new Donuts image that was released this weekend.

I really like how it turned out! It was fun "icing" the donuts and adding the sprinkles. I used some slick Tulip paint for the icing and sprinkled on seed beads while it was still wet.
Here's the inside

Today is a brand new challenge on the Squigglefly Blog. This week Holley's Hobbyists take the stage! Be sure to spend a little time seeing what they did with the wonderful images that have been just been added to the store, and then go make a card and play along so you can win one of them for yourself!

Sour Pusses

2012-01-15T06:07:00.005-06:00

Hi everyone. Did you get to see the fabulously huge release of images at Squigglefly yesterday? There are a ton of fun ones and it was hard to choose what to color first! I ended up going with this Pickles image by Lynne Stansbery because I loved the humor and I needed a birthday card for my sister. I love how this turned out!

The image and the sentiment were printed at the same time. I used Copic markers to color it with and then added crystal effects to the jar to give it a glassy look. For the inside of the card, I printed the jar of pickles again and cut one pickle out, colored it, and popped it up on the card.

I also added dots of crystal lacquer to it so it would look like the pickle had just come out of the jar. I think my sister will get a kick out of it.

If you went to see the new images, then you probably saw The Old Sot; another one drawn by Lynne Stansbery. This lady is wonderful! The look on her face is just priceless (she looks like she just ate one of those really sour pickles!), and did you see all of the sentiments that come with it?! I know I'll be using her again just to use the other sentiments!

She is colored with copic markers and I used some new paper from a Poppy Seeds pad. Here's the inside

I hope you enjoyed the cards! I'm off to check out the featured stamper challenge on Splitcoast! I hope your day is a wonderful one!

Hoppy Tails To You

2012-01-14T06:21:00.002-06:00

This is one of the images from Monica Estill and is called Hoppy Tails.

Monica made her debut at Squigglefly last week and has some more fabulous art being released today. Rumor has it that there is a brand new shy bear image from Lynne Stansbery too, so run over and take a look!

Purple Is The New Black

2012-01-13T05:25:00.004-06:00

Hi everyone! It's Friday and that gets a big ol' YAY! from me even if it is Friday the 13th!

Tomorrow is another new release at Squigglefly where we'll be introducing another new artist; Fawn Palmer! I know you'll love the things she's drawn for you to play with, and there are lots more from all the other artists too so be sure to make Squigglefly a must see place tomorrow!

In th emean time, I have a card that uses two adorable penguins by Sandy Somerfeld - Eugene and Brrr! I combined them before printing and computer generated the sentiment.

They were colored with Copic markers and I used chalk for the purple background.

Here's the inside

Another birthday card added to my stash! Hope your Friday is a fun one, and thanks for looking!

More Valentines!

2012-01-12T05:36:00.001-06:00

Hi all! Riley is really appreciative of your kind thoughts toward her hair cut. I told Brock last night that all of her hair was hiding the ugly! LOL! No, she's not really ugly she's just not the Riley I know. Plus, doesn't he know that you lose most of your heat through your head? So here she is with a heavy coat and no hat!

Okay, I've got two more valentines to share today. The first one comes from My Punny Valentine Set Two

I used copic markers to color and punched a border on either side of some designer paper and then just added the sentiment with some little eyelets! Super easy and quick!

This next card continues on with my non-traditional valentine colors going with the blue again. I though this little polar bear from Brian Lock's Polar Pack look lonely. The sentiment is computer generated. Just a few punched hearts and some rounded corners to finish it off!

Have a great day - tomorrow's Friday! Yay!

Valentines!

2012-01-11T05:46:00.006-06:00

Hi everyone! It's finally hump day so after today it should be smooth sailing through the rest of the week huh? I have to tell you something really sad. Yesterday the groomer came to groom Riley and my husband thought she would feel so much better without all of that hair on her face! He said it would bug him to death to have that hair in his eyes and getting in his mouth while he tried to eat! Anyway I came home from work to find Riley's head, ears, and snout shaved down! She doesn't even look like herself, and I know she's feeling pretty darn naked and embarrassed! I told him to never do that to her again - we can have it short but not shaved! She's a dog and has had the feeling of that hair on her face her whole life! They don't feel normal without it! I would show you a picture of her, but she's too embarrassed to let me take it!

I thought I'd share a couple more silly valentines using the My Punny Valentines that Squigglefly released this week. I just love them!

This first card uses the mittens and a matching sentiment that are in My Punny Valentine Set Two. I apologize for the lousy photo!

I used Copics to color and a new die that I got for Christmas. I went non-traditional blue, but still threw a little red in there on the flowers!

Next up is from My Punny Valentine Set One

The image was colored with Copic markers and I did a little piercing in the lower corners.
These sets are so much fun to play with. It's fun mixing and matching sentiments!

Don't forget to make a thank you card for the challenge on our blog! You could win a free image and choose one of these fun sets as your prize! See ya tomorrow with more valentines!

Whoopie for Birthdays!

2012-01-10T05:32:00.009-06:00

Hi everyone! I hope your week has gotten off to a great start. I caught up on a lot of little things yesterday and now feel ready to tackle some bigger projects! One of those projects is to get started on birthday cards for next month! I am always needing birthday cards and my stash is GONE!

I have started my new birthday card stash with this card.

This fun flapper comes to us from Lynne Stansbery. She is called Whoop Poop De Doop and comes with this most fitting sentiment! I have computer generated a sentiment for the inside making it a birthday card. It says "It's your birthday, go make history!"

I colored the image with Copic markers and used some eyelash yarn to wrap around the designer paper. The yarn reminded me of her boa so I thought it went well with it.

Then Sunday's featured stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers led me to THIS card so I got another birthday card added to my stash with this

I used the Blackeyed Susan Spring Ring image which is another one from Lynne Stansbery. It was just perfect to CASE this card with, wasn't it? I used Copic markers to color and then cut the bow so it would stick outside of the die when I cut it. I added brown puff paint to the center of the flowers and puffed it up. One of the flowers may have gotten a little too much of the puff paint! LOL! The sentiment is one from Jess Holland called Birthday Wishes. The green and yellow certainly make for a spring like card doesn't it?

Well, have a fantastic day, and thanks for looking!

Girlfriends

2012-01-09T06:00:00.009-06:00

Good morning and happy Monday! I hope you had a good weekend. Did you get by to see the new release at Squigglefly? Well, today is the day the Squigglefly Blog challenges start back up and first up is Rhonda's Rowdy Rascals. LOL! don't you love their team name? You can find links to their blogs on my side bar - be sure to go by and pay them a visit so you can see what they've done with the new images.

The challenge that Rhonda came up with is to make a thank you card. That's a great one for right after the holidays because I'm sure we all have someone to thank for something! I however went a different route and decided to thank my friend for always being there for me.

This new image from Lynne Stansbery called Just Two Crazy Old Gal Friends was perfect for that!

The image comes with this sentiment which I think is wonderful! I colored this with Copic markers and used some digital papers that I got from Summer Driggs. I loved the bright colors, and then I ran across this multi colored bumpy yarn and I thought it matched so I used it on the card too. Now I'm thinking it might be a bit much - what do you think?

Anyway, to make it into the thank you card it's meant to be I added this text to the inside of the card.

I think she'll get a kick out of it, and then we'll argue over which one of us is the lady on the left! LOL! I hope you have time to play along in the challenge! thanks for looking!

With A Hoppy Heart

2012-01-08T06:00:00.001-06:00

Hi everyone! Well didn't I tell you this was an awesome bunch of new images at Squigglefly this week? How about this adorable A Hoppy Heart bunny from Alecia Blake?

I printed this out really big so it would fill up the front of the card. I love the little heart flowers all around! I printed the interior part of the image twice so I could pop the framed bunny up.

I printed the sentiment out using word art in my word processing program, and then cut it out using two circle dies.

Tomorrow is the first Squigglefly blog challenge of 2012 and Rhonda's Rowdy Rascals will be making their debut using images from the release, so be sure to check that out! Have a wonderful Sunday, and thanks for looking!

Squigglefly Release Today!

2012-01-07T05:46:00.001-06:00

Yay for the weekend! It's Saturday and the new release is up and in full swing! I sure hope you've taken some time to browse all the new stuff at Squigglefly because this is one release you don't want to miss! check out the new artists too - you are in for a treat!

Here's a little valentine I made with the My Punny Valentine Set Three. It would be perfect for the music lovers in your life.

I colored the guitar with copic markers and then cut it out and stuck it on the card at an angle over the sentiment.

This next card is from the My Punny Valentine Set Two, and I love how this one turned out.

I colored everything with copic markers and then added some crystal lacquer over the lava lamp. The little sentiment was cut out and then stuck on so it kept it's curve.

Doesn't this make you want to run over and see all of the images in the sets? Like I said - you're in for a treat! Thanks for looking, and have a great weekend!

I'll Be A Lamb and Show You More

2012-01-06T05:23:00.013-06:00

Hi everyone, and Happy Friday! It's so strange - the short week after Christmas really seemed short, but this short week after new year's just dragged! Why is that? I think it's because I'm anticipating the release at Squigglefly this weekend, so time is dragging! I REALLY want ya'll to be able to start playing with these new images!

Today I have another couple of cards to whet your appetite. This cute little sheep is called Mr. Wool and is brought to us by Sandy Sommerfeld who is making her debut at Squigglefly this weekend! Sandy has drawn so many cute images - Mr. Wool is just one! I paired it up with a set of Sheepish Sentiments by Chesney Young.

Such a sweet little lamb for a cute valentine, don't you think? Next up is a birthday card with the same image and a different sentiment from the Sheepish Sentiments set.

The inside says "Sorry I missed your birthday." I used a new die for the frame around the sheep, and do you see the stitching on the designer paper? It's not often I add real stitching to a card, but this one just called for it.

I hope you enjoyed the cards and that your Friday is fantastic! Thanks for looking!

Pizza Pizazz

2012-01-05T05:34:00.003-06:00

Hi everyone! Ready for another peek at a an upcoming release? I've got two cards to share today and they both use one of the images from My Punny Valentine Set One. There are three different images and five different sentiments in this set. I've used one of the images and two of the sentiments on my cards

This first one is a little traditional valentine with a punny twist. I colored the pizza with Copic markers, cut out the pizza and popped the slice up on pop dots.

The second card uses the same image, but I went all out for humor using another sentiment included in the set.

Can you tell this is going to be one fun release? and guess what - there are more punny valentine sets to follow! You'll be able to get your hands on these Saturday morning at Squigglefly! Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

Stuck On You

2012-01-04T05:27:00.002-06:00

Good morning everyone! Have you been enjoying the sneak peeks of the new release? I think the design team has done a fantastic job on their cards - you can tell they've had fun with this release and I know you will too once you can get your hands on them!

I have another one from the My Punny Valentine Set Three to show you today.

I'm telling you, these Punny Valentine sets make some really cute, fun, and QUICK cards! When I was a kid I always went for the funny valentines, so these are right up my alley! One thing I really love about the sets is that the "Valentine" is separate from the rest of the sentiments so that you can use it for something other than a Valentine card. I embossed the gum with clear embossing powder so it would look a little wet and more gum like. The rest of the card is colored with Copic markers.

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

Some Pun Fun

2012-01-03T05:26:00.004-06:00

Hi everyone! What a whirlwind of activity it's been the last couple of weeks! We had the holidays preparation, the actual holiday celebrations, and all the while Squigglefly's new design team has been busy making plans and art! The artists at Squigglefly have been super busy too! We have three new artists making their debut this weekend as well as some new images from some of your favorite artists!

All this week Squigglefly's design team will be showing you sneak peeks of images to come on January 7th, so be sure to click on their names to the right and be prepared to be inspired! I have a card with a peek at one of the new images myself! Here's a little tease of what you'll see from me this week!

Now you all know how much I love puns, so I am really loving the new My Punny Valentine Sets that is coming out! There are enough images and sentiments in each set to make five cards! To top it off, not all of the sentiments are valentine related so these sets will get a lot of versatile use! My image today comes from My Punny Valentine Set Three by Lynne Stansbery.

I printed the image twice so I could add texture to the golf ball and then pop it up. I also printed the sentiment twice so I could cut out and pop up the heart. Isn't it cute? The top design was done with a red fine point sharpie. I just wanted to add a little interest, and I thought the curved row of red dots really popped.

I can't wait for you to see all of the Punny Valentine sets - I know you will love them! Thanks for visiting my blog, and I hope you have a great day!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T08:13:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year to everyone! I wish you all health and happiness in 2012!

I just wanted to let you all know that THREE new artists will be making their debut when Squigglefly re-opens next weekend! I am excited for you all to see the fantastic artwork of Monica Estill,
Sandy Sommerfeld, and Eszter Csokas! Both of the design teams are making cards and many of them are posting sneak peeks on their blogs, so be sure to get by and visit them throughout the week to whet your appetite!

Our other artists haven't been slacking off either! Several of them have been working hard to provide you with some images you'll love! We have new artwork coming from Lynne Stansbery, Alecia Blake, Jane Beljo, and Chesney Young! Believe me, this is a release you won't want to miss!

I'll be back with cards to share starting tomorrow. I just wanted to give you all an update and wish you a Happy New Year!

New Year - New Beginnings!

2011-12-28T18:20:00.001-06:00

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a really great Christmas. I definitely enjoyed mine! I didn't get a lot of crafting time in, but I've been busy getting a new design team in place for Squigglefly, and at this time I'd like to introduce them to you! These ladies will begin the blog challenges on January 9th. You will see some familiar names, and some brand new names! Please give them all a warm welcome by visiting their blogs and galleries. I'm sure when you've seen the many beautiful creations each has done you will know why we are excited to have them!

Holley Barnhart's team

Holley Barnhart

Shawna Sealander

Charlene Mitchell

Theresa Gerber

Tammy Hair

Pat Martin

Rhonda Zmikly's team

Rhonda Zmikly

Terri Fleming

Kathy Bradley

Sharon Jones

Debbie Ebat

Linda Weber

I'm also thrilled to let you know that Heather Strenzwilk will be staying on keeping our Facebook Page updated! Heather and I have both been busy adding Squigglefly cards to Pinterest as well! If you haven't yet visited us on FACEBOOK, do it now because there will be an exclusive freebie when we reach 250 members!

Glad Tidings

2011-12-21T06:20:00.000-06:00

Okay, this will probably be my last post until after Christmas. I have been so busy with last minute preparations that I haven't made a single card to share with you! I do have this one last card that I made last week. It uses an image from Suzanne Urban that I just love called Glad Tidings and Good Beer. I can relate to Suzanne's sense of humor so well.

I used copics to color and chalk on the sky background. The background on the card is fabric that I scanned - didn't it turn out cool? I have my good friend Freida to thank for that tip!

I told you the other day that I showed one of my boss's kids how to quill paper snowflakes. She really learned it quickly, and her mom has told me that she is constantly "playing with those paper strips"! Anyway, showing her got me started making a few of my own and the last few days

Some of these I'm sending to friends, but the largest one is going to my former boss as an ornament for their tree.

I will be back sometime after Christmas. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and are able to spend it with loved ones. Thanks so much for visiting my little blog!

Holiday Lights

2011-12-19T06:20:00.001-06:00

Good morning everyone! Man this weekend was so busy that going back to work today will be relaxing! I spent so much time in the kitchen, but it's all worth it! I got several goodies bags and tins filled for gift giving, and my refrigerator is filled with meals for the week so I'll have little to do during the week. On top of that I got all of my presents wrapped!

I didn't do much crafting, but I do have this card to show

I used Brian Lock's Winter Landing snowman and the Merry Christmas sentiment from Jess Holland.. The image was colored with Copic markers and I used a little chalk for the glow around the lights. I used some faux flower soft on the bottom for snow and also dotted bits of glue here and there and snowed them too.

I think it turned out cute! I love the glowy lights. Speaking of cute, my best friend bought her 5 month old grandson a little Santa suit and she sent me this picture.

Is that not precious? It came with a hat too, but she said it was too little for him.

I hope you all have a wonderful day, and thanks for stopping by today!

Two More Christmas Cards

2011-12-15T06:20:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! Two more Christmas cards to share today. This first one is super fast and simple as there is no coloring involved. It's a brand new image from Jess Holland called Christmas Medley and will be available on Saturday at Squigglefly.

I colored the different phrases in colors before printing using Adobe Photoshop. The same thing could be done with the free GIMP program. If you want to see how to do this, you can view a video HERE. Then it was just a matter of adding a little designer paper and a pretty border!

My next card will tickle a cat lover on my Christmas list! This image is called This One Is Mine and is from Lynne Stansbery. The silly sentiment is one I printed out on my computer.

Yesterday afternoon my boss's son came in after school and told me he had learned how to make a pop up card! Then he showed me how. Today I am taking strips of cardstock and some glue to work to show them how to quill some snowflakes. I think they will find that fun to do.
Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

Peace & Joy

2011-12-14T05:32:00.000-06:00

Hi all! December is sure winding down in a hurry! I can't believe it's already half over! the next few days you will be seeing Christmas cards as I finish up the last of them, and then I will be moving on to Valentines and more birthday cards! I can never make enough birthday cards!

There won't be any more Squigglefly blog challenges until after the first of the year, at which time you will be seeing the new design team! There is still time to play in the final challenge of the year though, and today's card fits the Clean and Simple Holiday card challenge perfectly!

The sentiment is from Jess Holland called Peace and Joy and I thought it went well with this sweet couple who look like they are full of peace and joy all snuggled together. They are from Diane Carubia and are called Wrapped Up Christmas. I just did a little piercing on the side of the card and added some faux flower soft to their hats.

I've got all of my Christmas shopping done but still have the wrapping to do. This weekend I am planning on doing a lot of holiday baking and will need to make a few bag toppers for some of those goodies. I hope you are enjoying everything that goes along with the Christmas season! Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Featuring A Trio of Trees

2011-12-12T06:08:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday morning to everyone! Another fast weekend, and busy, busy, busy! I did have a little time to play and managed to make a card for the Featured Stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. I picked This Card to case, and here is my card

I used the I Heart Christmas Trees image by Jane Beljo, and printed it out on different designer papers. After I cut them out, I glued the two green ones down and popped the red one up on pop dots. The sentiment, Merry Christmas Circle is by Jess Holland. I added a little red button sticker to the center of it. It turned out to be a pretty cute little card, and one that came together really quickly!

Today marks the very last challenge at Squigglefly's blog until the new design team will make their debut in January. Please try to play along to give the Marvels a good send off!

Thanks for looking, and I hope your Monday is wonderful!

Vintage Christmas

2011-12-08T06:53:00.000-06:00

Good morning! Yesterday I awoke to a wonderful sight - snow! It was just gorgeous!

Luckily it didn't stick to the streets so getting to work wasn't a problem. It didn't stay around long either. It was all melted away when I drove home from work. It was really pretty while it was here though! I think the official total was 2 inches for us.

I have a couple more cards to share that use the Kris Kringle by Marla Shega at Squigglefly. This image just begs for a vintage type of card. I printed it out in brown on kraft card stock and sponged the edges with some rust colored ink. The sentiment is one from Stampin' Up!

These are super quick cards to make since there is no coloring involved. I need to make a few more. I got my Christmas cards addressed last night and had several names that didn't have cards!

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

Featured Stamper Candle

2011-12-06T06:11:00.003-06:00

Hello everyone! Did you have a good Monday? We got a lot more rain on Monday and I watched the yard in front of my office grow into a lake! I was worried the road would be flooded and I wouldn't be able to get home, but by afternoon the rain slacked off and the water receded some. It sure did get cold after the rain! It makes me think of a white Christmas - wouldn't that be wonderful?

Did you get a chance to take a look at the cards done by the design team for Heather's "Based on a Song" challenge? They were so wonderful! It's such a fun challenge too! You should try to play along. This is the last challenge by Heather's Headliners for Squigglefly. Next week Marlene's Marvels will have their last challenge and then the design team gets a much needed break to spend getting ready for the holidays.

As you know I love playing in Splitcoast Stampers Featured Stamper challenge. This week there was a wonderful gallery and I found myself once again having trouble choosing just one. I finally did land upon THIS CARD, and I loved the fact that it was her very first digital card! Here's the card I made

I used an image by Lynne Stansbery called Christmas Candle and paired it with a sentiment from Stampin' Up! I added a bit of glitter to the candle flame. I think the black is what adds a lot to the look of this card. I'll have to remember that little tip!

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

Up On the Housetop

2011-12-05T06:12:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great weekend. Mine went by way too fast. Sorry I didn't post anything over the weekend, but my craft room was out of control and I found I couldn't make a thing until I cleaned it up a bit! I spent Saturday cleaning my room up so I'd have room to make new stuff, did my grocery shopping, and visited with a couple of friends. The weather was absolutely gorgeous on Saturday.

Sunday, we woke up to a lovely rain. It rained all day long in just a steady fall - not a roaring downpour. I love those kind of days! I spent the morning making a few cards and addressing some of the Christmas cards I have and I spent the afternoon cooking and preparing meals for the week. Since some of you ask for my menu for the week I'll just post it here

Chili (made with some deer meat my boss gave me) and cornbread. I also bought a bag of fritos in case Brock decides he wants a frito chili pie!
Meatloaf with roasted potatoes and carrots
Chicken with artichokes in wine sauce (sounds fancy, but it's easy!)
Chicken corn chowder with ciabatta bread
That's all I have to cook because my boss is taking his employees and their families out to eat on Thursday night, and we are going to eat out on Friday night at a chinese restaurant!

Today is a brand new challenge on the Squigglefly blog, and this week Heather has come up with a fun challenge for us! It's to make your card based on a song - isn't that fun? I'll show you my card and see if you can guess the song.

This cute image is from Diane Carubia and is called Stuck Santa. Looks like Santa has had too many cookies and too much milk and he can't fit down the chimney! the reindeer are trying to helpful and are pushing against him to help him out. I colored with Copic markers and added some glitter topped with faux flower soft to his hat trim and the snow on the chimney. The paper is some I downloaded and then I spattered some white gesso on it to make it look like a starry night sky.

The sentiment is by Jess Holland and is at Squigglefly HERE. I added a button to the center and some punched snowflakes. I realize now that the title of my post probably gave the song away - It's Up On The Housetop! Those reindeer hooves can be heard trying to get Santa unstuck!

The fake snow was enjoyed by my boss's kids at work on Friday. They mixed up a big bowl full and oohed and aahed and then ran off to play with it! That link I had to the fake snow the other day was just so you could see how it looked. Please don't order it from that site! They were wanting way too much money for it! I bought mine at the grocery store in their Christmas section for a couple of dollars.

Well, I'll be back tomorrow to show you the card I made for the featured stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. I hope you have a wonderful Monday, and thanks for looking!

Christmas Buddies

2011-12-02T06:21:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone! what happened to everybody yesterday? I think it's the first time I've ever had a blog post and not had one comment! And I had two cards yesterday too!

I got to work yesterday and about fifteen minutes after I got there my boss asked me if I was ready to drive into Little Rock to attend a meeting. Now anyone who knows me that I do not drive to Little Rock unless I have to. I get nervous I'm going to get lost and here I had had no warning whatsoever! Well, I sucked it up and went to this meeting which turned out to be something I could have attended via the computer at the office since it was a webinar! There was only four other people there. Anyway, I took notes and tried to remember all of this stuff and then at the end of the thing the guy passes out print outs of everything I had written down. It was a big waste, but I guess (hope!) I looked good to my boss for going and taking notes! And on the plus side, I didn't get lost and found my way home just fine!

Today is another Christmas card. This time I used the adorable Mouseltoe image by Diane Carubia. Isn't this just such a sweet image?

I used Copic markers to color and some fun pom pom trim I got at the Dollar Tree last year. I saw this year they have some in green, so I'm going back for more! I applied some stickles to the fur trim on the cat's hat, and then sprinkled some faux flower soft on top.

Have ya'll ever seen that fake snow? I saw some back in the summer in a hospital gift shop. It's pretty cool! It is just like real snow! It's cold, and you can form snow balls out of it. Well, I bought a pack of it the other day and am taking it to work today to share with my boss's kids. I think they will get a kick of it too. Oh! you can let it dry out and re-use it too! I will try to get pictures of them with it if I can!

Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for stopping by!

Two Cards

2011-12-01T06:30:00.005-06:00

Hi everyone! man time is flying by - here it is already December 1st! Today I have a couple of cards to share with you - the first one is a case of THIS darling card I found the other day. I just had to make it! I didn't have any of the flesh colored textured paper for Santa's face like she used, so I just used some chalk to color some white card stock. I'm going to make a trip to the store this weekend to look for some of that paper though and make a few more of these.

You can't tell in the photo, but I used some shimmer card stock for his beard and mustache. Next time I won't trim his stash so close to the sides!

This next card is one I wanted to make for no good reason other than I think Brian Lock's cat from his Halloween Bunch would make a cute get well card for a friend I have who loves cats and is sick with a cold right now.

I colored with copic markers and swiped a little blue chalk around the image while it was still in the nestabilities die.

I hope you have a wonderful day today, and thanks for stopping by my blog!

Caroling

2011-11-29T06:17:00.008-06:00

Hi everyone! Has the weather gotten cold for you? It finally has here and we've been enjoying having a fire in the fireplace the last few nights. Yesterday the sky was white enough to make me think it could snow! I would love to have a snowfall. Creating a winter scene is the challenge issued to us by Marlene on the Squigglefly blog this week and I think my cards made with the brand new Here We Come A Caroling are perfect for this challenge!

This first one is cut with a circle die and framed with scallops. I just embossed a piece of card stock for a decorative trim on the side. The pine cones and boughs are dusted with a little bit of snow that I did using my faux flower soft . I really like using the faux method for this snow dusting - it's very realistic - more so than the Flower Soft is although I haven't tried the finer Flower Soft.

The second card has a loopy border and some graduating sizes of green rain dots. I used the faux flower soft on this as well.

And my final card has some ribbon.

This image colors up really quickly so you could make several in a short time! One final picture I'd like to share with you is of my boss's youngest daughter, Tara. She was in my office yesterday after school playing around with me and I cut a mustache out of paper and stuck it on her so she struck a pose for me! This little girl is so lovable and has already wrapped me around her finger!

Have a fantastic day, and thanks for looking!

Featured Stamper Challenge card

2011-11-28T06:19:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday! Are you ready to get back to the grind after the long holiday? I really enjoyed my time off. I had a lot of play time. Yesterday I played along in the featured stamper challenge on Splitcoast stampers. The card I picked to CASE can be seen HERE, and here is the card I made.

Now this is a quick card to make since there is absolutely no coloring! I printed Marla Shega's awesome Kris Kringle image on to kraft card stock and then cut it out with some decorative edge scissors. I matted it with some red card stock and then sponged some Chocolate Chip ink on the edges.

Then I printed out Jess Holland's Merry Christmas sentiment in brown on to some kraft and sponged it as well. I think it looks very vintage.

Today is a new challenge on the Squigglefly blog, so run over and see what the challenge is and what the design team has done! They never disappoint! Have a great start to your week, and thanks for looking!

A Digital Card

2011-11-27T06:27:00.002-06:00

Hi all! I hope you've been having a great weekend. I've made a few cards, but today I want to share something a little different. You may have seen the card I made with the Hustle Bustle Holidays image a few days ago. Well, the artist of the image, Lynne Stansbery is my sister and she colored her original drawing and I thought it was so awesome that I scanned it and made it into a digital card with the My Memories Scrapbook software just so you could see it.

Isn't her coloring just fantastic? I've talked her into giving us all coloring lessons using colored pencils later on in the summer and I'm really looking forward to it. I'll be back tomorrow to share some of the cards I've been working on. Have a great Sunday, and thanks for looking!

Easy Peasy Christmas

2011-11-25T06:18:00.001-06:00

Well the turkey's only leftovers now and Christmas is right around the corner so you'll be seeing little more than Christmas cards from me for a while. I used this cute Trimming the Tree image from Squigglefly to create this quick card.

Today while everyone else is out getting those black Friday deals, I plan to get to the grocery store and and get my grocery shopping done. I figure the grocery store will be less crowded than usual so it will be a good day to get that done.

Enjoy your day, and thanks for looking!

OOps!

2011-11-23T06:18:00.004-06:00

Hi everyone! Today is my Friday! I have the next two days off work and then the weekend so that's four whole days! I don't know yet what I'll do all of these days, but I'm sure they will go by in a flash.

We don't have any big plans for Thanksgiving. What about you? Doing any traveling? Lots of cooking?

Today's card is one that came about when I realized much to my dismay that I forgot someone's birthday - AGAIN!

The image is Brian Lock's Soaking Kitty and I used Word Art in my word processing program to make the sentiment curve around the fish bowl before printing it. Copic markers were used to color and I added some crystal lacquer to the bowl, the puddle, and the water droplets on the whiskers. I almost made this for Squigglefly's challenge, but my sentiment wasn't in the right place for it.

Here's what the inside says

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you're able to spend it with loved ones. I'll be back on Friday to share another card with you! Thanks for looking!

Two For Monday

2011-11-21T06:19:00.006-06:00

Good morning everyone! I hope you had a good weekend and are ready for another Monday. I really got a lot done this weekend - and still managed to work in a few visits with friends! This morning it is pouring rain and the weather channel is saying it will pour all day long. It would be a great day to be stuck in my craft room!

Today is a brand new challenge on the Squigglefly blog, so be sure to head over there to see what Heather's Headliners have done this week!

Yesterday was the featured stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers and I made TWO cards because I couldn't decide between the two.
The first card I picked was THIS CARD, and here is my card

I used the Madison and Popples image by Chesney Young and added the sentiment before printing. It's colored with Copic markers. I colored the ribbon with markers too.

The 2nd card I picked was THIS CARD, and here is my card using the new Aquaholic image by Marlene Shaw

I colored with copic markers and added some clear Beadies for the soap bubbles. The sentiment is computer generated, and here's the inside.

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

A Really BIG Gift & a Winner!

2011-11-20T06:22:00.005-06:00

Hi everyone! I hope your weekend is going great. Today is the day I get to announce the winner of the Pick and Draw game and I'm happy to say the winner of the game is DixieGlitzie! Please contact me at my e mail usyungs@gmail.com with your mailing address and your game as well as a signed original piece of artwork by Rich Davis will be sent to you! I know you will have a lot of fun playing this game with your grandchildren.

I've got a card to share today that uses Suzanne Urban's new Big Present image. I love this image - look at that belly! It's even better that it can be used for Christmas or a birthday card. I went with Christmas colors so I can add another Christmas card to my pile.

I used Copic markers to color and cut the side of the image with a die just to give it a little interest. I also gold embossed the ball on his hat. I'm off to check out the Featured Stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers and plan on spending a lot of time in my craft room today. I hope you get some time to play too! Thanks for looking!

A Funny For Your Friday

2011-11-18T05:36:00.001-06:00

Hi everyone! I've got a funny story and a funny card to share with you today. The story has to do with Riley. I so wish I had had my video camera with me yesterday because this was so hilarious and I know my telling it won't be near as funny as it was seeing it. Anyway, we went out to the park for a little walk. We come upon a piece of black flexible tubing that the park uses for drainage. This particular piece was about 7 feet long and was in a pile of stuff to be thrown out. Riley goes up to the tubing and is all over it like she smells something inside the tube. Brock picked the tube up and knocked it around and a bunch of leaves and grass fall out which we are thinking was probably bedding for a now long gone mouse. Riley is smelling all of the stuff coming out, but she is still really interested in this pipe. She starts clawing at it and I see a little split in the tube which tells me they probably are throwing it out because of this split. Anyway, we break the tube apart at the split and knock it around more, but Riley is so insistent that something is in that tube and she wants it!

Brock tosses the longer piece of tube aside onto a parking lot and Riley sticks her head into the tube and is trying to get inside, but it's too small for her body so as she walks the tube is being pushed. the tube is curved, so she's really just going in a circle. She went round and round and round, and every now and then would pull her head out and look excitedly toward the other end to see if she scared anything out, and then she'd stick her head back in and go round and round some more. It was SO FUNNY! She did this for about twenty minutes and I finally just pulled her out and had to make her leave. We had plans to bring her back this afternoon and this time I'd bring my camera, but after we got home she was limping and I think she walked so much on that pavement around and around that the pads on one of her paws is raw! As soon as she's healed though we are going back and will be sure to place the tube in the grass instead of on the pavement AND I will have camera in hand - just hope the mouse scent is still strong!

So now how about a funny card? This one uses one of Marlene Shaw's fun images called You Deserve The Moon. It comes with the sentiment too. Don't you love that shadow effect on the sentiment? I colored this with copic markers.

Here's a peek at the inside sentiment which is computer generated by me.

Don't forget about my Pick And Draw giveaway HERE - the winner will be announced on Sunday! Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

The Weaker Sex

2011-11-16T05:44:00.002-06:00

Good morning everyone! how about a little bit of humor to get your day started?

Image is Postulation and sentiment is Weaker Sex; both available at Squigglefly. Here's the rest of the sentiment on the inside.

No chit chat today, but you really only come for the cards right? Thanks for looking!

Driving to the Teaparty

2011-11-15T05:57:00.001-06:00

Hi everyone. I don't know what happened to the beautiful weather we were having. Seems like Fall left and let summer come back for a few days. Yesterday was about 80 degrees and muggy and buggy! We did get some rain though, and they are saying that tomorrow night it will be close to freezing!

Today is Tuesday, so you know that means there is another Mothermark Teaparty and this week is a really special one. Most of you in blogland are familiar with Katie Renz and her courageous battle with cancer. The whole stamping community was very saddened when Katie lost that battle on November 7th. Katie was only 40 years old, and leaves behind a loving husband and three young boys. Katie's youngest two sons are twins who will be celebrating their 6th birthday on November 19th and the teapartiers want to help make this birthday special for them. They are both all boy and in love with cars, trucks, buses, etc. so our cards are to have that theme and we make twin cards!

Here are the cards I made for Will and Nate.

I used the Mini Car image from Squigglefly and colored it with Copic markers. For the wheels I die cut some buttons and stitched through the holes with some embroidery floss and then popped them up on pop dots.
I accented the corners with blue rain dots and computer generated the sentiment.
Here's a close up of one of the cards. I hope these boys get a ton of happy mail for their birthday!

Since Squigglefly's challenge happens to be birthday cards this week, I'm making these cards count for that! If you haven't seen the Squigglefly challenge, go by and take a look!

Don't forget about my Pick and Draw giveaway HERE! Have a fabulous day, and thanks for looking!

Frosty Day

2011-11-14T05:58:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! Did your weekend fly by as fast as mine? It was a good one though. I got a lot of things done and had a lot of fun visiting with friends and family. Before I get to today's cards let me remind you that there is one more week to get in on the chance to win the Pick and Draw game as well as a signed piece of artwork from Squigglefly artist Rich Davis. You can read more about it and enter your comment on THIS POST.

Friday night Splitcoast Stampers was having a Winter Wonderland mini virtual stamp night with lots of fun challenges. I played along in a couple of them. One of the challenges was to make a card for a favorite holiday song and to use at least two layers and an embellishment.

I went with Frosty the Snowman and used the wonderful Snowy Card snowman image by Marla Shega.

I used Copic markers to color and added some ribbon and little jewel to the snowflake. I so enjoyed creating this little card that I made two more in different color schemes.

that last one has a row of embossed snowflakes at the bottom and I swiped them with a little white ink to make them stand out more.

Today is a brand new challenge on the Squigglelfy blog, so swing by and see what the challenge is and what the marvels have done! Have a fabulous day, and thanks for looking!

Oh Holy Child

2011-11-13T06:11:00.000-06:00

Good morning everyone! I was busy yesterday doing a lot of running around, so none of the things that I need to do around the house got done. You know what that means? It means I'm going to be super busy today! No sleeping in a little late for me today - I got up early so hopefully I can get my stuff done and still have some play time.

I have another Christmas card to share today. This one uses one of the images that was released last weekend at Squigglefly called O Holy Child by Lynne Stansbery.

It's really easy to color this image being as it's all blocked off, and you can get as bright as you like because it's stained glass after all! I think it would be pretty covered with layers of embossing powder and cracked. I may do another one of these and do that technique on it. The sentiment is computer generated.

No chit chat if I'm going to get my to do list accomplished! Enjoy your Sunday, and thanks for looking!

Only 42 days!

2011-11-12T06:40:00.004-06:00

Good morning everyone! Yes, it's true - there are only 42 more days until Christmas! Yikes! Time to make cards and get to shopping for those people on your Christmas list! That is the feeling this new image just released today at Squigglefly conveys to me.

This is called Hustle Bustle Holdays and is drawn by Lynne Stansbery. I printed the image out large enough to fill the entire front of a card so all the detail could be seen. It's colored with Copic markers and glitter was used on some of the garland and the Christmas tree. It reminds me of the song Silver Bells too. Since there isn't any patterned paper on this I can use it for Squigglefly's Blog challenge!

Squigglefly has had a great release this weekend - lots of fun sentiments to go with the images you may already have, and some great images too! Be sure to go by and take a look.

Also, don't forget to get in on my Pick and Draw give away HERE.

I've got a busy day ahead of me, but I'll be back tomorrow with another card. Thanks for looking!

Season's Tweetings

2011-11-11T05:44:00.000-06:00

Happy Friday and Happy Veteran's Day! If you know any veterans be sure to give them a huge thank you for their service to our country, and all of us should take a little time out of our day today to think of the men and women who have fought for our freedom and those who are still defending it today.

There's still time to enter my Pick and Draw Giveaway HERE.

How about a few quick Christmas cards? I made these with the cute Winter Landing snowman and bird drawn by Brian Lock.. The sentiment was computer generated. This first one uses torn card stock for the snowbank.

This is a great image for quick cards. I'll probably be making a few more with this image just to fatten up my Christmas card stash! I hope you have a great day, and thanks for looking!

I Get By

2011-11-10T06:24:00.003-06:00

Hi everyone! sorry I didn't get a post up yesterday - I overslept and just had enough time to get ready for work and dash out the door! I hate oversleeping and having to rush like that.

Before I get to my card, I want to remind everyone of my Pick and Draw giveaway HERE, and also remind you about Squigglefly's blog challenge going on HERE.

The card I made today is not for Squigglefly's challenge because the patterned paper I picked played a big part in how I colored my image.

I used one of the new images just released this week at Squigglefly from new artist Meytal called Turtle Friends. I colored it with copic markers and tried to get the colors on the turtles close to the colors in the paper. they match better in real life than comes across in the photo. In fact, the circles that look white on the turtle are actually bluish green like what is on the paper!

The sentiment was printed out with my computer and I added little rain dots to it. The side has some rub on stitching that I thought went well with the stitching printed on the designer paper.

Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

171st Teaparty

2011-11-08T05:43:00.007-06:00

Wow, have you been to Squigglefly's blog this week? The new challenge went up yesterday and Heather has challenged everyone to make something without using any patterned paper. The design team did such an amazing job with their cards - really some FABULOUS eye candy and some creative ideas! You NEED to go take a look!

Also, don't forget about the giveaway of the Pick and Draw Game! It's a really fun game for kids, but one the whole family can get involved in. It's great for parents, grandparents, and teachers and would be an awesome stocking stuffer! Plus the winner will get an original signed piece of art from Squigglefly artist and creator of the Pick and Draw Game, Rich Davis! If you want to win the game, just leave a comment HERE telling me why you'd like to win.

Well, today is Tuesday and it's another Mothermark Teaparty - her 171st teaparty to be precise. That's a lot of teaparties! this week our cards are to have cats and bling! The cards are going to a couple who remain positive despite lots of health issues. They have a couple of cats that they refer to as DIVAS and they spoil them rotten! Here's the card I made.

This Spoiled Rotten cat by Chesney Young looks like the ultimate diva cat to me! Here she is lounging about on her ultimate kitty sofa and wearing a diamond studded collar passing out advice. I used copic markers to color her and added the sparkle to her collar and the flowers in the background with some stickles. The sentiment was computer generated. The border at the top was punched with a Fiskars border punch and I added little stickle dots to the flowers on that too!

Thanks for coming by my blog today! Have a great day!

My Featured Stamper Card and a Giveaway!

2011-11-07T05:42:00.005-06:00

Good morning and happy Monday to you all! What a glorious weekend it was here. The weather was just perfect for being outdoors. Riley and I did lots of walking and ball playing this weekend. I love the time change, although it will greatly cut into my after work walk time with her.

Squigglefly had an awesome release this weekend with artwork from three new artists! Meytal, Rachel Goble, and Gemma Mortlock all joined Squigglefly and have artwork in the store now. Be sure to go by and see all the wonderful new images!

Yesterday was another Featured Stamper challenge at Splitcoast Stampers, and of course I played! I love the Featured stamper challenge! the card I picked was This One, and if you are a fan of Squigglefly digital images then you can probably guess what image I picked to CASE this card.

If you guessed Seasonal House On A Hill by artist Rich Davis, then you were right! I love the set of five different houses and when I saw the card in the gallery I knew the winter house would be perfect!

I colored the image with copic markers and added some Snow Tex for the snow. The sentiment is one that will be available at Squigglefly soon. Speaking of Rich Davis, he has graciously allowed me to host a give away of his Pick and Draw game, and on top of that he will send the winner an original signed piece of his artwork!

You've heard me talk about the Pick and Draw game before, and how it's a fun family game and great for taking along for travel. I think it's a great game to have in your purse to help entertain kids while having to wait at any appointment. It would make an ideal stocking stuffer or gift for teachers or anyone with young children , and right now Rich is having a special where you can buy one and get more at a discounted price. But as I said earlier I get to give a Pick and Draw game away! If you would like to win this game, just leave me a comment telling me why you'd like to win it. I'll announce the winner on the 20th of November, so that gives you a couple of weeks to get those comments in!

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, and I wish you a day full of all things wonderful!

Sneak Peek of a new artist!

2011-11-03T06:19:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone! In case you missed it, Squigglefly has announced the winners of the Mega Giveaway and these are some lucky ladies! Go see if you're one of them HERE!

I've got some exciting news to tell you - Squigglefly has two new artists joining us and the first of their artwork will be released this weekend. I've got a card I made with one of the new images from artist Gemma Mortlock called Autumn Wind.

Isn't she lovely? I really enjoyed coloring her. I used copic markers and a little white gel pen on her eyes. I think I found the perfect quotation to use with this image too. Fall is my favorite time of year and I enjoy making cards that celebrate this beautiful season.

Be sure to check the Squigglefly store this weekend to see all of the new images! And don't forget about the challenge we have for funny cards. There are only a few more days to play before the next challenge!
Hoping your day is fabulous, thanks for looking!

my featured stamper cards

2011-11-01T06:11:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone and Happy November 1st! Yikes, I need to get busy making Christmas cards! As a matter of fact I did make one Christmas card for Sunday's featured stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers.

The card I CASED can be seen HERE. I used the elegant Holiday Bells image by Marla Shega. The image doesn't require much coloring, but the little I did I did with copic markers. I glittered the ribbon. The background was done in polished stone technique where you apply alcohol inks to glossy cardstock and spritz it with alcohol and then tap all over with a felt pad. I used some cranberry and red inks and some gold lumiere paint for my background. Then all I did was add some gold ribbon! In retrospect I should have glittered the ribbon in the image with gold so it would match better, but this is how it is.

Another card I CASED in the gallery is THIS ONE, and here's my card

I used Jane Beljo's Single Pumpkin and pretty much followed her sketch exactly. My circles are punched pieces of cardstock that I glued three together to make them more sturdy and then punched some holes for my eyelets. I wrapped some raffia around them. Now that Halloween is over this will be a Fall or Thanksgiving card.

I hope you try to play along in Squigglefly's Tickle My Fancy challenge this week. Even if you don't play, be sure to go take a look at what the design team did because they came up with some funny stuff! I'll be having a special giveaway sometime this week, so keep coming by to see me! Have a great day!

Birthday Pie

2011-10-31T06:18:00.006-05:00

Good morning and Happy Halloween to you all! I am so excited to be taking the treat bags I made for my boss's kids with me to work today. I really hope they like them. If you missed yesterday's post, I announced the winner of the My Memories Scrapbook Software, so take a look to see if it was you!

I was going to save today's card for tomorrow, but a snowstorm stopped Marlene from posting on the Squigglefly blog so I offered to post it for her and am now obligated to show my card a day earlier than I intended to. Today's challenge on the Squigglefly blog is by Marlene and it's Tickle My Fancy - which means to make a funny card because funny cards tickle Marlene!

I love funny cards too, so today's challenge was way fun for me! I used Bran Lock's Party Pig for me card. I didn't color him as a pig though, I colored him more like a cow. I figure if the you overlook his curly tail you won't notice.

I colored with Copic markers and used a border punch on both sides of the paper to create the border in pink and then wrapped it with a piece of sheer ribbon. I added some googley eyes to make it a little more fun and funny. The sentiment was computer generated. Here's the inside of the card

totally worth coming here to see, don't you think? Please try to find time to play along this week! I love funny cards and am always looking for more to add to my arsenal! Today is the last day to buy at Squigglefly and be entered in the Mega Giveaway, so if there are any images you've been on the fence about today's the day to go ahead and get 'em! Have a fabulous Halloween and don't let the trick or treaters spook ya!

Halloween Treats & My Memories Winner

2011-10-30T06:32:00.005-05:00

Hi everyone! Well I did get some good play time in my craft room yesterday. Since tomorrow is Halloween I made some fun Halloween treats to take to my boss's kids. they are each getting a treat bag and a tootsie pop pumpkin from me!

The tootise pop pumpkins are easy to make. Just cut out six ovals (I used the largest Sopellbinder Nestabilities oval), and then punch a circle out of the middle. Fold each oval in half and glue then together end to end to form a circle. Insert the tootise pop into the circle and attach some curled green paper for vines. I also cut the sticks down a little and colored them brown to look more like pumpkin stems.

for the treat bags I made a 2,5,7,10 box out of some card stock that I printed an all over pattern on. One has spiders, one has candy corn, and one has a moon with bats flying.

This first bag uses the Boo Pumpkinimage by Cheryl Alger and is tied with some orange curling ribbon.

Next up is Marlene Shaw's adorable Nerdy Girl Cat

and finally I have this Funky Spider all decked out with fun googley eyes.

I think they will like them even if it's just for the treats that are inside. Now I have the pleasure of announcing the winner of the My Memories Suite scrapbook software and $10.00 toward shopping at the My Memories store! The winner is Niki!

Niki said...
Holly,
This looks like fun. The pack Ruff Ruff is very cute and colorful.

Thanks for sharing,
Niki

Niki, please contact me at usyungs@gmail.com to get your prize. Thanks to everyone who commented, and Niki I hope you enjoy your scrapbook program!

Now I'm off to see who the Featured Stamper is this week on Splitcoast Stampers and then I'm going to get busy cooking my meals for the week. I hope you all have a wonderful day and thanks for looking!

In My Day...

2011-10-29T06:50:00.002-05:00

I know I've been a really bad blogger this week. I just didn't have any mojo in me over the week. I promise to make it up to you this week though. I plan on making cards this weekend to last thorough the whole week. I feel the mojo bubbling up already; lol!

Tomorrow is the day I pick the winner of the My Memories Suite Software, so if you would like a chance be sure to enter by leaving a comment on THIS POST.

Squigglefly is shining the spotlight on some special Thanksgiving images this week, so be sure to stop by and see the deals. This weekend is the last chance you have at the Mega Giveaway they are having.

Okay, now for a card. Someone at work was having a birthday and Marlene Shaw's Stone Age man and sentiment was just perfect for him. He reminds me of the old man Adam Sandler would play on Saturday Night Live who always had stories about what it was like in his day.

and here's the inside

He liked the card a lot. I used Copic markers to color everything and the Happy Birthday on the front was computer generated.

Okay, I'm off to do my grocery shopping and when I get home I'm making cards so I'll have something to share with you all week! Thanks for hanging in there with me, and have a great day!

Major Assets

2011-10-25T06:18:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! Don't forget to see Yesterday's Post if you want a chance to win the My Memories Scrapbook Suite and $10.00 toward purchases in their store!

I also want to remind you that a new challenge is up on the Squigglefly blog, and you should see the wonderful cards the design made for the Saying Thanks challenge. They all came up with some fantastic projects you shouldn't miss. Plus, it's a great time to play along because Squigglefly is having a Mega Giveaway and you're going to need thank you cards after the holidays anyway!

There are some great new images in the store this week, and I chose to use this Badonkadonk image by Chesney Young. She is something else isn't she? And was she ever fun to color!

I colored her with Copic markers and colored the ribbon to match the red cardstock. The sentiment is one that Squigglefly will be releasing soon and I thought it was the perfect thing to say about her "asset" um - pun fully intended! LOL!

One more thing to share with you before I go. I've told you about my boss's kids, and their youngest girl is five years old and loves to come see me after she gets home from school. We color and I let her type on the computer. I'm showing her how to do things in Microsoft Word and that kid never forgets anything you teach her! Anyway, yesterday we were coloring and she always asks me to draw her some designs because the first time we colored I just did some zentangles and when she asked what I was drawing I just told her it was a design. So she's drawing little squares all over her paper and she says "I'm going to draw a ... a .... um.... " and I said "a design?" and she looked at me all surprised and said "You just jumped in my brain!" I thought that was so cute.

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

A special giveaway and a $20.00 deal!

2011-10-23T07:06:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. I was given the chance to review a scrapbooking software called My Memories Suite. I haven't had much time to play with it the past couple of weeks, but what little I have has shown me that it's got great potential not just for scrap bookers, but card makers too.

There are a lot of different background papers that you could just print out and use in card making, and I love how you can test out different lay outs before you actually make to the card to see if you like how the card is going to look. There are so many different ribbons, and stitches and embellishments included as well as lettering! Here's one scrapbook page I made using a photo of my best friend's granddaughter and new grandbaby.

Another thing that's cool is that you can print these out and put them in your scrapbook, or you can just have a whole digital album and add music and everything and send it to family and friends that way. I think it would be a great start to print it out digitally and then if you wanted you could add real embellishments to enhance your scrapbook. Anyway, the kind people at My Memories are going to let me give away one of these! If you'd like to have the chance to win this, just go visit http://www.mymemories.com/ and then come back and leave a comment telling me which paper pack is your favorite. I'll have a winner next Sunday! If you can't wait that long and would like to just purchase the software today, you can save $10.00 on the software and get $10.00 toward anything at the My Memories store by using this code STMMMS95010 when you check out! That's a $20.00 deal you can't beat!

We have rain this morning and I got all of my chores done yesterday so it's a fun day of crafting for me! I hope you have a great day, and thanks for looking!

What The Future Holds

2011-10-20T06:28:00.003-05:00

Hi everyone! Super fast post today as I have no time to chit chat, but I don't have much to chit chat about anyway so you're not missing out on anything! I just have a card I wanted to get up

Is this not a fantastic Fortune Teller image? I just love it. it would be cool to make the crystal ball a shaker window too, but I just added glitter to it. I colored with Copic markers and did a little swirly piercing on the side by the sentiment which is computer generated. I thought the fortune teller was a little Halloweenish and would make a great birthday card for a friend who has a birthday on Halloween.
Enjoy your day, and thanks for looking!

Faking It

2011-10-18T06:07:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone! The cookies were a big hit at work. A couple of the guys said they wouldn't have known there was bacon in them if I hadn't told them. I have eaten way too many of them myself!

Yesterday was nearly ninety degrees, but the rain has moved in over night and today the high is supposed to only reach 62! Yippee skippee! The weatherman is even saying that we'll dip into the thirties this Friday night. I'm so happy to hear this, I mean it's mid October and 90 degrees is ridiculous!

I told you that there was a new challenge on the Squigglefly blog. It's called Face Your Fears and you are to make a scary card or something that you are afraid of. The design team did a fantastic job on their creations and you should really go check them out. Also, there's even more reason to play along because Squigglefly is having a Mega Giveaway and every image you buy puts you in the drawing for it, so what better reason to go browse those scary images and purchase one to play?

I have a card to show today, but it's not one I made for the blog challenge. I'm still working on that one. This one uses the Starlet image by Chesney Young and the sentiment is one that will be available soon. Squigglefly is getting ready to release a bunch of great new sentiments that you will love!

I colored this with Copic markers and embossed the background designer paper with a Sizzix embossing folder. The sentiment was die cut and then chalked a little while still in the die.

I hope ya'll have a wonderful day and thanks for looking!

Cookies and Cards

2011-10-17T06:02:00.001-05:00

How do these look? Yummy? They are!

I think this is quite possibly the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I've ever made. If you're afraid to try the bacon, leave it out and it makes a great basic chocolate chip cookie. When I found the recipe, they said they made three batches of the cookie mix - one the regular way, one they browned the butter first, and the last one they browned the butter and added bacon. they took the cookies to a party and the bacon ones went first with people asking for more and saying "why didn't you make them all like this?" The browned butter ones were the second favorite, and the regular ones they had some left over. So, I think the secret to making them really good is browning the butter. Anyway, here's the recipe if you want it.

1 3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

14 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1/2 cup chocolate chips ( I used the mini ones)

1 cup bacon that's been fried until crispy and diced into roughly 1/4" pieces.

Heat 10 tablespoons of the butter in a skillet over medium-high het until melted. continue cooking, swirling pan constantly. Watch carefully as butter can go from brown to burned quickly. When butter is dark golden brown remove from heat and immediately transfer to heat proof bowl. Stir the remaining 4 tablespoons butter into the hot melted butter and stir until melted. Add sugar, dark brown sugar, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until completed mixed. Add egg and egg yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth and there are no lumps of sugar remaining. Let the mixture stand for a few minutes and then whisk again for 30 seconds. Do this several times - you want to make sure that the sugar has "melted" into the liquid. When ready, mixture will be smooth, thick and shiny.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in the the flour and baking soda until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips and bacon pieces. Don't over mix, but make sure no flour pockets remain.

Place heaping teaspoon of cookie dough on baking sheet and bake at 375 for 10-14 minutes. Mine took 11 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

I'm taking some to work today to see what the guys there have to say about them. My husband tried them and liked them a lot although he did make a face when I told him there was bacon in them! If I had told him before he ate one I don't think he would have tried them.

Okay, I do have a card for you today although I didn't make as many cards over the weekend as I had hoped.

I made this for the featured stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers yesterday. the card I picked to CASE can be seen HERE. I used the Spotty Frog Prince image from Squigglefly. Now before you think "prince?" there is another frog in the set that has a crown! I colored this with Copic markers and added some googly eyes for fun. The sentiment is computer generated.

today is a new challenge on the Squigglefly blog, so be sure to go see what Marlene wants us all to do! Have a fantastic day, and thanks for looking!

The Art Of the Dance

2011-10-15T06:48:00.000-05:00

Happy weekend! I hope you're able to squeeze in some fun play time today. I'm going to try to. I've got my grocery shopping to do this morning and then some house cleaning, but after that I plan to play!

I have something I want to try, and if it works I'll be sharing it with all of you - so stay tuned!

Here's a card I made with the Retro Dance image from Squigglefly. I colored it with copic markers and then glittered the bodice of her dress. The sentiment is one that will be available at Squigglefly soon.

Squigglefly has been busy adding a bunch of new sentiments to their store. So many great ones to go with the images you may already have! One more day to play in Squigglefly's Yipes Stripes challenge - so get busy!

Birthday diet?

2011-10-13T05:50:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! I've got a fun card to share with you today. I love the inside outs at Squigglefly. They make a card so easy to put together because the sentiment and image for both the inside and out are all there! this particular inside out is called Screw the Carbs. It comes with the Happy Birthday sentiment, but I think it would be a fun card to send to a friend for no reason if you left that part out!

and here's the inside

I colored everything with Copic markers. Sorry to cut it short, but I've got to run! Hope you have a great day, and thanks as always for stopping by!

What A Girl Wants

2011-10-11T06:28:00.000-05:00

Hello! I hope your week is off to a good start! I thought I'd share a couple more cards with you today. The first one is one I made for the Featured Stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers Sunday. The card I picked from the gallery is THIS ONE, and here is my card

I picked an older image from Squigglefly called Shopping Girl. It was drawn by my daughter Ashley. I colored with copic markers and then sponged around the image while it was still in the rectangle die with some Cameo Coral ink. I also sponged the ink onto the flower so it would match perfectly. The sentiment is one that will be available at Squigglefly very soon. Isn't it a sassy one?

My next card was done for one of the Hope You Can Cling To challenges also going on at Splitcoast Stampers. I used one of the FREE Support Shy Bears - I think they are the cutest things!

I colored her with copic markers and the sentiment is computer generated.

Don't forget to enter the Squigglefly Blog Challenge, and remember to get your 25% discount when you shop at Squigglefly by using the code spookysavings! Gotta love that much of a discount! Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

ARRR!

2011-10-10T06:30:00.004-05:00

Good morning everyone! Are you one of the lucky ones who have today as a holiday? It's Columbus Day here in the states and Thanksgiving Day in Canada - so happy day to all of you! I still have to go to work today, but that's okay. I enjoy my job and had lots of crafting time this weekend.

Squigglefly has a new challenge on the blog today and it's such a simple one that there's no reason you shouldn't play along! It's Yipes Stripes! (How many of you remember that chewing gum commercial?) Anyway, it's as simple as using stripes on your project! Here's what I came up with.

I used the new Nerdy Boy Pirate by Marlene Shaw and thought the stripes on his shirt were sufficient for the challenge. Isn't he a cutie? I came up with the sentiment and Marlene was kind enough to make it into a cool looking one complete with skull and crossbones, so if you've already bought this image look for that soon at Squigglefly. I found a skull and crossbones on the internet and made the background paper using Adobe Photoshop Elements. There's a great tutorial that my daughter made showing how to do that HERE. If you don't have Adobe Photoshop Elements, you can download GIMP free and still do it.

Now, just in case the stripes on the shirt aren't enough to qualify here's another one I did that uses striped paper.

Yes, it's another riddle for ya! LOL! The image is one by Lynne Stansbery called Sumo Wrestler. I made this for a friend who could use a laugh. Here's the inside.

One last thing I'd like to tell you all is that Squigglefly's newsletter went out yesterday, and just in case you haven't signed up to receive it you can save 25% on your entire order by using the code spookysavings when you check out! This is good for the whole month of October, so it's a great way to not only save on your Halloween images but Thanksgiving and Christmas images too! I hope you have a great day, and thanks for looking!

October Reminder

2011-10-09T06:53:00.000-05:00

Since October is breast cancer awareness month there are lots of challenges out there with that theme. I know that Splitcoast Stampers is doing their Hope You Can Cling to challenges all month long. Anyway, I thought it was a good time to point you all to the Squigglefly blog for some special freebies you may have forgotten about.
Enjoy your weekend!

Halloween Witches

2011-10-08T06:15:00.000-05:00

Happy Weekend! for those of you experiencing a headache from yesterday's riddle, I have the answer, and now I see where I kept messing up. I failed to go back and read the main paragraph - I concentrated on the clues alone. this made me forget the fact that all of the items were donated over a two week period. I think had I remembered that I would have figured it out. Anyway, here is the answer

Mr. Olson was from Midway and donated the water wheel.
Ms. Miller was from Fulton and donated the wagon.
Mr. Jacobs was from Fenton and donated the harness set.
Ms. Beebe was from Senton and donated the trunk.
Mr. Reyes was from Canton and donated the wood burning stove.
Ms. Alcott was from Keeton and donated the sewing machine.

How about another halloween card? This one used another Brian Lock image called Witch Moon.

(big enough for ya?)

I colored the image with copic markers and then chalked the sky. It's actually darker looking than the photo makes it look. Then I took a white gel pen and dotted little stars all over the sky. The spider and web border is from Martha Stewart. I still may add some eyes to the spiders - they look weird to me without them.

Have a fun weekend, and thanks for looking!

Boo! I've Got A Riddle For Ya!

2011-10-07T05:50:00.000-05:00

Good morning and let's all give a cheer for Friday! Yay for Friday!

Yesterday when I went to work my boss had a print out of a riddle on my desk. This was given to his 9 year old son who is in the third grade as homework. I have to tell you, I worked on this quite a long time yesterday and my head was hurting too much to figure it out! I still don't know the answer, but I'd love to know if any of you figure it out! I'd also be curious to know if you think this is too hard for 3rd graders. Okay, here it is

The Abbott County Historical Society had not accomplished very much until a kind donor gave them an acre of land containing an ancient home and barn. This initiated restoration work by volunteers along with requests for local people to donate items of the past that would be appropriate for the old house and barn. Within two weeks, six items were received from people in various towns. From the following clues, you are to determine the order in which items were donated, the donors (one surname was Olson), and the hometown (one was Canton) of the donors.

1. the Midway resident delivered his gift which was followed by one more before the Fenton man's gift, which wasn't the fifth.

2. Two of the three women gave household items the second week, and one was the first of three items received that week.

3. The wood-burning kitchen stove was donated just after Ms. Beebe's gift, which wasn't the antique sewing machine from Keeton.

4. The old wagon wasn't the first gift, but it was donated just before Mr. Jacob's gift, which was just ahead of the trunk.

5. Ms. Alcott's donation came just after Mr. Reyes's, which was just after one from the Senton woman, who isn't Ms. Miller.

6. The water wheel arrived just before a donation from the Fulton resident, which was just before the harness set.

Think you can figure that out? I swear, just reading the clues has my head swimming!

Okay, enough of the hard stuff - let's get to the fun stuff! I have a Halloween card to share with you. This one uses the Pumpkin Kid from Brian Lock, and the Boo sentiment from Mark Hicks.

( big enough for ya?)

I colored with Copic markers and then used an embossing marker on the BOO and embossed it with a couple of layers of clear embossing powder. the brads on the side were silver ones that i colored black with the markers.

Have a great Friday, and thanks for looking!

Could Be The Devil In Me

2011-10-06T05:50:00.005-05:00

I'm back with another of Suzanne Urban's fun Halloween images! This one is Halloween Devil and he looks like he's pleased with the fact that he just stole some poor kids Halloween candy!

I don't think you have to enlarge this baby! I "extra larged" it for you!

I colored him with Copic markers and printed the sentiment with my computer. The background is actually some fun candy corn fabric I bought a few years ago. It goes perfectly with this image don't you think?

Don't forget to play along with Squigglefly's blog challenge - you could win this handsome devil for yourself!

Hope your Thursday is really great, and thanks for looking!

Do You Drive A Stick?

2011-10-05T05:51:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone, and happy hump day! I hope your week is going well. I think it's going by pretty fast! I've got a fun card to share with you today. This one uses an image from one of my favorite Squigglefly artists Suzanne Urban. I love her quirky characters, and this witch on a Halloween Joy Ride is no exception!

(click to enlarge)

Isn't she just a wonderful witch to create with? I colored her with Copic markers and watercolored the sky. The sentiment was computer generated. I'm switching between Halloween and Christmas cards because they'll both be here before you know it!
Have a fabulous day, and thanks for looking!

Splitting Trees

2011-10-03T06:14:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone! Have you had a great weekend? Mine was really great! I made a few cards on Saturday and got my grocery shopping for the week completed. Sunday I got the meal preparation done and then we gathered at my brother in law's house for some family game time. I found some new games for us to play, and they were fun! If you're looking for some fun family games to play I can highly recommend Telestrations and Talkin' Tango! I also managed to make a card for the featured stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers yesterday!

(click to enlarge)

I'm sure most of you have heard of the Split Negative technique where you stamp your image in black on white and then again in white on black and cut them in half and piece them together. Well the card I chose from the Featured stampers' gallery used that technique, but I had never tried it with digital stamps before. I thought this was the perfect time to try it out!

It turns out to be very simple in Photoshop elements! I just opened up the image which is one of the trees in Where the Love Grows at Squigglefly and went to the "filter" button at the top and clicked on "adjustments" and then "invert" to turn the black area to white and vice versa! then I printed out one regular image and one inverted image and cut them in half and put them together!

After that it was a simple matter of coloring in the hearts and tying a ribbon at the top. I hope you will give it a try sometime soon! Don't forget that there is a new challenge on the Squigglefly blog today! Try your hand at the challenge Marlene has set for everyone and you could win your choice of Squigglefly images - including sets!

Have a wonderful day, and thanks for looking!

White and Blue Christmas

2011-09-30T06:30:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone! Yay for Friday and Yay for the end of September! October brings cooler weather and today a cool front is heading our way and it looks to be an absolutely gorgeous weekend!

I have been having such fun at work this week. My boss has three kids; a 10 year old girl, a 9 year old boy, and a 5 year old girl. They were out of school on Monday and came to visit me a little bit. I showed them how to make the Kirigami Christmas tree. Well, the little boy is super interested in origami so every day I've been bringing little things to show them how to make. Yesterday I brought them each a whirly gig that I made with some string and a button. I showed them all how to wind it and then make it buzz. The youngest one couldn't really wind it up by herself, but she was thrilled to wear a button necklace! The other day I took one of those trick severed finger in a box things and gave it to the boy to scare his sisters and friends with. He loved it! The youngest girl is into cutting paper and gluing - she's sure to grow up to be a crafter of some kind.

Today's card started out with an idea in mind, but the idea didn't pan out. I know what I have to do to make my original idea work, but I haven't done it yet!

(click to enlarge)

I used Nina Brackett's Merry Christmas Flourish and printed it in blue to match my paper. I punched a Martha Stewart snowflake punch out of the card stock and then punched another one out of some blue card stock and layered it behind the punched out snowflake in the front. My original idea was to have the punch slip through the punched out shape and then twist to hold the card shut, but a snowflake is a little too detailed to work like that. I think it would work perfectly with a simple flower or square shape.

I hope to make lots of cards this weekend so I'm not such a bad blogger next week! Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

santa claus is coming to town

2011-09-27T07:04:00.000-05:00

Good morning everyone. I have been a very bad blogger lately! I can't seem to get cards made lately. I am blaming the beautiful weather we've been having. It keeps me outside with Riley too much!

It's hard to believe that Christmas is only 88 days away! The stores have already got Christmas stuff up and it's not even Halloween yet! So, I had to had another Christmas card to my small little stack - I really need to get on the ball!

(click to enlarge)

This Kris Kringle image by Marla Shega has to be my favorite Santa Claus image ever. He is such fun to color and is such a wonderful old fashioned looking Santa. I used copic markers to color him with and used gold embossing on his spectacles and then filled them in with crystal lacquer. A little bit of glitter was used on his beard because no Christmas card is complete with some sparkle!
The sentiment was computer generated.

Be sure to stop by Squigglefly's blog to see the new challenge this week! I'll try my best to get some cards made and not be such a stranger! Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

2011-09-24T06:15:00.000-05:00

Great new Halloween images are in the Squigglefly store today! I'll be back later to share some stuff with you all. Thank you all for the prayers for my sister and her family.

Holly

Daisy Bear

2011-09-22T06:15:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. Sorry for my absence the past couple of days. Things have just been busy. One of my sisters lost her husband over the weekend and I have to make a sympathy card. It's one of those times I wish I had a stash of them to go to like I do birthday cards because it's so hard to make sympathy cards for a loved one. I plan on doing that over the weekend. I know she feels like she's missing half of herself because they've been together for so long. Unfortunately, he didn't have any life insurance and she is having trouble paying for the funeral expenses. As much as I hate to do this, if any of you find it in your heart to donate anything at all to help with this, my nephew has made a page for it here.
Even if it's just a dollar or two, it will help tremendously. I plan on going through my old stamp sets and selling them soon to help too.

I do have a card to share with you today. This card has one of Diane Carubia's cute little bears called Daisy Bear.

(click to enlarge)

I went with some bright, cheery colors because he just looks like he's brought this flower to brighten someones day! I used Copic markers to color and some cheerful flowered designer paper on the background. I used Copics to color the sky with too instead of my usual chalk!

My job is going wonderfully! I think they like me working there as much as I like being there, so all's well there! The weather has been just gorgeous here too, so if you are experiencing the lovely Fall weather please get out and enjoy it! Thanks for looking!

Purple bubbles

2011-09-18T06:28:00.000-05:00

Good morning everyone! I hope your weekend is going well. Riley was taken to the vet on Friday and the vet said she was surprised that Riley hasn't done this before because it's very common for her breed to snag their nails and have them ripped out. I certainly hope it doesn't happen again because I'm sure it's very painful. She didn't even wrap it up or put her on antibiotics. Poor baby is limping on it though. Rain came in and cancelled our planned boat outing, and we are planning on doing that later on this evening. The weather has been perfect.

Did you get a look at Squigglefly's new release yesterday? I love the Halloween ones from Suzanne Urban, and those monsters of Brian Lock's are too cute! Deena Perreault made her drawing debut with some beauties! I love the sketchy look of her images. Also, in case you missed it - Squigglefly is having a bit of sale and offering 10% off with a code word. You can find the code word on their blog, but you have to hurry because I think the sale ends tonight!

Now to announce the winner of prize from the EK Success goodie bag! Random.org picked #5 which makes Dixieglitz the winner! Dixieglitz has won......let me dig into the bag......

A Laliberi zipper flower kit! I suppose if you don't want to wear the flowers you can add them to cards or scrapbook pages, and the jewels and pearls will do nicely for card embellishing. Please send me your address so I can get this in the mail! My e mail is usyungs@gmail.com.

Can you stand another Christmas card?

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This adorable snowman is one of Cheryl Alger's called Bubble Blower Snowman. He's colored with Copic markers and I added a little bit of stickles around the edges of him. The snowflakes are made with a Martha Stewart punch and I added little jewels to the center. The pink cardstock was punched with an EK Success border punch. Isn't it a pretty one? The sentiment at the top is from Stampin' Up!

I'm going to get started on my weekly meal preparation and then I hope to make a card for today's Featured Stamper challenge. Enjoy your Sunday, and thanks for looking!

Merry Little Penguins

2011-09-16T05:58:00.002-05:00

Happy Friday everyone! Well, I've got a winner of the Craft gossip Fork and Talk event surprise giveaway I'm doing. The winner is Terri Fleming! She is the first person to use the magic word in her comment. The magic word was Rocks! I reached into the prize bag and pulled out this fun item

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I think these would be so cute in a little girl's room or nursery, but they'd be great for party decorations too. There are three different sizes in the package. Terri, I think I have your address already, so all you have to do is watch your mailbox!

The next prize item will be given away just by random number generator pick, so get those comments in folks!
oh, I suppose I should give you something to comment on! LOL! so, here's another Christmas card

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The image is by Diane Carubia and is called Penguins Christmas Kiss. Isn't it sweet? I colored them purple to go with the papers better, and besides purple is so much prettier than black! There's Snow Tex on their hats. The Snowflakes on the side are Martha Stewart punches

The sentiment is a great one by Jess Holland called Have Yourself and I changed the color to match the papers before printing it.

You've still got time to play in the Squigglefly Blog challenge, so pull out those reds and oranges and make something!

Yesterday evening Riley snagged her toenail on something and almost ripped the whole thing out! She bled pretty badly, but once the bleeding stopped she was ready to get back outside! We tried to make her lie still as much as we could. This morning she is off to the vet to have it checked out. We had planned on taking her out on the boat this afternoon and letting her run around a sandbar or two, but now we may not get to do that. The weather has been just magnificent, and her energy and mine is back in full force. I'll be back to announce the prize winner! thanks for looking!

Today's Card Rocks

2011-09-14T06:18:00.016-05:00

Hi everybody! Happy Hump day! Can you tell that I am a much happier person since I started my third new job? This one is a good fit. God really looks out for us, doesn't He?

I had a great name for my blog come to mind the other day, and I was really sorry I didn't think of it when I first started blogging since it's too late to use it now - but wouldn't "Young At Art" be great?

I have another giveaway of one of the goodies that was in my swag bag from the EK Success and Craft Gossip Talk and Fork event today. It's a little tricky though. I'm going to do something that was sort of like the "forbidden word" game we played at the event. I have a word in mind, and the first comment that uses that word will win the prize. I don't have a pre-picked prize. When the prize is won, I will reach into the bag and pull something out and that's what you win! It's a true surprise!

I finally got a card made for this week's Squigglefly's blog challenge. It's a color challenge using the colors red and/or orange. I know my card rocks!

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Literally - it rocks! LOL! Such a simple little card, but it produces a fun action! I used the funny Feather Brain image by Brian Lock for my card and colored with Copic markers. The sentiment is in Doris Day font (free here) and is printed with my computer. Here's the inside

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And with these kind of cards, it's always nice to decorate the back too.

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Please try to play along in Squigglefly's challenges! They are so much fun and you can win your choice of images - even pick a set as your prize! There are some awesome new images coming this weekend that you won't want to miss, and Squigglefly will be introducing a brand new artist!

Have a wonderful Wednesday, and thanks for looking!

blue flowers on your birthday

2011-09-12T06:27:00.000-05:00

Good morning everyone! Today is a great Monday for a couple of reasons. The first is because there is a brand new, fun challenge on the Squigglefly blog to try! Heather has given us a color challenge this week, but she's going in the opposite direction of last week's cool blue/green challenge. This week the challenge is a hot red and orange challenge! That sounds like the perfect challenge for Halloween cards which we'll be needing before long, so why not join in the fun?!

Another reason it's a great Monday is because unbeknownst to all of you, yesterday when I posted about the Craft Gossip Fork and Talk event I went to on Saturday, I decided to give the first person to comment on my blog something from my goodie bag. Tammy Hair was the lucky one to comment first, so I reached my hand into my bag and pulled out this fabulous prize

It's an American Girl Sew & Stuff Raccoon kit. You make one for yourself and one for your American Girl doll! How cute is that? I think any girl would love it even if they weren't into American Girl. The kit is geared toward young adolescent girls so it would make a nice gift to a girl to introduce them to a craft, or you could make it yourself and give it as a gift! I will be doing more of these giveaways, but they'll always be a surprise - so comment whenever you visit because you never know what you might win! I have a lot of stuff to share with you - so spread the word!

I do have a card to share with you today. It's a birthday card that uses one of the flowers from the Flower Set at Squigglefly. I really enjoyed using my colored pencils to color these when I used the kraft card stock, so I wanted to use them again using white card stock.

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Before printing the image, I changed the color from black to blue. You can see a video that shows you how to do that using a photo editing program HERE. I also used the Birthday Wishes sentiment from Squigglefly, changed the color of it, and printed these both at the same time. Once printed, I used colored pencils to color with. the border at the bottom was embossed with a border embossing folder from Provo Craft. It's a pretty quick card to make!

I hope your Monday is wonderful, and thanks for looking!

Craft Gossip’s Fork & Talk Event!

2011-09-11T09:04:00.004-05:00

The whole group!

What a fun day we had! This is the whole group of us at the end of the fun. We started out by playing a fun and silly little game called Forbidden Word. The forbidden word of the day was “make” or any form of the word. do you know how hard it is to not say “make” when you’re at a bloggers meet up and everyone is talking about what they do? It’s hard! We were all given sheets of colored circle stickers, and any time someone was caught saying that word they would get a sticker. At the end of the day, whoever had the least amount of stickers would win a prize!

Then we all took turns standing up and stated our name, the name of our blog, a little bit about what we do and blog about, and to name the most unusual item we’ve ever crafted with. Let me tell you, there were some pretty unusual craft items used by people! One of the Craft Gossip editors said she had used a tampon to apply chalk. She would push a little out of the applicator, chalk with it, and then snip the end off and push more out for a new chalk applicator. She did warn us all not to leave our tampon lying about on our craft table unless we wanted strange looks from guests! LOL! I think the woman who won the prize had applied paint to a large salmon and then pressed paper on it to make a print that she later framed. I said my most unusual crafting item was using sawdust on a card.

After our introductions we were all served a delicious meal and each table had the honor of having one of the Craft Gossip editors at the table. We also had a bottle of wine. The table I was sitting at had Craft Gossip’s quilting editor Scarlett Bouroughs. Everyone there was into crafts of some kind, but they varied greatly. There were blogs about jewelry making, decorative gourds, cooking and recipes, painting, knitting and spinning wool, sewing, etc.

After lunch we had a few people from each table move to another table so we could get to know others. Each table was given a black hat and then we got to go to a table that had different things to pick from to decorate our hat as a group. The editors at each table were then going to model the hats and the hats would be judged. they were supposed to be judged by the sponsor of the event; EK Success, but we had trouble getting Skype to connect so the manager of Trios came in and judged the hats.

picking out craft items to decorate our hats

That’s me adjusting some lace on our hat

Our group’s hat

All of the hats

The winning hat modeled by Scarlett

After that fun game we were told to check under our chairs to see if we had “winner” stuck to it, and I did! I won a really cute stamped cross stitch apron kit. I’ll share pictures of the prizes and wonderful goodies that the editors and EK Success shared with us all later, but let me tell you that they were very generous! Then we were given some kits to make little fabric flower pins or hair clips. This was a fun and easy individual project that we all had fun with. You can probably see all of the flowers we made in the group picture above, but here is a shot of my flower and my name tag.

I mentioned the goodie bags they gave us and how generous they were. Well, they gave us each a large back pack stuffed full, and had so much stuff left over that they filled each of us a grocery sack too!

The stuffed backpacks and filled grocery bag

You all know that I love EK Success products – especially their punches! I was surprised to learn yesterday that they are the company behind a lot of other products I love. They have Martha Stewart, American Girl, K& Company, Jolee’s stickers, Inkadinkadoo, and many more! So that gives you and idea of the things we got in our bags! It was like Christmas morning!

digging through our bags

I will be sharing photos of what was in the bags on another day, and I’ll be sharing some of the stuff with you – so watch for that! For now I have to get busy preparing for the work week ahead. I just wanted to share some of the fun day with you all while it was fresh on my mind. A HUGE thank you to Craft Gossip and EK Success for such a wonderful day!

I'll be back tomorrow with a card to share! Have a great day, and thanks for looking and listening!

Ho Ho Ho

2011-09-10T05:59:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! Today is a busy, but fun day for me. I'm going to get my errands done this morning and this afternoon I'll be playing at the Fork and Talk event sponsored by EK Success! I will be sure to tell you all about it, and I plan on taking my camera with me so you can see pictures.

Be sure you take some time to stop by Squigglefly's store today to see what's new! Some really cute images were released.

I have another Christmas card to share today.

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This Rotund Santa is drawn by Bonita Jones and I love the short squatness to him! I textured his hat with snow tex, and then I went really wild with is mustache and beard! I applied glue to the area and then spread apart a cotton ball and laid that on top. After it had dried, I pulled the cotton off and was left with this white fluffiness. What do you think?

I printed my "Ho Ho Ho" on the computer and cut the letters out and glued them on. Then I applied stickles to make them stand out better. After that I just filled in the circles of the "O"s with a red copic marker.

I hope your Saturday is a fun filled one! Thanks for looking!

Yellow Snow

2011-09-09T06:00:00.000-05:00

EW, not THAT kind of snow! LOL! I have a snowman card done in yellows!

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I used another of Cheryl Alger's cute snowmen. This one is called Jump, Snowman Jump! I used Copic markers to color it and outlined the snowman with a glue pen and then sprinkled some glitter on. The sentiment is computer generated and die cut with a circle die. I then sponged the circle with some yellow ink. I'm having fun using colors that aren't normally associated with Christmas cards.

Tomorrow is the big Talk and Fork Event sponsored by EK Success! I'm really excited about it. I heard that EK Success is giving everyone some wonderful goodies, plus we get to make a group project using some of their supplies. After lunch our projects are going to be judged via Skype by EK Success! Sounds like a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon doesn't it?

I've been learning more and more at my new job, and so far it's a job I do enjoy. I'm anxious to learn more so I can do more for them. I so appreciate all of your prayers and good wishes!

Have a fantastic Friday, and thanks for looking!

Autumn Days Are Here Again!

2011-09-07T05:57:00.000-05:00

Well the temperatures have changed enough here so I can actually feel Autumn in the air and I love it! I couldn't let it go by without creating a card celebrating my favorite season.

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I love this From Tiny Acorns image drawn by Lynne Stansbery. I colored it with colored pencils and sponged a little yellow and green ink around the edge of the oval die. The background was created by laying one of the Spellbinders Impressabilities die over the card and sponged some Creamy Caramel and Mellow Moss inks over the stencil. Then I embossed it with a new embossing folder from Provo Craft. The Autumn Days brad from Recollections fit perfectly into one of the embossed circles!

This was also entered into the Featured Stamper challenge on Splitcoast stampers where I CASED THIS CARD.

Thanks for all of the good wishes on my new job. I wish I had a little more to report, but the day was spent doing very little. The person training me was gone a lot of the day so she didn't have time to show me much. Today she is supposed to be there all day, so I look forward to actually learning things and getting some things accomplished. I do think that this job will be the perfect fit for me though. It's a setting I'm used to, and the people are nice. I'll keep you all posted as the job progresses.

I hope you are having as lovely weather as we are! Enjoy your day whatever you do, and thanks for looking!

SFC114 Rollin' With The Blues

2011-09-06T05:59:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! Having a hard time getting back to work after the long weekend? I'm rarin' to go - I start my new job this morning and I'm excited about it.

This week's challenge on the Squigglefly blog is to make a card using greens and/or blues. I went with blues on my card and added to my Christmas card stash with this adorable Shy Bear called Ornament Bear by Lynne Stansbery.

(click to enlarge)

I colored him with Copic markers and added some Snow Tex to his hat. I love the texture of that stuff! The sentiment is computer generated, and I added a punched and glittered snowflake at the top.

A lot of my crafting time this weekend was spent making Christmas cards. I really need to get busy on those! I'm usually a lot further along by now, but all of this job stuff has me behind.

I really want to see more entries in the Squigglefly challenge this week, so go make a blue or green card and enter for me!

Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

Lucky Duck

2011-09-05T06:25:00.000-05:00

Happy Labor Day everyone! I hope you are all enjoying this holiday as much as I am. It's been so nice to have an extra day.

Today may be a holiday, but the Marvels are still out to impress in this week's Squigglefly Blog Challenge! Marlene has a great color challenge this week - Use BLUE and/or GREEN as the main color of your card. Blue, Green, Aqua, Turquoise, Navy, Jade, Emerald, etc. There's bound to be something for everyone in this group!

Squigglefly is welcoming a special guest designer this week. Charlene is a faithful player in the blog challenges, and we wanted to give her talent at the challenges special recognition by letting her play with the pros this week! Charlene not only won a free image for winning the challenge, but she also got one of the upcoming images that hasn't even been released yet! Why don't you play along with us this week?

I don't have a card for the challenge yet, but I'm planning on working on that today. I do have a card though that I made yesterday. This one uses the cute Lovable Duckling by Diane Carubia.

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I used Copic markers to color and printed the sentiment with the computer.

Squigglefly is doing something fun this week - they have the top twenty best selling images featured on their home page. It's fun to see what everyone loves since Squigglefly has so many images to choose from. Go see if your favorite image is in the top twenty!

Thanks for looking!

I Can't Hold It In Any Longer

2011-09-03T06:24:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone, and happy long weekend! I had my last day at work and it feels good to be free from that place. I have to say though, that everyone was really nice to me. Right before it was time for me to leave my boss came back and said she was blocking the door. Then she wished me the best at my new job, told me I deserved it and that they were lucky to be getting me. That was nice to hear. However, I did find out that they are now posting my position for TWO PEOPLE! It sure would have been nice if I had been getting paid the salary of two people while I was doing the job, or at the very least had someone to help with the workload I was doing. Oh well, C'est la vie! I will start my new job on Tuesday and will be sure to let you all know how it goes.

I have a birthday card to share with you today! This one uses one of Marlene Shaw's images called Urine My Thoughts, but I didn't use the sentiment that comes with it.

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I used Copic markers to color the image and then jazzed it up a bit with a loopy border punch on the side. The sentiment was computer generated, and then I cut it apart and staggered the words. Here's the inside

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I hope you have a relaxing long weekend! Thanks for looking!

A Real Man & Blog Candy Winner!

2011-09-01T06:16:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! It's almost the end of the week and it's a brand new month! I'm so glad to see August behind us because it means we are that much closer to FALL! Well, my blog candy is over and I have a winner! Unfortunately, the winner did not enter into any Squigglefly blog challenges during the month, so she is missing out on what I was going to add to the prize package, but that's good news for YOU because I'll be adding it to my next blog candy!

anyway, without further ado the winner is Elaine A! Elaine, please contact me at usyungs@gmail.com with your mailing address so I can get your prize to you. Thank you to everyone who left me comments!

Now, let's get to today's card! My best friend called me the other night to read me something that her daughter had posted on her facebook page. When I heard it, I just had to write it down and make a card with it.

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I used The Wheels Are Turning image by Chesney Young and colored it with Copic markers. The wording was printed at the same time as the image. Now for the inside:

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I printed the words on my computer and used the wine glass from the Wine Country image at Squigglefly. I thought it was pretty funny, how about you?

Hope you have a great day, and thanks for looking!

This Party Has Bugs!

2011-08-31T06:06:00.002-05:00

Happy hump day to you all! I told you yesterday I'd be back today with my Teaparty card, and I am!

This week we are all supposed to bring ladybugs to the party, and I brought this cute one from Eline Pelinkhof called Small Offering.

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I went very clean and simple with this design! The image is colored with Copic markers and then I added some crystal effects to the wings. A piece of black ribbon is tied into a simple bow, and the image is framed with a scalloped circle.

Inside I typed up this little poem and framed it in black
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We are sending our cards to a fellow teapotter who is undergoing back surgery. I am sure all these ladybugs will bring a smile to her face!

My blog candy ends today, so don't miss the boat! I will be announcing the winner tomorrow, so be sure to come back to see if you're the lucky one! Wishing you all a great middle of the week, and thanks for looking!

Pink Skies and Blue Bunnies

2011-08-30T06:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! I have another card I made for the Featured Stamper challenge this week that I wanted to share with you. The card I CASED can be seen HERE. I loved how she colored her bunny blue, so I went with that and used the cute, new Daisy Chain Bunny by Diane Carubia and doesn't he look adorable in blue?

i uased copics to color and then I thought what goes better with a blue bunny than a pink sky? So, I sponged some pink on the background. I stamped some grass sprigs on the ground and hand printed the sentiment.

I added a bit of blue velvet ribbon behind the panel.

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I will be back tomorrow with a Teaparty card to share! Have a fun day, and thanks for looking!

FS, SFC, and FB

2011-08-29T05:44:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone, and happy Monday to you! I supposed if you are an avid Squigglefly follower like me, you probably noticed that there wasn't a new release this weekend. Never fear though - Squigglefly has SO MANY images that on the weeks there isn't anything new - it's the perfect time to go back and look through what they do have. You never know what you may have missed!

Yesterday was the Featured Stamper challenge on Splitcoast Stampers and I found several cards in the gallery that I loved. When I saw what Heather's challenge on the Squigglefly Blog was this week, I thought it was the perfect combination of challenges!

Heather's challenge is Writer's Cramp - Use chalk (any kind), pencil, ball point pen, highlighter or crayons on your project or use a school themed image or sentiment on your project. I thought it was the best thing to combine with a couple of cards in the gallery and use colored pencils on kraft card stock - one of my favorite combinations!

The first card from the featured stamper's gallery I chose is THIS ONE and here is my card

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The image I used is Retro Tulips by Jane Beljo. I used colored pencils to color and sponged some Real Red and Only Orange ink around the edge of the kraft card stock. Then I used a white gel pen on parts of the tulips. The sentiment is one I printed on my computer. I'm happy to share it with you all

Just click on the image and then right click and save it.

I have another card to share with you! this is another one I did from the Featured Stamper's gallery. The card I picked was THIS ONE, and here is my card

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My image is one of the flowers from Flowers Set by Lynne Stansbery. If you are ever at a loss for an image, this flower set is perfect! It's got four different flowers in it, and flowers are great for birthday cards, anniversary cards, congratulations cards, thank you cards, sympathy cards, and just plain old "I'm thinking of you" cards!

Again, I printed this image on to kraft card stock and used colored pencils to color with. I was intrigued by the white leaves on the card I was CASING, so I stuck with that idea on my card also. the sentiment was computer generated, and again I'll share it with you!

I really hope you'll try to play along in the Squigglefly blog challenge this week. It's the last week to get something extra added to my blog candy if you happen to be the lucky winner!

oh by the way, if you're wondering what all the acronyms in my title are - the FS is Featured Stamper, the SFC is Squiggle Fly Challenge, and the FB is Free Bee! Have a wonderful day, and thanks for looking!

Tweeting at the Teaparty

2011-08-25T05:20:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! Well, I turned in my notice and received a tongue lashing from the executive director, but once that was over with things went back to normal. yesterday she and my supervisor both told me that they were really disappointed to see me go; that I was doing a great job and they hated to lose me. That made me feel good, but not good enough to stay! It's nice to be leaving on good terms though.

Yesterday was one of Mothermark's Teaparties, and the theme is birds this week. I thought with so many people bringing birds to the party that they would love to have a pretty bird bath to relax in, so this exquisite Simple Pleasures Birdbath by Marla Shega is my contribution.

This image never fails to impress people, and coloring it is easy as pie because the shading is built in! I used copic markers to color.

If you look closely you'll see birds embossed on the background piece. That is a brand new embossing folder I found at Hobby Lobby. They got a bunch of new ones in, and this one is from The Paper Studio.
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Time is running out to be entered into my blog candy, so be sure to check that out if you haven't already. Have a fabulous day, and thanks for looking!

Under The Sea

2011-08-23T05:50:00.000-05:00

Good morning! I hope you are having a wonderful start to your day. I know I am, and you want to know why? I told you yesterday there was something I couldn't tell you, but I can tell you now! Today I am turning in my two weeks notice at my job! I have found another job that is a much better fit for me. I am excited to start and SO happy to be leaving where I am now. I feel like I can breathe again, although I do have butterflies thinking about telling them I'm leaving. Think good thoughts for me!

I told you I'd be back with a card to share today, and I have one that I made for this week's Squigglefly Blog challenge where the theme is WATERWORKS! You will probably recognize the image from yesterday's video - it's Sea You Later by Suzanne Urban.

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I figure you find fish and mermaids in the water, so this qualifies! I love this mermaid! Suzanne puts so much character into her images don't you agree? I sparkled up her mermaid tail with stickles and painted the shell with some iridescent medium.

The corners were actually punched with a border punch from EK Success, and then I added some little square gems. The sentiment was computer generated on to the designer paper - I know it's a little corny, but I couldn't come up with anything better.

Don't forget about my blog candy, and thanks for looking!

A How TO by request and a RILEY Fix Video!

2011-08-22T06:18:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! Did you have a great weekend? Mine was really good. Lots of stuff going on - some I can tell you about and some will have to wait. Aren't secrets fun?
One thing I can tell you about is that a couple of weeks ago I saw on Craft Gossip that EK success is going to be hosting the first Fork & Talk in Little Rock on September 10th. It sounds like it's going to be great food and great fun AND we get to play with new things from EK sucdess! So, I signed up and found out yesterday that I was accepted! I'm super excited and can't wait to tell you all about it!

Also this weekend there was another slew of wonderful images released at Squigglefly! Run by and take a look if you haven't already.

There is a brand new challenge on the Squigglefly blog today, and if you haven't entered any of the blog challenges this month you may want to take a look because time is running out for my BLOG CANDY, and if the winner of the candy has entered any of the challenges in August I'm adding something extra to it. I will tell you that I went shopping this weekend and picked up something special for that!

Last week when I posted my Magnifico card, I mentioned that I had erased the words that came with the image before I printed it. Well, I got a request from DixieGlitzie to make a video showing how to do that, so I put that together this weekend for her. I also go over again how to format your image so you can move it around the page where you want. This is very helpful to know to print several images on a full page of card stock. If you can't see the video on my blog, you can view it on YouTube HERE

And for those of you needing a Riley Fix I've got a new Riley video! We got her a new ball that lights up, plays music, and shakes. It's so funny when she finally gets it in her mouth because it makes her head shake. She always likes to take her new toys outside and run around with them as if showing them off to the neighborhood. She is all over the place in this video, so you'll have to bear with me chasing her to keep her in the frame! Anyway, here's that video, and HERE is the link to see it on YouTube.

I'll be back tomorrow with a card to share.

I Haven't got A Clue

2011-08-18T06:00:00.002-05:00

Well tomorrow is Friday and it can't be here soon enough for me. This has been a super long week for me, and next week is a crazy week at work so I'm not looking forward to it at all. Let's all pray the weekend is as long as this week has been!

I have a fun card to share with you today. I say it's fun simply because I enjoyed making it. I used the wonderfully versatile Elementary My Dear image by Lynne Stansbery.

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Once I came up with the sentiment I decided to use Ransom Note font because I think ransom notes would be left as clues for someone. I embossed the background with the script because it seemed to go along with the whole note thing.

the inside of the card says "How I missed your birthday. Hope it was happy!"

Don't forget about my Blog Candy! You can see how to be in the drawing and possibly get something extra by reading This Post. If you've got a wonderful day full of fun things planned I hope your day lasts and lasts, but if you've got to work like me then I hope it flies by! thanks for looking!

Magnifico!

2011-08-17T06:10:00.001-05:00

I have a great blog candy going on! If you want to be in the drawing for it go read THIS POST

Hi everyone - happy hump day! for me it's extra special because it's also pay day! Wait - I'm not so sure about that because every time I see my pay check I realize how underpaid I am! Well, on to better and more fun things! I have a card to share with you today that uses one of the images that was just released at Squigglefly this week. This is from Suzanne Urban and is called Four Star Chef. Suzanne has such unique characters in her artwork. I am always smiling when I'm coloring her images.

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This image actually comes with words that say "From the four star kitchen of" and there's a line to write your name, but I just wanted to make it into a card so I erased the words and line prior to printing.

I love how the chef is actually floating because the aroma of his magnificent dish just lifts him up! It was a quick card to make as there is minimal coloring. The sentiment was computer generated and printed directly onto the designer paper.

If you are already signed up for my blog candy, don't forget that there is something extra in it for the winner if they've participated in at least ONE Squigglefly blog challenge during the month of August!

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

Touchy Tree

2011-08-16T06:15:00.002-05:00

I have a great blog candy going on! If you want to be in the drawing for it go read THIS POST

Hi everyone! Happy Tuesday to you! Well, yesterday was actually a good day at my new job. It may have had something to do with the fact that a lot of the office was out all day for training on a new computer program, but I did get some time to catch up on some things.

Today is another Mothermark Teaparty, and this week we are supposed to bring either Trees, something to do with Golf, or something to do with Winter. When i saw TREE, I immediately went to my favorite Squigglefly tree image Spring Tree by artist Angie Davis. Since it's summer time, I added lots of greenery to my tree which leads me to the TOUCHY part of my post. Squigglefly's blog challenge this week is to add texture to your card, so this fluffy tree is perfect! I also embossed the card base with the Swiss Dots embossing folder for even more texture.

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I paired my favorite tree image with my favorite Squigglefly Birthday Greeting by artist Jess Holland.

Everything was colored with Copic markers. Here's a close up of the fun tree fluff!

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I used some fun grass stuff that I got from Myer Imports . They have a lot of unique embellishment supplies there, so check 'em out if you're ever looking for something different.

Please go by and see what the wonderfully creative Headliners have done with the challenge. You will be completely amazed at how some of them added texture to their cards! and take some time to play along yourself - you could win some free Squigglefly!

Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

Blue Bird

2011-08-15T06:49:00.002-05:00

I have a great blog candy going on! If you want to be in the drawing for it go read THIS POST

Good morning and Happy Monday everyone! Thanks so much for the "everyone's human and makes mistakes" comments about my ad error. Ya'll know how to make a girl feel better!

This weekend I was saddened by the news that our dear blogging friend and former Squigglefly DT member Stef aka Glitterbabe lost her husband Clyde. I sat down to make a sympathy card for her as soon as I heard. Please keep Stef in your prayers while she adjusts to life without Clyde.

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The image is one of the birds from Angie Davis's Wishing Birds. I printed it twice - once on to card stock and once on to paper. I cut the paper one out and used it as a mask while I brayered on some ink for the background.

The bird was colored with Copic markers and I printed the sentiment with my computer. I drew thin white lines down the outside edges and then frayed the card stock a bit with some scissors. The mask left a little bit of a white shadow near the bird where the brayer couldn't cover, so I filled that in with a Copic marker.

Today is a brand new challenge on the Squigglefly blog! Be sure to go see what Heather has challenged everyone to do. I know the Headliners will inspire you with their creativity!

Have a wonderful day, and thanks for looking!

Some Cherry News

2011-08-10T06:16:00.001-05:00

I have a great blog candy going on! If you want to be in the drawing for it go read THIS POST

I told you I'd be back with my card for this week's Squigglefly Blog Challenge, and I am!

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I went with the Cherries image by Angie Davis and used some buttons for the cherries. My buttons were originally white and I colored them with Copic markers. The sentiment is computer generated.

This is a super fast card to make, and would be great for several occasions. I could see it as a get well card or just a card to send to someone who could use some cheering up.

Now for a little bit of a work update. I am starting to understand some of the stuff that is being thrown at me which I find as a huge relief. I am responsible for a report at the end of the month, and it's something I've had little time to work on and look at and understand. Well, yesterday I finally had a little bit of time to take a serious look and was pleased to see that it made sense to me. I don't feel that confident that my report will knock anyone's socks off, but it was wonderful to have it not look like Greek to me!

On the other hand, I'm also responsible for placing ads in the paper and today one of my ads breaks and late yesterday afternoon I discovered an error in it! Too late to pull it or change it, so I'm really embarrassed about my ad being wrong today! I keep hoping I'll get the hang of things! Keep me in your prayers because I really need them!

Have a fabulous day, and thanks for looking!

A Paws

2011-08-09T06:17:00.000-05:00

I can't believe there aren't more people interested in the blog candy I have going right now! If you want to be in the drawing for it go read THIS POST

Today my card is for Mothermark's Teaparty. The challenge is a simple one - use dogs! I chose to use the Scottie In A Scarf image by Chesney Young just because I think he's so cute. I used copics to color him with and printed out the sentiment.

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I almost used buttons instead of silver brads so I could enter this in Squigglefly's Blog challenge, but I have another card for that that I will share with you tomorrow. If you read the blog candy post, you know that the winner of the candy will get a little something extra if they have entered any of the Squigglefly Blog challenges during the month of August, so making a card with buttons is an easy one!

Did you happen to see the new images that were released at Squigglefly on Saturday? If not, you should put going there on your list of things to do!

It has been SO HOT here the past few weeks. Temps well over a hundred every day, and not cooling off much at night either. Rain has been scarcer than hen's teeth too. Yesterday we did get a decent bit of rain though and the leaves on everything perked up considerably. Today they are saying it will only get to about 96 degrees! If you can read the sarcasm in that sentence then you're spot on! I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday, and thanks for looking!