We had a wonderful Christmas.  Jen, Matt, Mark and Sydney were here and their Aussidoodle, Sadie, was here to meet Charlie and entertain him!  This year Sydney has her driver's license, so she was able to go and do her own Christmas shopping.  She purchased Christmas outfits for Sadie and Charlie and they wore them all evening!  Charlie was a Christmas tree with a star on top of his head.  Sadie was a girl wearing red plaid to match Sydney!

I am also posting another box card I made using MFT Stamps' Card Box and Low-Profile add-on.  The little critters are also from My Favorite Things:  Sweet Holiday Penguins and Frost-Loving Friends stamp sets.  Today my plan is to clean up my scrap room and the other parts of the basement that are loaded with gift wrap, ribbon and more!   Ever since Blogger changed, I cannot seem to get the pictures in the places I want them.  So the pics take up more space than is necessary. Have a great day!

Christmas Week

Usually at this time of the year, Christmas is all around us.  This year, we are only going to the stores we have to go to and no little Christmas get-togethers with our friends.  It is kind of sad.  But tonight, our neighborhood had a Christmas parade in the neighborhood.  It was very cute.  Motorcyclists led the parade and Santa was driving one!  Then came fire trucks and golf carts decked out for the parade.  There were a couple of floats and on one of them, neighbors were the carolers.  It was an extremely cute way to celebrate Christmas.

Today's post includes three cards that were created using retired Stampin' Up plaid paper, Carta Bella Tartan #2 and Echo Park's Gingerbread Christmas papers.  Scrapbook.com has a large selection of pattern paper and you can purchase one sheet or ten.  If you are ever looking for a particular theme or color of pattern paper, try Scrapbook.com.    I used both gold and white embossing powders.  A couple had brads and others did not.  

On another note, tonight one or two hours after sunset, you should be able to see the "Christmas" star in the western sky.  It has not happened in many years and is actually Jupiter and Saturn so close together that it looks like a star.  I even set my alarm so I remember to look for it tonight.  Have a great day.

Merry

Today's cards are bright and cheerful.  The "MERRY" was cut using My Favorite Things' Stacked Merry Die-namics.  The bird is from Penny Black's Winter Wonderland stamp set.  I used different stamps for the word "Christmas".  As cute as the "christmas" font is on the Pool Party card, not having an Upper case "C" bothered me.  So then I found another "Christmas" stamp and started using that one as it had the Upper case "C".  Tonight my Christmas cookie decorator is coming over for our annual baking weekend.  Looking forward to having Sydney here to keep our baking tradition going.  I am so happy that at 16 years old, she still looks forward to our annual "toast the bread for stuffing" and "bake the Christmas cookies".  She is such a loving young lady.  Have a great weekend!

My Christmas Cards

I made a variety of Christmas cards this year.  Today I am posting the cards I made especially for my group of family/friends who are into beaches and Jimmy Buffett.  The images  used for these cards are from     Newton's Nook Designs' Sun Soaked Christmas stamp set.  I especially like the sand lady rather than a snowman. For the card bases, I used Stampin' Up's Magenta Madness, Real Red and Coastal Cabana.  The cards are quite simple, but the colors and images are the little bits of brightness we all need this year!  Have a great day!  

Between Christmas cards and puppy watching, I almost forgot to make a card for my favorite son-in-law!   As you can see, it was rather simple.  Even though he recently had hip surgery, he was up for a celebration.  And it was a very different celebration.  We all met in a parking lot near Higgins and Sutton Road.  When we all arrived, Jen passed out the celebration treats:  little mini hot lava cakes for each of us, a party favor of  German cookies, plastic silverware and birthday napkins in a foil pan!  It was a birthday party to go for each car!  Jen's friends, Kristin and Mike, decorate their house for Christmas and not just decorate the house!  They put up the lights and the lights are coordinated with music.  You pull up to their house, turn to a radio channel and listen to the music as the lights on the house and trees dance to the music!  They do this themselves.  They don't have a company that does it.  So, after the parking lot meet-up,  we then had a four-car parade to Mike and Kristin's house to watch the light show.  It was a fun way to celebrate on a cool, winter, pandemic night!  Have a great day!

Box Cards

 Today I am posting a picture of two box cards I made.  For both cards, I used My Favorite Things c

Card Box and Low-Profile Add-on.  If I wanted, I could have also purchased the now Drift Add-on, but I decided I could make my own snow hills.  And, I did.  But, I should have just spent the extra money and purchased the snow add-on!  The images in the box card to the left are mostly from MFT's Toasty Greetings stamp set.  The box card on the right includes images from MFT's Sweet Holiday Penguins.  The tree is from MFT's Happy Pawlidays stamp set.  The messages are on the back side of the box.  Now that I have made a few of these low profile box cards, the next will go quicker.  Have a great weekend!

Charlie

 

John and I have been looking to adopt a small dog for a good 6 weeks.  Many of you know that we are all for rescuing dogs.  If you want a big dog, there are many available.  And many of them are puppies, too.  And so many are beautiful.  Matt has four rescues and they are the best dogs.  But, I wanted something I could handle for the rest of his and our lives.  I have filled out many applications and put in my bid for almost a dozen dogs at various rescues.  One in particular, North Central Maltese rescue had a handsome little guy named Pete.  He was a poodle mix and about two years old.  I started filling out the application and in red it stated that if you are over 62 years of age, you can only adopt dogs that are six years or older.  Another asked in their application where the dog would sleep?  I answered in his crate in the laundry room.  There were two dogs there that I was interested in.  Unfortunately, my answer was wrong.  She thanked me for applying.  And for my information, a dog should never be separated from his or her human at night.  If any other dogs became available, they would contact me. Matt took me to the Winnebago County shelter to look at a dog, but I could only look.  Luckily, his family came and claimed him.  The others I was looking at were all adopted or spoken for before me.

So, John and I decided to buy a dog from a breeder.  And so yesterday, we brought Charlie home.  We are happy to have a dog in our house again.  He is a Shih-Tzu, 9 1/2 weeks old and as cute as a button!   And he slept thru the night in his kennel and it was  dry when John woke up this morning!  I wanted a little dog that would keep me moving!  He does that, too.  He is in need of a grooming, but we will wait until after his vet appointment this week.  Have a great day!

Loads of Joy

I took a break from making cards for the grown-ups and made a few cards for some of the awesome boys in my life.  I used the Loads of Joy stamp
set from My Favorite Things.  The pattern paper is from the Snow Day Remix collection from Lawn Fawn.  The images were stamped with black Versafine ink and heat embossed using clear embossing powder.  I used Copic markers to color the images.  A few sequins were added to  the white space.  Have a great day!

Birthday Daisies

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving in spite of Co-vid.  We did for sure.  Mark was here, too, after having hip surgery the week before.   This Thanksgiving was definitely different from past Thanksgivings, but we still had too much food and a great celebration of our blessings.

Today's card is one I made for my friend, Nancy.  She celebrated her birthday last week.  I used Stampin' Up's daisy punch and Daisy Lane stamp set for the flowers.  The sentiment is a retired Close To My Heart stamp.  I layered everything on three pieces of cardstock that were cut with My Favorite Things' Elegant Rectangles STAX Dies.  Have a great day!

Thanksgiving

 

Our  Thanksgiving will definitely be different this year, but the children and our granddaughter will be here and for that we are grateful.  We will be missing 11 of our favorite people.  On the positive side, there is no need to get out all of the good dishes, glasses and silverware and put them in the dishwasher for a quick wash before setting the table! 

I want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I hope you are all able to be with at least some of your loved ones.  I am very thankful for all of my family and friends.  I truly am blessed.  Have a very Happy Thanksgiving and a great weekend!

Season of Thanks

Today's beautiful card was created by my dear friend, Kathy Z.   The items used for this card are from Stampin' Up's Gilded Autumn Suite.  The pattern paper is just one in the gorgeous Gilded Autumn Specialty Designer Series Paper collection.  Kathy used the Gather Together stamp set and the coordinating dies.  The pretty metallic ribbon and little champagne rhinestones complete this pretty card.  Thanks, Kathy!  Have a great day!

Thankful

Yesterday I received this most beautiful Thanksgiving card from my friend, Cherie.  She put in a lot of time and as always, Cherie paid attention to every little detail.  The finishing touch is the little tag hanging from the bow!  I will be stealing that little detail for a future card.  Thank you so much, Cherie!    So pretty!  Have a great weekend!

Girl With A Penguin

While I should be working on Christmas cards, I have started making some Valentines for Cards For Soldiers.  The little girl and her penguin are adorable, and the saying is so perfect for a military mom or dad to send to their child.  Actually, it is perfect for anyone who is not with their loved one.  The stamp set, You Sleigh Me, is a Pure Innocence set from My Favorite Things.  I colored the images with Faber Castell polychromos pencils.  The red frame was created using a die from Papertrey Ink.  Have a great day!

Fun Friends

There surely was a chill in the air yesterday!  I actually thought about wearing a winter coat!  There was no snow but the cold, windy air did speak of winter!  So today I am posting a wintery card I created using My Favorite Things' Frost Loving Friends stamp set from Stacey Yakula.  After coloring the very cute bear, I stamped the snowy background.  Their Elegant Rectangles STAX dies made the perfect layers.  The plaid paper is a new pack of MFT papers consisting of plaids in a variety of colors.  The color of the little bear called for Stampin' Up's long ago retired Close To Cocoa cardstock and the blue plaid matched his hat.  After arranging the elements on the card, I used my Wink of Stella clear glitter pen for the snow.  

I know we don't see each other very much due to Co-vid, but because of each and every one of you, life is truly more fun!  Have a great day!

Autumn Daisies

The colors and the wood background paper on today's card make for an Autumn feeling card.  I used Stampin' Up's Daisy Lane stamp set, the coordinating daisy punch, background paper, cardstock and retired ribbon for the main elements of the card.  For the leaves I used a die from MFT Stamps' Fab Foliage die set.  A few little sequins and a sentiment complete the card.  Have a great weekend!

Veteran's Day

Yesterday I spent a little time making cards that will go to the military via Cards For Soldiers.  These were very easy to make.  If you need a numbers of cards for the holidays, this layout is a great one.  Use the appropriate sentiment, a card base, strips of paper and cardstock and the cards will be done in no time.  Instead of hearts, you could use punched leaves (Thanksgiving) or punched stars (Christmas).

If you see  someone wearing their military hat or shirt or jacket today, give them a shout out!  They deserve recognition for their service to our great country.  Have a great day!

Red Poppies

The other day I made a card using My Favorite Things' Painted Poppies stamp set.  As pretty as red poppies are, their significance is what makes them even more beautiful.  The red poppy commemorates those who gave their lives in World War I and all wars after.  Here we celebrate Veteran's Day and in England and other countries they celebrate Remembrance Day.  Here in the United States imitation poppies are distributed around Memorial Day and Veterans Day when donating to the American Legion   I remember as a child, my parents putting coins into the donation can.  The one of us kids with them at that time, is the one who got to wear it and keep it.  It is just in the last couple of years, that I have not run across a special person standing outside the Jewel with poppies and the little can.  Have a great day!

Grateful For You

The sentiment on today's card is from Stampin' Up's Beautiful Autumn stamp set.  After stamping it on Papertrey Ink's off white cardstock, I cut it using My Favorite Things' Elegant Rectangle dies.  I sponged the edges using Chocolate Chip ink, the same ink used for the sentiment.  The leaves were die cut using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Leaves dies.  The Chocolate Chip layer was embossed using SU's Layered Leaves embossing folder.  After wrapping the Elegant Rectangle layers with twine, it was adhered to the Chocolate Chip layer using dimensionals.  The leaves and adhesive dots competed the card.  Have a great day!

Simple Autumn Card

Today's card was copied from a card that Paula had shared with me.  The images and sentiment are from the Beautiful Autumn stamp set which is in Stampin' Up's Occasions Catalog.  Everything was stamped in Soft Suede.  I added retired Soft Suede Dots and layered the white layer on a piece of Soft Suede cardstock.  Paula used another image from the stamp set so that her leaves were more colorful.  I left my card monochromatic.  Either way, the card is simple to make and yet pretty.  Have a great day!

Happy Halloween

It looks like the children will have a good weather day for Halloween tomorrow.  They deserve it after the horrible weather they had last year.  A few posts ago I promised a Haunted House treat box made with pattern paper and here it is!  It is pretty cute and even has a matching Halloween card.  The paper is from Doodlebug Designs.  The cat on the card was punched using Stampin' Up's Cat punch and retired Halloween paper.  Have a great weekend and enjoy the extra hour of sleep Saturday night.

Bird Ballad

After all of the Halloween cards and favors, a simple card was on my to-do list.  Stampin' Up's Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper is very pretty and I never purchased it.  But my friend, Paula, did and she shared!  I used Always Artichoke cardstock and Soft Suede ink and they were a good match to the  the DSP.  The sentiment is from a long-ago retired stamp set, Sincere Salutations.  After stamping the sentiment, I punched it out with SU's Timeless Label punch and sponged the edges lightly with Soft Suede ink. I finished the card with a little bow which was made with Braided Linen Trim.  Have a great day!

Pretty Owls

 It is Halloween and most creatures are a bit on the scary side. But not the owls on today's group of cards.  Once again the pattern paper is  from Doodlebug Designs.  I used Stampin' Up's circle and scallop circle framelits and their retired Owl Builder punch.  In addition, on the Tempting Turquoise and Magenta Madness cards, I added little "boo"s to the designer paper.  I stamped the "boo" with Versamark and then used very old Tempting Turquoise and Melon Mambo embossing powders.  I have quite a few items that were great when I first purchased them and then go unused for several months or years~~like these embossing powders and the Owl Builder punch.  And the items are still great.   Have a great day!

Halloween House Card

For this card, I used Lawn Fawn's Scalloped Treat Box die and the Haunted House Add-ons.  Before adding all the die cuts, I sponged the background with Distress Inks.  I temporarily put a little circle in the sky prior to the sponging so there would be a moon.  Next time, I will have a bigger moon.  I used Doodlebug Designs pattern paper for the house and the teal door matches the teal front door on my house!  The only things not Lawn Fawn were the pumpkins.  Those dies are from Simon Says.  Have a great day!

Have A Hoot

 

Doodlebug Design makes some very cute pattern paper.  I like buying scrapbook paper from Scrapbook.com because I can purchase one 12x12 sheet or several.  You can also purchase a 12x12 collection and/or 6x6 collection.  The papers on today's card are from Doodlebug's Candy Carnival Collection and their Ghost Town Collection.  They are both double-sided.  In addition, the weight of Doodlebug's paper is strong enough to make favors.  I will have to use one of their papers to make another Scalloped Treat Box Haunted House.  

The sentiment on the card is from Stampin' Up's Have A Hoot stamp set.  It was the perfect one to go along with the owls on the paper from Doodlebug.  The tag on the treat box is from Stampin's Up's Little Treat Box dies and the sentiment is from the Little Treats stamp set.  I do enjoy making Halloween cards.  There are so many cute Halloween papers and stamps, and those I like are bright and fun and happy~~especially needed these days.  Have a great day!

Halloween Houses

Over the weekend I was playing with Lawn Fawn's add-on to their Scalloped Treat Box die~~Haunted House Add-On.  As you can see, the treat boxes are adorable.  It takes a little time since I have to cut the pieces multiple time on my Sizzix Big Shot.  But the time is well worth it.  Next I need to make some cute little tags and a few more treat boxes, too! Have a great day!

Four Rectangles

 

A couple of weeks ago I posted a Fall card for which I used a stencil to create the background.  For the four rectangles on that card, I used Distress Ink.  It was a pretty card.  

Today I am posting a card for which I used four pattern paper rectangles to create the background.  Another Fall card, I used Cajun Craze for the card base and ink.  Each pattern rectangle measures 1-3/4" by 2-3/8".  Those rectangles fit nicely on the off white cardstock which measures 4" by 5-1/4".  The sentiment determined the size of the sentiment cardstock layers.  The sentiment you use will determine the size you will need.  The sentiment is from a retired Close to My Heart stamp set.  The punched leaf is from Stampin' Up's  Autumn Punch Pak.  Have a great day!

Autumn Blessings

Fall Friends from My Favorite Things, is one of my favorite Fall stamp sets. The little girl images are very cute.  With the cute images, you can make a pretty card very quickly.  After stamping the image on a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of what cardstock, I used Copic markers to color it.  I chose pastel colors for a Fall change of pace!  Once the sentiment was added, there was too much white space.  So a few little leaves were added.  To finish the card, I added the Crisp Cantaloupe frame which was made using Papertrey Ink's die, Skinny Embossed Frane.  Have a great weekend! 

Midnight

This is Midnight, Stacey Yacula's Halloween kitten.  Isn't she so cute?  For the background, I sponged the edges of the white cardstock using Distress Ink, keeping the edges dark and leaving the center with little or no ink.  Midnight was stamped, colored with Copic markers and cut on the Scan N Cut.  The moon and stars were cut using Lawn Fawn's Spooktacular die set.  The bat was cut using an Amuse framelit.  Lastly, "boo" was in my stash of Halloween leftovers from last year.  

Speaking of leftovers, I have so many leftovers that yesterday I spent the afternoon going through bins of miscellaneous stuff--cards without images or embellishments, die cuts, stamped and cut images, and more!  I found some really cute half-finished cards and images, which I have kept.  I found things that made me wonder why I saved them.   If I haven't used them in over a year, I won't be using them.  Those things are gone from my scrap room.  I will make a real effort to use the things I kept.  Have a great day!

Cute Pumpkin Carvers!

Isn't this the cutest Halloween image?  Actually, I think it is almost the cutest as I also purchased a cute Halloween kitten stamp.  They are by Stacey Yacula for Purple Onion Designs.  I stamped the image and the sentiment and then colored with Copic markers.  Now that I have looked at the picture of the card, I can see a couple little areas where touch-ups are needed.  The stamps from Purple Onion Designs are red rubber and umounted.  I previously purchased a clear mount for the rubber stamps and it holds the stamp nicely while I stamp.  I have never gotten the hang of using my Misti to stamp with rubber, so out came the Stamp-a-ma-jig.  The white layer was cut using one of the Blueprints die sets from My Favorite Things.  Have a great day!

HB2U

One of my neighbor girls will be celebrating her 14th birthday later this month.  This is the card I made for her.  I used a variety of stamp sets including:  My Favorite Things' Birthday Buddies and Fall Friends and Sunny Studio Stamps' Happy Harvest.  After stamping the images, I cut them out on my Scan N Cut and colored with Copic markers.  Before creating the little scene, I sponged white cardstock using Distress Inks and then used a die from Lawn Fawn's Fancy Rectangle Scallop die set. The plaid paper is from Lawn Fawn and it might be retired by now.  

Today is Matthew's birthday so we are going out to lunch together.  Have a great day and weekend!

You Rock Birthday

Today's card is brought to you by my friend, Nancy.  She made this card for a neighbor.  The neighbor's son-in-law is a guitar fan.  Nancy would be able to make the perfect card!  And she did that!  She used various circle punches and I am thinking she used a portion of cardstock punched with the Decorative Label punch to hold the strings.  Not sure how she did the pick, but whatever she did, the card is a WOW!  Thanks for sharing, Nancy.  Have a great day!

Thanksgiving Cards Already!

I am way ahead of myself when it comes to holiday cards!  I should be working on Halloween and birthday cards but I started making a Thanksgiving card.  And then I liked it enough that I made three more!  I used Elizabeth Craft Design's Pumpkin dies.  Once the pumpkins were cut, I sponged edges of them to add some depth.  The first card was pretty simple.  The next card I added a daisy made with a punch from Stampin' Up.  On another I added a cute little squirrel between the pumpkins.  The sentiment on all cards is from a Gina K stamp set.  Later today I will get to work on birthday cards!  Have a great day!

Just Plain Cute

 

Today's card is a simply cute one.  The image is from Stacey Yacula & MFT Stamps' Always Bring A Smile.  When I first received the set, I stamped and colored the images in the set.  This little mouse image was so cute sitting on my counter that I had to make a card with it.  Truly clean and simple, this card really is all about the cute image.  Speaking of Stacey Yacula, Purple Onion Designs had a few of her cute Halloween stamps that I couldn't resist.  Hopefully they will get here soon.  

Have a great weekend!

Fall Is Here

It is official~~Fall has arrived.  For today's card I created the background using the Window Panes stencil from My Favorite Things.  After centering the white cardstock under the stencil, I brushed Ranger Distress Oxide inks over the rectangles of the stencil.  When I was happy with the brushed inks, I then made the leaves using Lawn Fawn's Stitched Leaves dies.  After die cutting the leaves, I sponged the edges.  The sentiment in the one rectangle is from Just Rite Stamps.  This is one of those easy cards of which you can make a few in no time at all.  

Have a great day!

Birthday & Favors

 

Over the weekend we celebrated John's birthday.  Since hunting season preparations have begun on the duck blind, I decided his card would have to do with hunting.  For this card I found a free clipart and saved it to Word.  After I made it the size I wanted, I then added the sentiment in the font I preferred.  I backed that onto black cardstock and a white card base.  And this was a card that he even made reference to by saying, "Nice card, Hon!"  For the favor tag I found a St. Louis Cardinals logo, printed it numerous times and used a Stampin' Up punch to make the tag.

Sunday was Cricut Sunday so I used the same die, Stampin' Up's Little Treat Box.  The box is easy to put together and by using different cardstock and colors, they were perfect for both occasions.  The leaves on the Night of Navy treat boxes were created using Stitched Leaves dies from Lawn Fawn.   Have a great day!

Friends

A while back I saw a card on Facebook that was created using stamps of little girl images from My Favorite Things.  There is a group of us who have been friends for 36 years.  We have sat on soccer fields watching our boys on Sunday and our Girls on Saturday.  We were together for Boy Scout camp outs and meetings and award ceremonies.  We also spent weekends with each other when our husbands had the girls at Indian Princess weekends away or Indian Guides weekends when theboys were away.  We celebrated graduations, weddings, baby showers and Septemberfest weekends together.  We were and are here for each other when our loved ones have died.  And then we also spent weekends together at campgrounds and hotels (in the winter).  And now we watch our grandchildren grow up.  I wanted each of them to know that even though we haven't been together for a while, I am thinking about them.  

I first had to find the stamps that would work.  Then I had to figure out how to stamp  and mask.  Let me tell you, that took a little time and a few tries.  But I finally got 5 little girls stamped and colored.  I decided that I would copy the original, which I did.  But, the colors weren't all coming out on my printer.  So I then touched each one up with Copic markers.  When I was happy with everything, I made the slimline cards and added the little tag with our names.  Hope you all have the amazing friends that I do!  Have a great weekend!

BOO

 As I was going thru cards posted on Facebook, a cute card using the word "BOO" caught my eye,  It was created by Candice Fisher.   When I had the chance, I went downstairs and made my version of it.  I used all Stampin' Up products for mine, the pattern paper being retired.  I am not sure what products Candice used, but she used dies for the scene behind the letters while I used pattern paper.   Have a great day!

Dropping In

Yesterday was a simply gorgeous day!  After the dreary past week, the day was especially enjoyable.  It is time to send greetings to a few of my elderly friends.  Today's card is the happy mail they will be receiving from me this week.   I decided to use my Zig watercolor brush pens as I have been seeing some pretty water-colored cards.  I used Sunny Studio Stamps Beautiful Autumn stamp set and coordinating dies for the leaves and acorns.  I stamped a few leaves and started water coloring.  Those didn't turn out, so I stamped more and more after that!  I finally choose the best leaves and acorns and put the Zig brushes away!  There is something about water-coloring that just doesn't work with me.  Back to the Copics for the next card!  

Before adhering everything to the white layer, I splattered gently with Early Espresso refill ink.  Twine and sequins finished off the card front.   Have a great day!

Jumping In Leaves

Today's cute card was made using Stacey Yakula's Piles of Fun stamp set and coordinating dies.  The leaves under the squirrel are one image.  I stamped that directly on white cardstock.  After coloring everything, I then chose retired Stampin' Up Designer Series Paper and Cajun Craze cardstock for  layering.  I used my Misti to stamp the sentiment.  Since I wanted the sentiment curved, I played with it a little until I got it to a halfway decent curve and then stamped the card front.  Before adding the squirrel and leaves in the air, I sponged the upper section of the card using Distress Ink.  

Have a great day!

A Birdie Told Me!

Hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend.  We did for sure. Summer is coming to an end and even though I have posted some Fall cards, my mind is still in summer mode!  Today's brightly colored card was created using Pretty Pink Posh's Mini Storybook 1 die. The little bird, birdhouses and sentiment are all from Sunny Studio Stamps' A Bird's Life stamp set and dies.  The yellow polka dot paper is from Lawn Fawn and the Grapefruit Grove cardstock is from Stampin' Up.  This card is sure to bring a smile to someone's face.  Have a great day!

Dog House Row

I received the Dog House Cubbies stamp set that I ordered from Art Impressions.  I was going to make a quick card with it, but all of the coloring and die cutting was not quick!  But isn't it so cute?

I decided I would not try to be perfect since these were dog houses and I wanted them to look weathered and a little beat up.  But, I don't like that look!  It just looks sloppy.  Next time, I will be neater.  For the blue layer I used Versamark ink and paw print and dog bone stamps to make the background.  Anyone who receives a card made with this set will for sure be card-worthy!  Have a great Labor Day weekend!

Piles of Fun

We had a beautiful weather weekend and I could almost feel a bit of Fall in the air.  Yesterday, a few of the Cricut ladies came over and we had a most enjoyable afternoon.  We did not craft but we had a lot of fun.  On Saturday we went to Jen and Mark's house. We had Maggiano's to go and Sydney drove with Mark to pick up the food.  Hard to think she is old enough to be getting her driver's license soon!  It was just a great weekend.

Luckily, I created today's card last week.  The stamped images were created using a set from My Favorite Things Stamps, Piles of Fun.  I first stamped the pile of leaves, masked over that stamped image and then stamped the little mouse.  I colored everything with Copic markers, using SU's Cherry Cobbler cardstock for the card base and retired More Mustard pattern paper to coordinate with the colors of the leaves.  Have a great day!

Happy Mail

The Co-vid pandemic has changed our lives in many ways.  When Jen, Syd, Matt and Mark come over, we sit in the driveway socially distancing.  When my neighbor children come to see if I can come out, we sit in the driveway and usually they bring at least one of their dogs, too.  We are the highlights of each others' days sometimes.

This year the Scrapbook Expo was kind of held online.  I thought, "I will at least save some money by not shopping at the convention center."  I was wrong.  That didn't work so well!  I started watching some of the classes online and got sucked into buying a few things.  One of the stamp/die sets I purchased, Happy Mailbox Cubbies,  is from Art Impressions.  (Actually I purchased two of their Cubbies stamp/die sets.  When I receive the second, I will be posting a card created with that set, too.)  It caught my eye thanks to one of my favorite enablers.  The die not only cuts the row of mailboxes, but it also cuts little slits in which to put your mail, notes and more.  The set even includes a little bird to perch on the mailboxes.

I stamped the image with black Versafine ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  And then I used my Zig Watercolor Brush Pens and a blender pen to color the images.  Before adhering  the image to the white cardstock, I brushed the white cardstock lightly using Distress Ink.  Actually this final image is probably the third attempt using the Zig brushes.  Using a blender pen instead of water with the Zig brushes made the coloring much easier.  I will be water coloring more often~~thanks to a video by Art Impressions.  Have a great weekend!

Fall Wreath

I really make good use of my Scan N Cut and my Cricut.  But sometimes, I appreciate punches so much more!  I open a drawer, choose the punch and punch~~no muss, no fuss.  So when I saw the set of three Fall punches, I ordered it together with the coordinating stamp set, Beautiful Autumn.   After die cutting a circle in white cardstock, I got to punching out leaves and an acorn.  Before adhering the leaves, I splattered the white cardstock with Cajun Craze ink, adhered it to another piece of cardstock and stamped the sentiment inside the  circle.  After arranging the leaves and a little acorn, the card still needed something else.  A green twine bow was the perfect embellishment,.  Have a great day and keep cool!

Sweet Sixteen

We celebrated Sydney's birthday over the weekend.  We met for ice
cream and as always, had fun at the parking lot party and being with each other.  Syd has always been my little sweetie pie, so I made her card using the My Favorite Thing's Sweetie Pie die set and their pattern paper.

When she opened her present from us, she was surprised and was crying because it was too much money that we spent! I told her we spent the money so long ago, we didn't really spend any!   She was very surprised and drove it home.  Little did I think, when we bought that car nine years ago, that it would be Sydney's.  John detailed the car, Matt filled it with gas on his way to the party and with 50,000 miles Sydney will have a few good years with it.  Have a great day!