Susan Goetter

Challenge #56 - Non-Dominant

2012-01-31T09:53:00.001-06:00

Our challenge this week from Laura at I am the Diva was a big surprise for me. This week we've been challenged to do an ENTIRE tile or ZIA using only our non-dominant hand. Since I'm right handed, I did my string, tangles, and shading with my left hand. It was very difficult for me to "let go" and let my left hand take over control of my tangling while my right hand just sat idly by doing nothing! The result is a bit wobbly and shaky, but here it is:

I thought I would add....about 2 years ago I had surgery on my right thumb which put my right hand out of commission for about 3 or 4 months. During that time, I had to use my left hand for some things, so even though my lines are a bit wobbly and shaky on this tile, I think if I had not had to use my left hand so much two years ago, it would definitely been messier looking.

Thanks so much for popping in! Love your awesome comments! Have a wonderful day. I'll be drawing for the winner of the gift card later today, so stay tuned to find out if you're a winner!! You still have a few hours to post a comment on this post if you want your name entered in the drawing. Good Luck!

Until next time...

Hugs!

LIM52 - It's a Bit Sketchy

2012-01-29T16:43:00.004-06:00

With just another day or two to go, you still have time to leave a comment for the drawing on January 31st. Just pop over to this post and leave a comment. I'll be giving one lucky person a nice gift card in celebration of my 4th anniversary as a blogger. Come on, now...you know you'd like to have a gift card to buy a few more craft goodies!

This week marks one year of the Less is More challenges. Chrissie and Mandi have challenged us (and I do mean challenged me!) for a full year to create cards that are clean and simple. I had some favorite weeks (loved the silhouettes, something with legs, red and orange, and leaves) and I've had some weeks that I almost gave up (snow, acrylics, and one word)...but I hung in there and always gave it my best. I think I only missed one week of the challenge. I can honestly say that I believe that playing along with this challenge has made me try things I might never have tried and I feel like my cards are much more CAS than they were a year ago. In fact, I'm so used to the CAS style, I have a great deal of difficulty making anything else now! LOL! Thanks so much, Chrissie and Mandi, for the challenges!

Okay...on to the challenge. Here's our sketch this week. We were given specific rules for this week and they are as follows:

We would like the card to be

rectangular
in landscape orientation
with the band remaining in a vertical position

As it's a very simple sketch, we would like it to remain as is without any rotation of either the card or the vertical band.

I've made three cards this week. The first one looked good in my head, but didn't transfer to paper very well.

This card is a 4 x 8 inch card. I used PTI stamps for the vases and flowers. The background piece was made with TH glimmer mists - two shades of blue and a touch of pearl. The shelf under the vases was an afterthought...and it looked much better before I added the doodling with the white pen. I also doodled on the vases after coloring them with Copics. The "shelf" was made by punching an edge and trimming it down. Sentiment is also PTI.

This card is a 5.50 x 4.25 inch card. I cut a red strip, punched out part of a circle, then backed the red with the black card stock. The hearts were punched with two different EK Success punches. I punched out several of each of the hearts and then glued them together to make 3 thicker hearts. Added a bit of twine and hung the hearts with a bow. The sentiment was generated on the computer...so...no stamping on this one. I also added a small piece of bling to each heart.

I like how this card turned out. Images are from Flourishes. I stamped the stems on the green card stock, then trimmed it down to the width I wanted, leaving the stems hanging off the edge. I stamped the blooms on a piece of white card stock, then colored them with Copics. I cut out each bloom and added them to the card....some are pop-dotted and some are flat to the card. The sentiment is an old stamp...not sure who makes it. I backed the green strip with a pink strip to make the flowers "pop".

I thought I'd share a layout I finished last weekend too.

These photos of my darling little granddaughter, Maggie, were taken in April 2011. I used Echo Park Summer Days collection for this layout. I used my Cameo for a lot of the cutting for this layout. The swimsuits, the sun, the title work, and the "little miss sunshine" image. The clothes line is a QK die. Swimsuits are pop-dotted. I cut the sun to fit in the corner of the layout, popped it up with pop dots and coated it with yellow stickles. The little banner tags down the side of the photos were made from scraps of paper, then attached with multi-colored brads. LOTS of doodled stitching on this layout. I generated the photo collage in Picnik (which sadly is closing down on April 19). I guess I'll have to find another free program to create my photo collages! The little miss sunshine girl is a cutting file in the Silhouette library, but I used the print and cut feature of the Cameo...cool stuff! Journaling is tucked behind the photo mat. It's difficult to tell here, but I cut some 1/4 inch strips to put at the top of the green tab. I stacked about 3 strips on the tab to keep the journaling from slipping behind the photos...and as it worked out, the pink strips I added makes it "look" like the green journaling tag is behind the big pink background...pretty cool, huh?! (The black border is not on the layout, it was added in photoshop to keep the edges from fading.) Journaling reads:

Maggie, you're our little ray of sunshine! You brighten up a room just by walking in. You look so precious in your little bathing suit and wearing your sister's sunglasses. You're all decked out and ready to head out to the pool. Photos April 14, 2011

Whew! That's all for today. I'll be back in a couple of days to announce the winner of the drawing for the gift card. Don't forget to pop over to this post and leave me a comment, if you haven't already done so! Everybody loves free stuff...Right?!

Thanks so much for stopping in! I always appreciate your sweet comments!! Until next time...

Hugs!

OLW76 - Grey and White and a touch of Color

2012-01-26T14:31:00.000-06:00

Don't Forget.....you still have time to leave a comment for the drawing on the 31st.....Take a moment to leave me a comment on this post. I'm going to be giving away a nice gift card to one lucky person in celebration of my 4 year anniversary as a blogger. Couldn't YOU use a gift card for craft goodies??

I think we're getting back on track with out One Layer Wednesday challenges. This week, Susan has challenged us to create a one layer card using only grey and white with a "pop" of color. Here's my take on the challenge this week.

Okay....so I have absolutely NO stamping on this first card....yep, that's right! This card is complete computer generated with my Silhouette software. The lacy images are actually cutting files that I have filled with grey. I did the same thing with the sentiment. I made my paper size the same size as an unfolded card base would be (4.25" x 11") and then arranged my elements to fit the right hand half of the paper. Printed it out on my ink jet printer. I was actually just playing around with this to see if I could do it, and lo and behold, it makes a right "purty" card! I added a couple of teal bling pieces for my pop of color.

The second card is virtually the same thing, I just used a different cutting file to print onto my card stock and added a few pieces of red bling.

For my last card, I decided to play fair and use a stamp with some grey ink. I used the SU big medallion stamp...inked it up with Memento's London Fog ink. To get a good clear image, I inked the image and leaving it face up on the table, I placed the card down on the stamp and rubbed it to transfer the image. I did the same think in the upper right corner of the card. The sentiment is a SU sentiment that I've had forever!

When I first saw the challenge, I really thought these would be blah...yuck cards, but I really like the end results!

Thanks a bunch for stopping by! Love all your fab comments!! Until next time....

Hugs!

Challenge #55 - Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day

2012-01-25T10:25:00.001-06:00

Edited to add:You still have time to leave a comment for the drawing on the 31st.....Did you take a moment to leave me a comment on this post? I'm going to be giving away a nice gift card to one lucky person in celebration of my 4 year anniversary as a blogger. Couldn't YOU use a gift card for craft goodies??

January 24 was Moebius Syndrome Awareness Day. Laura at the DIVA's blog has a little guy, Artoo, that has Moebius Syndrome. Moebius Syndrome is a congenital nerve disorder that affects nerves that control the lateral movement of the face. The challenge this week was to use the Moebius Syndrome logo in our tangle. Here's my take on the challenge:

Thought I'd share another of my recent tangles with you too. This is one I've piddled with for two or three days and finally decided that I was finished. I think I'll call it Wiggles.

Thanks so much for popping in! I appreciate your comments...they make my day! Until next time...

Hugs!

LIM51 - Aperture - aka - an opening

2012-01-21T22:10:00.008-06:00

ATTENTION!

You still have time to leave a comment for the drawing on the 31st.....Did you take a moment to leave me a comment on this post? I'm going to be giving away a nice gift card to one lucky person in celebration of my 4 year anniversary as a blogger. Couldn't YOU use a gift card for craft goodies??

I can't believe it's only Saturday and I already have my card(s) for the Less is More challenge from Chrissie and Mandi. Of course, like many other LIMettes, I usually check first thing on Saturday morning to find out what our weekly challenge will be. I had to think hard about this one. As usual, I didn't peek at the early entries...that just makes the challenge more difficult for me! So, after a fun filled day in my craft room, I've made three cards that I'd like to share with you.

I'm not sure why, but I had a very difficult time photographing these cards. This first one looks like it's just a label on the card, but trust me...it's a big rectangle hole in the middle of the card. The happy birthday is printed on the inside of the card. After I cut the hole in the front, I printed the sentiment on the computer. Now that was a trick getting it in the right place! LOL!

Here's a close up of the front..hopefully you can see the aperture better here. The label I used was a Spellbinder die. I cut out 5 white labels and cut the centers out of each. I drew around the inside of the die cut to get an even border for each of the labels.

I cut one more label out in red and trimmed the center out of it also. Then I ran all but one white label through my label maker (xryon). Very carefully, stack all the layers with the red layer on the top. This makes a very nice faux chipboard piece. I carefully aligned the label over the hole in the front of the card, then added a couple of pearls to dress it up. Very simple looking, but it did take a while to get all the layers trimmed and lined up.

I hope this second card counts as an aperture. I used a Martha Stewart "anywhere" punch and punched it three times down the side of the card. Then I scored a couple of lines on either side of the punches. Now comes the tricky part....THEN I put it through my printer to get the sentiment on it! Am I crazy or what! By the way, there is a trick to getting these punches lined up. Look closely at the etchings on the metal part of the punch.

This last card took a while to come together. I cut the oval with my Spellbinder. Then I made a frame using the two larges dies, and embossed them. The blooms are Flourishes cone flowers. I colored them with Copics and then did a little fussy cutting. I pop dotted the edges that sit on the card front so that the bloom would be level with the part hanging over the opening. The sentiment is also Flourishes, and is stamped on white, and cut out with a Spellbinder banner tag. I inserted the tag between the frame and the card and then adhered it on the right with a glue dot. The card looked really plain, so I used the negative image from cutting the frame as a mask and sponged an oval inside the card behind the flower...leaving the center of the oval a little paler.

I finished a layout this weekend too...

These are some photos I took of my darling granddaughter, Katie, on New Years Eve (2011). I wanted to practice with the new lens I got for my birthday, and Katie was happy to model for me! I used Echo Park's Life is Good collection for this layout. The butterfly is a Memory Box die (and it's a very delicate butterfly). Circles were cut from ppr with my circle cutter and several different size circle punches. The scroll border is a Sizzix die, and the pink border was punched with a MS punch. The title work is some faux chipboard letters I made. To make the faux letters, just cut out the top letter in the paper you chose and then cut 5-6 more of each letter from plain white card stock. I cut "almost" with my Cameo, so it was kind of quick. The "13" was cut with Papertrey Ink number dies and I had to run it through my Cuttlebug a few times to get all the numbers cut. Then I ran all but one of each letter/number through my sticker maker to make the backs sticky. Almost done....then layer them one on top of the other and you'll end up with a nice thick letter. Really looks cool IRL. Blooms were from my stash. The leaves behind the flowers were cut with a Memory Box die. Flower centers were made with liquid pearls. I inked the edges of most all the pieces and added quite a bit faux stitching with both a black and a white pen. Journaling was printed on the computer and cut into strips and adhered across the bottom. Journaling reads:

Katie, it’s hard to believe that in just a few short months you will be 13…a teenager! In the blink of an eye, you’ve lost your little girl look and have become a beautiful young lady.

So...which card is your favorite? Is there anything anyone would like for me to do a little tutorial on?

Don't forget...go by this post and leave a comment so you'll be entered into the drawing.

Thanks so much for popping in! I appreciate your visit and your wonderful comments! Until next time...

Hugs!

OLW75 - Let's Hear it for the Boys!

2012-01-21T21:31:00.003-06:00

ATTENTION!

You still have time to leave a comment for the drawing on the 31st.....Did you take a moment to leave me a comment on this post? I'm going to be giving away a nice gift card to one lucky person in celebration of my 4 year anniversary as a blogger. Couldn't YOU use a gift card for craft goodies??

Now....on to the challenge...

Susan at Simplicity posted challenged #75 on Wednesday. I actually got a few cards made for the challenge but didn't really like any of them and wasn't going to post them, but....I changed my mind. Cards for a guy are really the most difficult to make for me. I always struggle with getting a good balance and still keeping it masculine.

Out of the the four cards I made, this first one is probably my favorite. Nothing special about it...it's just peaceful. The image and the sentiment are both from Flourishes. Did a little coloring and a bit of shading with my Copics and sponged in a touch of brown for the ground. The sky was sponged over a torn edge that I just kept moving around. I have a nice horizon...maybe I should have put some water on here? Nah....

I've made one like this before, except this time I masked off the square and sponged it with DI - peeled paint. The image and sentiment are both from Flourishes.

Same concept for this one basically. I used a torn edge and sponged with the peeled paint DI. Kind of gives it the look of torn paper and layers. I used a straight strip of paper and masked the area where I wanted the sentiment, then put the torn paper over that before sponging the ink on. Then because the sentiment strip looked stark, I sponged just a tad of green on the edges of it after taking the torn edge off. Sentiment and image are from Flourishes.

Looks like it was a Flourishes kind of day for me. This image is also from Flourishes (the same set as the chair). I colored with Copics, sponged in a little ground. Then, because I wasn't crazy about the card, I just hand wrote the sentiment and added a few dots to it....should have used a stamp!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate all your comments...and I really hope you'll stop by this post and leave a comment so that I can put your name in the drawing for the gift card. Until next time....

Hugs!

My New Tangle - Dyzzee

2012-01-17T13:17:00.003-06:00

Today, I'd like to share my new tangle with you. I've been tangling quite a bit (for the therapeutic benefits) and I was excited when I finished this one. I've named it Dyzzee (dizzy) because coloring in in made me feel a bit dizzy! LOL!

By the way...I've submitted this tangle to Tanglepatterns.com and it was accepted and should be posted there soon.

Anyway...here's the step-by-step ...

Here's my sample...see why I called it Dyzzee?

That's it for me today! Thanks so much for stopping in. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of my new tangle...I love your comments! Until next time...

Hugs!

LIM50 - Fly Away

2012-01-15T23:14:00.001-06:00

ATTENTION! Did you take a moment to leave me a comment on this post? In celebration of my 4 year anniversary as a blogger, I'm going to be giving away a nice gift card to one lucky person. I'll be drawing a name on January 31. Couldn't YOU use a gift card for craft goodies??

Chrissie and Mandi at Less is More have challenged us to create a one layer card with the subject of birds. I think for some, this will be quite simple...but for me...WOW! I have very few bird stamps! I've been digging through my stamps for two days, and I couldn't find much to work with! I finally remembered that I have some birds in my Silhouette program and thought maybe I could print those on a card and work from that. After I totally messed up the 9th card, I almost called it quits! I don't think I've had that many goof ups yet!

I have two printers - an ink jet and a laser printer. Never use the ink jet printer to print and image and then try to ink it....ask me how I know! I tried coloring the images with my versamark pen and heat embossing, I tried to ink without embossing...nothing worked! The ink on the images just smears...and if that didn't happen, I managed to get my inky fingers on the white areas of the card! GAAH!!!

I finally tried printing the birds with my laser printer and I was able to get the card done. This is the first card I tried. I love the concept, but the bird's wings are smeared and it really looks icky!

I printed the birds with the ink jet printer and heat embossed them (not very well it seems). Then I masked off a section on the card and used a circle to mask off the moon. I inked with several shades of distress ink, then removed the moon mask and added just a touch of inking to the moon. The last step was to add the trees stamped in Memento black. If it wasn't for the smeared birds...I kinda like the card. You'd think after 9 tries I would have gotten it right! LOL!

This one is a touch better, although I kind of over-inked the setting sun...but I do love the colors! The sentiment is from PTI. Birds were printed from my Silhouette program files.

And finally...one of my very few bird stamps...my chickens and roosters! I believe these are from the Clear Arts Stamps. I stamped the birds in Memento ink, then colored them with Copics. The "ground" was made by tapping a brown pen repeatedly across the bottom. The sentiment was computer generated (after coloring the birds). What a risk taker I am! I could have totally messed that up and had to redo it!! Thought I'd send this to a guy friend of ours who has been in the hospital for a few days. It's kinda masculine, don't ya think?

I managed to finish a layout this weekend too.

Photos of my grandson, Jacob at Christmas. For this layout I used Bella Blvd's Christmas Wishes collection. I used the MS loopy punch on two edges. The rick rack strip is one of the strips on the patterned paper. The cookie monster was an image I found online. I printed him on card stock, cut him out, and adhered him with pop dots. The cookies he's eating are some that I cut out from another photo that I made of just the cookies when I took these photos of Jacob. The embellies "nom...nom...nom..." were computer generated and matted with blue card stock, then adhered with pop dots. The "cookies" part of the title work was cut with the Cameo, colored with Copics, and highlighted with a white signo pen. The "me want" part of the title was cut with Papertrey Ink alpha dies. Journaling was computer generated and cut into strips and added to the bottom of the layout and reads:

Every year we make cookies and candies for Christmas. This year (2011) Jacob watched everything we did and was always waiting for the first batch to come out of the oven. His eyes lit up with every batch! Our new favorite cookie recipe this year was Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies.

There wasn't room on the front of the layout, so I added the recipe to the back of the layout, so that whoever ends up with these albums will have the recipe. Here it is in case you'd like to have it, too. These cookies are absolutely delicious!

Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies

Makes 36 cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
1/4 cup molasses
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a shallow bowl, place 1/2 cup sugar; set aside.

With an electric mixer, beat butter and remaining cup of sugar until combined. Beat in egg and then molasses until combined. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in dry ingredients, just until a dough forms.

Pinch off and roll dough into balls, each equal to 1 tablespoon. Roll balls in reserved sugar to coat.

Whew! I was long winded today! If you made it all the way through...Thank You! Don't forget to leave a comment on this post so you can be entered in the drawing for a gift card! Thanks for stopping by!! Your comments are always appreciated!! Until next time....

Hugs!

OLW74 - Pink and Red

2012-01-15T18:51:00.001-06:00

We've had a little break from our One Layer Wednesday challenge, but this week we back on again. Susan has challenged us to create a one layer card using ONLY pink and red. That's a lot tougher than it sounds! I couldn't think of a think to do, but finally ended up with these three...but I really only like the first one! LOL!

For this first card, I used a PTI flourish and stamped it in SU Real Red. I added pink highlights with a pink Copics. The sentiment is also from PTI. I think a few pieces of bling might be in order too!

The doilies on this card are from My Mind's Eye. I stamped them in SUs Pretty in Pink. The sentiment is one I've had forever and I stamped it in SU Real Red, but for some reason it looks burgundy here. Bling might be good on this card to...might liven it up a bit.

I wasn't too crazy about this card at all. First I masked the card with a strip of paper about the size I wanted the candle to be, then I used an old HA cupcake stamp and stamped over it in SU Pretty in Pink. I then drew my candle on it...kinda made a nice fit too. The sentiment is from SU and is stamped in Real Red.

Thought I'd share a layout too... This is a photo of my hubby's aunt and uncle. I think it was taken sometime around 1934. All papers are some older Graphic 45. Title font was cut with the Papertrey Ink letters. Flowers were cut with a QK die and layered with a bling center. I used the Victorian punch on the edges of one paper...a little inking and some doodling. The three embellies were cut from one of the G45 papers and layered on blue and red, then I covered them with some glossy accents.

Thanks so much for stopping by!! Don't forget to leave a comment on this post so that your name will be included in the drawing! I do appreciate all you fabulous comments!! Until next time....

Hugs!

LIM 48 - The Color "Purple"

2012-01-09T19:42:00.004-06:00

A quick reminder: I'll be giving away a nice gift card to one lucky winner on January 31. (Now who wouldn't like to have a gift card for some crafty shopping!?) If you'd like to be part of the drawing, just pop over to this post and leave a comment. I'll gather all the names from the comments and have a drawing at the end of the month. Don't forget!

Purple? Really? I rarely use purple...don't have anything against it, just never use it....so this week's challenge at Less is More really threw me for a bit. I put my thinking cap on and came up with a few cards using mainly purple. Now...before you say anything, let me tell you...these really are purple, I just couldn't get the photos to reflect the actual color. For some reason they look all pinky-purple in the photos, but trust me, they are definitely purple!

This first card was made with some Bo Bunny scraps I had. I cut the purple DP a bit smaller than the card front, then cut it apart and used an EK Success punch to punch the edges. The sentiment is from PTI and is stamped in purple. I colored two clear bling with my Copic pen (purple) and added to the sentiment. The purple panels are also pop-dotted for extra dimension.

This second card is actually the first card I made. The blooms are a Flourishes stamp (Orchids). I colored the image with purple (now why does it look blue????) Prisma pencils and used OMS for blending. I stamped the image again and colored the same, then cut out individual petals and pop-dotted them over the original petals for a bit of added dimension. The flower panel is also pop dotted on the card base.

For this card I used a Spellbinder die for the butterfly and the doily behind it is a PTI stamp. The image was stamped in purple, and the butterfly was colored with various purple Copic pens (and they look pink in this photo! Gaah!). I added a little sparkle with some glitter to the butterfly.

This last card was made using a PTI text stamp (stamped in purple) and the Happy Birthday sentiment stamped repeatedly across under the text stamp. The Happy Birthday stamp is from Hero Arts (I think). The small butterflies were punched with a MS punch and the larger butterfly was cut with a Spellbinder die. I used liquid pearls (in lavender) for the body of the butterflies and added a touch of glitter to each one. Again, these really are purple butterflies...not pink!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate all your visits and your wonderful comments! Don't forget to pop over to this post and leave a comment (and become a follower if you're not already following) so that I can include your name in the drawing! Until next time...

Hugs!

LIM47 - One Word

2012-01-03T14:09:00.004-06:00

The challenge issued by Chrissie and Mandi at Less is More for the last week of 2011 and the first week of 2012 was to create a card using a one word sentiment. My time has been limited the past few weeks, what with all the kids coming home, a big family get together during and after Christmas...and just the general busyness of the season.

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas...and I hope your New Year brings peace and happiness to you and yours!

I've managed to get two cards finished for this challenge...neither one thrills me...but here they are:

I apologize for the photo, I was trying out my new lens that my hubby gave me for my birthday, and I still haven't mastered it yet. This first card was directly inspired by one of Chrissie's cards (you can see here) I used different colors...but the concept is the same. I love my beautiful "sunset"...and the trees are some new stamps I ordered from Repeat Impressions. I got the unmounted version and then painted the back with Aileen's Tack It so that I could use them on my acrylic blocks.

Started not to post this card...it's just sort of blah...but it is what it is. I should have left the "moon" off and just sponged the sky area. Butterflies are a MS punch that I punched from inked paper and then coated with glitter glue. The Congratulations sentiment is an old HA stamp (I think).

Thought I'd share a photo of our Christmas tree this year. We decided that this would be the last year for this tree...it's a nine foot tall, pre-lit, artificial Fraser Fir tree, but it's just too big for us anymore...the storing and the decorating. I have to use a ladder to reach the top branches! I do love how bright the tree is! I was practicing taking photos with a little tutorial I found that said to totally over expose the pic to get this glowing tree...and it worked!! I turned off all the lights in the house except for the tree lights and this is what I got! I was so excited when I saw how these photos turned out!

As I mentioned in an earlier post...this week marks the 4th anniversary of my blog, and I'm going to have a little RAK for one of my followers. You can find the post with all the information here. I hope you'll join in the fun!

Thanks so much for popping in! I do appreciate your visits and your comments are always welcomed! Until next time...

Hugs!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T16:46:00.001-06:00

Another year has rolled around! Happy New Year to all my friends and family! My wish for you in 2012 is....

May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts. May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills. May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips! May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires and may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy. May the problems you had forget your home address! In simple words ............

May 2012 be the best year of your life!!!

Today is also the 4th Anniversary of my blog! It's hard to believe that I've been blogging for 4 years! The time has really flown by! I wasn't very active on my blog for the first couple of years, but during the past 2 years, I've posted more frequently and have really been enjoying myself. I've met so many talented people via my blog...and had the opportunity to visit other blogs where crafty goodness abounds! What a wonderful world we have in BLOG-LAND!

A BIG thank you to all my followers...I appreciate you stopping by to see what I've posted and for those of you who leave me comments...you really make my day! I really appreciate you taking the time to leave me a comment or two.

SO...in honor of my Blogoversary today, I think I'll put together a little RAK for one lucky winner whose name will be drawn on January 31, 2012. To be eligible for the drawing, all you need to do is leave me a comment to let me know you've popped in, (and maybe you could tell me what your New Year's Resolutions are...) and I'll put your name in the drawing for a RAK. If you're also a follower that would be awesome too! The RAK might just be a gift card ...how does that sound to you? I know I'd LOVE a gift card to some of my favorite stamping/scrapping places!

I hope your 2012 is a wonderful year! Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time...

Hugs!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-23T11:39:00.001-06:00

I wanted to take a minute today to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.

Today is my birthday....turning 61 is tough...the years are just flying by and it seems to get faster every year! My brain still thinks I'm 30...but the body just can't keep up! LOL! So far the day has been fabulous! My sweet husband gave me a certificate for a massage and pedicure....both of which I've already taken advantage of...pure bliss!!! Later in the evening, we'll be getting together with some of the children and grandchildren for a birthday dinner celebration...and this morning the florist delivered me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers!

I've spent this morning baking and making candy. Let's see....we have brownies, peanut brittle and pecan brittle finished....so I think I'll take a little break and then do a little more this afternoon. Gotta get all the goodies ready for the influx of the Goetter clan (about 40 people!) on December 26!

Hope your Holidays are everything you hope for...filled with joy and peace! Hugs to all!!

LIM46 - Feel the Music

2011-12-17T17:44:00.001-06:00

This year is flying by!! It time again for the Less is More challenge which is hosted by Chrissie and Mandi...and this week we've been challenged to make a card with a "music" theme. I've finished three cards and I'm not totally happy with any of them, so...if time permits, I might just have to make another card or two before the week's out. Of course, with all the Christmas prep, I might be a little strapped for time.

Next Friday is also my birthday (sigh....) The years just keep flying by! Anyway...back to the cards...here they are:

This first card is super simple. I used a mask that I tore from the center of a paper to stamp the music background...but first I stamped the large sunflower and masked it. Sunflower and sentiment are from Flourishes.

This next card is just a music background that I stamped on white card stock, then cut out with a PTI die. I colored the edges with a gold foil pen and a black marker. The music note was cut with the Cameo. Sentiment from Flourishes. No idea who makes the music background.

This last card was made with the Cameo mostly. I cut the piano from black card stock, then added some gold highlights with a gold uniball pen. Sentiment is from Flourishes. The bench is pop dotted for a little added dimension.

Like I said earlier...super simple cards this week. Thanks a million for stopping by! I truly appreciate your comments!!

Until next time...

Hugs!

One Layer Wednesday #73 - Ohmmmmm

2011-12-14T11:41:00.003-06:00

Oh My! Three posts in one day!! I am seriously behind!!

This week for the One Layer Wednesday challenge, Susan at Simplicity has challenged us to make a card that says peace to me....I guess that could be anything, but I've chosen to use the word peace.

As some of you know (those that follow my blog), I've been doing a bit of Zentangle Inspired Art. I recently drew these "balls" and filled them with tangles. Before drawing the balls, I traced the word Peace across the front of the card in pencil, then added the balls behind the letters. I didn't want to send out this card (now why is that?), so my son suggested that I scan the card and then print copies of it. What a wonderful idea that turned out to be. I was afraid to add color to the original sketch, but with the copies I could color all I wanted too!

The other cool thing is, I was able to make the few extra Christmas cards I need to finish for this year.

This second card doesn't say "Peace", but when I was drawing it, I felt peaceful. This new hobby really helps me to relax and be at peace. I haven't copied this card, but it might make a good birthday card...or who know...with a touch red on the flowers, it might make a good Christmas card.

Here's all the different variations of the card after I printed it out on the card stock (I was able to get two cards with each 8.5x11 sheet of card stock). Some I added a glittery pen stripe too, others I added glitter on the word Peace, and some I just colored the ribbon. Overall, I'm pleased with the way these turned out. Some of them, not so much, but I learned each time I colored another card. If you'd like to see them bigger, just click on each card. You'll see that I even cut the image out and popped it on one card, and on another card, I added a popped up blue sparkly "Peace". I know that not strictly one layer, but most of them are definitely one layer.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I truly appreciate your comments! Until next time....

Have a wonderful week!!

Hugs!!

LIM45 - MORE snowy days...

2011-12-14T10:48:00.001-06:00

Okay, so I wasn't really finished with the snow cards for the Less is More challenge! Here's a few more that I finished this weekend. Thankfully, I believe I have enough cards finished now that I can get my Christmas cards in the mail soon!

I think this first one is my favorite of all the snow cards I made this weekend. I stamped it in sepia ink and then highlighted the snow with a touch of glitter and lightly sponged the sky in the background. The sentiment is from PTI.

This next card I should be ashamed to post...it's just not clear at all. I used the same stamp as the previous card, just stamped with versamark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. Handwritten sentiment....again! I believe I've learned my lesson now!

This next one is also one that almost hit the trash. I thought the silver line around the border would enhance the stamped/inked image...but I smeared the fine line I drew and had to make it a broader silver line and I think that's why I don't care for the finished card. The sentiment stamp with the snowflakes is all one stamp ...I just stamped and embossed it as I did the others. You'd think with all this heat embossing, that my embossing skills would improve, but I really don't think it's helped that much!

Thanks again for popping by! I love it when you leave me a comment! Have a great day!! Until next time...

Hugs!

LIM45 - Snowy days....

2011-12-14T10:32:00.000-06:00

I'm running behind again this week! Why is that? Maybe it's just the season. At any rate, I finished my cards for this week's Less is More challenge over the weekend, and I'm just now getting them posted! Hopefully, I'll have time this evening to visit a few of you and take a peek at what you've been up to this week!

I got a little carried away making snow cards...mostly because I didn't really "love" any of them! LOL! Unable to decide which one to post, I'll just post them all and you can be the judge!

This first card was stamped in Versamark and white ink then heat embossed. I masked off the moon and then sponged over the embossing with some DI - stormy skies. I wiped the embossed area off and added a touch of color to the cabin and the rocks with my Copic pens. I don't know what I was thinking, but I decided to add the sentiment in my handwriting...probably should have stamped it!

I like this second card...not crazy like...just like. I stamped the trees with Versamark and white ink then heat embossed, sponged with blue DI....then added my handwritten sentiment. You'd think I'd have learned something after writing the first one...but not me! I had to give it another try! LOL!

My snowman card is a bit different. I used my Cameo to make this card. I figured out how to replace the bladed with a black pen, then I just "sketched" the image rather than cutting it out! Okay, this was too cool! I did discover that the black pen must be skinny, so I couldn't use one of my Copic fine liners, and then when I colored my snowman, the ink would smear! It's a cute idea though. Once again, I "tried" to write the sentiment....Geesh! it's crooked too!

This card was just downright simple! I stamped the snowflakes (from several different stamp sets) and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I stamped the sentiment, then sponged DI over the background. Easy-peasy!

This card was just for fun...I'm not sure about the colored ink I used to stamp with, but it just didn't look right stamped with black. I drew the "hill" with a matching marker. The snowflakes were from several different stamp sets. I believe most were from Inkadinkado.

Last, I wanted to share another layout of my beautiful baby granddaughter, Maggie. I adore these photos of here. The photos were taken by AmyP photography.

I'm not sure I've done the photos justice, but I was trying to make the photos be the focus of the layout. I used my Cameo to make the lattice background which is layered over another piece of white card stock. The lattice is only adhered to the white background on the edges. I added faux stitching on each side of the lattice strips. The original lattice has a four petal flower at each intersection, and I also added a punched bloom on top of each intersection. The mat for the oval photo was cut with the Cameo, as was the title work. I cut a thin strip of the teal and added it as a border to the lattice before adhering it to the white background. I also layered the white background on a teal background. I added a touch of lace under the large photo that mimics the lace on the baby carriage and ran a piece of teal ribbon through the top edges. The blooms are some that I have had in my stash forever...I believe they were from Michaels bridal dept. I had some flat pearls that I colored with Copics to match the teal and then adhered them to the centers of each of the punched blooms.

Journaling is adhered to the back of the layout (because there wasn't a good place to put it on the front!) and reads:

Maggie, you are our baby girl...our youngest granddaughter. You are a little shy and tend to "study" the people you meet. You love shoes and can entertain yourself for hours walking around in a pair of your Mama's shoes. I'm sure I'm probably a bit biased, but you are a beautiful little girl...with your big blue eyes and curly blond hair. You will always be our beautiful baby girl!

Thanks a million for stopping by! Your comments are always appreciated! Until next time....

Hugs!

LIM44 - Going Green

2011-12-06T22:37:00.005-06:00

Saturday has come and gone, and I'm just now getting my cards made for this week's challenge at Less is More. It's the first week of the month and so once more it's a Color challenge, this week we are using the color green.

When I first read what the challenge would be...I thought...great, this will be easy. Well, I was wrong. Of course, I wasn't sure if we could add other colors or if everything had to be green. Here's my cards for this week.

This first card was just something I was playing with and wasn't really going to post it, but I think it's grown on me a bit. I could have done the spacing better, but I wasn't really planning to use this one.

I stamped all of the "Merry Christmas"s in a light grey and then stamped it one time in bright green. I added the bling as an afterthought, but it does perk it up a bit.

This next card was super simple. I embossed a layer of white card stock, added a dark green border and popped it on top of the card base. The Merry Christmas was stamped in a bright green pigment ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I colored a few pieces of bling with a dark green Copic marker and added them to the snowflakes. Then I touched a few areas with a Sakura silver star pen.

I think this third card is my favorite. I used a Spellbinder ornament die on some mirrored green paper. The ornament and the ribbon on top of the die were stamped with Flourishes stamps, colored with Copics and the Sakura silver pen. I cut out the small ornament and the ribbon and pop dotted them on the mirror ornament. I punched a hole in the mirror ornament and threaded some gold cord through for the hanger. The background was embossed with a new folder I got the other day (I believe it's a Sizzix) and adhered it to green mirror paper. The sentiment is from Flourishes and is stamped in green. I also added a touch of Sakura clear star to the word "sparkle" but it doesn't show up well here.

I also wanted to share a recent layout. These are photos of my beautiful grandchildren, Katie, Adam, and Maggie.

The photos were taken by AmyP Photography. I fell in love with these sweet photos...who would have thought to have an outdoor tea party with a chandelier?! Too cute! For this layout, I used Quick Quote Paper "Mary's Garden"...how appropriate! The pink, blue, and green checkered background mat was cut with the Cameo, as was the chandelier. The climbing leaves on the right were cut with a Sizzix die, and the roses are Prima roses. The blue strip was punched with a Fiskars punch and layered over the checked background. I added glitter to the title letters, which are letters from a Basic Grey pack. I cut the chandelier from white card stock, then added gold accents with a gold signo pen. The candles have stickles on them, and the flame was colored with Copics. The chandelier is also pop dotted. I inked the edges of the shaped background, and added faux stitching to it as well at on the blue strip.

Journaling is tucked behind the big photo and reads: What a precious photo of you three! Your happy faces make me smile and make me wish I could have been there at your tea party! I miss you all so much and wish we didn't live so far apart! Photos - April 2011

That's all for today! Thanks so much for popping in! I appreciate your visit and I love your comments! Until next time....

Hugs!

Challenge#51 - A new Tangle - Fife

2011-12-06T21:00:00.001-06:00

This weeks challenge from Laura at I am the Diva is explore the new tangle Fife and see what we come up with. Well, this is what I came up with on my first attempt at Fife. I enjoyed this tangle and will probably use it often.

I did this on a 4x4 white tile. It just has a black border from scanning. This second is a mandala that I did last night. I find that that I enjoy working in circles better than random strings...sometimes. I did this by drawing circles with my compass, dividing the circle into even sections with a ruler and then adding the tangles.

That's all I have to share for my tangles. I'll be back later with a few new Christmas cards that I've finished.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time....

Hugs!

St. Luke's Charity Challenge - December

2011-12-03T19:25:00.001-06:00

It's the beginning of the month, and St. Luke's Charity challenge has been posted. This month's challenge is to "Let it snow" and we can use snowflakes, icicles, polar bears, penguins, snowmen - anything goes as long as its cold and frosty so plenty of opportunities to get out the glitter and crystals!

For my first card, I took one of my quilled snowflakes...added a bit of glitter and put it on a blue background which is popped up on a silver background. The small snowflakes are shiny silver and punched with an EK Success snowflake punch.

The sentiment is a PTI image, that didn't emboss very well. I used a silver pigment ink, and I thought the embossing powder was silver, but it turned out to be white with glitter in it...weird! Fun fact about the small snowflakes. I was throwing away an empty tissue (Kleenex) box the other day and realized that the inside of the box was bright shiny silver. So...I took the box apart and peeled off the printed side (only to make the cardboard thinner). The punch is not a heavy duty punch and taking off a layer of the cardboard made it easier to punch. So...I learned that you never know where you'll find something interesting to use when making cards! LOL!

This next card is a total CASE of this card by Jenny. There are subtle differences...but I fell in love with the die she used...and had to have it!

I allowed my card to cover the entire front of my 4.25 x 5.5 inch card. Then I added some additional snow hills and popped them up for depth. I put a touch of yellow card stock in my windows and doors and added stickles for the stars. I also punched a circle for the moon and added subtle shadows for my scene.

I LOVE Jenny's card!...I bet I do this one again!!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you leave me a comment and let me know how you like these cards. Until next time...

Hugs!

OLW72 - Only a Sentiment

2011-12-03T17:20:00.001-06:00

We're back on at the One Layer Wednesday challenge hosted this week by Susan at Simplicity. Susan has challenged us this week to:

1) use ONLY a sentiment stamp on your card...no other stamps or embellishments allowed!

2) use a NON-STANDARD size for your card

3) make at least two cards using the same stamp that vary something (color, type of ink, technique, placement of the stamp, size of card)

Well, I've made my cards 4.25 x 4.25 inches, just because I thought my sentiments weren't large enough to fill up a 5 x7 inch card (or look balanced). The sentiment I chose for this first card is stamped in SU Real Red and is a PTI sentiment.

Wasn't too crazy about it in the center of the card, so I decided to move it to the bottom right hand corner of the card. Much better. Although, if I'm totally honest, I think these cards need something else...a touch of bling, a small holly stamp...anything!

There....now don't you think it's better on the bottom corner? Then just for fun, I decided to try another of the stamps in the PTI set for this next card. I started it off in the bottom right corner...and I do like this...however, I still think it needs something to jazz it up a bit.

That's it for me today. It's been a busy day. I finally managed to get the tree up...not decorated...just up in the living room. Every year when we get it out, I say..."next year we need to get a smaller tree!" A nine foot tree is difficult to set up and difficult to decorate. I'm not nearly as comfortable climbing on a ladder as I was a few years ago. Of course, that might be because my hubby hovers and constantly says...be careful..don't fall!

Thanks for popping by....As always, your comments are welcomed and appreciated! Until next time...

Hugs!

Challenge 50 - Make it BIG

2011-11-29T11:19:00.002-06:00

The challenge this week from Laura at I am the Diva is "to push your comfort zone and biggify your tangles. Don't biggify your canvas, try sticking to the size you generally work on to get the full effect."

I generally work on 5x5 inch pieces, so I used my typical size. I find that I'm drawn to circles. They're neat and clean...and ...organized. I know, it's my type A personality jumping in! LOL! Since I like circles, that's what I've decided to go with for this challenge.

I've used keeko, paradox, flying geese, and nzeppel...all biggified! (I hope I got the names right!)

Thought I'd also throw in a few of my pieces that I've done this past week. I find myself tangling every evening while sitting in front of the television. Sometimes I get so involved with my tangles, I pay no attention to what's on...very relaxing!

This one makes me think of a cross..

This is just one of my mindless swirls....embellished....

Back to my circles again. I love the finished look.

Now...one big circle...this is on a 6x6 sketchpad.

Below is the tangle sequence for the tangle I "thought" I'd designed. Seems as though it might be an offshoot of the tangle OOF. It does have the same base tangle...but I dressed it up a bit for my tangle....so I guess it's a variation of OOF. Whatever it is, I'm really loving it!

I think the finished tangle is very lacy looking...and I love how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit. Your comments are always appreciated and welcomed. Until next time...

Hugs!

LIM43 - Bling it Up!

2011-11-27T20:15:00.002-06:00

This week's challenge from Chrissie and Mandi at Less is More, is to add a "bit" of Bling! I can do that! Although, now that I look at my cards, I might have stepped over the edge just a tad!

This first card is a black card base. I stamped the snowflakes with versamark and silver pigment ink then used a clear heat embossing powder. The sentiment is just a shiny silver sticker that I've had in my stash forever. Finally, I added bling to the snowflakes.

One of our granddaughters will be six years old tomorrow (28th) and she is indeed a "little princess"! This is her birthday card. The word Princess and the crown were cut with the Cameo and the sentiment was computer generated. I added a bit of pink bling to the crown. The crown was colored with a silver metallic ink and the Princess was colored with Copics.

This next card was something I was just playing around with. I finally ordered this HUGE medallion from SU. I had no idea it was so big! So, I ended up stamping it off the card. It took me several tries before I finally got a good image. (Okay, I'm a little slow...finally figured out that I should put the stamp face up, ink it up good then lay the card on top of the stamp and rub it with my fingers to get a good clean image!). The sentiment is also from SU. I added a bit of bling and some glitter to the medallion, but the glitter doesn't show up too well.

This next card was almost added to the trash when I realized that I had put the stickers on the back of the card and upside down! But, I saved it by cutting the red card apart and using it as a layer on a white card base. I think I kind of like it better like this.

This last card was an after thought. I had dry embossed this silver (it's really sparkly in real life) panel with a snowflake embossing folder. I cut it to fit the card front, added some bling to the snowflakes, a bit of sparkly ribbon and a tag that the sentiment was stamped in versamark and silver pigment ink then heat embossed with clear detail embossing powder. I punched a couple of snowflakes with a MS punch and the small one is from EK Success.

Don't think I have a favorite this week...can't say that I'm crazy about any of them, but I still need a few more Christmas cards, and these will work!

I finally sat down to scrap today. I haven't completed a scrapbook page in over a month, and I had great difficulty getting started on this one.

These are photos of our newest grandson, Pierce. He's about 7 weeks old now and has really changed quite a bit already.

I used some old papers from my stash for this layout, but I believe they are from MME and Reminisce. The embellies are all stickers that were mounted on white card stock and cut out, then pop dotted on the layout. The yellow mat was cut with the Cameo. The banner with his name on it across the top was cut with a banner die from Lifestyles. The chevron across the bottom was an idea I got from Pinterest and I love how it turned out!. The tag with his birth information was also one of the stickers from Me and My Big Ideas, but it was too big for the space, so I scanned it in, made it smaller and put his birth info on it using PSE9. Then I just had to print, cut, and adhere to the layout. I added a bit of faux stitching with a blue pen. The bread bowl and the afghan in the bottom left photo -- the bread bowl was his great-great grandmother's and the afghan was one that his great grandmother made for his Daddy when he was born.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate all your wonderful comments! Sorry this post is so long...if you've hung in there to the end...bless you! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

St. Luke's Charity Challenge

2011-11-22T18:05:00.003-06:00

I've made several Christmas cards this week, and the challenge at St. Luke's Charity Challenge this month is to create a Christmas card. This first card also meets the qualifications for the Less is More challenge this week. Here's my two cards:

I created both cards on my new Cameo (I'm loving all the fabulous things I can do with it!). I used a cutting file (the mother reading to the child) for this first card. I filled the image with black. I added a tree (also a cutting file and colored it black. I added the star (also a cutting pattern) and filled it with gold. The sentiment was also added to the image through the Silhouette program. Then, once I had everything where I wanted it, I just printed it on my ink jet printer and cut to fit the card front. It's difficult to see here, but the image is backed with some gold textured foil paper and then a layer of black. I added some 3 dimensional dots with Liquid Pearls and then dotted them with some glitter. I also added glitter to the star. I actually love how this turned out and next time I try it, it'll be much easier!

The second card was also created with the Cameo. I cut the tree from green card stock, then cut the shadow from some white card stock. I used a star punch to add a gold textured foil star to the top of the tree. The red dots are Liquid Pearls and then I added a touch of glitter to the tree. The sentiment is from Flourishes and was stamped with embossing ink and heat embossed with gold embossing powder.

I layered the tree on the same green as the tree and then on the gold textured foil paper. Tied a red ribbon around the bottom...and another card is finished!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments are always appreciated! Until next time....

♥ Hugs! ♥

Challenge #49 - A Single Red String

2011-11-22T17:42:00.002-06:00

This week the challenge from Laura at I am the Diva is to create a tangle with a single red thread running through it. This challenge is to help raise awareness of the mission of The Red Thread Promise. Our challenge was to create a traditional black and white tangle tile with a single red "thread" running through it.

I struggle with using color on my tangles. I love looking at other peoples tangles that color has been added to, but it never looks right when I do it. That's how I ended up with four different tangles!

I actually did all of these on 3.5 x 3.5 which is the traditional size for a Zentangle, but not the size I generally work with. This is the first tile I did. Definitely didn't like it (and probably shouldn't have posted it! LOL!). It just looks weird!

This second tile is a bit better. I love the dimension I got on this one, but I still wasn't satisfied.

I think this third one is my favorite of the four tiles. I drew one large circle with a red pen, then added circles in each quadrant of the red circle. Then I used light and dark tangles on each side of the red circle.

I'm not sure where I was going with this one, but decided I'd go ahead and post it. Maybe I should have left the flowers off?

Just throwing this last piece in so I can ask a question. Is this a tangle that someone has already drawn? I did this while messing around with my tangles, and thought I had come up with a new design, but it might already be out there and I just don't know it. If anyone knows if it's a new one, let me know and I'll post directions about how I drew it. I used it in the fourth tile above and colored in the centers.

Thanks so much for stopping by! As always, your comments are greatly appreciated! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

Some Christmas Tangles

2011-11-20T09:25:00.002-06:00

I wanted to share some of my new Zentangle Inspired Art. This first one is going to be one of my Christmas cards. I have a die for the word "peace" that I cut from card stock using my Cuttlebug. I placed it on the card (which is a 4.25 x 5.5 inch card) and traced around it with pencil, then drew random circles for my tangles behind the word "peace". I'm trying to decide it I want to add a touch of color to these "ornaments". What do you think?

This second piece is actually the first "ornaments" I drew and was what inspired me to make the Christmas card. I guess I could cut this one down a bit and layer it on a card front. It takes me an hour or two to do these ornaments, so it probably wouldn't be "cost" effective to make many of them! LOL!

This last one is just something I was playing around with. I never have any idea what my finished piece will look like and I'm generally surprised by how they turn out. This one makes me think of candy canes and braided Christmas bread!

Thanks so much for popping by! I appreciate all your wonderful comments!! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

LIM42 - Silhouettes and Something new...

2011-11-19T17:56:00.003-06:00

Two weeks in a row...I can't believe it!! I'm certainly honored to have my cards showCASed. Chrissie and Mandi...sending you a BIG Thank You! ♥♥ You made my day! ♥♥

I can't believe I've already finished three cards for this week's challenge at Less is More (which is to make at card using silhouettes). I might even get a couple of more finished! For this first card, I cut the silhouette of the three carolers with my Cameo. I cut a piece of white card stock with a curvy edge and layered it on top of the card base for my "snow". I used a Copics B0000 to highlight the mound of snow and behind the carolers. The carolers are pop dotted off the card and it looks really cool. I also added a touch of glitter to make the snow glisten. Sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

For this next card, I used a Papertrey Ink Christmas silhouette. Punched it out with a 1.75 inch circle punch. The background paper is actually a gold shimmery card stock from SU that I recently ordered. I wish you could see how shimmery it is, but I can't figure out how to photograph it and get that to show. I punched a 2 inch scalloped circle from the gold card stock to back the image. Then I layered it on a die cut from Papertrey Ink. I added the gold pen lines around the edges of the die with a gold Uniball pen. The sentiment was generated on the computer using text boxes so that I could make the background black, leaving my sentiment white. I also edged the sentiment with the gold pen. I also popped the background layer off the card. The black border on the gold is simply thin strips of black card stock that glued around the edges.

This next card was the result of me playing around with my Cameo. This is one of the cutting files I have, but from experience I knew that cutting all those tiny little lines would probably not work well as small as I needed it to be. SO....I figured out that I could turn the image black and print it on my laser printer!! How cool is that! I am loving my Cameo! I decided to add just a touch of pink because it just looks good to me...and it gave me the idea to add just a touch of bling to the little girl's hat. The sentiment on this card was also computer generated in my Silhouette program.

Now...just thought I share what else I've been up to. I have a long way to go before I'm any good at it, but I sure have had some fun playing with these snowflakes.

As you can see, my quilled snowflakes are a little wonky, so I'll have to work on that. It's really fun to put these together - but very difficult to photograph!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I truly appreciate your wonderful comments! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

LIM41 - Leaves....and more

2011-11-16T10:07:00.002-06:00

The Less is More challenge this week is a one layer card with the theme of leaves. Of course, I just made a card last week using leaves....just saying, Chrissie and Mandi! LOL! Oh well...last week's card wasn't one layer, so I had to do a little thinking about this one.

I'd also like to say Thank You to Chrissie and Mandi for selecting my card to be showCASed from week 39. I was certainly surprised to see this ornament snowflake card in the showCASe! I'd also like to say that I'm sorry that I haven't made it around to very many blogs in the last few weeks. I do look at most of the cards, but life has been so hectic lately that I just haven't had time to leave comments! So Sorry!! I'll try to do better this week...although with this late start I'm getting, I'm not sure how that will work out!

Moving along...I've actually made two cards this week. I'm still working on my Christmas cards, so I wanted to make one of them a Christmas card.

For this first card, when I was looking through my punches, I realized that I have three similar punches in three different sizes...so I decided to create something with them. I punched the leaves (using the 3 different sizes) down the right front of my card base. To add color without layers, I masked off part of the inside of the card (just enough to fill the leaves) and sponged on distress ink in Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, Pine Needles, and Mustard Seed. With just the sponged ink the leaves looked a little blah, so I decided to add a touch of color in splotches. To do this, I crumpled up a piece of paper and tapped it on the darker ink pads and then used the crumpled paper to "stamp" some random lines/splotches on the sponged background for each leaf. On the bottom leaf I tapped with Worn Lipstick and Pine Needles and for the two smaller leaves I tapped it with Spiced Marmalade. I think it gave a very nice effect. The sentiment is from Flourishes. Now...about that sponged strip on the left....I added that because I managed to get my inky fingers on the card and leave a smudge...so what to do? Cover it up with a little sponging to match the inside! Saved!

Here's a photo of the card from an angle so that you can see how the inking was done.

For my second card, I used a holly leaf stamp that I've had forever. I'm not sure, but it might be an Inkadinkado stamp. I stamped in Memento black. The stamp has three leaves and some berries on it. To make it conform to the shape I wanted, I drew a circle with a pencil so that I could line up my stamping. I also cut a mask from a post it note. The image was actually stamped 6 times to get this shape. I colored with Copic markers, then using my Sakura clear star pen, I highlighted all the leaves and the berries. After that dried, I went back and coated all the berries with glossy accents. In real life, this card is very sparkly and pretty. The sentiment is from Flourishes.

I wanted to share another layout while I'm posting. This is the first layout I've completed since my hubby got home from the hospital...and it seemed to take forever to finish. I hadn't scrapped in over a month, and it seemed like I'd forgotten what to do! LOL!

This is my precious little granddaughter, Maggie. Photography by Amy P Photography. I just love these cute pictures...and Maggie is just adorable!! For the layout, I used Echo Park Little Girl collection. The photos are backed with a dark pink card stock. All the little circles were punched from the design on on of the papers. All small circles are pop-dotted on the page. I added a touch of glitter to the center of each circle. The little birds on the bottom were also cut from one of the papers in this collection. I punched a dark pink border with a MS edge punch that embosses along the scallop. The title work was all cut with my new Cameo. The Cameo is new from Silhouette - it will cut up to 12x12 inches and all the files from my Silhouette work with it. So far, I'm loving it! The ballerina was also cut with the Cameo, and I added a sparkly top and a tulle skirt with a bow to the ballerina. I also added some sparkly toe shoes, but I don't think they show up very well. I used a dot of stickles on each of the letters and also on the tulle skirt. The title work and the ballerina are all on pop dots. IRL this is a very glittery, girly layout. I used a Sakura clear star pen to outline each of the title letters. The pen give just a hint of glitter to the edges. The journaling is tucked behind the top of the pink mat and reads:

Maggie, you are so adorable in your little pink tutu. You have the brightest eyes and such a solemn expression on your face. Your crocheted hat is just precious with your tutu, but it covers up all your blond curls. You are so precious and I wish that I could see you more often than I do. These photos of you make me want to pick you up and give you lots of hugs and kisses. Photos – April 2011

Here's a photo of my new ~~toy~~ cutting machine.... the Silhouette Cameo. THIS is a cool cutting machine!

That's all for me today...bet you thought I'd never stop! LOL! Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments are greatly appreciated! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

Challenge 48 - Circle, Square, and Triangle

2011-11-15T12:17:00.001-06:00

This week, the challenge at I am the Diva blog is hosted by Sue Clark who is a CZT (certified Zentangle teacher). Sue has challenged us to create a tile using three basic shapes (circle, square, and triangle) combining them to create a string. I've done two tiles using these "strings".

Sue also encouraged us to try some tangles we haven't tried before. On this first one, I did just that. The center one was supposed to be wisket, but I just can't seem to get it right. Then I also tried Phuds, which looked okay, but my wisket looked wonky so I decided to try another tile.

This first tile is on a 5x5 tile. I decided to make the second one on a smaller tile which is 4x4 inches.

For this tile, I also used the square, circle, and triangle string, and I also used Phuds. The "boards" were something I just decided to add in (don't think I've seen a tangle like this before - it's probably been done by somebody, I just haven't seen it). I like the cleaner look of this tile.

That's my take on the challenge....what do you think?

Thanks so much for stopping by! Comments are always appreciated!! Until next time....

♥ Hugs! ♥

Less is More 40 - Red and Orange

2011-11-10T10:00:00.000-06:00

This week the Less is More challenge was a color challenge. Here's what Mandi and Chrissie have to say about the challenge. I'm a little late getting my cards posted...but I was late getting them finished too. I just don't have enough hours in the day to get everything I need to do done!

In the UK, it is traditionally on 'firework night' that the 'Gunpowder plot' of 1605 is commemorated. It was then that Guy Fawkes was arrested for laying explosives under the House of Lords.

Our first week of the month is another Colour challenge and redolent of bonfire flames we have chosen

Red and Orange

I made two different cards for this challenge. I actually like red and orange together, but I seemed to have a bit of trouble combining the two this week.

I'm not sure what I'll use this card for...I guess it could be a sympathy card, thinking of you, or just a note card. Leaves are Flourishes stamps. I stamped the image on white card stock, then colored with orange Copics and cut out each leaf. Leaves are popped dotted on a white textured card stock that I also pop dotted on the red background. The sentiment is also from Flourishes. BTW, stamping on textured card stock is much more difficult than I thought it would be!

Since I'm in need of quite a few more Christmas cards, I wanted to try to make a Christmas themed one using these colors. Here's what I came up with...

The big flourish is from Papertrey Ink. I used a textured white card base. I stamped the large flourish in SU Pumpkin Pie and then highlighted it with some crystal stickles. The word Peace was cut from red textured card stock using a PTI die and then pop dotted over the orange flourish. Here's a close up so you can see the dimension on the card. I couldn't get the glitter to show up on the flourish...but it's really pretty in real life!

I'm not too sure how I like this card...maybe it'll grow on me after I stare at it for a while! LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I truly appreciate each and every comment! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

Challenge #47 - In Remembrance

2011-11-08T08:59:00.002-06:00

The challenge this week from Laura at I am the Diva is based on the Poem "In Flanders Field" written by Canadian Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

When you create your tile or ZIA, the challenge is to remember - what this means to you. Remember your fallen loved ones, your long lost friend from childhood, remember when your 3 year old was once a tiny bundle in your arms, remember the feel of your aging grandmother's hand... remember laughter and tears, friends and family, fallen heroes or quiet bravery.

I've drawn my tile using black and white shaded with pencil and then I colored it just to see if I liked it. Here's the two different tiles:

I love the background on this ZIA. It seems to bubble off the page behind the poppy (or at least my interpretation of a poppy). I did a little shading with some dots and then again with a #2 pencil. This one is on a 5 x 5 inch tile.

After I scanned the original, I decided that I'd add a little color to the poppy. I remember veterans selling poppies as lapel pins when I was a little girl, but I don't remember seeing them for a while. To color my poppy, I used watercolor pencils to color and then touched it with a water pen to smooth out the color. I keep playing with color, but I just can't make up my mind which I like the best...plain black and white or with a touch of color.

What do you think? Should I just stick with black and white....or do you like the color?

Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit. I'd love for you to come back again. As always, your comments are much appreciated. Until next time....

♥ Hugs! ♥

OLW71 - Tag it

2011-11-07T14:48:00.000-06:00

This week's OLW challenge is hosted by Jennifer at Styles Ink. Jennifer has challenged us to create a tag...or 2 or 3. I rarely use (or make) tags, but I wanted to play along, so I made three Christmas tags that I can use on gifts this year.

Here they are...

Snowflakes are from a very old stamp set and I couldn't tell you who makes them. The small snowflakes are all on one stamp and the large snowflake is a single stamp. I stamped in Memento black then highlighted around the snowflakes with a Copics BG0000 marker. Stamped the sentiment (PTI) and then added a touch of glitter for sparkle.

This second tag was made by stamping the ornament in Memento black, cutting a mask and then stamping the background with a music score stamp.

Same general idea for this tag...stamped the ornament, masked it, then stamped the music, the to/from and the sentiment. I drew a line on this one to ground the ornament, but I don't think I really needed it.

These were all made using a ready made white tag. I couldn't get good photos for the life of me...this was the best I could do. They're all sparkly and glittery in real life.

Thanks a bunch for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

Challenge 46 - Halloween

2011-11-02T09:53:00.001-05:00

The weekly challenge from Laura at I am the Diva is to create a tile with a Halloween theme. I often have difficulty with Halloween themed challenges, because Halloween is just not one of my favorite holidays, so I generally stick to more of a fall theme. I decided to tangle on some pumpkins for my entry into the challenge.

Originally, I wanted to draw my pumpkin on a black tile and tangle with a white pen. This tile is about 4x4 inches.

After I finished it, I decided I like the black on white better. Which do you think looks the best?

The pumpkins for both tangles were sketched by hand...maybe if I'd used a pattern they'd be a little more even...but hey! Pumpkins are rarely even!

Since I'm already posting some Zentangle Inspired art...I thought I'd share a few more of my recent drawings.

I really like all of these. Some of them look really intricate, but they're really not. I spent about 2.5 to 3 hours on each of them. They're all fairly large...about 6 x 6 inches.

I'm thinking I might get a few of my pieces framed. Not sure what to do with them then, but I do believe they'd look pretty good in a frame.

Thanks a bunch for stopping by! I appreciate all your fabulous comments. Until next time....

♥ Hugs! ♥

LIM39 - Seeing Stars!

2011-10-30T15:16:00.001-05:00

I'm a little late getting my card finished for the Less is More Challenge this week. Mostly because I've been really busy...but also because I couldn't decide if I liked my cards. I ended up making 3 different cards and decided to post them all.

This first card was made on a white card base. The background paper is actually a sparkly silver paper.

I stamped the image (which is from PTI jar fillers) on white card stock, then colored around the stars and snowflakes with a Copic marker (BG0000). I then cut the image out using a Spellbinder ornament die. I coated each of the stars with silver glitter, and added white glitter dust to the snowflakes. I also added fine silver glitter to the edges of the ornament. I tied a three loop bow with some silver cord and suspended the ornament from the top of the silver background. The silver background and the ornament are pop dotted for added dimension.

This second card was made by stamping the image (a very old SU) in Memento black. I colored the image with Copics, then added a yellow highlighted background halo around the image. For the white bands on his Santa suit and on his beard, I used a "snow" pen to color, then when it is heat set, it bubbles up for added dimension. The stars he's tossing in the air are all covered with fine silver glitter, as are the stars in the pocket of the Santa suit. I added a touch of glitter to the edges with a Sakura clear star pen. The sentiment was stamped on white card stock, and then cut with a Spellbinder banner die and mounted on the red textured and foil card stock like I used for the background. The Santa image was cut out with a Spellbinder die and pop dotted on the red textured foil card stock.

This third card was made by embossing the white panel with a snowflake embossing folder and highlighting the snowflakes with a little glitter dust. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. The star Santa is a very old SU stamp (I believe it's from the same set as the first Santa). I colored him with Copics, then added a yellow halo around the star. There is a touch of Sakura clear star pen around the edges of the white star. I backed the star with some of the red foil card stock. The white embossed background was layered on some gold foil card stock. I'd forgotten I had these Santa stamps...but they were perfect for a "star-studded" card! LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I truly appreciate all of your comments! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

OLW68 - Red and White

2011-10-30T14:21:00.000-05:00

This week's challenge at Simplicity was to create a one layer card using only red and white (or cream and white). I decided to use a red card base for my first card.

I stamped with versamark and white ink and then added fine detail white embossing powder. I heat set the embossing powder. The sentiment on the actual stamp is Season's Greetings, but I masked that off before stamping and then added the Merry Christmas sentiment and also embossed it with white. The snowflakes are just stickles I added.

For my second card, I really kept it simple. I stamped a music stamp by Flourishes and then added a sentiment (also Flourishes) at the bottom....super simple.

I think at first I wasn't too happy with this card...but it's growing on me now.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments are much appreciated! Until next time....

♥ Hugs! ♥

LIM38 - Polka Dots and a New Layout

2011-10-26T21:59:00.000-05:00

The challenge this week at Less is More is to create a card using polka dots. I thought that would be super easy, but I was wrong. I finally ended up with two cards to share with you.

This first card was made with a white card base. I added a strip of polka dotted paper across the bottom and scored a line above it. The sentiment is from PTI. The candles are the new Flourishes Christmas stamps. I stamped them with Memento ink and colored them with Copics. Then I cut them out and pop dotted them on the polka dotted paper. I added a little glitter in places and a bit of glaze to the ornaments, but it's hard to see here. The glow around the flames of the candles was something I just added, that's not part of the stamp.

This is actually the first card I made and I wasn't really happy with it, but decided to post it anyway. The ornament is a PTI die that I cut from white card stock then colored with a silver leafing pen. I added red dots with some liquid pearls. The sentiment is from PTI, stamped in black and punched out with the slot punch then backed with red card stock. I pop dotted the sentiment on the ornament. The ribbon I used to string through the top of the ornament is some sparkly red braid I found in my stash. The bow was tied with a neat little bow maker my hubby made for me. I also have a dotted background by using an embossing folder, then backed it with red and popped it on the white card base. The ornament is also pop dotted on the dotted background.

Thought I'd also share a new layout that I finished last weekend. It's another photo of my maternal grandparents taken around 1952.

I used Basic Grey Curio papers for this layout. The flowers were all cut from one of the papers and pop dotted on the background. I used a lot of inking and distressing on this layout. The pretty lacy border across the bottom was cut with a Spellbinder die. The black corner scrolls are Bo Bunny rub ons. The title work was cut with the Silhouette and colored with Copics to match the papers. I added a bit of bling across the lacy border and 3 buttons at the top. In the areas that are torn, I inked them heavily and added another piece of the Curio papers behind the tears. I also added a tiny bronze tag that says "simple". The photo is mounted on some photo corners that I punched with a punch I've had for years.The green leaves were cut with a Spellbinder die. I tucked the journaling behind the striped mat and it reads:

These are my Mama’s parents, William and Ola Pace. I don’t remember too much about them because they were both gone before I was five years old. I have a cousin who has researched the history of the Pace family and my grandfather (William Pace) is a descendant of Richard Pace who received a land patent in 1620 and established Pace’s Paines Plantation which was across the James River from the settlement of Jamestown. It appears that my family has deep roots in America.

I wanted to get this posted earlier in the week, but things have been rather hectic around here lately. Hubby is home and doing much better and for that I am thankful. It was a rough week or two. Thanks for all your wonderful comments, they mean a lot to me. Until next time.....

♥ Hugs! ♥

Challenge 45 - Punzel

2011-10-26T14:57:00.000-05:00

This week, Laura at I am the Diva blog spot has challenged us to use the new tangle "Punzel". This is a tangle by Rick and Maria at Zentangle®. (The Zentangle® art form and method was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas and is copyrighted. Zentangle® is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com) You can find directions for Punzel here.

This was a tough one for me. I've been practicing it over and over and I still don't have it quite right. I keep waiting for the steps to "click" with me! LOL!

Here's my take this week...

The first time I tried this, I realized that I had done the tangle Chainging, so I had to redo it. This is not perfect by any means, but I am reasonably happy with it.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments are truly appreciated! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

All Tangled Up...but Slowly Unwinding

2011-10-21T11:08:00.000-05:00

I've discovered that working on my tangles is a great stress reliever. Things around our house have been very hectic lately, and I've found that if I sit quietly in the evening and spend a little time with my tangling, that it tends to calm me a bit.

Thought I'd share a few of my recent tangles. Some were done while I was sitting at the hospital with my hubby, and then I did a few after I brought him home.

If you haven't tried tangling, you definitely should give it a try...it's fun and relaxing!

This first one is one I did while sitting in the hospital...kinda looks like the shape of a "real" heart, doesn't it? I had no string drawn for this one, just added to each section as I went along.

This next one reminds me of buds blooming. I also did this one while sitting around in the hospital.

I think this next one is one of my favorites that I've done recently. I love the mixture of light and dark...

The stress of the last few days finally got to me and these next two tangles are the results from the last couple of evenings.

This next one is just one I threw in for the fun of it. Very simple...but I love it!

That's it for today. I have a couple of cards I need to get made, and some work I need to finish. Thanks so much for stopping by! See you next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

Challenge 44 - Tangle in a Tangle

2011-10-18T08:27:00.000-05:00

The challenge this week at I am the Diva blogspot is to create a tile or ZIA using a tangle or tangle section as your string, then to fill in the 'blanks' with other tangles. I've chosen to use the tangle Casella for my string.

I'm not sure, but I think it might be a little too busy...I'll have to think on that. Not sure of the "name" of all the tangles I've used, so I won't try to name them.

If you'd like to take a look at some of the other entries in the challenge, go here.

I will definitely give this another try later in the week. Thanks so much for popping in! And...thanks for your wonderful comments...they make my day! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

LIM37 - Cocktails...or a variation thereof....

2011-10-16T17:52:00.001-05:00

It's been a crazy and hectic week for me, but I finally got my card made for the Less is More challenge. The theme for this week's challenge is:

COCKTAIL

The Challenge rules are: You may interpret this however you wish... your favourite tipple, the colours of a cocktail or a simply cocktail of colours. Let your imagination run with this one, it will be interesting to see how imaginative you can be.

Here is a little fun... you can follow the link to see what cocktail you are..

You are Made of...

I gave it a try and here's the recipe for me...

3 parts Fun
2 parts Sensitivity
1 part Shrewdness

And a Splash of Inspiration

Limit yourself to one serving. This cocktail is strong!

HA! HA!

Since we don't imbibe in our house, I was really stumped for this challenge. No stamps that would work...nothing. This tested the limits of my overworked and overtired brain! LOL! But....I finally thought of something...a cocktail dress! Now, that will work. Here's my card:

I had to make the card 5x7 inches in order for the dress and fit on it. I have this really cool book I bought several years ago. The editors are Klutz and the book title is Paper Fashions Fancy. The book as templates for putting different dresses together and even includes some papers to used when making the outfits. I used some of the papers from the book (kit) and designed a floor-length dress. The top of the dress is made from black velvet paper and the bottom of the dress is made from a black flocked paper. I added a few red bling at the dropped waist and a bling necklace. I cut a slit in the bottom of the dress and backed it with some of the black velvet paper and added a bit of stickles for sparkle. I also highlighted the unflocked parts of the skirt with a Sakura clear star gelly roll pen. The dress is hanging on a dress stand that is also included in the templates. I simply cut it out and colored it with a gold leafing pen, then added a few black doodles on the bottom of the stand.. I also drew a solid line around the edges of the card with the gold leaf pen. The card base is black card stock. The red paper is a textured red foil paper and the white behind it is a glittery-sparkly paper. The sentiment is from PTI and was stamped in Versamark and white ink, then sprinkled with fine white detail powder and heat embossed.

I'd also like to introduce you to our newest grandson....Pierce.

I took this photo when he was just a few hours old. He stayed awake and kept an eye on all of us for quite a while. He weighed in a 7 pounds 11.2 ounces and was 19.25 inches long. True is...he's so small! I'm always amazed when I first hold one of my grand children. It's hard to remember my children being this small. He's a cutie...and his big brother and sister are both excited to welcome their new brother!

Thanks again for stopping by. I appreciate all your wonderful comments! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

Challenge 43 - Sunflower Inspired

2011-10-14T11:52:00.001-05:00

The weekly challenge at I am the Diva blog is to create a tile or ZIA inspired by the sunflower. I was really stumped by this one at first. I designed my sunflower by drawing a circle for the center then drawing lines to section it off to add the petals.

My sunflower is drawn on a 6 x 6 card . I only used two tangles for my sunflower - Paradox and Shattuck...and then a big black dot in the center where all the lines meet. I really like the way the Paradox makes the petals look.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate all your wonderful comments! Until next time....

♥ Hugs! ♥

Flourishes - The Name Game

2011-10-13T17:51:00.000-05:00

This card is for the Name Game Challenges at the Flourishes. The challenge is to simply use your initials as inspiration for your card or creation.

My initials are SPG...so I used
S -stamping
P - piercing
G - gem (the light in my lighthouse)

I used stamps from Flourishes Guiding Light and Life Line for my card.

I stamped the sentiment, then the scene and colored the scene with Copics. I cut it all out using a Spellbinder die, then layered it on a light blue card stock and trimmed a small border. I used my SU piercing template to pierce the corners of the label and then pop dotted it on a piece of embossed white card stock pop dotted on a darker blue card stock. I love the serenity of this card.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time....

♥ Hugs! ♥

LIM36 - One Layer with Heart(s)

2011-10-09T16:59:00.001-05:00

I'm a little late with my card this week. I've spent the last 4 days sitting at the hospital with my hubby. He's home now and on the mend. I am thankful!

Our Less is More challenge this week is to create a one layer card with hearts on it. Sounds simple...right? Well, it took me a bit, but I finally remembered that I had a stamp perfect for this challenge.

All image stamps are from PTI. The large bow and the jar base are from Friendship Jar Summer Fillers, the Hearts are from the Friendship Jar Spring Fillers collection. The sentiment is from Hero Arts, and the pink gingham is from PTI. I stamped the big bow, masked it off, stamped the jar under it, then added the hearts. the "xoxo" is another PTI stamp that I stamped each heart with. Instead of putting a lid on the jar, I drew a little gathered top to look like the hearts are in a bag and tied up with a bow. Then I colored it all with Copics. Fairly quick and easy card once I figured out what I was going to do. I wasn't going to add the gingham at first, but then the jar looked like it was floating on the card...and you know how I am about "grounding" an image! LOL!

Thought I'd also share a new layout that I finished last weekend. This is photos of our little granddaughter, Helen Grace.

I used Echo Park papers for this and a SU graduation hat stamp. The large arrow was hand cut and backed with a solid color. The precious girl tag is a sticker from EP. The Girly You Rock tag was made by stamping with a PTI sentiment, punching and circle, then punching 2 larger scalloped edged circles to back it. I'm telling you...these kids grow up FAST!

Tomorrow, I'll be at the hospital again...only this time it will be to welcome our newest grandson, Pierce. He's scheduled to arrive around 1 pm on October 10. Can't wait! Now I'll have even more pictures to scrap! LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate all of your wonderful comments! I understand that some people have been having difficulty leaving a comment, so I changed my comment box to a pop up box. I've been told that helps...so maybe it will. Until next time....

♥ Hugs! ♥

OLW67 - Thinking of You

2011-10-07T09:56:00.001-05:00

The One Layer Wednesday challenge is hosted this week by Jennifer Styles at Styles Inc. Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, Jennifer has challenged us to make a card to send to someone letting them know we're thinking about them.

I think almost everyone can say they know someone who is battling cancer or who has had cancer. I've lost several friends and family members to cancer. It's a horrid disease and our hope is that one day soon a cure will be found to stop or prevent cancer.

I've made a card for a friend. I used a leaf stamp from TPC Studios and inked different parts of the stamp with three different colors...a red, orange, and a green.

A super simple card, I know. I've added a verse on the inside that says:

For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not Fear; I will help you. Isaiah 41:13

My friend doesn't have cancer, but is going through some tough times right now and I hope this card makes her feel special and wraps her in love.

Thanks for stopping by...until next time...

Hugs!

Challenge 42 - Hope

2011-10-04T10:29:00.002-05:00

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. The challenge this week from Laura at I am the Diva, is to create a tile or ZIA inspired by hope -- however this applies to your life. I've had many friends and relatives who have battled cancer. Some of them won that battle, and some didn't. I think hope is essential to anyone battling this disease (or any life threatening disease)...and my hope that a cure is found someday soon!

Here's my ZIA for this challenge:

The finished size of this is about 5x5 inches. I've been doing a lot of tangling in the evenings while watching television with my hubby. Here's a few of my newest drawings.

I love how this one turned out...lots of depth...and very clean lines.

I just finished this one, Lots and lots of lines....

My friend looked at this one and said it made her think of under the sea...maybe all the "bubbles"?

I was inspired by a piece I saw here... I love the feathery edges on the big heart!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate your fabulous comments!! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

Made for Men - NOT ME....Cards!

2011-10-02T10:26:00.001-05:00

I made a couple of cards yesterday that are definitely guy type cards. I don't do many masculine cards, mostly because it's difficult to do...at least for me.

It also happens that the card challenge at St. Luke's Card Challenge blog this month is to make a masculine card. Can't say I'm overly thrilled with either of these cards, but they are masculine.

For this card, I used stamps from Flourishes. I stamped the hourglass in brown Memento ink, then cut it out with an exacto knife. I colored it with Copics. For the sand I used a little white glitter. I wish you could see it in person...it makes the perfect sand. The sentiment was stamped on a piece of white cut in a rectangle and then I punched the corners with my ticket punch (SU). The brown was embossed with a PTI wood grain embossing plate. The blue scallops were punch with a Fiskars edge punch. After seeing this posted, I think it might have looked better if I'd used a brown card base instead of a white one....oh well...next time!

This card was made from scraps ...yay me! The car is from a TH set and I think this might be the first time I've used it. I stamped it on white, punched it out with a 1.75 circle punch and inked the edges. Given my need to "ground" an image, I masked off the area under the car (and drew a line), then inked the ground with much darker brown. The sentiment is from a Flourishes set (the one with the hourglass shown above). I punched the sentiment out with an oval punch and inked the edges. I added a little faux stitching around the plaid and dull red pieces. I also backed the car image with a piece of brown card stock that was punched with a 2 inch circle punch.

I believe this second card fits the Less is More challenge this week too. The LIM challenge this week is to make a card that uses the color of my eyes...which in my case is green (today...see previous post for an explanation of my changing eye color!)

Thanks a bunch for stopping by! Your comments are always appreciated! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

LIM35 - The Color of My Eyes

2011-10-01T17:22:00.001-05:00

The challenge this week at Less is More is to create a card using the color of my eyes as the predominant color for the card. Unfortunately, I have strange eyes...sometimes they're gray, sometimes they're blue, and sometimes they're green. I understand that hazel eyes are like that. As a child my eyes were a vivid blue...so I'm told; however, as an adult, my eyes are green most of the time. See...I told you...strange! So, I decided to go with green for my color.

I've made two cards specifically for this challenge. This first card will be added to my stash of Christmas cards that I'm trying to get ready. The chair is a CTMH stamp that was first stamped on the card, then on the green polka dotted paper. I cut a mask for the chair and stamped the tree behind the chair. The tree is a Flourishes stamp. I cut out the green chair and popped dotted it over the stamped image. If you've followed my blog for a while, you know how I am about grounding images..so I drew a little line behind the chair and tree to be the "baseboard". I drew the "skirt" around the tree with a black pen and added a little glitter to the skirt. Then...because I could...I added some red and green bling ornaments to the tree and a touch of glitter pen. The star on top was punched from silver paper and highlighted with a bit of glitter. The sentiment is from PTI.

This next card will probably end up being a birthday card. The lanterns are Lawn Fawn stamps that I've had for a while and couldn't figure out how to use them. I stamped the lanterns on the card, then stamped them on some green patterned paper and cut them out. I popped them over the stamped image with dimension tape. The gold "cord" was drawn on with a gold Uniball pen. The sentiment is from PTI.

I haven't completed a new layout this week, but since this little one will soon be 2 years old, I thought I would share an older layout with you. This is my youngest granddaughter, Maggie. She'll be two years old in November...and she is a joy!! This was her hospital photo...can you believe it?! She was definitely worth the wait!.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments are greatly appreciated! Until next time....

♥ Hugs!

Challenge 66 - Inspired by Janelle

2011-09-30T11:00:00.002-05:00

Well...look at me! Two posts in one day!! If you'd like to take a peek at my Zentangle inspired art...scroll on down to the previous post!

This week the challenge from Susan at Simplicity is to visit Janelle blog and create a card that's inspired from something found there. I found a beautiful card (h ere) that was several layers and adapted it to a one layer card. I love the use of the doily and the colors Janelle used. If you've never visited Janelle's blog, you should take a moment to do so, especially if you're feeling down and need an uplifting boost to your spirits. Janelle is going through some tough times right now, but her faith keeps her strong. Our thoughts and prayers are with you Janelle while you continue this journey in uncharted territories!

As you can see, I didn't exactly follow the colors on this first card...I got distracted and picked up the wrong pen (green rather than blue)....and once started I had to finish it. The "doily" is a new Flourishes stamp, and the cupcake is Hero Arts, I think. The sentiment is also a Flourishes stamp.

So....I decided to give it one more try. I used the pink and blue this time...and I love how this turned out. Thanks for the inspiration, Janelle!

Thanks so much for popping by....I appreciate all your lovely comments!! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

Challenge 41 - Duo Tangles

2011-09-30T10:21:00.001-05:00

This week's challenge from Laura at I am the Diva blogspot is to do a tile or Zentangle inspired piece that uses only these two tangles; Jonqal and Opus. These are official Zentangle patterns...neither of which I've ever practiced. So...it's about the process...really. Can't say that I'm overly thrilled with how these two piece turned out, but I definitely have a better comfort level with these tangles.

This is actually the first tangle I drew. I used a 4x4 tile..no string to start me with. I just started with the center swirl which is called Opus. Then I added Jonqal around it.

This was my second attempt at the two different tangles. This is a 4 x 4 tile also. I basically did the same thing here....first I put in the Opus tangle, then added the Jonqal inside it. I do like this one the best.

What about you? Which is your favorite?

Thanks so much for stopping by!! I truly appreciate all your fabulous comments! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

Less is More 34 - A sketch

2011-09-24T17:56:00.002-05:00

This week the challenge at Less is More is to use the following sketch to create a card. Last week was a busy week for the challenge with 782 cards submitted for the challenge! We might not have reach 1000 cards as we were striving to do, but WOW...that's a lot of cards! Here's the sketch we're to use this week:

Here's my cards (yes I made 4 different cards, and I would have more, but unfortunately a few of my cards ended up in the circular file, if you know what I mean).

For this first card, I used a Flourishes stamp. I trimmed the image to approximately 2.25 x 2.25 inches and round two opposing corners. I layered it on a piece of red. I colored the image with Copics. The tiny little hummingbird is from the same Flourishes collection. He was also colored with Copics and hand cut so that I could pop dot him over the flower. The sentiment is from another Flourishes collection.

I like how this second card turned out. The little snowman is an Inkadinkado stamp. I stamped the image in Memento black and colored him with Copics. I added a little grey highlights and then added some stickles for the snow drifts and snowflakes. I cut the image out with a Spellbinder die and pop dotted it on a red background. The sentiment is from PTI and was stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with white detail embossing powder. (I actually did a decent job with the embossing on this! LOL!)

I think this card might be my favorite of the four. I recently purchased this fall collection. It is a TPC Studio Collection. I did a little masking with this. I stamped the pumpkin, then masked it and stamped the sunflowers behind it. After coloring the images with Copics, I sponged in some sky and a little ground. The sentiment is from PTI.

This card has several layers. I embossed the circles on white, layered it on the blue. Stamped the image (Flourishes) on another piece of white and colored it with Copics. I cut the shape out with a Spellbinder die, then added two mats (blue and gold) and hand cut the mats. The banner sentiment is also a Flourishes stamp that I stamped and then cut with a Spellbinder die and added the blue and gold mats to it also.

Thought I'd share another layout with you too.

Photos of my grandchildren, Katie, Adam, and Maggie, playing at Pensacola Beach in April 2011. I used Bella Blvd Papers for this layout. The scalloped edge was hand cut, then I added a darker pink background layer. The clouds were cut from paper in the same Bella collection. I added some faux stitched corners and some faux stitching to the border strips. The photos are backed with a teal card stock. The robin's egg bling that was added to the scallops was colored with Copic markers. I also added a few "water" droplets with Robin's Egg bling. Tags are all Bella Blvd. Simple...quick. I seem to be doing a lot of simple and quick lately! LOL! (The black border was added in photoshop to make the edges of the layout show up when posted)

That's all for today. Thanks so much for stopping by!! A BIG THANK YOU to all of you who came by my blog numerous times last week....I appreciate your comments!! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

OLW65 - Sentiment-a-mania and a little more "Less is More"

2011-09-22T18:09:00.002-05:00

It's time to play with the One Layer Wednesday challenge, hosted this week by Jennifer Styles at Styles Ink. The challenge this week is to make a card where the sentiment is either the focus of the card or shares the focus equally with the image. I purchased this stamp from Flourishes last year and couldn't seem to use it for a card, even though I think it's a beautiful stamp.

So, this is my first try...I stamped the image using Versamark and then used sparkly gold embossing powder and heat set it. Not my favorite look...(mostly because I'm still not a very good embosser!)

I decided I don't really like the gold embossing, so I decided to try it in red. Same process...still not happy with the outcome.

So...one more time....This time I stamped it in Memento black and colored it with Memento markers and a gold embossing pen. After the gold dried, I added a layer of sparkle over the gold using my Sakura clear star pen. The berries on this were done with liquid pearls.

So, I finally gave up on the Rejoice stamp and decided to try something different. This sentiment is from Paper Smooches. I stamped in Memento Bamboo Leaves. The pine cone and pine bough were also stamped in the Memento Bamboo Leaves, then I colored the pine cone with two different brown Copic markers. I like this one! Super simple...AND it fits the challenge! YAY me!!!

I'm also submitting these cards for the Less is More challenge this week, since Chrissie and Mandi are trying to have 1000 cards submitted. Unfortunately, I'm putting them all in one post, so I won't be helping the count much! Sorry ladies!

I have another layout to share with you. This is a photo of me when I was about 3 years old.

I used Scribble Scrabble Naomi's Collection for this layout. The edges of the background piece were punched with a MS around the edge (deep edge) punch. I cut one mat from the yellow and rounded the corners, then added a bit of faux stitching. The pink swirly mat was punched with a MS around the edge punch and backed with a piece of green card stock. The photo was also matted with the green card stock. The flowers were made using punches, inking and doodling and a piece of pink bling was added to the centers. I punched quite a few butterflies with a MS punch that has 3 butterflies on it...so there are some tiny butterflies. I also added a chipboard leaf behind the flowers and a button shoe. The chipboard swirls on the pink gingham paper were painted with pink and then I added a touch of glitter to them. Title letters are BG. I also added liquid pearls to each of the flowers in the outside border, except for the large flowers...and I added pearl centers to those flowers. Each butterfly has a bling body or s touch of liquid pearls. Journaling is tucked behind the swirly mat and the top swirl is the pull for the journaling. Journaling reads:

Looking at this photo today, makes me realize how quickly life passes. I must have been about 3 years old in this photo. The dress I'm wearing looks like one of the dresses my mama made for me from flour sacks. The little girl you see in this photo was quiet and shy. She had two big brothers that she would follow anywhere. This little girl believed in Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, and that all people were good. She lived in the country, and loved playing outside with her brothers. She went barefooted all summer and loved to splash and play in the mud puddles after it rained. This little girl thoroughly enjoyed her childhood. Times were simpler then… less busy and less stressful. People who know me now would never believe that I was a quiet and shy little girl…but I remember when….

Long post.....if you made it all the way through...Thank You!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I truly appreciate your comment...each and every one!! Until next time....

♥ Hugs! ♥

A Little More Art?

2011-09-20T08:56:00.000-05:00

Thought I'd shared an new piece of "art" I've attempted. This time, I'm also sharing the photo I used to sketch from. This is my granddaughter, Katie...well, at least the photo is of Katie, the sketch is my attempt to sketch Katie from the photo. Here's the photo I used:

And here's my sketch from the photo. Still a lot of things I need to work on. Can you see any resemblance to the photo? I'm afraid I didn't do it justice.

Also sharing another piece of my Zentangle Inspired Art. I did this while watching television the other night. Still haven't mastered the perfectly round look, but I'll get there! LOL!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Please leave me a comment and give me your take on my sketching....should I pursue sketching? Your comments as always, are greatly appreciated.

Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

Challenge #40 - Pinwheels for Peace - ZIA

2011-09-19T11:15:00.006-05:00

It's Monday, and time once again for the challenge from I am the Diva. Laura has challenged us this week to participate in Pinwheels for Peace which was originally started as an art installation organized by two high school teachers in Florida. They used the project as a way to teach kids how to express their feelings about the world and what's going on in it. Since then, it's grown from 500,000 pinwheels the first year to 3.5 million last year!!

So, this week's challenge is to create your own pinwheel for peace.

To create my string for my pinwheel, I made a pinwheel from paper and traced around it.

The finished size of this is 5x5 inches. I know most people tangle on the 3.5 inch tiles, but I definitely do better with a larger size tile.

Thanks for stopping by! Your comments are greatly appreciated! Until next time....

♥Hugs!♥

LIM33 - Anything Goes - Again

2011-09-18T19:06:00.004-05:00

I hadn't planned on posting additional cards for the Less is More challenge this week, but I finished these cards today and wanted to share them. I can't however bring myself to make two separate posts...sorry Chrissie and Mandi.

These cards are for our new grandson (Pierce) who will be arriving on October 21. He might be our 17th grandchild, but the anticipation of his arrival is just as great as it was for the first 16. There's nothing sweeter than a precious little one! My daughter in law will be having two different baby showers, so I needed two cards (I was thinking of asking her to just give me one card back and I'd give it to her twice, but my daughter told me that was tacky! LOL!). So that's why there are two baby cards for Pierce.

These cards are both 4x4 inch cards. For this first card, I stamped the bear (a very old PSX stamp from my stash), then cut out a mask to cover him so that I could stamp the gingham background. The background stamp is a Papertrey Ink stamp. After stamping the bear and the background, I printed the sentiment on the card...rather risky, but it worked out fine for both cards. I colored the bear with Copics and added a tiny blue bow.

This second card is also 4x4 inches. The sentiment is computer generated. I stamped the giraffe after printing the sentiment, then stamped him again on card stock, colored him with Copics and cut him out and popped him over the stamped image. The doodled lines were to cover up a boo-boo, but I think it turned out okay with the doodled lines.

This card is also for the One Layer Wednesday challenge from Susan at Simplicity. Our challenge is to COLOR IT! Stamp an outline image and color it using any coloring medium you want: colored pencils, watercolor pencils, watercolor crayons, paint, Copics, Bics, Sharpies, markers of any kind, or your kid's box of Crayola crayons. Doesn't matter...just COLOR IT! Well, I colored the little giraffe (I hope the fact that he's pop dotted doesn't disqualify this card as a one layer card!)

Thanks so much for stopping by! If you've already visited the first post, and you've come back again...bless you...and Thank You for your visit and for all your fabulous comments! Until next time....

♥ Hugs! ♥

Challenge 39 - All You Need is Love

2011-09-17T15:40:00.000-05:00

We were challenged by I am the Diva to create a tangle about love...them importance of Love in the world today. We're doing this in memory of all those who were touched by the tragedy of 9/11. Laura (I am the Diva) says it best:

And in the darkness of all that hatred, we did find love. We saw it in the brave and heroic men and women who first responded to the scene, we saw it in those who reached out, those who held perfect strangers hands, we saw it in the act of rebuilding.... Love is the ultimate force in the Universe. Love heals, love gives us hope, love endures...Love conquers all.

So I've created a few tangles...two of them have the word "love" inside the tangle and the last one was made with love...so here they are....

All of these tangles were drawn on a sketch pad that I keep by my chair and I tangle while watching television in the evenings.

I do love how this heart turned out...sweet~

This was just something I've been wanted to try. I still have difficult keeping things "even" and not having my circle looked warped.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate your comments! Until next time.....

♥ Hugs! ♥

LIM33 - Anything Goes

2011-09-17T15:03:00.001-05:00

The challenge this week at Less is More, is to create a clean and simple card...and anything goes. This week, Chrissie and Mandi are looking for 1000 cards to be entered....here's my contribution of 5 of those cards. I will post them individually, but this way, for those of you wonderful folks who want to leave a comment...you only need do it one time! I do appreciate your visit and as always, I love reading your wonderful comments!

Since I've not made a start on my Christmas cards yet, I thought that I'd get a few of them done today. This first card was something new I was trying. I cut an oval out of the card front using a Spellbinder die. The ornament was cut out twice (also a Spellbinder die) and I colored the top piece, added some small pearls, a little glitter, and some gold leafing around the edges. I sandwiched a thin gold cord between the two layers of the ornament and attached it to the inside of my card. I also cut a "liner" for the inside to cover up the cord. It's best to cut the liner out of thinner card stock at the same time you cut the card front. If you do that, it's easier to line the two pieces up (ask me how I know). I stamped a branch and the sentiment with stamps from PTI. I also edged the oval with some of the gold leafing pen. I lined the inside of the card with some green and stamped the sentiment low on the bottom of the card. Not a difficult card, but a bit time consuming. Maybe if I made another one it wouldn't seem so difficult.

This second card was super quick to make. I embossed the white background with an embossing folder, backed it with a piece of red card stock, wrapped some gold cord around the card and then added a K&Co chipboard sentiment with pop dots. Super simple and quick...and I really like how it turned out. Definitely will need to make a few more like this.

The third card I made is absolutely gorgeous in real life. I used some satin textured paper and embossed this Christmas tree on it. Then I covered all the embossing with glitter. I backed the embossed piece with some red card stock and added a ribbon at the base of the tree. Quick, easy...and just beautiful! If you click on it you can see it bigger and see the glitter and shine.

These last two cards are just quick and easy. I love this format and use it often when making cards for Christmas, especially those that will be mailed and don't need a lot of bulk. I used a holly stamp that I've had forever and stamped in grey. The image is colored with Copics and the sentiment is stamped in red and is a Papertrey Ink stamp.

I almost didn't post this one, but decided to go ahead and post it. I love these little carolers. They make me smile. I stamped in Memento black and colored with Copics. The sentiment is PTI. To draw the border, I simply use my TH zero center ruler and just draw all the borders at 1/2 inch.

These are all my submissions for the LIM challenge this week. I sincerely appreciate your comments! Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

Challenge 38 - Pair of Ducks (or Paradox)

2011-09-11T22:50:00.001-05:00

I've missed a couple of weeks playing in the challenge at I am the Diva blog. The challenge this week was to draw a tile using the tangle, Paradox. This tangle takes a little practice...at least it did for me. I believe I've done about 4-5 pieces this week while practicing. Here's my take:

The finished size is about 6 x 6 as I was drawing in my sketch pad and it just got a little bigger than I'd planned. I started out by drawing an octagon shape and then dividing it into triangles. I love how this one turned out!

Thanks for stopping by!! I appreciate your comments! Until next time....

♥ Hugs! ♥

LIM32 - Seeing Double

2011-09-11T09:00:00.005-05:00

I've missed playing in the Less is More challenge for a couple of weeks. It's been a busy two weeks for me. As some of you might remember from a previous post, my mother (who is 86) fell and broke her hip and had hip replacement surgery. She's now in a rehab facility and is working hard to get her strength back so that she can go back home. It will probably be 6 weeks or more before they let her go home, but she's very determined to make it. The doctors don't really want her to go back home alone, but that's what she wants, and we're determined to try and make it happen for her.

After returning from the 6 hour trip to check on my mother, my hubby and I took a little vacation to the beach at Sanibel Island which is about 9 hours in the opposite direction...WHEW! So...it's been more than two weeks since I've done any stamping, card making, or scrapbooking...so my mojo has flown the coop!

Anyway....I digress, I wanted to tell you about the card I created for this week's Less is More challenge, where we've been challenged to create a one layer card using one image twice. Did I mention that my mojo is still on holiday?...this is all I could come up with for this week's challenge. Maybe my brain will kick into gear next week! LOL!

This finished size of this card is approximately 4.5 x 6 inches. I cut a piece of white card stock 6 x 9 inches, then scored it 2.25 inches from each end to make my "doors". Then, I cut a small 1.5 inch square and used the negative space as an embossing template with my light box, to score the three panels on each door. I used a Copic marker to add shading to each panel and stamped a wreath in the top panel of each door. The wreaths were stamped with Memento Bamboo Leaves, then colored with various markers. I added a gold brad on each door for the "door knob".

Here's a peek at the inside of the card when you open the "doors". I stamped a tree (I believe it's a SU stamp). Then I added a few baubles with red stickles. The sentiments are both from Papertrey Ink.

Thought I also share another layout I did a few weeks ago. These are my granddaughters, Camilah and Natalie.

For this layout, I used Echo Park Splash collection. I love the bright colors in this collection. I made the kite by cutting a diamond shape and paper piecing for triangles for the kite, leaving a small red border for the crosspieces. The tail of the kite was cut with an craft knife then I tied tiny ribbon knots and adhered them to the kite tail. The circle embellies were punched circles from one of the papers and then I cut out the octagons and pop-dotted them on the circles. I added a bit of doodling to each circle and octagon. The large title letters are some old chipboard from my stash and the small letters are Basic Grey. I used two different punches for this layout - the loopy edge and the scallop with dots - both MS punches. The date was computer generated and I inked the edges with pink. The quote is a Hero Arts stamp - stamped in black Memento ink and then I inked the edges with pink. I added 3 dimensional dots in orange to the title letters and across the bottom between the circles and some teal dots to the kite. Journaling is tucked behind the top of the photo and reads:

Camilah and Natalie, you two have grown up so fast and you are both beautiful young ladies. It’s so nice to know that you’re friends. You are also beautiful, sweet, kind, talented, and incredibly smart. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful granddaughters.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I truly appreciate all your fabulous comments! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

Second Post today....

2011-09-02T11:26:00.001-05:00

~Gasp~....two posts in one day! I've not been sitting around doing nothing. For some reason, I decided to try my hand at sketching. These are a few of the sketches I've done in the past week...definitely NOT professional art by a long stretch, but I amazed myself. I've never been able to draw much more than a stick figure...and now I've drawn something that actually looks like a person!! I did watch a few "how to" videos on YouTube....how to draw an eye, etc. For drawing, I used a regular #2 pencil and (did some shading) blended some of the lines with a blending stump.

First drawing

Second drawing

Third drawing

I will always be my own worse critic, I know. Although these are definitely more than stick figures, they still didn't turn out real enough for me. The first two, I was just drawing....no one specific in mind. The third drawing was done by looking at a photo of my niece, Sarah. While it does resemble her (slightly), it still isn't "right". For some reason, I always get the eyes too big...face too fat...and nose a little crooked!! LOL! Isn't there a saying about "practice makes perfect"? Guess I need some more practice!

Who knew?! So...I might just pursue this a bit further and see if there's any real talent to be found. I did enjoy piddling with the drawings,

Okay...I think that's all from me today. Gotta get busy and get something done around here! Thanks a bunch for stopping by! Comments or critiques definitely welcomed...just be kind to this "budding" artist! LOL!

Until next time....

♥ Hugs! ♥

Challenge Layout and MIA

2011-09-02T10:19:00.002-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything. Life has been crazy hectic for us. Last weekend, my mother (who is 86) fell and broke her hip. We made a rushed trip up to check on her as did most of my brothers and sisters. It's a 6+ hour drive for me (one way), so we didn't arrive until after she had hip replacement surgery. I'm happy to say she seems to be in great spirits and was up and walking around ...slowly...the day after surgery. My mother is a fiercely independent lady and I'm sure she'll work diligently to get her mobility back as soon as possible so that she can return home.

Today, I'm sharing a layout that I created for a challenge that I was doing with a couple of my scrapping friends. We've all met and spent time together scrapping, but since we live so far from each other, occasionally we opt to have a cyber challenge.

For this challenge, we used sketch #11 from Sketch Support as our challenge.

I used some papers from Scribble Scrabble and some rust colored card stock. The title work was cut with my Silhouette. I've been working hard to learn as much about my Silhouette as possible, and I've figured out some amazing things I can do with it! NOW, I've learned that there's a new Silhouette coming out in October called the Silhouette Cameo that will cut paper 12 inches wide! This new Cameo is definitely on my wish list!! Back to the layout. The photo is of two of my grandchildren, Katie and Adam. My daughter took this photo several years ago. I love that she took pictures in black and white...it give is an old feel. For embellishments, I used some one inch punched circles, 1 1/2 inch scalloped circles, a few blooms and some pearls that I colored with my Copic markers. I used some faux stitching to frame the photo. This is a super simple layout, but I do love how it turned out.

Hopefully, I'll be able to return to some of my challenges in the next week, but the way things are going, I might just miss a few...but no worries...I will be back!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I appreciate your fabulous comments! Until next time...

♥ Hugs! ♥

Challenge 36 - Trying a new Tangle - Assunta

2011-08-23T07:30:00.001-05:00

There's a new tangle challenge this week at I am the Diva blog spot. Our challenge this week was to create a tangle using a new tangle called "Assunta" which you can find the directions to HERE. I played around with it for a while, but I never could draw it using the "formula" given. I finally resorted to just eyeballing it...and drawing each "bloom" individually. I'll have to tell you that my initial try was really bad! It found it's way to the circular file rather quickly! Here' what I ended up with for my entry:

Thought I share a layout I finished this weekend too. This is my beautiful little granddaughter, Maggie. My daughter came for a visit in April and they all went to the beach for a few hours on Saturday morning. Doesn't she just look adorable in her little teal bathing suit?

The title work and the waves were both cut with the Silhouette. I've just learned to "weld" my letters together and I'm loving all that I can do with it. The sand pail and the ball were also cut with the Silhouette. I've read that there's a new 12" width Silhouette coming out...and I'll definitely have to have it! The waves were cut from the Echo Park Splash collection. (the background is also Echo Park Splash). The title, ball, shovel, and pail were cut from white card stock and colored with Copics. I tore a small piece of white paper for my "sand" and colored it with Copics. Then I added a light layer of glitter. The sand in the bucket is actually micro beads adhered with very sticky double sided tape. On the tips of each wave, I added a touch of white puffy paint and after it dried, I set it with the heat gun and the white puffed up....thought that was kinda cool. I love that in the one picture, Maggie looks like she's throwing the ball! I also added a bit of doodling at the corners of the photos to "frame" them.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I really appreciate your comments! They make me happy! Until next time....

♥ Hugs! ♥

LIM29 - Something that Moves

2011-08-20T16:48:00.002-05:00

This week's challenge at Less is More is a theme challenge. We've been challenged to make a card with things that move...that could be an image or something on the card that actually moves. I have a feeling this week the cards will be a-flutter with butterflies!

This week I've made two different cards - both with something that moves. This first card is actually a card that moves. This first photo is of the card closed. The card base is green and I've used rusty red/orange and yellow as accent colors. The sentiment is computer generated. The butterfly on the front is punched with a MS punch. The flowers on the front are hand drawn. I couldn't find a stamp that would "fit" like I wanted it to, so I just drew in some flowers with a Copics multiliner pen and then colored them with Copics. I sponged the edges of the white paper with some Memento bamboo green. The butterfly is only adhered at the body so that the wings can be lifted. I used 3 small orange pieces of bling for the body of the butterfly and added a dotted trail with a black pen.

Here's what the card looks like opened up. The yellow panels slide open when you open the card and under that I stamped a butterfly. Butterfly stamp is a Flourishes stamp and I colored it with Copics. I also added a bit of Sakura sparkle with a pen. Sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I got the idea for this card from a tutorial that I found online (HERE). She gives a very nice video tutorial for how to create this card. I LOVE how it turned out, but I will tell you that it took me a while to get it right.

This last card is stamped with a Flourishes stamp (Butterflies and Blooms), and colored with Copics. The sentiment is also Flourishes. The dark background is layered on a white card base and is Bo Bunny paper. I added three purple pieces of bling to the top corner.

That's all for me today. Hope you're having a great weekend. Thanks so much for stopping by! Your comments are always appreciated! Until next time....

♥ Hugs! ♥

Challenge 35 - A Tile in a Tile...huh?

2011-08-16T07:52:00.002-05:00

Yes...the challenge this week at I am the diva is..... to create a "Tile on a Tile". Place the dots way in from the corners and leave a very generous border. Add your pencil string over the entire tile. You'll need to think about which tangles are darker and which are lighter, to help define the mini-tile, although shading will help too. You may want a light mini-tile on a dark background, or a dark mini-tile on a light background.

Well, I'm not sure I did this exactly right...but here's my tries. I used a 4 x 4 tile for both tangles. For the first one, I made the center tile...and it's kind of small, then added the outer borders ....guess I didn't actually draw a "string". I'm a rebel like that sometimes! LOL!

This second one is my favorite. I decided to have a center tile in a circle...the light area....then added darker tangles around the outside going all the way to the edges of the tile.

So...tell me what you think...which is your favorite. Thanks for popping over to visit! Your comments are always welcomed and greatly appreciated! Until next time....

♥ Hugs! ♥