My helper

My helper

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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Let's take a spooky walk!

Hi everyone,

I hope you all had a great day & none of you are suffering with allergies as I am.  I'm sure my poor nose will resemble Rudulph by morning.  Perhaps I should have posted a reindeer card tonite! Instead, I have a Halloween card I'm not fond of.  It just never quite came together as I wanted, but feeling as horrible as I do right now, I don't have the energy to make another tonite.

This was a Mo Manning image for the little witch & her helper.  The lightpost is from Inkadinkado and the little owl hanging on his branch is from Basic Grey.  I colored her in pencils & added some stickles to pop up the moon & lightpost.



Just as I was going to pull out my card from my camera & post this, I looked over at my helper & couldn't resist taking a picture of him snoozing away like an angel.  He always has to sit with me when I work on cards so he can give me his approval. And as you can see, he gets the best chair!  I have to sit on a hard one because he claimed my desk chair with pad as HIS the first day I brought it home.  Can you say "spoiled?"




Have you ever seen anything so adorable? What a guy!

Have a great day tomorrow.  Catch you all later!


Monday, August 29, 2011

Thank You!

Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!  I got to go to my daughter's yesterday & spend the day with family having a fun day.  My friend Gail went with me & we had to stop at our favorite stamp store, of course!  Oh, the goodies they had!  It was a perfect day!

Today's card is a stamp from Penny Black.  One of my daughter's favorite images, the hedgehog. I love them too!  The sentiment is from Studio G (Michael's dollar bin) and the die at the bottom is from Die-namics. Once I saw it on a gorgeous card Pam Sparks did, I HAD to have it.  You all know how that goes! We want it all don't we?

I tried doing my own color adjusting tonite instead of the auto adjust I usually opt for.  Big mistake! ha ha A photographer I will never be.  If I can ever get to the lumber yard for my supplies, hopefully, a light box will be a big help!  It couldn't hurt!!   I should have taken another picture of him, but have a lot to do yet before bedtime so this one will have to do. You will all just have to use your imaginations to visualize how much better it REALLY looks!  lol
Catch you all later!

Friday, August 26, 2011

Sorry Melissa!

Ok, I know I have posted a lot of this particular little gal from Prairie Fairy lately.  So many different images of her doing things that my daughter has requested that I please stop! ha ha  Unfortunately, I had this one last image already colored & needed to turn it into a birthday card so she will have to forgive me.  I promise the next card will be something totally different!  Cross my heart!


I had to use this border die that my friend Gail gave me last week.  I've been just chomping at the bit to make a card with it, but it didn't quite fit in with the Halloween theme somehow.  lol  At any rate, the die is from Memory Box & I think it is one of the most beautiful dies I have seen yet!  I'm sure you will see it on a lot of cards just because it is so darned beautiful.  The butterflies are from a Martha Stewart punch and I used my swiss dot embossing folder on the background paper.  She is colored with  pencils & gamsol. 

I hope you all had a great week!  Mine was pretty long & I am really glad it is finally Friday!  I'm hoping the weekend will go well & I will be able to get some family time with my daughter & her family before it is over.

Catch you all later!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Have you seen my mummy?

Hi everyone,
Don't you think this little charmer is much cuter than your average mummy?  This is a Mo Manning digi (and so is the wonderful haunted house behind him) that is just too cute to pass up.  Believe me, I tried!  I pulled up the site two days in a row & looked at these & decided they just had to come find a home in my computer. I wasn't going to make a card tonite either, but you know what it's like with a new stamp or digi!


I colored him with copics and popped him up with pop dots although you can't see that well in my photo. I'm still trying to get to Menard's for my light box materials.  I used a spider web embossing folder on my purple cardstock for some added drama & to give a backdrop for the yummy spiders I found at Michaels.

Talk about drama....Shall I tell you how my day went?  I think I mentioned the fact that I was without water because of a water main break the other day. The closest store to my house happens to be a dollar store so I drove over there & bought enough water to fill a shopping cart.  Unfortunately, when it is wrapped in plastic wrap, you don't really see how sturdy the bottles are! I took one of the big ones to work this morning & pulled it out for lunch. I always add some peach/mango drink mix to my water as it helps me drink more. Well, I picked the bottle up, squeezing it in the process & succeeded in spraying myself with half it's contents! It came out like a garden hose turned on full blast & soaked my blouse, bra, pants, shoes, the floor....I should be grateful it missed my face & hair I guess.  lol  Thankfully, I had on a dark navy silk blouse that dried quickly so by the time I went back to work I looked much less like a drowned rat! Moral of the story, be careful to buy sturdy bottles or you may be wearing the contents!

Have a great Friday! Catch you all later!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Tired Ghoul..

Well, let me explain tonite's goofy card before we go any farther.  I hadn't really decided to work on one tonite because I was just too tired. But then there was that darned new flower die sitting on my desk just begging to be tried out.  I knew I should make a Halloween card for a change of pace, but I REALLY wanted to do flowers.  So instead of doing what "normal" people do & making either a flower card OR a Halloween card, I just plopped my cute little flowers down on this $1 stamp from Michaels that followed me home tonite. The sentiment was another from their dollar bin.  Who says you have to have everything spooky on a Halloween card?  And truthfully, this one is not one I will probably ever send anyone. It was more of a kill time when you are too tired to make a REAL card, card.  If I haven't confused you at this point, I haven't done my job!  ha ha


Now you see what I mean don't you?  I was too tired to make a "real" card ..just didn't have the energy. But I sure wanted to "play" for awhile before I went to bed.  Does anyone else ever have this problem?

Yesterday I came home to find I had no water.  The main at the end of the street had broken & they worked on it all day & all nite & finally this morning I had water again.  In the meantime, they have re-routed all the traffic from the busy main street where it broke so that it all goes directly in front of my house. Heedless to say, it was a loud night.  I never realized how many cars traveled down that street or how fast they drove! And of course, there are always the cars with their sound systems turned up to instant deafness levels who go past at 2 in the morning & rattle the windows of your house! ugh!  I must be getting old!  lol

Better get busy.  Catch you all later.  Have a great day!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Halloween is for Frogs!

Well, I didn't get anything made yesterday that was worth posting.  After working all afternoon Saturday on a beautiful new stamp, the card was so horrible I started over.  The second version was even worse than the first one so I gave up.  My mojo was so far gone this weekend, I think it must have been in the witness protection program!  

This is a new Inky Antics stamp set from my daughter.  I LOVE the frog!  What a cutie pie! I colored him with copics and pulled some paper from one of my DCWV paper pads.  The web border is from Martha.
This is the front of the card.  I also took one of the inside of the card, although it may not be as easy to see.


Isn't he just a hoot?   I wanted to get this posted since I missed posting yesterday. 
Now I'm off to frost some brownie cookie bars I made when I got home tonite so they will be ready to take to work tomorrow.  One of my favorite co-workers is being sent to another location & I will really miss her.

I hope you are all having a great week.  Catch you later!

Friday, August 19, 2011

Friday at last!

Did you think Friday would EVER get here?  This has been such a long week!  And I'm sure the weekend will just fly by in nano seconds as it usually does. 

Tonite I have a birthday card to share.  I bought several of these Prairie Fairy digi's in various activities. I just adore the face on this little gal.  It makes me smile.  I colored her with pencils & gamsol & the paper is from Paper Studio. I added a couple of Spellbinder corners to finish her. I still haven't gotten to the lumber yard to get the materials for my light box as you can see.  It has been just one of those wild, wild weeks.

I promise to do something different for my next card.  In fact, I got a pkg. of goodies from my daughter in the mail tonite. It's full of Halloween stamps.  Anyone who knows me will tell you that I have more Halloween & Xmas stamps than anything else.  I adore both holidays and never tire of making cards for either holiday. I love Halloween for it's silliness and Xmas for it's sentiment.

I hope you all have an amazing weekend! I'm getting the oil changed & a haircut for the start of mine. If my hair gets any longer I'm afraid the animal control people will be herding me into one of their vans & putting a doggie collar around my neck!  Aarf! 

Catch you all later!

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Some Cheerfulness on a Stormy Night!

We are in the midst of a stormy night here tonight. There are reports of hail the size of baseballs and 70 mph winds all around us.  So far, we have had nothing but rain & lots of thunder & lightening.  I thought maybe a bright cheerful card would help dispell some of the gloom outside.


This is another Prairie Fairy image.  My favorite little gal sharing her swing with her kitty. Sounds like a lot of fun to me, but unfortunately, my "little" kitty is about 20 lbs & wouldn't fit on a lot of swings!  I colored her with pencils & gamsol & the DP is from my stash, as is the wild flower.  I'm not sure how much time I will spend upstairs tonite with all the rumbling going on, but hopefully, I can finish a couple of other cards I have colored & ready to finish up & post.  Wherever you are, I hope you are having sunny skies!

Catch you all later!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

National Giraffe Day!

I'm going with this title because I just checked my favorite blogs & found that one of my favorite sites has also done this same little guy/girl? Diane's Country Cards & Crafts has posted a beautiful giraffe today. This is a Mo Manning image I think the whole world is in love with!

The paper is actually wallpaper from a sample wallpaper book I have had & almost given away several times now.  I remembered it had some "jungle" themed paper so I grabbed it last nite before I started the great paper hunt thru all my stash.  The vine is a die from Marianne Design and the flowers from those good old Michael wedding buckets. I'm sure you are all hoping my buckets will run dry one of these days!  lol
I'll post this & go back to edit so I can link you to the other gorgeous giraffe!  I've learned the hard way if I try to get out now, I sometimes lose everything I've got.

Catch you all later!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Our Hero

This is not the card I had planned to post tonite, but I needed to make a quick card for one of the guys in our IT Dept.  For 2 weeks in a row, he has brought us goodies.  Last Friday he had delicious cookies delivered to our office from a cookie specialty shop & the Friday before that, he brought in donuts for all of us.  We are calling him "our hero" now! ha ha  A thank you card was definitely in order.

The image is a Mo Manning.  Perfect for an IT guy!  The paper was from a pack by The Paper Studio & he is colored with pencils & gamsol.  It was a quick card, but Brian loved it & the thought behind it.

Hope you are all having a wondeerful week so far.

Catch you all later!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Angels come in all sizes

I have just a few minutes before I'm out the door, but I wanted to post an angel card today.  I especially love this chubby little one from Mo Manning. I've made her up several times & she always comes out well.  Not so much because of my talent, but because Mo Manning is a genius at drawing! lol 

I found this wonderful polka dotted paper in my scrap pile & knew she had to be done in blues & browns. I don't do a lot of browns, but will have to start as I love the combination. 

Have a wonderful day! I have a cousin visiting from Virginia & she & I are going to do dinner & a movie today. And the weather is just perfect so we should have a great time catching up!

Catch you all later!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

More leftovers!

Well, I am finally getting down to the last few cards I made while my computer was down. I'm going to post 2 again tonite.  The first is a Magnolia.  I sat her on a cute picket fence from a Sizzix die & sprinkled some of those "wedding" flowers around.  Though you can't see much of the background paper from Me & My Big Ideas, the flowers in it are the exact replica.
And just for my daughter who LOVES cards with critters, I have to add the next card. This is a Maxim the Cat stamp.  The paper is from my stash & I didn't add a lot to the card as he looks like a pretty simple kind of guy, doesn't he? 

I colored him with pencils & gamsol & the ric rac is actually paper from a die cut.

I hope you are all enjoying the cooler weather!  It's so wonderful to go outside in the morning to find cool air and low humidity!

Off to do some on line shopping & then to throw in some brownie cookie bars!  Yum! I think there is some rule you HAVE to eat at least one huge piece while they are hot to be sure they are edibile....lol

Catch you all later!

Friday, August 12, 2011

It's finally Friday!

Hurray!!!! It's finally Friday!  I wish the weekends were as long as the weeks!  We finally got some rain last night. My yard looks like shredded wheat instead of grass.  It has been so dry here for weeks after the wetest spring in years.  Tonite I have some Magnolia cards to share.
Well, this isn't the edited version I had planned to share, but for the life of me, I can't find the one I edited so this will have to do. I'm still struggling with some of the features of the new software. The real card isn't quite these shades and her cheeks don't look like she has frost bite! lol  This is a Magnolia I have had for awhile & the paper was from my stash.  I cut out one of the large flowers & leaves & popped it up for interest.


Since I can't find the other Magnolia I edited either, I will post a critter just for my daughter! This is a Mo Manning image I have used before, but I had colored up several of them for guy cards & pulled some paper from my stash for this one.  I love his expression! If you had photos in the dictionary, this little guy should definitely be beside the word guilty! 

Better get busy!  Catch you all later!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

This & That!

Hi everyone,
I hope you all had a great day! Here it is Thursday already & only one more day before the weekend. Time goes so fast!


Tonite I promised my daughter I would post a flower card.  I did have a new card with just flowers, but don't care for it so I'm substituting something "with" flowers instead.  Sneaky, huh?  (Mothers are like that sometimes! lol)  The first card I loved, and it does have flowers so it will pass the flower test.  It is another gorgeous Lilli of the Valley stamp and I used S.E.I. papers and a Magnolia die for the flowers  along with my Martha Stewart punches for the border & a Cheery Lynn Design die for the background.


The other card I'm going to add also has some flowers on it, but I know how much some of you love critters so I am posting this little cutie from Inky Antics. The message inside says "Hope you feel better lickety split!"

 I loved this cheerful paper from Me & My Big Ideas. The green fern is from Marianne Design and the pink flowers from my bottomless tub of Michael's wedding flowers.

Looks like we are getting some severe weather moving in so I'm going to head for the living room to watch the weatherman.

Have a great Friday! Catch you all later!

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Blogger is finally up!

Well, I guess if you plan to post, you need to have Mr. Blogger up & running instead of down for repairs.
Tonite I have another change of pace for you.  This is a wedding card made with a Lilli of the Valley stamp. I used a Cheery Lynn Design doily for the matting and Martha Stamps for the lace. The paper was from my stash.

I hope you all had a great day.  Only two more days left until the weekend again.  Yeaaa!! 

Catch you all later!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Almost forgot to post!

I hate to admit it, but my daughter sent me another box of goodies tonite & I got so busy playing with the new toys she sent that I almost forgot to post a card! 

This is another Prairie Fairy digi.  I love this little gal with the glasses! She just makes me smile!

I colored her with copics & the paper is from K & Co.  Because the paper was pretty wild, I didn't use any embellishments, just kept her simple.

We are finally having a cooler week for a change.  And let me tell you, it is pure heaven!  Sure makes me wish I didn't have to go to work & could just stay home.  Retirement is looking better all the time! lol

Catch you all tomorrow!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Just for Melissa!

Hi everyone,
Tonite I am going to post a card I made yesterday with a new stamp my daughter sent me. It is a Mo Manning (she knows what I love) and I colored her with copics & Prismacolor markers. The paper if from a K & Co pad and the flowers from my stash.  I added ladybug buttons & used a Martha punch for the edges.

She also sent me a pkg. of slider cards which I had never seen before. (I don't get around much!) To me, they should be called slider boxes, but whatever you call them, they are really adorable & I can see them being a great way to give a gift card, or even a pair of earrings to someone.


The first picture shows the finished "box:" or card.  The second picture is what happens when you pull out one side. Both sides "slide" out! How cute is that!

I think some ice cream is calling my name.  Catch you all tomorrow!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

The Baby Girl Version

Well, as I promised, here is my second posting for today.  For those of you just tuning in, I tried posting a boy baby card along with this girl card but Blogger is being difficult & wouldn't take both images in one post.
This card is the other digi for Sassy Cheryl's with the girl baby.

The paper is from a Tracy Porter paper pad and I used one of my Martha Stewart punches for the scalloped edge. The ribbon is from one of my boxes full of ribbon that are stashed all over. When I went thru my "I have to have ribbon on every single card" phase, I collected a lot of ribbon! lol  The good thing is, it doesn't spoil!

I hope you liked the change of pace. I'll be back tomorrow with more. Until then, have a great day!

Catch you later!

A change of pace

I think it is time for a change of pace this afternoon!  After posting tons of birthday cards, I took time out to make a couple of baby cards.  I don't need any right now, but when I saw these adorable digi's I had to get them.  And, of course, when you have new stamps, you have to color them up, right?  There was a stork for boys & another for girls, so naturally, they both found their way into my cart. Both are from Sassy Cheryl's and so cute you couldn't take just one! I'm going to TRY to post both cards in this post.  Try, being the operative word.  I'm just having a devil of a time getting Blogger to let me download 2 images in one post.

Well, it looks like I am stuck just posting one card again! I'll have to do a second post in a minute so you can see the girl version!  What a hassle!  Well, here are the particulars on the boy card.  I used DCWV paper for the background & one of my favorite (yes, I know) Martha punches for the train border. It makes a perfect boy border for baby cards.  I'll be back in a minute with the baby girl version for you.



Saturday, August 6, 2011

Can you say orange?

I hope all of you have had a wonderful Saturday. After spending the morning at the nursing home  visiting Mom, I had lunch at one of my favorite places & spent the afternoon with Gail trying to create sliding cards. To me, they should be called sliding boxes, but they are cute just the same. I'll have to post one later.

Right now, I have another Mo Manning digi for you.  I'm not sure why I chose orange.  It isn't a color I normally choose, except for Halloween, but this just seemed to scream for orange.

I used one of the large flower strip punches from Martha that has 3 sizes of flowers, cut them apart & stacked them for the dimensional flowers. The paper is from my stash & is several years old. I also used a corner punch from EK Success that I've had for years to add some interest to the corners. I colored her with copics & Prismacolor markers.

I was going to upload a second card tonite, but for some reason, Mr. Blogger will only let me upload one card on posting now.  Bummer!

Well, I'm off to color a new stamp my daughter sent me. I've already got it done in my head so I had better get busy.

Catch you all later!

Friday, August 5, 2011

A critter for Melissa

Hi everyone,
I promised my daughter that I would post a "critter" card tonite instead of one with people.  She loves the critter cards more than the cards with kids so here we go!  This first card is my favorite cat from Penny Black all dressed up as a bumble bee.  The paper is from K & Co & I cut out some of the flowers & popped them up to give it a little more interest.

The second card I was planning to post tonite is also a critter, but for some reason I'm having problems getting it to download.  Guess I will have to be satisfied with this one (if it works) and post again later.

Have a great nite! Catch you all later!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

A flower for you!

In keeping with the happy to be back theme, here is a Lilli of the Valley stamp I fell in love with. She just has such a sweet face doesn't she?  The paper is from Paper Studio and the butterflies from Martha Stewart's buttterfly punch.  (One of my favorite punches) I can hear Gail laughing right now. She says I say that about every one of my punches!  Which means I say it a lot! I have this "thing" for punches.....and paper.....and stamps......and......

Today was a much calmer day at work.  I'm taking the credit for it because of the pan of brownies I took in this morning. Chocolate has magical powers! ha ha

Until tomorrow, everyone have a great Friday!

Catch you all later!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The wait is finally over!

Can you believe it?  My first post in what seems like forever!  Thanks to my brilliant son-in-law, my computer is not only back up & running, but loaded with newer versions of most of my programs & more memory.  Now I just have to figure out the in's & outs of my programs.  ha ha  So bare with me if my cards don't look perfect for awhile. 

This first one is a really happy, cheerful card.  I chose it because I am celebrating being back! lol
The image is a Mo Manning & the paper is from Me & My Big Ideas.  I colored her with copics & Prismacolor markers and added the gaudy flower from my stash. 
I have a huge stash of cards to post so I should be back tomorrow with another. Right now I have to stop so I can go throw a pan of brownies in the oven.  We had such a lousy day at work today I decided chocolate was the only thing that might save us all tomorrow.  I'm a firm believer in the power of 2 things: prayer & chocolate!

Catch you all tomorrow!

Monday, August 1, 2011

The wait is almost over!

I had hoped to have a card posted yesterday, but we still have a couple of snags to fix on my computer first. Hopefully, tomorrow I can start posting all the cards that are piling up.

My computer problems are almost fixed, thanks to my genius son-in-law & I can now climb stairs again. For those of you who may not know, what I thought was a pulled muscle turned out to be blood clots. Luckily, my dr. decided to send me up to the hospital to be sure.  And in the middle of blood clots & daily shots, I threw my back out too.  The last couple of weeks have been a bit "unpleasant" to put it mildly.  ha ha
At any rate, I'm doing better & will be back to posting daily, hopefully by tomorrow!

Catch you soon!