Prayer Request

If anyone has any extra prayers, my family and I would appreciate them. My mom is in the hospital right now. They have found masses in her heart, brain and lungs. She had already had a couple biopsies on her lungs and the samples had come back with no sign of cancer. However, it is assumed to be cancer. She will begin radiation on her brain today. Other than than, the course of action will probably be to do nothing other than to make her as comfortable as possible. If you feel so inclined, would you please pray for her comfort and also guidance for us as we decide how to proceed. Thank you very much.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Mint and White (and Stitched) Birthday

I've had all the pieces for this card cut out and ready to put together for about a week or more. I finally decided to put it together and post it. I'm still not sure if I like it or not!

I greatly admire Leslie's cards. She often has stitching on her beautiful cards and I keep meaning to try it again. I've had my sewing machine out on my stamping table for a few weeks, and even got the tension all adjusted for cardstock:) I think I'll have to try again, though. The die cut shapes are Spellbinders. The flower is two pieces put together with a brad - from the wedding section at Michael's years ago. I also added mini white brads to the sentiment piece. The sentiment is mounted on Pop Dots and so is the flower.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Simple Stair-Step Birthday

Well, this is my last daisy like this. I did it - I used something up! Of course, now I will be missing them:) I wanted to do something a little different with this last daisy - different than my usual white, yellow and black daisy cards. I happened to have some stair-step cards cut and scored and decided to use one of those. (You can find the directions and videos on-line, but if you want to check out my previous stair-step cards and instructions, you can find them here.)

I embossed the matting on the card front with my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. I had this die cut sitting on my table from when I was experimenting with new dies and my Grand Calibur. I really didn't know what I would do with a piece like this, until I realized it kind of looked like leaves, if I covered up the circle part:) I added another die cut piece in the middle section. The sentiment is from an old Stampin' Up! set. I added some scoring and some more Swiss Dots and matted with the same green as the die cuts.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Christmas Thursday

I almost didn't get a card done for today, but I "snuck" some time while Wyatt was napping this morning. 

I made this card for three challenges - the Christmas Card Challenge blog, CAS(E) This Sketch, and my own personal challenge to post a Christmas card on Thursdays. The Christmas Card Challenge this week is to make a one-layer card. As much as I love Clean and Simple, I very rarely make a one-layer card. I used a Nestability to cut the square out of some scratch paper. Then I positioned it over the card front and sponged on two shades of blue ink. (Buckaroo Blue and Soft Sky - SU!, but likely retired. Not sure and too lazy to check right now!) The ornament is from a Recollections set. I stamped it with Midnight Muse and embossed it with clear powder. The sentiment is from a Stampin' Up! set. Edited to add: Actually now this card is for four challenges. I just checked SplitCoastStampers, and the challenge (for me, since it's cold!) is to use cool colors. This qualifies.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Another Guy Card

I have lots of die-cut pieces to use now, after experimenting with my dies and Grand Calibur. Here is a card I made using one.

I stamped the sentiment on the die-cut piece with Versamark and embossed with detail gold embossing powder. I mounted it on Pop Dots. The matting is shimmery gold. I added some Washi tape near the bottom and scored beside it. I also scored lines on the sides and the top. I matted that piece with black.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Poppies Again - and my thoughts about my Grand Calibur

OK - so here are two more cards I made using a Poppies die from Spellbinders. I wasn't able to cut through anything using the die and my BIGkick, which I have always loved and had no problems with, so I ordered a Grand Calibur from Amazon using a gift card I received for my birthday. I'll give you my thoughts on that at the end of the post.

For this first card, I cut the poppies out of olive cardstock and then again out of reddish-orange. I glued the red flowers over the olive. I cut a panel of white and added Washi tape around the edges and mounted on foam squares. I glued the poppies on the panel. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

For this second card, I cut the poppies out of a black, shiny, textured cardstock. I cut a circle out of red and glued the poppies on that. Then I cut a square from white and matted with black. The sentiment on this one is also from Papertrey. The base is kraft.

OK. My thoughts on the Grand Calibur. I'm not really sure what to say. Although it cut the poppies a lot better than my BIGkick, it still didn't work perfectly. I had to do just a little bit of cutting with my scissors. Then I tried cutting pieces using all of my new dies and the Grand Calibur. I hadn't tried them all in my BIGkick, but I had tried several of them and had failures with lots of them. I will say that for the most part, the dies did cut all the way through using the Grand Calibur. That was the problem with my BIGkick - not cutting through. So, that was better. I've heard from others about not being able to get the cut pieces out of the dies. That certainly was a problem. I used parchment paper between the paper and the die and that helped. And I would much rather have that issue than not cutting everything out. The Grand Calibur requires a lot more winding to get the platforms through. So, overall, I'm satisfied with the Grand Calibur. Honestly, though, I wish I hadn't bought the dies that I had problems with, and then I wouldn't have "needed" a new machine! And I just bought new plates for the BIGkick, so I'm not going to quit using it. I'll just have to use two for awhile. When I'm ready to give up my BIGkick, I'll have to get another plate for my Grand Calibur, as it doesn't come with a plate that you can use with embossing folders.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

One More Yellow/Black and Daisy Birthday!

 

Love this combo:) I only have one more of these daisies left, though. You may be seeing it again soon - who knows! I'm not sure I've ever used anything up before!

I cut the black circle with a Spellbinders die - using my Grand Calibur. I was going to do a post about it today, but I have to think about it more. It should be ready for tomorrow's post. The yellow patterned paper is from a Recollections stack. The daisy is from K&Co. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and I embossed the yellow panel with a Sizzix folder.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Guy Birthday

When I was trying out some new Spellbinders dies on Tuesday (and having so many problems with them using my BIGkick) I ended up with some pieces that worked. Two of them were this design in navy and burgundy. I wanted to make another one, but didn't have exactly the same colors (I had been using scraps) so I ended up making all new ones using my oldest matstack (that I've had for about eleven years! Maybe I'll use it up some day!) I glued them to a white panel and matted with the same burgundy. The sentiment is stamped using an equally old ink pad that has never even been reinked. Amazing! (Ranger Archival Plum) This card is going to my nephew.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

CAS(E) This Sketch #60

I made this card using the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch #60. It's a very simple sketch, but I really like it.

I stamped the leaves using a Papertrey set. Then I stamped the sentiment, from another Papertrey set. I scored lines above and below the sentiment. The flower is from K & Co. I think I only have three of those daisies left. I might actually use something up! (And then I will miss them, for sure. LOL!) The patterned paper strip is from Recollections.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

SCS Sketch Challenge - Plus Washi Tape

I had a little time (while Wyatt was napping. Thanks, Wyatt!) to make a card for the SplitCoastStampers Sketch Challenge for Wednesday. 

I got some Washi tape for Christmas and thought this would be a good use for it. The flower was pre-made, but I stuck a little Washi tape on a scrap of cardstock and punched out a circle from it for the flower center. The sentiment was stamped with the birthday stamp from Stampin' Up!'s Banner Greetings using Gumball Green ink. The greens match a lot better in real life! I mounted it on foam squares.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Christmas Thursday

I've done "Christmas Sunday" for the past couple years, but I think I'll change to "Christmas Thursday." I link them up the to Christmas Card Challenge blog, and their posts are on Sunday, so I can never do the "theme" for the week. This way I'll be able to. I'm not quite sure I'm in the mood for doing Christmas cards, but I'll give it a try!

The theme this week is polka dots. I started with the patterned papers, which are both from Recollections. I stamped the sentiment, which is from Hero Arts. Then I stamped the snowflakes, which are also from Hero Arts. I matted with red cardstock and I mounted the sentiment panel on foam squares. One done! 

Thanks for the comments on my last post about the Grand Calibur. I ordered one on Tuesday! I got a gift card from Amazon for my birthday, so it was a perfect way to spend it, even though until Tuesday I had NO plans of getting a new machine:)

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Happy Birthday, Terri!

A birthday card for a friend. Happy Birthday, Terri!

I cut the poppies and the background out with Spellbinders dies. (I struggled and struggled with the Poppy one. Anyone else have problems??? I ended up having to cut a lot of the center portion with a scissors. I am not happy about that! I tried again and again, and I really don't think I'll be able to use the die.) I glued the poppy piece right on the labels 27 one and then mounted that panel on foam squares. The patterned paper is from a stack I got at Archiver's from Pebbles. The sentiment is from The Paper Company.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Hello Friend!

A little card to send along to a friend. 

The flower is from the Secret Garden set from Stampin' Up! I stamped it with Primrose Petals ink. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink and is stamped in SU!'s True Thyme. I sponged ink partway around the edge of my matting piece. After I even had the glue on, I decided to turn the mat around. I had initially planned to put the dark corner in the lower left. Not sure which way I like it best, but once I touched it to the paper, there was no turning back! 

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

A Cheery Hello

I made this card is for yesterday's SplitCoastStampers Free 4 All challenge. The challenge was to make a card specifically for someone and mail it out. This card for the woman who cut my hair for MANY years but moved away to Arizona. She has sent me a Christmas card the last couple years, but I hadn't reciprocated. So, I'm sending her this card (along with our Christmas letter) to say hello and thanks.

The bottom layer was embossed with a Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. The yellow and white layers were cut with Spellbinders dies. I added a flower with gems for the center. The sentiment was cut with my Cameo Silhouette.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Winter Thank Yous

 I was actually in the mood for stamping yesterday afternoon, and Wyatt cooperated by taking a nice long nap! :) I needed a couple thank you cards and also wanted to check the challenges on SplitCoastStampers. The Ways to Use It Challenge is to use snowmen, snowflakes, etc. Perfect!

For both of my cards, I used a Dreamweavers brass stencil and white embossing paste. After using the stencil and paste, I sprinkled with ultrafine crystal glitter. The navy paper has slight texture and the snowflake paper is from a matstack by Recollections.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Birthday Flowers

Finally - I had the time and the mojo to make a couple cards! A little pressure of the upcoming birthdays may have helped, too:) At any rate, I made three cards last night. You'll get to see two of them. (One really isn't very blog-worthy.)

I stamped the background with a stamp from a Hero Arts set with Memento London Fog ink. Then I stamped the flowers (from Penny Black) with Versafine Black Onyx. I colored them with some watercolor pencils and then used my Aquabrush. I matted with some Stampin' Up! cardstock - Riding Hood Red, I believe. I added some black "gems" in the flower centers.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

Celebrating with Digital Two for Tuesday

Cora, over at Digital Two for Tuesday, is celebrating her 200th blog post, which was on New Year's Eve. She asked for six volunteers to help showcase her wonderful images, and I am one of them! Cora takes vintage images from old catalogs, magazine, books, etc., cleans them up, and then offers them for free on her blog. Isn't that cool and fun??

For both of my cards today, I used one of her images from June 10. She has so many flower images to choose from, and you know how much I love flowers! For this first one, I printed the image and then cut it out with a Labels 27 die from Spellbinders. I colored with Copic markers and sponged a little bit of light blue ink over the image. I added some Star Dust Stickles to the flowers. The sentiment is from The Paper Company Studio and I scored a few lines around it. The patterned paper is from a stack I got at Michael's.

For my second card, I made a stair-step card. (You can find other stair-step cards that I've made here, along with a tutorial in one of the earliest ones.) Again, I printed the image and colored with Copics. I matted the image with some Papertrey Ink cardstock. I cut the numbers using a Cuttlebug die set. I embossed the piece on the front with a Sizzix embossing folder, after stamping the sentiment.

Be sure to check out Cora's blog and see what her other guest designers have created. You will be amazed:) Thanks, Cora! (You can also find other cards that I've made previously with Cora's images by following this link.)

And finally, I decided to share this one, too. Our three-year-old granddaughter wanted to color something, and I had this image on my desk, so she got to color one, too:) She asked me to color the leaves for her, because they were "too little." :) I added Stickles to her flowers, too. She and her mom and dad and two brothers were here for about five days. It was a bit chaotic for a few days with them, along with our son, daughter-in-law and their two boys here for some of the time, too, but it was great!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!

January - 2014! - Calendar

Wow! Not only is it a new month, it's a new year!!! Happy New Year, Everyone.

For this calendar page, I used a couple Hero Arts stamps - the snowman and the snowflake. I colored with markers. The "Happy 2014" was cut with my Cameo Silhouette.

If you are interested in making your own calendar pages, I have uploaded my file and cutting instructions. You can find the links under my blog header.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you'll come back and visit again soon!