Bella, Bella, Bella

TGIF!!!!!!!  It's Friday!!  We all made it to another weekend. 

I just had to share a couple of photos my daughter took of our dog, Bella.  Bella's has such expressive eyes.  It's so easy to tell when she's ticked about something, begging, or just plain trying to be cute.  However, with these photos, she obviously was trying to tell my daughter to leave her alone and to get the camera out of her face.  Don't you agree?

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great weekend.

Heart Art Journal

Welcome!!  Second post today.  If you're looking for my My Time Made Easy Pretty Pattern Sketch, please scroll down one post.

I recently signed up for an online journaling class with The Greeting Farm.  It's going to be a challenge to do with my migraines, but I'm determined to complete the class if at all possible.  For the 23 week online class, I chose to use a composition book as my journal since money is a bit tight right now.  I covered the outside using some lighthouse designer paper from my stash and then added a couple of The Greeting Farm mermaid Anya's to it.

For our week one assignment, we are to create a two page spread with the theme "Spread Your Wings".  I chose to do a bad imitation of Michelle Zindorf's brayer technique using four different Stampin Up! inks: marigold morning, baja breeze, soft suede, and kiwi kiss.

I then stamped my background using Stampin Up! Inspired by Nature set inked with memento tuxedo black and stamped several times on both pages to overlap the images.  After the saying was done being stamped to both pages, I added two Greeting Farm stamps I received as a gift from my friend Kelli Jo, layered onto Stampin Up! artichoke card stock with bashful blue ink lightly stippled around the images.

For the final touches, I added some white gel pen highlights throughout the two page spread and then some punched Martha Stewart butterflies using scrap card stock....and.....presto!..... I was done.  Not bad doing all that at the last minute with a nasty migraine starting up again. *sigh*  Below are close-up's of both pages.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day.



Stamps: Stampin Up! Inspired By Nature, The Greeting Farm Three Seasons
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Marigold Morning, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Soft Suede
Card Stock: White, Stampin Up! Artichoke Scrap
Accessories: Brayer, Composition Book, Corner Rounder, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch, White Gel Pen

Cherish, Dream, Live - My Time Made Easy Pretty Pattern Sketch #20

Hello there.  Sorry for not posting for a week, I've been down with another freakin migraine again.  For this week's My Time Made Easy Pretty Pattern Sketch is to take your favorite sketch from patterns 1-6, and use it for this week.  For my card, I chose to use sketch #3.  It's one of my favorite layouts, not just because it's easy, but I can do so many things with it.

I started out by stamping my background and "ribbon strip" in Stampin Up! raspberry ink using one of the butterflies from the All A Flutter stamp set.  Then I took the Sensational Stems stamp set and stamped my main image panel in Stampin Up! artichoke and raspberry inks before lightly stippling bashful blue around the edges and layering.  One that was done, I took some K & Company vintage paper, tore the top one half off and adhered it to the card before adhering my ribbon strip and main image panels.  For my sentiment, I used one of the All A Flutter Sentiments and punched it out using a scallop punch before sponging raspberry ink around it and the card.  I then replaced the ribbon on the sketch with an artichoke butterfly with copper highlights.  See how easy it is to change the sketch around and still keep it somewhat the same?

I hope you'll join us this week.  If you play along all month your name will be entered into a drawing for a Pretty Package of your choice.



Stamps: MTME All A Flutter, All A Flutter Sentiments, Sensational Stems
Ink: Stampin Up! Raspberry, Artichoke
Card Stock: Vanilla, Stampin Up! Raspberry, Artichoke, K&Company Vintage Designer Pad
Accessories: Sponge, Brads, Pop Dots, Punch, Copper Ice Stickles, Martha Stewart Butterfly Punch

Relaxing At The Cafe - My Time Made Easy Pretty Pattern Sketch 19

Hello and Happy Thursday!!!!  Welcome to another addition of My Time Made Easy's Pretty Pattern Sketch Challenge.  This week's sketch is one of my favorites, especially with a migraine - easy peasy.

I decided to pull out some of the older My Time Made Easy sets and digital papers for this week; especially with the warm and inviting color combinations. 

I started out by printing off Wistful Musical Magic, and Freestyle Florals digital papers before stamping Lil Cafe images in memento tuxedo black and Stampin Up! blush blossom and regal rose dye inks before coloring with prismacolor makers and layering. 

For my final touches, I pulled out a raspberry satin ribbon and brads to finish everything off.  If you haven't participated in the My Time Made Easy challenges, you really should.  They're a lot of fun and you'll have lots of inspiration as well.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day.

Stamps: MTME Lil Cafe

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Blush Blossom, Regal Rose

Card Stock: White, Stampin Up! River Rock, Regal Rose, Digital Freestyle Florals, Wistful Musical Magic

Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Brads, Ribbon

July 2011 Blast From The Past

It's that time of the month again - Taylored Expressions Blast From The Past Blog Hop.  I am so glad this day has come.  I was beginning to worry I wouldn't be able to participate thanks to my migraines.  They've gotten really bad lately, however, thanks to Taylor's Dies, I was finally able to make a card in a few minutes.

This month's challenge is "Sending You Sunshine".  Well, for those that live in California, especially the Central Valley, sunshine is all you get during the summer; except this year for some reason.  Hmmm.  However, I digress.  For me, summer and sunshine means lots of sun, flowers, fruits, nuts, harvest time, grass (some of it brown) and 100+ degree temperatures, perfect for TE's Garden Party Blooms set.  However, this time, I planned on using my matching Garden Party Blooms Dies 1 & 2 instead of cutting everything out by hand like the last time I used the set.  That was such a total V8 moment when I came across those.

I started out by stamping my images in various colors of PTI ink to match the Cosmo Cricket Pixie-licious designer paper.  Once that was done, I pulled out my Big Shot and cut out all of the images.  In order to make the PTI spring rain layer stand out a bit more, I rubbed some spring rain ink along the sides of the card stock before adhering it to the designer paper. 

Finally, the inside, which I don't normally decorate complete with the phrase "Sending You Sunshine".  Here's a pic of the inside.

Make sure you stop by the rest of the hoppers in the list below for some more eye candy.




Thanks for stopping by.  Have a great day.


Stamps: TE Garden Party Blooms
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Various PTI
Card Stock: White, PTI New Leaf, Spring Rain, Cosmo Cricket Pixie-licious
Accessories: TE Garden Party Blooms Dies 1 & 2, Pop Dots

Hey There Friend - Paper Smooches July Sparks Challenge

Hi and Happy Tuesday!!!  Today I'm sharing a card I made a few days ago for the Paper Smooches July Sparks Challenge.  First I have to say I love Kim Hughes' stamp sets and was sooooooo bummed when CHF closed up.  Thank goodness Kim has her own company now. Yippee!!!

For this month's challenge, I chose to go with the color portion of the challenge and use: navy, kraft, sky blue, orange.  I thought these colors would be perfect with Kim's free bird digi stamp and some awesome Costco old world map designer paper I bought over a year ago.  Once I downloaded the digi and printed it out twice onto white card stock, I then colored it with prismacolor markers (no I don't own copics yet) before layering onto the navy, kraft, designer paper combination with some Stampin Up! bashful blue brads.  To "age" the bird a bit, I added some lightly stippled caramel dye ink around the white spaces before cutting out the second bird to pop up later.  Here's a close up of the popped up bird with a googlie eye center.

Once I was finished with my bird, I pulled out my only Paper Smooches stamp set, Sentiment Sampler, and stamped two of the sentiments from the set before layering those and stippling caramel ink over it.  For my final touches, I pulled out some navy grosgrain ribbon, and some light blue primas to finish off the front of the card before sponging navy ink around the edges.

If you haven't thought about participating in the Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge, you still have time.  Check out all of the details here.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day.


Stamps: Paper Smooches Digital Bird, Sentiment Sampler
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Night Of Navy, Creamy Caramel
Card Stock: White, Stampin Up! Night Of Navy, Kraft, Costco Designer Paper
Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Googlie Eye, Martha Stewart 2-Way Glue, Primas, Glue Dots, Ribbon, Stampin Up! Brads, Stipple Brush, Sponge, Pop Dots

Eastern Influences - My Time Made Easy Pretty Pattern Sketch 18

Hello and Happy Thursday!!!  Welcome to another addition of My Time Made Easy's Pretty Pattern Sketch Challenge.  This week's sketch is awesome and so versatile.  Since I wanted to use up some of the charms I've had in my stash forever (rolls eyes), I decided to go with an Eastern theme.

Pulling out my Bold Botanicals stamp set and Warm Serenity digital paper, I got to work.  First, I stamped my card's background in burgundy using one of the floral images from the set before stamping my main floral image twice in memento tuxedo black onto cream card stock.  As a last minute addition, I decided to also stamp the tulip from Bold Botanicals in memento black onto cream scrap card stock and then colored everything with prismacolor markers.  Once my layering onto black card stock was done, I added some vintage brads and then popped up the main image panel over both smaller panels.  This card has a lot of dimension on the main image panel especially since each of the individual blooms are popped up on different sized pop dots before being highlighted with either a dew drop or ice stickles. 

For the final touches, I added some vintage lion charms, ribbon, dew drops, and then a stamped butterfly to the card.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day.


Stamps: MTME Bold Botanicals
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Bravo Burgundy, Tim Holtz Tea Stain
Card Stock: Cream, Stampin Up! Bravo Burgundy, Black, MTME Digital Warm Serenity
Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Ribbon, Pop Dots, Dew Drop, Glue Dots, Charms, Ice Stickles, Stipple Brush

Birthday Cupcake

Hello again.  Happy Hump Day!  The week is almost over. 

Today I am sharing a card I made for my "adopted son's" 19th birthday yesterday.  The card is made using Mark's Finest Papers new Birthday Mini stamp set I received with my Speedy the Cat birthday swap cards.  The Birthday Mini set was released on July 12th and is so stinkin fun to play with.

I started out by stamping a background using the "celebrate" saying from the set in Stampin Up! turquoise ink before stamping the cupcake twice in memento tuxedo black onto white card stock.  Once I had the two cupcakes colored, I stamped my saying above the main image in memento black before spritzing Stampin Up! real red marker over the image panel.  Once everything was layered, I added some retired bold bright brads and then the cut out cupcake image with pop dots.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day.


Stamps: MFP Birthday Mini
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Tempting Turquoise
Card Stock: White, Stampin Up! Tempting Turquoise, Real Red Scrap
Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Brads, Pop Dots, Real Red Marker, Color Spritzer Tool, Stipple Brush, Glue Dots

Speedy The Cat Friend's Challenge #63

Hello again.  Today I'm sharing a card I made for Speedy The Cat Friends Challenge using die cuts as a mat background.  Thank goodness I already had a doily die cut since I'm dealing with another migraine.

Once I had my images stamped onto white card stock in memento tuxedo black, I pulled out my prismacolor markers and got to coloring.  After everything was layered, I decided last minute (gotta love those last minute things) to add some "grass" and pulled out my long retired Stampin Up! watercolor mini's set and created the grass using the watercolor landscape technique Kittie had taught me over on SCS, just minus the watercolor part this time.  With that done, I added the brads and popped up the image over some Martha Stewart ribbon I had picked up on clearance last year.  For the final touches, I added some dew drops to the designer paper, some primas, gold clip, and highlighted the water/flowers with ice stickles.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day.


Stamps: MFP Believe In You, Stampin Up! Watercolor Mini's
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Bashful Blue, Melon Mambo, Certainly Celery, Kiwi Kiss, Wild Wasabi
Card Stock: White, Stampin Up! Wild Wasabi, Pretty In Pink, Soft Sky, Basic Gray Kioshi DP
Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Dew Drops, Pop Dots, Gold Clip, Primas, Gold Brad, Blue Mini Brads, Glue Dots, Ice Stickles, MFT Doily Die-Namic, Stipple Brushes

A Weekend Of Stamping - A Combination Of Challenges

Second post for me today.  If you're looking for my My Time Made Easy Pretty Pattern Sketch challenge, please scroll down one post.

I've been trying to  stamp whenever my migraines allow me lately and on Sunday afternoon and late Monday evening, I finally felt well enough to do some.  Fortunately, I had some pre-colored images just waiting to be made into cards I could use. 

First up, is the Stamp Something monthly digital challenge.  I pulled out a digital image I had colored with prismacolor markers from Sassy Cheryl's.  Once I had finished stippling Stampin Up! bashful blue ink around the edges of the image, and layered everything, I added it to a pixie pink card rolled with Stampin Up's hot to dot wheel in pixie pink with some pink ribbon I had sitting on my stamp desk.  The whole card took about 15 minutes to assemble.  For the final touch, I added some ice stickles to highlight the water in the inflatable pool.

I also finally got a chance to ink up my Taylored Expressions Sew Happy set and do a TE sketch challenge for  the first time in a few weeks.  Since I was using a petite stamp set, I decided to use up some of my scraps and pulled out a long piece of black card stock for the base before layering on a stamped white, then pink, pieces of scrap card stock using Stampin Up's retired aida cloth background.  I stamped my TE images onto white card stock scraps using memento tuxedo black ink and then colored with prismacolor markers before popping up the entire main image panel over some recycled ribbon and then one of the dress forms.  After cutting out the spools of thread, I added those just before the ribbon knot, then the saying, and some metal dot stickers for the final touches.

My final card made, is for Mark's Finest Papers Speedy The Cat's Friends patriotic challenge.  I pulled out a couple of Rubber Monger backgrounds that haven't seen ink in a year and combined them with some Costco designer paper I've had in my stash for a while.  Once everything was layered, I lightly stippled Stampin Up! caramel ink over the card to age it a bit, added some ribbon, brads, and prima flowers to the bottom.

All of the cards made this weekend were easy ones due to my migraine, but relaxing and fun just the same.  Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day.

Stamps: Sassy Cheryl's Digital, Taylored Expressions Sew Happy, Rubber Monger Declaration, Drummers

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin Up! Creamy Caramel, Bashful Blue, Pixie Pink, PTI Enchanted Evening, Scarlett Jewell

Card Stock: White, Costco Designer Paper, Stampin Up! Black, Pixie Pink, Green Galore, Bashful Blue, PTI Enchanted Evening, Scarlet Jewell

Accessories: Prismacolor Markers, Computer, Printer, Stipple Brushes, Brads, Ribbons, Pop Dots, Word Window Punch, Prima Flowers, Metal Dot Stickers, Ice Stickles

Your Friendship Is Priceless - MTMEPPS17

Hello again.  I can't believe it's been a week since my last post, however, it's been major migraine week again.  Our temperatures here have been in the triple digits and we've had some monsoon moisture coming up from the desert southwest.  Thunderstorms and my head totally hate each other even though I personally love a good thunderstorm.  Ok, enough of migraine speak.

Can you believe My Time Made Easy's Pretty Pattern Sketch challenges have been going on for 17 weeks?  My how time flies!  For this week's challenge, I wanted to combine MTME's recent digital release, Underwater Wonderment, with Buzz-y Blooms spring looking digital paper.  I thought the blue colored "bee hive" paper made a great looking bubble background.

After downloading Underwater Wonderment, I added my own sentiment to the clam image and printed the image/sentiment combo off twice so I could pop one clam up later.  Once both were done printing, I colored the clams with prismacolor markers before cutting one of the clams out. 

After I was done with all of my layering, I added two strips of ribbon with PTI vintage buttons to the side before finally adding two white silk glitter flowers with a blue gem center.  For the final touches, I added a Making Memories page pebble (remember those) to the larger pearl in the clam shell, and pearl stickers for the bubbles.  However, something still seemed to be missing.  So I pulled out a long the retired Stampin Up! Itty Bitty Backgrounds set and lightly stamped baja breeze around the bottom of the card.  Now, my card was completed.

If you haven't participated in a My Time Made Easy Pretty Pattern or the Pretty Palette challenge, you really should.  Both challenges are great ways to be inspired to use your stamps in a new and different way.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Have a great day.