Pretties

A while back my youngest would pick flowers, er, weeds and while handing them to me he'd say that he picked up some pretties for me. I'll take pretties, even if they are weeds, over dozens of red roses any day as long as they come with lots of love.

This past weekend TiffanyDoodles released some really pretty new petunia images. Please check out the TiffanyDoodles store. I used a few colors of glimmer mist to color the petals, leaves and jar after printing the image and sentiment onto plain white cardstock.

Trying to catch up after a weekend experience of camping. Remembering today all that served and are serving to make the country I live in safe and free. Thank you.

Reach for the Sky

Graduation.

It marks the beginning.

And it marks the end.

The beginning of a future that is unknown.
The end of a path greatly traveled.

 

Another great new beginning of a CAS-ual Fridays Challenge and the end of the third fabulous gallery. Wow, you all can bring on the clean and simple bling! Now, how about joining me and the rest of the Girl Fridays in celebrating a graduate in your life?!

I started my masculine graduation card by stamping the absolutely wonderful and ginormous Vintage Notepad Stamp onto kraft paper and then ink distressed the edges. I combined two different stamp sets to form the sentiment and finished the piece with Vintage Notepad stamped clouds and a graduation hat.

(I know, I know, I can't really see the details so much, I've got to have my camera checked out. Sorry! If you click on the picture it too will become ginormous and you can see the details better.)

There is a fabulous sponsor for this week, Market Street Stamps. For all the details, prize information and to visit the amazing Girl Friday creations, stop by the CAS-ual Fridays blog!

I wasn't allowed to throw my cap in the air at my high school or college graduations, I wonder if that was a thing of the past...?

You'll be Singin' It

"...(Two, three, four, tell the people,) (What she wore.)

It was an itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie,
Yellow, polka dot bikini,
That she wore for the first time today.
An itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie,
Yellow, polka dot bikini..."

~song by Brian Hyland, 1965

There's a Polka Dot Frenzy over at the Lawnscaping Challenge and I'm cutting it under the wire with this one. I usually equate polka dots to anitsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie,  yellow, polka dot bikini and loosing some weight. I don't know why, perhaps I let my imagination run away too often.

So here's a well wishes kind of card to someone who might be on a journey to loose some weight. I paper pieced the bikini pieces onto a misted background, pinned them to a twine clothesline with mini clips and finished the card with some sunshiney polka dotted patterned paper strips.

Supplies Used:
Cardstock: (White) Office Max

Patterned Paper: (June Bug Collection) Basic Grey

Stamps: (Sophie's Sentiments, Swimsuit Season) LawnFawn, (For the Love of Dots) PracticingCreativityDesigns

Ink: (Summer Sun Pigment) SU, (Onyx Black) Versafine

Other: (Mist) Studio Calico, (Baker's Twine) (Clothespins)

Almost Wordless Wednesday

It's almost Wednesday. And I'm almost wordless today. Almost...

A little experiment with Engraved Fruits, kraft paper, colored pencils, distress ink and clear embossing powder for the May Hero Arts Challenge. Love the simplicity-I didn't think the cards needed a sentiment.

(Design heavily influenced by the amazing Kelley Eubanks with the twine wrapping and ink distressed edges.)

Elegance is in Order

May Arts Pleated Napkin Ring Tutorial

Sometimes I feel like being fancy.

Sometime I feel like setting out the china. Sometimes I feel like serving a many course meal.

Often times though, I have limited funds to do so.

Most of the time, I resort to being crafty and order up some Elegance.  

Here's a short tutorial I put together on creating your own napkin rings using

May Arts Ribbon and just a few other supplies.
"It Ain't Over 'til It's Over" as they say over at May Arts,
this is my second tutorial for their design team call.

Supplies:
May Arts 379-58-31 Pleated Satin Ribbon in Silver

May Arts Trim (AX 31 Silver Star Satin Cutout, FY 31 Silver Bead Pearls, 37831 Satin Strings in Stripes)

Large Button

Sharp Scissors

Hot Glue and Glue Gun

Optional: Large Rhinestone or Twine

^

Trim at 1” intervals 12” of the pleated up to the center stich only.

 ^

Wrap and glue pleated ribbon concentrically around button, so as to not cover the button holes.

 ^

Secure end of pleated ribbon with glue, tucking frayed end towards previous row of ribbon. Adhere loop of string with hot glue to backside of flower and cover with puffed star.

^

Cover button holes with rhinestone and wrap beaded wire around flower.

Most of the time I'm not an elegant kind of girl and would rather keep it down to earth.
But...that doesn't mean I can still jazz up a dinner table for a picnic or just a fun get-together.
Here's an Alternate Version of the Pleated Napkin Tutorial!

Create a fresh spring or summertime daisy flower look by using white pleated ribbon and a colored button. Instead of a rhinestone, thread twine through button holes.

You can also use the same supplies from the napkin rings for an invitation, card or thank you.


Thank you so much for reviewing my entry for the May Arts Design Team call! I hope you liked it!

Forever in Debt

I remember a proverb that goes something like this:

You can pay back a loan of gold,

but be forever in debt to those who have shown you a kind heart. 

This week's CAS-ual Fridays Challenge is all about the bling. Shiny. Dazzling. Stunning. Bling.

I pulled out my most shiny of shiny embellishments with the desire to bring richness to a clean and simple design. After gathering a few scraps of patterned paper in similar color and/or pattern, I layered and glued them after outlining each with a thin black line. I then added just a few other refined embellishments.


Hop on over to the CAS-ual Fridays blog to find out more on this week's fabulous sponsor, Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker, review the challenge details and rules and to check out the really beautiful, really stunning Girl Friday cards. Thanks to all for continuing to make CAS-ual Fridays so much fun!

Supplies Used:
Cardstock: (Kraft) PTI
Patterned Paper: (Blue) October Afternoon, (White Polkas from the packaging of Modern Basics) PTI, (Yellow) Cosmo Cricket
Embellishments: (Sentiment Sticker) SRM, (Paperclip) K&C Co., (Rhinestones) Michaels, (Black Satin Ribbon) SU
Tools: (Black Marker) SU

The Hardest Kind

In my humble opinion...

the

Masculine & Lovey-Dovey

combined

kind of cards are

The Hardest Kind

to Make.

But we never know what are boundaries are until they are stretched beyond capacity, right? 

I'm waltzing along today with Waltzingmouse Stamps!

Brought out the distress inks again to create a single spring-time leaf

floating against a rustic background.

I stitched the leaf from Big Blooms-Chrysanthemums on the bottom only

and curled the edges to add some dimension and interest to the card.

I finished with a sentiment from Teeny Trees and a a chipboard heart.

The Greenhouse

Every year about this time, my mother, sister, grandma, aunt and cousin get together for a  Greenhouse Party. We casually stroll through their aisles of bright, beautiful wonder carefully selecting our own plants to pot. It usually takes a fair amount of time because of the chatting, laughing and decision making, but the end results are spectacular and unique to each person's tastes. Of course, we then also partake in a fair amount of cookies and lemonade afterward!

Waltzingmouse Stamps is celebrating their two year anniversary and thought it would be fun to join the tea party! I decorated my Tea Bag Baggie with stamps from Teeny Trees, after die cutting a window from the front panel for some added interest, and to give a peek of what might be hiding inside. I'm looking forward to giving my mom and grandma some hugs!

I used the colors from this week's Off the Wall Craftiness Challenge to help with my choices for a cohesive design.

Supplies Used: 
Cardstock: (Vintage Cream) PTI
Stamps: (Teeny Trees) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Ink: (Old Olive, Buckaroo Blue Pigment) Stampin' Up!, (Vintage Photo Distress) Ranger
Fiber: (Ivory Burlap String) May Arts
Tools: (DieCut) Wplus9, (Tea Bag Baggie Template) Waltzingmouse Stamps

It Is Not Commonplace

I came across the teensy tiny little quote regarding what I think clean and simple is all about:

"Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple...that's creativity." ~ Charles Mingus

Would you agree?

This post is a teensy tiny little bit late too, because of Blogger's downtime, but better late than never!

What a phenomenal turnout for the first CAS-ual Fridays Challenge, thank you so much for all that played along. I think you are really going to enjoy this week's challenge as well:

Check out the details and amazing, I mean, truly amazing, design team crations at the CAS-ual Fridays blog. There is a fabulous prize up for grabs from Denami Design!

I started this card by cutting both the cardstock base and a white panel to size. I ran the white panel through the embossing machine that had been inked with brown. I then wrapped the panel with some lovely twine and finished the card with fabulous Boutique Buttons from Denami Design and a sentiment as well.

Supplies Used:
Cardstock: (Teal) PaperSource, (White) Office Max
Stamps: (Birds and the Bees) Wplus9
Ink: (Vintage Photo and Antique Linen Distress) Ranger
Embellishments: (Buttons) Denami Design, (Twine) The Twinery
Tools: (Woodgrain Embossing Folder) PTI, (Corner Chomper) WR Memory Keepers

Hello Circles

One of the best things about this here whole blogging thing is the chance to meet friends. People that you've never seen face to face and probably will never get the chance to, but yet, these people that you can call friends. Erin is one of those friends for me. She's an overall good gal. She's got two handsome little boys, makes great cards, always leaves supportive comments...Plus, Erin has given me so many opportunities to design products for her family's inn, The Outside Inn, which I'm grateful for. Erin and I decided to both showcase a card we've made using Hero Art's Hello Circles and the CPS Sketch.

My design also uses the beautiful palette from the current colorQ challenge. I started by embossing one of the large circles from the set in white and then colored them in with colored pencils, so as some of the white resisted and other parts took on the color. Hero Art's Featured Technique this month is Colored Pencils, glad I had the opportunity to pull my bix box of Prismacolors out again.

Have you gone over yet to see Erin's card today and peruse through her blog, Homeade Cards by Erin? Time well spent, my friends, time well spent...


Supplies Used:
Cardstock: (Kraft) PTI, (Green) SU
Stamps: (Hello Circle, So Sorry) Hero Arts
Ink: (Old Olive Pigment) SU, (Watermark) Versamark
Embellishments: (Rhinestones) Hero Arts, (White Satin Ribbon) SU
Other: (Colored Pencils) Prismacolor, (White Embossing Powder) SU

Girlie Girl

 

She doodled frequently in class with just a black pen and notebook paper. Thoughts on paper is what those doodles were...dreams, really...things she wanted to say to people she was too intimidated to approach, representations of what true souls looked like, you know, that kind of thing.

Super excited to be part of the May Denami Blog Hop! Weren't both of Julie Ranae's creations just fabulous?  She always blows me away with her card designs and is a super talented and great design team coordinator!

I went super chic and simple with this card. This Thought Bubble from Denami Design really reminds me of my days in high school. I added some grungy mist, feathered ric rac, sequins and a bit of bling to bring out the girlie girl side of this card. The sentiment is handwritten, I love the fact that I can add anything inside the Thought Bubble!

Your next stop is the talented Karen Larkin's blog, and if you get lost, you can always start at the beginning on the Denami Blog. All the details of the hop can be found there. Be sure while you are visiting to leave a comment on each stop, there are some amazing prizes involved!

Happy Mother's Day to all the fine mothers out there!

Somebody Said

A Tidbit from Somebody Said...

Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby...somebody doesn't know that once you're a mother, normal is history. Somebody said you don't need an education to be a mother...somebody never helped a fourth grader with his math. Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery...somebody never watched her "baby" get on the bus for the first day of kindergarten. Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don't need to tell her...somebody isn't a mother. ~Author Unknown

I had made this first card with the Paper Variety Challenge, Let's Get Messy! in mind, but have somehow forgot to link it up until now! I love the look that spray mists give and the inconsistencies of it, you never know what you are going to end up with which in my mind, is wonderful!

 

 

TiffanyDoodles is all about Flower Power for the Challenge that starts today! What an opportune time to use some fabulous digital images and create a few Mother's Day cards! Find all the details, plus some really great design team samples here!

The first card features a newly released image from TiffanyDoodles, Flowering Almond and spray mists. The second card features the Daphne Flower image and glitter glue.

Texting

Long before the days of email or videos were the norm, long before texting took over, I'd fill pages upon pages with my handwriting and thoughts using different inks, stick them all in an envelope and mail them off to my honey. So completely emotionally satisfying to find them all stuck together with a rubber band inside a shoebox in the back of the closest years and years later...

Oh, it is FINALLY here!

I can't wait for you all to join me by creating something for the very first CAS-ual Fridays Challenge! 

The challenge? Create a clean and simple creation but be sure to use some sort of text. Check out some amazing samples by the Girl Fridays and all the details and rules at the CAS-ual Fridays Blog and to see what our first sponsor, Crop Shop, has offered up!

For this texty card, I started out with three pages from an old book, covered each with distress inks and splashed/misted some water while drying and after drying. I then layered the three sheets and cut them at an angle. After arranging them on the card, each panel was glued, the card stamped with a sentiment and wrapped with floss.

I can't wait to see your creation!

Supplies Used:
Cardstock: (White) Office Max
Stamps: (Fillable Frames #2) PTI
Ink: (Onyx Black) Versafine, (Wild Honey, Peeled Paint, Broken China Distress) Ranger
Embellishments: (Floss), (Staples)

The Bicycle Races

 

When my sisters and I were little we'd get on our banana seat bikes and race down the bumpy concrete sidewalk. We'd claim victory if none of us fell. Seemed like it was a motor sports speedway back then, but in reality, it was just a short block and a half. 

The challenge over at Jay Gee's Nook has a really great retro image composition which reminded me of this bike set and the great times (although my bike was a glittery purple). I grabbed a few colors from the composition and created a really clean and simple card...my favorite.

I took a short break there, I was off visiting these wonderful little things...

Can't wait for Friday, the first CAS-ual Fridays Challenge goes live!

And, some more good news! TiffanyDoodles has some really great sales and a new release coming up!