Zindorf Inspired Sisterhood Swap

Hello and happy Sunday morning! Doesn't this look like a wonderful place to be? Even though we didn't get all the winter weather that was predicted, it's still unseasonably cold here. It was predicted that we would have 8-12 inches of precipitation (snow and sleet). What did we actually get? Light freezing rain, and a skift of snow. I'll take that!!! Today is a beautiful sunny day, albeit cold.

Now on to the card. This card is a case of a Michelle Zindorf card. You can see her version here. While I feel completely unworthy when I surf her gallery, it is fun to try and recreate her beautiful work. It's certainly not as easy as she makes it look on her tutorials! Should you get the chance, definitely take the time to surf her gallery and blog, and prepare to be AMAZED!!!

I used the brayering technique, and lots of sponging on this card, and I used craft ink with clear embossing powder for the land and trees. This technique definitely takes some practice to perfect, and I could still use a lot of practice. I do love this effect, and I can't wait to try a sunset next.

Supply List

Paper: Papertrey white cardstock, Apricot Appeal, Whisper White

Ink: Various SU inks in greens and blues, Hunter Green Craft Ink, Chocolate Chip Marker

Stamps: Lovely As A Tree, Noble Deer, Inspired By Nature

Accessories: SU Lots of Tags Die, Big Shot, Signo White Gel Pen, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Brayer, Sponges, Dew Drops

Have a beautiful day, and thanks for stopping by!

Love Ya!

Lorie

You Are The Wind Beneath My Wings

This card makes me think of a beautiful Spring day, but it's anything but here today. Cold, rainy, and sleet/snow predicted! LOTS OF IT!! Oh well, one can dream, right?

I made this for Paola's (aka Sama's) What card/music are you swap on splitcoaststampers. I joined that particular swap just under the wire, because I had absolutely NO inspiration for it, till one day I mentioned to Allen that I'd like to join it, but I had no ideas for it, or no stamps to go with what few ideas I came up with. He actually suggested the song You Are The Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Midler. What a great idea, because I had just purchased the Sizzix butterfly dies from Stampin' Up! for my Bigshot. I thought the plain white butterflies were a little too plain, so I heat embossed them with the Baroque Motifs stamp set with white craft ink and clear embossing powder. I actually embossed the paper before I cut them. Once that was finished, I sponged the edges with certainly celery ink to make the embossing pop. The sentiment is computer generated. Overall I'm happy with the results here, and I'm anxious see all the wonderful swaps I get back. Some of the sneek peeks have been pretty funny.

Supply List

Paper: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, SU Certainly Celery DSP

Ink: Certainly Celery, Whisper White Craft Ink

Stamps: Baroque Motifs

Accessories: Sizzix Bigshot, SU Butterfly Dies, Sponge, Green Wire, Glass Beads, Green Glitter

Thanks for stopping by today. As always, I'm thrilled to have you, and hope you will be back soon! I hope it's warm and dry in your corner of the world, and that you're enjoying a beautiful weekend!

A Cute Latte Mouse

Hello, good morning, and happy day! I'm back for a day at home, and I'm trying to play "catch up". I have this adorable little card to share today that I made for Tanja's Coffee/Tea Card Swap on splitcoaststampers. I bought this cute little mouse stamp from Whippersnapper especially for Tanja's swap. He was just too cute to pass up!!! :-D

After I got this card all finished, I sat there thinking about my latte sentiment. I pondered it for quite a while, and decided that the card was missing something. Of course!! The whipped cream for the top of the latte!! I added it as an afterthought, and I'm happy I did. I think his whipped cream hat is pretty darned cute, and I hope you and my fellow swappers will like it too. What a wonderful experience this swap has been, and Tanja has been a devoted and gracious hostess. THANK YOU TANJA!!!

GRANNY UPDATE: I want to thank all of you for your kind thoughts and special prayers for my Granny. She is doing a little better, but it will be a while before she is ready to come home from the hospital. The radiologist and her family doctor disagree about her broken arm. Her family doctor agrees that he sees the same thing on the x-ray as the radiologist, but he's sure it's an old injury, and the "inside" view of the bone shows that everything is in alignment and looks good. The splint/cast was removed yesterday, and she is able to move and use the arm much more, and she walked a few steps for the first time in days.

Supplies for this card: Paper: Pink Pirouette, Watercolor Paper, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Bella Rose DSP

Ink: Black Stazon, Various SU inks for watercoloring. Stamps: Whippersnapper, SU Like It A Latte

Accessories: Pink Grosgrain Ribbon, Word Window Punch, Eyelet Border Punch, Felt Flowers, Gingham Ribbon, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.

Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you have a blessed day filled everything you love! May the good Lord bless and keep you today and always!

Love Ya!

Lumberjack Riley

Hello, and good morning! Well, it seems like I've been away forever, and actually I'm making this a quick post, because I need to be getting ready and be out the door within the next 30 minutes. I've been very preoccupied, because my granny has been more under the weather than usual this past week and a half. She took a fall several days ago, and hurt her arm. After much protesting from her, we physically MADE her go to the doctor last Friday just to make sure it wasn't broken before we went in to the weekend. Well after an exhausting day for all of us, the radioligists diagnosis was "not broken", but badly bruised, and the doctor said that her blood was too thin from her medications, and the arm continued to bleed under the skin. It's a pretty nasty looking injury. Anyway they decide reduce her blood thinning meds, then on Sunday, she had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance, because she couldn't get out of bed, and she's unable to move her left side. Turns out that she does indeed have a broken arm!! How on earth does this happen?? They still don't have answers about her left side, but they are running more tests today. I'll be taking grandpa to the hospital so that we can spend the day with her. Thanks for all your prayers and concern. I will keep you posted about how things are going.

Now, about this card. About three times this winter, my Uncle Charles has cut and given us a load of wood for our wood furnace. It has been so nice to have that warm and cozy fire in the furnace this winter, and it has been such a help to have the extra fuel for the fire, so after he gave me another load last week, I thought it was high time I get that thank you out to him. This is one of my first Riley stamps from the wonderful Hanna Stamps company. When I saw this Riley Lumberjack, I knew that would make the perfect thank you card for Chuck. I love to watercolor, and this one was a lot of fun! No time for a supply list today, but if you have any questions, please let me know and I'll be happy to share! Thanks for stopping by, I love having you, and please, please stop by again soon! Love and hugs to you all!

Queen For A Day

It's been a few days since my last post, and I've really missed not having something to share with you, but I've had a bad case of the winter blahs, blues, whim whams...whatever you want to call it. I've had it, and I hate it! It's a beautiful sunny day today, so maybe that's helping to bring me out of my slump. Do you ever feel the need to be queen for a day? I'm thinking that would be just the ticket for the winter blahs. I've had this Toad King image from Dog Gone Stamps colored up for quite a while, but I hadn't decided what to do with it, and when I stumbled upon the Queen For A Day sentiment from the SU Taggers Dozen set, I knew my Toad King was soon to become a "Toad Queen". With the addition of some eyelashes, and some Regal Rose lips, this lovely lady was born!! I just love the look on her face. She looks so content to be the center of attention on this card, or anywhere for that matter. I used my SU inks to watercolor this image, and although it's doesn't clearly show in the picture, I used some Stickles on the wings of the flies on her crown. I'm pretty happy with the turn this image took, and I just can't get enough of those big sexy eyes.

Supply List

Paper: Kiwi Kiss, Summer Sun, Watercolor Paper, Old Olive, Far East DP from Imaginesence

Ink: Black Stazon, Various SU ink for watercoloring

Stamps: Toad King from Dog Gone Stamps, SU Taggers Dozen

Accessories: Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, Dew Drops, Martha Steward Punch

I'm so happy you could stop by to see what I've been up to. I'll try to keep the creative momentum going, and have some new things to share with you. Have a beautiful day, and happy stamping!

Love Ya!

Top 10 Favorites Award to share...

Good morning, and happy Saturday to you! Woohoo!! The weekend is here with all the promise of fun, relaxation, and a break from the stresses and worries of all that plagues us during the rest of the week. There is so much bad stuff going on right now in our world, and it's hard to get away from it. I know that we all are dealing with our own personal battles and worries, and it gets more and more difficult to cope with it all. It's days like that when you wake up, and find that some sneeky little elf has planted an adorable Lady Bug in your midst with the message attached you make my heart smile. Oh, boy! Couldn't we all use some extra smiles right about now?!! This adorable and timely award came from dear, sweet Kelly The Sandcastle Stamper, and I tell ya! Kelly has impeccable timing!! I'm proudly posting this award, because it does make my heart smile to know that she cares enough about me to stop in and check my blog on a regular basis, leave heartfelt comments, an endless notes of praise and encouragement. Thank you, Kelly for always being a bright spot in so many of our days, and consider this post my tribute to your faithful friendship and love. You are a gift from God, and I'm so happy and grateful that our paths have crossed, and I look forward to sharing a timeless friendship with you! I love ya, sweetie!!

Now...on to sharing this award. I know many of you will receive this award, not once, but twice, and maybe many more times. Since it is a Top 10 Fav's!, I am compelled to share it with the blogs that I truly do visit as my favorites on a daily basis. The ones I ALWAYS stop by every day. So here goes. I'm sending this on to: Kadie; Sandra; Mary; Michelle; Karen; Lauri; Catherine; Carolyn; Jeanette; and Susan. Of course, Kelly, you know that this comes back to you as well, because you know you are in my top 10+ too!! Friends, please feel free to post this award to your blog, because you are my favorites. And feel free to share on your blog if you'd like. If I get it back from some of you, I'm cool with that, and I'll just add your name to the list with Kelly. Thanks for stopping by today. I have a lot of projects in the works, but nothing completed yet. Stay tuned, there'll be some more cards coming soon! Have a blessed weekend!!

OH, and I have to shout out to my sweet and wonderful friend Kadie who has been chosen to be one of the Gardners on The Greeting Farm Design Team! WOOHOO Kadie! You are awesome, and we knew it was only a matter of time! I Can't wait to see what her spring garden produces!

What's Cookin', Hot Stuff?

Okay, so I know it's way past Valentine's Day, but I'm going to share this card with you anyway, because I worked really hard on it, and my "heart" was completely in to it (pardon the Valentine pun, there). I made this card for one of the Hanna Stamps Friday challenges, but after I finished it, I realized that I hadn't followed the instructions (go figure)...maybe I should pay a little closer attention! One of the rules was that we couldn't use pink or red. Well, as you can see, that "no red" rule went right out the window! I really wanted to use this gingham ribbon becaue it reminds me of a checkered tablecloth, and I thought that would go so well with this stamp set. I paper Pieced Hanna's apron and hat, and made the black frame with my scalloped square punch. I love this stamp set, and I have plans use them to make a set of cards for my niece Kyleigh, who's in culinary school. This card was a lot of fun to put together, even if I didn't follow the instructions for the challenge. I try to read and re-read the instructions for challenges now, but if I make a mistake, no big deal, because sometimes mistakes work out okay. At least in this case it did!! :-)

Supply List

Paper: Papertrey White card stock, Basic Black, Real Red, unknown DP

Ink: Black Stazon, Real Red, various SU ink for watercoloring

Stamps: Hanna Stamps Kiss The Cook, SU Baroque Motifs, computer generated sentiment

Accessories: Gingham Ribbon, Scalloped Square punch, Coluzzle, Scalloped circle punch, red heart button, black polka dot satin ribbon

Thanks for stopping by today. I have several projects in the works, and lots of stamping that needs to be done this weekend, so please come back soon! Have a blessed and beautiful day!

Love Ya!

Fisherman Sympathy

Am I the only one who finds it nearly impossible to come up with a masculine sympathy card? Masculine cards are difficult enough, but masculine sympathy? Goodness! That's a tough one! So, Allen springs this one on me this morning. He asked if I had a sympathy card, or a stamp to make a sympathy card for one of the drivers who lost his father to cancer a couple of days ago. He did go on to tell me that Ken's dad enjoyed fishing, and I immediately thought of this stamp that was a part of my blog candy win from Lauri Ingram at Paperville. These Dog Gone stamps are so much fun to watercolor, and this one was certainly no exception. I knew I didn't want to use ribbon on this card (too feminine), so I though for a while, and decided on the frayed twill tape, because it reminds me of frayed rope, or net. I'm pleased with the result, and I hope Ken will like it too. He's such a nice guy, and I know he's going through a difficult time with the loss of his dad. I hope it will give him some comfort to receive this card signed by all his co-workers letting him know that he's in their thoughts, and prayers.

Supply List

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Garden Green, retired SU DSP

Ink: Black Stazon, various SU inks for watercoloring, chocolate chip

Stamps: Fisher Man from Dog Gone Stamps, SU Thoughts & Prayers

Accessories: SU Wide Oval Punch, twill tape, antique brass brads

Thanks for dropping by today. I always love to have ya, and I hope your day is blessed with good things! Happy stamping!!

Love Ya!

Domestic Goddess Magnetic Calendar

I found these magnetic calendars on the clearance aisle at my local Ben Franklin store. I think I paid all of about .75 cents for each one. All I had to do to alter it was pull off the stapled on calendar, cut a retangular sheet of DSP a little larger than the actual calendar back, then use my sanding block to cut the edges off nice and even. I used a glue stick to adhere the paper to the calendar back. Once that was done, then I was ready to stamp my background and stamp and color the Hanna image to match the DSP. I made this one with my cleaning lady/friend, Debbie in mind. Debbie worked for Allen and I for almost 7 years when we were in the restaurant business, and after we sold, she started her own cleaning business. Debbie comes every Thursday evening to help me with dusting floors, woodwork, and all the knick-knacks. I am so grateful for her help, but more than that Allen and I both look forward to her company and visits. We try to actually plan dinner for Thursday nights, and of course, we do that in anticipation of Debbie joining us and spending time together. We have been asked many, many times if we miss being at the cafe, and our answers are always the same. We don't miss the work at all, or the being tied down 6 days a week, but we do miss the people, both customers and those we worked closely with. ESPECIALLY Debbie. We could always count on Debbie to be there if we needed her, and Allen still calls her once in a while just to say "Debbie, I need you to open for me in the morning. Be there at 5:30 a.m.". Debbie always answers with a hearty "Yeah right!", and laughs her wonderful and happy laugh! Oh yes, we do miss working with Deb, but Thursday nights give us a weekly dose of our dear friend. Friends are a blessing to all of us, so today, let your friends know how much you love and appreciate them. I have met so many wonderful people on SCS that I now proudly call friends, and I never would have dreamed that would have ever been possible! Please know that I love your visits to my blog, and I look forward to your comments and kind words, and I consider you all very special friends. Thursday nights are always open, and the more, the merrier, so come on over!! Have a blessed day, and I hope you get to spend part of it with friends! Happy Stamping!

Love Ya!

How Doggone Cute Is This?

As I mentioned in the previous post, I won the blog candy Lauri was giving away on her Paperville blog. This adorable Nikko Smile stamp was one of the 5 stamps she gave away. Isn't the expression on his face adorable? I've seen that look on my furry friends faces, and it's a look you just can't say no to! How do they know that?!!! Lauri also included a set of doggie charms that worked beautifully as an embellishment for this card. Thank you again, Lauri for the chance to win these goodies. I'm having a ball playing with them!!! In making this card, I used the following:

Stamps: Doggone Stamps Nikko Smile

Paper: Close to Cocoa, Sahara Sand, retired SU DSP, Whisper White

Ink: Black Stazon, various SU inks for watercoloring, and creamy caramel SU ink for sponging

Accessories: Top Note Bigz Sizzix Die from SU, corner rounder punch, taupe grossgrain ribbon, doggie charm, silver brads, paper piercing tool

What a fun card, and a fun image to play with. Being a dog lover, I can see myself using this stamp for many cards/projects for a long time to come. Please head over to Doggone Stamps and check out their selection of stamps. They have a great assortment, and something for everyone. I will have some samples to share from my other Doggone Stamps later in the week, so please come back and visit soon! Have a blessed day, and Happy Stamping!

Love Ya!

A Bright Challenge!!

I have been so excited this week because I won blog candy! Yippee!! Can you say SUPER EXCITED, because I won blog candy from both Paperville, and In My Mind's Eye!!!!! I tell ya, I NEVER win anything, and I should have taken my friend Catherine's advice and purchased a lottery ticket, but I haven't been anywhere to buy one. Who knows. Maybe my luck will hold out until tomorrow, when I'm in town. Anywho, back to my bright card. I made this card with some of the wonderful bright paper that Lauri indcluded with her blog candy package. Bright colors are so hard for me, but this paper made it so easy. I just chose card stock and embellies to match the paper and voila!! Thanks Lauri for bringing me outside of the box, and helping me to brighten my world!

This card also works into a couple of challenges from last week. The layout comes from the SCS Wednesday sketch challenge, and the Hanna Stamps Friday challenge hosted by the amazingly talented Diana Gibbs. I have become a faithful fan of Diana's blog. Check it out! I know you'll love it too!!!! Here is a list of supplies I used for this card.

Stamps: Hanna Stamps Domestic Goddess

Paper: Passion Pink, Glorious Green, Whisper White, Marcella DP by K&Co.

Ink: Black Stazon, Glorious Green, various SU inks for watercoloring

Accessories: Pink Grosgrain Ribbon (Wal-Mart), colored rinestones, flower applique, various circle punches, scalloped circle punch, SU white signo gel pen

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I hope you've had a glorious weekend!

Love Ya!