Hi everyone. Happy Monday. It's been a while since my last blog post and I wanted to give you an update on what is happening and why it has been so quiet around here for the last couple of weeks. The last card I made is the one that I'm sharing with you tonight and when I made the card it was intended for a work colleague who was having a very bad week and kept saying "I don't have enough coffee to cope with today". A few months ago I bought a Casual Friday stamp set with some prize... Continue reading

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Hi Everyone. Happy Sunday. It's the fabulous LeAnne's turn to host our Paper Player's challenge this week and she has a great sketch for us: I really like this sketch and immediately knew what I was going to do with it. I began by masking off an area for the vertical element. I used my make-up brushes with a stencil to create the pattern. I then used one of my Ellen Hutson essentials stitched dies to emboss a border on either side of the stencil pattern. Here's a closeup: The rest of the card came together very quickly. I adhered... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Saturday. It's the turn of the fabulous Angie to host our Addicted to CAS challenge this week and here is her code word: I needed graduation card for a good friend of mine who is celebrating graduating from a six month long local leadership class that she has been doing it's been a fascinating journey watching her go through this class and all of the exercises that help ready the next generation of leaders in not-for-profit organizations. This class has meant a great deal to her and she was very excited when she graduated last Friday. Blue... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Wednesday. For reasons I'll share with you on Friday, this is going to be a very short blog post. Let's just say it involves Drs with pins and leave it at that for now :-) While I was crafting this weekend, I made a card using the sketch over at CaseThisSketch I needed a birthday card and decided to use my new Ellen Hutson purchase. I was tempted to color it but wanted to go really simple. I embossed it using the lawn fawn blush embossing powder and then die cut with the matching die. I di-ecut... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Sunday. It's the fabulous Laurie's turn to host our Paper Players challenge this week - and it's CAS week and Laurie has chosen a great theme for us: I played around with a couple of sets, but in the end decided to go with florals. I chose a digital image (trying to remember where I got it!). I printed the image out onto X-Press IT paper and colored it using my Copic Markers, finishing up with a little pencil. I stamped the sentiment from Altenew's Label Love onto a piece of Neenah Solar White and added a... Continue reading

Hi Everyone Happy Sunday. It's the fabulous Joanne's turn to host our Paper Players challenge and it's color week: Now,, I have to be honest... these colors scared me! They are such bright colors - and I didn't have two of them in my stash! So, I had to make do. I had this image in my head using two old SU favorites - Beautiful You and Mediterranean Moments. I stamped out the lady onto Neenah Solar White card stock and then again onto two different pieces of old SU DSP that I had. I then fussy cut them all... Continue reading

HI Everyone. Happy Saturday. It's the fabulous Toni's turn to host our Addicted to CAS Challenge and this is her code word: Once I saw the challenge, I immediately knew that I wanted to use the Hero Arts Safari set that was first released as a monthly kit - I think back in 2017. Back in February I made a couple of cards for Lou using the Impression Obsession's Puzzle die. He was on a long flight to Asia and I thought they would give him something to do to pass his time :-). He loved them so much that... Continue reading

Hi Everyone Happy Monday. I made a card for the challenge across at Time Out - I loved the idea of the playful theme: I decided to have a little fun with a Penny Black set called Joyful Holidays. I stamped the deer - carrying an envelope - onto Neenah Solar White card stock and colored it with my Prismas. I then took the British postbox stamp from the same set and added that to the left of the deer. I decided not to color the post box because the bright red box would have completely pulled the eye away... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Sunday. It's my turn to host the Paper Players challenge this week - and it's theme week. I really wanted to use a quote that is in the Casual Fridays Big Treble set. It really is a great sentiment. Originally I was going to do a very clean and simple card and not put anything on the card other than the sentiment. However, I went through my paper stash and found this gorgeous piece of paper. It was originally 6x6, so I had to do some manipulation of the cutting to get it to fit my 4.25... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Greetings from a warm and sunny (FINALLY) Minnesota. The temperature today is an outstanding 71 degrees and the sun is shining brightly. I know it won't stay that way for longer than today - but I intend to enjoy it for all that it is worth :-) I did get to spend a little time in my craft room today. I needed to make a card for the Paper Players challenge tonight and I went looking for a sketch. I found this great sketch across at . I love this sketch, but I couldn't get it to work... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Sunday. It's the fabulous Claire's turn to host our Paper Players challenge this week and she has a great sketch for us: It took me a while to work out what I wanted to do with that circle. I was staring at the sketch on my craft desk when I noticed a piece of patterned paper that had been sitting there since I made my last card. Once I saw what was on the paper, I realized that I had the perfect stamp and die for it :-) Here's the paper: Yep... .coffee beans! So the vertical... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Saturday. It's the fabulous Raga's turn to host our Addicted to CAS Challenge and this is her code word: I was really tempted to do florals, but, as I needed some cards for Cards4hospitalizedkids, I decided not to :-). I looked in my stash and found this cute little bumble bee. He/she comes with different facial expressions and even has accessories like a hair bow! So, for my contrast I am going with black and yellow. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to use for a sentiment until I looked through my stamps and realized... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Easter Sunday. It's the fabulous Anne Marie's turn to host our Paper Players challenge and it's Clean and Simple Week. I needed a baby card and used another one of the freebies that Lou got for me on a recent trip to Australia. This stamp and a few others came in one of the card crafting magazines. It's the cutest possible image and I decided to keep it really clean and simple. The only part of the ducks that I could paper piece were the wellies. So, I got some left over plaid and stamped out the... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. I have a quick post for you tonight. I saw this great sketch across at Freshly Made and decided I liked it so much that I was inspired to make two cards. Tonight's card is the second card I made with the sketch. One of my favorite Altenew sets is the Build a Flower Magnolia and I decided it would really well as the left hand element. I stamped and colored it with my Copics and it gave me a very subtle look and I really liked it. However, once I had assembled the card, I decided it... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Sunday. It's the fabulous Ann's turn to host our Paper Players challenge and she has a color challenge for us: These aren't colors I would generally put together simply because I dislike Calypso Coral! :-). I don't have Balmy Blue in my stash, so had to make do. It took me a little while to determine what I was going to do - I SO wanted to do florals, but decided not to go all in on them. I also made a square card - mmmmmm... can't remember the last time I made a square card, but... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Saturday. It's the fabulous Susan's turn to host our Addicted to CAS challenge and she has a great code word for us: I decided to bring out an oldie - but goodie. Sadly, this company is no longer creating stamps, which is a pity as they had some good humorous stamps. I created this card for DD - now, it has to be said that she is not looking for a guy. Right now, she is concentrating on her career. However, I knew that she would appreciate the humor! :-) I started by die-cutting an oval and... Continue reading

HI Everyone. Happy Sunday. It's the fabulous LeAnne's turn to host our Paper Players challenge and it's a theme challenge - and what a theme :-) April 6th is American Tartan Day. I have to tell you, I didn't know it was Tartan Day. However, through my Mother's side of the family, I am part of the Clan Donald, so was very pleased to be able to highlight Tartan for our challenge this week. However..... I didn't have any MacDonald Tartan paper :-). This particular tartan is my favorite MacDonald Tartan: In case you are interested, you can find the... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Monday. I hope you all had a great weekend. I have a quick post for you tonight showcasing a card I made for the casethissketch challenge this week. As I am still in need of birthday cards, I decided to use this sketch for that purpose. And... how could I not be guided by the sketch? :-). I thought it was perfect for one of the Altenew butterflies that I have in my stash. These butterflies really are gorgeous. I was inspired by the color on the butterfly and made the stripes grey and yellow to echo... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Sunday. It's the fabulous Laurie's turn to host our Paper Players challenge this week - and it's Tic Tac Toe week! I decided to go diagonally = die-cut, embossing and floral. I needed a sketch and decided to make a second card with the great Freshly Made Sketches sketch this week. I hope they will forgive me that I put the side panel on the left so that it fit with my die-cut floral :-) Before I share tonight's card with you, I'd like to point out that the world is about to turn on its axis!!... Continue reading

HI Everyone. Happy Saturday. This is my second post today :-). I'm popping in to share a card I made for The Card Concept and Freshly Made Sketches Here's the sketch from FMS: and here's the inspiration photo from Card Concept: As soon as I saw the inspiration photo from the Card Concept I knew what I was going to do. I pulled out a very old piece of photo DSP from Stampin' Up! and blended Broken China ink over the top of it to give it a similar color to the inspiration photo. I then stamped and fussy cut... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Saturday. It's the fabulous Barb's turn to host our Addicted to CAS challenge this week and she has a fun code word for us: I decided I needed to stock up on some birthday cards and had this teapot stamp that came free as part of a set in a UK card making magazine. Lou picked a couple of them up at Sydney Airport in Australia and they were being sold at 50% off. So, this stamp was included in a magazine sold in England, that was transported around the world to Australia to be sold there.... Continue reading