Some of my readers have been with me long enough to know that, every November 11, I pause to reflect and thank those that gave their lives to ensure that we can live ours every single day. Every year when I was growing up my Father would proudly purchase - and wear - a poppy on his lapel. For him, it was a way to remember those friends, family members and army comrades that had been lost in both World War 1 and World War 2. Every year we would go to the Cenotaph and watch the solemn laying down... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Sunday. It's the fabulous die-cutting queen Laurie's turn to host our Paper Players challenge this week and it's a color challenge: Oh! I was so tempted to do something floral with this color scheme, but fought my instincts and decided to do a Christmas card instead! I purchased a new stamp and cut set from Hero Arts called Wonder and Magic of Christmas. I got it 20% off at Ellen Hutson during her sale! Poppy Parade is another one of those colors that I just NEVER use... it's way too bright for me. Generally, during color challenges,... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Saturday. It's the fabulous Susan's turn to host our Addicted to CAS challenge this week and this is her code word: I hope you will join us and play along this week. If you do, and you are chosen as our winner, the amazing Kylie has free stamp set from her online store- Happy Little Stampers. If you are looking for some inspiration, our amazing design team have some wonderful inspiration cards for you, including our guest designer Chrissie Stokes As it is almost the middle of November, I decided that it had to be Christmas presents... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Sunday. It's the fabulous Claire's turn to host our Paper Players challenge this week and it's a theme challenge: I needed a thank you card and decided to use some of the fabulous oranges, rusts and yellows from Nance's awesome badge as the inspiration for my colors. I began by heat embossing the Sketched Flowers stamp with gold. I really love this stamp from Simon Says Stamp. I love the size of the stamp and also the whimsical assortment of flowers and leaves. Once the gold heat embossing was cool, I went to work with my Copic... Continue reading

HI Everyone. Happy Sunday. It's the fabulous Anne-Marie's turn to host our Paper Players challenge this week and she has a sketch for us: You all know how layers scare me these days, BUT... I must say, AM was very constrained as there are only four - and I can handle that :-) I purchased this fabulous Penny Black set from Ellen Hutson when they were having a 20% off sale. Tea is my drink of choice - other than Chardonnay :-) Some of you have already heard this story.... but I have to start every morning with my Irish... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Saturday. It's the fabulous Barb's turn to host our challenge this week and this is her code word: Although CAS is my "thing", I really do find one layer cards difficult:-) I do hope you will play along with us this week. If you do, and you are chosen as the winner, the fabulous Kylie is offering up a $20 gift card to her online store Happy Little Stampers (HLS) I needed a sympathy card and decided that the Altenew Wildflower set would be perfect. This was a really simple card to pull together. I kept to... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Sunday. It's the fabulous Joanne's turn to host our Paper Players challenge this week and it's a theme challenge: The one thing I realized..... mmmmmm..... there's a problem here! Not the clean and simple - that's the easy part for me :-) BUT... I didn't have any Apple related stamping supplies - at all! Good job I was doing this card a few weeks in advance! I was able to find the perfect Penny Black stamp at Ellen Hutson. I decided that I would use the no-line watercoloring technique for this challenge. I got out my liquid... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Sunday. It's my turn to host the Paper Players challenge this week and it's a color challenge: I had leaves in mind when I chose these colors, but decided to go with a floral instead! I started with the flower itself - Altenew's Wildflower Garden. I love this set, although I haven't quite brought myself to make a garden card out of this set yet! I used the Watercolor Stripes stencil on the card base with some Crushed Curry equivalent ink. I know it's hard to see, but the lines really are there :-) Let's see if... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Saturday. It's the fabulous Stephanie's turn to host our Addicted to CAS Challenge this week and she chosen this keyword: I was so tempted to make another fall card, but decided to go in a completely different direction! I started by stamping the leaves diagonally on two corners. This set is from Altenew set called Leaf Canopy and I love the fact that this is an outline stamp and I can choose to color the leaves with my Copic markers. I kept the color scheme really simple - green and gold. Here's a closeup of the leaves:... Continue reading

Hi Everyone Happy Sunday. It's the fabulous Sandy's turn to host our Paper Players challenge this week - and it's a theme challenge. It was the perfect excuse to use my new Tonic craft kit dies:-) I die-cut the piece for the shaker section base from some textured Very Vanilla card stock that I have had in my stash forever! I also die cut a piece of Cajun Craze for the base of the shaped card. The sequins came as part of the kit and were the perfect finishing touch for the shaker. Here's a closeup of the shaker: I... Continue reading

IHi Everyone. happy Tuesday. I have a quick post for you tonight. I made a card for not 1.... not 2.... but.... 3 challenges! A sketch, a theme and a color! Here are the challenges Color - Just Add Ink Sketch: CasethisSketch Theme - Time Out I haven't bought one of the Simon Says Stamp card kits for a while, but I totally fell in love with the one containing the Sketched Flowers set. You can buy this as a stand-alone stamp set. I loved the idea of being able to color this and take segments of the large image.... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Sunday. It's the fabulous LeAnne's turn to host our Paper Players challenge this week and she has a Tic-Tac-Toe board for us. I chose the right vertical column: green, any embossing and sequins. I'm trying to make some more Christmas cards, so this seemed like the perfect challenge for a Christmas card. I started by embossing the pine leaves and the petals from the poinsettia. I found a photo that shows more green leaves and used that as my inspiration, especially as I needed to add more green to meet the challenge :-) I colored the plant... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. I have a quick post for you tonight. I found a brand new (certainly tome!) challenge. Here's a link to the challenge. If you are interested, here's the story behind the challenge. I love that we are encouraged to send a card to someone who needs a little lift in their life. I seem to have a lot of people who are going through stressful situations right now, so was pleased to have another reason to create another card to send out. Here's the inspiration photo for the challenge: I've shared so many colorful cards recently, that I... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. I have a card made from the fabulous challenge across at Inkspirational this week. I mean... how could I NOT make a card for this challenge :-) I can't imagine a single one of us that doesn't relate to this photo? The buttons, the scissors, the creative use of tools to make words... it's a perfect excuse to make a card to celebrate our crafty friends - and this wonderful hobby that we have :-) I have to tell you, that I completely and utterly salute NBC for broadcasting - in prime time - a show that celebrates... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Sunday. It's my pleasure to host our Paper Players challenge this week and I have a sketch for you: To make my card I used some papers that came in my September Tonic crafting kit. I love the imprinted leaves on the shiny paper and mixed it with some of the glitter paper that came in the same pack. I generally don't use a lot of shiny paper, but loved the colors and texture. Here's a closeup of the paper: Isn't that just gorgeous? I really do love all of that wonderful texture. :-) I decided that... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. I have a quick post for you tonight, but have two cards to share for Twofer. Have you heard of Twofer? You have to make two different cards using the same stamp and, as it is the first day of Fall, leaves is the the appropriate choice for the challenge :-) I also saw this fabulous color challenge across at As You See It I have a very old Fun Stamper's Journey stamp set called "Artsy Leaves". It's one of those very versatile sets that I have used often. My first card for the Twofer challenge uses the... 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 theme for our Clean and Simple week. I realized that I do not have any sports related stamps, but remembered one of the Penny Black stamp sets - Sunny Days - had featured a dog and a soccer ball :-) As this is a CAS challenge, I decided to create a one layer card, but broke that rule when I popped up a piece of grass to ground the dog. I used the grass die from Hero Arts... Continue reading

Happy Saturday! It's the fabulous Carolyn's turn to host our Addicted to CAS Challenge this week and she has a code word that is very near to my heart: Seriously! How could I not love THAT as a code word :-) I hope you play along with us this week. If you do, and are chosen as our winner, the fabulous Kylie has a $20 gift card for you to her online store - Happy Little Stampers For my card, I knew that I wanted to use a wonderful little Penny Black stamp and I also knew that I wanted... Continue reading

It's hard to believe that we are marking the 17th anniversary of 9/11. It was a Tuesday morning like any other in our house. Getting kids off to school. Putting on makeup. Arguing about whoas making who late. The usual rush hour traffic. In fact, that morning we were late getting to work because Lou was packing for a flight to the east coast leaving later that day. We were blissfully unaware of what had happened a few minutes before. When we entered the doors at around 8am CST, I was talking to Lou about the report that I had... Continue reading

Hi Everyone, It's the fabulous Anne Marie's turn to host our Paper Players challenge tonight and she has a color combo for us: I have to tell you.... this color challenge threw me for a complete loop! :-) I LOVE Blackberry Bliss, it's such a wonderful rich color. I detest Mint Macaron (sorry, SU!) and I am not in the least bit partial to Crumb Cake. I had two choices - give up card making all together - or pull up my big girl panties and deal with it. I was very tempted to do the former, but did the... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Sunday. I saw this great tic-tac-toe challenge across at TGIF I decided to go straight across the tope: pearls, purple and flowers. I mean, how could I not go with that choice :-) For once I decided NOT to use a white base. I know. Shock! The world just turned on its axis :-) I mean, how often do I do that???!!! I had a card base that I had made for a different challenge weeks ago and decided it was high time to use it. It also saved be coloring in sky behind my flowers :-)... Continue reading

HI Everyone. Happy Sunday. It's the fabulous Joanne's turn to host our Paper Players challenge this week and it's a theme challenge: Well, it has been a very long time since I had to add a note to a lunchbox, but I do occasionally leave a card in Lou's PC bag when he travels. So, this challenge gave me a great excuse to create another one of those cards. I used a Penny Black stamp and matted it with Cajun Craze to echo the colors that I used to color the terra-cotta pot. I really love this image. It is... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. I have a quick post for you tonight. Inspired By has a wonderful theme challenge: It's obvious from my card how I was inspired..... the dark brown and the texture and, of course, the yellow flowers. I used some Altenew bark card stock for the base and the image is from Stampendous. I stamped the flower image and colored it with my Copic markers. I then fussy cut around each of the flowers and stems and die cut a piece of vellum to look like a vase. I know you can't see it, but I did color the... Continue reading

Hi Everyone Happy Tuesday. I have a quick post for you tonight using the fabulous sketch across at As you See It I received a new set from My Favorite Things in the post last week. I purchased a couple of new sets - ones that are very different for me :-) But I just love the stamps in the set. As this challenge called for creating queues of things (hey.... I'm English we were born to queue!!!!) I used several of the stamps to create the little queues. Starting with the greenery stamps and then filling in the spaces... Continue reading

Hi Everyone. Happy Sunday. I hope you all had a great weekend. Before I share my card with you, I would like to say a very big thank you to the team at the Library Challenge for choosing my mermaid card - in this post - as a featured project on their site! I've said this before, but it is no less true, I create cards for challenges because it is a good way to flex the creative muscles and inspires me to try different things. When one of my cards is chosen as a featured project - it is... Continue reading