Vacation Pics-Beautiful Sedona

I wanted to share with you a few pictures from our recent trip out west. A week ago today we drove to beautiful Sedona, Arizona, (from Buckeye) picnicked in a park and then walked a trail in another area. What incredible creations these were. The picture on the bottom left is of our grandson Ethan who lives with us, along with his mom-our daughter (his dad is military) and our son's youngest one, Emalee. They're 4 months apart and they had a good time together. In fact we heard that the morning after we left Emalee went around her house calling for Ethan. We had a lovely time being with our son and his family and it ended all too quickly, as always. The day after we got back I came down with some nasty virus and have been laid up in bed until this afternoon. Remnants of it are still hanging on, but I trust I'm on the mend. I'm also having a personal
crisis - a computer-crisis. Just before our trip I received my new computer and it was at that time that my old one, perhaps out of jealousy, who knows, decided it wouldn't boot up anymore. Now, of course, my life since 2004 is on that baby, and I loved that computer and I can't get a lick off of it. I'll have to take it in and hopefully they'll get it to boot up and work again, and if not, perhaps they can do a disk recovery on it. All of my digi-stamps are on it, and so much more. Well, I apologize for the whiney stuff. Hopefully I'll have a card up real soon. Meanwhile I wanted to post something lest people think I disappeared altogether.

Christine's Sketch Challenge

I was excited to learn that my friend Christine from dolcreations is guest designer this week for the Truly Scrumptious Challenge blog. Her challenge is a sketch challenge with the option of adding a quilt effect. I colored my Tilda with copics and used DP's from Basic Grey's Marrakech for my background and quilt squares. The blue squares are stamped with a quilt-block stamp from PTI's Quilter's Sampler and cut with EK Success' square punch, which fits those blocks perfectly. My sentiment is also from the same set and the inside of the card continues the sentiment with "is sewn with love and measured with kindness." My ribbon is covered up with the quilt blocks but it's there. My solid brown is SU's Soft Suede and my solid blue is PTI's Ocean Tides. The light brown DP is a single sheet I ordered and I don't remember it's name. I'm glad that I got to play along with this challenge. I'll be MIA for a few days while I go visit my babies in AZ. I'm taking several images and several Copics so I can color some. Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week-end.

100th Challenge!

I purchased a few digi-stamps the other day from a new (to me) artist that has some pretty cute images, found here at Stitchy Bear Stamps. This little fairy is one that I bought and I colored her for our neighbor's little girl's 2nd birthday that my grandson was going to attend. She loves fairies and I thought this one was so cute. I added Shimmerz to the top of her outfit but it's hard to see in the picture. I learned that Danni from Danni's Dreams - Flutter-By Wednesday is hosting her 100th challenge, so I had to post this to her challenge. Congrats, Danni - that's awesome! My DP's are from Basic Grey's "Lemonade." My sentiment is from SU's Teeny Tiny Wishes. I'm so glad I got that set because I use a lot of teeny tiny sentiments. Thanks for stopping by and if you haven't seen all the wonderful blog candy being offered for our Copic Creations Challenge Anniversary, back up one post and check it out....you'll be glad you did.

Copic Creations One-Year Anniversary Challenge

Welcome to our one-year anniversary post. We've done something special to celebrate. Not only do we have several sponsors for this challenge, but each DT member is giving away their posted card and/or blog candy. The challenge is to do your favorite image and incorporate one of more of your favorite challenge themes that we've covered this past year. My card is actually a hanging card. By the time I added the lattice work, I decided that it would be a pretty piece to hang, so I backed it with DP and added "picture-hanging hardware" so it could be hung. I have an optional "Happy Easter" greeting that can be adhered if desired, but I actually liked it better without it. My blog candy is a brand new Bow Easy. My card image is a design by Philomena O'Neill (sponsor of our 20th CC Challenge) at Phindy's Place. This card is sort of a CASE of one that Jami posted awhile back that I fell in love with. You can see her post here. The challenge themes I used are the feathering technique and the coloring of embellishments. I feathered this shy little bunny's dress with BV11 and R20 and I colored the top flower to match her dress. We have 10 fabulous sponsors for this anniversary challenge, and I'm going to invite you to get the details of who they are and how to win at the Copic Creations Challenge blog right here. Be sure you check out the fabulous entries the DT has for this challenge. Remember, in order to win from the individual blogs you must leave a comment on those blogs. The winner of each blog will be announced on April 1, the same time as we announce the winner of the challenge. I hope you'll help us celebrate the first anniversary of this fabulous semi-monthly challenge by playing along and leaving some luv for each of the talented DT members. Thanks so much for coming by and have a wonderful stampin' week.

Birthday Blessings

This card is for the 4th ODBD challenge, which is a sketch challenge. I used the image and sentiment from ODBD's Happy Birthday set. I colored the image with my lightest set of Copic Markers, and then I shaded a bit with the lightest of the regular series of colors, i.e. G01, BV02, etc. I realized after putting it together that to completely follow the sketch I should have done circles, and my circles should not have overlapped the bottom band. However, I decided I would enter it anyway and if they want to disqualify it, that's fine - I still like how it turned out and it's worth a shot to link to the challenge. I used DPs from Basic Grey's Nook and Pantry, and I sponged them a bit with Antique Linen Distress Ink. I used my Labels 5 Nesties and SU's scallop punch for the punched border. ODBD is having a second anniversary celebration coming up soon with daily challenges, and lots of give-aways, so I'm hoping I can participate in some of it at least. Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely week.

Wishing You Sunshine and Blog Hop Winners

First, I would like to announce the recent Blog Hop winners. They are:
from Secret Beauty Carmen's Blog......
crafterGM (Gloria)
from Secret Beauty Heather's Blog......
coldwaters (Lorraine)
from Secret Beauty Karen's Blog.........
Stacy aka Twinshappy
AND...the Grand Prize Winner is:
Bobbi
Congrats to all of you and thank you all for hopping through to see our rendition of the newest releases.

I wanted to make this card for all of you who are longing for Spring. This is a simple card made with Papertrey's Blooming Button Bits. The buttons were a set of white and ivory buttons from PTI that I colored with Copics. It's a cold, crisp morning (for Florida) but the sun shines brightly, the birds are chirping a happy, Spring song, and it promises to be a lovely Saturday. I thought I would wish this for all of you. My son's in-laws are down from Minnesota and they're quite weary of the snow. They're also surprised how cold it is here. It is not our typical mild, balmy weather. But hey, ...... no snow!! I hope you have a lovely week-end and happy stamping.

Dots and Stripes

I am so excited that I finally got to color one of my new Magnolia stamps. This one is called Ladybug Tilda from the Raising the Ceiling collection. I made her for the ATS (All That Scraps) Weekly Wednesday challenge here. I used my Basic Grey "Junebug" papers along with Cosmo Cricket's "Snorkel" DP's. My buttons are from Papertrey Ink and my sentiment is from SU's "Lots of Thoughts." I used my smallest scalloped Heart Nestie for the two hearts in the lower left corner. I've gotta say, I'm really pleased with this. I just love Magnolia stamps and I love the combo of dots and stripes. Thanks for taking a look. I hope she brings a smile to your face. Happy Friday to all of you!

BB Blog Hop and Challenge!

Good Thursday morning to you. Welcome to

BUSY BEAUTIES BOUTIQUE NEW RELEASE BLOG HOP & CHALLENGE!!!!!
THANK YOU for joining the Busy Beauties today! If you are arriving here from Grace's Blog, you are hopping right along. To start at the beginning, please visit Carolyn’s blog.
We are super excited to introduce a new set of images and also share some news!
About my cards:
Thomas and Carolyn introduced a new Beauty named Savannah, and I'm loving this little girl. The card on the left is called "Apple of My Eye Savannah" and along with using this adorable new image of Savannah, I debuted my new Cosmo Cricket "Material Girl" papers, my Nellie Snellen flower punches (that also emboss) and my new Tim Holtz Distress Ink color, "Wild Honey" (sponged on the white CS behind Savannah). I'm loving that color. The sentiment is from SU's "Teeny Tiny Wishes".

The card on the right is another Savannah image called "Sassy Savannah." I fell in love with her as soon as I saw her, and I'm so glad she's going to be an ongoing image. I paper-pieced her skirt and colored the rest of her with Copics. The inside of my card says "Where've You Been? We've Missed You!" I used my Basic Grey "Nook and Pantry" papers with this card and sponged the orange flower a bit to tone it down.

And now, Coming Soon...The BUSY BEAUTIES BLOG! We are hoping to have all the kinks worked out and launch the blog next month, but we just couldn’t contain our excitement and want to get our feet wet now with OUR FIRST EVER BUSY BEAUTIES CHALLENGE! Our theme is “GO GREEN!” and the challenge is to use GREEN as the predominate color on your card/project. The challenge is open from now through WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17^TH (St. Patrick’s Day)! BBB images are of course encouraged & preferred, but not required for this one. Since our official blog is not yet ready, Catherine will be hosting the challenge on her blog, where you can find all the nitty-gritty details and link your creations. (She's the last stop of the hop, so just keep bopping along.)
And since this is our premier challenge, there is a tangible prize package for the winner:

The PRIZE includes: Basic Grey Origins 6x6 pad; 4 yards of American Crafts satin ribbon, 1 yard of May Arts striped twill ribbon, 1 jar of Shimmerz.

Here is my "Go Green" challenge card featuring our lovely "Shamrocked Beauty" with an Irish Blessing for you. I think I pretty much worked in all the green I possibly could, but I love how it turned out! The upper DP is from "Material Girl" again, and the bottom rows of green are Martha Stewart borders. The sentiment is from Flourishes "Irish Blessings."

Once again, there are "secret beauties" whose blogs will award one winner each with their choice of 3 images from the BBB. There will also be a grand prize winner who gets to choose 5 images from the BBB, so be sure to hop your way through the blogs, get acquainted with the wonderful new releases and leave a comment on each to be sure your name is eligible for a prize. Be sure you hop quickly because Carolyn will be choosing a winner on Friday. All of these new images will be in the Busy Beauties Boutique on Saturday.

Thanks so much for visiting! Your next stop is Michelle's Blog! Enjoy the show and we can't wait to see your GO GREEN Challenge creations!

Copic Creations Challenge #23

It's time for another CC Challenge, and since it is March, we're playing with green. Green fluff, that is. Our sponsor this time is Our Craft Lounge, and this adorable dragon is from OCL's set called "Drake the Dragon." Drake is sporting some fluff on his tummy called Sparkly Fluff in Appletini Green. Our theme, if you haven't guessed it, is "A wee bit o' Green." I also added the fluff to the leaves of the tulips on the side. The Copic colors I used for "Drake" are G05, G07, G09 and G40. The winner of this challenge will receive 3 stamps sets from OCL, including a recent release from Marianne Walker. The DT has done some very creative cards for this challenge that I think you'll find are just plain fun. We are welcoming a new DT member - Heather (Rica) from "Rica's Haven" has joined us. Be sure to stay tuned because our one-year anniversary is coming up on 3-15, and we've got some special things planned. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can join us for our "wee bit o' green" challenge. You may have noticed my Busy Beauty blinkie in the side bar. We have our next hop on Thursday, March 4, as well as a challenge. I think you'll really like the images you'll find along this hop, and they'll all be available in the Busy Beauty Boutique as of March 4. Happy Monday and Happy March to you!