HM Sketch Challenge

This week's HM challenge is a sketch offered by this week's featured vendor, 2 red bananas. The sketch was fun to do and you can see it at the HM Challenge blog. I used my new Basic Grey papers, "Offbeat", along with Baja Breeze and Ivory CS. The name of the stamp featuring a Gruffie this time is "Wool Sew for Friends." I colored it with my Copic markers and I paper-pieced the lamb's little scarf. The sentiment is from PTI's Quilt Sampler. The image was cut out with my circle Nestie and sponged lightly with Baja Breeze. I used my Chocolate half-pearls along the edge. Be sure you take a look at the adorable cards the DT did. This week features the newest DT members plus renditions from the girls from 2 red bananas. Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely Tuesday.

KrB's Sara Kay Premiere

Here it is, folks. The premiere of my attempt to color these fabulous Sara Kay images and put them on a card. I have to give credit to several friends who made this particular card possible.
While I already had this stamp in my possession, my inspiration for coloring it (perhaps I should add my motivation) came from Mary (My Cardz, My Passion....)and you really should check out her Sara Kay card. It is fabulous! Next, I want to thank Carolyn, (P.M.S. Etc.) who not only posted her own adorable response to a sketch that was new to her but also left the sketch and the link, so I had my layout for this card. Thanks, Carolyn, for the heads up on this sketch challenge. The sketch also called for a flourish in the upper right-hand corner. The memory box DP I used has some very pretty flowers and a bit of flourish of it's own, so I was trying very hard to incorporate those. But alas, I wasn't sure if they would show up or if they would "count" for the sketch. Then, I actually stamped a flourish, but it was mostly obscured behind Miss Sara. Then I thought, "Aha, my good friend Nancy (Windstar Creations) was so kind and sent me several outline stickers." She did this because yours truly had never heard of them and she said she had a surplus, so I received this fun little package in the mail. Thanks again, Nancy. Anywhoo, I used one of the outline stickers in the corner. That lead to a change in the half-pearls I used from the chocolate I pulled out to use to the silver, which I actually like much better and they lend themselves to Christmas. So, thanks to my 3 fabulous stamping friends, I get to enter a sketch challenge, showcase my Sara Kay, and complete my challenge to myself to make one Christmas card a month. (Now I'm two for two.) This was colored with my Copics except for the tiny detail on the ornament box which I colored with Prismacolor pencils in parts. The DP is all Memory Box and the sentiment is from Verve's Ornamental Christmas. I know that's a lot to read, but I do hope you'll check out the blogs of these talented ladies if you've not already done so. I must say I'm pleased with how this turned out. I hope you have a wonderful week-end. It's raining here ..... constantly since last night.
Thanks so much for stopping by.

Tall and Thin

This week's challenge on HM is Tall and Thin. If you think about it, those little mousies don't really lend themselves to "tall and thin", 'cause they're really kind of "short and stout". In fact, I decided that there aren't too many images that lend themselves to T&T. Be that as it may, I have seen some adorable cards by the DT fulfilling this challenge, so what do I know, right? For my card, I took my mouse from "Apple Delight", cut him out and colored him and gave him a heart to hold instead. I love this set from SU and decided to use it again and make another Valentine card. I used the DP that came with the bundle, and I sponged the white CS to blend with all of it. I believe my card base measured 9 x 3-3/4, so it is definitely tall and thin. I added my Pink Pirouette ribbon at the top along with my DP punched with my MS lace punch. Be sure to check out the other great cards that have been submitted. They also announced the winners of the DT audition. No, they didn't pick me, but they did end up picking 3 applicants who I'm sure were very worthy applicants. Can't wait to see what they'll add to the challenges. I'm very happy for them and I know it was a tough pick for them to narrow down 31 applicants to 3. I had a lovely birthday today and got to talk to my son and family out west as well as my son at Oxford, plus my wonderful kids who are right here, so it was a great day. I'm tired and off to put this "aging body to bed. Thanks for stopping by. Hugs,

Another Tilda

I did this card for a color challenge over on PCP, hosted by our own wonderful Carolyn for KL Stampin' n Scrappin'. The colors we were to work with are gorgeous, and I used my Tilda that I purchased from KLSnS. They're great to work with so I hope you can check them out. I did my card pretty quickly but then I was stumped on a sentiment so I finally finished it several days later. Hope you can play along because the challenge goes until the end of the month and there is a prize. Have a wonderful day and thank you for stopping by.

Tilda and Edwin

Tilda and Edwin are too young to have a love of a lifetime yet, but I think she wants to launch it with a kiss and he doesn't seem to be resisting. This is for my sweetie who's been my love for 40 years. When my DH and I got engaged we had our pictures taken and we wore matching sweaters. So, I wanted Tilda and Edwin to kind of match also. His vest is paper pieced from SU's Preswick DP. The rest is colored with Copic markers. I freehanded my own swing and "hung" it with some hemp twine. The background DP is from Basic Grey's Two Scoops. The borders at the top are both MS punches. The sentiment is from SU's So Many Sayings, edged lightly in Night of Navy and popped up on dimensionals. I don't think the picture shows the color as vibrant as it is IRL. I'm tickled with how it came out and have my DH's card all done. Now to work on a present. :) Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful week-end.

Quick and Easy

I needed to make some quick & easy cards to have on hand and this card fit that bill. I used Flourishes Summer Botanicals and stamped it with Memento Rich Cocoa, mounted that on PTI's Dark Chocolate CS, added another layer of white CS which I scalloped on one edge and sponged with Rich Cocoa and mounted it on top of PTI's DP. I also used PTI's color-match ribbon. All of that was layered on top of white CS. I used my Kaiser Chocolate half-pearls and a photo corner and that's it - you're done.
I hope you're having a good week and staying warm. Thanks so much for stopping by.

Up, Up and Away

This week's House Mouse challenge was to make a Valentine card. I used my little Happy Hopper and let him get carried away with a bunch of red, heart-studded balloons. He's showcased amongst Su's Candy Lane DP. This came with the recently-offered bundle that included the "Love You Much" stamp set, the DP, and the 3-heart punch. I'm so glad I got this as I love the papers as well as the stamp set and punch. The small "Valentine" sentiment is from "Hearts on Fire" from Verve, as is the row of hearts along the bottom. The other sentiment was put together with my Just-Rite stamper letters. I scallop-punched it out and drew little hearts in each of the scallops. All of it is mounted on Chocolate Chip CS. My Happy Hopper is colored with Copics and then gone over to some degree with Prismacolor pencils. I had fun doing this and just might have to make a few more. Be sure to check out the other adorable cards over at HM and as always, thanks so much for stopping to take a look. I love it when you do.

Geared up for a Birthday

This card is what I did for my son who just had his birthday. Growing up he loved Legos and Transformers, so I thought he'd enjoy this robot on his card. I love this set from Alota Rubber Stamps. There is one stamp of a mommy robot pushing a baby robot in her robot buggy.....too cute! Anyway, I did this one with a computer generated sentiment on the front that my daughter came up with....."The Best Gears Are Yet to Come." I loved it and had to go with it. Of course he immediately asked if that meant his present involved a car. Get real! Anyway, I had fun with it....hope you like it. Thanks for stopping by and hopefully I'll still be back tomorrow with another post. (I'm on a roll.....I'll do my best to keep it up. :)

Dancing Lambs

I love this image from Alota Rubber Stamps. I think they are a crack-up. I made 3 cards with them. The first one I colored their outfits and the next two I actually stamped and cut their outfits out of DP. I think I preferred that and it added a bit of dimension. I used the "Thank Ewe" from SU's Pun Fun. The DP I used was Flowers for You from SU. Hope you like these gals. I had fun doing this card. Happy Monday and yay!, it's time for HM challenge again. Also. Alota Rubber Stamps is having a valentine challenge on Paper Craft Planet, so if you've got any of their stamps, head on over and join the fun. Today is also my youngest son's birthday,.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY sweetie! I delivered all 9 lbs.,7 oz. of him 30 years ago.

Christmas in January

I meant to post this in January, because I actually did get in done within the month of January. I challenged myself to do at least one Christmas card a month, so I'm one for one at the moment. I used Flourishes ornament set that I actually didn't get until it was too late to make cards with it in '08. However, I saw so many gorgeous cards made using that set that I knew I would use it in '09. I also used my Snowflake Embossing Folder and my SU taffeta ribbon, and my MS punch for the top and added the half-balls in the silver. It really perked it up. This was simple but I really like how it turned out. Thanks for stopping by and I hope everyone is having a wonderful week-end.

Versatile Upsy Daisy

This week I had the opportunity to make some thank you cards and some sympathy cards, all of which I needed. I love the Upsy Daisy set by Stampin' Up and I pulled it out and used it a few different ways. The card stamped in Pink Pirouette was a little faint but IRL it works okay. The other two are my preference. The Pink Pirouette and Bravo Brugundy-stamped cards use Parisian Summer DP, and the Baja Breeze-stamped card uses Manchester DP. I used my taffeta "Sand" ribbon on all 3 and I love that ribbon because it's more elegant than grosgrain and this color is so versatile. I used my scallop punch from SU on all three and attached my favorite little Kaiser pearls to each card. The sentiment on the front of the sympathy cards is from "Close as a Memory", also from SU! Pretty simple in all, but I think they made nice cards for what I needed. Thanks for visiting my "korner" and have a wonderful week-end. I've got more lined up to share with you. AMAZING, I know, that for once I'm a bit ahead of things. You know I would stamp 24/7 if I could, but I guess that's only for a "Walgreen World". Hugs,

HM Paper Piercing

This week's HM challenge is Paper Piercing. I colored this image with my Prismacolor pencils some time ago for my SS kids and never made it into a card, so now I got to do double-duty. I did the challenge and did a Thank You card that I have needed to send out. I used my Nesties for the image and the matte behind it. The plaid DP's are both Prestwick from SU. The solid color CS is Night of Navy, Whisper White, and Garden Green. The sentiment was purchased along with the HM stamp and I think worked great with this. I stamped it on Sahara Sand. I paper pieced around the sentiment and the scalloped matte, as well as the corners. My MS border punch was kind enough to "pierce" it's own border for me. Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to check out the other entries in the challenge. They're always so cute, and if you can, play along. I have several more cards to share with you because I was able to get several cards done this week. Can't wait to show you my Dancing Lambs and my birthday Robot, as well as variations on Upsy Daisy, A N D......I even got a Christmas card done (one of my goals for this year - doing one Christmas card a month.) All this coming up....sounds like TV before a commercial break, doesn't it. Well then, stay tuned. :) Hugs and Happy Friday.

HM DT Wannabe

HM is looking for new DT members, and I AM APPLYING! Are you kidding?! I've done this challenge from the beginning. Look at my "Labels"....I have by far the most under HM Challenge. I LOVE HM images, and this DT is the BEST for commenting on each other's cards and the cards of those who participate. Very important to this stamper! I have a pretty good stash of HM stamps at this point because I purchased several to use for the Sunday School curriculum I developed for our 2 & 3-year-olds. They love Mudpie the best, but they also like all the others. We're just finishing "The Fruits of the Spirit" and I've got to come up with another series quickly. My church would gladly provide me with materials, but since I love HM, and love stamping, I wanted to try doing my own. Attached are some of my HM creations, a Sketch Challenge, an Anything Christmas Challenge and a Color Challenge. Ya gotta love these little critters. They have such personality! I know there are lots of qualified applicants, but I would really LOVE to join this group. Thanks for havin' a look.

Cheer-Up Bee

I've been a "busy bee" this week making cards for specific events and people that need to or have already gone out. I made two of these cards with a "I Hope this note finds you feeling better" sentiment inside. The image is another one from Alota Rubber Stamps and I think this little guy could cheer anybody up. The papers are Bazzill papers and the ribbon is a double-sided ribbon from Flourishes. I love this ribbon and use it quite often. I used a MS punch and realized after I was done that it resembles a honeycomb, so guess it was a good choice. Thanks for stopping by. "Bee" back soon.

Alota Valentines

Nancy at Windstar Creations had done these adorable pocket envelopes to go with her Cards 4 Kids valentines. She was kind enough to send me directions and I had to try one, which led to three. Thank you, Nancy. They're super easy to do, so I made them and then copied her idea of putting valentines in them with the tab on the top. I did my valentines with the set I ordered from Alota Rubber Stamps, "Valentine Cuties." I love this set. The DP and hearts are from the SU! bundle which included a great Valentine stamp set, the 3-heart punch, and the DP. These are for 3 of my 8 grandchildren. I need to get more done, but I'm waiting on my robot images to arrive to do a few up with those. They are also from ARS, and I'll post those when I get them done. ARS also has some new sets that are beautiful and versatile so check them out if you get a chance. Thanks so much for looking. Loved all the cards I took the time to look at today. Flourishes also had some beauties to showcase. So much eye candy, and so inspirational! Hope you have a lovely week-end, wherever you are.