Calendar Girls

Who are the calendar girls, you ask???? We are a group of blogging friends that love to create. And what do the Calendar Girls do? They rise to the challenge before them! There are ten of us in this little group and each of us picked a month that we would like to be the hostess. When it is our turn to be the hostess, we pick the challenge and everyone in the group creates a card or an ABAC item based on that challenge. I am Miss August!

For our first challenge, we were to create a card or an ABAC that reflects the month that we are the hostess. Secondly, we were to use our favorite embellishment. And, THIRDLY (cuz that is Jeanette's favorite number - she cracks me up. Love her!!) we were to use our newest paper crafting toy/tool. And we could not run out and buy a new toy for this challenge. Nope, it had to be something we had already purchased or received as a gift.

And since I am Miss August, and where I live, school starts in August, and since no matter how old my kids get, they love to buy school supplies...I created a ABAC item with a school theme. I made this cute "post-it note tote" (see tutorial at http://www.stampingschool.com/). I used a digi stamp from Dee Dee's Digis. I fell in love with this digi when I saw it quite some time ago and just had to purchase it. I love the sentiment that goes with it. You can find this digi at: http://deedeesdigis.blogspot.com/. I found the cute post-it note pad in the dollar section of Target.

I am not sure that brads are my most ABSOLUTE, favorite embellishment but I sure like them, and I use them a lot!! For my newest toy/tool, I used a new paper cutter that my son gave me for Christmas. It's hot pink!! (Matches Kelly's pants and flip-flops! ROFL!!!)

Thanks for stopping by! And to see the other great Calendar Girl creations, please see my sidebar for their blogs! Have a great weekend!

What's my Weather Like?

Good Morning!!

The card on my blog today is for a card swap in which we were to design a card showing the weather where we live. Well...since I live "up north" it certainly wasn't hard to figure out what would be on this card. Since it is cold, cold, cold here and there is lots and lots of white, fluffy stuff, I knew instantly my card would have snow or snowflakes on it.

However, I didn't want it to be your general snow/snowman card. LOL! A sweet on-line friend and sister of mine used a great set recently and posted a great card on her blog. It was a beautiful and bright tree that so much had me wishing for spring and summer. Please see her awesome creation here http://www.paola-sama.blogspot.com/. Anyway...after seeing this beautiful card, I thought...I could make a winter tree to show my weather...that might be a little different. I used the images and sentiment from the SU set Season of Friendship. I used Close to Cocoa, Riding Hood Red, Bashful Blue and Whisper White cardstock for the card. The image of the tree trunk/branches is stamped in Close to Cocoa ink and the snowflake "leaves" are stamped in Bashful Blue. I embellished my card with some Bashful Blue grosgrain ribbon and white organdy ribbon. I decided my tree needed a little something so I punched the mittens and hung them from the tree branch using white hemp and a white brad. (Here's little secret...if you run out of white brads, you can make your own. I used silver brads and dipped the heads of them into Versamark Ink, then coated it with white embossing powder and heated them. Presto...white brads!!! Use tweezers to hold brads while heating and let them dry a few minutes.) I added the Riding Hood Red photo corner punch to offset the mittens. And, lastly, I used my two-way glue and some Dazzling Diamonds glitter to add some snow at the base of my tree. I hope you enjoy my winter scene.

Thanks for stopping by.

Duel - Round 6

Well it's time for another duel. That's right...the Dueling Darlings have dueled it out again this month. The Dazzlers received an awesome kit from Paola.

The theme for this month's duel was "Fun and Laughter Forever After." The image is Best of Luck from Penny Black. The birthday sentiment is from the Perfect Punches set from Stampin' Up! Then our kits included so much embellishment goodness it was incredible. There was designer paper from Daisy D called "Paisley Bloom" and doublesided designer paper from K & Company called, "Lovely." Our kit also included a paper doiley, three different strips of ribbon, candy dots, a button, rosettes, and several other flowers and gems. Like I said, so much embellishment goodness!!!

For my card I used SU Whisper White, Crumb Cake and Riding Hood Red cardstock. I loved the Paisley Bloom designer paper and had to use that. I colored the image with my Copic markers and my Riding Hood Red SU marker. To embellish my card I used the Riding Hood Red stripped grossgrain ribbon from SU, one of the rosette flowers (from Michael's), the self-adhesive candy dots by Pebbles, Inc. and then the paper doiley. I sponged around my image and on my doily with Crumb Cake ink to give it a little of a distressed looked. I used my large oval punch from SU for my sentiment.

Along with this awesome kit we received instructions that when posting our card we were to share a New Year's Resolution that we have NEVER kept so far but really want to. Mine is easy...learning not to worry about the things I don't have control over. Every year I want to learn how not to worry about those things I cannot control and yet, every year....I still worry. Will I ever learn?

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

A Cherry Hello!!

As I mentioned in my previous blog entry I have recently joined some recipe card swaps and I am loving them. I think I am hooked!!!!

This recipe card is for a swap titled....Outta the Box. So, obviously, the recipe had to be a recipe that used a box or prepackaged product. I found this cake mix cookie recipe several years ago and love it. They are so quick and easy to make and I always seem to have a cake mix and some frosting in the pantry so I can whip them up in a pinch.

I used SU cardstock in Whisper White, Old Olive, Summer Sun and Real Red. The designer paper is from jillibean-soup.com. I love the new a la modes stamps from My Favorite Things. The image I used is called a la modes - What's Cooking? I used my circle punch and Spellbinders scalloped circle to cut out and mat the image. Isn't she adorable?!! I embellished my card with my scalloped edged punch from SU! and the cherry brad from Eyelet Outlet.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Recipe Cards

I have recently joined a few recipe card swaps and am really enjoying them. I love the 6x6 size that you get to work with. And, of course, you get some great recipes in return. Below is my recipe card for a Scoop on Soup swap that I am in.

The stamp I used is a digital stamp from Phindy's Place. (http://www.phindysplace.com/.) I used Ruby Red, Old Olive and Summer Sun cardstock. The designer paper and stickers are from Michael's

Enjoy your day!

Bows and Tags...Tissue Paper and Bags

Happy New Year!!!!!

I found a tutorial on SCS to make paper bows out of double-sided designer paper. They are easy and fun to make. I made some before Christmas and sent them off in a package for a secret santa swap.

As I was thinking of a homemade gift to make for my BFF (because she likes homemade just like I do) I decided to make her a bag of bows. After creating the bows, I decided to use my SU tag punches and make her some matching tags. Once I had the bows and tags done, I thought...hmmm...wouldn't it be cute to give her bags and tissue paper that match the bow and tags. So, I made a trip to Joann's and bought some small white gift bags and some colored gift bags that matched the bows I had made. I also picked up a big package of multi-colored tissue paper.

So I matched up the bows with the bags and tissue paper and gave her these cute gift bag sets. Now she has everything at the tip of her fingers to wrap up that gift she has without looking around for an extra gift bag and some tissue paper, or gift wrap.