Calendar Girls December Challenge

Our hostess for this months Calendar Girls challenge was Kelly and her challenge was as follows:

Blessings to you this DECEMBER! Since we post the 28th of the month, Santa will have returned to the North Pole by then and it will be a wee bit shy for the New Year Growing up in Europe where winters where filled with the beauty of snow and all the splendors of ice, I am filled with joy when I see all things snow. While some of you may long for sunshine and warmth, here in Miami I miss all of that during the holiday season so for this month so let's live vicariously in your creations of a

WINTER WONDERLAND

 

Picture snow-filled winter trees, snow nestled on park benches, fountains and tree branches ... ponds frozen over, icicles in the pine forests ... there is snow-filled glory all around us in the winter I would love for you to use blue and silver on your cards and a snowflake(s) somewhere on your card via paper, design, brad, etc!

I made my card earlier this month at my stamp club and thought it so was cute, I had to share it.  I love, love, love the snowflake embossing folder from SU!  Image and sentiment are both from SU! as well. 

 

 

Please stop by all the Calendar Girls blogs and check out their winter wonderland creations.  See my sidebar for a list of their blogs.  Thanks!!!

 

Happy New Year!

December Dueling Darlings

I am finally here for this month's duel...9 days late...but here.  Life has been crazy to say the least.   Our hostess, for the Dazzlers this month was Michelle and she sent a wonderful kit with silver cording, silver ribbon, self adhesive snowflakes, some awesome designer papers and a wonderful Whippersnappers image called "Snow is Overrated." 

I used white, Bravo Burgundy, and Not Quite Navy cardstock along with my icicles border punch.  I colored the image with my Copic markers and added the great designer paper, ribbon, silver cording and snowflakes that Michelle included in our kit. 

I am sure you have already checked out the other Darlings blogs...but in case you haven't see my sidebar and go take a look.

Merry Christmas!

November Calendar Girls Challenge

This month's Calendar Girls challenge was to: choose a holiday in November (not Thanksgiving, but a little-known holiday) and create a card/project with that holiday in mind. Here's a link to Bizarre November Holidays: November Holidays 2012 (Official) Monthly, Weekly, Daily, Bizarre, Silly, Crazy, Unknown Holiday Observances

The holiday I chose was November 2...Look for Circles Day! 

I made this card following a similiar style card I made several years ago at a stamp club.  I used white, Night of Navy and Old Olive cardstock.  The cirlce images are from the SU! set Seeing Spots and are stamped in Night of Navy, Old Olive and Taken with Teal.  I decided to add the flowers backed by the Old Olive cirlces (which is different from the original card I made at stamp club) to change up the card a little.  I added silver brads to the center of the flowers and the ribbon is Navy.  The sentiment is from the SU! set Wonderful Words and stamped in Night of Navy.  The entire piece of white cardstock with all the circles was stamped with an embossing ink pad and then covered in Iridescent Ice embossing powder and heated to get the sparkling look.

Thanks for stopping by and please be sure to check out all the Calendar Girls creations for their "little" known holidays.  Well the holidays may be "little" known, their cards will be big time creations.  See my sidebar for links to their blogs.

Have fun browsing!

November Dueling Darlings

Planes, Trains and Automobiles....

That was the theme for this month's Duel. Carol and I were the hostesses. And, yes, I am late to the duel. I apologize. There were a few "unique holidays" in the month of November. One was Aviation History Month, one was National Model Railroad Month and another was Go for a Ride Day. Because all of those relate to transportation, I suggested to Carol that maybe our theme could be Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Then she mentioned a movie by that same name (which I have not seen) and that the characters in the movie were trying to get home for the Thanskgiving holiday. Thus...being November, the movie theme around Thanksgiving and Thanskgiving coming and all the transporation themed unique holidays....our theme was born.

My card is not what I imagined. I had a really great card in my head but was unable to get it out on paper. Here is what I did come up with. I love this image by Kraftin' Kimmie called "Emelia." Emelia and the plane image are in the set.

Besides the images, the kits included a vintage button brad and safety pin, Old Olive ribbon and some linen thread.  I used my ribbon alongside the Really Rust strips of paper and the vintage button brad for the propeller of the airplane and the linen thread for my pennant banner.

We also asked all the Darlings to share a memory of getting to their favorite holiday or Thanksgiving (good or bad).  The year after my dad died, my mom and I decided to go to Michigan to spend Christmas with my brother.  After several hours of delay leaving our home town (due to ice fog), we missed all connecting flights.  So each time we landed at an airport we had to rush to the next gate to try to get on standby.  Of course all flights are booked at this time of year.  At one point we were so frazzled my mother left her purse (which had her ticket and money-all cash she had for the trip) on the courtesy van that was shuttling us between terminals.  My mom just stopped where she stood when she realized this and started crying.  We were so tired at this point we were sorry we ever left home.  However, after a phone call with the airlines shuttle office, the shuttle driver appeared at our gate with my mother's purse with NOTHING missing and we were able to finally bored the last leg of our flight and get to Michigan.  However, our luggage did not show up for there days.  It was horrible at the time but we laugh about it now.  However, I have NEVER traveled at Christmas time again.  HA HA!!!

Thanks for stopping by, please see my sidebar and visit all the Darlings blogs to see their creations.

Calendar Girls October Challenge

WOW!!!  The challenge for this month, from our hostess, Tami...was incredible!  I wasn't sure I would be able to create a card with all the requirements but I think I did!!!!  And I was able to use a couple new stamps from Whippersnappers that I just got.  Thanks Barb for shopping for me at Creative Pals!  We don't celebrate Halloween and I normally don't make Halloween cards but I just had to have this stamp and sentiment because my youngest just LOVES candy!!!!

So here is Tami's challenege:

We are all about the month of October! I have three little challenges for the girls this month.

It is the tenth month of the year, so please have exactly ten ( 10 ) items on your card. No more, no less! The ten items do not include your card base. Your image stamped on a piece of card stock is counted as one item.

Our due date is the 28th. So, that is going to require two ( 2 ) circles needed on each card and a minimum of eight ( 8 ) different colors.

So....I have two circles.  I counted the colors in my DP (white, black, purple, orange, yellow, pink, and green) and then I used some gray on the hat, giving me the eight required colors.  For the ten items I have...my designer paper, my image, the sentiment, a web punched border, web embossed layer, ribbon, brad, photo corner punch, arrow punch and my spider on the inside.

 



Thanks for stopping by.  Please check out all the Calendar Girls creations.  Their blogs are in my sidebar.  Enjoy the remainder of your weekend!

IT'S A SHOUT OUT TO THE FOREST RANGER

That's right, the card on my blog today and all the other Dazzlers' blogs is a BIG shout out to our team leader, Forest Ranger a/k/a Jeannett.

Melina, our hotess for this month, gave us the following challenge:

For the Dazzlers team:

Your challenge is to make a card with the theme of Trees (since she is the Forest Ranger) and include patterned paper since she says this is her go to thing when making cards.  After today, we will all be mailing our cards to Jeanette and showering her with happy mail. She is a great team leader, friend and prayer warrior. I am so blessed to have met her on SCS!!  And a lil early... HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOREST RANGER. Yes, she is having a birthday soon and what age is she always turning...19? or is it...29? Lucky girl to stay so young all these years. LOL!!!!

Of course, the reason she is the Forest Ranger is because of all the Christmas trees she displays in and outside of her home at Christmas.  So what better card to make her than a Christmas card.

I used White, Baja Breeze and Cherry Cobbler cardstock.  My designer paper is some I picked up at either Michael's or Joann's.  The image of the tree is from the A Muse set, Vintage Christmas  Postmarks.  The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes by SU! I embellished with burgundy ribbon and, of course, a Christmas tree brad!!! 

Please check out all the Dueling Darlings blogs.  (The Divas are shouting out their leader, Kelly!)  You will find links to all the blogs in my sidebar.  Thanks for stopping by. 

Calendar Girls September Challenge

The card on my blog today is for our September Calendar Girls challenge.  Our hostess for September was Paola and the following is her post to us for the challenge:

Hello Calendar Girls,

To honour a dear longtime friend of mine who passed away early today, I would like to request that you create a beautiful card using the following guidelines:

Your card must be a fancy fold, and have apples stamped on it -and colored-
(OR, if you don't own any apples's stamps, apples can be incorporated on your cards via designer papers,stickers,dies etc..), plus have at least one 3-D butterfly on your card too.

The main colors used for this challenge are to be your own favourite colors (use at least two of them please, and tell us which ones they are once you blog it.)


Why the apples/butterflies combos you may ask?

My friend used to bring me tons and tons of beautiful apples from her garden at about this time of the year as the fall season just starts to appear, and today, at the hospice, she was covered in a gorgeous handmade blanket full of beautiful colorful butterflies as we said our final goodbye....A bigger 3-D all white sequined butterfly was placed on top of her heart too...♥Please note: Your cards are NOT to be sympathy cards at all, please keep them ‘happy/festive’ - as a celebration of LIFE in general! ♥

♥ Hug a friend today...life's way too short!

And here is my card:

I made a spring fold card using three colors of cardstock (from Stampin' Up!) that I really like.  The colors are Cherry Cobbler, More Mustand and Pear Pizzazz.  The designer paper is from imaginisce and is called Apple Cider Apple Crisp.  The sentiment "thinking of you" is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set and the image is from the Give Thanks set, both from Stampin' Up! 

Thanks for stopping by.  Please see my sidebar to check out all the Calendar Girls creations.

Dueling Darlings

It's September 15th and that means it is time to post my card for the Dueling Darlings monthly duel. 

This month the theme was as follows:  KEEP your extra items! That's right! From this month on, when you complete the Dueling Darlings cards, anything you DON'T use, keep it in a SAFE PLACE 6 months from now, after all the duels from all the divas and dazzlers have passed us by and September rolls around, that is what you will use! From the papers, to the ribbons, to the buttons to the all of left over, that will be your kit!

So here is  my card using leftover designer paper, white ribbon, white brads and the orange embossed "rays" paper.  I added the sentiment.  The sentiment and die cut shapes around it are from a set I bought from My Favorite Things quite some time ago and had been wanting to use. 

Please visit all the Darlings blogs to see their creations (see my sidebar).  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a relaxing weekend.

Calendar Girls Olympics

Hello everyone and welcome to the first ever Calendar Girls Olympics.  Yes, that's right, our theme this month was based upon the Olympics.  Here was the challenge I came up with for our star studded team:

"Since the Summer Olympics are now going on, I decided the theme for this month would be our very own Calendar Girls Olympic challenge. There are two parts to this month’s theme:

1. The colors of the rings on the Olympic flag are: blue, yellow, black, green and red. Your card must have at least one embellishment and it must be in one of those colors.

2. Please make a card based on one of the Olympic events. The events in this summer’s Olympics are: Archery, Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Diving, Equestrian, Fencing, Soccer, Gymnastics, Handball, Judo, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Track and Field, Trampoline, Volleyball, Water Polo, Weightlifting, and Wrestling."

Or, we could make a card representing the Olympic Opening Ceremony or a card representing the host country, Great Britain.

Here is my creation representing the Sailing event:

 

 

I love this layout I found on SCS and just had to use it again.  My yellow brad meets the requirement of an embellishment in one of the ring colors.  I used white cardstock as my base.  I also used used Tempting Turquiose, Midnight Muse and Pumpkin Pie cardstock (SU!)  My designer paper is "funfetti streamer" by We R Memory Keepers.  I used my fabulous penanent punch (SU!) as well as my circle punches (SU!) and my Nesties.  The image is from the set Moving Forward (SU!) and the sentiment is from the Happy for You set (SU!)

 

Thanks for stopping by.  Please see my sidebar to visit all the Calendar Girls blogs and see their gold medal creations!!!



Are You Game?

Happy August 15th!!  And, what makes it so great, you ask? The 15th is when the Dueling Darlings duel it out with card making. Our hostesses for this month were Jeanette for the Dazzlers and Kelly for the Divas. The Dazzler received a fabulous kit from Jeanette and a fun theme entitled "Are You Game?" Our kit included:

Image: Art Impressions UM3511 Bingo
DP: Tessa Collins Freestyle Collection
Embossed Paper: Tim Holtz Embossing Folders by Ellison (Mini Bingo Card on SU! Tempting Turquoise; Mini Rays on SU! Pumpkin Pie and Mini Ticket on SU! Pixie Pink)

Embellishments Included
Morex Corp. Organdy Ribbon
Prima Flowers
Studio 18 Rhinestones
Button & Brads (vendors unknow)
A Scrabble tile

An extra challenge to our card making was to do something we had never done before. Well, I ran out of time to come up with something new and spectacular but I did find this outstanding layout in the SCS gallery and used that for my layout....had never used it before! Does that count? ;) And I did decorate the inside of my card this time, something I don't usually do.

Thanks for stopping by. Please check out all the Darlings creations. See my sidebar.

UIS - Unidentified Image Swap

The card on my blog is one I did for a swap I am involved in on SCS.  It is called the Unidentified Image Swap.  We all receive an image from the hostess and we have no idea what the image is until we receive it.  Then we each create a card with the image we receive. 

Our hostess, Janet, sent us this cute House Mouse image called Take Time to Smell the Flowers.  I colored my image with Prisma and Copic markers.  I used Whisper White, Poppy Parade and Baja Breeze cardstock; Sassafras Designer Paper.  I embellished with some Linen Thread and a yellow button along with some flowers I punched with a SU! flower punch.

Here is my card...

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your weekend.

Christmas In July

Wow!!!  It's the 28th already and that means the Calendar Girls are posting their creations.  Our hostess, Carol, chose the theme Christmas in July.  The card I made is one I cased from a card I made last year at stamp club.  But I thought it was such a great Christmas card.  And I have the pieces stamped and cut for many, many more so that I can send them out in December for our family card this year. 

I used:  Always Artichoke, River Rock and Very Vanilla Cardstock (SU); Artichoke Seam Binding (SU); Penant Parade and Heard from the Heart stamp sets (SU); small heart from the three heart paper punch (retired SU).  It is hard to see in this photo but I did use a Cuttlebug embossing folder on the vanilla cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by and please check out all the Calendar Girls' Christmas creations (see my sidebar).

Barbeque Babes!

It's time for another round of the Dueling Darlings.  The Dazzlers and Divas are HOT!, HOT!, HOT!  this month dueling it out with the wonderful summer theme of cookouts!!! 

Darlene, was the hostess this month for the Dazzlers and she sent an awesome and overflowing kit.

The kit included:
Image is from Art Impression's "Golden Oldies series, entitled BBQ Couple  (isn't it fun?!)
DP:  Karen Foster Designs: Food & Family Collage; Ants on Parade; Barbecue Bash
DP: Reminisce:  Picnic Parade; Grill Master
Stickers:  Reminisce:  Backyard Bash
Other misc. embellishments are from my stash here, no particular vendor

I did have every intention of making a couple more cards.  There was so much goodness in Darlene's kit I definitely could have made three cards at least.  Of course, even though I had great plans, I only got one card made.  Here it is:



We were also asked by our hostess, to post a favorite receipe to take along to cookouts.  Here is one that is very simple and loved by everyone:

Raspberry Jell-O Salad:

1 Large Box of Sugar Free Raspberry Jell-O

1 10 oz. package frozen raspberries

2 C. boiling water

Add boiling water to Jell-O and mix until dissolved.  Pour raspberries into large glass measuring cup and add cold water until measures 2 cups. 

Stir frozen raspberries/water mixture into  Raspberry Jell-O and stir.  Pour into Jell-O mold and refrigerate until set.  (Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.)  When ready to serve, garnish with Cool Whip and serve.   

Thanks for stopping by.  Please be sure to visit all the Darlings websites to see their creations (see my sidebar).  

Calendar Girls Welcome Summer

Our challenge this month was to create a card that best suits our beginning to summer or summer plans.  I created a card (differing a little from the sketch we were to use) that absolutely SCREAMS summer in our house.  You know the rhyme...."I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream." 

Our youngest can hear the music from the ice cream truck a mile away and she starts screaming for ice cream.  As soon as that music gets closer and louder, all the kids are running out the door and down the driveway, yelling for me to hurry up with the money! 

So here is my card that shows summer has really come to our house:

I used Whisper White, Rose Red, Yo Yo Yellow and Gable Green cardstock.  The designer paper is from a pack I bought in the $1 section at Target.  My stamp is from A Muse Stamps and colored with my Copic Markers.  I used my Nestabilities, MS punch and black brads to finish my card.

Thanks for stopping by and please be sure to check out all the Calendar Girls summer creations - see my sidebar for a list of their blogs.

Thanks!

Dueling Darlings - It's Gone to the Men!!!!

No...there really are no men in the Dueling Darlings...but we did receive kits to make masculine/Father's Day cards.  The Dazzler received a great kit from our hostess, April.  The kit included:

Designer paper: Krafty Dots by Recollection; Out of Print/Storyteller by Basic Grey;                          Go Fish/Mini Fish by Carolyn Holt Desgins
Burlap and Pearls By Recollections
Ribbon and Bakers Twine (from April's stash)
Clothespin from SU!
Stamps: Favorite Occasions by JustRite and Totally Tool set from SU!

The design of my card is a square Joy Fold.  I used Crumb Cake and Always Artichoke cardstock.  I added a small strip of Baja Breeze to accent the blue in the fish on the designer paper.  I also added the Artichoke button at the bottom to keep the smaller card closed.

Thanks for stopping by and please be sure to visiting all the Dueling Darlings blogs to see their great creations!  Have a wonderful weekend!

 

Calendar Girl's May Challenge

Happy Memorial Day!!! 

The card on my blog today is for this month's Calendar Girl's Challenge.  Our hostess, Barb, challenged us to make a card: 

"Here is the Challenge for the Month of May…………. Memorial Day--a day of honor, remembrance, family picnics, parades, flags placed at cemeteries, concerts and the unofficial start to summer! So the challenge this month for the Calendar Girls is to ink up a patriotic stamp, get out the red/white/blue paper and DSP to post a card that shouts respect to your country and those who have served in the past. I would also like you to note in your post on the 28th what is in your plans this year or what typically has been part of your celebration in the past years on Memorial Day. Paola--my challenge to you is to also show us your Canadian Patriotism with a card that reflects the colors and images that you are proud of.

Barb (Miss May)"

The image I used is a Digi Stamp from "Firecracker Designs by Pamela her website is:(http://www.mamadinis.com/firecracker-designs-by-pamela.php) ."  I colored the image with my Copic markers.  The blue cardstock is Night of Navy and the yellow cardstock is Summer Sun, both from SU!  The white and red cardstock are from a kit I got from CTMH as is the designer paper and banner and sentiment die cuts.  I used my small star punch from SU. 



Thanks for stopping by!  Please check out all the Calendar Girls' creations.  See my sidbar for their blogs.  Happy Memorial Day!

Better Late Then Never

Good afternoon,

The card on my blog today should have been posted here on May 15.   I am very late for this month's Dueling Darlings duel.  But finally my card is here.  My apologies to the Divas and the Dazzlers for being sooooo late. 

This month's theme was Spring is in the Air. And we received an awesome kit from Sweet P which included:
this cute image from Stampin’ Up stamp set, “Serene Spring” 
Ink : Memento Black & Archival Versafine Antique Sepia
Card Stock : Very Vanilla (SU) & White c/s from Wausau Paper Co.
Designer Papers :  from Costco
Accessories : cut out butteflies from Sizzix BigZ Beautiful Butterflies ; pink daisy flower w/ pearl (from Jolee’sBoutique) ; 5 petal silk flower from Michaels ; styled vanilla hardware from (SU Hodgepodge) ; buttons and beads from my stash ; pink/vanilla gingham ribbon &  polka dotted ribbon from local craftstore.

I love spring because after the long, cold, dark winters here in AK...I am ready for sunshine, green grass, fresh air and baseball season!!!

Thanks for stopping by, please check out all the creations made for this duel.  See my sidebar. 

Calendar Girl's April Challenge:

Our hostess this month, Terri, challenged us with the following:

What is a Barn Quilt? A barn quilt is an 8 foot by 8 foot replica of a quilt block made of plywood and hung on the side of old barns here in Wisconsin. There are hundreds throughout the state and I love seeing them up close and personal.

So our challenge was to use one of the quilt layouts Terri supplied to make a card.  I was a little worried at first, but found it to be easier than I thought and enjoyed making my card.  I will have to use this idea in the future with different color combinations, the possibilities are endless.  Here's my card:

Please be sure to check out all the Calendar Girl's creations.  Their blogs are listed in my sidebar.

Thanks and have a terrifice weekend.

Dueling Darlings April Duel

It is April 15th and time for the monthly duel of the Dueling Darlings...Divas vs. Dazzlers. Terry was the hostess this month for Team Dazzlers and her theme was "Who's The Man?" We were to make a masculine card for that one special man in our life with the supplies we received in our kit.

Our kit included:
Images: "On the Fly" - SU!; black and white grosgrain ribbon - Celebrate It (Michaels); mini black and white brads from Recollections; metal ring from Paper Studio and silver metal dots from Colorbok.

I decided not to color my images and keep my entire pocket card black and white. I used my Nesties to frame the image and adhered it to the pocket with dimensionals. The sentiment is from SU!'s Teeny Tiny Wishes set. I used the rounded tab punch for the top of the cardstock that is inserted into the pocket.

While I do have three special men in my life (husband and two sons) my most special man is my husband. I actually met him playing softball (over 20 years ago)...he was my coach. He is loving and dependable and takes wonderful care of his family.

Thanks for stopping by, please check out my sidebar for links to all the Darlings blogs so you can enjoy their creations.

Unidentified Image

I am creating cards with a wonderful group of crafters on SCS. This group is creating cards with "Unidentified Images." That means, the hostess for the month, sends everyone an image to create a card with. The catch is, we do not know what the image is until we receive it.

So here is my card for our first round in the Unidentified Image Swap.

I used Whisper White and Marina Mist cardstock. The image is called Spring Has Sprung by Gina K Designs. My designer paper is from Cosmo Cricket. I embellished my card using Nesties for the image and punches for the sentiment (Teeny Tiny Wishes, SU!) along with a button and Baker's Twine.

Thanks for stopping by!

Calendar Girls Challenge

There is a great little world out there...it's a website called splitcoaststampers.com (SCS). And this wonderful, creative world is filled with awesome papercraft ideas, projects, sketch challenges and color combinations.

Also in this creative world is a great group of crafters called the Calendar Girls. Each month one of the girls, gives the rest of us girls a challenge. Miss March challenged the group this month to create a card using a sketch (layout) challenge and color combination of our choice. However, the sketch and color choices were found on SCS in some of their challenge threads. Each sketch and color combination are given a number. We had to pick our sketch and color combination based on numbers in our birthdate. Great challenge Miss March!!!

My color combination is Ruby Red, Blush Blossom and Always Artichoke. My sketch is #6. That's the only number you get in my birthdate. ;) I used my tag die, a small pearl, baker's twine, scalloped punch, small circle punch, and the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder to embellish my card. The sentiment on the tag is from the SU! set called "Well Scripted." And...here it is...(sorry about the poor picture quality...needed some daylight not night light. And it was taken with my phone as my camera doesn't seem to want to work.)

Thanks for stopping by. Please take a look at all the Calendar Girls creations. See my sidebar for links to their blogs.

March Dueling Darlings

Good Afternoon!!!

I apologize that I am late for the duel. However, I am finally here! The card on my blog today is for our March Duel of the Dueling Darlings. Our theme this month was St. Patrick's Day and we received a great kit from Michelle which included:

A green glitter shamrock die; desiger paper: Reminisce...ShamRock; button candy dots and ribbon by American Crafts. (There was much more in the kit but I have listed the supplies I used.) I added the sentiment which comes from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set from SU! I also used Black and Garden Green cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you had a chance to check out all the Darlings' creations...see my sidebar for a list of their blogs!

Calendar Girls Challenge - Furry Friends

Our challenge this month for the Calendar Girls was to:
"show us fur, your fluff, your waggin’ tails! The possibilities are endless – from doggies to cats, mice to turtles – in one case, a spider! (lil dj!!) LOL! Let’s bring some creativity to making a card (etc) with any image showing us a pet (including if you don’t actually own one!)

** For an extra part of the challenge, since it is February, please try to include the color RED on your card somewhere (coloring of the image, your DSP, cardstock, embellies – just a touch (or a lot!) of red."

The stamp I used is a stamp my youngest gave me a couple of Christmases ago. She loves puppies and really, really wants one. I had never inked it up so I thought it was perfect for this challenge. I believe it was purchased at Michael's. I used Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla cardstock. The DP is from DCWV - The Pets Stack. I embossed the Very Vanilla CS with a Sizzix paw prints embossing folder (click on the picture see this better) and used my SU! circle and scalloped circle punches for the image. My splash of red is the fire hydrant eyelet...which was most likely purchase from Eyelet Outlet.

Thanks for stopping by. See my sidebar, and visit all the Calendar Girls' blogs to see their creations.

Spring Has Sprung!!!!

Spring has sprung...well, not really...not where I live. In fact, we got a couple more inches of snow today.

But spring has sprung on my card I made for a swap I am in on SCS. It is a spring swap using either Whipper Snapper stamps or Penny Black stamps. I saw this cute WS stamp and sentiment and knew that they would be perfect for the swap. Thanks to Barb, (personal shopper to crafters and hostess of the spring swap) for going to Creative Pals and getting the stamps for me and sending them my way!!!! U R THE BEST BARB!

And the sentiment on the inside...

I used Kiwi Kiss (SU), White and Riding Hood Red (SU) cardstock. My designer paper is Cosmo Cricket's Pixie-Licious. I embellished with Riding Hood Red ribbon, Ruby Red brads, Baker's Twine (all from SU!) and a cute garden spade charm. (I cannot remember where I got the charm).

Thanks for stopping by.

It's a Sweetheart of a Duel!!!

The Dueling Darlings are at it again. It's time for our monthly duel. The theme for this month's duel was centered around Valentine's Day and the title of our theme was "Let Me Call You Sweetheart."

The image and sentiment I used are from Crafty Secrets, Clear Art Stamps called "Couple of Cuties." My designer paper is "Love Me Banners" and "Love Me Plaid" from My Mind's Eye. I used White, Baja Breeze and Rose Red cardstock. I colored my image with my Copics and embellished my card with Rose Red Ribbon, Rope Twine and a Corduroy button, all from SU! The "love" charm is from either Michael's or Joann's, I honestly cannot remember. I used the Large Paper Doily Die from SU! and Craftworkcards Candi.

As part of this month's duel we could share about our special "sweetie." My sweetie is my DH of almost 20 years. How did I meet him you ask? I met him for the first time when I was in highschool. He was dating one of my friends. I didn't see him again for several years and then one summer, he was coaching our women's softball team...the rest is history. ;)

Thanks for stopping by. Please visit all the Dueling Darlings' blogs to see what wonderful creations they made.

I am in a closed swap on SCS with a bunch of wonderfully talented ladies. Each month the hostess gives us a theme to create a card with. This month the theme was to make a card that was inspirational. Another part of the theme was to: "Create a card that reflects YOU…your dreams, aspirations, and/or accomplishments. Include your favorite colors, embellishments, images and sentiments."

I kind of forgot the "inspirational" part but I did make a card that reflects something about me. Something that I like. So, I could have made a card about reading, or baking, or stamping and scrapping but I wanted something a little different. So here is my card:

So what does this card say about me? It says, I like chick-flicks. And I like chick-flicks with happy endings. I used Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink and Whisper White CS. My DP is from pebblesinc.com. The collection is called "Ever After." My sentiment is from a set from MFT, along with the die I used with the sentiment. The carriage stamp is a $1 stamp from Michael's. The ribbon is Chocolate Chip from SU! and the crown brad is from Eyelet Outlet.

Thanks for stopping by.

Calendar Girls' Challenge

Today is the 28th and that means it's time to post our monthly Calendar Girls' challenge and card. Here is this month's theme.

January is this: Something New Using Something Old!

What do I mean by that? This isn’t exactly what it seems. It’s not a vintage theme, though you can make your card/project vintage if you’d like. What I do want you to do is look back over your Calendar Girl posts/creations from the year 2011 and choose one of the images you used. Then I want you to create something entirely different with the same image. It cannot look at all like the previous Calendar Girl creation; nor can you use the same papers/embellishments/etc.

When you post to your blog – on January 28 – I want you to also post a picture of your 2011 card/project that used the same image so we can see the two and how different they are.

So here is my card I made several months ago using my image:

And here is the card I made using the same image for this month's challenge:

I used Basic Black, Whisper White, and Pretty In Pink CS. Pretty In Pink DP. My oval Nesties. My Dotted Scalloped Ribbon Border punch from SU! The flowers were punched using a retired flower punch and small circle punch from SU! And of course, I had to use the mini pearls.

Thanks for stopping by and please check out all the Calendar Girls' creations. See my sidebar.

It's Just a "Little" Duel...

The Dueling Darlings are at it again. It's January 15th (which totally crept up on me) but that means it is time to post our cards for our friendly "little" duel this month.

Hostesses, Melina and Joan, chose the theme "The Little Things." The kits the Dazzlers received contained three images...a turtle (SU); a crab (SU) and a snail (Inkadinkado). And we had to use each image. The kits also contained little Marina Mist circles (SU), little lines & dp (DCWV); little dots paper (My Mind's Eye); baker's twine and Crumb Cake ribbon (SU); green pearls(Queen & Co.) and a white button and yellow clip (Wal-Mart).

Our hostesses also gave us two challenges with this month's kit:
1. We had to post the first thing that popped into our heads when we saw the theme title.
2. And since the three images all had shells we had to come up with a witty sentiment for our card.

So...here is my creation (and not so witty) sentiment:

What popped into my head when I read the theme? It was treasuring the "little" things that make my heart soar. The little muddy hand giving me a handful of half-dead dandylions. The times when my oldest daughter gives me a little glimpse into what her heart is feeling and what her mind is thinking. The fact that my DH isn't predictable...I don't get flowers every anniversary, birthday or Valentine's Day, but then one day, a day without much significance, I will get flowers with a note that says he loves me. And my two boys...one a teenager and the other one just a few years away from being a teenager, still love to hug their mom, even in front of their friends. Ahhh...the little things.

Thanks for stopping by. Please check out all Darlings' blogs for their creations. See my sidebar for a listing.