It's a bloomin' watering can!

This image is from Cowgirl Up Digital Stamps. I love watering cans - especially when they're filled with beautiful flowers as CJ did with this one! I colored them with markers, added some gems for centers, butterflies just because I love 'em, and an extra flower to support the easel. I cut the leaves out of the same dp that I used on the base, folded them in half, and ran them through my crimper for their "veins". Thanks to Cowgirl Up for supplying this great image. You can find more of CJ's images at http://www.cowgirlupdigitalstampenranch.com/.

Happy Birthday to a friend I've never met...

My friend, Kathy, is always doing good deeds for others. She sent me a request for a funny birthday card for a gentleman who'll soon be celebrating his 91st birthday. He goes to the same church as one of our mutual friends and is special because he is always going the extra mile for others. So I decided to make this for him! As it turns out, he may even know some people who have been special in my life, who once attended his church. It's a small world sometimes and I'm glad that God completes the connections!

Happy 91st Birthday, "Fast Eddie"!

Friends - Tried and True!

Gotta love these flower pot cards - filled with pansies straight from the garden! Actually, my garden is now my craft table! These pansies were made with watercoloring with reinkers on white card stock and then punching out with SU's butterfly punch! Add a small brad in the center and they come alive! Pansies are among my favorite flowers, going all the way back to when I was a little girl (and believe me, it is a LONG way back!). The pansies are on a card which pulls out from the flower pot, which I cut out, decorated with ribbon, a punched edge, some dp, and a delightful Mary Engelbreit tag! All this and my hands never touched the dirt! Hope you enjoy this creation!

Operation Write Home

Well, here it is - the first batch of cards that I'll be sending to Operation Write Home. Actually I'll be adding some additional cards too but I've had this idea in my mind for awhile now and it's so fun to see them DONE! I used LeeAnn Greff's One Sheet Wonder, which I purchased from her quite a long time ago. She has created templates which you print onto cardstock and then cut and assemble according to her directions. You choose your own colors and embellishments. I obviously chose the Stars and Stripes theme with red, white and blue as my colors. I used ribbons, punches, and stick-on embellishments to add to the Stampin' Up sayings to complete the 10 cards. I also used some SU embossing folders. These cards will be sent to our troops so that they can use them to keep in touch with their loved ones back home. To find out more, check out the website at http://www.operationwritehome.com/. You can also check out LeeAnn's site at
flowerbug.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/10/one-sheet-wonder.html.

Shut the screen door!

The front of the card

The inside

This poor butterfly must be so frustrated that someone shut the screen door and she can't get to these beautiful hydrangeas! Yes, I used real screen between a layer of Basic Gray and Bravo Burgundy. I used 2 different size nesties to form a "frame". Both layers were run through the cb and embossed with the Elegant Bouquet folder. I used stickles on the centers of the embossed flowers. The All Aflutter butterfly was colored with a blender pen and reinkers. I used the Scalloped Oval punch on the inside, cutting off the bottom so that it would align with the edge of the card. It says "Love You" on it but it's hard to see in the photo. The flower blossoms on the inside of the card were also done with a blender pen and reinkers. Their centers were also accented with stickles. Hope you enjoy my creation! Have a wonderful day and don't forget to shut the screen door! = D

Bloomin' Beautiful!

Sorry I've been "missing in action" but the key word there is "action"! I have been stamping and creating still but just haven't had a chance to post! However, I hope today's card will make up for some of the long time. It's always so fun when you start out with just an idea and then watch it grow into an actual creation! I don't mean to blow my own horn but I have to say that this one is one of my most favorite cards that I've ever created. It includes so very many techniques and elements. I stamped and colored the 2 flowers, cut them out using the out of the box technique, sponged the edge of the oval, embossed a larger oval, layered them both on top of a background which I used a brayer to emboss the color on. I then turned all this into an easel card. I used ribbon on top of a small strip of coordination c/s, on which I used the Scalloped Edge punch. I stamped the word on another strip of c/s and then used my Scalloped Oval punch to cut it out. I made the strip smaller than the punch to created the flat top and bottom. The finishing touch was the bumblebee, which I stamped, flocked, and used Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the wings before mounting him for his flight! I hope you enjoy this card as much as I enjoyed making it! Have a terrific day and I will try to post again soon!

A Bouquet for YOU!

Here's a card that I made last weekend with a new-to-me SU set called Pocket Silhouttes. I made it for the Stampin 411 Challenge - using Certainly Celery, Regal Rose, Real Red, and Bashful Blue (my substitution). This is such a sweet set and is on its way to quickly becoming one of my favorites. I also used Beautiful Wings, my favorite little Sizzix Embosslits folder, to make the butterflies. I embossed the center panel with Elegant Bouquet, one of my favorite embossing folders, and used the new Square Lattice for the main card.  What a fun creation - and the bouquet's just for YOU! Enjoy!

Happy Birthday to my dear friend, Val!

Today is my dear friend Val's birthday and this card is the one that I made when we were together stamping last Friday! We met just a little over a year ago on Splitcoast, over a comment that I made on one of her beautiful cards. After we discovered that we both lived in Orlando, we were able to get together to meet and we've been great friends ever since! To top it off, our birthdays are only a day apart! She's like a sister to me and knows me so well and stamping together is one of life's great pleasures - even though we don't get the opportunity often enough! She loves the Asian theme so we both used Asian Artistry to create similar cards as we spent our stamping time doing something totally stress free - not stamping for anything other than pure pleasure! So, here's to you, Val, and I hope your birthday is every bit as special as you are to me! Love you!

July 11th

Well, Happy Birthday to ME! Yes, today is my birthday and I'm celebrating in style with a Cowgirl Up Sunday Challenge! This week we had the opportunity to use a wonderful image of our choice from Delicious Doodles! The prize for this week's winner will be 3 images of YOUR choice from this great site! Go check it out and make your best effort for the Cowgirl Up Challenge! You may use any image that you'd like for your card but keep in mind that this week's challenge is all about your favorite ice cream or sherbert! Use those colors and make us all hungry! My favorite was Raspberry Sherbert (along with chocolate cake and fluffy white icing) so I chose my colors accordingly. Go forth and do the same! Happy crafting!

If your card is chosen as the winner, your prize will be that you can pick 3 images by choice from her store and 2 images of choice from CJ's Cowgirls Up!

Along with a "Winners Badge" to display on your blog!

The "Top 3" will win 1 Image of choice from CJ"

and a "Top 3 Badge" that they will be able to proudly display on their blogs.

More Elements of Style

Once again, I used my Elements of Style set, this time with Rich Razzleberry, to create this card. The white ribbon and bow add just the right touch. There are so many great card ideas on SCS, and my friend, Karen, and I had fun just putting our touch on several of our favorites recently. It was fun to start out with a great idea and then make it our own. This was a fun and quick card which produced a great result, I think. Thanks for looking!

From the Heart

Again, another simple card that I cased from SCS. The color and simplicity make the card seem "cool" to me - a welcome addition to these hot summer days in Florida! I used Elements of Style for the main image. It would be very easy to step it up a notch or two but sometimes simple is best. As my Mom used to say, "there's elegance in simplicity". Thanks, Mom, for all those words of encouragement that you gave me!

Asian Artistry

Happy Monday! Here's a simple card to duplicate - I chose the Asian Artistry set for mine. I love its simplicity and of course, the little butterflies which add just the right touch. I'm really enjoying these simpler cards - they seem to fit with the warm days of summer. Thanks for looking and sharing!

Vellum Butterflies

This card was made by embossing images from Elements of Style on vellum in white, using the Butterfly Punch, and then tying silver cord around each one. I mounted them over the Lavendar Lace butterflies which had also been punched. These were layered on a strip of white c/s, which had been cuttlebugged. I used the great Scalloped edge punch to punch strips of lavendar to place on either side of the center strip. I used white ribbon to tie my bow around the strip before mounting it all on a white c/s base, which had also been run through my cuttlebug. This is another card that I made at Lee's - I love the clean and simple but elegant look, don't you? These butterflies are so pretty! I love the embossing on them!

Happy July 4th!

Happy July 4th, Everyone! Last week, I was asked to become a member of the Cowgirl Up Design Team! I'm so excited to be a part of this new venture! Each Sunday, there will be a new challenge, with some awesome blog candy! This week's challenge is Scallops and Embellishments, and the Blog Candy is being offered by CRAFTY RIBBONS. Here's a photo of what you'll receive if you win:

Here's a link to the COWGIRL UP STORE. You'll find some awesome digital images here. We would love to see you use them in your designs but it's not mandatory.

Here is the link to all the information on Cowgirl Up Sunday Challenge

Can't wait to see your designs on the website! Come on and have fun with us - saddle up your horses, and let's enjoy this adventure together!

Almost forgot, here is my entry for this week:

Happy Golfing Birthday!

Although all my brothers-in-law play golf, this card's for the one who has a birthday in July! Found this great little stamp at Big Lots for a real bargain and just made the card around it! If you take a closer look, you will see that the golf ball even has dimples - made by my cuttlebug dots folder then I turned over the c/s! Finished it off with matching buttons for a masculine feel. Hope he likes it!

Happy 1st of July!

I used one of my favorite sets, Watercolor Trio, to create this card. I colored with markers on the stamp, misted with water, and then stamped the image. It gives it a soft look. I used my MS Scoring Board to emboss the lines and then added a pearl - just because!