Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope your Thanksgiving is fantastic! 

I don't have a card from me today, but I have one from my cousin Laquisha:

and the first Christmas card of this season from a true sweetie pie, Sandra van Blaricum:

Blogger Lets Us Post Early For a Reason...

I'm one of the Guest Designers at Little Blue Button Stamps (http://lbbstamps.com/) this month and should have gone ahead and created my blog post early like I knew I needed to. Good ol' life, you know?

I'll have to update this later...

Here's a tip. Don't drink Crystal Light energy packets after work, especially when the clocks have just rolled back and 11:30 pm is still 12:30 am to your body... I should have been asleep already.

Anyway, I wanted to share this week's card for the Sketch Challenge at The Outlawz. Sketch us being sponsored by Paper Shelter this month, and we have a fantastic prize for one of our entrants. Here's my card using the geisha stamp (love it!) from Paper Shelter:

Thanks, Skeeta, for the flowers!

It's Halloween!

I hope you're having a wonderful day regardless of your feelings about Halloween! I tell you, it would be nice if we don't have any trick-or-treaters so I can continue snacking on these Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Reese's Pieces! I so shouldn't have opened that bag early...

Here are some cards I made for Halloween. I went the easy route and used the same colors and paper pad for all three. My table was a hot mess before I started, so I tried to keep from adding too much more to it.

Halloween Helga from Talula Girl Stamps.

Image from Digi Stamps 4 Joy

Sneaker Witch digi by me from Guylou's Inimitability

BCA for the Sketch Challenge!

The paper I colored on was sucking my markers dry! Tip: Don't go to make cards with stamps and Copics but no coloring paper!

I pulled something in my back and don't feel like typing. Love me anyway! :D That's Charlotte Chic from The Greeting Farm minus her cute 'fro for a last minute Breast Cancer Awareness card.  This was for my DT project at The Outlawz this week. Come play!

Hey Gorgeous!

Cheeky Glamour -The Greeting Farm

It is so weird trying to craft without the supplies you're used to! I packed up a few things to go craft and forgot any paper to color on. I had to use a notecard to stamp and color after using a piece of cardstock that was literally sucking the juice out of my Copics. Hey, how do you get smeared Tombow glue off? I tried using an eraser to get the shiny areas off, and it was making a mess. Help!

Guess Who?

Hey!! I know; it's been forever... I finally got some time to make some cards! I'm over at my boyfriend's mom's. She and I spent the afternoon and evening making cards. Three cards tonight and two last weekend - the first ones since August. I'm trying to decide whether to show them all now or space them out so you might remember I'm here...

So, here's the first one.

I really wanted to do Link Up for Pink again this year. I put all  my digis that would work for breast cancer awareness in a Word document the other day then my new laser printer decided to print, like, 100 copies of some pages I was printing for my kids (students - I didn't birth any children in my time away). Anyway, that little starter toner disappeared quickly in the midst of that nonsense. I just went to get a real toner today; hopefully, I'll find some more time soon to get them colored up. Luckily, I had a "real" stamp that would work! :D

Mosquitoes suck - literally and figuratively!

Oh my goodness! I have been getting some of the worst mosquito bites ever this summer! I have two that I got two days ago. When I was bit, my foot was itching and on fire. I put some bentonite clay on the bites, and they were calm until yesterday afternoon. I put alcohol, Allegra ointment, benzocaine, and cortisone cream on them at different times with little to no relief. All night  they itched and kept me awake. Well, I woke up this morning and my two tiny bites are huge and swollen. I put some more bentonite clay on them, and that helped white it was on and about 30 minutes after. Right am going crazy making myself not touch them. I am not a mosquito fan, but they sure love me!

Anyway, I'm a little better this week and am blogging on Wednesday like I'm.supposed to. Here's my card for the Sketch Challenge at The Outlawz. (I'm blogging on the blogger app on my phone. I have no clue where it's going to put my photo...)

I Made Another Mini! :D

And Again...

Clearly, my blogging is way better when I don't make my projects in advance! This is the second week in a row that I forgot to post on Wednesday. I used to write my posts in advance and schedule them...until I started making my projects at the last minute! Then I would just take my picture and write the post right after. Now that I'm trying to do things early again, I've totally forgotten to do either.  :D

This week's card for the Sketch Challenge at The Outlawz has the super cute Cheeky Nice from The Greeting Farm's Naughty or Nice set. I put a nose on her because not everyone likes noseless faces, but after I did it, she reminded me of Stewie Griffin. Not that he even has that kind of nose, but I really wish I'd left off the bridge line...

Here's the sketch if you'd like to come play along:

Challenges: Color Me Creative Challenges - Anything Goes

B&W +1!

So... I got to choose the challenge for the blogging challenge group on Scraps of Color this week. I have some cards on my list for a teacher, and this seemed like a great time to kill two birds.  discussed doing black and white plus one. Now, to me, her plus one is like neon pink or chartreuse. I have a feeling, though, that she probably sees her plus one as some muted earth tone. Not happening!!

Stampabilities sentiment, Webster's Pages ribbon, MS butterfly punch, stamped bg paper - I have to go to the basement to tell you who made it, Ice Stickles

I told the very awesome Sharri that I was going to CASE her card from last week's Twisted Thursday Challenge on The Outlawz. Close enough to get me there!

**Challenges: Rhedd and Rosie's - Anything Goes, Ruby's Rainbow - Recipe, The Sisterhood of Crafters - BW+1, Word Art Wednesday - #89 Anything Goes

This Week's Sketch

I don't know how the whole day passed without me posting the new sketch from The Outlawz. I guess because I made my card **EARLY** (wha??), I totally forgot about the post.

Sentiment printed with Smiley Monster from KevinandAmanda.com; School Daze papers from My Mind's Eye

That's my card which was made for an awesome principal who retired last month after more than 30 years in education. And here's the sketch if you'd like to play along...

This month the Sketch Challenges are sponsored by Digi Stamps 4 Joy. You could end up with some cute, new digis just for playing along!

**Challenges: DL.ART - #113 Summer, Crafting by Designs - Anything Goes, Paper Pretties - Sentiment as the Focal Point, Crafts and Me - #138 Anything Goes

Gwen is My Favorite Oddie!

I just got some Xpress it paper, and my E15 keeps pulling the color off the layers underneath. Any tips?

As one of the folks who was bothering Kristy for a curly Oddie, I feel it's only right that I repay her by actually acquiring and USING the Gwen stamps from Some Odd Girl.  This week, I used Party Dress Gwen and Paris Girl papers from Carta Bella on a card for the Sketch Challenge on The Outlawz. Since I'm up waaaaay past my bedtime, I'm going to be brief! Digistamps4joy is sponsoring the Sketch challenges for July, and there is a gang of prizes throughout the site. (There is sounds wrong, but after teaching collective nouns in tutorial last week, I feel like it must be correct. ??  Y'all know I have grammar issues...)

Here is the sketch if you'd like to play along:

**Challenges: Through the Craftroom Door - Anything Goes, Inky Chicks - Anything Goes, 'ABC' Challenges - Anything Goes, Created with Love - For the Girls, Whoopsi Daisy Challenge - Let's Get Girly

Geez, I Suck!

Well, I guess I only suck a little since I did have to hide pack all of my crafty stuff so that I could clean up for company. We celebrated my grandmother's 92 birthday last weekend, and with her two of her three children, four of her grandchildren, six great-grands, and six great-greats all in this house, leaving my stuff out was so not an option! :D

Now that it's quiet again, I stayed up late with my cousin making cards. Here's mine for the Sketch Challenge at The Outlawz this week:

You know I HAD to get Charlotte Chic from The Greeting Farm! Her hair looks like mine!

I feel like it's been a minute since I reminded you of the awesome prizes we have at The Outlawz. The Sketch Challenge is sponsored by SheryK Designs this month, and we have site-wide prizes from Oozak, Paper Temptress, Jellypark, Rick St. Dennis, Squigglefly, and Touched by a Butterfly! Here's the sketch if you're interested in joining us:

AND... Here's my lovely cousin's card!

She was going for a 4th of July look, and I think she nailed it!

Happy Father's Day!

Hope you're all out there having a great Father's Day whether you're a dad or not! Here's the card I made for my daddy:

Love You Daddy digi from Mo's Digital Pencil Too. Colored with Copics.

He came over for late lunch and movies, and because we're silly we decided to re-create the scene from the card! :D

I guess I should have cropped this at his waist so it would really match, but then you wouldn't get to see that big smile on his face!


**Thanks for the gift certificate, Colleen!!! I thought I'd bought this digi for Father's Day last year, but thanks to you, I have it now!  :D  HUGS to you, sister!

Graduation Time!

Some of the ladies on Scrap of Color decided we needed a challenge on Monday. We were busy chatting when we all wanted to and should have been crafting. So, Tina and Karen decided that our challenge would be to make a graduation card with embossing and an image. Well, I'd already printed out some graduation digis to prepare for the graduates I know, so this challenge got me going! I used Sassy Graduate from Sassy Studio Designs; the digi is currently free for a progressive challenge in the SSD group on PCP.

Here is my first card:

And here's the second one that I actually embossed (and didn't make until Tuesday after the "challenge" was over):

And a close up since easel cards are a beast to try to photograph...

Doodlebug Cap & Gown paper, Stampabilities sentiment, Congrats stamp from Hampton Art

Anyway, I colored these two girls (and another) with my Copics at the same time. In case you want to know, they were colored about the same way with E13/15/17 but the one on the top has a base coat of YG41 while the second was colored first with YR21.

**Challenges: Through the Craft Room Door (HEY YALL!)  Anything Goes, Tuesday Throwdown - Embossing

It's Summer!

Summer!! YES!! I have been itching to get back to crafting after not making anything since the very beginning of March. I did stamp some treat bags for my kids for their end of the year party, but as there was no coloring, cutting, pasting, that didn't really count!

My teammates on The Outlawz have been great in my absence; no one has grumbled-at least not to me-about my lack of projects or comments. They don't even know how thankful I am for that. I kept up my other duties there (monthly prizes, setting up Inlinkz, etc.), but I let crafting go. You folks who work, have kids, and craft are some really awesome folks! I don't have the time management skills for that! Maybe had they diagnosed my ADD when I was young someone could have helped me with some strategies...

Anyway, my project is for this week's Sketch Challenge at The Outlawz. As usual, I'm pushing the sketch!

Sketch:

My project:

Why does this look fuzzy?? GRR! Anyway, that's super adorable Content Ollie from Some Odd Girl!

I have three TGF stamps colored and papers picked so I should be back with some more cards soon. Thanks again for praying for my mom! Her name is Barbara, and we appreciate your prayers more than you know!  :D

**Challenges: 613 Avenue Create - Anything Goes, Paper Makeup Stamps - Anything Goes (with a digi), Forever Friends - For a Child

Jumping on the Bloglovin Bandwagon...

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Mini Giveaway!

I'm having a mini giveaway on my YouTube channel!

THANK YOU!!

I know I have really slacked off on this blog lately. I've been so tired when I get home from work that I've been going to bed at, like, 7:30/8:00. Some days I'm at school until after 6, then I come in, make my grandma her dinner, eat something, get grandma ready for bed, and crash when I take her up for bed. I haven't made anything since the crop! Plus, I had to clean off the table again as some of my mom's friends came over to have lunch with her over the weekend. Right now, I am DYING to make something! I came home early, and I'm feeling a bit energized. Maybe I can get to one of my DT projects...

Before I run away, I want to send a big thank you out to all of you who are praying for my mother and/or my family! Sandi, thank you so much for the card and shawl you sent her! Saturday she asked if I sent you a picture of the living room as the colors in the shawl match our carpets perfectly.  :D And Mary Joyce, thank you for the adorable card!  I'll be back soon (ish) with pictures!

Here are the Others!

Here are my other two cards from last week's crop. I can't believe it's been a week and I'm just getting these up...

Glam Bella (colored with Copics), Glitz paper, CTMH sentiment, Want 2 Scrap bling

That's Glam Bella from Diva Glam, my friend Rochelle's new stamp company!

And my red dress card:

I don't know where this image is from; it was in our crop bags.

I got a really nice card from Barbara from Little Miss Muffet Stamps a few days ago. If I'm looking post-deficient again this week, I'll make sure you see it!! :D

Guess who?

I know it's been weeks, but I'm still here! So sorry for disappearing, but I started back full time in the classroom and found out last week that my mother's pneumonia is actually lung cancer. So, I've been a little busy.

BUT here I am today! I paid for a crop a few weeks ago and figured maybe I would get something done. So far that's hardly been the case! I did, however, get something done (finally) for the current blue and yellow challenge at Little Miss Muffet Challenges. I was wondering how I could get a project for this challenge, and this Authentique paper was in my goodie bag at the crop! Thank goodness!

I just finished coloring a new stamp from Diva Glam. Hopefully, I'll be back with her on a card soon!

Miss you all and thanks for praying for my family!

Just a Little Something...

My boyfriend is super stubborn. He's a know it all and often requires "evidence" before he will accept being wrong about something. It drives me nuts - especially when I know I'm right - but I love that guy. A few days ago we were talking about some conversation he'd had with someone who was trying to get him to do something he didn't want to do, and he said something like, "They don't seem to get it. They'll hate me before they break me." It is SO him! I instantly filed that away because I knew an image that had been sitting in my computer's memory waiting for ink that would go perfectly with his feeling!

I made him a little (5.5"square) tent card/sign using Mo Manning's digi Chad in Timeout. Put my guy in the corner all you want; he's still going to be a pig-headed bugger! I haven't decided what should go on the other side yet. I'm debating about a scripture or a picture for the times he's not feeling like fighting! :D

**Are any of you who follow blogs via Reader missing posts? I follow a lot of blogs, but lately I have been seeing the same posts in the afternoon that I saw in the morning. I follow my own blog, but the last four, five, six posts haven't showed up in Reader either. I had to actually add a subscription to my blog for them to show up. ??? I am slowly going down the VERY long list of blogs I follow and adding subscriptions to them in Reader because I am pretty sure I'm missing a lot of your posts! Maybe my phone is just angry with me because I just saw a lot more posts on my computer than I have all day on my phone...

Bingo at Guylou's Inimitability!

Hey there! I'm blogging from the hospital. Don't worry; I'm ok. My mom has pneumonia and is about to get some fluid drained from around her lung. (She's mostly okay, too, just in case you're worried.) **Update! We're back home and all is well. My mom says she can breathe again even though the doctor didn't drain all of the fluid. Supposedly, he got about a liter.

Just wanted to tell you about the new challenge at Guylou's Inimitability. This time Kim has given us BINGO! Not related to this challenge, but typing that reminded me of my grandma. One of the times she came to visit, I took her to the VFW around the corner from my house, and we spent the night playing bingo... :D

Lotus is Perplexed (digi stamp) from Guylou's Inimitability, Happy Go Lucky paper from My Mind's Eye

Anyway, I used my Copics to color up one of G's newest images for my card. My bingo is on the buttons, bling, and starts with G line. I kind of cheated with some button paper! My "G" is glitter; you might not be able to see it, but there is glitter on her eyelashes and over the sentiment.

Well, looks like we're about to get going up here. I'll be back with the rest! **If you'd like to play along, you have until 10 p.m. EST on February 28 to enter your card on the challenge blog. You don't have to use a Guylou's Inimitability stamp to enter, but there are always some freebies to be found somewhere in the store!

Cake Love at LMMS!

MWAH!! Thanks for reading my blog! (There's a little Valentine's love for you!) :D

Today, there are some adorable new stamps over at Little Miss Muffet Stamps! I picked one of my favorites from the release and came up with this:

Cupcake Surprise Cherry from Little Miss Muffet Stamps. This & That papers sent by my Secret Sista, Kristin!

This stamp comes in a set that is only going to be available as a digi for a limited time. The set comes with the girl, two different cupcakes, and that frosting "hat". If you like it, you need to run! Go see all the new stamps and how awesome they look on my teammates' cards over at the Little Miss Muffet Challenge Blog!

The White Rabbit & I...

Yeah, The White Rabbit and I both have a little problem with timeliness. Here is my slightly late project for the new challenge at Little Miss Muffet Challenges...

I'm publishing from my phone, so I'll have to come back later to add the sketch so you can see it and come play! And here it is...

Please remember if you use any Little Miss Muffet Stamps or Pollycraft image, the challenge is Anything Goes!

Cuckoo I Am...

I feel like I'm in the middle of a moment - like I have too much in my brain and too much energy. As such, sitting here at the computer is making me feel a little crazy. Therefore, this post will be one my lovely, super short posts!

This card is for this week's Sketch Challenge at The Outlawz. We have an awesome sponsor for Sketch this month, Angie Delarie!! She's giving a very generous prize! We also have a great set of site-wide prizes from some fabulous sponsors including Oozak and Paper Temptress! Here is the sketch if you'd like to come play:

**Challenges: Fab N Funky - Hearts/Valentines, 7 Kids Challenge Blog - Hexagons, Digi Stamps 4 Joy - Romance is in the Air, Paper Pretties - Valentines

Off Color Challenge at Guylou's!

For some reason, my dear neighbor and DT buddy Chana decided that we needed a challenging challenge this go around at Guylou's Inimitability. As usual, I managed to forget about the challenge despite writing it down multiple times and still being on the sick and shut in list this week. (FYI - I felt way better this morning. Thanks for all the well wishes...) You'd think being home for two weeks that I would have created all sorts of cards, but eh?

Anyway, our new challenge is to use gray, blue, and orange with a humorous sentiment. Thank goodness for Split Coast Samplers; there's a spreadsheet somewhere on that site with a ton of sentiments arranged by type. I couldn't tell you where because I saved it onto my Google Drive when I first saw it, but know it's worth it if you're frugal like I am. After I read some, I found a great image to go with one I liked. So here's Francesca with a quote from Ellen! (I'm going to test that Google Drive link; it might work...)

You have two weeks to get your challenge card linked up for a chance at a GDT spot and some free digis from Guylou's Inimitability!

**Challenges: Digi Stamps 4 Joy - Anything Goes, Creative Belli Challenges - Rhinestones (I always forget to look in the bins behind my crafting area for buttons, brads, and rhinestones...), Inkspirational - Anything Goes (see pic)

More Faeries at Little Miss Muffet!

Gelsey Faerie by Simply Sophia at Little Miss Muffet Stamps; Hero Arts sentiment

My brain just turned off! How am I supposed to write this post? Um... Yeah... There are some new Simply Sophia stamps at Little Miss Muffet Stamps today. They're pretty cute! Go check them out and see how my awesome teammates used them and the Valentine's release...

**Challenges: Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes, Inkspirational - Anything Goes (see pic)

Trying to Blog from Bed... (ni)

And here's another card I made today. I had the hardest time cutting paper while making this card. As a result, this card is no where near standard size. I think it works since the image is small. I colored the dress of this Some Odd Girl stamp around when I first started making cards, and she finally made it to a card! (There are fully colored stamps on the page; let's see how long it takes...)

Trying to Blog from Bed... (ichi)

I could go back downstairs and get my laptop, but meds have my head and stomach swimming. We have a cold front coming through in a few days, and I'm praying that my sinuses don't get worse...
Anyway, being sick is giving me a chance to use some images I colored ages ago on some cards. First is this image from A Day for Daisies that was colored last summer. (This is what I was going to use when my father reiterated his request for "old people"...)

Birthday Invitation - A Day for Daisies, Sidewalks - October Afternoon, sentiment - Holly-Day Gwen Some Odd Girl

**Challenges:Little Claire's - Flowers & Sketch, Link Up for Pink - Photo Inspiration

Hearts and Flowers at LMMS

Hey Kristin!! Even though this is a Little Miss Muffet post, I have to give a shout out to my Secret Sistah as she helped pull this card together. She sent me the paper and the bling in one of the great packages of goodies she gifted me over the last few weeks. Thanks!!!

I found a great sentiment from TLC Creations on my laptop for the inside of this card. It says, " I think I'd miss you even if we'd never met." Love it!! especially since Valerie looks like she's missing someone...

I realized the other day that I had a bunch of LMM stamps on my external hard drive that hadn't been transferred to my laptop. After getting that straightened out, I looked around and found my girl Valerie looking like she wanted to be on a card. How could I resist?

On a side note, my E13 keeps dropping blobs of ink when I'm coloring. Air pressure issues? It starts off almost dry then all of a sudden, the nib is soaking wet and there's a huge spot of color on my image. I have colored a bunch of things since I last refilled it. After today's mishap, I opened both ends of the marker and laid it down flat when I switched to the other markers for her skin. That seemed to work. Any suggestions?

Anyway, we'd love to see your Hearts & Flowers projects! Don't want to go with the theme? Use ANY Little Miss Muffet Stamp or a Pollycraft stamp and do whatever you want in the challenge!

**Challenges: Oozak - Pink & Bling, House of Gilli - Pink & Bling, Bunny Zoe's - Anything Goes

My first "REAL" CASE

*I'll be back in just a while with some details. I'm sick and trying to finish up some DT stuff since I'm stuck at home anyway... For now, just know that I CASEd  Thanh's card over at Raise the Bar Challenges...

Okay! So, that image is Odette from The Greeting Farm's Roll Call set. I made her a little plaid skirt to go along with the plaid hat that Hello Ian wears. (He's who Thanh used...)  Eiffel Tower stamp, Want 2 Scrap bling, Cupid rub-on, Papertrey Ink Block Alphabet Dies (run thrice so I could make those letters stand up a little), some Recollections washi tape and BAM! There's a card!

Forewarning - I half colored a gang of TGF stamps 2 weekends ago. Expect to see them as I attempt to use my stamps and serious paper stash...

**Challenges: Creative Card Crew - Girly, Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes, Lady Anne's - Anything Goes, Digi Stamps 4 Joy - Anything Goes

I See Spots at Guylou's Inimitability

Thank you, G, for helping me knock down my paper stash a little! Guylou decided that our first challenge of the year at Guylou's Inimitability was going to be I See Dots. Well, I pulled out some of the sheets from Basic Grey's Olivia pad and colored up this super cute new image Matilda and made it work! (Guylou used this image too, and her card is SO cute!!)

If you'd like to play along, you have until 10 pm EST on January 31 to get your project linked up. AND... G is giving away her new house stamp until tomorrow (1/20) night. Stop by the blog to find out how to get it!

UPDATED:New Lovey Release at LMMS

There are some super adorable new images at Little Miss Muffet Stamps today! I will be back with a card. I'm struggling right now - my laser printer gave no warning before claiming to be out of toner plus the rain we've been having is killing me with sinus headaches. In the meanwhile, check out my teammies on the LMM blog!

FINALLY!!

I think I've decided that Prisma's Process Red is just about the most perfect blush color I can find in my supplies..

The new Celeste Amberglow Heartstrings has so nicely decided to jump herself onto the front of a card!

Challenges: Avadares: Valentine's Day or Love, Lady Anne's - Sentiment + Anything Goes, Simply Create Too - Anything Goes, Sweet 'n Sassy - Anything Goes (use a digi)

Put Your Party Dress On

I'm still in bad picture mode! The yellow isn't that bright... Dresses are Dolcetto, Prosecco, and Merlot by Little Miss Muffet Stamps. 

What do ya know? I got those adorable Little Miss Muffet dresses that I colored for last week's Winter Birthdays challenge onto a card! I couldn't make the initial design I had in mind work and got frustrated last week. Luckily, I didn't have anything for this week's Sketch Challenge at The Outlawz and was able to combine the two!

Here's the sketch if you'd like to play along:

We're sponsored by Eureka Stamps this month, plus everyone who enters any challenge at The Outlawz this month is eligible to win prizes from Oozak, Color Me Creative Classroom, Paper Temptress and others. Come join us!