Autumn Appreciation

Hi everyone!! Can you believe it is Wednesday already? It's been gorgeous fall weather here; I'd love to have fall year-round!

Today I have my Pink Papery Studios card to share with you. Lindsay challenged the design team to create a "bargain" card, using items that are inexpensive. I found the ribbons in the Target $pot and wanted to use them somehow. The stamp is from a new set over at Pink Papery Studios. I think it is designed as a "green" stamp since the sentiments are "Be Green", "Grow" and "Just Breathe". I do try to conserve and not be wasteful, but I'm not really a gal that's into all that "green" stuff. But this tree can be used in so many ways - from fall to spring.

I used the SC202 sketch on SCS for my layout and 2 cuttlebug folders to add texture. I don't think you can see them, but I used the swirl folder on the pumpkin panel to simulate wind and then the polka dot on the bottom squares just because it's my favorite!! Lots of distressing too. I'll be sending this to my sister and her husband as a thank you for organizing our leaf-viewing trip a few weeks ago. Better late than never, right? I'll scent it with Candy Corn card-scent before I mail it later today!

I'd love to see what "bargain" card you create!! Please link it up here so I can check it out! Also, go see the rest of the design team and check out their cards. Plus, we have some guest designers that have joined us and their blogs are definitely worth a visit (links in the sidebar).

Have a beautiful day!! And do come back, I love sharing with you!! And I've really been up to a lot lately!!

Balloons For You....

.....just because!

I made this card weeks ago, for FS86. But I just got around to photographing it on Wednesday. To be honest, I forgot about it for a little while so it was a nice surprise! I chose the card because I loved the way the front was designed and wanted to create a card in the same way. This is another digi-stamp from the Simply Sista's line over at Pink Papery Studios. I love her dress and all the balloons she has!

Have a great weekend girls!! I have a lia sophia party tonight so my weekend won't start until later, but I am excited to get out of this house and go hang out with some women!! I am not sure what tomorrow will bring, hopefully some more gorgeous weather as I'd love to take Dane to the park and we've been hermits the last 2 days. And definitely some stamping time!! I hope yours if full of things that bring you joy too!

Simply Showcase

Happy Wednesday!! It's good to be back; I got sick last week and just didn't feel like doing anything!! And you know how it is, when you are sick, there is tons of "make-up" work to do!! When I was teaching, I always felt bad for kids that were out sick and came back to tons of make-up work plus the days work too!

For the Simply Sista's Showcase today, Lorelie challenged us to use glitter or sparkle in our card. We also got new images from Amy that will be available very soon! I missed last week due to being sick (it was to use scallops) so I combined it with this weeks challenge! This card just GLISTENS in real life!! That is SPARKLE you are seeing - not a grainy photo!

Very soon, Simply Sista's and Card Scents will all be housed in one online store called Pink Papery Studios. Amy has also expanded the product line and one of the new products is Shimmer It! and Shimmer It! Simply Sparkly. You can read more about it HERE. Amy included some of this in my last package and it is AWESOME!!! It is very thin - has a watery consistency to it (as compared to Radiant Pearls) and just looks lovely when applied. I started by brushing this all over the base of my chocolate chip card. Since it is so watery, a very light coat is needed as you don't want your paper to warp too much. Then I laid a set of stamps over it as it dried to help prevent the warping even further. The snowflakes are stamped with Encore Blue on the base and on the main panel, I used the same ink, just the 3rd generation stamp of the image for the very light color. After I colored my image, I brushed some more of the Shimmer It over the image....actually I dabbed it more than brushed b/c I didn't want to risk smearing anything! A pretty snowflake, stickles for snow and some pearls in the corners finish it off! I also ordered some new card scents and I think I'll scent this one with Icicles!

We'd love for you to join in our challenge with us this week! Link up your projects using glitter or any other type of sparkle so we can check it out!! Have a wonderful Wednesday and I'll see you soon!

Congrats to Denise

My SBS3 sis Denise is celebrating her first blogoversary in style!! Her blog is one of my favorites and I'm not just saying that because she's my sis! She is really talented and posts the cutest stuff. Plus, she started a challenge blog that generates lots of wonderful artwork too! Be sure to stop by if she's not already on your read list! Lots of goodies there and I'd love for you to see the CTMH set of frogs and snails and stuff I'm gonna win (don't I NEED that with the little man running around?)- that's right, I'm thinking positive!! But I'll be thrilled if YOU win too!!!

GO HERE!!!

Scalloped ATC Swap

I love swapping! And sometimes I just get in a big whirlwind of signing up for lots of them for a time. A gal hosted an ATC swap that required Scallops on it and since I think scallops are so fun, I had to join! HAD TO!!

This is the card that I sent along. That image is from Dreams du Jour and is my favorite from the set! I glittered it in pink, green and yellow although you don't see the sparkle on the screen. I also added glitter on the pink panel as well and a gem in the corner. I just love that bright green lace!! I can't imagine what kind of outfit it would go on, but I think it looks just wonderful on a card!

Also, I am still waiting on some new images from Simply Sista's so we have moved our Showcase to Friday this week. We got to see a few of the new sets coming out and they are so cute! It was hard to pick one!!

And, just in case you were dying to know about our fall foliage tour, I'll talk about that too! It was a wonderful day!! My dad and my youngest brother went - and he brought his new girlfriend!! She is super cute and seems really nice! The trees were just beginning to turn so lots of yellow, some orangey-yellow and very little red. We don't get a lot of red in the trees here in town so I'm not sure about up there. There is a small lake that we drove around and even hiked a short trail to see an OLD cottonwood that was HUGE!! I'll have to post a picture when hubby gets the pics off his camera and I'll tell you how big it was then! I can't wait to see them as I am hoping that maybe it'll be a good pic to send out to family! Then we ate at this restaurant called The Cattle Exchange. SO good! A steak was $25 (which may seem normal to some but I thought was expensive!!) But it WAS HUGE!!! And very tasty!! And the dessert is included in the price. Hubby has been there before and told me about the bread pudding. I was skeptical as the thought of soggy bread doesn't really sound great --- but it was TOO DIE FOR!! I just remembered my mom bought a gallon to bring home - wonder if there is any left??? They also had apple cobbler which had the most yummy crust!! The guys were very patient while we shopped and shopped and walked the small town. All in all, a beautiful day!! I just love getting to spend time with my family - don't you?

Have a beautiful day and come back on Friday to get a sneak peek of a new Simply Sista's image. You can see some sneak peeks of new sets coming on Amy's blog!

Silk Happiness

This is another card I created using the faux silk technique and the Happiness Always set. I really enjoy making my own prints and patterns that coordinate beautifully with my paper! Not much to say about it really other than that I love how it turned out! I am so ready for the crisp, cool (not cold) days of fall. Tomorrow we are going up north a little ways to see the changing trees with my sister, her hubby and my mom. I don't know if the guys (dad and brothers) are going or not. It should be lots of fun and I'm really looking forward to it!!

As always, I hope you have a beautiful day!! Be sure to come back and I have several cards in my "edited" folder to share!

Simply Sista's Showcase

It's Wednesday again!! This is one of my most favorite days of the week: it's in the middle, it's MDO day for the little man which means it's lots of crafty time for me!! First, I want to announce the winner of the first Simply Sista's challenge I posted last week: Janna from Stamps, Paper, Glitter, Oh My! Congrats girl!!

Our challenge this week was to use one of the new digi images released this month for Halloween. Halloween is all about candy, right?!?! But candy is good any time of the year!! (I feel pretty silly writing that actually, as I don't eat candy really; in fact I recently threw out a bunch leftover from Valentines! I know, I know, I have sent you chocolate lovers into shock!! I'm sorry...please keep reading!) But anyway, candy is around us all year long!! So I wanted to showcase this set as a great set to use year-round!! When I saw the sketch challenge last week at SCS I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it. So I've fiddled around with this card all week. I finally went and bought a circle cutter to help. I opted for the Martha Stewart one and I'm pretty happy with it so far. Not so happy with how I cut my circles in half, but I haven't figured out a way to blame that on anyone but me!! *wink*

I did use Diamond Glaze on my pieces of candy to make them super shiny and popped all the pieces up on dimensionals. I used a corner rounder on my circle and printed off the sentiment for the perfect coordination! You can shop for these digi images at Card Scents. If you play along in our challenge, please leave a link here so I can check it out!!

As always, have a beautiful day!!

A couple of months ago it was my turn to host Girls Night Out for my Bunko group. Since our group size has diminished somewhat we decided that we didn't always have to play Bunko - it was hostess choice!! I have to say that I love to play Bunko but it's been fun to do other stuff too - something different every month. Anyway, for my month I decided that we would make cards - one of my favorite things to do!! This is one of the cards we made that night, using a Cuttlebug folder on the bottom half of the card and stamping the bird from Always above in White Craft Ink. I love this big satin ribbon in this shade of green! Hope you are having a great day! It rained here last night so it's still kinda overcast this morning. We've got some errands to run so I'll keep this short and see you tomorrow!! In the meantime, you know what to do --- Have a BEAUTIFUL day!!

Is It Thursday?!?!

It sure seems like it - because that is usually Emily's day over on Stamps, Paper and Ink. She is the Featured Stamper (FS89) this week on SCS. As I faithfully read her mom's blog - and thus her too - every week, I knew that I *had* to make time to participate this week. Normally, I just browse and *intend* to play along.

It was hard to pick just one card of Emily's; I adore her style and would like to re-make every card she does - SERIOUSLY!! I decided to copy a magnet frame she posted and flipped it for my card. I don't own a good polka dot background stamp but I do like using the dotted lines stamp from the Live Your Dream set so I inked it in Creamy Caramel for a subtle look. The epoxy stickers were from the $1 spot at JoAnn's and the ribbon was $1 at Michael's that I picked up just yesterday! Yea - an inspired purchase!!

Congrats on being featured Emily - you are a rockin' artist and totally deserve it!! Thanks for all the inspiration you share every week!!

What's Up Moose?

The challenge this past week on the MFT forum for What's Up Wednesday was to make a box. I used the template that was provided (see post here) and one of the free MFT stamp sets that I recently won! Somehow, I knew that the 2 I received were the 2 that I would get! Or maybe it was just wishful thinking; either way, I was a happy camper with what I won!!

I stamped the moose twice and colored him in. I cut out one and popped him up and then decided I would do the same for the frame. I love the look but I'm not sure I would take the time to cut that frame out very often! I wanted a box that was bright and fun and non-traditional looking when it came to Christmas! I hope this fits the bill!! I'll put it aside until December and then fill with some treats for a friend!

I hope you had a great weekend! My friend and I had scheduled time to stamp on Saturday! I made a rustic pizza for lunch, got a little stamping done and then we went shopping!!! The deals were too good to pass up!! My LSS celebrated it's 2nd birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! - and we enjoyed some yummy cake and got some cute stuff. Then on to Michaels where paper was on sale and I kept finding a new sheet I *had* to have!! And then off to Joann's, where I swore I wouldn't buy anything --- until they DID HAVE a glitter stack on sale. I snagged the last one before my friend could grab it. I should probably give it to her as it was not a very sweet thing to do and I'm really trying to be sweet these days. Oh, it was such a gorgeous fall day! Then my dad watched the little man while we went to the MAZE with my mom and brothers!! Lots of fun and it was great traipsing through the mud! We lost half the crew at one point and while waiting for them to catch up (they never did) the boys snuck off .... and then I was standing there all by myself. As I set off to find the boys, my "little" brother (he's younger than me by 14 years but he's about 5 inches taller!) jumped out and scared me!! Too funny!! I think my mom was game to go through the Haunted Maze but didn't want to wait in the L-O-N-G line! I never knew my mom liked scary things as we weren't allowed to be around that growing up!! "For good reason" said my other "little" brother (who is 8 years younger, 8 inches taller

[do you know that I'm 5'11"?] and was a Marine!) Cracked me up when he said that!!! He loves to act tough - and he is tough, but he also has a heart of gold - both of my brothers do!

Anyway, enough rattling on by me! I'll see you back here soon and in the meantime, have a beautiful day!!