My dad, Memorial Day and me.

Today was a day to remember all who have served for our country  for we the people all over the world. I have been kinda sad today for Memorial Day has always been a special day in our home. Growing up, my brothers and I were taught to love and respect our country. Our grandfather served in WWI and our father in WWII and to this day my father is so proud to have served for his country. He was always active in the AMVETS and is a  former American Legion State Commander who has help fight many battles for the veterans and has made a true difference for our Vets.  Each Memorial Day my dad would be in the parade proudly wearing his cap and it was an honor for me to see him.   He turned 87 this year and has the beginning of  Alzheimer's which is an ugly, dreadful disease.  My parents live in Nevada and  I  in Maryland and its hard for they are both having health problems and I feel so far away.   When I visit my father he only talks about 3 things these days and they are the AMVETS. American Legion and the War. I have heard all the stories over and over again ...but you know what...that's okay for I love hearing him talk. Today I made a Red, White and Blue card with an Angel flying, her wings are spread out like an Eagle when they soar. Her arms are stretched out in front of her holding a shining star above her head and guiding it  towards the heavens. I colored her wings red, white and blue.  My sentiment is "God Bless America" but I am not going to post it today. I have decided no one will see this card before my dad on father's day. I have given him over 58 years of Father's Day Cards and they had the usual fishing, golfing, silly pictures or long poems  but, what my father would enjoy seeing the most  are the colors red, white and blue from his "little girl".  I love you dad, God Bless you!

Elisabeth Bell Digital

Is everyone ready for a fun weekend? How many of you took off today to make it a four day weekend? My hubby did and we had all these plans to work in the yard for let me tell you...it sure needs our attention! But he hurt his back or I think possible sciatic never for it hurts all the way down his leg....ugh...  and I sliced my finger pretty good opening a box with a razor and I know it needed sutures  but being an ER nurse I said "na, I'll live with a scare!" So we spent the day with hubby on the couch and I making cards and just chillin'!

Here is another sweetie pie from Elisabeth Bell who's name is "Tasty Read".  She so reminds me of me when I was a tad younger reading books in the back yard with book in one hand and an apple in the other. I might just do that tomorrow! Currently I am reading Iris Johansen "Blood Games"  I have only read a few chapters but so far really good!  Any how back to Miss Tasty Read! SSC color combo this week is red, turquoise, black and white. At first I was thinking of doing something patriotic, but you had to use turquoise instead of navy blue and well that's not the good old red, white and blue! I hope you like her for she is really a darling stamp to color!

  Supplies

• Paper: all solid colors from stash
• Roses from Wild Orchids Crafts This is another place I buy a lot of my flowers. You should check it out for they are very reasonable and lot of flowers, stems, lace, etc. to choose from!
• Martha Stewart 3 in one butterfly punch.  Cheapest I found for you is at Scrapbook for $8.49
• Stickles..my favorite embellishment! I have had Black Diamond Stickles forever!  Everytime I went to use it...it just wasn't right. Today I used it on the very top butterfly with red! Wahoo...you can really see if you look really hard!! I found it here for you at  Cropping Corner  1.99  Would you believe some idiot is selling in on Amazon.com for 6.75.
•  Nestability Oval Die cut and no one has it on sell this week that I could see:(
• Copic's
• Face:  E000, E00, E11
• Blouse: BG01, BG02, BG05, BG07
• Pants:  C3, C5, C7, C9
• Apple and book:  R22, R27. R29
• Tree Stump: E70, E74, E77, E79

To everyone in the US have a safe, happy, Memorial Day!
To all my other friends have a very safe and great weekend! See you back here tomorrow!

Where did it go?

Hello Out There! Gosh, here it is Thursday...Where did the week go....it just zooom right on past and didn't stop and wait for me!  Everything is good here! Last night
 DH wanted to go get a milkshake  from our local ice cream shop who makes the best milkshakes ever! I always get strawberry and last night I asked for extra strawberries....can we say Yummy. It was so nice and summery, I was barefooted and we had the windows rolled down, radio on and life is sweet!

My good news is (drum roll) Elizabeth O. Dulemba who writes super good children storybooks and does her own illustrations published me in her weekly newsletter! She wrote me an email saying "Your going live!" And when I saw the newpaper via email, in the middle of the page was a picture of the card I made using her digi stamp with a link to my blog right here!! How awesome is that? If you are not familiar with Miss Dulemba's books and digi stamps you need to go here and see them! They are all free and she has from birthday cakes to dragons! She is a very gracious person for everything she offers. You can now get her books via Ipod and Ipad which she gives a demonstation on her website!  I love it and I love her digi's and books!

Ok, Here is my card for Simply Scrapping Creations copic challenge. You have to color a brunette with this sketch.

This baby doll is Little Rapunzel from the Elisabeth Bell digital collection!  Yes, digital! Isn't she as cute as can be? I loved coloring her hair...I loved coloring her, she was so much fun I did two cards and will post the second one soon!

 Don't you think she is the sweetest thing you ever saw? LOL It's a good life!
My bow was made with bow easy...the only way to make bows and you can find them here at SCACD  for $5.00 with a video made by Suzanne Dean demonstrating how to use it. Can't make bows without it!

Copics:

• skin: E000, E00, E11 and R20 for blush
• greens: G24, G21, G20
• reds: R39, R37, R35,R32

Everything else is from my stash. 

I am full of Happy News!

Did everyone have a good week-end? It was rainy and yucky here all weekend Yuck! I want the sun to come out and stay and what happened to the month of May, it's almost gone already :( ...why can't the winter months go that fast?

I have some really exciting news for ya!  I have accepted a DT (design team) position over at Colorfully Creation as Leader of the Copic Group! Wahooo! My dream is starting to come true! Come join us and enter my very first challenge I made today! I would love to see you there! Colorful Creations is a fairly new blog site with lots of challenges and different games you can play along with!

My second happy news is I won the local County Card Challenge this year!! I couldn't believe it and so dang excited when I heard the news. I won the creating Cards contest and last Thursdays card, is the card I won it with! Wahooo on a roll! Don't stop me now!  Tomorrow I have another exciting thing happening but I am afraid to post it until it happens! Don't want to jinx myself here!

Today's card is Tilda! I love this image of Tilda for it is so easy to make a card with! Any sentiment would go with this image! I am very low on "Get Well" cards and wanted to replenish my supply!

Doesn't she look pretty with her bright blue dress?

Supplies:

• DP: From the paper pad of Crafty Secrets, Heartwarming Vintage Collection
• Copic Markers
• Skin: E000, E00 E11
• Dress and socks B16, B14, B12
• Blouse and shoes C00, C01 C03
• Flowers Prima
• Leaves: MS leaf punch
• Stickles Diamond to the basket

Happy Thursday!

Isn't it a glorious day! The sun was out the entire day!!! YIPEE! Sunshine makes me happy!! I am going to go straight to my card today for I want to try and get two more done tonight!

I entered this card in three challenges today and here they are what each one requires!

• Follow Your Heart:   is the store blog for Susana Custom Art and Cards Designs. Have you been there yet? If not you are missing a great opportunity to shop for fun things to play with and there have been times when no one else carried the products in the US except Susana.  She is constantly looking for that fav new product for us to use! If you haven't been there yet...hurry! This week she added oodles of new things including awesome paper pads!

The requirement for this challenge is to use the above sketch and to incorporate a stamp Susana sells in her store. Did you know that Victoria Case and Elisabeth Bell creates stamps exclusively for Susana? Yeppers, and let me tell you they to die for! And, she also carries stamps by other companies such as I brake for Stamps, The Craft Lounge, Lockhart Stamps, Kraftin Kimmie, Pink Cat Studio to name a few. So this challenge was easy peasy for me since I own so many of her stamps! If you happened to buy your stamp elsewhere and she carries it your safe to use it!

• Simple Scrapping Crafts:  I enter the copic challenge and the requirement is to color Brunette hair. Easy Peasy for I am a rare one who loves to color hair...if it has lines that is! Lisa Fetch is the instructor of the Copic Classes and does outstanding job!
• Colorful Creations: a fairly new Ning Crafting Blog! Super nice people, lots of challenges and interesting chats! Give them a visit for they would love to see you! They are doing an outstanding job getting the site set-up and running. We all start somewhere! Out of nine plus challenges I choose  Scrapbooking Technique and this week it is stitching. I have no clue why I chose this challenge for I hate to sew! And, to make a long story short...my card is only sown on 3 sides due to technical problems.....ME!! My machine broke and my lines are not straight, I did my best to cover them up! 

And, here is my card. My stamp of course is from SCACD  the  Sampler Edition 4 by Elisabeth Bell.  "The Horse Show". I love this image for it so reminds me of my granddaughter, Abbie who loves her 30 plus play horses!

 Isn't her face adorable?

Supplies:
All my embellishments were purchased at SCACD

• Diamond Glaze: On the horses
• Flowers: Prima
• Stickles
• Say It in Pearls
• Ribbon: Stash
• Martha Stewart leaf punch
• Coloring Copic:
• Face: E000, E00, E11
• Boots: C1, C3, C5, C7
• Shirt:  YR61, YR65, YR68
• Pants; G14, G17, G18, G19
• Hair: Main colors were E29, E27, E35, E50

See you later and thank you for coming by!

Butterfiles!

Happy Hump Day! Those that know me are probably saying "wow, your up early" and those who know me very well would say "All nighter, huh!" Yep, Nothing like insomnia to get a few things done!  It's raining again today so I will cuddle up with a book and fall asleep for a few hours...love reading on rainy days!

This beautiful butterfly card was made for 3 challenges.

• Flutter by Wednesday: Requires angle, butterfly or fairy and flowers
• Simple Crafts: 3 different pattern papers, one shape, bling, layer stamped, ribbon. 
• 
  Colorful Creations: Color combo pink, brown and yellow (gold is yellow!)
• The butterflies are made out DCWV paper Whimsy which has 3 different size butterflies. I cut them out and layerd them. Very fine glitter applied and darken the edges with a copic E74.

The camera doesn't pick up how pretty the butterflies are with the glitter.

Supplies:

• Flower-soft peel off stickers
• Paper: DCWV Whimsy
• Ribbon: Stash
• Roses: Prima

Sara K and Butterflies

Wow, this is a record for my blog....four cards in two days and I am not done!!  Sending DH to Home Depot for a wheel-barrel so I can start working on the yard. My son-in-law took his WB back last fall :(  and I miss it ...just makes cleaning the yard up so much easier you fill it and take it to the woods out back and dump! I like easy!! We have so much work to do outside and I need to find a big source of energy to paint the shed and front porch railing,  pull weeds, plant flowers, etc. I cleaned all the window a month ago and that was a mistake for they all need wash again due to the pollen. YUCK...hate washing windows!

This sweet card was stamped with  Sara K., "Country Girl" . Gosh, I love Sara K stamps for they are so sweet, endearing and nostalgic which makes me smile just looking at them!  This so reminds me of my great grandfathers and great aunts homes where they had huge gardens, barns and of course chickens! I remember my great grandmother running around the yard trying to catch one. Every time she got near it would flap it's wings and fly in the other direction...too funny! Don't you love the green and orange colors together?  This card was made for two challenges!

!. Simple Scrapping Crafts, card challenge and it is to make your own back ground. Easy peezy!! I took white card stock and embossed it with a Cuttlebug folder. Then I took green and orange colorbox eye cats and lightly went over the raised area's with them. I love doing this for you can make your background paper the exact same colors as you color your image.

2. Colorful Creations, Sketch Card Challenge created by my friend Lisa.

 

My creation!

Don't you just love this card for it is so bright and cheerie? I am very pleased with the way it turned out!

Supplies:

• Sara K Stamp, Country Girl can be purchase at Seven Kids College Fund for $8.09

• Coloring: Copic Markers

• Cuttlebug Folders are $4.50 at Crazy Scraps

• Sentiment: JustRite Rubber Stamps. I love these stamps and if you never seen them go check them out! "Just a Note" is the set I used on this card. They are 10 sentiments with 10 independent borders for $14.95. I love the products that are sold here.
• Butterflies: stash
• Stickles: Orange Peel for $1.99 at The Beary Scrap
• Ribbon: Stash

My First Shadow Box Card and Paper Piecing

Happy Saturday Everyone! What a beautiful sun shinning day! So much to be done outside in this beautiful weather but I stayed inside doing cards...I needed to have my fix after a total of 20 days without! Next time I am taking more craft items with me so I won't go through withdrawal like I did this time! Make sure to go to end of post to see my grandchildren creations....totally amazing! Yeppers this is one long posting!

I have been wanting to do a shadow box card and paper piecing forever and so I did both! My digital image is from  Elizabeth O. Dulemba called "Story Time Bears".

  Elizabeth Dulemba writes wonderful children story books and does her own illustrations. She also allows you to download her images in Jpeg form so you can color them too! What a great artist who allows others to share her skills!

I am entering this card into two challenges: First one being with Teddy Stampers which requires you to use the sketch to the right. And Flutter By Wednesdays which requires a butterfly, fairy or angel on the card and this weeks challenge is paper piecing.




Danni the owner of Flutter By Wednesdays does an excellent tutorial on paper piecing. Here is the link that shows you how to do a shadow box. Finally my card!

Isn't it awesome! Side view

I love this card and will probably never give it away for it is my first of two new techniques to me!  I printed out two of the images but in different sizes. I cut the bears away from the moon and I paper piece the moon with a photo I found online! (I hope this counts!) I added a whole lot of Diamond Glaze to the moon. The butterflies were made with Martha Steward butterfly punch and covered with butterfly stickers. Whatcha think? Hope you like it as much as me!!

And these are the colorings my grandchildren did!! The first one is by Abbie who is four years old. I was amazed in how she colored everything gray except for the face and bunny and then colored them separately.

Is it amazing to me because I am grandma? Remember four years old!

The second one is by Travis who is nine years old! This is the first time he ever picked up a Copic marker and the only thing I showed him how to do was take the cap off and brush nib. He did the rest totally by himself.  I only had certain images with me so the hat is a little too large....I was in awe watching him for he was so focus and total concentration on his coloring.  Look at the tennis shoes and shoe strings, feather and trim on the hat! This looks better then some of the ones I do now!! He not only picked the images to color ...he also cut them out mostly by himself. .I was in awe!

 

Grandma signing off now! Thank you for looking and the kids will be looking to see whatcha say!

Designer of the Month!

Hello everyone! I won't bore you with the details of my flight home except an 8 hour trip turned into 18 hours due to weather conditions in the Midwest.  Needless to say, I was never so happy to step inside of my house as I was Thursday morning.  I had all kinds of plans for doing challenges yesterday but my body said "you use and abuse me and I am not moving!" And, I literally did not move all day! I don't ever remember being that tired before or sore...esp. my butt! 18 hours of sitting...ouchie!  Today I feel much better! Nothing like a day of rest to regroup yourself!

I had the most wonderful surprise upon my arrival home! I found out I was named "Designer of the Month" at Simply Scrapping Crafts! What an awesome thing to find out! I am thrilled and delighted to be given this honor! If you haven't visited SSC yet...come on over for they have lots of challenges, tutorials, blogs, and a whole lot of super nice people! One of the friendliest crafting groups who are more than willing to encourage, teach and be your friend! Love it there!

I made two cards today. This first one I am entering for a Design Team challenge call over at Party Time Tuesdays . The DT will make a new birthday card each week to build up our stashes of birthday cards ......Boy, Do I need to do this. My birthday cards are always late and this surely will help me to complete my goal of having cards done on time!...hmmm my family will think something is wrong with me if my cards are on time!

This is my all time favorite stamp and I made both cards using it.  Meet Susan from the Elizabeth Bell collection from Susan Custom Art andCard Design. I have colored this stamp more than any other stamp I own...I just love her!

Wish me luck!

Supplies

• DT paper I made my own with a word stamp and red ink.
• Ribbon: Stash and made with Bow Easy
• Flowers: Prima
• Border Punch made by American Girl on sale at E-bay for $6.99. (Shipping $2.99) I love this punch! When I ordered it I didn't realize it was for little girl crafts! Well, I'm little ..I'm only five foot tall! I didn't do it on this card, but the butterflies it punches out can be used on the card! Two punches in one for one fantastic price! 

Second card is made for the Copic Challenge over at SSC. It is a two part challenge using the sketch below and coloring jeans.

Isn't she just beautiful....I love EB designs!

s

Supplies

• DT Paper: DCWV The Luxury Stack. I love this paper and JoAnn has it on sell! 48 sheets of 12 x 12 for $9.99. You cannot beat this price!  That is 14 cents a sheet! Awesome deal!
• Sentiment: By K and C at  My favorite store E-bay by Partimeworker04  12 sentiments for $!.79 and $1.39 shipping!
• Nestabilities Die: OMgosh! Did I find a bargain for you! Overstock.com has four sets of Nestabilities on sell for $49.99!! These usually sell for 24.99 each...Holy cow what a bargain!  I have ordered oodles of things from Overstock and have never had any problems! If I didn't have these dies I would surely be buying them now! Half price! Wow!
• Coloring: Copic's at Carpediem store for $3.95 and free shipping for orders over $100.00. If you do not order over 100.00 go to Icopics for $4.87 but much cheaper shipping. 

Thank you for looking at my first day back! It feels great!

Will Be Home Soon!

Two more days and I will be home! My plane arrives Wednesday evening and I look forward to entering lots of challenges once I am home! It has been a great time here in Nevada with my parents and Renae, my daughter and family. My dad turned 87 on May 7th and my mom will be 84 in July. I have been very blessed! It is hard living so far away for they are in Nevada and I am in Maryland. The weather here has been very, very windy but warm with lots of sun shine! We went to Death Valley on Saturday and each time I go there I am amazed when I see the beautiful flowers blooming in the middle of the desert! Awesome! Amy, daughter in PA said they had snow flurries yesterday...YIKE!!! It's spring not winter!!!  I will have cards posted soon after I get home! Have a great week!

HugZ
Colleen