Hello Psalms Beautiful Sheep

Hello again for the second time today, here on my blog!  Before I go take a walk in the fresh night air with my husband, I wanted to show you a few more cards that I had a chance to photo-edit today.

Thanks for your visit once again, and I'm praying for you all to continue in good health!

Stampin' Up! - Itty Bitty Accents flower punch, Paper Pumpkin Heartfelt Love Notes envelope stamp,
 'hello' stamp (set unknown); Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch 

Papertrey Ink Clouds 1 & 2 dies; Inspired By Stamping The Sky's The Limit balloon stamps; Unity Stamps Praise The Lord sentiment stamp (Psalms 36:5)

Papertrey Ink The Best Is Yet To Be sentiment stamp; My Favorite Things Layered Leaves leaf dies;
Martha Stewart Deco Fan border punch

My Favorite Things - Ewe and Me Forever sheep, flower stamps; Grassy Fields grass dies; Lucky clouds and dies

I had a very similar sheep card on my post earlier today.  That one was horizontal; this one is vertical.  Which do you like better?

God bless you!

Cards to Share

Hey there!  How are you all doing out there??  I hope you're keeping busy and keeping your hands washed to keep the germs at bay.  What a crazy time it is right now!  We are doing our part and staying in unless it's absolutely essential to run to the store.  My husband and I are taking walks in the evening, and it feels good to get some fresh air.

I had a little time this evening to photo-edit some cards from a while back, so I'm sharing today:

Stampin' Up! - 'thanks' sentiment (unsure of set); calendar panel; Webster's Pages - silver lace fabric

Papertrey Ink - Inside and Out: Birthday II sentiment; Stampin' Up! - Bloomin' Hearts Thinlits dies

Momenta - Hello sentiment; Altenew - One of A Kind flower stamp; Stampin' Up! wooden flower; Simon Says Stamp - Stitched Circle die; My Favorite Things - Scalloped Rectangle die

My Favorite Things - Inspired By Spring sentiment, Scalloped Rectangle die; Martha Stewart Hydrangea Punch; Stampin' Up!  Itty Bitty Accents flower punch

My Favorite Things - Ewe and Me Forever sheep, flowers; Lucky -  clouds; Grassy Fields dies

The sheep card is definitely 'cutesy', and I had made it for my youngest daughter's 17th birthday.  She has always loved animals, and at the time, this sheep stamp set by My Favorite Things was new to me, so I played around with it and created a scenic card.

The Craft's Meow - Owl Be Thinking of You sentiment, stars; assorted scraps from my desk

Tim Holtz - Tattered Leaves die; Lawn Fawn Stitched Leaves oak leaf die; Stampin' Up! Paper Pumpkin - You Are My Anchor sentiment, Le Jardin Botanique leaf stamp

The last card is my least favorite in the line-up today.  I was trying to use elements that were on my desk at the time, and make it look cohesive.  Instead, it looks a bit busy to me now.  LOL 😆

Thanks a bunch for joining me today.  Stay safe and stay well, and God bless you!

Shine Brightly Little Star

Hello there!  Hope you've had a great start to your week!  The weather feels like spring here in the northeast, and my daffodils and crocuses are blooming.  So beautiful!

I've got just one card to share with you today.  It features the sweetest sentiment from Verve's Shining Star.  I paired it with silver and blue, which felt as natural as the night sky.

Verve Shining Star sentiment; Fiskars small star punch; Stampin' Up! star border punch

The silver cardstock, star-studded border was in a scrap bag from my Stampin' Up! demonstrator.  It's perfect as is!  I saw that in the bag, and knew I needed to use it as a border for a card.  It shines, well, like a little star!  LOL

Have a wonderful rest of your week, and enjoy the little blessings that each of us receive every single day. 😀

Hay there

Hello there!  Or, hay there, as my card says!

Just popping in with a quick post to show my face, so to speak, and let you know I'm alive.  😀

Since I was last here, so much has happened in life around here.  My youngest daughter went to France with her high school French class, and she LOVED it. Shortly after that, she had her first prom, and oh my, she looked like a princess!  Pics are further below.

Here's the card....you know, a little farm humor.

Studio Calico - wooden horse ; Papertrey Ink Barnyard Sentiments ;American Crafts - Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm patterned paper

And here's my girl.  ❤️

Her date - her boyfriend - is handsome and sweet, and such a gentleman, too.  They made a nice couple for the prom!

Thanks for joining me here today!
God bless you!

Happy, Cats

LOL - the kitty cards I'm showing you today were SO fun to make!  There's a black cat version and a pale gray cat version.  In between, there's a 'love  / happy' card.  You'll see.

On both cat cards, I stamped paw prints randomly on the card base in a pale ink, and then used black (or gray) cardstock to hand-trim a cat head.  The eyes are made with two different sized circle punches, and the nose is just a tiny triangle of pink cardstock.  Cuties!

My Favorite Things 'BB Cool Cat' paw print, sentiment

Love the woodgrain (I forget which paper pad this came from) and silver mirrored heart on this next card!  I added a sentiment from My Favorite Things 'Essential Sentiments' on a double ended fishtail banner, and dark smoky gray and silver sequins.  Super simple in design.

Here's the gray cat!

My Favorite Things 'BB Cool Cat' paw print, sentiment

😀 These faces make me smile! 

Thanks for coming by, and God bless you!

Fun and cute, little fruit

Happy Weekend all!

I am overjoyed to have cooler weather that goes nicely with the beautiful autumnal colors on the trees.  We had a warmer spell again recently, and let's just say I'm not a fan of that unseasonable warmth. I know I'm not alone in that sentiment.

The mail carrier who visits my office is also a beekeeper.  He mentioned to me yesterday that when the weather fluctuates as it has been lately -- when it's cold for a while, then a warm-up occurs -- the bees get confused and fly out of their hives, searching for food (flowers). Only, there aren't any flowers blooming right now to feed the bees. They return to the hives hungry, and eat a lot of the honey that they've produced all summer, dipping into their storage. This affects their health, and some may not survive the winter. {insert big sad face}

My card today features cute fruit, and I guess you could say this does indeed relate to bees and pollination. :-)

All the stamps are from Lawn Fawn's My Silly Valentine.

Thanks for coming by today, and may your day be filled with blessings!

So, a frog, a rabbit and a dragonfly walked into a blog...

Nope, I don't have a punchline for that set-up, but I do have a couple of "un-Colleen-like" cards to share, and a frog, a rabbit and a dragonfly are making an appearance here.  :-D

This elongated card, featuring a frog and dragonfly from Stampin' Up!'s Unfrogettable, was sent to my nephew for his birthday.  He's 11 now, and I know this might seem a bit 'juvenile' for a tweenager.  After the Masculine category of cards, Kid cards are my second-least-favorite to make.  I'm just no good at them.

I had a large scalloped-circle die cut in my Bits & Pieces stash, and it made a good tree canopy.  I just added some cartoonish foliage, and cut brown cardstock to make a tree trunk.

I'm entering this card in a challenge which is new to me, and sadly, is already closing soon - for good.  It's called Just Punch It.  The theme is 'Free For All.'

Also entering at A Blog Named Hero, where the challenge is 'Build a Background.'  I hope this counts, creating a background scene for my critters.

The next card using skinny strips from the ol' stash, and a bunny and sentiment from Lawn Fawn's My Silly Valentine.  This was sent to my niece for her birthday a few months back.  She turned 9.

I'm entering this at Seize The Birthday, where the theme is 'Anything Goes.'

Let's pretend that I meant to place this bunny on a 'rug', when really it was to cover a stamping mistake. Ooops!

I'm skipping the usual supply list on this post.  I am waaaay behind on photo-editing all the things I've made in the last month or so, as well as preparing blog posts.  I worked SIX days this week, and it looks like next week will be the same.  For this homebody, 6 days is a LOT to be away from my nest.

I'm rather anxious for the tax deadline of April 15th to roll around so life can get back to somewhat normal for me.  Looking forward, though,  to whatever job the temp service will have for me next.  Earning regular paychecks is a wonderful thing!

EAD Designs Blog Hop - Helping Miss Emma

Hello and welcome to my blog!  

Today is going to be special!  There's a group of us that are EAD Designs fans so we decided to inspire each other to use our goodies!  For those of you that don't remember, EAD Designs created vinyl stickers and rub-ons.  Awesome products but the company closed up shop over a year ago.

What all of our projects will have in common is that we are all using EAD Goodies and our challenge is:

Kid-Friendly

All our cards from today's blog hop will be going to a special little girl named Emma.  Please read about the card drive hosted by Kelly, who we're so excited is joining our hop today.  She chats about the card drive on THIS POST.

Here's how the card drive for Emma inspired me:

We want to shower Emma with cards, to help cheer her up.  She's dealing with cancer, and all cards going to her should be happy, cheerful, and help take her mind off the heavy stuff.  I read on Kelly's post that she likes blue, purple and green, so my card focuses on those colors.  Kelly's got some important guidelines to follow for those who plan to send cards for Emma, so be sure to read up on that.  

Remember Stampin' Up!'s Pretty Princess?  I do love this whimsical set.  It's fun to color.  This princess sports some bling (iridescent glitter glue) on her crown, dress and wands.  The purple flower/ribbon accent was something I picked off a store-bought card a while back and saved.  The ribbon is deep purple, but looks almost black in the photo!

This EAD Designs rub-on sentiment, which came from a birthday set, is PERFECT for matching up with a fairy wand!  The sentiment inside the card says, "Wishing you smiles & laughter."

There is surprise blog candy in this hop!  The more comments you leave on the blogs that are participating, the more chances you have to win!

Want another chance for a prize?!  Make a kid-friendly card for Emma!  We'd love for you to join in the card drive!  Check out these guidelines over at Kelly's blog first, make a card for Emma, send it to Kelly and link up over on Amy's blog!

Commenting/Card link up open until Monday, March 24th at 11:59 pm pacific

Winners posted on Amy's blog on Monday, March 31st.

Have fun hoppin'!

Amy  

Colleen - you are here!

Julie Smith

Julie Tucker-Wolek

Katie Brooks

Kelly

Lauren Bergold  

Liz

Rose

Shannon

Stephanie 

Wendi 

Thanks so much for coming by today!

Stamps: Pretty Princess - SU Paper: Bashful Blue, Lavender Lace - SU; watercolor - Bienfang Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko Fibers: ribbon/sequin flower accent Accessories & Tools: Copic markers; iridescent Stickles - Ranger; EAD Designs rub-on sentiment; rectangle, scalloped rectangle dies - Spellbinders

Special Little Star

As part of my 'Children's Collection' (basically, babies), I made this simple design to go to the shop.

The stars and sentiment are from Hero Arts' Year Round Sentiments.  The button and thread are both vintage.  So glad my aunt shared her treasure trove of buttons with me!  She's been collecting a long time. Thank you, Aunt Kay!

Love this little strip of whale paper.  It was in one of those $1 scrap bags from my Stampin' Up! demo, and it helped make a quick card.  I haven't bought a scrap bag in a long time.  I'm rather overloaded at the moment and am trying to make a serious dent in them!

Stamps: Year Round Sentiments - Hero Arts Paper: Barely Banana, whale pattern - SU Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukineko Fibers: twill - SU; vintage thread Accessories & Tools: vintage button; marker - SU

Princess Wishes

It's my turn to be featured on the social media sites for Inspired By Stamping today.   I decided to go with a card for a young lady, using an Inspired By Stamping set called Princess.  At the shop where I sell my cards, the Birthday category always needs more stock.

This dress form looks pretty in roses, doesn't it?  I used some Liquid Pearls to decorate the hemline, waist and neckline.  The crown got some jewels in the same fashion.  :-)

I went a little crazy with the Liquid Pearls.  You can see them below along the scalloped edge, too.

Thanks for letting me share today!

Stamps: Princess - IBS Paper: Regal Rose, Whisper White - SU; rose pattern - Pink Paislee  Ink: Summer Sun - SU; Versafine Onyx Black - Tsukineko Fibers: pink satin ribbon - Darice Accessories & Tools: Dotted Scallop punch border - EK Success; circle die - Spellbinders; Lemon, Petal Pink, White Opal  Liquid Pearls - Ranger

Barrettes Tutorial

Hello everyone!  My blog has been quiet, I know.  I had trouble breathing last week during a hot spell, and thought it was just the weather.  Turns out it's bronchitis, and I've been lying down most of the time.  I hate feeling like I can't breathe!  I'm anxious to get back to crafting and feeling better and visiting all of you.  (at least I'm getting in time with a good book, John Steinbeck's East of Eden - it's hard to put down)

Today, it's my turn to feature a project at Creative Inspirations Paints.  I made a set of barrettes for my 10 YO for practically no cost.  I used barrette bases, some Creative Inspirations Paints and silk flower bits, found on the floor of our local craft store (I looooove freebies!).  My daughter chose the paint colors she wanted and this girl loves her neon colors! (her mother, not so much ;)

The flower parts before painting and assembling:

A happy girl, modeling them for me --

These are the paints I used today:

What a gorgeous, shimmery rainbow line-up!  I do love these paints.  They're so easy to work with (and clean up), provide incredible color and shimmer, and come in SO many colors.  Already at affordable prices, there is going to be a SALE at their web store -- 10% off the whole month of August!  Time to stock up.  :-)

Thanks so much for joining me today!