Spring like thanks

As I mentioned Monday I had fun in the kraft room this weekend. Not only am I low on birthday cards I am low on everything including thank you cards. Gasp! Not sure I have been this low ever on cards for the stash. Even my hidden stash was bare. Time has been getting away from us but no worry I have a few in the stash at least a few now. Anyways... 

This is a simple thank you card using a Freshly Made Sketch from a few months back. Yep a few months I put it on a sticky and am now getting to it. The springy paper in the bin was my color inspiration for this one. My sentiment is So Thankful from Sweet N Sassy stamps. Some notebook scrap die cut was perfect for the edge panel and some punched Lil Inkers flowers. Voila! 

Have a wonderful day.

You're somethin else

Good morning! I am still trying to get back into the swing of things from St. Louis. What fun we had and I will have pictures to share later I promise. For now I have a creation using the Hues to Use challenge posted on the Power Poppy Blog.  

You can see the colors below to work with for the challenge. The Climbing Clematis was saying pick me, pick me so I did.  ;-)  They are colored with various Copic markers and then die cut with a stitched rectangle. I actually used the wrong size, but turned out perfect as my sentiment fit right onto the panel instead of a tag. Some designer paper in the darker green for the background was perfect. Stitched the base layer to match the image panel. Added a little bit of sparkle to the leaves and some enamel dots to finish it off. Voila! 

These colors are wonderful aren't they? I think my purple is a little lighter than on the picture and not as vibrant. However I still enjoy the way this turned out. I hope you get a chance to color and play along this week. 

Peony Muse

Good morning and welcome to day four of Power Poppy's March release. We have  8 stamp sets being revealed.Yes I said 8 stamp sets! Woot Woot!!!  Grab your cup of coffee or tea and let's get started. 

Before we get to today's reveal a few things to keep in mind. 

***The Power and Spark challenge Let's Go Green challenge is posted and awaiting your creation.

***Digital images are 25% off for the month of March. Use code COLORMEHAPPY at check out.

***Kathy Racoosin 30 day color challenge is running through March. 

Today's reveal is Peony Muse and Artful Display. Marcy has some inspiration behind this set over on the Power Poppy Blog.

~~~Blooming News~~~ Peony Muse will have a matching metal DIE. Gasp! I know right.... Watch for news on release day March 14th of a "special" pricing, if you buy the Stamp AND the Matching die. Exciting!!!! 

This beautiful Peony Muse set is awesome! You have so many ways and ideas with the masking of the blooms that I didn't know where to start. ACK!!! I went with a single big bloom and a smaller one and a few leaves with the stem. They are all masked together using my Mini Misti tool. After the blooms were colored with various Copic markers I then cut around the image to pop up on dimensionals. The good news is you won't have to cut like I did if you want to use the matching die. hee hee 

I wanted a white on white layer look so I die cut a few stitched rectangles and added a die cut lattice background. Popped the peony up on dimensionals and added some sequins along with the scripture. The inside has the full verse and a shadow of the peony you see. Voila!

Be sure to check out the Bloom Brigades creations today:
  Allison Cope
  Christine Okken
  Cindy Lawrence
  Julie Koerber
  Kathy Jones
Katie Sims
  Tosha Leyendekker

Just because sunflower

Good morning. I have to say a week without more snow and freezing rain sure makes me happy.  :-)  Spent quite a bit of time in the stamp room this weekend trying to get some release stuff coming up done and a few surprises. hee hee  So be on the look out.

Grabbed the wonderful Heartfelt Creations Sunflower Bouquet to play with for this one. The sunflower is stamped off the corner so I could leave room for the sentiment. This is a retired sentiment that has all the little sentiments to go with the large font. Inside it says " I was thinking about you today".
The sentiment off the side looks fun I think. Colored my sunflowers with various Copic markers and added a designer paper layer behind the main image panel then to the base. Used stitched mat rectangles die for some fun. I really am liking the layers like this and have done quite a few lately if you hadn't noticed. ha!  Added the wonderful sequins and sparkle to finish it off. Voila!

Thank you Rose

Happy Friday!  There are so many things I see people doing with Digital images from layering, creating scenes, using part of the image, enlarging portions of the image etc. The list goes on and on if you really want to look for ideas. Since I am not real savy with digital images yet, I wanted to try more things with the ones I have. Today I am showing you what I altered using digi  Everything's Rosy. 

Now, I started out small with just a minor change. I enlarged it quite a bit and then used the "eraser tool" to remove part of the image to the right so I could get just this can of roses. Since I had created this I see several cards with similar enlarging of the same image. Come to find out.... Check this post out on the Power Poppy Blog post and read the details. We teamed up for the month of February with  Kit and Clowder online class. They have a special altering of two digi's and a class with techniques and ideas for you. Check it out!

Back to my editing of the digi... this left a portion of the can unfinished obviously since the part I erased over lapped. That is easy enough to cover with a sentiment tab of some sort.  Oh I LOVE it, don't you.  :-)  This really just makes the digi all the more fun to play with and try new things. After I colored the image with various Copic markers I die cut the panel with Lil inkers stitched rectangles. Added a layer of pink behind the panel and adhered to the base. My sentiment is using part of the stamp from Nice Things to Say. Then the sparkles and some added sequins. Voila! Hope you try more things with your digital images and play around today too.  hee hee  

Be sure to check out the Bloom Brigades creations today:
Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Katie Sims
 Tosha Leyendekker

Birthday Sunflowers

Good morning! A little sunflower to brighten your day.  This stamp is called Sunflower Bouquet that I stamped on white cardstock. The sunflowers are softer coloring than I would normally do as I wanted a more springy feel to them. 

Just a few simple die cuts using Lil Inkers Stitched rectangles for the designer paper and the image panel. Added my sentiment to the edge and top it off with yes... more sequins and stickles.  :-)  Birthday cards are starting to pile up now. Yea! Hope you have a fabulous day! 

No lines... no problem they say

Happy Friday and welcome to the February Power and Spark challenge brought to us by Cindy. This months challenge is No Line Coloring. GASP!!! This look is fantastic... when others do it.  This is a technique that I have wanted to try and now it has forced me to actually do it. As they say, be careful what you wish for. Check out the Power Poppy Blog for linking your creations.

When Cindy said this was her challenge I was totally excited as I have been meaning to give this a try. In preparing for this I took a few hours (yes hours) and sat and watched several You tube videos, blog posts and read up on how they accomplished this. Well the only thing I want to say now is I tried and I am done with it. Ggrrrr... Being that I am a rule follower and there is several step by step instructions out there I thought no problem I can do this. Think again! This was my 7th attempt and finally thought I will just call it good. No it doesn't look like no line coloring, and yes I am aware that I should not give up. But for now that is going to be a back burner technique to try again so that I don't throw in the towel on it completely. Now that my complaining is done... ha ha  For my card.

This is Orchids Rock that was stamped in the lightest mauve color I have. I even stamped it off onto scrap paper first, then onto my cardstock for the faintest hint of the image like several instructions told me to do. Used several of the same colors in one video and continued to color, and color and over color more. Probably too much coloring and not enough blending now. Die cut with a few stitched dies and designer paper on the base. My sentiment stamped and cut with a oval punch. A few soft pastel candi dots for the corner. Now do I like how this turned out? Debatable as its okay, but not quite what you see with others and their no line coloring. Again something that will need lots of work but will wait until I forget my frustration.  :-)

Now... for some FABULOUS no line coloring from our Bloom Brigade today:
  Allison Cope
  Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Katie Sims

Bundle of Joy

Happy Monday and snow day for school again. Whohoo!! The boys are making good money shoveling all the neighbors drive ways. I have to say that I shoveled our drive way twice yesterday and it will need it again today. We have freezing rain later today so I guess we will have to wait. In the meantime I will just spend sometime in the stamp room.  :-)  

How about a sweet baby card for starters? This is Bundle of Joy from Crafter's Companion that I ordered months ago and I finally inked it up. I colored using various Copic markers and then die cut using Lil inkers Stitched rectangles die. A simple panel embossed with swiss dots on top of the designer paper from my pile that needs to be used up. A few buttons with twine and some sparkle added to the blanket. Voila!

One of the Christmas gifts I received this year was some water colored pencils and water color paper. After several videos on water coloring with pencils I am going to give it a try today. Wish me luck.  :-)  Have a wonderful day. 

Basket of goodies

Christmas is getting that much closer, how are you on those cards? I only have a few left to make and then I will be onto next years. Yea!  Grabbed my Simple Joys stamp set once again and stamped out this basket of greenry. Oh it just makes me swoon! 

Colored the basket of greenry with various Copic markers. Die cut a stitched rectangle for the image and then the base layer. This is a Z-Fold card with some designer paper added to the base. The inside you can see I lightly stamped the holly in the corner and added some matching flourished jewels to the edge. voila! 

Don't forget out Sweet Treats challenge is still running and you won't want to miss all the additions. 

Be sure to check out the Bloom Brigades creations today:

  Cindy Lawrence
  Julie Koerber
  Kathy Jones
Katie Sims

Peaceful tag

Good morning!  How are those cards and cards and tags coming along? Still have a few more to get to myself then I will be starting on next years. Aaaahhh... don't you love it!  ;-)  

A few weeks back I created a Christmas card using this Bittersweet Wreath. Well how about a tag to go with that card today. This die cut that the wreath is on is retired but it fit perfectly for the size of this printed wreath. Colored with different shades of blue and aqua in the Copic markers. Layered onto some Stitched Mats rectangles die cut in white and blue. Oval die cut the sentiment from Glistening Paperwhites. Wrapped some ribbon around the top with a button. Some silver cord to tie it all together and topped off with sparkle. Voila! Have a wonderful day. 

I will play my drum for him

This little drummer boy is just so darn sweet. I created this with the Dirty Dozen November challenge in mind with the music background and of course this sweet little drummer playing for Jesus.

 My stamp is called Little Drummer boy which is stamped on white cardstock and colored with various Copic markers. Then I die cut him using Lil Inkers stitched rectangles and the chocolate layer. Before I adhered the drummer panel I die cut some Fancy Foliage in the matching blue cardstock to the chocolate panel. The designer paper is from the Christmas Collection 2014 layered onto chocolate and a faux stitching around the base. The little buckle like die cut is from Matting Circles which I threaded my ribbon through and added some sparkle to all the dies. Finished it off with some random jewels and more sparkle. Voila! 

Grateful pooch

Good morning. Hopefully you had a great weekend. The boys and I went with some friends to all the local Christmas bizarre's and got a few gifts. The fact the boys like to go each year is great. They have an appreciation of handmade things and the work that goes into them. Being that I stamp and create gifts might have something to do with that appreciation. :-) They really like to find the unique and cool sports stuff for either college of the NFL teams. Some of the things that they have bought over the years is so cool. I think my favorite one so far has been the clock they bought John made out of an old record shaped like the WSU Cougar logo that he has in his office. It is so cool. Anyways a great weekend and this week will be even more fun with Thanksgiving coming. Yea!!!

Enjoyed coloring this little guy up called Harry the dog. After he was colored I die cut his panel with an oval shape. The base layer is a new embossing folder to me as my sweet friend Leslie tempted me with her card HERE. This embossing folder is adorable and called Paw Prints. Once I saw Leslie's card I just had to add it to my collection. She is quite the enabler.  ;-)  Die cut a stitched frame for the oval to nestle between and then added my sentiment onto some vellum. Finished it off with a dog paw brad and voila! Hope you have a wonderful day. 

Close Knit Friendship

Morning! How about a card that is non holiday related today? My card is using a retired set from Whiff Of Joy called Close Knit Maya. They are no longer in business, yet you might find this on Ebay used? It is so cute.  This was made for a special person in mind and I hope she likes it.

Maya is stamped on white cardstock and colored with various Copic markers. A simple stitched die cut for the frame with a picket fence across the bottom. My designer paper is from Soulful Stitches paper pack. This is the sentiment in the stamp set and a tag cut for the edge with a brad center. Voila! Have a wonderful day. 

Happiest Holiday Collection Day four: Fully Stocked

Morning! Welcome to day four of the Happiest Holiday collection release. Today is the fun Fully Stocked set to share with you. Missed any of the sneak peeks so far? Head back over to the Power Poppy Blog and catch up, you don't want to miss any of these new stamps. 

Marcy's inspiration behind Fully Stocked set is over on the Power Poppy Blog. Here is a snippet for you: Folks, I could draw stockings every day, different themes, different patterns, different styles, all stuffed with goodies. Do you know HOW HARD IT WAS to narrow this down to only three? The stocking struggle is real. Luckily, each of these special stockings was carefully curated, decorated, and trimmed to the nines. Plus they're fully stocked and each one comes with a coordinating accent image. We have a gardener's dream with a journal, tools, tags, and trimmings, complete with mistletoe accent stamp. A vintage European-style linen stocking has sleigh bells, greens, gifts, and a pretty pear. Accent this one with the greenery-topped bell. Lastly, give the gift of childhood with the button-and-appliquéed stocking, filled with kid-centric delights. A group of buttons makes a nice background stamp. Three scripty sentiments work with all of the illustrations beautifully. 

Is this stocking for the kids not adorable? Those buttons alone make me smile and I added two tiny real ones for this gift tag. The homespun Christmas feel of the designer paper seemed perfect for this stocking also from the My Minds Eye Cozy Christmas pad. I used Lil Inkers stitched rectangle dies for the tag layers. Cut around my stocking to pop it up on dimensionals and added a sentiment tag with another tiny button. Then some ribbon and twine button combo.  Oh and some sparkles was added to the stocking also. Voila! 

Check out the Bloom Brigades creations today:
  Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
  Tosha Leyendekker
Katie Sims

Black Eyed Susan card and matching tag

Good gosh it is Friday already... This week went fast for me, hopefully it was just as quick for you. We have a football game tonight at home so it is going to be loud and proud in the stands!  ;-)  

I did get sometime to play around with another new one from Power Poppy called Black-Eyed Susan. I enlarged the blooms and then die cut using Lil Inkers dies for the tag and the card. 

This is for a gift just not quite sure what gift yet. So I left off the sentiment for the card and tag as I can add that later. Never hurts to have a few on hand just in case.  :-)  They are colored with Copic markers and layered onto cardstock and designer paper. I grabbed some old CTMH heart hardward and added that to both the tag and the card. Tied off some ribbon and a button. Finish the petals off with a little bit of sparkle. Voila! 

Did you see the latest Power and Sparklette on the PP Blog? It has some fun with Coloring Outside the lines challenge. Check it out! Marcy sure is having fun with these challenge and some wonderful reads with the past two challenges. 

Be sure to check out the Bloom Brigades creations today:
  Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber
Katie Sims
Tosha Leyendekker

C.S.I.for Melanie

Happy Friday! I bet you thought someone was in trouble with that title, right?  hee hee   Not really, but our hostess this month Miss Julie is excited for this months Power and Spark challenge.

Here’s the basics on the challenge:  Power Poppy is going all “C.S.I.” this month. No, it’s not what you think. We’re not on the case – we ARE CASE-ing. We are challenging YOU to Copy, Steal, Inspire! All you need to do is pick a Power Poppy creation somewhere in blog land by any designer and be inspired by it. Then, create your own spin on the original design! Just that simple! 

When I had time looking around at creations to case I found some beautiful cards, gift sets and gifts to feast my eyes on. We have some awesome PP fans out there!  I finally choose this card It's Your Day by Melanie aka tuppenceandbob to case. Melanie's card is beautiful and soothing with the creams and soft brown colors. The lace trim and butterflies are awesome touches as well.
For my case, I kept the colors similar, the same flower (Simply Camillas) and added mesh ribbon instead of the lace trim. Instead of pearls I used sequins accents and also changed from ovals to stitched rectangles using Lil Inkers dies. Voila! Thanks for the inspiration Melanie! Hope you can play along this month. 

Check out the Bloom Brigades creations: 
Allison Cope 
Cindy Lawrence
Julie Koerber 
Kathy Jones 
Katie Sims

Rhea Weigand

Cheryl Scrivens

Debbie Olson

Nancy Sheads

Barb Walker

Hello friend

Afternoon! Stepped into the stamp room this morning for a little break time and thought I would color up some blooms. These are from Dynamic Duos Foxglove and Ranunculus stamp set. They are stamped on white card stock using Memento black ink and colored with various Copic markers. Very simple card with some designer paper layered onto more breezy colored card stock and layered on the white base. Some mesh ribbon with pink ribbon for the center. Die cut the image panel with Lil inkers stitched rectangles die and layered onto cotton candy cardstock. My sentiment in the corner and some jewels to finish it off. Voila! Now off to play in the sun! Have a wonderful afternoon. ;-)

Puppy love

Good morning! How about some puppy love today? With summer here, Ranger sure does get a lot more loving from the boys since they are home all day. He acts like he is one of the boys right along side them when they are playing games or running around playing football. It is very cute. He does know how to play football in fact. He loves it and so do we. Anyways.... 

Dusted off this sweet guy from Whipper Snapper called Good News Puppy. He is stamped on white card stock and colored with various Copic markers. I then die cut his panel with Lil Inkers Stitched rectangle die. This plaid paper was perfect for the feel I wanted for this card. Used some hardware to tie off my ribbon, both of which I have had FOREVER! Stamped a paw print and popped it up on dimensionals. Voila! Hope you have a wonderful day! 

Wedding Congrats

Good morning! Was your weekend relaxing and fun? Hopefully it was great and you are ready for a fun filled week, it is summer you know.  ;-)  I was able to get into the stamping room this weekend and happy to say it was great. We have a wedding coming up here soon so my first card was easy using Dream Wedding. 

Wedding cards to me are always so classy in a black and white theme with a touch of red for elegance. The cherries on this cake were perfect for the red with some added red die cut flowers. The wedding cake has sparkles added to it as all cakes need some sparkle. My sentiment tag at the top with a matching red die flower and some flourished white paper accents. Voila! Have a wonderful day! 

All askew snowman

This months Dirty Dozen June Christmas challenge is All Askew. Hopefully you can play along with us this month and get more of those Christmas cards done. This one is for the kids pile that I am working on. He is from a retired Whiff Of Joy stamp collection. After he was colored I simply die cut him out using Lil Inkers dies. 

Added a snowflake banner die cut in white paper for the corners and some old Bo Bunny cardstock for the background. A few blue rhinestones and some sparkle to finish if off. Voila! The kids will surely like this one come December. Thanks for stopping by to see me today!