Spring Photos and TMS card

I needed to make a “Thinking of You” card and I thought I’d pair it up with a challenge.  Lucky for me today’s Tuesday Morning Sketches #349 Challenge is a perfect fit for my creative thinking today:

Lucky for me, the designer paper I chose did all the “polka-dotting” for me.  It is “amplified” by American Crafts. My sentiment is from Penny Black – the “eloquence” set. All I had to do was add some distress ink around the sentiment, pop a couple of teeny tiny diamonds on the “i”s on the sentiment and add some twine and wool in coordinating colors. 

Thanks so much for stopping by – I’ll leave you with a couple of random springtime pictures I’ve taken recently:

The fruit is all early this year.

What a magnificent Magnolia – this was about a month ago

at the coast.

Violets make me all sentimental – what florals do this to you?

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CAS on Sunday, my take on #81 tic-tac-toe

This is my take on CAS on Sunday #81 – Tic Tac Toe challenge:

As you may gather, I chose to go with the middle horizontal line!  I stamped the Close to my Heart sentiment directly onto a silver foil cardstock (recollections) – using Stayz-on ink.  I used a glitter chevron patterned paper for the backdrop and added just a few sequins for fun. 

It is really difficult to take photos of shiny and glittery papers – they usually turn out with me and my camera reflected – adding in unasked for shapes and colors.  You kind of have to sneak up on a shiny card, stalk it and catch it when the light is just right. 

Speaking of taking pictures, here are a few taking in the last month which have inspired me:

My little Grand-dawg Fancy – at the dog beach one recent Saturday when Melanie came to hang out with me.

“G’maw – don’t watch me eat my cones, its embarassing!”

“And they’re really not so fun to eat…”

Cones are much more approachable than Mr and Mrs Duck…

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Guest Designer for Merry Monday #200!!!

I’m beyond TICKLED (can you see me squirming? haha) that my sister Nina asked me to be her Guest Designer for Merry Monday Christmas Challenge 200th – woo HOO!  This is a BIG DEAL! 

I decided to go with the “inspiration” theme – pretty pinks and silver:

I used a soft pink paper from Recollections, trimming deckled edges using the my Fiskars cutter (could not live without that thing!)  I layered up the top row and added a strip of sparkly silver washi tape.  I used a Martha Stewart punch for the snowflakes (cut out of foil) then added pretty gems in the centers.  The middle snowflake is backed by a circle to make it the center of interest.  Lastly I stamped “Season’s Greetings” using a JustRite clear Christmas Labels One stamp by Amy Tedder Designs.

Though I struggle sometimes to be “festive” when its warm outdoors – any time a “00th” celebration comes along it becomes much easier to “get in the mood”.  Congrats to all of the Designers and hard working staff who keep Merry Monday going. And, of course to all of you bloggers and crafters who post your creations here too. Thanks all for inspiration all year long. 

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My take on FMS 231 Challenge

I was a little confused when I saw the header “There’s still time to play with FMS 237” because now that I was looking at it, its FMS 231!  But I think I came up with a simple card.

Here’s the sketch for Freshly Made Sketches 231:

I needed something masculine and I think my card hit the ticket!  I wanted to give it a little “oomph” so I layed up in the designer paper taking the cue from the square patterns – just bumping them up slightly with foam tape. 

From the front you’d hardly know. 

I used a Crate Paper and the stamped sentiment is from Paper Smooches.

Thanks for wandering in here!

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A card for FMS 230

I enjoyed whipping up a card  this week’s Freshly Made Sketches 230 challenge – because it was so dead simple!

I decided to go with a paper that I keep coming across in my stash – it’s sectioned off into one of my bins with the label of “Specialty” because of its very embossed feel – very 3D – a “touchy feely” card.

I could not get the color quite right through my photographs, its far more the the red than pink, good thing as its intended to be a masculine birthday card. 

This designer paper is Lost and Found 3 by My Mind’s Eye.  The stamp is from Hero Arts.

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