Yay for the red, white and blue!!

 

If you are living in the States, you will be celebrating our country's independence. My birthday is on the 2nd, so I plan a 3 day celebration that goes right into July 4th. When I was a kid I always told people I was born on the 4th. I wanted to be a little firecracker. Well all I can say I may not have been born on the 4th but I am still a firecracker!!

I took this weekend off from all things school and decided to do what ever I wanted which is stamping!! My hubby and bestie both got me lots of new stamping stuff including all of the Altenew inks, which are fabulous. For my card today I used Altenew's ruby red and sapphire inks.

It has been a month since I last blogged!!! Yikes, where does the time go?!!? I decided to check out some of my fav challenges to inspire me. Several were hosting red, white and blue challenges and since it is the 4th, I decide to join in with a patriotic card.

I am entering this card at CAS-ual Friday and Curtain Call for their red, white and blue challenges.

CASology's theme is the word "row". I went rather expected with my card. No surprises.

A new challenge for me is Cards in Envy. They want cards that can be sent through the mail!! Love that idea. Today's challenge is "stripes"

Sometimes the most simple card takes awhile, today's card was no exception. Getting the rows of stripes straight and not smudged and then adding the stars evenly. It took 4 tries.

So check back again this week, I hope to share other cards I have been working on over this holiday weekend.

Happy 4th and 300th!!!!

Happy 4th of July to all those in the US! But even bigger- happy 300th challenge to my chicks at Just Us Girls!!  Congratulations!! What an achievement!! They are having a big celebration there with all kinds of prizes and awesome creations. be sure to check it out and join in the fun!

My card today features that ever popular set from My Favorite Things- "you make my tail wag" and a fun set from Julie Ebersole for Ellen Hutson- "wish big". I embellished the balloons with some doodling.

I made the same card for my DH, but made it as a 4th of July card.

Since there is a patriotic theme over at Addicted to CAS, I thought I would join in the fireworks!

Head over to Just Our Girls and congratulate them by playing along this week and play along at Addicted to CAS.

The Male Room Challenge

 

 

  I am high in the sky!! School is over for the summer!! I am a free gal until the end of August!! All I can say is woo hoo!!! So today's challenge at the Male Room was perfect for this flying high chick!

Up in the air- but no birds please. Well there are a gazillion things that are up in the air other than birds  aren't there? Shouldn't be too hard. It isn't really except that I can only use a plane or a space ship so many times.

So I went riffling through my stamps and this foxy little guy from Mama Elephant popped out at me and said "stamp me flying high with my balloons". My stamps don't always talk to me, so when they do I have to answer.

I think this card is adorable but is it manly enough for the Male Room? Well, I happen to know my hubby George loves getting cute critter cards. I mean the guy lives for a cute teddy card for gosh sake! So yeah it's manly enough. And if that wasn't enough encouragement, the card Ros made for her brother for the last MR challenge just gave all the permission I needed to post this card today.

Remember in my last post Sunny Days I said I wasn't done with the sky, cloud theme yet. As you can see that cloud paper ended up on this card too.

Well... stay tune this theme continues!

Excuse my rambling dialog, but I am giddy with freedom. Please check out what my othe team members created and join in the fun at the Male Room!

Bon Voyage!

I just got back from walking 3 miles around my neighborhood. I was walking with a friend and we spent the entire time talking about stamping. The time flew by and before I knew it we were done. But wouldn't have been fun if I was in Italy walking around Rome or walking the country side of Tuscany? That got me thinking about trips and traveling. Naturally a bon voyage card began formulating in my mind.

Happy Little Stampers has a CAS challenge asking us to use die-cuts or punches. They are also having a DT call for all their sites- HLS CAS, HLS sketch, and new HLS Christmas challenges which I applying for.  I had so much fun with this month's sketch challenge. (See my entry here.) Naturally, I had to join in on the CAS challenge, especially since I am basically CAS chick at heart!

I used Papertrey Ink's Fly Away set and the matching die set. Haven't matching die sets just changed the course of stamping? No more fussy cutting!! Love those matching dies!! What about you? Do you always buy the matching dies when you buy the stamp sets like me?

My gals over at Just Us Girls have a word week and the word is twine. I love to play along my good buddies when I can and "twine" fit in perfect with my card concept as you can see.

Curtain Call must have been reading my mind when they chose a travel theme for this weeks challenge!

I love it when challenges work together like they did today!

Well that's it for today, I have to get outside and enjoy the sunshine even if it isn't Italy, it is still a beautiful Sunday in the neighborhood>

It's all about the space

It's all about the space, 'bout the space, 'bout the space, no clutter!

Hi Everyone! Today I am the guest designer at Inkspiration! How exciting! They picked me because they really liked this post. That was a fun card, but today's card is much more in my wheel house.

When Marina sent me the inspiration I realized many folk will go in a certain direction. Not me, I always have to push and buck the system. So what is the word? It is SPACE!!!! Now you might understand tribute to Meghan Trainor.  I am a CAS gal at heart so it really is about the space, no clutter. Susan from Simplicity is one of my idols. She is definitely about the white space!

I actually made several different designs but I take being a guest designer seriously and did not want to disappoint you with something that was just too simplistic. This design was based on a favorite Easter card from my DH and is a great way to use those tiny stamps that often perplex us. Today I used a very old StampinUp stamp paired with an equally old sentiment from A Muse. 

Be sure to head on over to Inkspiration and see what the DT has come up with. I am heading over their now myself! An remember- SHOW ME YOUR SPACE!!!

I am so lucky...

I love St. Patrick's Day, even if I am not the least bit Irish. Well maybe a bit by marriage- George is half Irish. But it it is a holiday that is all about the green and we all know the most beautiful color in the world is green!

Curtain Call is having a photo/word challenge. I was all about it. Come on- green, how could I resist. It is futile!

I got to use some stuff that gets very little use. The shamrock dies, not sure who makes it, I got it in a clearance bin. The lucky die and sentiment is all Papertrey Ink.

This will be for my lucky guy. And I am so lucky to have him in my life!

Check out Curtain Call for this lucky green challenge! 

Friends- 2nd post for today

I have a best buddy and every know and again I send her a card just because. Aren't they the best cards to get? So when I saw the inspiration work "sprinkle" at Inkspirational I knew right away what I was going to do.

I quickly grabbed the stamp set "you and me" from Sweet and Sassy stamps. The salt and pepper worked perfect- because- "don't you sprinkle on salt and pepper?!!?" 

Here is my sweet girl Zephyr, who is 18 years old today. She is doing what she does best these days sleeping. The salt and pepper reminded me of her fur- all white and gray these days.

Be sure to check out how others interpreted the word "sprinkle" at Inkspirational sw. Also if you are just checking in for the first time today, scroll down and see this month's card for the House of Cards challenge.

Lucky to stamp!

Just because I could, I joined in at the fun at my alma mater Just Us Girls. They were having a photo inspiration week. Maybe you remember how anxious I would get when I was on the DT as JUGSand it was photo week. I would get sweaty, nauseous and my mojo would take to the hills. That was until I realized i should just focus on one section of the photo and let it move me. 

I think you can see where this is going. I took the photo rather literally. But isn't it fun with the "floating" lucky against the polka dot background. And just because I love the daisies, I added one to my card.

CASology is using the word "mini". Well once again I took this literally and made a mini-card. It is

 3 1/2 X 3 1/2. I know just the person I am going to send this too.

Well it time to put my toys away and get dinner for someone lucky! I hope I see you at either Just Us Girls or CASology or both!!

House of Cards Challenge

 Love is in the air at the House of Cards this month! After all it is February and what is right around the corner but the biggest day of love all year- Valentine's Day!! All month the challenge at HOC is love, love, love!!


This little critter from Penny Black's "loads of love" is on a critical phone call- he is sharing his heart.

I stamped and colored my card and then embossed it- a technique demonstrated at the Penny Black blog. instead of using a die I just used an embossing folder. It adds that extra special something to a CAS card.

There are so many challenges out there that feature love, hearts or Valentine's Day, so i decided to go for it and enter my adorable CAS card in them

AAA Cards has a wild heart challenge and a DT call. I think I will throw my hat in the ring.

The Paper Players is featuring love themed cards with critters- well geez this is a no-brainer huh?!!?

Lastly, Shopping our Stash is featuring love themed cards.
 

But please join us at House of Cards this month and show us your "love"ly creations!