Monday, January 30, 2017

Oh Diet Coke ... Wherefore Art Thou?


I've given up soda because my nutritionist says that there is "absolutely nothing of nutritional value in it."  I'm trying to lose 40 more pounds and all the fitness gurus say that 70% of weight loss is diet choices.

Unfortunately I miss my soda.

A lot.

So I'm trying to distract myself from its absence by making cards.  It's not really working ... did I mention how much I miss Diet Coke?!!

Using the sketch from the Catch The Bug blog.  It was cute

Saturday, January 28, 2017

SS448: Joy


Yay it's Saturday again!!

My favorite day of the week!! As you know, Saturday is the day when the new challenge is posted over on the Sketch Saturday site.  This week we have the return of Tammy from A Day For Daisies as our sponsor.  She is offering our winner a $12 Gift Certificate to her shop.

I'm using Penguin Play as the image on my card.  Such a happy little image, perfect for any winter card.

I hope that you will join in the fun this week.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

My Nieces Rock!


I decided to send all my fabulous nieces a card to tell them how much I appreciate them.  Some of them I've watched grow up into amazing women and some of them are mine because my nephews had the good sense to marry them.

I wanted to share a few of the cards.  This one is for my pregnant niece.  Can you tell what sex I'm hoping this baby will be?!!  I used the sketch over on the Your Next Stamp site.  I did have to rotate the sketch to fit my image.

The next card I wanted to share was for my niece in nursing school.  She and her husband are renovating a house, working and both going to school in the medical field.  Wow.

I used the sketch over on the Tuesday Morning Sketches site.  And again, I had to rotate the sketch to fit the image I wanted to use.

I'm also submitting the cards to the "Anything Goes over on the Tuesday Throwdown blog, as well as the "Something Fun" theme over on the Cute Card Thursday blog.

I'll try to share some of the other cards I made for the nieces later this week.


Saturday, January 21, 2017

Try Stamping On Tuesday


One last card ...

I printed up a billion Bugaboo images to work on during the Birthday Bash, so I decided to color some  of the extra images.  Actually the problem is that I did legs at the gym today ... I don't know if I have the energy left in my legs to get back up the stairs.  I may just live down here in my art studio until I can find my phone to call for help or maybe I will find the juice to crawl back upstairs.  Ugh.  Pain.

I LOVED the sketch over on the Try Stampin' On Tuesday site.  So I made one last Gus birthday card.  He IS a cute image!

Friday, January 20, 2017

Bugaboo Birthday Bash 7


Life nearly got in the way of finishing the challenge ... but the kiddos finished the last performance of the Shakespeare play, Winter's Tale tonight, everyone got ice cream AND the card was finished on time (with 2 hours and 6 minutes to spare!)  Ta-daaa!!  I rock!!

Today's challenge was to create a card with 2 bows, at least 3 layers, and 4 pearls AND use the freebie image.  Done and done!

Toddling off to bed now 'cause, I am beat.

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Bugaboo Bday Bash Day 6


It's Day Six of the Bugaboo Birthday Bash Challenge.  Today's challenge?  Make a card for a kiddo.

Basically I made a standard birthday card and then added a shaker balloon for kid appeal (and frankly, I know several adults who would dig the shaker element too!)  How great is that Jolee's balloon?  It kinda makes me hungry for a gum-ball or a cupcake with sprinkles tho.  Can you tell that I'm dieting again?

See you tomorrow for the last challenge.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Bugaboo B-Day Challenge 3 & 4


This is my second post of the day.  If you are looking for my Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 post, scroll down!

And apparently, I REALLY like Bugaboo images since I have THREE cards on my blog today that use Jodie's amazing images.  Here are my cards for the Bugaboo Birthday Bash Challenges 3 and 4.  I promise that eventually I'll catch up!

Challenge three is a color challenge.  I used the brown, khaki and greens.

My first card also uses the sketch over on the Tuesday Morning Sketches blog.  This is such a versatile sketch; it really worked with my image.

Challenge four is a bingo card.  I used the first vertical column: birthday theme, ribbon and sparkle.  It was a really fun card to make.

SSW2: "Mistah" Old Fart



Welcome back Sweet Sketch-ers!  Are you ready for the first challenge of 2017?  We hope so,  it's already up on the Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2 blog!

This week we have the incomparable Jodie from Bugaboo Stamps as our sponsor.  She will be giving our winner 4 free images from her store.  This week I'm using Gus-Old Fart.  I made this one for my nephew's birthday this month ... I hope he doesn't mind a bit of teasing.

I'm also using this card for the Catch The Bug Birthday Bash.  The fifth challenge is to make a funny card.  Gus definitely qualifies!


I hope that you have time to join in the fun.






Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Bugaboo B-Day 1&2


It's time for the Bugaboo Birthday Bash Challenge.  I'm getting a late start on this so I'll be doubling up on challenges for the next few days until I catch up.

Day One's challenge was to use a photo for inspiration.  I thought about things you might find in the ocean and a scuba diver came to mind (probably NOT a cat scuba diver ... tho maybe!).  I also used the colors you might find at the beach.

Day Two's challenge was a sketch.

I made two birthday cards.  My birthday card stash is pretty low this time of year due to the rush to finish all my Christmas cards.

I'm also participating in the Dragonfly Journey challenge. Congrats to you, Jeannie, on another year of Dragonfly Journey challenges!!


Monday, January 16, 2017

January Gerda Challenge


Happy Martin Luther King Day!!

I'm spending mine: vacuuming, doing laundry, shoveling snow and posting all the cards that I made earlier in the week. Um, yeah, not much of a holiday for me.

Well, playing downstairs in the craft area isn't so bad but the others ... blah.

This is my take on the Gerda Steiner image for January.  It's a super cute one this month ... perfect for all those Valentine's Day cards that need to be made.

I used the challenge over on the Freshly Made Sketches site but didn't get it posted on time.  Bummer.  Oh well, I'll be more organized next week (I'm not holding my breath on that one!)

Saturday, January 14, 2017

SS: MissTiina


It's another Saturday so there is a brand new challenge over on the Sketch Saturday blog.  I don't know about you, but I am SO glad that the weekend is here!

This week we welcome a new sponsor: MissTiina.  She is generously offering a $20 gift certificate to her blog.

Be sure and stop by the Sketch Saturday blog and check out all the other DT cards.



Monday, January 9, 2017

What's Up?


I had some time to tinker this afternoon.  I had an eye appointment that left me pretty much blind as a bat so I used these images that I had colored earlier.  I JUST got this set in the mail.  I seriously love Birdie Brown images.

I'm using the sketch over on the Your Next Stamp blog.  It was too perfect with these stamps.

Thursday, January 5, 2017

Snow Day!!


I think I'd enjoy snow days a tad more if I weren't the one responsible for clearing the snow off our property.  While the snow-blower made the process faster, it was still super cold (below zero) and it's snowing again so I will likely have to repeat it before the sun sets.  Yay.

With my extra time, I worked to refill my birthday card folder.  I used all the extra Bugaboo images that I had printed.

My first sketch comes from TMS.  It's a revisit of a favorite sketch.  I really love this pretty sketch.  To see what I did with it the first time, click here.

I decided to leave off the flower and embellishments this time because I thought that it would make my card a tad busy.

My second card is from another favored Tuesday sketch blog: Try Stampin' On Tuesday.

Did you notice that both cards are pink?  That's because my pink DP drawer is stuffed with such pretty papers that it no longer closes!  So I'm hoping that I'll need more girl birthday cards than boys  birthdays for a while!

Monday, January 2, 2017

The Year of The Rooster!



Jeannie from Dragonfly Journeys is celebrating the Year of the Rooster.  I looked through my many stamps and the closest I could find was this set from Birdie Brown.  It's her Whole Herd set.

Since I needed a congratulations card for my pregnant niece, I thought that this set would work.  I think it should count for her challenge because I'm pretty sure that a "rooster" was involved in THAT process!

Congratulations Tiffany and Logan!