Sally Curtsies So Sweetly

I pinned a card last week because I thought the image was so very sweet. Then I went on the hunt at Sassy Cheryl’s to find the image. It took a little time, but I managed to find Sassy Sally Curtsy. She was in the $2 area, which I wasn’t expecting. Anyway…here’s the inspiration for the card I made. I am really liking Pinterest for opening my eyes to new and neat blogs!

I used, what else, my colored pencils and odorless mineral spirits to color the image. :) And I sponged some Tim Holtz Faded Jeans distress ink to look like sky. I had the Doodlebug polka dot paper in my stash from last spring. I paired it with Hydrangea (CTMH) cardstock and some green pattern paper (unknown brand). I punched the Martha Stewart border, added a narrow white organdy ribbon and added some Doodlebug twine. My nod to doing something different was to offset the image.  I like the final result quite a bit. :)

While I had the paper sitting on my desk, I quick made another clean and simple card, pretty much casing this one.

These are squares with two corners rounded off. The larger square is 1 1/4 inches and the smaller is 3/4 inch. I probably could have cut smaller squares, but it would have been harder to round the corners of the smaller piece. The happy birthday is from Papertrey Ink’s Birthday Basics set and stamped in Hydrangea ink. The purple gem is from my stash and I think it was Kaisercraft, but it’s not in the packaging so I can’t say for sure. It’s hard to tell from this shot, but the petals of the flower are pop dotted as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day!

Little Teenie Card Challenge #144

A week or so ago, my good friend, Barb, really wanted me to enter a Meljen’s Designs card challenge using the Windswept Diva card I made. Let me just say, she made sure I entered. LOL  Lo and behold, my card was selected to win a free digital image from Meljen’s Designs!! How fun is that?! Thanks, Barb! *Ü*

I decided to choose Little Teenie, a new image, because it was different from her other designs. Here’s what I came up with…

As Barb explained to me, she was inspired by a character from The Borrowers movie. One I haven’t seen since I didn’t pick up on why she has  the fork. I admit I’m clueless about some things. We are not a big movie watching family. We watch a lot of tv, though. LOL  Anyway, I thought she was a cute little thing. Then Barb told me that the current challenge is to use a square on the card. So, I thought what the heck, I’ll try entering again.

I’ve colored her with my trusty Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits. The papers are from Pebbles, Inc.’s new paper pad called Family Ties. And just in case you didn’t get the whole “square” challenge, I added the embossed strip that uses squares. Gotta cover my bases. LOL Nah, I wanted to add a little texture and thought this would be a fun way to do it. Oh and I added mini brads (Michaels Recollections brand) instead of gems. She’s not such a girly girl, right? Don’t you love the needle sword??

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you are having a happy day. *Ü*

**Edited to add the challenge number and to also say, I guess I haven’t read The Borrowers, either. **

CAS Anniversary Card

My neighbors are out of town celebrating their anniversary and I am keeping an eye on their house. I thought it would be fun to leave them a little surprise for when they get home.

As my post title noted, this is indeed a clean and simple card, and I sure like it! I was inspired by a card I saw on Pinterest, which was leading me to www.freckledandfun.blogspot.com. Unfortunately, Chrome detected malware and wouldn’t let me actually go to the blog. So, sorry no link on this one. I don’t want to mess up my computer, that’s for sure. I will err on the side of caution.

I used two Cuttlebug embossing folders and some American Crafts ribbon from my stash. I was tickled at how well the ribbon worked with the Breeze cardstock from CTMH(sorry, I think Breeze is retired now)! For those who don’t remember or know, I was a consultant several years ago and I still have a lot of cardstock in my stash, which is why I use product that may no longer be available. The inspiration card had an oval matted in blue with the sentiment and I was going to do that as well, but I kind of liked it without the sentiment.  I also think this card can most definitely be used for many different occasions.

That’s it for today…I really need to straighten up my corner…it’s a mess from yesterday.  *Ü*

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope your week is off to a great start.

Valentine’s Day Cards

I recently acquired the Close To My Heart promotional kit, Whooo’s Your Valentine and had some time today to play with it. Or rather, to play with the stamp set that comes with the kit. Thought I’d share what I came up with. Hope you like! The first two cards I’m sharing were inspired by cards I saw on Pinterest.

 Here’s the card I saw that led me to create this first card. It’s the third card as you scroll down the blog post. What I really liked on this card was the embossed lines. I have to be honest and let you know that it took me a couple of tries to get the lines embossed because I kept going too fast and my bone folder would jump the track. I added a heart gem that I had in my stash. I thought about adding a bow to the top ribbon piece, but I kind of liked it left alone. I cut the heart using the Artiste cartridge Real Size at 1 1/4 inches.

This card is pretty much a case of this card using the hearts from the CTMH kit. I liked using the Cuttlebug heart embossing folder, which I’ve had for years, but haven’t really used. LOL I liked the look of kraft and Blush. The images are stamped with Hollyhock ink and hand cut (maybe what they call “fussy” cut?). I used a Fiskars border punch for the scallops.

This next card is the result of my playing around a bit after seeing this card in my Reader. I really like the end result and wish I could get a better photo of it. If I don’t use flash when my camera says to, my images end up really blurry. Unfortunately, the ribbon is satin and kept catching the flash. I think you get the idea, though.

I’ve got a neat woodgrain embossing folder that I picked up at Hobby Lobby. It’s their Paper Studio brand. When I saw the card I linked above,  I decided to play with inking up this embossed piece of Kraft. I used some Brown Bag, Chocolate and Cocoa ink from CTMH. I then played with it being a sort of monochromatic look and while the ink looks a lot darker, the images are inked with Cocoa. Like I said, I am really happy with how this card came out. I think it’d be a nice masculine and non traditional Valentine’s card.

Well, that’s it from me for today. Thanks so much for stopping by! Til next time…

Oh Happy Day Card

I had some time today to work on a birthday card to hold a gift card and I have to say, I’m very happy with the end result. I started out in a completely different place and wound up with this result. What a happy surprise.

There is a blog I’ve followed for a while written by Kay Miller. She designs digital products and I just love her style. If you look back on some of my digital layouts, you’ll see plenty of Kay Miller Designs in use! Recently Kay has decided to utilize her blog, My Joyful Moments,  to share cards she has been making and what a treat it’s been to see her projects. She is so talented! I think I have starred each of the cards that has shown up on my Google Reader.  Okay, so yesterday Kay posted a card that thought I wanted to kind of CASE.  I haven’t used Linen Closet from DCWV for a while and I thought it’d be a great card. So, I started there, but I really don’t have any of the flourish type of stamps (that stamp well) and I couldn’t find a Cricut cut I liked so I got a little discouraged. In my rummaging around I remembered I recently picked up a new 6x6 pad of Pebbles Family Ties Collection that I’ve been wanting to play with.

I decided to ditch the floral clusters and ended up playing with my new Cricut Artiste cartridge/kit that I got from CTMH.  That’s where the chipboard banner and Oh Happy Day stamp came from. Fun, huh?! The little stickpin is also from CTMH.

On Artiste, there is a cut to hold a gift card and that’s what I decided to make for this card. I wanted to dress up the inside of the card, but didn’t want to use up paper, so I stamped the dots with a Papertrey Ink stamp and Sunflower (CTMH) ink.

The embossing folder used that you can see on the front of the card is from Hobby Lobby. It’s a Paper Studio brand folder. The blue and yellow cardstock is from DCWV’s Spring Cardstock stack.

So, there you have it! A fun way to dress up a gift card for a special someone.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Windswept Diva Card

My friend, Barb, has inspired me yet again with a card she made here. Like Barb, I’m really liking these lovely diva images from Meljen’s Designs. I was really taken with the glittery goodness of Barb’s diva. I almost copied her idea, but when I saw what the “base” color I used looked like after coloring, I didn’t want to cover it up, so I opted for some glittery outlining instead along with a glitter sash and sparkly shoes.

This image was coloring with colored pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits.  I added some shiny gems to enhance the image. And I tried for a monochromatic white look. All in all, I’m pretty happy with the final result.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope your week gets off to a great start!

Sassy Sally’s Heart Balloon Card

Well, this is the final card I was able to complete today and it just may be up there as one of my very favorite cards.

    

This Sassy Sally image is from Sassy Cheryl’s Digis. I went back to coloring with Prismacolor pencils and blending with odorless mineral spirits on this one and I am just thrilled with how soft it ended up looking. I wasn’t necessarily going for a “soft” look, but I sure do like it. I don’t have any real training on how to do this kind of stuff. I just color and hope for the best, really. So this is a happy surprise. I’ve added a tiny bit of sparkle with the glitter pen again, mainly under her skirt, but also along the balloon string.  This character, Sassy Sally, sure appeals to me!

The scalloped paper is from a Doodlebug pad that I bought last year and it’s called Sweet Cakes. I bought it at Archiver’s, but I don’t think they are carrying it this year. They are selling the new  Doodlebug collection for Valentine’s Day and it’s called Love Birds….that’s were the xoxo paper came from. You can see the whole line on their blog post here. So cute! I love me some Doodlebug, that is for sure.

I realized when I was done, that all three of the cards I made today are pretty basic looking! By that, I mean, it’s just the image, matted and pop dotted on the background piece. I guess I need to be a little more careful about the size of the image when I print. Basically, they fit in the rectangle Nestability and fill up a standard sized card. Oh well. I am happy with how all three came out, so it’s all good.

Thanks again for stopping by. I still want to color, so you may see me post again before the weekend is over. Til then, have a good one!

Frosty Winter Cupcake Card

Oh golly, in my last post I completely forgot to tell you that if you are interested in Meljen’s  images, there’s currently a 20% off sale going on right now! So, hop, skip and jump on over to her site and check out all the adorable images over at Meljen’s Designs. 

And for your viewing pleasure, I give you Frosty Winter Cupcake card, which is a fun digi image from Meljen’s Designs.

  This card is colored with something brand new to me…American Crafts Chromatix alcohol markers! I recently acquired some and am trying to figure out how to color with them. You can find them at Michaels in 3 marker packs. They aren’t meant to replace the ever popular Copics, but for someone like me(who will probably never be able to afford Copics), they may help me learn how to color with markers as a technique to add to my set of cardmaking skills. So be gentle and understanding when you look at the image.

As you can see, I’ve added some glittery goodness with that Stardust Glitter Gel pen. I like how sparkly the snowman turned out. The image is matted on some pattern paper from Close To My Heart, another sneak peek of Chantilly that will be available in February. The cardstock, which is also CTMH, is called Pear (I think) was run through my Cuttlebug using a snowflake embossing folder. I used pop dots to lift the matted image a bit. The blue cardstock is more Dutch Blue from CTMH.

Fun, fun, fun!

Cozy Winter Owl Card

I’ve been a busy gal today! Had a strong hankering to color and nothing pressing on the calendar, so I sat myself down and colored and played some time away. Jessica and Amy wanted to color too, so we had sort of a color fest! Wheeee!

Here’s the first card I completed:

This image is from Meljen’s Designs and is called Cozy Winter Owl.  It’s printed on Georgia Pacific cardstock, which I purchased at Walmart. I print on the “fine” setting on my printer and I never have issues with smearing. It’s colored with a combination of Koh-i-Noor pencils and Prismacolor Pencils and blended with odorless mineral spirits.

I sure had fun coloring this little guy (gal?) and while I wanted to add more “schtuff” to the card, in the end, I think it looks best as is.

I’m learning a lot of fun little techniques to add details to my cards from my friend, Barb over at The Buzz blog. She is so good about adding little things that really make her cards spectacular and she shares little tidbits on her posts. She is on the Meljen’s Design Team and has inspired a few of my recent purchases.  I’ve added some sparkle with a Stardust glitter pen (but it’s hard to see in the photo) and also some gems. I also added a few glittery brads (from Hobby Lobby) on the Martha Stewart snowflake pattern paper (it’s from the holiday paper pad that was sale this past holiday season). I also sponged some Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass distress ink around the edges while my image piece was still in the Spellbinders die. The scalloped mat is Dutch Blue cardstock from Close To My Heart (a color that  is retired, I think).

Because Live Writer is giving me fits about publishing with more than a photo or two, I’m going to post each card separately. Hope this isn’t too much of a pain.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope your weekend is off to a grand start.

Playing with Close To My Heart Products This Weekend!

My former upline from Close To My Heart has been in town this weekend having a retreat with her Colorado consultants. She had an opening on Friday and emailed me to ask if I’d like to come and play with her. I haven’t seen her in several years, so I said absolutely!

My friend, Becky went as well and it was fun checking out the new catalog and catching up with Kay. Oh and playing with some CTMH product. *Ü*

I was particularly smitten with the Chantilly line.

 This started out as a standard A2 card front and ended up a 5x7.

 So many fun little doodads to add!

This is a 6x6 accordion fold mini album. I've just decorated the cover. I really like the zipper/ribbon and the fabric. The swirly wood pieces are fun, too. 

These two projects were completely inspired by some projects I saw in the new 2013 Spring Summer CTMH catalog. Not sure if it has gone live yet, we didn't talk about that. I didn't see it on the CTMH website as their online catalog, which is why I'm not sure.



I used Happy Thoughts and Frame Flair stamp sets. I think the pink ink is Cotton Candy. I've also used Sweet Leaf and Buttercup inks.

It sure was a lot of fun playing. In fact, Jessica had a skating birthday party to go to today at a location very near where Kay was staying. So, I dropped Jessica off at her party and went and played with Kay and the gals again this afternoon for the duration of the party. Nothing got finished, but I did cut more of this Chantilly paper.  Hee, hee!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you have a great day. And thanks, Kay, for emailing me!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Thanks for the sweet comments on the clothes I’ve created for the girls’ dolls. They really made me smile.

I have another project to share with you. Jessica found a book I bought several years ago and then tucked away with the grand intention of making some clothes for the girls’ Barbie dolls for Christmas that year. Um, that never happened and I kind of even forgot I bought the book. Here is a link I found for a paperback version on Amazon. I actually have the hardback copy. So, anyway, Jessica found the book and immediately started looking through it. Next thing I knew, she had sticky noted several projects. She asked me to work on one of these projects rather than another 18 inch doll outfit, because the Barbie projects would take less time since they are smaller. I guess you can’t argue with her logic. And she was pretty well right. Here’s the first effort from the book:

The reason behind the title of this post, if you are interested, is this. My mom made some clothes for my Barbie dolls and my Ken doll. Some she sewed and some she knit. They have been passed on to the girls. And the stand out project I remember that she made for me is a Fisherman Knit sweater for my Ken doll. I don’t know where it is at the moment, but I really liked that sweater. Maybe in part for it’s ability to hold my Ken doll’s head on. One of my brothers cracked the neck and in those days you didn’t get another one, you made do with the one you had. ;) I remember being in awe of the little stitches and feeling very special that she made something just for my dolls.

When I saw the sweater in this book, I knew immediately what my first project was going to be. Jessica originally wanted it in pink, but that sock yarn is hard to find in solid pink, so she okayed using the Heart and Sole sock yarn from Red Heart as a distant second choice. She is very happy with the final result, so it’s all good.

And I got to do for my daughter something my mom did for me. And that is a very good thing in my mind.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a great start to your week.

Sharing Some Doll Clothes

I'm going to try writing this post in Blogger and see what happens.

(Click on photos to enlarge to see any details).

This knitted pieces for this outfit were completed a couple of months ago, but we didn't have a dressy blouse to go with it. The idea of making one is what started the whole idea of making the doll clothes. 

I found some Simplicity and McCalls patterns on sale for 99 cents and then I pick through the remnant bins at Joann's for most of the fabric. The yarn is Vanna White Glamour brand. The sparkliness isn't shown too well in the photo, but it's there. 

 My original thought was to make two Christmas-y dresses, but after working on one, I decided to hold off on number 2. It took a lot of time and patience to get that lace situated correctly. 

Remember the knitting project I've been referring to in previous posts? Well, here it is! Finally completed. 

I used Red Heart's With Love to make the coat. It took longer than I thought it would to knit the pieces for the coat. Or I should say for the bottom section of the coat. The other sections weren't quite as long, so they did work up faster.

This hat is supposed to be more of a beret, but it's still cute as a beanie.

This is knitted with a sock yarn and I adore the colors in it.

My very first attempt at mittens and it wasn't too bad considering the small size!

Once I was close to getting done with the coat ensemble, Amy requested a beachy outfit. Wow, what a transition, from winter wear to summer wear, but okay...

 I adore the colors used here, too! 

This is Lily's Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn. A yarn I don't like to crochet with, because I get terrible hand cramps, but knitting with it wasn't a problem.

The girls were smitten with the ankle band. True story: Jessica got a gazillion beads for her birthday and not one of them were of the style we needed to complete the band. Isn't that always the case. I found a small package of pony beads at the Dollar Tree. I wasn't going to buy a big package of beads when Jessica already has a gazillion of them. LOL

 I really like the mesh texture of the dropped stitch used to create the cover up.

And her swim suit and headband are kind of cute, too.

I started this ensemble on Christmas or pretty soon after. This was a much quicker project to work up.

And a reminder this is the pattern book I used for the projects. I picked it up at Michaels.

This is the outfit the doll was wearing under the green coat above. I love the paisley print!

And a couple of robes. Amy loves purple, so I was thrilled to find this remnant. Jessica's doll's robe is flannel. So cozy!

I ran out of time to complete any more outfits. Shhhh...the dolls don't have jammies yet. Soon, I hope!

Thanks for looking and indulging me this picture heavy post.

Hope you enjoyed your visit!

Clicking publish and crossing fingers....

A Couple of Cards…

I was able to work on a few cards recently and thought I’d share. I picked up some Papercrafts magazines that were released recently to help jumpstart any mojo that might still be lurking somewhere.

This first card was inspired by a card I saw in a magazine.

You just use a square punch and round off some corners. I added the idea to emboss the background piece. The sentiment is Mixed Messages from Papertrey Ink and I added a couple of little silver gems. The embossing folder is Paper Studio brand from Hobby Lobby. I used Heavenly Blue and Crystal Blue cardstock from Close To My Heart. Oh and all the rounded squares are lifted with pop dots.

As part of a gift exchange with Steve’s family, I received this Spellbinders die set from his nephew. I wanted to send him a thank you using what he gave me. I had no idea how carefully you had to remove the cut shapes after you cut them. I’ve got a few torn practice efforts in the trash can. I like the intricate cuts, though.

Okay, I’m going to hit publish and see what happens. I’ve been trying to post a blog I wrote several days ago about the doll clothes I’ve been making, but for some reason, it won’t publish. It’s even timed out while trying to publish. I don’t know if it’s Live Writer or operator error.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope your new year is off to a great start!