How does your garden grow?

Did you read the joke Vikki left as a comment on my Merry Friday post?  I laughed all day over this one and actually I'm still laughing!! Thanks a bunch Vikki : ) 

what do you get from sitting on the snow too long? ..... polaroids!!

Hi everyone : ) my garden is a bit tardy because of all the cold weather we have suffered this spring and now my card is a bit tardy too! You see I took inspiration from this week's Freshly Made Sketches but missed the deadline to submit my card to the gallery!

Oh well!! Freshly Made Sketches is a great challenge blog and I encourage you to check them out for their next challenge : )

I was also inspired by the Inspired By Challenge : ) Isn't this photograph lovely!? Tardy or not Spring has finally sprung!! I and I could not be happier : )

The supplies I used are from Papertrey Ink's Petite Places series.  I regret that am unable to link to PTI as I cannot access their site any longer because apparently my computer is too old : (.  I also used a scrap of card stock from my stash but the markings were not preserved so I can't share where it was from. I guess I am just plain outdated all the way around!  Good thing we aren't too old to laugh!! : )

Waiter! Shouted the furious diner.  How dare you serve me this! There is a TWIG in my soup!!  “My apologies, said the waiter, I’ll inform the branch manager. : )

Thank you so much for stopping by and enjoy your day!

BIG (((HUGS)))

Merry Friday!

Hello friends : )

Why did the one armed man cross the road?  ....because he wanted to get to the second hand shop!

It is Friday and the sun is shining and I have my windows open! We are predicted to see 70* this weekend and it is a GOOD day! so lets laugh!  : )

Have you noticed that it is much easier to make and enjoy Christmas cards when it is warm : )  I created my card for both the Merry Monday Challenge and the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge.  I hope you will join me in support of these two great challenges by entering your Christmas cards in their galleries.

I used an embossing folder from Stampin Up and some ancient patterned paper from who knows where and a Gingerbread house and sentiment from Papertrey Ink : ) If you need some specifics on the supplies I used please let me know : )  because I am off and running! I have a few hours to enjoy this beautiful day and I need to turn off this computer and go!! : )

Speaking of going..... where do cows go on Friday night?......  to the moooovies : )  Whatever you do with your Friday night I hope it is filled with blessings from Jesus!! : )

Thank you so much for stopping by I appreciate you!

BIG (((HUGS)))

Inspiración cupcake means Cupcake Inspiration

Hello friends, I am here to share a couple more cards my sweet Mexican student created at our English class/ Card Making Class : )

My first card was inspired by this yummy looking cupcake from the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge blog.

The colors of my frosting really are peach and lime green IRL even though they don't look like it!

As before I wanted a very simple design for Nayeli, my "Student" to recreate.  Here is a picture of her and my BFF, Diane, and the cards they made:

The die we used for this card  is an "I Love You" die from Penny Black. Nayeli added the "I" and "You" on the face of her card which I thought was really creative! but then she surprised me by taking the negative from the die cut and stenciling the whole sentiment on the inside of her card.  Really clever and sweet.  She said she would give her card to her daughter in Mexico City.

Thank you so much for all your kind and encouraging comments on my "yo no hablo español" post : ) You are the most wonderful and encouraging community I have ever seen! I am honored to call you friends!!

I would like to share one more picture in this post - a picture of "the whole group" this picture was taken on the 15th of this month - the day our friends arrived.  There are about 6 more to come before the middle of May!  We live in a very tiny little house that gets to bulge!! with the arrival of our friends!!  We just cram everyone in! LOL - no one seems to mind : ) I need to take a picture next time they come to cook for us.  Imagine 6 - 8 men in the kitchen!! you'll love seeing it.  I wish you could be here to not only enjoy the company but to taste the AMAZING!! food!! : ) 

I hate to make this longer than it already is but I need to be sure to give Vikki her daily joke *wink*   What did the farmer get when he crossed a centipede with a turkey?..... 100 drumsticks!! : P


BIG (((HUGS)))

Masculine Birthday!!

I really like the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch!  I wanted to make a masculine card for my stash so I went looking for a color challenge and found inspiration at House of Cards : )

I'm really cutting it short to enter the CAS(E) challenge so I am going to make this short!!  Before I go.... here is a geometric joke to match up with the theme of my card : )

Why did the triangle refuse to be friends with the circle?  It found the circle to be pointless!!

BIG (((HUGS)))

yo no hablo español

Hello friends : ) that's right yo no hablo español means I don't speak Spanish! so how am I teaching an English class to Mexicans one might ask?

Each year a large group of Mexicans from Cancun come to Custer to work for the summer.  The reason for this is that many more people come to Custer during the summer than live in the area full time.  The restaurants and hotels here close in September.  They begin to re-open in April and by Memorial Day our sleepy little town is bursting with activity!!  This provides literally hundreds of jobs for 5 to 6 months so our government allows people from all over the world to come here to work for the season.

To say that we have befriended the Mexicans would be a very watered down picture - rather we have adopted each other! They have become family.  Never! in our lives have we enjoyed so much love poured out on us.

I know this is getting too long so I will try to quickly explain the reason for my post today.  This year there is a new gal from Mexico City to join the team.  She speaks a little bit of English but not really enough to enable her to work with the public.  Our friends have asked us to try to help her with conversational English.  So guess what we did for our first class?

We made cards! : )   She had never made cards before or played with all the many tools of our delightful hobby and she was thrilled!! It really was a challenge - especially at first but "Google Translate" to the rescue! and by the end of our session she had made some beautiful cards and improved her English vocabulary quite a bit : )

These are the cards that I created as samples for her to follow.  I wanted them to be very easy. I demonstrated each step from cutting the card stock to signing her name - and she in turn demonstrated the same process to my friend, Diane.

It turns out she is a natural!! I will be sure to photograph HER cards after we meet again tonight to play more!! : )

My cup runneth over! what could be better for this lonely Mom and Grandma than to be able to open my heart and crafty place to such fine people!! - sharing my love of cardmaking with someone who has never had the luxury of a hobby.

BIG (((HUGS)))

CAS Christmas - Ornament

Hello friends I am so happy you stopped by.  Today I have a card I created for Loll's CAS Christmas Card Challenge where the challenge is to use an ornament on your card.  This really was a challenge for me but I hope you will like my homemade ornament : )

I used a 5" square card base.  I cut a Papertrey Ink Let It Snow die from both a silver metallic card stock and a white card stock.  I did the same thing with a two part snowflake die (also from PTI) cutting the bottom from my silver metallic cs and the top, more detailed die cut, from white cs.  I tied a string and as easy as pie added another card to my Christmas card stash : )

I hope you will join Loll and her amazing DT at the CAS Chrsitmas Card Challenge while there is still time : )

BIG (((HUGS)))

Woofer - Twofer

It's all about "Pets" in Blogland right now in honor of Darnell's wonderful Twofer challenge!

I don't have any pets (other than Bob) but if I did have I would dress them up like these cute little pups.

This fun birthday card has a surprise inside!  When you open it up out pops an ice cream cone!!

I will link to the products from below but the stamp set and paper are from Inky Antics.  I was actually surprised when I did a search today to find that the product is still available as I purchased the stamp set and special Honeycomb paper years!! ago : ).  Check them out Inky Antics has quite a few different stamp sets that use the special paper like this one.  They really are fun for a kid's card.

My next card is an Encouragement card.

I stamped their britches on pp and pieced them on.  I like how this card turned out but I don't like that you can't see my clouds!! I just HAD to darken the picture down far enough for you to be able to see them.  In real life you can see them but....  all I can say is thank goodness for Photoshop! : )

That is all I have today except to remind you that when everything is coming your way! ... you're in the wrong lane! : )

Please join the fun at Darnell's Twofer Challenge Blog.  the current challenge runs until the 24th.

Thank you so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!!

Supplies:
Ice Cream Pup by Inky Antics
Honeycomb Paper by Inky Antics
Thanks for the Lift sentiment from Papertrey Ink (I'm sorry I am unable to link this product)
Sprinkles & Smiles Stamp Set by Penny Black


BIG (((HUGS)))

Simplicity sister - sneak peek

My father was a pilot, my step mother was a pilot, my brother-in-law is a pilot and my oldest sister is a pilot : ) This card is for her!  Please visit the Penny Black Simplicity Blog to see my whole card I would love it if you would.

BIG (((HUGS)))

Inspired by Rainy Day Fun

Humbly (actually my buttons are busting!) editing my post to add:

This is not a joke!..... I actually used to know a girl name Rainy : ) Guess what her last name was?.... yep! it was Day!  Rainy Day : )  I thought my parents were comedians naming me "Patti-Jo" giggles I think it had something to do with Petticoat Junction! (insert eye roll here!)  Ok, so how about we get on to the real joke cuz I know you are waiting for it : ) 

A counselor was helping his kids put their stuff away on the first morning in summer camp.  He was surprised to see one of the youngsters had an umbrella.  The counselor asked, “Why did you bring an umbrella to camp?” The kid answered, “did you ever have a mother?” : ) heeheehee

Did you notice the rainy day/umbrella tie-in with the challenge over at Inspired By....?  : ) I saw this challenge at Michele's blog and thought her card was adorable.  THEN I saw THIS amazing card at Lisa's blog and had to join the puddle jumping party!

I stamped the image directly to the card face allowing the image to line up right to the left side of the cardstock. Then I trimmed about 1/4 " from the left side of the card - cutting off the far left tip of the hat and the bear's elbow and the lower left edge of the bear's raincoat. With the exception of the bear's coat and hat I I colored the image using Prisma Pencils, including the umbrella. I didn't need to color the coat and hat because I paper pieced those from some patterned paper : )

The coat and hat were glued flat on the card face but I glued just the very top of the umbrella and at the bottom I used foam dots for some added dimension. : )

That is all for me today.  I hope you will join me in the gallery at Inspired By...

Supplies:

Retired Penny Black Stamp Set "Sunshine in Rain"

Have a wonderful day!!

BIG (((HUGS)))

Merry Monday and CASology

The weather is more like Christmas time than spring time! so here is a card to snub spring! and celebrate the birth of the King of kings and Lord of lords!! : )

These three kings, as well as the borders of my card, were embossed with copper embossing powder on a cream card stock panel.  I stamped the sentiment using a rust colored dye ink, added the ribbon and attached the whole thing to my card face using foam tape.  Easy and elegant : )

My card was inspired by two challenges today.  Merry Monday, where the challenge is to include a ribbon on your card, and CASology where the key word is "Believe".

I wish my blog had feel-a-vision so that you could touch this pretty ribbon.  It is a sparkly champagne color and is one I have horded for years.  LOL  All this time I've saved ribbons that I rarely use on my cards anymore.  I have decided to challenge myself to start pulling out these treasured embellishments and patterned papers that I have saved for the perfect occasion! and actually use them!! : ) Thanks a bunch to the gals at Merry Monday for the challenge and for getting me to share my pretty ribbon.

And thank you to the uber talented team at CASology! for their great challenge too.  I can't think of anything more important to believe in than Jesus!! : ) woo hoo

So.... what happened when my dog went to the flea circus?....He stole the show! LOL...get it?

Have a wonderful weekend and if you happen to have sunshine - please send me some I will e-mail you my address!!

Penny Black supplies used:

40-347 we Three Kings

BIG (((HUGS)))

Friday the 13th never looked so beautiful!

Today is the day Penny Black introduces it's newest release - Nature's Art 2018.   I am excited to share several of the new dies available today in the Penny Black Store on my card today.

I cut a "Scrolls Half Edger" from vellum and made a stencil.  Then I inked a section directly on to my card face using sponges. After the pink and orange ink were laid down I lay my stencil over the top and "pounced some additional color to bring out my stencil (which doesn't actually show up very well in my picture).   Next I cut a panel from the "Wavy Stitch Edges" trimmed top and bottom and then attached it flat on the card face.

I took a small piece of white card stock and sponged orange and pink in the same manner as I did the card face.  From that piece of paper I cut a "Flowing Butterflies" die and trimmed the extra butterflies. I cut a second butterfly from the same die and glued the two together only in the butterfly body section so that the wings could be loose for added dimension.

Finally I selected the "Happy Birthday" sentiment and manipulated the shape of the stamp using my MISTI so that the shape of the sentiment followed the flow of the stitched edges die.

My design was inspired by this weeks Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  : )

All the supplies I used are from Penny Black and can be found at the links under each product photo.

51-418 Wavy Stitch Edges

51-446 Scrolls Half Edger

51-444 Flowing Butterflies

30-348 Oriental

Thank you for stopping by friends! I hope you will visit the Penny Black Blog for more from Nature's Art 2018!

BIG (((HUGS)))