JUGS - You're so Fun - I just love you!

This card expresses how I feel about the challenges at Just Us Girls Challenge Blog!! : ) This is my last week as a Guest Designer.  I want to thank each member of the JUGS Design Team for inviting me to be a part of this talented  group : ) and making me feel so welcome!!

This week we have a beautiful photo for you to take inspiration from.  I love both the flower and the soft bokeh of this photograph.  I used vellum to try to recreate the softness of the green background by using it as the front of my card.

Making cards with a vellum face is not difficult - simply cut a 6 x 4.25" piece of vellum for the front of the card scored - then folded at .5" - tape it directly to the back of a 5.5 x 4.25"  card base.   Easy peasy.

For my card I used a sweet lime green cardstock back.  I cut a "Wavy Stitch Edge" border for the "ground" that I sponged with lime green ink.  I heat embossed my sentiment with Copper embossing powder.  Penny Black has the best Sunflower image on the market! : ) IMHO heehee which I stamped on watercolor paper and colored with Zigs - fussy cut out and taped to the vellum to completed my little scene : )

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I would like to invite you to visit Penny Black's Simplicity blog where you will always find a selection of CAS creations showcasing the wonderful product available in the Penny Black Store : )


Before I go I wondered if you had heard about the Italian chef that died?.....  Yeah, he pasta away.



BIG (((HUGS)))

Simplicity Sister - Doing what I love!

I really love stretching a dollar! I love shopping at garage sales and finding coupons to my favorite stores in my e-mail : )  I guess that is why I enjoy all the ways you can use Penny Black dies.

For my card today I started by embossing with my die rather than cutting with it.  I experimented with just the right "sandwich" for my Big Shot so that I can use my dies to emboss.  Can you see the little hearts suspended from the top of my card?  It would be great just like this but then I cut the same die on a piece of copy paper to create a stencil.  I lay my stencil directly to the card face and lightly sponged the hearts in place.   : )

I hope that you are getting to do what you love today as well!! and just for a bonus I pray God's Love is falling from the sky to bless you!! : )

All supplies from Penny Black
Heart Drops #51-298
Mimi's Love #30-270
Sweet as Honey #30-145

A word to the wise....

Don’t ever run with bagpipes… you could poke and eye out or worse yet you could get kilt!

BIG (((HUGS)))

Cómo se dice... - How do you say....

Ok so our Spanish speaking student's English is improving by leaps and bounds but I can't say the same for our Spanish!! We continue to have English class with our sweet new adopted daughter Nayeli.  The last time she was here she wanted to know the usage of:

"Arrrrr"

you know Arrrr! like a pirate would say.  How we got on to that subject?? I have NO idea! LOL but we tried everything to explain it including me putting an eye patch over my glasses!

It was only when I looked at her and said "Pirates of the Caribbean" did she shout out the name of the main character in the movie.  With tears rolling down all of our faces she came to understand that a pirate would say "Arrrr" heeheehee What can I say? we are having FUN!

I have been CASEing the designs for our classes from my own cards for a couple of reasons - time really being the biggest reason.  I want to focus on giving her experience with a lot of different tools and coloring mediums.  So for most of my regular visitors many of the designs I'm sharing are ones you may have seen before.  This day I shared my Zigs. Both Nayeli and Diane handled them expertly and their cards turned out super pretty! We are normally so caught up in what we are doing that I fail photograph the event properly.  When each class is over I regret that I didn't take more pictures.

Nayeli's used the sentiment "Hola" on her card which means hello in Spanish.  
I wish you could see her beautiful Ziggy coloring better -  this picture doesn't do it justice

Next I designed a "Scratch and Sniff" card for them to create.  This was a fun one and met with the question: "What does 'you're the cherry on the top' mean?!" I didn't see that one coming giggles!!

Thank you for stopping by. Here is a little funny to reward you! : )

What did the female dinosaur call her blouse making business? 

"Try Sara’s Tops!"

BIG (((HUGS)))

Color Week at the Just Us Girls Blog

Hello everyone!

Why did the farmer call his pig ink?  Because he always ran out of the pen.

heeheehee  I hope May flowers are blooming in your neck of the woods!! : ) here everything is turning lush and green!! it's is beautiful : ) As I write this my doors and windows are open and I am enjoying the sound of birds chirping and the faint sound of a lawn mower somewhere in the distance.  I love May!!

Today I hope to inspire you to join me at Just Us Girls!  As an invited guest I am in some pretty incredible company! you gotta check out the DT I promise you'll be inspired.

Lisa Kind

Maria Levine

Vicki Dutcher

Nancy Leppek

Sue Vandevusse

Bobby Hagen

Ina Grehan

Angie Cimbalo

Carol Mayne

I love this color combo!!  Please inspire us with your take on this great challenge by joining us at JUGS.

I am having a blast creating Christmas cards this year. I normally wait until December to make my cards but because of great challenges like Loll's CAS Christmas Card Challenge and Merry Monday I am going to have my cards finished early!! : )

I will be sharing this happy little snowman in the CAS Christmas Card Challenge.  I encourage you to share your snowman cards there too - the challenge is open until May 24th.

Thank you for stopping by : ) Have a great day!

BIG (((HUGS)))

Hello babies!!

Hello friends : ) Thanks a bunch for stopping by today.  I am here to share a batch of baby cards I have made recently.

Everyone must have heard about the Mighty Multiples by now : ) the adorable little miracles that have joined Grandma Linda's family this month - you can read about them HERE.  Then my niece asked me to create some baby cards for her to give and I have another two nieces expecting babies almost any minute now!  Baby cards are among my favorite to make and being that I was totally out of baby cards in my "stash" I decided to crank out a whole nursery full.

To start with this trio of hellos were sent to the Mighty Multiples:

These are the cards I sent to my niece, Jennifer:

I CASEd myself with this design : )

Another CASEd design from a few years ago

 ... these two will go to my other nieces....

...and these are just to re-build my stash : )

I have been staying SUPER busy with my organizing and sorting and Mexican visitors :  )  Everything is going good.   My "student" is doing very well with her English and managing to teach us some Spanish too!! I will come back later this week with a post to share the cards we've been making in "class" and the fun we've been having.

BIG (((HUGS)))

Simplicity Sister sneak peek TWINS

Hello crafty friends : ) today is my turn to try to lure you into making BIG purchases at the Penny Black store! 

Here is a sneeky peek.... are you grabbing for your pocketbook yet?

Join me at the Penny Black Simplicity Blog to see my whole card!

Hey! I just bought a cured ham.... I wonder what it had!

Thank you for stopping by I appreciate you!

BIG (((HUGS)))

Stencil challenge with the Girls!

Hello friends : ) I can't believe a whole week has gone by since I posted.  I knew I would be getting busy but I didn't think I would be this busy this fast!!  I hope you are all doing well and enjoying a bright and warm spring!  As I write this it is actually raining and foggy here but I guess that is what it is supposed to do in spring! : ) I sure is wonderful to see GREEN! every where rather than white!

I'm here today, as a guest of the Just Us Girls Challenge blog to challenge you!: ).  This week the challenge is Stencils!!

I created this polka dotted tribute to my "adopted" Mom from whom I inherited my love of all things girly. I went wild with the stencils inside and out : )  But Mom's motto is... you can never have too many polka dots! so I know she'll like it I hope you do too.

Here is a good joke in honor of the ladies...... 

A husband and wife were arguing about who should make the coffee.  The wife said – “the bible says the husband is to make the coffee.”  He asked “where does it say that!” So she opened her bible… right here in “Hebrews”.

heeheehee I would like to send hugs and best wishes to all my children loving friends! whether you are a Mom or not : ) you know who you are!! *wink*

Please don't forget to link up your stenciled works of art!! at JUGS.

BIG (((HUGS)))

Invited guest at JUGS

It's true! I am an invited guest at the Just Us Girls Challenge Blog for the whole month!!

The thing I really love about challenges is how challenging they often are.  I felt like I needed some help with this challenge so I went to You Tube for some inspiration.  I found THIS VIDEO from 2013 that I based my "shadowing" on.

I didn't have the kinds of stamps that she did and so I created my "ghosting" with a white Prisma Pencil.  I guess in the end it really doesn't look much like hers but hey! what can I say I was inspired and I want to give credit where credit is due : )

Please join the girls at Just Us Girls Challenge blog with your "Shadow".  We would love to see your take on this challenge.  And I would also like to invite you to swing by the Penny Black Simplicity blog for a yummy dose of CAS inspiration!

If my card doesn't cheer you up maybe this will......  Did you hear about the two silk worms in a race? ........    They ended in a tie!

Supplies:
#40-616 Floral Medley
#51-221 Feel Better
Prisma Colored Pencils

Have a wonderful day and thanks a bunch for stopping by.

BIG (((HUGS)))

Merry Monday - no stamping

Ok girls here is a brain teaser for you.  I will give the answer at the bottom of my post : )

I travel all over the world but I always stay in my corner.... What am I??

Merry Monday challenges us to make our cards this week with no stamping on them! : ) I love LOVE love!! die cuts so I had lots of fun ideas in my head for this card.  I ended up choosing to use a piece of pre-printed paper from a Papertrey Ink Wonderland Kit and a favorite snowflake embossing folder. Easy Peasy!!

I hope you will join the talented gals at Merry Monday by entering your - no stamping - card in the gallery! : )

Over the next couple of weeks and months I will be in the throws of sorting, throwing, donating, garage selling and packing in preparation for our move New Mexico!! We are so excited now that we have made our decision to go but the work isn't going to get done by itself : ) For this reason I will be taking a semi-break from card making and might be a little bit sketchy on my visiting.  I will still have my English/card making classes with my Mexican friends and I will still have some obligations for Penny Black that I will be posting from time to time - I might even be forced!! to join some fun challenges : )  and naturally I will need to drop in for a joke or two heehee but I am excited for this part of the adventure to get under way so I hope you won't forget me. : )

With all that said I would like to invite you to stop back on Saturday morning to see what I have created as the May Guest Designer for Just Us Girls challenge blog. : )

Ok you've waited long enough.....  a stamp!!

Thanks a bunch for stopping by friends!! I appreciate you!

BIG (((HUGS)))

Just Us Girls Challenge

I absolutely LOVE this amazing photo that Vicki of Just Us Girls Challenge Blog selected for our inspiration this week.

This picture reminded me of my sister who loves "doodling".  She is actually a Doodle Artist! and is working on her own line of Doodles!!  I created this card for her birthday.  Thank you JUGS for the incredible inspiration!!

I did a bit of "Doodling" on a piece of white card stock before cutting it with the Wonky Squares die.  Then I cut another Wonky Square from black card stock and swapped out some of the centers with the doodled white pieces.  I cut a portion of the Floral Arrangement die and then inked on some color.  Finally I added two score lines at the bottom of the card. : ) A little time consuming but my baby sister is worth it!! : )

Thank you for stopping by today.  I hope you will join the girls over at JUGS to support their fun challenge!

I would also like to invite you to visit the Penny Black Simplicity Blog where my "Simplicity Sisters and I share CASolicious cards we hope will inspire you : )

All supplies I used are from Penny Black:

#51-424 Wonky Squares
#30-481 Radiant
#51-428 Floral Arrangement


Ok could you use a good laugh today? This one is one of my favorites - and it is really good advice too! .... here goes....

If you call one of those psychic hotlines and they don’t greet you by your name, you should hang up!

BIG (((HUGS)))