The Case of the Curious Card III

Yay, this time I'm actually making the deadline for this fun challenge by Marie of The Greeting Farm: The Case of the Curious Card III. I have to admit, it's fun to CASE someone else's card because all the hard work (design) is already done for you! {LOL}


For my card, I used the Dorothy Anya Digital Stamp. Isn't she adorable??? I colored the images with Copics (of course), and adorned Anya's... I mean Dorothy's... hair with a little flowered rhinestone. The card base is Regal Rose and the mat is Old Olive. I believe the DSP (Designer Series Paper) is Georgia Peach (retired, but Washington Apple has the same patterns with different colors).

I'm home today with my youngest Avery, who has strep throat. Yuck! We haven't had a case of strep throat around here in years. The doctor says it can turn into Scarlett Fever, so we're keeping an eye on him. I think we caught it early enough and he'll be okay. So what's a mom to do on an unexpected day off except take advantage and stamp... while she's tending a sick child and doing laundry, of course (*grin*)!

Thanks for stopping by! And don't forget Debbie's blog candy opportunity!

P.S. I'm sorry, but The Price is Right just isn't the same without Bob Barker.

Edited to add: I just came across another Debbie's blog candy opportunity, this time Debbie from the UK! You have got to see this to believe it! Not to mention, she has some great eye candy to share...

Wonderful Blog Candy Opportunity!

Okay, before I forget one moment longer, you must click right over to my friend Debbie's blog for an awesome blog candy opportunity! She's celebrating 15,555 hits! And while you're there, browse through her many lovely creations.

Debbie has become a very dear friend to me. We've never met in person, but we feel like we've known each other for ages. Debbie was the inspiration behind the Non-Raffle for the Victorian Bushfires Appeal on Splitcoaststampers. She lives near where the fires burned and knows people directly affected by that horrendous tragedy. We worked side by side on the non-raffle... it would not have been a success without her! The best part for me is that it sealed our friendship forever.

So, run, don't walk, to her blog and tell her I sent ya!

A Gorgeous Sunday

Even a die-hard winter gal like myself can't deny it's a beautiful day here in So Cal, albeit a bit on the warm side (low 90's F, mid-30's C). The skies are a wonderful blue with a few white whispy clouds. I was just out in the backyard for a moment with the dogs and snapped this picture.

We live at the bottom of a fairly steep street, so this is looking up toward our neighbors yards to the back and side. I sure wish we could get something to grow on that slope made of granite. Ha!

Anyway, I did manage to make a card or two this weekend. The one I'm sharing today is for Mojo Monday Week 82. Since Julee Tilman is the designer of those great sketches, I thought I'd use my new Verve stamp set Miracles Blossom.I haven't even begun to discover all the possibilities with this beautiful stamp set! Julee's artistry is so unique... elegant and simple all at once. I don't even know if that makes sense, but I do know that I love her art... and her cards. No matter what stamps she uses, she turns each card into a lovely thing to behold.

The card base is SU's Sahara Sand, which I'm rediscovering, and the mats are Tempting Turquoise. I'm loving those colors with the Flock Together DSP. I hope you can see the sparkle in that gorgeous ribbon... it's Turquoise Glimmer from Taylored Expressions. Since I didn't have much space to work with, rather than matting the main image, I used a black Sharpie and a ruler to draw a faux mat around the edge. I also stamped an extra flower and drew the stem to the pot. The pot was stamped separately and then positioned and tacked down over the stems.

Question of the day: do you play an instrument?

Sadly, no, I don't, but I wish I could play the piano... besides Chopsticks and Heart and Soul, that is. {LOL} I played clarinet in junior high school, oh so many years ago. I'm quite sure I couldn't blow a note now if my life depended on it!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit! I love to hear from you.

Never Judge a Book by its Cover!

If you haven't already seen it, you must take a look at this clip on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY. (YouTube won't allow you to embed the video, so you have to go the link to see it.) All I can say is it brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it.

I happen to LOVE Les Miserable... I had the privilege of seeing the stage production in Los Angeles years ago... and I have the soundtrack AND a video of the London stage performance. The reason I love it so much is the music, and the song Susan sings is one of my favorites.

But the truly wonderful thing about this clip is the message behind it, and that is you can't judge a book by its cover. Outward beauty doesn't hold a candle to inner beauty and talent. And it is never too late to pursue your dreams.

First Ever Club Anya Blog Hoppin Bash!!!

Hey all you Anya fans! Not only is this the first Club Anya blog hop, but it's also my first blog hop as a participant. Welcome, welcome, welcome to my blog! I look forward to visiting yours tonight, too!

Without further ado, here is my humble card.


I love Rock the Farm, which was my introduction to The Greeting Farm. Please bear with me because I'm a newbie to this line of stamps... but I'm hooked!

I colored Anya with my Copic markers. The DP is by Cloud 9 Designs, which I picked up at Michaels. I used my SU eyelet border punch and Spellbinders label tag maker. Those "brads" are actually Candy Dots (love them!).

Thanks for stopping by to visit me tonight. Be sure to scroll down for a quick peek at Easter Anya before you go!

Okay, one last Easter card...

I didn't post this card sooner because the recipient reads my blog (hi Lisa!) and so I wanted it to be a surprise. I also thought it would be good to post two Anya cards in a row since tomorrow night I'm going to participate in my first blog hop with Club Anya. Should be fun! In fact, I'd better get into my craft room and finish my card... it's almost done, but still needs a bit of tweaking.

This Anya is a digital stamp from The Greeting Farm called Easter Anya. I actually think she looks a bit like Lisa's youngest daughter Ava... so cute! I colored her with my Copic markers, and used my atyou Spica pens to color the eggs in her basket. The cardstock is by Stampin Up: So Saffron and Almost Amethyst, and the DP is from the Tea Party collection. Such lovely spring colors, perfect for Easter!

Question of the day: what time do you usually go to bed?

Obviously, I'm tired and thinking of my beddy byes... or like my friend Michelle likes to say...my jammies are looking for me (*smile*), but I'm a gal who needs a good night's sleep... 8 to 9 hours... so I try to hit the hay around 10:00.

May your sleep tonight be restful with nothing but good dreams! Thanks for stopping by!

You're So Sweet!

The stamp sets from Taylored Expressions (Stamp a Sweet Expression) are so doggone cute, they are hard to resist! Just before Easter, I received Downtown Diva and had to ink it up. Seemed like a great excuse to play in Taylor's weekly Cupcake Challenge.

The lighting at night is not the best for taking pictures of cards, but I wanted to get this posted before the deadline for this weekend's sketch challenge. (Edited to add: I took another picture this evening when I got home from work. It's still light outside, but evening light. Still, better than last night's darker version.)

I used SU's So Saffron cardstock for the base and mats, and SU's Sweet Slumber Specialty DSP (love the texture and colors!) for my card. The images are colored with my Copic markers. It's hard to see in the picture, but I used my atyou Spica pens to decorate some of the sweets in the window for a bit of sparkle, and used Taylor's Tiny Twinkles for the flower centers on the Cuppies' heads. I punched out the big flower using the same DSP, and finished it off with a yellow button.

Well, it's time for me to hit the hay, as they say, but before I go:

Question of the day (night?): What is your favorite sweet?

That's hard... there are so many... but my all time favorite are the Scotchmallows made by See's Candy... a yummy blend of marshmallow, caramel and dark chocolate. Oh Baby! And I'm pretty sure I could pick one out of a box of candy blindfolded! LOL

A Happy Hello

By any chance have you seen the super cute card (and scrapbooking) kits that Kelly puts together over at Keep In Touch? I found her when she sponsored the CPS sketch of the week about a month ago. I love the mixes she puts together... and apparently so do many others since her kits sell out within hours of being posted! {LOL} I was lucky enough to get a couple of kits and decided to use one to design a card for the Mojo Monday 81 Contest.Can I say that I LOVE this sketch? I'm definitely going to use it again... so fun and different. Yes, there is a little stamping here... the polka dot coffee cup and greeting are from the Papertrey Ink Anniversary Set which I was lucky enough to earn. I punched the flowers from paper in the kit. Everything here is from the Keep in Touch kit except the card base and stamped image. Love it!

Question of the day: If you could be Samantha Stevens for one moment and twitch your nose to make something happen, what would it be? (Okay, for those of you too young to remember, Samantha Stevens was the main character in the TV show Bewitched.)

Me, I'd twitch my nose and my home would be sparkling clean! I could cry just thinking about the joy of it! {LOL}

Have a great day!

Some Bunny Love You!

I love the vintage images of Crafty Secrets, but confess that their stamps are a bit hard for me to design with. Lo and behold, they've come out with vintage images in living color on both cloth and paper! This card is made with one of images from Cotton Scraps.I cut out the image and then stitched it onto a piece of More Marigold cardstock (remember that SU color?). The base cardstock is Papertrey Ink's Melon Berry. I also stitched around some My Minds Eye DP (from the Laundry Line collection) for my background mat, and then tucked in a couple of K&Company die cuts behind the bunny image, all finished off with a bow made of cream colored tulle and a Melon Berry button. No stamping, but fun to make just the same.

I hope you're enjoying your day. It's a bit dreary weather-wise today, so I'm having one of those lazy days when I can't seem to get past first or second gear. Maybe that's what weekends are for? Ha!

Question of the day: What is your favorite sport?

I should say mine is golf since my husband is a golf coach and all of our boys play (in fact, they are glued to the TV watching The Masters)... and it is a favorite... but I'm still partial to baseball. I think it's the All-American aspect of it (no offense to my friends from other countries). Little League was always my favorite pastime with the boys. Baseball and apple pie. Makes me smile.

Non-Raffle Prize Winners Now Posted!!!

It took a bit longer than expected, navigating through vacation schedules, getting information from Paypal, organizing the lists and drawing the winners, but we're finally there! You will find the winners list posted by me in this thread on SCS. Jenn Balcer is also entering the winners' names into the prize gallery postings themselves. Congratulations to all the winners, and especially to those who were lucky enough to win multiple prizes!

The winners will be contacted directly by the prize donors to arrange delivery of the prizes. If you are a winner and haven't heard from the prize donor within the next week, please email me and I'll do what I can to help.

Debbie and I want to thank each and every one of you, from the bottom of our hearts, for supporting this worthy cause. Together we raised $3715 USD for the victims of the Victorian Bushfires. That is, quite simply, awesome and humbling.

I hope you all have a wonderful, blessed Easter.

One Sketch, Two Versions

Have you seen the CUTE stamps at Stamps and Smiles? Yikes, they are adorable! I've seen so many wonderful samples, I couldn't resist getting a set of my own. I chose Egg Hunt, and used that set for the Stamps and Smiles Sketch Challenge #9.And here are my versions... I used the same design for both, but changed up the colors.
I can't decide which I like better. I got the idea for layering the scalloped edge punched borders from one of my favorite designers Cindy Haffner. Cindy is a master of layering, I tell ya. I want to be her when I grow up!

The paper is from Stampin Up... for the first one, it's Bashful Blue cardstock and Delicate Dots DSP (from SAB), and the second one is Certainly Celery cardstock with Tea Party DSP. The border punches are Martha Stewart Crafts, except I did use the SU Eyelet Border punch for one of the layers on the green/pink card. And can I say I'm LOVIN' the scalloped oval punch in the SU Occasions Mini Catalog! It works perfectly with the SU Large Oval punch for layering.

The images are colored with my Copic markers. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but I colored the eggs in Mama Bunny's basket with my atyou Spica pens. Love, love, love the sparkle!

Gotta run and eat my lunch. I've managed to sneak one vacation day this week while my kids are on Spring Break, and my DH just brought us lunch. What a nice guy, eh? I think I'll keep him.

Question of the day: What are you doing for Easter?

We are going to church (of course) and then to the Club with friends for brunch. It's one of those special brunches where you have to eat in stages because there is so much food! Like my husband always tells the kids... don't go away hungry! Me, I'm happy that I don't have to clean my house and cook. (hee hee) I'm sure after we get home, the guys will be glued to The Masters on TV, and I shall sneak away to stamp. Bliss!

Whatever you do, I hope you have a truly blessed day. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Spring!

For this Spring card I used the set I won from Anna Wight called Bo Peep's Sheep. I was on a roll with my Prisma color pencils and OMS from the Gina K Stamp TV projects, so I used them on this card rather than my Copics. You have to work a little harder with colored pencils and OMS than you do with Copics, but it's still a fun technique for a change of pace. The front sheep is cut out and popped up with a Dimensional. The base is Gina K's new base weight cardstock, which I love. She's also carrying it in black and will soon add a rich dark brown (I sampled some in the Floral Frenzy kit and it's awesome!). The rest of the card stock is Stampin Up, as is the DP, which is part of the SAB Delicate Dots paper pack. I added a little paper piercing in the corner, some ribbon and button, and voila!

Question of the day: what is your favorite season?

Mine is a tie between fall and winter, probably because both are so mild here in Southern California. But I can't deny that beautiful sunny days like today, with flowers blooming, hummingbirds outside my window, and blue skys with a light breeze are pretty awesome, too!

Have a wonderful day!

Blog Candy Winner!!!

Hi Everyone! So sorry it's taken me so long to get to my blog candy drawing today. I just wrote down everyone's name on a slip of paper, folded them up, and had my youngest son Avery draw the winning name. And the winner is: Stampowl (Frances Byrne)! Congratulations Frances!!! Please email me your address and I'll get your package of goodies mailed out to you right away!

My sincerest thanks to each and every one of you who promoted the fundraiser for the Victorian Bushfires Appeal. I'm quite sure that our fundraiser would not have been a success without each of your efforts. It's wonderful to see people reaching out to help one another, especially during these very difficult economic times. No effort is too small.

We're all waiting on pins and needles to see who wins the prizes. I believe we'll know soon... it's a matter of getting the final information from Paypal and then drawing for the winners, something the good folks at Splitcoaststampers are taking care of for us. We could not have done this without them, and our sincere thanks goes out to SCS, and Jenn Balcer in particular, for all their help and support.

I'll be back tomorrow with a card or two to share. Have a great evening!

Sweet Forest Friends and Last Chance for Victorian Bushfire Appeal Prizes!

I absolutely love this little stamp set from the Occasions Mini Catalog! It's called Forest Friends, and definitely reminds me of Bambi. I have to apologize for the photo quality... this card looks so much better in real life. It's 4 1/2 inch square, which is a size I haven't tried before. It's perfect for these smaller images. I don't know if you can tell by the picture, but the little bunny is cut out and popped up in front of the deer with a Dimensional. Everything you see is Stampin Up. The DP is from the SAB paper set, and the cardstock is Bashful Blue and Chocolate Chip.

Please don't forget that tomorrow (Friday, April 3rd) is the last day to make a donation to the Non-Raffle for the Victorian Bushfires Appeal and earn some chances to win some awesome prizes. I will also be drawing for my blog candy opportunity on Saturday, so there is still time to enter by spreading the word one last time tomorrow!

Thanks to all who have supported this very worthy cause... and to those of you who actually read my blog!

The question of the day is: What is your favorite TV show (or shows)?

Mine are One Life to Live and General Hospital. Yep, I'm a soap addict. And there is no cure for me. LOL

Another Gina K Stamp TV Card

I am just loving Gina K's Stamp TV and Floral Frenzy Kit! Not only am I trying old techniques again, but it's helping me get my mojo going. There's nothing like settling in and following along after someone else has done the hard work of designing for you. Then it's all about the crafting and relaxing... no pressure. I love it!

This card uses the Thumping With Markers technique. Gina uses Memento markers, but you can do this with Stampin Up markers (that's what I used). It works best with watercolor markers. You could actually get it to work with Copics, but it requires re-moistening with a mist of Colorless Blender. I've never tried it, but I saw Marianne demonstrate it at the Copic Certification class. Still, I think Thumping is really meant for watercolor markers.

Everything here is from the Floral Frenzy kit except the little felt butterfly, which is by Heidi Swapp.

I'll be back soon with more cards to share.

In the meantime, the Question of the Day is: what is your favorite meat (if any)?

Mine is filet mignon... cooked to perfection, of course, at a fine restaurant! I guess I have steak on my mind right now because my husband is grilling some for dinner. Not filet mignon, but it will be tasty just the same.