Gobble

I am screaming in at the last moment with my Thanksgiving place cards for CASology Week 20. 

Gobble!  

Here is the most delicious bird that was eaten at our table.  I love this celebration of gratitude.  For those who celebrate Thanksgiving, my  favorite day of the year, I hope yours was warm, wonderful and delicious.  For those who do not, I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Thanks for stopping by today.

Snowflake Christmas

I created this card with the inspiration of CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge #4 and the "Accentuate the Negative" challenge over at Catered Crop which is to create a project using negative spaces created from your die cuts, punches, electronic cutters (like a Silhouette or Cricut), etc..  Both the sketch and the technique were wonderful to work with. Thanks for stopping in today.

Supplies

Stamps~PTI Snowflake Medley and  Signature Christmas

Ink~PTI Aqua Mist, VersaFine Onyx Black.

Paper~PTI Limeade Ice and White.

Accessories~Hero Arts Snowflakes, Memory Box Jewel Stickers, PTI Snowflake Medley Dies, Crop-A-Dial Corner Chomper.

Thankful CASE Study

I am in a mode of gratitude. This creation is inspired by this week's CASE Study challenge #115. Their November Muse is Angline Yong of The Creation of Creativity and I just love her inspiration piece.

I am thankful for your visit today.

Supplies

Paper~Taylored Expressions Buttercream Choice Cardstock, SU Haiku DSP, Chocolate Chip.

Ink~VersaFine Vintage Sepia.

Stamps~PTI Counting My Blessings.

Accessories~PTI Beautiful Beads, Counting My Blessings and Loop De Loop dies, Crop-A-Dial Corner Chomper.

PDCC156

The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and PDCC156 inspired this creation.  I have so much to be thankful for.  I have a warm house, plenty of food, family and friends who are close and safe even though many still do not have power after Sandy.  My heart is breaking over the devastation of the (my beloved) Jersey Shoreline. Heard news this morning that there is a large stretch on the barrier island where Seaside Heights is, from which people are being evacuated today because of a huge break in a sewer line.  The area is toxic and there are fires and all kinds of other devastation.  They are estimating that in some of those towns, people will not be able to go back to their homes for 8 months.  Many have no home to go back to at all. The stories and the pictures and the reports are almost too much to bear.  And these areas are relatively near to where I sit in my warm home crafting. Gratitude. There is so much to be done here. So many prayers needed. So much money needed to restore the shore and many otherea of the beautiful Garden State and and surrounding states to make their residents whole.  I am overwhelmed with gratitude and sadness today.  Please keep a good thought for New Jersey and the other places that were hit by this devastating storm.  Thanks for visiting and reading on.

Sandy Halloween

 

 

 I have not been able to get to my craft room for a long stretch again, but I did have the opportunity to create something yesterday during the day as I hunkered down with my family awaiting the arrival of Hurricane Sandy.  We live in NJ, about 45 miles from the (my beloved) shoreline.  I can say that I never experienced a storm like Sandy.  The media did not over-sensationalize it as many of us thought.  It really was the storm of the century - frightening.  With that said, our home is virtually unscathed. We lost power for only 16 hours, which is a miracle. Our basement is dry.  My 90 year old mom who refused to leave her home and stay with one of her daughters, is fine as is her home, aside from a 60 foot oak tree which fell on her property, but parallel to her house. We are so grateful. Millions of our NJ, NY and CT neighbors fared poorly and will be, for the forseeable future, without power and shelter and so many other things we tend to take for granted. 



I missed the deadline on these two challenges because of our power loss, but I thought I would post all the same since I am so glad I finally made something!  Halloween is not going to happen here, but I wanted to make something Halloween-y anyway.  I used ColourQ 160 for my color scheme, and CAS(E) this sketch #3 for me layout.

Thank you so much for stopping in today.  Hope you are safe and dry.

 

Stamps~Waltzingmouse Midnight Feast.

Ink~VersaMark, PTI Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss, Red Razzleberry.

Accessories~PTI Wrought Iron Impression Plate, Ranger and PTI embossing powders, Dimensionals, twine.

Papers~PTI, SU, Authentique.

Gratitude

I love this season of Fall, and I love celebrating the things in my life for which I am grateful.  I combined the color challenge of Dynamic Duos this week with the layout of Card Positioning Systems #285 and came up with a creation of gratitude.  The color I chose for my Dynamic Duos combo is Memento Cantaloupe.  I used the rock and roll technique with the Hero Arts leaf images that I have had in my stash for a long time.  The sentiment is also Hero Arts.  These images and sentiments never get old. I pull them out every Autumn.  It's hard to see, but the vanilla squares are embossed with PTI Woodgrain IP, and the background of the vanilla panel is embossed with PTI's linen IP.  I am grateful for your visit today.  Enjoy this wonderful season.

Blog Header Inspiration

CFC72:  Create a project inspired by your blog header

The challenge over at CAS-UAL Fridays this week is brilliant!  My son was home sick yesterday so I was able to get into my craft room when I would otherwise be working. What a treat!  (Mother of the year, that's me... lol).  Anyway, this is my take on using my blog header for inspiration. I love the way it came out.  All supplies are PTI except the sentiment which is from Waltzingmouse Stamps.  Thanks so much for stopping by today.

Happy Spooky Halloween!

I had fun looking through my Halloween stash today and coming up with this card.  My color inspiration was Dynamic Duos #20 and CASual Fridays CFC70, and my design was taken from Retro Sketch #29.  Thank you for coming by.  Have a great day!

What's Up?

I finished this card days ago, but have had lots of computer problems and Blogger has not been my friend lately.  This is my take on the latest Runway Inspired challenge which closed last night.  I really like the way it turned out and wish I could have squeaked it in for the challenge, but c'est la vie.  Thank you for coming by. Have a beautiful day.  

Happy Hour

This creation is for the Moxie Fab World Focal Point Challenge.  I love this ribbon - it is so summery. While we are breathing the last breaths of summer, I thought I would do a summer themed project with it. The Paper Smooches images and the PTI Impression Plate were the perfect ingredients for this project.  Thanks for stopping in. 

Supplies: 

Paper~PTI Black, White, SU Summer Sun (retired).Stamps~Paper Smooches Get Outta Town.Ink~Momento Tuxedo Black, VersaFine Onyx Black.Accessories~Nestabilities, PTI Sunrise Impression Plate, Ribbon (unknown), Copics, Dimensionals, Corner Chomper.

Thinking of You

Oh happy day! I finally got to sit down and create something today.  I always think that summer is going to afford me so much time for creating, but it never works out that way. I have been joyously running around doing fun things and soaking up a lot of beach time with my boys, so I can't complain.  Today was a rest and recharge day, so I went right to my happy place.  I also figured out why I was not getting sharp photos and fixed it with a minor adjustment, so I am a happy camper.

This is my take on the Dynamic Duos challenge this week.  I had to switch out Lucky Limeade for  PTI's New Leaf.  Really enjoyed this color scheme.  Thanks so much for stopping in today.  I hope  I am "back in the saddle" as the saying goes...

Supplies:

Paper~PTI Kraft, New Leaf and White.

Stamps~PTI Botanical Silhouettes, Background Basics Herringbone.

Ink~PTI New Leaf, VersaFine Onyx Black.

Accessories~PTI New Leaf and Bloom Builders #3 dies, Kaiser pearls, Websters Pages designer trim, Dimensionals.

Ever So Grateful

When I saw the inspiration photo for this week's ColourQ Challenge, I immediately thought of PTI's Rosie Posie set and this card came together.  Thanks for stopping by today.

The Sun Always Comes Out Again

This creation took me forever to put together, though I really like the end result.  I am having a terrible time with photographing my cards. I don't know what changed, but the photos are not as clear as they have been. Very puzzling.  Anyway, there's a new challenge in town - CASology.  The inspiration is a word, and this week it is SUN.  CAS-ual Firdays challenge this week is to Use strips of color or pattern in your Clean And Simple creation.

So here you have it - sun (made with triangular strips) and strips (of blue).  The picture really does no justice to this card.  This problem is driving me mad, so if you have any suggestions, I am all ears (eyes...).

Thank you for stopping by today!

Peace Love & Joy

Week 75 over at LIM is a color challenge - use GOLD. I used 4 gold elements on my card.  The Waltzingmouse Vintage Ornament is heat embossed with gold EP.  The gold burst in the oval opening is stamped with VersaColor gold ink. The ribbon is gold, and the gold fronds on the top of the ornament are punched from Creative Memories metallic gold paper. The sentiment is from PTI's Bells & Boughs.  The base of the card is embossed with PTI's Linen IP, but the picture does not capture that.  This card was really hard to photograph effectively.  

Well, I now have one Christmas card made. That is one more than last year - lol.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Peace, Love and Totally Cool!

CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week is to use 2 circles on your project.  I just bought this fun Peace Signs set from Inkadinkado, and decided that my circle design would incorporate one of those images.  I also got a big stash of Paper Smooches fun recently, so I was bound and determined to work some of those in too.  Well, I see my 2 circles as the two gray circles, but then there are all of the embossed circles and the white circle and the peace sign circle... nonetheless, I like the way this finally came out.  My color scheme is taken from this week's Play Date Cafe color story challenge.  Thanks so much for stopping in today. Be well.  Weather is crazy all over the place here in the US.  We just have extrememly hot and humid conditions here in the northeast.

Eagle Scout Achievement

This card is for a very special young man who has achieved the rank of Eagle Scout.  His Court of Honor is tomorrow.  He's a great guy who has worked long and hard and overcame some big obstacles to get here.  I am so pleased for and proud of him.  When I was trying to come up with a card for him, I ran across some word art about scouting on Pinterest.  Then I remembered THIS post from by Kim S of Joyful Creations With Kim and how much I loved her word cloud creation for the Confirmandi in her church.  I went to the link she provided and it all came together from there with the help of Jen's Deconstructed sketch for this week.  Inside, the sentiment is from PTI's For the Graduate: Dreams Believed are Dreams Achieved.  Perfect for this occasion.  Thanks for stopping in today!

Happy Birthday Jenny!

CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week is to use acetate or vellum on your project.  My clouds and top of the water is made with a beautiful piece of vellum I took from a card I recently received.  This birthday card is made with love for my good friend Jenny who lives in England and whose birthday is today!  I hope the real thing got to you today Jenny, but in any case, have a smashing birthday!!!!

You & Me Forever

This card is born of a combination of challenges and a Splitcoast Stampers tutorial. Retrosketches for the layout, Paper Players for the colors and SCS for the bow. I am skidding in at the last moment for Retro Sketches. I loved this sketch, the colors came together and the SCS tutorial on tying a bow came in handy.  Thanks so much for visiting today.

Supplies:

Stamps~PTI Tranquility Trilogy, Love and Marriage.

Paper~SU Melon Mambo & Basic Gray, PTI White.

Ink~SU Melon Mambo, Memento Pear Tart & London Fog, VersaFine Onyx Black.

Accessories~SU Top Note Die, Nestabilities, Dimensionals, Lifestyle Crafts EF, Basic Gray 3/8 Taffeta Ribbon.

Flourish of Thanks

This card is the second version of the original flourish-y card I made for this week's Less Is More challenge, which is to make a one layer card with a flourish.  I was so happy with the first card I came up, but it ended up with very little white space, so I went to plan B. I'm not sure whether my double embossing looks weak or wonderful. I probably should have applied the black over white but would have had to switch the images. I had to laugh when I uploaded it and saw that it has the same color scheme as the LIM header, which is pretty flourished!

Thanks for coming by to take a look. Have a wonderful day.

Supplies:

Stamps~ PTI Background Basics : Farm & Barn, Turning a New Leaf  & Botanical Silhouettes, Verve Kindred Spirits, SU Elements of Style.

Ink~PTI Fresh Snow & Classic Kraft, SU Basic Black Craft, VersaFine Onyx Black.

Supplies~Black Sharpie, SU Clear Embossing Powder,

 

Life Is Good

My creation for PDCC135 sprung from the wonderful blue door in this inspiration photo.  My mind was already in beach mode and as soon as I saw this photo, the little cabana from Wilson Designs' Teeny Bikini popped into my head.  I used PTI's Farm & Barn Background Basics to apply a fine woodgrain to the door and I went from there.  After two more school days I can go to the beach pretty much whenever I want until September. Life is good.  Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies:

Stamps~Wilson Designs Teeny Bikini, PTI Background Basics: Farm & Barn, Background Basics Medallions, Back Pocket Basics.

Ink~PTI Hawaiian Shores, Canyon Clay, SU Pacific Point, Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaFine Onyx Black.

Paper~PTI Canyon Clay, Hawaiian Shores, White, Neenah Solar White, SU Pacific Point.

Accessories~Dimensionals, Quartet Cork Crafe Sheet, MFT Die-namics Catch A Wave, PTI Back Pocket Basics Die Collection, Taylored Expressions Clouds Impression Plate.

Dreams Achieved

I am so excited about this card.  I needed a very special graduation card for a very special young woman who graduates from High School in suburban Chicago on Friday and is heading to Fordham University in New York city in the Fall.  She has had a rough few years that include the loss of her beloved dad.  I will have the honor of attending her graduation with her mom on Friday.   

I just got this fabulous New York stamp set from Artemio with the help of my dear friend Jenny.  It's a Belgian company for which I could not find a US resource.  It arrived just in time - I leave tomorrow for Chicago.  When I saw the I Spy Sketch Challenge for this week, my design immediately fell in to place.  Inside are two metro cards that Ellen can use to ride the subways in NYC.  I just love the way this all fell together, and I wish Ellen the most wonderful adventure in New York and every success in her endeavors.  She is one special person!!

Thank you so much for stopping in.