I'm Thinking Spring!!

Are you thinking spring? We had a wonderful week-end in SC helping our grandson celebrate his 5th birthday. Boy, do they grow up fast!! He (and his little brother) get sooo excited when we visit. It really makes my heart happy. And as a bonus, it was warm and sunny. We played outside all afternoon on Saturday (party in the park!) and were outside again on Sunday until we had to leave for the airport. It was 78 degrees!!! Now the trip home with tornado warnings in Indiana is a story for another time!

Today I'm playing along with the Cardabilities Sketch Challenge using a great sentiment from Paper Makeup Stamps that you can find here. I got my color scheme from the CR84FN challenge to use light pink, bright pink, and chartreuse. The butterflies are a Martha Stewart punch. The butterfly papers and the paper backing the sentiment are Echo Park and they are in the Mon Cheri card kit you can get at Paper Makeup Stamps. The kit has enough paper to make several cards. My green and light pink cardstock is Bazzill. I used Memento ink in Bamboo Leaves to stamp my sentiment and I cut it out with a curved rectangles nestie. I popped the sentiment and the butterflies up on dimension dots that you can see a little better here.Thanks so much for stopping by!

It's challenge time

I'm often very impressed with how crafters interpret a sketch as I tend to take sketches pretty literally. Here's my take on this week's Mojo Monday sketch.

I used the colors in this week's "Just Us Girls" challenge: melon, light aqua, and kraft. I paper pieced Ashlie's Solo Snail, a Paper Makeup Stamps image found here. My sentiment is from PMS too.

Other items used: Kaiser brads for the flower centers, Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch, lacey circles nestabilities, ribbon that I'm pretty sure was gifted to me by dd and dp from the Summer Dreams matstack.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cards for kids

These cards were actually Valentine's Day cards for my grandsons but they could be birthday cards or almost any occasion depending on what you put on the inside. The first one could be a "You did a great job" type of card. I kept them quite simple so there's not many layers or embellies. The image and the sentiment on the first one is from the Dino Essentials Set at Paper Makeup Stamps.
I colored in the bones using copics and used two different nestability shapes to cut the image (inverted scallops) and the backing (blossom). The stars are felt "buttons" and now that I see the photo, I'm wondering why I don't have thread in the small stars like I do the large one. Hmm?


The second card uses Rex and another sentiment from the Dino Essentials set. I paperpieced Rex with a single paper that I picked up at Hobby Lobby and didn't check the name. The buttons here are felt too but at least both of them are "sewn on". :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Raise the Bar

No pink or red on a Valentine's card is the challenge at Raise the Bar. These cute little bunnies are Billy and Bianca Love Bunnies found at Paper Makeup Stamps.


The green, peach, and purple color scheme was inspired by the paper which is from Basic Grey's Kioshi Paper Pad. Billy and Bianca were colored with copics. Lavender Stickles add sparkle to the ribbon tieing them together. The sentiment is a freebie stamp (as long as supplies last) at PMS with every order. It was stamped with green ink and then Stardust Stickles make the heart sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown #128

It's almost Valentine's Day and I've made several Valentine cards this year. This one is for the Color Throwdown this week and is a CASE of a card done by the talented Lisa found here.


My sentiment is from the Sending You Love set at Paper Makeup Stamps. It's perfect for Valentine's Day but can be used anytime of year that you want to send a little love to someone. I colored in the little heart with a copic and added some stickles for some sparkle. I used the Eyelet Squares nestie for the backing. I hope you enjoy your Valentine's Day with the ones you love.

Thanks for stopping by.

JUGS #70

I had a lot of fun participating in the Paper Makeup Stamps VIP Blog Hop yesterday. If you haven't checked out all of the great eye candy, you should and it's not too late to enter for a really great prize!

Today I'm entering this week's JUGS Challenge. It's a fun sketch challenge that you can find here. I'd been working on several Valentine cards and was ready to do something other than red/pink.I used Spare Parts paper flowers centered with a multi-colored button that I got at Mood in NYC. (Anyone who watches Project Runway will know what Mood is :) The sentiment is from the PMS Hugs and Kisses set. I used a nestie to cut it out and chalked the edges with cat's eye ink in Prussian blue, added an eyelet and tied it on with embroidery floss.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

The Things We Love

Paper Makeup Stamps is 2 years old! We're celebrating with a VIP blog hop based on "the things we love". The entire design team invited special crafters to play along in this hop and I'm so happy to be asked to participate. You should have arrived here from Ginger's blog. (Ginger actually stayed in my craft/guest room last summer on her way home from CHA with Katie! :) If you didn't get here from Ginger's blog, you should go back to the Paper Makeup Stamps company blog so you can start at the beginning. There's also a master list in case you get lost. And don't forget to enter yourself to win a super fabulous prize!

This is my "stamping birthday" too because I bought PMS stamps at the first PMS release to support my daughter's new venture. Then I thought I should figure out what to do with them. Katie has been an excellent enabler and now with several tools, more "nesties" than any one person should have, drawers full of flowers, bling, buttons, brads, ribbon, punches, paper, ink pads, etc., I love my PMS stamps and my new crafting hobby!

For this hop, I chose to use an image and a sentiment from the new PMS set called "Sending You Love". I paper pieced the mailbox and the little flag. My dp is from the "dots, stripes, and plaids" DCWV matstack and has a sheen in it so I had a little trouble getting a good photo.
I used stickles on the stamped hearts and some tiny little heartshaped bling to add even more sparkle. The flower is Prima with a glitter brad center. I also pierced the edges and then hand stitched some embroidery floss around the edge. Here's a closeup of my mailbox:
Now on to Jami to see what fabulousness she has for you. Hope to see you all tonight at the party!

Brrr...it's still winter!

Well, it's definitely still winter where I live so I thought I'd play along with Mojo Monday and try a round card with a winter theme. My snowflakes are Spare Parts brads and the one on the red ribbon is a snowflake button I picked up in December at JoAnn's.

My sweet little snowman image is from the Snow Happy set at Paper Makeup Stamps. The top dp is from a Debbie Mumm paper pack called Noah's Ark and I suppose it's supposed to be rain but it sure reminds me of the sleet that's coming down right now. You can see it and the brads a little better in this close-up.

I work at a university and we almost NEVER get snow days. Every grade school and high school within 75 miles was closed today and will be closed tomorrow and several other colleges were closed today, but not us :( The sleet is coming down now and while I sure don't want more ice and damage to the trees just one "snow" day would be nice. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Is Spring around the corner?

I'm hoping that spring is around the corner but we sure could have lots of wintery weather here in central Indiana in February. I seemed to be thinking spring with the colors on this card.

The JUGS challenge this week was to create a 3-D flower. I looked at the tutorial and the GORGEOUS samples from the JUGS dt but I decided I wasn't ready to try those yet. So, my large flower was created with punches in 2 sizes with 2 layers of each size. I curled the edges of the petals just a bit and centered each flower with a rhinestone.

My dh gave me a Grand Calibur for Christmas! I used the Labels Four Grand Nestie to cut the cardstock and the dp. My sentiment is from Paper Makeup Stamps and can be found here. I stamped the sentiment with Versafine black ink and colored in the hearts with an R81 copic. I used a standard size Labels Four nestie for the sentiment and for the dp backing that is peeking from the top and bottom of the sentiment.

The organdy ribbon came out of my ribbon box. After I took the photo and loaded it on my computer, I remembered that I had stick pins with pink hearts that look quite good in the knot of the bow and add a nice finishing touch....but you'll have to take my word on that part. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had wonderful holidays. I know we sure had fun. We spent Christmas at Katie's house in SC. We had a really, really fun time playing with the boys and just spending time with the family....but it snowed!

We were supposed to being going south away from the cold weather, but what fun we had playing in the snow the day after Christmas.

But my real reason for this post is to play along with the Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge! The challenge is to make a card using black, white, and silver. I like how it turned out, but as usual, my photo skills aren't the best. All of the stars are the same shiny silver, honest. They are silver star brads that I still have from the Celestial Possibilities makeup kit and I was so excited to discover I still had them when working on this card. It's a white card base, black cardstock and silver glitter paper for the backing of the sentiment. The wide white organdy ribbon and the white satin ribbon were from my ribbon stash. The silver snowflake is Favorite Findings. The sentiment is from the Purpose of Friendship set.

The January release party for Paper Makeup is this Friday night at 9 EST and there are lots of fun new stamps being previewed this week. Hope to see lots of my cyber friends on Friday night!

Paper Makeup Blog Hop

I'm so happy to be part of the Paper Makeup December Blog Hop! You should have arrived here from Katie Cotton's blog (and she just happens to be my dd and I'm soooo proud of her!). If you didn't come from Katie's blog, go here so you can start at the beginning and not miss anything. One lucky commenter will receive a grab bag of PMS stamps so be sure to let everyone know what you think! Comments can be made through December 14.

I used Noel for my card. He's just a sweetie and trying so hard to find his Christmas cheer. I colored him with copics and cut out the image with the Peony nestie. My papers are single sheets that I picked up at Hobby Lobby and the sentiment is from the PMS Little Moments sentiment set. I used the TESC #134 for inspiration for the layout.

The next stop on the hop is Tina so go see what holiday fun she has for you. Thanks for stopping by!

Mojo Monday 167

We had snow here in central Indiana most of the day yesterday. Not much accumulation, but lots of slick roads!

I've been trying my hand at square cards lately and used the Mojo Monday 167 sketch for this card. The papers are from the DCWV Christmas Combo matstack. The sentiment is a Paper Makeup Stamps sentiment that can be found here and just happens to be one of my favorites. I stamped the sentiment with cranberry ink and embossed it with A La Mode sparkle embossing powder. It adds a nice little shimmer to it. My photo skills aren't great but if you enlarge the photo, it shows up a little better.

The ribbon is from my ribbon box and the Prima flowers are centered with a Spare Parts glitter brad. Thanks for stopping by today!

It's nearly "Holly"day time.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and that means Christmas isn't far behind.

I just have to share a story that happened yesterday. I came home from work at noon because I really didn't feel well (and that's pretty usual for me). My dd skyped us last night and my husband was talking to our grandsons when the oldest asked, "Where's Gramma?" "She doesn't feel good", dh replied and turned the laptop toward me as I'm laying on the couch feeling really lousy. My sweet 4 year old grandson decided he would sing me a song to make me feel better. He sang I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (or at least the first two or three lines). It must be something new he's learning at pre-school because I had never heard him sing that one before! If there was anything that could make me feel better, that was definitely it! (I went back to work today.)

And now for my card. I've always been a little fearful of coloring the Moody girls from Paper Makeup Stamps but I decided to give it a try since I received Moody for Holly (found here) for my birthday. She just seemed to fit the color challenge this week at JUGS. I colored her with copics and framed her with a cut-out using the inverted scalloped circle nestie. My red dp is My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary collection. The sentiment is also from Paper Makeup Stamps.


Hope everyone finds Christmas in their heart this holiday season.

M4TW #50!

This card is for the 50th Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge. The challenge this week was to use digi paper (something I've never done), use ribbon in some way other than the usual bow or knot (oh no, I almost always have a bow), and use bling (ahhh, that part is easy). Thanks to Christi, I have some fabulous digi paper that came from Shabby Princess. If it looks familiar, I'm not surprised (since I copied from her), but it seemed to be perfect for what I had in mind.


This is the Nutcracker from the November release at Paper Makeup Stamps. Isn't he handsome? He's colored with copics and I used a gelly roll glitter pen in Copper Star on his buttons, epaulets, and hat. He's cut with the Labels Four nestie and the edge is smudged with Color Box prussian blue fluid chalk ink. I used 1/8" ribbon to create the "star/snowflake/sunburst" embellie and added a Kaiser Craft pearl to the center.

I hope everyone celebrating Thanksgiving this week has wonderful day. Don't eat too much!! :)

Color Throwdown #118

The color throwdown this week was a challenge for me because I just don't use tans very often. I'm not sure why. Most of my cardstock was gifted to me by my daughter so I have no idea what the color names are but I think my choices are pretty close. The flowers in my design paper match the red of my cardstock really well but it sure doesn't look like it in my photo. The dp is from the Mirabelle paperpack by The Paper Studio. My image is from the Christmas Cheer set at Paper Makeup Stamps. It's colored with copics and it was interesting seeing what the colors would do on kraft paper. I went over the letters with a clear gelly roll sparkle pen but it's hard to see in the photo.

I'm really liking my new Lacey Circles nestie. You may be seeing it alot! And now a cinnamon dolce latte is sounding so gooood.... :)

Being a grandparent is great!

My husband and I really love being grandparents. I'm sure most grandparents feel like their grandchildren are the cutest, smartest, kids on the planet. I know ours are right up there at the top of the list!! I have friends at our church that just became grandparents for the first time and this is card I made for them.


The challenge over at Just Us Girls this week (JUGS #59) is to make a gate-fold card. I hadn't done one of these before. I stamped the Paper Makeup Stamps sentiment on patterned pattern from Debbie Mumm's Noah's Ark Paperpack. I cut the sentiment and a backing with the Labels Fifteen nestie. The panels are from the same paperpack. (but I bet you could have figured that out!) My closure really does tie with a bow through the button. I'm not sure the recipient of my card will find it easy to "put back together" as it's a little tricky to thread that little ribbon through the button. :)

Have a great week!

Where does the time go?

Oh my, here it is the middle of November! How did that happen? Before we know it, Thanksgiving will be here and Christmas will be right around the corner. For Makeup for the Weekend #49, I've used the cute little Christmas tree from the Christmas Cheer set that you can find here.

The Merry Christmas w/Holly and Christmas Light papers are The Paper Studio. I added some bling to my paper pieced tree and sparkled up the star with Stickles. I got lots of new stamps, some news inks and new stickles for my birthday a few weeks ago so I'm hoping that you'll be seeing more from me in the next few weeks. I finally have my craft room "kind of" back in order since having every ceiling in our whole house painted plus 4 rooms and hallway. My craft room only had the ceiling painted but it became the storage space for everything we needed to move. We have LOTS of art work, posters, photos, etc. on all the walls of our house so it was quite a job taking everything down and then putting it all back up. Whew! We're happy with the new colors and I'm glad it's DONE! Have a great week and I hope to back soon.

Makeup 4 the Weekend #47

Two posts in one day! I think this is a first for me. I feel like I'm cheating a little bit but my dd said it's okay. I found a set of witch's hat cards (with envelopes!) at Joann's a month or so ago for a $1! Soooo, when I learned that the Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge was to make a "non-square" shaped card, I decided to decorate the cards I had. I used a variety of papers and embellishments. There's nothing here from Paper Makeup Stamps - GASP! I think that's a first for me too :) I was really wishing I had the Spooky Sentiments that are currently on sale but, silly me, I didn't think far enough ahead for that. I used dp from a Debbie Mumm Harvest and Holidays stack, Fun Findings spiders and jack o'lanterns, glitter dots, glitter shapes (sale bin at Joann's), orange grosgrain ribbon from my stash and some new plaid ribbon that I picked up this fall at Hobby Lobby.


Here's a couple closeup photos of individual cards.

Have a "spooktacular" weekend!

Wedding Bells are ringing

We are going to a wedding this weekend. This card doesn't look very "wedding like" at first glance but I'll show you what the invitation looks like and you'll understand. If I had gotten my act together in time to get this done for last week's Makeup 4 the Weekend challenge, my song inspiration would have been "I'm Getting Married in the Morning" from My Fair Lady. I took my mom home to Nebraska last weekend and listened to Broadway show tunes all the way back to Indiana on my satelite radio. Must have heard this one at least twice. :)

My sentiment is from Paper Makeup Stamps and can be found here. I stamped it with Versafine black ink and cut it out with my circle nestie. I think it works very well for a wedding card. I used black cardstock to back the sentiment and cut the shape with my new Peony nestie. I added a few blue rhinestones and a double bow of black organza ribbon. What shows up as black blobs on the photo are actually large faceted black jet "jewels".

I added the star in the corner because the bride and the groom both have degrees in theatre performance and are moving to NYC early next year to begin their careers as professional actors. Here is a photo of the wedding invitation. They are great young adults who have a really bright future. It will be fun to celebrate with them this weekend.

Hope your weekend is fabulous!

Two Challenges

I'm having a great visit with my mom who is visiting from Nebraska for 3 weeks but I took some time today to make a card. I am playing along with the Makeup 4 the Weekend Challenge #44 and the JUGS 53 Challenge. The Makeup 4 the Weekend Challenge was an inspiration challenge this week and I used the colors and chain on the necklace as my inspiration. The layout is a pretty literal interpretation of the JUGS sketch for this week.

I used one of the flourishes in Paper Makeup Stamps Dream Big set. I stamped it using Adirondack Eggplant ink and then embossed it with A La Mode sparkle embossing powder. The shine doesn't show up very well in my photo. The ribbon may have been in one of my Paper Makeup kits...or it was a gift from my dd. I'm not very good at remembering those things. :)

I hope I "see" lots of you at the Paper Makeup Release Party on Thursday (October 7). Thanks for stopping by.