New header photo

The photo that I added behind my blog title is a photo of the beautiful bay in Belfast, Maine.  I lived there for three years, and thought the view just suited this new blog background.  The weather we have been having here in PA this summer has made me miss Maine even more.

Change of background

My new cards generated a lot of visitors, but some had trouble reading the posts because of the purple color that had been under the text.  I changed my background to one with a white center, so I hope this makes it easier to read my blog.  Thanks for letting me know. 

Please take a moment to look at my side bar, for the button for Digi Drawn.  A few months back, one of the members (Maureen) of the Magnolia-licious group on yahoo made a card using Giggling Tilda, and this sweet Tilda was being kissed by the cutest Beagle/Basset hound.  What made this especially wonderful was that  Maureen drew the dog herself! She kindly sent me a few of the images after I told her of my rescue Beagles and one Beagle/Basset.  I just learned that she offers this, and other wonderful designs, as digi stamps.  Please click on the button to see her creations.  This is the card Maureen made, sizing the dog perfectly to kiss a seated Tilda.  Isn't he wonderful?  I can almost imagine him wagging his tail as he kissed Tilda. 

UPDATE:  Maureen has just joined the Magnolia Design Team.  What good news!

Entering My First Challenge

I just found out about the challenges at Flutterby Wednesdays so I am entering this in their Challenge #115.  The entries need to have either butterflies, angels or fairies on the cards, and since I love butterflies (and dragonflies) that is not a problem.  So, swallowing hard, I am entering my first challenge with this card, my first easel card.  There are a lot of layers on the front of this card - three layers of paper on top of the card base, plus the additional added layers of the branch, Tilda, Rufus the dog, etc.  It took forever as things as tucked in here and there,  but I was quite happy with the result.  The swing branch was tucked between the two solid die cut layers, with another part of the leaves stamped and cut out separately and applied over the left end of the branch where it went under the frame.  Tilda had the space between her feet cut so her feet could slip over the grass.  Rufus' lollipop was cut from DP and adhered to him.   I also entered this in the One Stop Craft Challenge, theme - pattern. 

RECIPE:

Stamps:  60s Tilda #385, Rufus the Dog #402, Swing #512 (the branch is part of this stamp).  Sentiment: S.U. Friendships Grow (2001) stamped with Color Box Cat's Eye and embossed with A La Mode clear embossing powder.  Flourish: Recollections clear stamp set from Michael's. Cardstock, solid:  DCWV Pastels.

DP:  K & Co. Paper Doll (floral inside frames, behind the swing).  Rufus' Lollipop has been cut from a paper in the DCWV Sweet Stack.

Coloring:  Prismacolor and Derwent colored pencils, Gamsol and blending stumps.

Punches:  EK Success Rock Fern; MS Frond and Butterfly.

Die:  Spellbinders Label Two in Cuttlebug

Grass:  Diecut by Jolee's By You/EK Success.

Embellishments:  Stickles:  Crystal on Rufus' Lollipop; Flowers:  Prima Spring Petal Mix and Summer Mix (small roses); Glitter:  MS coarse glitter in Crystal;

Pearls:  Queen & Co..

Chalk:  Pebbles, Inc. in Shimmers.

If additional entries are accepted, I have a few more with butterflies which I will enter.

I made two cards using identical papers.   It must be a throw-back to my high school years when I dated a few fellows from Father Judge High School in Philadelphia, but I just love deep red and light blue together!  My Mind's Eye certainly helped with their Bohemia line in just these colors.

The first card uses Bridesmaid Tilda while the second uses Peachy Tilda.  Otherwise, I used almost identical items in making both.  I get all my Magnolia cards from Diana at http://www.magnoliastamps.us/.  If a certain stamp does not show up on the website, it means it is out of stock and will be listed when it is back in stock.  Contact Diana with any questions at ladydian@shaw.ca (but she is at CHA this week). 

RECIPES:  (identical except for stamps and stickles on Bridesmaid Tilda.
Stamps:  Bridesmaid Tilda #322; Peachy Tilda (do not know # at this moment).  Both from Magnoliastamps.us at above link.  
Papers:  CS - DCWV; DP - MME Bohemia (Bliss/Love of My Life and Tiny Dots/Blue) and Basic Grey Blush (Admire).
Sketch:  Adaptation of Friday Sketchers #93.
Punches:   EK Success Morocco Lace; MS Butterfly; MS branch.
Coloring:  Prismacolor and Derwent colored pencils and Gamsol.
Flowers:  Prima Spring Petal  Mix and Spring Mix.
Embellishments: Gelly Roll pen in Copper Star on dots around Peachy Tilda;
Stickles:  Crystal on wings on Bridesmaid Tilda;  Rhinestone stickers from Michaels.

I did make one other card this weekend.  In May, my best friend lost her husband of almost 40 years, after failed cardiac bypass surgery.  Needless to say, she is devastated, as are their children.  While I have sent the usual sympathy card, and a perpetual Mass enrollment, I wanted to do something else, something more personal, for Carol.  It must have been a weekend for firsts, as this was my first criss-cross card.  While I used an Anna Griffin  book for inspiration, I miscut my paper (using my scoring board for the first time too!) so had to make it smaller than she suggested.

RECIPE:
Cardstock:  DCWV
DP:  K & Co.  Brenda Walton Evergreen Shimmer Paper Pack (Christmas).
Scissors:  Fiskars Victorian.
Ribbon:  Michael's.
Charm:  Jewelry Essentials
Quote:  Found in "Treasury of Tips & Tricks" by Paper Crafts and Stamp It (ISBN: 1-57486-572-2, purchased at Michael's).
Inspiration:  My 51 year friendship with Carol and her sticking with me through thick and thin, especially these past 10 years, and a book by Anna Griffin - "Card Crafting Techniques". 

The photo was cropped from a photo of Carol and Thom when they attended my eldest son's wedding in 2002.   I tried to use my Spellbinders scalloped oval dies to back Thom's photo but they just were not the right size for the face of the card, so I used the Fiskar's scissors.   Not having a ribbon slit punch, I used the smallest hole punch I had and made a row of connected holes, until I had an opening the correct size for the ribbon. I sewed the charm to the knot of the ribbon.  The following cards show the card with the insert tucked in,  then showing the poem on the insert and finally, a photo of Carol and I in our younger days.   (I'm the shorter one).  Carol, should you see this, you are definitely a keeper, my friend! 

Card count:  18/365

Sweet Friends Blog Award

This wonderful Blog award was given to me by Cindy, a co-member of S.C.S. Designing D.I.V.A.S.   Please visit her blog HERE.  I am to list 10 favorite things, and then pass the award on to some of my blog friends.  Sounds like an easy thing to do!  Cindy, thank you so much for thinking of me. 

10 favorite things: (In no particular order).

 1.  My family which includes three grown children (1 girl and 2 boys) and 8 beautiful grandchildren.   To my daughter Megan, please remember that "Pobody's Nerfect",  especially Moms.
2.  My faith, which provides great comfort and has kept me going in the dark times.   This should include the influence of the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart on my life, through grade school, high school and college, and in the years since.
3.  My friends, both old and new (this includes my doll and paper crafting friends!)  You know who you are. 
 4.   Chocolate, preferably dark, semi-sweet and with coconut, even better.   For Zitner's Double Krak Easter eggs!
5.   The absolute joy of being loved unconditionally by a dog:   Snickers, Ripley and Zeke, and my daughter's chocolate lab, Bailey (all from my married days) , and then Tucker, Smokey and Flash, all Beagle/Bassett rescues, in the 10 years I have been on my own. 
 6.  The audio-visual world that is available to us.   Even though I hate the bill, thank you Comcast for all the wondering offerings on TV.  Since being on my own, I hate the quiet, so the TV goes on the minute I get up and stays on until I head to bed.   For my love of old time folk music - Peter, Paul and Mary; Joan Baez, Buffy Ste. Marie, Gordon Bok, etc. and 50s/60s rock and roll, for dancing on Bandstand, and hearing "The Geator with the Heater" play all the best music for us.   Check out The Geator HERE.
 7.   My long-time love of the ocean and the shore (Jersey, of course).  Even my three years on Maine, right on the bay.   I even like the ocean during storms.  It is beautiful and majestic.   What is better than the smell of the salt in the air to tell  you know you are getting near to the shore?
 8.   Lavender and vanilla.  The lavender in body lotions and candles, the vanilla in just about everything.  Yankee Candle makes a Lavender-Vanilla candle that is really yummy.  Healing Garden makes a bedtime set of scent items that are vanilla and orange blossom scented.  Fabulous!

9.   For the dolls that have brought so much joy to my life:  Ginny and Jill as a child, as well as Mary Hoyer, a love that has followed me into adulthood.  Also, Bleuette and her sister Rosette.  The joy of sewing their clothes by hand with vintage fabrics.
 10.  My beloved adoptive parents (real to me - just like the Velveteen Rabbit), both gone now but never gone from my heart.  Thanks, Mom and Dad, for everything. 


Here are the rules for the award:

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

2. List the person who gave you the award and provide a link to her blog.

3. List 10 things that make you happy.

4. Pass this award on to others and visit their blogs to let them know.


Here are the people that I have randomly picked:


1.  Sue (scrubbybubbles) http://suessentiments.com/wordpress/
2.  Kim  http://kreativekim.blogspot.com/
3.  Lauren  http://lem-photography.blogspot.com/
4.  Eulanda  http://eulandasilvey.blogspot.com/
5.  Lisa  http://the-purple-place.blogspot.com/
6.  Jacque  http://jacquesmagnolias.blogspot.com/


Happy Blogging!!!

Birdie Choir and Spring Blossoms

Two more House Mouse cards to share with you.  I really have to get a few more Magnolia images made into cards as there are several challenges going on for Magnolia but I guess I find them a little scarier than the HM stamps.  Hopefully that will change soon.  

BIRDIE CHOIR:

Recipe:

Stamp:  HM (Stampabilities) HMLR1043, Birdie Choir.

Colored pencils:  Derwent and Prismacolor with turpenoid and blending stump.

Cardstock/solid:  Bazzill Basics in Guacamole and African Daisy/

DP:  Floral:  Martha Stewart tablet; plaid:  HOTP/Paper Pizazz. Purple dot (mat behind stamped image) - came in a card kit.

Embellishment:  Flower - Prima.  Brad:  Recollections.  Gelly Roll Stardust pen in Silver Star on Prima flower and on stamped/colored purple flowers.

SPRING BLOSSOMS:

Recipe:

Stamp:  HM (Stampabilities) HMJR1051, Spring Blossoms.

Cardstock/solid:  Bazzill Bling in Feather Boa.  Purple:  from a card kit.  Green:  Bazzill Basics in Guacamole. 

DP:  Plaid is Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses in Village.   Green floral is Making Memories Basic Papers from Chloe's Closet collection. 

Embellishments:   Flower:  Sandylion sticker.  Ribbon:  American Crafts.

Card Count:  15/365

Bunny Boo Boo and Tilda with Hearts

I am finally getting to use some of the images I have already finished, getting them made up into cards.  I am grateful that the terrible flare of neck pain that I have been dealing with of late has still allowed me some time to create, although not as much as I wish.

First card:  Bunny Boo Boo

Recipe:

Stamp:  Stampabilities (House Mouse/Happy Hoppers) Bunny Boo Boo HMOR1035.

Cardstock:  Bazzill.  Green is Guacamole.  Yellow is African Daisy.

DP:  Recollections Monkeying Around line, in "Button Up".  The inside has the coordinating green dot called "Banana Leaf".

Ribbon:  Celebrate It Basic Narrows.

Embellishment:  Recollections Dimensional Stickers.  I may change this as I am finding the blue jarring.

Colored pencils:  Prismacolor and Derwent with turpenoid and blending stump.  I used about 10 different shades of green in the grass, and the turpenoid blended them all beautifully.  Great stuff.

Chalk:  Pebbles Pearlescent in Shimmers.

This card will go to the woman who does the general cleaning here at the apartment building where I live (for the company which owns the building, not the residents, although she did help out many since this is a senior/disabled complex).  She had a stroke a little over a week ago and many of my card friends have offered to send her a shower of cards.  I am sure this will cheer her as she readies herself for carotid artery surgery.

Second card:  Tilda with Hearts.

Recipe:

Stamp:  Magnolia - Tilda with Hearts.  You can purchase this and other Magnolia stamps from Diana at Magnolia-licious.   Click this link to get to her store:

Magnolia US.

DP:  From a card making kit I won at a craft show.  This is called "Handmade Cards" by Anne Akers Johnson.

Cardstock:  Bazzill Feather Boa; Basic Grey Bittersweet in Truffle; K & Co. Smitten tablet.

Flourish:  American Crafts Baby in Miss Muffet cut with Sizzix Decorative Accents die.  (This American Crafts Baby/Miss Muffet is a lovely paper, 8-1/2 x 11, solid brown on one side, with the other side being pink with tiny polkadots.  I got it at Michael's.

Paper lace:  K & Co. Smitten, 12 x 12 pad of Valentine's paper, cut with Fiskars Heart edge punch. 

Embellishment:  Recollections Pearl Stickers. 

Glitter pen:  Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust in Pink Star was used on the cookies, Tilda's hairband and on the hearts on her shoes, but is not showing up very well.  Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust in Clear was used over the silver pencil on her wings.

White opaque pen:  Inkssentials Opaque Pen in white (Tilda's cheek dots).

Sentiment:  Inkadinkadoo Personal Impressions, Tattoo Expressions which I curved a little as I put it on the acrylic block.  It is stamped with Palette in brown but I need to get a darker brown stamp pad.

Colored pencils:  Prismacolor and Derwent with turpenoid and blending stumps.

Chalk:  Pebbles Pearlescent in Shimmers.

While this is the second Magnolia card I have made, it is the first that made it to the scanner.  I had made a Christmas themed one for the Christmas All Year Round blog hop, but before it could get scanned, I accidentally overturned a cup of tea all over it, so I could not join in on the blog hop.  Next time, I hope.  For this card, I used the Roses on Paper Challenge sketch #30 as a jumping off point, but did not follow it exactly.  Therefore I can't enter this card in the challenge.  Here is the sketch,  That horizontal band of hearts is reminding me of a pink ribbon I saw somewhere - now where was that?????

Card count:  13/365

Jacque's blog candy

Despite a terrible week, with an equally terrible diagnosis, the very talented Jacque has entered yet another sweet gift for her followers.  This blog candy ends January 28th so visit her blog and leave her some encouragement for the days ahead.  Here is her link:

http://jacquesmagnolias.blogspot.com/

and here is the Valentine's blog candy:

Thanks for visiting her pages and keeping her in your prayers.  Remember to get your mammograms!