Back after what seems like FOREVER!

As some of you may know, I have been very ill for quite some time.

Without going into a lot of boring detail, I suffered from severe anxiety and weight loss from issues stemming from the sleep deprivation caused by Ambien.

Yes, you either increase your dosage (which I refused to do) or give in to the fact that while taking it, you will sleep shorter and shorter periods of time.  I had hit bottom at two hours per night for several months. Take my word for it, sleep meds are not the answer. 

 

But, I am thrilled to say that I am better now, close to my "fighting weight", and feeling like I can again join the rest of humanity in enjoying life!

 

Enough of that...

 

I made my first challenge card today in a very long time!

 

 

 

I have been exploring the stamp blogs as if I had never seen any of them before!  Six months can leave one very mesmerized!  But then, it now all seems new and fresh to me!

 I saw this challenge for a "Silhouette" card on

http://sweetstampsblog.blogspot.com/

Sweet Stamps!

First off, I LOVE the stamp images they offer, and second, I have none!

So, I grabbed what I DID have and made this sweet heat embossed card.

 

Thanks for coming back after my having abandoned my blog for so terribly long.

Please forgive.

 

Paper:  MME, "Lost and Found"

Images: Tim Holtz and TPC

Embossing Powder:  Stampendous, "Detail Black"

Flowers: Prima



In the Christmas "Spirit"....

Normally NOT a wine drinker, or any kind of drinker for that matter,

I recently took a trip to Iowa to visit an old high school friend. While there, I discovered this amazing Apple/Cinnamon dessert wine that I could sip all evening!

It tastes very much like apple cider with a bit

of spice and a punch.

So, I suppose now I can call myself a "wine-drinker"!
 

(Unfortunately, the Iowa winery does not ship to Arizona, so it has caused some difficulty in ever getting more!  She and I are working on it!)

 

This season there are so many choices of gifts out there, and just as many ways to wrap them.
 

 I used the very beautiful stamp set from

Crafter's Companion's

"A Little Bit Scenic" line from Sheena Douglas,

"Provence".

 

Sheena's complete line is simply gorgeous!

 

 

Here's a hanging gift tag I made for that special bottle that should I find and want to "present" as a present, I am ready....

 

 

Yes, I know, ...this bottle isn't quite full. 
I may have used a teeny weeny bit in a recipe the other day...hmmm...I think...

Since I am new to the Wine Scene, I have no idea what true colors wine comes in, but I know red is in there somewhere!   My favorite, the Eve's Apple from the Santa Maria Winery in Iowa, has little color, so this card would not have popped like it did had I used it as a sample!

Merry Christmas and Green pattern papers are DCWV, wood grain pattern paper is
My Mind's Eye, and the sentiments were borrowed from my old stamp stash.

This tag has also been entered into the RED challenge at
OOzak Blog.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN from the "Playground"!

The greeting this week comes courtesy of

"Achmed, the Dead Terrorist"!

and courtesy of Dustin Pike's skeleton image!

(with which I took HUGE liberties!)

For those of you who don't know who Achmed is,

he is the infamous, highly "unsuccessful" terrorist puppet that

the comedian, Jeff Dunham, uses in his stage performances.

Jeff is rude and crude, and very politically incorrect,

but we find ourselves laughing in spite of ourselves.

 

The story goes:

Born in Iraq, Achmed grew up in a family of terrorists, and was determined to carry on his father's trade....

He was not very good at it.  LOL!

(Although he insists it's only a "flesh wound"...)

 

For those of you who are strong of heart and not easily offended,

check him out on the Comedy Channel!

For those of you who are offended by my card,

and have loved ones who are foreign terrorists,

I do not apologize.  

 

Note Achmed's stylish handcuffs, given to him by the US military!
 

My son is an avid Jeff Dunham fan, and is going to get a huge kick out of this card!

Again, I've gone the "adult" card route with the Doodle Dragon image,

but this only demonstrates the WIDE spectrum of cards these adorable characters
can be used for!

Seldom do I break out and just let my wierd humor come across in my cards, but...

after all, it IS for Halloween!

Bwaahahahaha.....

(Disclaimer: Not all person's named "Achmed" are terrorists)

Thanks for visiting my blog today, and I hope that,

in some odd way,

I was able to add a chuckle to your day!

Supplies:

Paper,  My Mind's Eye, "Spider Web"

Image, Doodle Dragon Studios

Glitters and Mica flakes, Stampendous

Black Pearls, Recollections

More delicious embossing....

On my card today, I used the adorable image from

Crafter's Companion's

Christine Haworth

called

"In Trouble Again"

 

I think you'll agree that this little guy is just too cute for words.

 

The challenge at Crafter's Companion this month is

Stripes and/or Dots,

so this is how I put a vintage twist on my entry.

 

 

I loved the background on the image enough that I grabbed a piece of the tan cardstock that I used as a card base, and altered it to serve as a

background "brick mat" on my card.

If you want to see how this was done, I will be Guest Designing this month  at

Crafter's Companion (yippee!) and they, and I, will be posting another card and tutorial on this technique on September 17th!

 

 

 

 

Here you can see the shimmer on the "wall" and the way it entirely changes

the look of the plain cardstock paper.

It also gives it the feel of vinyl.  Cool, eh?

 

 

And with an image that adorable,

I needed an extra special sentiment for the inside.



DYSU Challenge #83 - Polka Dots!

Broken Box Stock

* A "Toodle Club Membership" and a free Toodle Birthday Calendar.  Total prize package is a $29 value.

Stamp & Create

* $25 Gift Certificate

I LOVE polka dots!!!
And plaids, and stripes, checkers, any pattern that says, "Hey, look at me!"
At least on my projects. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a very conservative dresser. I let my scrapping speak for me.

This little journal started out as a black version of this:

A great find in the Dollar Bin at Michael's some time back.

I had no idea why I needed several of these little books, but for the price,

they came home with me.

I painted the front edges solid black and covered it with the polka dot paper from My Mind's Eye, then added the pretty black and white ruffle down the side.

I know you're thinking "that's not using so much polka dot paper!"...

but I added dots to her dress and the gorgeous little bookband!

(Which doubles as a headband or wrist band should the recipient choose.)

This little Broken Box Stock image looks so cute on the front.

Perfect for a teacher friend going back to face the new school year!

And the best part?

Her name begins with "G", so the back didn't even have to be altered.

Perhaps she'll keep her thoughts in here about what she plans to do when she retires next year!  LOL!

What can you make with Polka Dots?

A Poem for the Fall...

This is such a cool new image from
Stampendous!

I love the look of this skeleton when he is heat embossed!

I simply trimmed and burned the edges to look like old parchment and then inked it all in Momento Rich Cocoa.

The tulle flower adds some softness, and the little owl?

Well, who doesn't love a tiny little charm?!

Here's a closeup of the way the embossing looks!

Isn't it amazing!

Supplies:

Stampendous, "Clear Bark" Embossing Powder

Stampendous, "Skeleton Poem" Cling Stamp

My Mind's Eye, "Spider's Web" papers

There are a lot more new and wonderful,  everyday and holiday stamps waiting over at
STAMPENDOUS!

You can go see more new products from Stampendous as well! Not only do is there blog candy along the way, Stampendous will be drawing a winner for this great prize pack today.

How do you win it? It's easy! One of the featured bloggers today will be choosing a random commenter from her blog, and that lucky person will be announced on the Stampendous blog tomorrow. The more places you leave a comment, the better your chances are to win! Below is the list of team members who are sharing inspiration today:

Stampendous Impressions

Cyndi Bundy

Lea Kimmel

Wendy Price

Pam Hornschu

Melinda Gleissner

Wendy Jordan
Jennifer Dove

Time for DYSU again! YUMM!

Meljen's Designs
* Winner's Choice of 4 Images


Wonderstrange Arts
* 5 Digital Stamps (not from sets)


Rhoda Design Studio
* $15 Gift Certificate

My team was selected to work with Wonderstrange stamps!

I have to tell you, these are are bit different from what I am used to stamping with!

But, this little cupcake had just enough "darkness" about it to lend itself perfectly to being a "Hallow's Eve" treat.

This is actually one of my favorite CAS cards for the Fall!

To make the paper baking cup appear more dimensional, when I printed out the digital image, I printed TWO copies. One regular size.
And the second, I S T R E T C H E D out the whole image,
then cutting the second baking cup off.  I coloroed and accordion folded it and attached it to the front of the first image.  Since I glued down the side edges and popped up the center, it looks very real.

For the background, I used my pre-printed "Spider's Web" papers from
My Mind's Eye, and stamped and embossed some extra web in the upper right-hand corner. Well, this led to a cute little spider and a bright red jewel.

The cherry stem is a piece of brown cord, and the sprinkles are Recollections pearls.

Lizard Love...

The challenge at Dustin Pike's Doodle Dragon Blog this week is a color one!

RED

ORANGE and YELLOW

This image in the Blogaversary Collection was perfect! I absolutely adore lizards and all amphibians!  Before moving to the desert, I had a 4 foot iquana that I had raised since half that size. "Ziggy Stardust" was very special and used to intimidate my afghan hound, who was huge! Ziggy stayed back in Illinois when I moved since 4 days traveling in a moving truck and lizards don't generally mix.

So, in honor of Ziggy, here is my card.

(of course, Ziggy was green, and well, an iquana....)

I wanted a paper that wouldn't be too strong for the image to sit in front of.
This My Mind's Eye pattern was perfect.   With the step card pattern, this left the ideal area for my lizard to be fussy cut and showcased against.  I also carefully cut the flowers from the pattern paper.

Copics made it easy to color him., and pop him out for dimension.

The little bee charm is from my stash.

I know I will have plenty of opportunity to send this card to someone soon.

Thanks for looking at our projects this week.

Join in by sending in your own creation! Just make sure you use a Doodle Dragon image and the colors we have chosen!

Leave a message if you ejoy this!

Better yet, become a follower!

This card is entered into the challenges at :

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge (Flowers)
ScrapFIT (Fussy cut)
Creative Craft Challenges2 (Anything Goes)

Waltzing Mouse - Be My Valentine Sweetheart!

This week the challenge at Waltzing Mouse was so much fun!

For my DH this year! 

He has been so nice and understanding with all my medical issues and

doctor's visits of late! Changing medications and lack of

sleep has made me, at times,  a bit

difficult to live with, to say the least!

And in addition,
the sketch at City Crafters was almost identical, save for an added element, which I easily utilized in my card!
Also, this card is proudly submitted to the challenge at:
Sentimental Sundays (Die Cuts)  SWEET sentiment and heart (Nesties)
The Crazy Challenge (Vintage)
Creative Card Crew (Seeing RED)

More Stampendous Colors!

I have another card for the Color Challlenge at Stampendous Impressions this week. Who can get enough of these gorgeous vintage stamps and that Fran'tage glittery goodness?

   Aren't those little pink poinsettias really cute?  I always thought of them as being red, and have  really enjoyed seeing them in various hues of pinks and reds this holiday season.

   I wanted to give the image a somewhat postage stamp look without actually punching all four sides.  Just enough to mimic the feeling of travel. 

   I added gold micro beads on the poinsettias, and sprinkled Shabby White Embossing powder on the corners and across the Eiffel Tower. I used Fran's terrific "Fran'taging" technique and heated the powder from the underside. I love the effect! 
   Next, I distressed, gold and vintage inked the edges of the layers, and added the soft, little pink ribbon and bow.  Hope you like!

I entered this as my second card for the Stampendous Color Challenge
and in the Scrap it With a Song -Holiday Christmas Carol ( "Noel' A Paris", and oh how I long to be somewhere else this holiday!)!

Say it with a Flourish!

This challenge at Flourishes was particularly fun for me, because I LOVE working with the ribbons and lace, and buttons, and pearls, and well, everything vintage and romantic!

Here's my card. 

When I have a morning like today, I have to just shut myself off in my scrap room and play...  I am sooo frustrated with my medical doctors right now,I could scream!!!!  Leave it to say, from what I'm experiencing, this country's health system is going down the toilet!  But, for now, I'm happy playing with my goodies!

And suffice it to say, when I fell in love with the resin pieces, I decided I had to have tons! Little ones, big ones, and all colors and shapes...  isn't this one gorgeous! Definately a "no mailing" card!

The stamp is Flourishes "Medallion", and I absolutely love it!  I have used it more than most!  It heat embosses so beautifully and detailed.

I've also used this sketch from CardPatterns, as my jumping-off sketch guide.

They have some wonderful metal sheets to giveaway over there!  Check it out!

Pattern Paper:  My Mind's Eye, "Lost and Found"

DYSU Challenge #46

Hey everyone! Welcome back to a new challenge at Do You Stack Up?! I'm so glad you could join us! This week we want to see a Splash of Blue on your project!

This week's Sponsors:

Robyn’s Fetish Winner’s Choice of EITHER 5 Digital Stamps OR 4 Digital Stamps and 1 Paper Pack

Raindrop Echo Designs Winner’s Choice of 4 Digi Sentiment Sets

Mami Doodles 4 Digital Images

My card for this week:

The image I chose is the adorable

"Jake" from Mami Doodles playing dress up as a Pirate.

I love this paper from Quick Quotes

and the sentiment is an old ready-made by My Mind's Eye.

I just trimmed up the bottom edge with decorative scissors and inked it up!

The really cool sparkly glitters are actually the new Fran*tage Shaved Ice and Mica products from

STAMPENDOUS!

Is that not the most amazing stuff ever?! A bit of glue/adhesive,

let it set up just enough to keep the flakes from flying away,

simply hit it with your heat gun, and it melts to your card. 

The ultimate in embossing!

I was experimenting and mixed several different colors and grains,

so no one product name to give you.  Besides, I love them all!

Come on over to "Do You Stack Up"
and see what all the other Design Team gals have created!

Have a Hot, Hot Birthday!

Hot Pink, that is!  Yep, that's pink on one of my cards!  I'm not much of a pink person, but paired with black?  Now you're talkin'! 
The color challenge at Stamptacular Sunday called for Black, Hot Pink, and Tan, so I went for it! 
And I certainly couldn't resist the sketch challenge at Waltzing Mouse this week, because, well, I love WM!  I haven't received my recent order yet so I'm working off the one and only set I own...so...

Have a Hot, Hot, Happy Birthday!

The sentiment is from my WM Bountiful Baskets set, and I heat embossed the silhouettes onto the pattern paper. 

Note to self: Heat embossing on paper is quite different from embossing on cardstock...

For whatever reason, the frame took on a pinkish tint when I photographed it, but it is pale tan....
I have to admit that I really like working with the PINK paper! 


Bazzill Black cardstock
My Mind's Eye pattern paper
Stamps:   Sentiment, Waltzing Mouse
              Silhouettes, Hero Arts
Zva rhinestones
Nestabilities, Labels Nine

This card is entered at the challenges linked above and at:
2 Sisters Challenge ( Silhouettes)



My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge

There are so many reasons to want to win some MFT goodies, I don't know where to start!   I will not stop trying until I'm successful!  (Ok, just watched the season finale of Seperate Housewives so I'm feeling a bit dramatic!)
This week's sketch was a fairly simple layout, but the possibilities are endless.With the playful banners, it would have been easy to make a cheerful party card, or Springtime cheerfulness. But I have been wanting to use these little cloud dies for a while. With the weather most of the country has been expeiencing it seemed appropriate to address the storms.  Many of us face more personal, gray times, too.  I thought this card would cheer someone  up out there.So...I ventured toward the DARK Side...ok, the dark side with sparkles...hehehe.

.


Supplies used:
My Mind's Eye, "Lost and Found",  Cosmo Cricket "Gretel";  Silver paper, K & Co. "Wedding",MFT Cloud Trio Die cuts;  Nestabilities Labels #6; Bird and Flower stamps, Inkadinkado "Spring Minis, Black Momento Ink, Gray Stampology. 

Hope Everyone enjoys!