Michelle Zindorf Inspired Card

Hi all. One of the most creative bloggers I've ever seen is Michelle Zindorf. I can spend hours on her blog reading and drooling. LOL! I used her blog for inspiration when I made the following card. Look how great my bow turned out! That never happens! :O) I don't think it's too bad for my first try at something like this. Let me know what you think...should I keep trying more of these?

Tee for my Sister

Don't you love this little tee shirt stamp??? I got this set from Gina K - over a year ago I think - and this is the first time I've inked it up - so you can see that I'm still working on my New Year's resolution - to USE MY STAMPS!! not just admire them on my shelves!!!

I used today's sketch challenge on Split Coast for my card design and the Doubledog Dare Challenge from Joan Ervin this week was to make a Mother's Day card with an article of clothing on it.

This card will be for my sister, Marcia - since we lost our dear mother, Margaret, 7 years ago (at the ripe old age of 89 - so she had a good long life! - love you mum!) and obviously the Tee shirt stamp is my article of clothing. The sentiments are Papertrey Ink from the Women of Life set. I just got my Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday paper today - so I whipped it right out to use on this card.

I did a little piercing on the scalloped circle and added some bling from Amuse to the shirt - what's a T shirt without bling?!?!? LOL!

You are cordially invited to join along in our Doubledog Dare weekly challenges - just use the Keyword DDC when you load your card in your Split Coast gallery. You can see all the Doubledog Dare cards here.

I'm rushing off again tonight - I haven't been getting to bed until midnight the last few nights - and when you have to get up at 5:30 am for work - that's not good (!) - so I'm trying to get to bed by 10:30 tonight - we'll see if I make it!

Stamps: Gina K: Little Tee's, Women of Life: PTI
Paper: Vintage cream: PTI, Kiwi Kiss: SU, DP Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday - Sunday
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black - Tsukeniko, Ocean Tides: PTI
Accessories: Foam dimensionals, cuttlebug, Stylized flowers folder, ocean tides twill ribbon : PTI, scallop circle punch, SU, Scalloped edge punch: EK success, red brad, paper piercer

Little Ribbons of Get Well

I'm catching up on the challenges today - so this card uses little bits of ribbon for the Split Coast Clean and Simple challenge and the colors red, old olive, black and cream for the color challenge.

I used my new Top Note (finally caved and bought it and I LOVE IT - don't look at this card Anne Harada! - she's still resisting the purchase! LOL!) I colored the leaf with my Stampin Up Old Olive marker to get that color in as required for the challenge. The stamps are from Papertrey Ink - the leaf is from the Friends Till the End set and the sentiment is from the Tea for Two set. The big brad is solid black but there is a little glare showing on it in the picture. The top note is up on dimensionals.

Short post tonight - I'm off to eat supper and then into my stamping room again - got some projects I'm working on! Thanks so much for stopping by!


Stamps: Friends till the end, Tea for Two: PTI
Paper: Pure Poppy, Vintage Cream: PTI
Ink: Memento Tuxedo black
Accessories: Old Olive SU Marker, glue dots, foam dimensionals, true black top notch twill: PTI, brad: American Crafts, Delphinium Petals: Darcie Finishing accents, Top Note die: SU, cuttlebug

Dustin has CUPCAKES!!!!

OMG! I see that Dustin Pike has been at it again! He's got a new digi stamp with a cupcake! You know I went right over and bought it from his Etsy Shop! If you love cupcakes like I do...this is a must have with the cute little monkey! There are several other cute digis at his shop you may "need" too. ;o)

Blog Candy Alert!

Fiona J has some awesome blog candy up for grabs to celebrate her son turning 7. Pop over to her blog and enter yourself! These Gorjuss Girls are so sweet!

Dustin Pike & Mojo Monday #84!!!!!!!

Hey ladies. I was wandering around blogs this morning and found the greatest blog. Dustin Pike makes the most amazing digi stamps...I LOVE THEM! I used a freebie he had up to make the following card for my hubby this morning. Be sure to stop by Dustin's blog and take a peek at the little cuties!!! Here is my new card with the latest and greatest sketch from Mojo Monday...I used Kaiser Crafts Lone Ranger papers, Dustin Pike's digi stamp "Bear Knight", CTMH stamps "The Gift of Love";chipboard bookplate; jute; edge distresser, DCWV glitter paper and Prismacolor pencils. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think. I don't ordinarily make masculine cards, but I like it. :O) Happy Monday!

Ninety & 100

2nd ETA: I did add the E to Ninety on my card - I guess I had a brain slip when I was stamping out the letters!!! It looks much better with the E! Duh.....

Wow - it's so good to be back stamping! Did you miss me???!!! Or maybe you didn't realize I was gone for a few days?!?! LOL!

Well - my cards today were made with 2 purposes in mind. First- I wanted to do the Featured Stamper challenge at Splitcoast. Today's FS was Kathy (Wattle) and I chose this card of her's to case. I changed the colors (made mine feminine) and used Labels One for my framings, and made it square.

I read on Amy Tsuruta 's blog about her friend Amy in Canada - who is trying to gather cards for two ladies she knows. Bea is turning 100 years old in Sept and the Mary is turning 90 in Nov and she wants to gather 100 and 90 cards respectively. So I thought I'd help her along by sending one for each lady. The card I chose today in Kathy's gallery gave me the push to get my cards done!

I've had the Headline Alphabet Stamps from Stampin Up (retired) for ever - and I think I've only used them once before - so I was glad to have a reason to ink them up. And I added pearls to the corners because every young lady needs to have her pearls on for her birthday - don't you agree!?!? ETA: I thought that you could spell 90 either ninty or ninety - and I left off the 'e' for spacing issues - but in looking at it - it now seems like I should add the 'e'! what do you think? I can change it before I mail it!!!

If you'd like to make cards for Bea and Mary too please send me an e-mail julia.aston@comcast.net and I'll be happy to e-mail you Amy's address for you to send them to.

DH and I went kayaking in the surprising 80 degree weather here today! We just got our kayaks at LL Bean a couple of weeks ago and were excited to be able to use them so early in the season. We have a little river that goes through our town so we just had to travel about a mile from our house to get in a nice ride today. Here is a pic of DH Kent that I took from my kayak - I had my camera in a special waterproof bag and took the pic right through the bag! ... so it's not as clear as it would be normally - but I think it came out pretty good considering!

Thanks for stopping by today!
Stamps: Headline Alphabet: SU, Mega Mixed Messages: PTI

Paper: White, Lavender Moon, Plum Pudding: PTI, DP Wisteria Basic Grey

Ink: Eggplant Adirondack, Lavender Moon: PTI

Accessories: Narrow rectangle Nestabilities, labels One Nestabilities, Paper Piercer, Textile Cuttlebug folder, cuttlebug, foam dimensionals, Crystal Sticker Pearls, Lavender Moon Luxe Satin Ribbon - PTI

Janet's Got Candy!!!

Janet over at Corrosive Creations by Janet has some awesome blog candy to give away. Pop over and check it out! Happy Early Birthday, Janet!!!

Scrappy Frogs Challenge #3

Good morning everyone. This is my second card for the Design Team over at Scrappy Frogs Challenge Blog. "For this challenge we thought we would do an easy one....just submit a card, layout, project etc in the theme of spring flowers!" Hop on over and see what everyone else created too!

For this card I used: Basic Grey Lily Kate papers, bird stamp by Inkadinkadoo, Martha Stewart border punch, Prima flowers, Kaiser Crafts pearls, brads, jute & stick pin from stash, Swarovski crystal, skittles, stickles, corner rounder, sentiment printed from computer & lots of pop dots. I cut out the branch and flowers from a sheet of BG paper and popped it off the card. The picture really doesn't do this card justice. Let me know what you think! :O)

Revelation 7:17

Gosh - I'm posting so late (again!). I worked all day and then had Bible study until 8 pm - but really wanted to get my His Holy Name challenge done tonight. I used the Split Coast sketch for my 6x6 page although I turned it on it's side and moved up the front panel a bit to accomodate my verse. This is week 8 of the His Holy Name Challenge and God's attribute was LAMB.

I used my new Green Tea Leaf designer paper's from Papertrey Ink as well as some brass ornaments (flowers, ladybug and scrolly) and a cross that I picked up last summer at the Brimfield Antiques Fair. The lamb is from the My Punny Valentine Set by PTI.

I really love the part of this verse 'and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes' - John is speaking about you and me here. What a wonderful promise for us!

You can join in on the His Holy Name challenge at any time - so check it out if the idea is interesting to you - Patter gives us her challenge every other Sunday. There's no deadline for getting any of them done. You just go at your own pace and you don't have to do every challenge.

I've got 3 really busy days coming up so don't panic if you don't see another post here until the end of the weekend - I'm having my hair cut tomorrow night, then DH and I are going to a play on Friday night - and then I am teaching two classes at the Papertree in Manchester NH on Saturday! If you are in the NH area - come by and say hello - Michelle has an absolutely wonderful stamping store there!!

As always - thanks for coming by!

Stamps: My Punny Valentine: PTI, Karen Foster Snap Stamps
Paper: Aqua Mist, Ripe Avocado, Ocean Tides, DP: Textstyle Green Tea Leaf Collection: PTI
Ink: Vintage Cream, Ripe Avocado, Pure Poppy: PTI, Memento Tuxedo Black: Tsukineko
Accessories: Flower Punch: All Night Media, glue Dots, Computer generated verse, Avery label, brass ornaments and cross, Rectangle Nestabillity, Distresser: Heidi Swapp, Martha Stewart Butterfly punch, Foam dimensionals, word window punch: Stampin Up

Best Friends

I was the hostess this week for the Doubledog Dare Challenge I do with a group of friends on Split Coast. My challenge was to use this cute free Digi Image from Two Scoops Rice Designs to use on their card. Rennae has offered it free on her blog for April. I used this weeks fun MojoMonday Sketch for my card.


I had to make the card big (5x5) to accomodate the size of the image. I used Art glitter on the popped up butterfly. For the back panel on the sketch - I just used a cut out Nestability scalloped square instead of a solid panel. I used Labels Four Nestability for the sentiment and an EK Success punch for the scrolly edge. I colored the image with Prismacolor markers.


You can play along with our Doubledog Dare Challenges - just post your card in your Split Coast Gallery and put DDC in the keywords. You can see all the DDC cards here.

Thanks so much for coming by today!! I'm off to eat my supper!
Stamps: free digi image and sentiment: Two Scoops Rice Designs
Paper: Lavender Moon and white: PTI, Basic Black: SU, DP - Textstyle Friends Till the End and 2008 Bitty Dot Basics: PTI
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Lavender Moon: PTI
Accessories: Prismacolor markers, Rhinestone Stickers, Labels Four Nestabilities, Square Nestability, glue dots, art Glitter- Volare, Sponge, EK Success edge punch, Martha Stewart butterfly punch

Cute as a Dinosaur

Today's CAS (clean and simple) challenge on Split Coast was an inspiration challenge and Jen had us browse through the JC Penny Kids Bedding web site.

My card was inspired by this kids dinosaur bedding set. Of course I had to use the Basic Grey Arcaic/Dino designer paper on this. The cute cut out dino and fun sentiment are from the Cornish Heritage Farm set called Little Boy. Both are popped up on foam dimensionals.

The scrolly edge was punched with an EK Success punch.

I appreciate your coming by today!

Stamps: Little Boy - Cornish Heritage Farms
Paper: Tangerine Tango, Always Artichoke: SU, DP Basic Grey Archaic/Dino
Ink: memento tuxedo black
Accessories: Copics: YG03, E13, Y38, scrolly edge punch: EK success, word window punch: SU, foam dimensionals

Mojo Monday - Week 83

Hi again. I just made this birthday card for the Mojo Monday sketch. I always love their sketches...this is my first ever House Mouse card. I got some images from my buddy Juanita...thanks, J! Have a peek and let me know what you think! :O)

I used Basic Grey papers from the LilyKate line, cs from Bazzill, brad from K&Co, stamped image of House Mouse, Prismacolor pencils, paper piercing tool, Doodlebug sugar coating, CTMH Chocolate ink pad, Colorbok woven label.

Faerie Song Art Stamps Sketch on PCP

Hi all. I joined the group Faerie Song Art Stamps on Paper Craft Planet and played with their sketch. I love these stamps! Thanks to Danni for helping me find them! :O) I also got to try out my new Shimmerz for the first time! WOOT!

Sprinkling Birthday Wishes

This week's Featured Stamper on Split Coast was Jamie (jaymerz). She has a lot of lovely cards in her gallery! I chose this monster card of hers to CASE. And here is the card I made.I changed the stamps and colors and moved the ribbon to the side - but kept her basic design.

The cupcake base is stamped on an oval cut out with my Nestability and layered to a scalloped nestability. I stamped the sprinkled frosting on a scrap of white - cut it out - and layered it over the cupcake base with foam dimensionals. I colored the sprinkles with Prismacolor markers.

This cute cupcake with the sprinkles on the frosting is from the H&M Stamp Co set called Cupcake Wishes that has 4 different cupcake bases and several sentiments. The fun DP's are from the Basic Grey Cupcake Paper Pad, rather appropriate to match the cupcake don't you think?!?

Thanks for stopping by today!
Stamps: Cupcake Wishes: H&M Stamp Co
Paper: White: PTI, Pacific Point: SU, DP-Cupcake Paper pad Basic Grey
Ink: Pacific Point: SU
Accessories: Oval nestabilities, pure poppy swiss dots ribbon: PTI, small and large oval punches: SU, star brads, foam dimensionals.

Basic Grey Challenge 31...Paper Piecing!

I love to paper piece and Basic Grey's Challenge Blog let me do just that with their challenge this week! I made a cute little bunny out of pattern paper. All paper on this card is from the LilyKate line. Love these papers! Please leave me a comment and let me know how you like it!

An Inspired Black and White with a Doubledog Dash of Red

This weeks inspiration challenge on Split Coast was a web site store called Skeem. I was inspired by this tower candle.Anne (jdmommy) also Doubledog Dared our little challenge group to make a card using red, white and black so this inspiration fit that bill too - with my added red ribbon. You can join along with our Doubledog challenge - just use the keyword DDC. You can see all the Doubledog challenge cards here.Because the inspiration was clean and simple - I left the card without a sentiment or other embellishments. Inside I stamped a simple "Thanks for Your Kindness" from the Everyday Classics set from Papertrey Ink. (You cannot buy this set - you earned it free by buying 12 sets last year from PTI). Thanks for stopping by today - hope you have a lovely weekend!

Stamps: Fresh Cuts: SU , sentiment: Everyday Classics: PTI
Paper: Bazzill White, Basic Black: SU
Ink: versamark watermark ink
Accessories: white EP, hot gun, pure poppy luxe satin ribbon: PTI

The Sugar Bowl - Challenge #8

This is my first time playing at The Sugar Bowl! I was able to play thanks to my fab buddy, Teresa, stamping me some images! I loved the sketch...it was much fun! I tried something new too...I used my scor-pal to emboss lines on the dark brown edge of the card. It turned pretty neat. :O) All papers except the red are from Kaiser Crafts...the red is from Basic Grey. I only used it so the apples in my image would match a little better. I loved this sketch and the way my card came out!

H&M Blog Hop - A Mother's Day Inspiration

I'm so excited to be part of the H&M Blog Hop today! All the DT members are creating either a Mother's Day or Wedding project to inspire you!

The hop starts with ~Carolina so if you just came in through me - start over there! (but be sure to come back!!)

For my Mother's Day project - I decorated this lovely little oval wooden box (4 3/4 L x 3 1/2 W x 2 1/2 H) that I purchased at Michael's for $1.00 and covered with this pretty designer paper (Deja Views - Dandelion Geo). I used my Nestability Labels Four to cut the panels behind the flowers. I stamped two different flowers, cut them out and layered them, curling the edges of the top flower to give it some dimension. I added a velvet brad to the center.

I glued a piece of Spring Rain (Papertrey Ink) grosgrain ribbon around the rim of the box. I love how the colors all coordinated so well!

The flowers and sentiment stamps are from the gorgeous H&M stamp set designed by Debbie Corbari called Petals of Friendship.

Inside I tucked a cute little pedicure set that I found at our local Five Below discount store as well as two wrapped chocolates (always need some of that right?!?!?) I figure mum should soak her feet and relax on her day and then she'll need some tools to pretty them up! Look how nicely it all fit inside here!

I designed my card to match the little box using this weeks sketch from Card Positioning Systems
I used the narrow rectangle, square, and Labels One Nestabilities on the card. I attached square silver brads to the ribbons. Otherwise the materials are the same as I used on the box.

Now please hop on over to visit~Melissa to see what wonderful ideas she has to wow you with!! If you lose your way - all of the DT members are listed on my sidebar.

Thanks so much for coming on our blog hop! Please be sure to leave comments along the way letting us know if you have been inspired by our creations!

Stamps: Petals of Friendship: H&M Stamps

Paper: White, Spring Rain:PTI, DP: Deja Views - Dandelion Geo

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Spring Rain: PTI

Accessories: oval wooden box: Michaels, foam dimensionals, Spring Rain grosgrain ribbon: PTI, sponge, Labels Four, Labels One, Narrow Rectangle Nesabilities, scalloped square Nestabilities, Velvet Brads: Making Memories, Rhinestone Stickers, silver square brads, glue dots,Mini Pocket Pedicure Set (Five Below), chocolates, White paper basket Shred: Michaels, Skotch Quick Dry Adhesive.

Monochromatic Coffee!

This is my clean and simple (CAS) monochrome card for the challenge on Splitcoast. I used Ocean Tide with Seascape - both colors by Papertrey Ink.

It is also my contribution for this weeks Doubledog Dare challenge I do with some SCS friends. Beverly (beestamper) challenged us to make a no layer card with a 'bump' (brad, button, dew drop) on it to accent the image. I just layered the image itself as my 'bump' - hope that qualifies Bev??? You can see all of the Doubledog challenge cards here.

The stamp set is Warm Happiness by Papertrey Ink.

Please be sure to stop by tomorrow - I'll be participating in the H&M Design Team Blog hop. The whole design team will be creating wonderful projects for Mother's Day and/or Weddings so I'm sure there will be lots of fun things to inspire you!

Stamps: Warm Happiness: PTI
Paper: Ocean Tides: PTI
Ink: Ocean Tides, Seascape: PTI
Accessories: foam dimensionals

Mojo Monday #82

Hi all. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

I got Mojo...Mojo Monday, that is. I decided that I didn't want to make a girly card this morning, so I didn't! :O) I'm better at the girly stuff, but sometimes you have to step out of the box you're so comfy in, right? Here is the sketch and my card...I actually used some chipboard for the top layer of the card. The sketch used a scalloped edge at the bottom, but that wouldn't work out very well for a rough and tumble pirate...so I chose to tear the bottom edges instead. The little pirate skull at the bottom is cut out and popped up. I hope you like my effort to think outside the box today!

Corrosive Challenge #7

This is my first card for the Corrosive Challenge Blog. I decided to make my first entry over there go with the rock theme...I though Janet would appreciate it. :O) I don't particularly like the card, but here it is anyway. Maybe I'll make another one.

Hanging It Up!

I made this card for two challenges - the Our Creative Corner Sketch and Sharon's Stamp Simply Hang It Up challenge - to use a hanging tag or charm or stamp an image of something hanging, etc.

I used some fun laundry line stamps that I've had for ages by Inkums Stamps and the sentiment is from Who's that E-girl? by My Favorite Things.

I turned the OCC sketch on it's side and tilted the sentiment block to accomodate my image.

I don't know about you - but I'm completely stuffed from Easter Dinner. We had a wonderful day with family and the sun was shining brightly here in New England although the temp was in the 40's with a biting wind. I was very happy with the sun though - I'm not complaining!!

Thank you for coming by today!

Stamps: My Favorite Things: Who's that E-girl?, Carla's Clothes: Inkums Stamp Set
Paper: Tangerine Tango: SU, Ocean Tide, Vintage Cream: PTI, DP - We R Memory Makers Grandmas Kitchen - Rich Ribbon
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Pumpkin Pie: SU
Accessories: Tags 5 Spellbinders, Copics, velvet brad: Making Memories, scallop circle punch: SU, circle punch, Daisy Doodles Primas, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder

The Essence of Love

Todays inspiration challenge on Split Coast was the Grandin Road web site. I was inspired by this botanical printI clear embossed my image on yellow card stock - and sponged all over the panel with brown ink. Then I cut the image in thirds and adhered the pieces over a blue panel. The sentiment is stamped on a Spellbinders double ended tag that is attached with foam dimensionals. I clear embossed the butterfly and attached it with a glue dot.


Today I went to see the musical Dirty Dancing with my sister and two nieces - what a great show it was! The set was just super and the dancers were wonderful - I can't believe that movie came out over 20 years ago!

I wish everyone a Blessed Easter and Passover Holiday!

Stamps: Essence of Love: SU
Paper: Choc Chip: SU, Spring rain, Lemon tart: PTI
Ink: Dark Chocolate: PTI, versamark watermark ink
Accessories: clear EP, hot gun, medijm brads: Making Memories, double ended tags: Spellbinders, sponge, foam dimensionals, glue dots, Martha Stewart Butterfly punch

It's Within You

I combined 3 challenges in this project - the sketch challenge on Split Coast - making my 6x6 page for the 7th His Holy Name challenge using God's attribute of 'King', as well as the Ways to Use it Challenge - to use a label on your project (the verse is printed on an Avery Label).

I took a little liberty with the sketch - making it a square rather than a rectangle and adding the verse panel on the bottom. The gold and red foil strips are a RAK (random act of kindness!) from Susan (One4Joy) (thank you dear friend!)

I chose a verse from Luke using the word Kingdom rather than King - but it spoke so powerfully to me when I found it I just had to use it. I also felt this girls face was the perfect image to illustrate the verse as soon as I saw it. I received this stamp (by Inovative Creations) in a set that I won as a door prize at the Stamp New England Weekend that I recently attended.

It's wonderful when a project falls together just the way you envisioned it - that's what happened for me with this Holy Name Page.

You can join along in the His Holy Name challenges at any time - check out all of Patter's info on Split Coast here. Or click on the blinky on my sidebar to get to her blog. Patter gives us a new attribute every other Sunday. You can see all of the Holy Name creations in the HHN09 Split Coast gallery here.

I appreciate your stopping by my blog today! Leave me a comment so I can come visit you too!

Stamps: Friendship: Innovative Stamp Creation, Karen Foster Snap Stamps
Paper: blue bayou, pacific point, basic black, tangerine tango: SU, DP Basic grey Marakech Masala Bella
Ink: memento tuxedo black
Accessories: computer generated verse, avery mailing label, foil strips: unknown, foam dimensionals, leafy branch cuttlebug folder, word window punch: SU, circle punch, flower punch: martha stewart,

Scrappy Frogs Challenge Design Team

WOOT! The girls over at Scrappy Frogs Challenge chose myself and nine other talented designers to be their Design Team! I'm terribly excited! Thanks a mill!

Mojo Monday #81 & Scrappy Frogs

Hi all. I finished the sketch for Mojo Monday today and the challenge over at Scrappy Frogs. I'm really digging this one! Here is the sketch...MOJO - I flipped the sketch and took some liberties with it as far as the 2nd box and circle. I cut out the Tilda and pop dotted her for the box. I stamped, cut out and bent the wings up on the butterfly for the circle.
SCRAPPY FROGS - I was drawn to the blue and green color combo of the inspiration picture...I don't have a MM Slice, but I did "SLICE" out my Tilda image! :O)
I used pattern paper and ribbon from stash, Tilda stamped image, CTMH Flutter stamp, Swarovski crystals, Stickles, sentiment is Heidi Grace acrylic stamp, CTMH Indian Corn Blue ink, Spare Parts brads, Prismacolor pencils. Let me know how you like it! :O)