Back to School Sassiness

Hello again! I just wanted to let you all know that tomorrow is release day for the Back to School digis at Sassy Studio Designs. Lindsay has out done herself...again! If you have any kiddos who are going back to school, these are absolutely wonderful! Tonight at 12:01, 12:02 & 12:03 AM PST (2:01, 2:02 & 2:03 AM CST) there will posts going up at the SSD blog...these will include a note about the new release images, games and challenges! Be sure to check back tomorrow, first thing!

This evening from 4:00-7:00 PM PST (6:00-9:00 PM CST) we will be chatting it up at our Paper Craft Planet group. There might even be a freebie, so be sure to stop by for a sec!

I'll leave you tonight with a sample from our Back to School digital images...Backpack Brandy.

A Clean & Graphic Ho Ho Ho !

There's a fun contest going on over at Paper Crafts Moxie Fab World. They're asking you to make specific kinds of holiday cards and link them back to their blog for a chance to win some fun prizes and to be featured on their blog.

I made this card for their Clean and Graphic challenge.

I thought this Ho Ho Ho sentiment from Waltzingmouse Stamps had a graphic look as well as this fun new designer paper I just got from Cosmo Cricket called Jolly By Golly/Merry Berry. (great name huh!?!?)

So check out the challenge and enter your cards! Or - wish me luck in winning!?! Be sure to check back to see my projects for the other challenges that I'll be posting this week.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps: Very Vintage Christmas

Paper: Pure Poppy: PTI, Basic Black: SU, DP Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly/Merry Berry

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

The Digi Shack Challenge #20

Hello everyone! I know I've been MIA for a while. We had some electrical issues here that we had to take care of. While that was going on the electricians we hired cut our Road Runner (cable internet) line and we were without the internet!!! Yikes!!! Talk about withdrawals! ;O) So today I am posting the current challenge for The Digi Shack. We have a Color combo for you this time! The colors are: Chocolate Brown, Carmel, Bronze (or something similar) and teal. We would love to see what you've created! Be sure to add your creation to Mr. Linky at TDS's blog. This challenge will change on Thursday. Sorry for the short notice! Here is my card...

Faithful

I made this 6x6 page for the His Holy Name Challenge #17 - God's attribute for this week was 'Faithful'. I chose Psalm 145:13 to illustrate this attribute. The designer papers are Cosmo Cricket Earth Love that I just got this week. It's the front and back of one sheet. The yellow DP is Bitty Box Basics from Papertrey Ink.

I attached a little Noah's Ark charm from Hanna Stamps, tied with a ribbon - to illustrate how God is faithful in his promises - giving us the rainbow to let us know he would never destroy humanity by water again.

I used the Mojo Monday Sketch 101 for my page.

You can find the His Holy Name Challenges in the forums here or by clicking on the Holy Name logo on my side bar. Everyone is welcome to join in at any time!

DH Kent and I had a wonderful day today - after church we went kayaking on the Concord River for about 2 hours with my niece Christie and her husband Nate. It was sunny in the 70's without a cloud in the sky! We ate lunch on the river and then stopped for an ice cream on our way home - can't get much better than that!

For you Revolutionary War history buffs - this is the North Bridge of the Battle of Concord - of the Shot heard round the world fame. Part of the Lexington/Concord National Historic site is located here along the river.

We came upon this very stately blue heron, balancing on one long leg! He wasn't bothered by us at all as we rowed by him!

And one more news note - I'm so excited! Tuesday night I'm meeting Anne Harmon (jdmommy on SCS) at a nearby 99 Restaurant. We are on the DoubleDog Dare Challenge team together and I've known her for what seems like forever on Split Coast. We only live about 45 minutes away from each other but have never gotten together. We finally planned to meet for dinner after she visits with her mother who lives one town over from me. I'll be sure to get some pics to share!

Thank you for stopping by today!

Stamps: Karen Foster Snap Stamps
Paper: vintage cream, dark chocolate, bitty box basics: PTI, DP Cosmo Cricket Earth Love - Recycle/turn over a new leaf
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: foam dimensionals, swiss dot satin dark chocolate ribbon: PTI, yellow ribbon: Michaels, Noah's ark charm: Hanna Stamps, vintage buttons: PTI, oval nestabilities, computer generated verse. key tag punch, oval punch: SU, paper piercer

An Inspired Prayer

This week's Inspiration Challenge on Split Coast was hosted by my good friend Anne Harada. I was so excited that she asked me to make a card for her to post with the challenge as a sample!

She showed us a fun wall paper web site, Creative Wall Covering to inspire us. I found these pretty flower wall appliques and immediately thought they looked like some Nestability flower dies that I had. And here is the card I created.

The papers are all Papertrey Ink as is the tiny dotted ribbon. I used two different Cuttlebug Folders, Script and Birds & Swirls. I used a sugar coated brad in the center of the big flower. Almost every layer on this card is up on foam dimensionals!

Happy weekend everyone! We were going to go kayaking with my niece and her husband but it looks like we're getting a day of rain thanks to Hurricaine Danny - oh well - maybe it will clear on Sunday?!?!

thanks so much for stopping by today!!

Stamps: Scattered Showers: PTI

Paper: White, Enchanted Evening, Spring Rain: PTI

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories: circle punch, Cuttlebug folders: Script, Birds & Swirls, Ribbon: PTI, Brad: Doodlebug Designs, Gems: Amuse, foam dimensionals, Flower Creations 3: Nestabilities.

Judge Not!

I made this 6x6 page for Lesson 16 in the His Holy Name challenges that I do every other Sunday over on Split Coast. I'm one lesson behind so I was glad to find some time to create today!

God's attribute for this week was Judge. I found this to be a slightly scary attribute - none of us want to be judged - especially if we think we might be found lacking! But as James tells us in this verse - God is the only one that has the right to judge - and we need to remember that when we try to judge others or put ourselves above others - that's what I learned from my study on this attribute. A hard lesson to put into practice I think!

I used fanciful papers by Cosmo Cricket on my page to try and lighten the feeling of the attribute - but used a black inverted scalloped square Nestability to frame my verse as a pointed reminder that we are, in fact, being judged all the time by God - so we'd better think about what we are doing!

After I got it together I thought it looked like a cross behind there - an unplanned design bonus!

The felt buttons are from Taylored Expressions and the real buttons are PTI.

I'm so glad you came by today!!

Stamps: Karen Foster Snap Stamps
Paper: Vintage cream: PTI, Basic black, close to cocoa: SU, DP Cosmo Cricket - Earth Love
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Computer generated verse, foam dimensionals,glue dots, twine: PTI, vintage buttons: PTI, felt buttons: Taylored Expressions, Labels Two & Classic inverted scalloped squares Nestabilities, chipboard stickers: Basic Grey, modern label punch: SU

Early Christmas Wishes

Joanne (jojot) was the featured stamper on Split Coast this week. I chose her cute buzzin card to case. I turned the sketch on it's side, used different stamps and colors and a different edge punch.

The cute gingerbread stamps are from the Oven Fresh set by Waltzingmouse Stamps . I used a piece of magic mesh behind the panels, the mesh cuttlebug folder on the panel and red tiny twinkles from Taylored Expressions inside some of the circle punches (can you see them?!).

One Christmas card down - 39 to go!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Stamps: Oven Fresh: Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper: more mustard, chocolate chip: SU, VIntage Cream: PTI
Ink: Pure Poppy, Dark Chocolate: PTI
Accessories: glue pen, little jewels: Taylored Expressions, circle punches, EK success circles edge punch, magic mesh, foam dimensionals, mesh cuttlebug folder

Dustin Pike Freebie

Hi again all! Dustin Pike has a super cute freebie today that all of you owl lovers won't want to miss! :O)
Be sure to check Dustin's blog tomorrow for another release! Have a wonderful day!!!

Fluttering Quotes

Good morning everyone and happy hump day! It's Wednesday again...I have no idea where the time has gone since last Wednesday! Time seems to vanish when kids start school. ;O) This week's challenge for Flutter By Wednesday at Danni's Dream's is to use your favorite quote with your butterfly or fairy. That's gotta be an easy one for all of us! Here is my creation...

Beginning next week, and running through September, you'll want to be sure to check out Danni's blog. She is celebrating her 40th birthday with us all! She'll have awesome challenges, fabby guest designers and yummy blog candy! Woohoo! Can't wait to see you there!

I hope you enjoy my card this week! Be sure to check out the rest of the design team's creations! Ann, Cassie, Chris, Christine, Danni, Harriet, Heather, Jodi, Kim, Michelle, Nancy, Nicola, & Stef.

Don't have a Clue???

Gosh - I hope I'm not too late to help solve the crime at Mother Mark's Clue Game Tea Party today - I had to go to the dentist of all things - hey, maybe it was the dentist, in the reclining chair, with the cleaning tool!?!?! But I digress - I found a ton of clues laying around my stamping room so hopefully these will help Inspector Clueso and everyone else solve the dastardly done deed???!!!


I have cleverly hidden several clues on this seemingly innocent 'come hither' card. Can you find them?!?!?


You can find out what the heck I'm talking about here on Mothermark's blog. and it's also posted over in the forums on Split Coast here Come along and help us find the CLUE's!!!


This is also my card for this weeks DoubleDog Dare Challenge - Joan Ervin was our hostess and her challenge was to celebrate Glamour Girls! You can see the members of the Doubledog Challenges on my side bar - click on the logo and it will take you to the gallery with all the DDC cards - come play along!


thanks for coming by today!!


Stamps: Starving Artists Doodlefactory, Lady Silhouette- Erte unknown company
Paper: white, In Bloom: PTI, Basic Black Baja Breeze, DP: SU
Ink: memento tuxedo black
Accessories: sticky half pearls, foam dimensionals, ocean tide satin ribbon:PTI, gold spica pen, zutter corner rounder, tag trio spellbinders, paper piercer, ornare template

Fabby Gabbie

Hi everyone! Just wanted to pop on to share a quick card I made before I head off to fix dinner. I used Fabby Gabbie from Sassy Studio Designs for this one. She is definitely fabby!
Have a great night! See you tomorrow for Flutter By Wednesday!

The Cookouts Over - The Dog Cookies were a Success!

Our cookout on Sunday to welcome Mini to the family was a great success - it was pretty hot and humid but we had a couple of fans going under the canopy and plenty of cold punch/beer to keep us hydrated!

So I thought I'd introduce you to the characters of the day.

This is the star - the reason we were all getting together - Mini - a rescue dog who came all the way from Puerto Rico to Massachusetts to find a family! She is a beagle/Jack Russell terrier mix and she is just the cutest thing. My sister had a little cheerleader outfit on her when she first arrived (Yikes! the poor thing !) but she didn't seem to mind it! She was one cute happy little camper with her new family and took well to the extended family too!

And here is her older brother Gus - another rescue dog that came to Mass from somewhere in the southern US. Another beagle/Jack Russell Terrier mix who is about twice the size of Mini but looks very much like her!

The other canine characters at the party were my grandchildren - my son Josh and his fiance April's bassett hounds. Here is little boy Roscoe checking out our kayaks.
And here is Daisy with April keeping cool in the shade of the canopy.

The dogs LOVED the dog cookies that I made and the humans loved their little boxes that had sugar cookies in them. You can find all kinds of dog biscuit recipes here. Check out my post below for more details and pics about the treats I made for everyone if you missed it!

And now I'll introduce the human attendees at the cookout.

Here we have left to right - DH Kent, neice's husband Nate, and sister's husband Bob ( with Mini in front) Here are (l-r) niece Katie's DH Greg, my son, Josh, BIL Bob, niece Christie leaning over and her DH Nate shading his eyes.
At our table are (Left to Right) niece Chrstie with DH Nate, DH Greg with niece Katie, and lifelong friend Cilla who is moving to FL in November where her sister, already lives (boo hoo).
Here is Cilla again with my sister Marcia - holding Mini.
And here are the red hot dogs I was telling you about! - we grilled these along with some marinated chicken, had macaroni salad and delicious carrot cake for dessert - Yum!!!

Tomorrow I'll have a card to show you! Thanks so much for coming by - hope you enjoyed the pics!

Give Your Dog a Bone

My sister and her husband just adopted a rescue dog so I had a little cookout at our house to welcome Mini into the family. In honor of the occasion we are serving red hot dogs. (have you ever had those?! they are bright red, have natural casings and a little bit of spice)

They already have Gus (another rescue dog) and my son has two bassett hounds - so they will all be at the party along with my two nieces and their spouses and a close girlfriend who is moving to FL in a few months. We have two cats in our house - they will be hiding upstairs while we are all celebrating! (they are a little anti social when company comes!)

I wanted to make some kind of treat for all the pooches so I googled 'dog cookie recipes' and I found a whole slew of them! I finally settled on a Milk Bone Biscuit since it was pretty basic and looked healthy. I had picked up this fun dog bone cookie cutter somewhere in my travels many years ago - just because I knew I would want it someday LOL!!!

So here I am cutting the dough -

And here are the 'cookies' 50 minutes later!

I decorated these cellophane lined brown bags using heart Spellbinder dies and dog poem stickers. The paper is from Die Cuts with a View The Pets Stack - they are shiny hearts with paws in the center of some of them - very cute and shiny IRL!

So then I wanted to make a treat for the humans attending the party too! Some of us own cats and some of us own dogs so I made boxes for each. The boxes are one of Lauren's Timeless Templates called Rounded Wrap up by Papertrey Ink. I needed something that would be cute but quick to make 6 of and these fit the bill. The papers are from the same DCWV The Pets Stack. The boxes themselves are Spring Rain card stock by PTI.
I made sugar cookies using the same dog bone cookie cutter for the human's boxes.

The dog boxes have a cut out dog label (My Favorite Things Friends Fur Life set) that I stamped with the names of the receivers. The dog tag stamp in the circle that says I Love my Dog is by Inkadinkadoo. The little bone stamp along the top of the box is by Uptown Designs.

For the cat owner boxes I stamped a fish (Brown & Co Stationers) for the tag. The fish skeleton stamping along the top of the box is by Stampendous. The ribbon on both is double stitched Enchanted Evening by Papertrey Ink. I had some cute little chipboard cat shaped sentiments by Daisy Hill that I put on each box.

I know that the sugar cookies are delicious since I HAD to test them to be sure they were ok before serving them (right?) - but the dog biscuits have not been dog tested yet - I'll let you know what they think after the cookout!

Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you have enjoyed seeing my little pet crafts! I'll have some pics of our little party to share soon!

A Fancy Friend

Anne Harada (Itsapassion) was the guest host today for the Inspiration Challenge over on Split Coast. Anne was just in NYC celebrating her b'day and she visited a store called Pylones. She loved it so much - she used it's web store for us to get our inspiration from.

I came upon this fun magnetic bird in the office section and immediately thought of the pretty Vintage Birds by The Greeting Farm that I have. (The set must be retired now as I couldn't find them on their web site)And here is my inspired card - I colored the bird with my copics and cut it out. I cut one slit in the wing to put in the first paperclip - then just clipped the rest around the edge. I added the cute Library clips from Stampin Up on the tail feathers.

The panel, bird and sentiment circle are all up on foam dimensionals and I layered a small piece of Magic Mesh under the panel on the right.

I used this week's Taylored Expressions sketch for my card and polka dots which was Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge.

Hope you are all having a great weekend! I'll be posting some fun treat boxes that I'm giving to my guests at a cookout on Sunday along with home made doggie treats so be sure to check back!!

Stamps: Vintage Birds: The Greeting Farm
Paper: Apricot Appeal, Blue Bayou: SU, White, Bitty Dots Basics: PTI
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black.
Accessories: foam dimensionals, scalloped circle punch, circle punch, jewels: Taylored Expressions, glue pen, Magic Mesh, paper clips, Library clips: SU, Copics: Y21, B41, B21, B45, YR04

Back to School...

Today is the first day of 7th grade for my son, Jacob. He's in a new district, so he doesn't know anyone yet. I have been more worried than he has, but today was it. I wanted him to know I was thinking of him and that we know he'll do great today, so I made him a little card with a Dustin Pike digi image. He grinned really big when I gave it to him this morning. :O)
Thanks for stopping by!

The Digi Shack Challenge is in the BAG!!!

Happy Thursday! Today is the weekly challenge for The Digi Shack! This weeks challenge is a special one. Toni not only owns TDS, but also owns Kharlie Bug, which is her line of handbags and all things fabric. The store just launched less than three weeks ago after a year long break from sewing. So this weeks challenge is all about Kharlie Bug! Basically you’ll click on her etsy store, pick an item you LOVE and use it as inspiration for your creation. It can be that you love the colors, the print, the style, the shape, anything that inspires you.
Then you’ll post a link to your challenge creation using Mr. Linky and Toni will then choose the one she likes the best and that person will get a free handbag! Ooh, yep I said it! A free handbag. The handbag will be chosen by Toni. You have until Wednesday August 26th at midnight pacific time to upload your links in order to be entered to win. There is one more step to win though...you must put a link to this post or type up your own post directing your readers to Toni's etsy store to participate. Easy peasy! Yes, you must however participate in the challenge to win!
When uploading your cards or pages to an online gallery please use TDSC019 as your tag.

Here is the cosmetic bag I chose for my inspiration. I love the blue and brown combo with the flowers. :O)

Here is my card using the hibiscus image and the sentiment from The Digi Shack. Enjoy!

We're Off to Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia !

Mothermark (Cindy) has a Teapot Challenge every Tuesday on her blog which is now featured in the Split Coast Challenge forums as well.

This week we are off to Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia - and I've got Pete the Pirate (an old friend of Peggy's) on the deck of his pirate ship plotting the course to Peggy's Cove on the horizon there...... we're off to catch fish and Pete here has one already on deck with an eye to the ocean for more - I was going to add a light house image to my card but the stamp I know I have has gone missing in my stamping room so we missed the boat on that so to speak!!!

I was the hostess this week for the Doubledog Dare Challenge I do with some Split Coast friends. My challenge was to make a card using this swarthy Pirate Dragon and Pirate Ship Background -they are free Dustin Pike digi images that you can find here. We'd love to have you join in on the Tuesday Doubledog Dare challenges as well. You can find those here .

My card also covers the Color challenge on Split Coast this week - to use Vanilla, Close to Cocoa and Taken with Teal (and a few other colors added in for good measure!) can I pack any more into this card!?!?!? LOL!!!

Here is the pile of Copics that I used to color the images!

Thank you for coming by today!!

Stamps: Karen Foster Snap Stamps - Dustin Pike Digi Images
Paper: Close to Cocoa, Taken with Teal: SU, Vintage Cream: PTI
Ink: So Saffron
Accessories: Sponge, foam dimensionals, circle punch, glue dots, fish charm: Custer's Last Stand, Black micron pen, copics

Flutterby Case

Happy Wednesday and welcome to the next Flutter By Wednesday at Danni's Dreams! This week our challenge is from team member, Cassie. She challenged us to CASE (copy and steal everything) from another flutter by team member's card. Please be sure to tell us in your post who you CASE'd. I CASE'd my lovely team member, Ann! :O) Thanks for the inspiration, girly! Here is her card (first photo) and my card. I had issues with my camera, so the picture isn't the greatest.
I hope you enjoy my card this week! Be sure to check out the rest of the design team's creations! Ann, Cassie, Chris, Christine, Danni, Harriet, Heather, Jodi, Kim, Michelle, Nancy, Nicola, Stef & Taylor.

A Simple Adventure

This weeks Clean and Simple Challenge on Split Coast was to make a masculine card. I used Cosmo Cricket Mr. Campy rub ons as well as a piece of Mr. Campy designer paper on this - no stamps at all! I sponged all over the card with Dark Chocolate ink by Papertrey, distressed the designer paper and for some reason felt the need to pierce around the borders of all the shapes?!?

Then I added 3 punched stars - I also curled two of the corners to give it that 'shoved in the rucksack' look!! This could be a sexy anniversary card for your outdoorsy husband - or a going away to camp card for your 10 year old!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!

Stamps: none
Paper: more mustard, creamy caramel: SU, DP Mr Campy: Cosmo Cricket
Ink: Dark Chocolate: PTI
Accessories: Mr. Campy Rub Ons: Cosmo Cricket, piercer, distresser: Heidi Swapp, Star punch, ponge, glue dots