A Birthday Card

The challenge at There's Magic In the Air/Paper Cupcakes this week is to make an easel card. I have used Nina's digi image Peony in a Bottle, colored with Stampin' Up markers. Sentiment is also from SU. The layout of the card front is a sketch from Repeat Impressions #M1811. Today is the last day to create a card for this challenge; I had a great time with the sketch! Designer paper is a ColorBok pack, by Tracy Porter that I've had for a long time. I really like the soft blues and yellow. Added very light yellow pearls to act as the easel stand.

We took a walk along the lake yesterday evening. The waves were coming into land so furiously we felt like we were seaside rather than lakeside. I even got splashed! This is a little park area that has been opened since I was here last year. During the day yesterday there were numerous families out under the trees with their picnic lunches, enjoying the beauty of the day together. Hope you enjoyed another glimpse of life "Lakeside" and that you'll come back again! Betty

A Little Hummer

I had to post a second time today. I was FINALLY able to get a good picture of a hummingbird outside my living room window. He wasn't flitting from flower to flower; just sat there and posed for me -- I couldn't believe my good luck! It is a beautiful day here at Lake Chapala, Mexico -- sunny, a lovely breeze coming in the windows, temperatures in the low 80's (F.) May have to get out later this evening and take a walk along the lake!

Betty

New Sketch from Annabelle Stamps

This is the new sketch from Annabelle Stamps that you can use for the month of June. (check out the link -- there's an announcement there that I'm excited about!) I have made two birthday cards from the sketch, one masculine and one feminine. The stamps on both cards come from Annabelle's set, All Things Grow. My favorite is the pink and green but DH likes the dark blue/mustard one! Go figure!
Hope you're all having a wonderful Memorial Day back in the States!
Betty

My Senior Moment!

Okay, here's the explanation -- I couldn't remember what the challenge was that Kym had extended to the Roses for the month of May. I knew she had sent a link to a tutorial along with it, so I started going through past emails. Found the link for a twisted easel card and got busy making one -- unfortunately, that wasn't the challenge link!!!! We were supposed to make a get well tissue box card ...... oh well, hope you'll enjoy my twisted easel card, Kym!
I have some good news to share with you -- in July I will be guest designer at AnnaBelle Stamps. I have been participating in their challenges for a while and love their stamps. I think my favorite is All Things Grow (a botanical set with reeds and grasses and misc. sentiments) but they just showcased a new daisy set this month that is super-duper! Check out the link and if you haven't had a chance to join in the challenges there, please join us!

Before I go, just wanted to share a picture of a lovely flower outside my living room window -- isn't it gorgeous? And the hummingbirds like these flowers too, which is a good thing, because I enjoy watching them too!

Betty

Card with Flower

I had trouble sleeping last night so I made some flower embellies -- making our own flowers is the challenge at There's Magic in the Air/Paper Cupcakes and Fab N Funky Challenges. Cut out my flower layers with a Spellbinders Nestabilities die set, spritzed with water and crumpled up the layers and put them together with a brad. The paper for the flower and also for the background are from My Mind's Eye. I also used a couple of Martha Stewart punches and Spellbinders oval dies to cut out the sentiment which is from Gina K. Designs, Fanciful Tags. I'd also like to enter this in Donna Baker's stampTV Mix it Up Monday challenge to make a shabby chic card.

Create.....

Well, just call me "Spoilsport" this week. I went and got bitten by a stomach bug so we had to cancel our trip up in the mountains. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to go back before too long.

We have a lovely wall decoration hanging in our spare bedroom. I am quite taken with it so I took a picture and made my card with it. I stamped and embossed the word "Create" which is one word from a Hero Arts stamp. My colors are SU, Blush Blossom, Taken With Teal, and Night of Navy. The only embellishments are teal pearls.

Hope you enjoyed the card and I'll try to "wow" you with some gorgeous pictures later on!

Betty

Praying and Sending Peonies

I will be entering the card I made today in the following challenges:
StampTV Mix It Up Monday -- Focus on Flowers
There's Magic In The Air -- Use Embossing

The image that I have used is by Nina May from Paper Cupcakes. Isn't it beautiful? I colored it with Koh-i-noor pencils and baby oil. To get your own "Peony in Bottle", click on the link above at There's Magic in the Air and join us in the challenge which is to use embossing. I have embossed the small flowers in white on the Pretty in Pink SU cardstock. The small flower is from a Gina K. Designs kit, Framed Friends. The premade background is also embossed with glitter; it comes from a paper pack by the Paper Studio, Poteeka Souffle. The sentiment is from another GKD set, Fanciful Frames.

We have a day trip planned for Wednesday to a village up in the mountains. We are actually up in the mountains here (around 5000 feet) but where we will be going is around 7000 feet. Looking forward to taking some pictures to share with you all.

Betty

Monochromatic Cards

I have two monochromatic cards to share with you today. The first is in shades of brown and will be entered in two challenges: Jennie Harper's stampTV Free for All Friday challenge to make your own designer paper. I used a Gina K. Designs set by Nina Bracket, "Nana's Needlework" to make my background paper. Also used two other GKD sets, "Take Flight" and "Eclectic Summer Sayings". Cardstock is from Stampin' Up; Creamy Caramel, Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip. Ink is Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip. I will also be entering this card in the Annabelle Stamps Challenge to "Say it in Monochromatic Tones".
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My second card is in shades of blue and was made for three challenges: Annabelle Stamps "Say It In Monochromatic Tones" and also for Annabelle's May sketch challenge #037. Papers are from My Mind's Eye and the image is from Annabelle Stamps "Thoughtful Stems". I embossed a bit of Bordering Blue cardstock from Stampin' Up with a Cuttlebug folder and stamped the image and and sponged with SU Bordering Blue ink. Added some blue rhinestones for a bit of bling. I will also enter this in the Speedy the Cat's Friends challenge to do a monochromatic card in blues.

After I finished this card I wished that I had added a white mat layer around the embossed cardstock. But I used Scor-tape to adhere this piece and it absolutely refused to come up, even using dental floss! So, it is what it is, and that is that!

Betty

Coral Patterns

Hooray! Blogger is back on line! I made this card for Tina Gilliland's Mix It Up Monday Challenge at StampTV. She wanted us to use TWO (her capital letters!) designer papers. Guess I'm a bit of a rebel at heart -- I did use TWO papers, but they were double sided. So, I ended up with more than two patterns. The stamp is from Gina K. Designs, You Are Not Alone, colored with Stampin' Up markers, Cameo Coral and Garden Green. A while back I had made a card with two little folded frames and I made this larger one at that time. I embossed the solid color paper and used some sheer coral ribbon for the bow. Hope you like it! I'll be around to see what you all have been cooking up now that Blogger is back!

Betty

Get Well Wishes

I made this card several days ago and have been trying to get a good picture of it. The ones I took in the house didn't turn out well so this afternoon I took it out in the good Mexico sunlight and captured a better picture. I used a sketch from Eat, Sleep, Stamp; paper from My Mind's Eye, Simply Delightful; cardstock from Stampin' Up (Tempting Turquoise, Sahara Sand & Taken With Teal), a Martha Stewart punch (Arch Lattice), a Cuttlebug embossing folder (Swiss Dots), and a piece of turquoise satin ribbon. Stamps are from Martha Stewart (tree) and Stampin' Up (sentiment).

The guest bedroom in my rental home is decorated in turquoise; this card fits in quite well there, but I'll be donating it to the church to bring a bit of cheer to someone who isn't well.

Later, Betty

A Case of a Case

I saw a card of Patti J.'s at her blog, Cherish Each Precious Day. She had cased a card that she had seen on Splitcoast Stampers and I knew that I wanted to case her card.















The aqua/black/white card is Patti's; the one with the larger butterfly is the card that Patti cased.

My card was made with paper from My Mind's Eye, Simply Delightful; cardstock and stamp from Stampin' Up. The sentiment is popped up to make it a little more prominent. Thank you, Patti, for making such a lovely card and providing inspiration for mine!

Betty

Posting a Card, then Off to the Market

I have enjoyed being able to make a card to two again, but I must say, I am very pleased with this one. I adapted a sketch from a Sparkle N Sprinkle challenge (didn't use every element of the sketch). The papers are Basic Grey Origins. I layered a sheer yellow ribbon over a yellow grosgrain ribbon to get the right color and then tied my bow with the sheer ribbon. The stamps are from Stampin' Up, three different sets.

We're off to the street market in Ajijic this morning. Every Wednesday this one street is closed to traffic and vendors come and set up their stands and wares. You can find almos everything -- art works, fruits & veggies, shoes, bras, yarns, clothes, movies, music, handmade jewelry and on and on!

Betty

Card Session at Church

I forgot to take my camera to our group card making session at church yesterday, but here is a picture of the card I started there and finished at home. I think these sessions are going to be lots of fun. We make at least one card for the church to send to members for their birthdays, get well, or sympathy and then we can make one for ourselves. I didn't get to stay very long because Larry had made an appointment with the owner of the house we are buying to go out and take pictures. Here is a link with those pictures. We fell in love with the house all over again. Our friends from Florida went with us and gave their seal of approval too! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Betty

"Let's Get Sketchy" on stampTV

I have been away from stampTV for a while but when I saw Theresa Momber's sketch for the Free For All Friday challenge, I just couldn't pass it up. Here is the sketch. I made my card with Blush Blossom cardstock by Stampin' Up, and patterned paper from My Mind's Eye, Simply Delightful. The stamps are from the stampTV kit, Elegant Flowers, the first kit I ever purchased and still one I use over and over. I heat embossed the stamping with black and added pearls in the bottom corner.

Thanks for stopping by,
Betty

Life at Lake Chapala, Mexico

Hello friends! We are enjoying life at Lake Chapala. We did have to leave our first rental and move into another causing us to be without internet service for several days. We have some wonderful friends here who helped us move and unload all our "stuff" with their truck. We are much more comfortable now in a pretty house on a quiet street. I am sharing a link that has pictures of our rental home. I'd love for you to take a look!

We were planning on taking our time to look for a place to buy here, but the Lord blessed us by leading us to the perfect house on our second day of house hunting. It wasn't even one that we had on our list to visit but we fell in love when we saw it! Hopefully I will have pictures to share soon. I had left my camera in our car when we transferred into our real estate agent's car so was not able to get any pictures. We are to call the owner today and make arrangements to go back again with camera in hand!

On Saturday I'll be meeting with a group of ladies from church to make cards. I brought some supplies along but don't have a good place yet to set up a craft area. I've only made one card since we've been here so I hope I haven't totally lost my touch. No one in the group has a Big Shot and embossing folders so I'll be taking those, along with some Nestabilities die cuts. I'm sure they will be enjoyed by all! Will try to remember to take the camera too so I can share a picture or two of our card making session.

Later, Betty