Inspiration Challenge

Made this card for the Mix It Up Monday challenge over at stampTV. Tami posted a picture as an inspiration challenge and I took the colors to make my card. The stamps are from Stampin' Up but the designer paper is from Gina K. Designs. Seems like I had to work, work, work to get this card in shape! Had to restamp and then changed my layout several times, but I'm finally fairly pleased with it. The medallion, leaf and sentiment are popped up but it's hard to tell that in the photo. The center of the medallion was stamped on the dp, then cut out and popped up. I also cut out the thin mat around the medallion in GKD Pure Luxury Ocean Mist (which I also used for the card base) and sponged around the edges with brown ink.

Thank you all for coming by this past week and commenting on my dragonfly card. I was pleased that Tracy chose it to highlight on her blog today. I'd love for you all to stop by at Eat, Sleep, Stamp and take another peek at my card and see the new sketch.  I really enjoyed working with her sketch last week and plan to play again this week. Hope you can join me!

Betty





Melisa Waldorf  has hit a home run with another terrific tutorial! This time it is for a Christmas Stocking Gift Card Holder. She has a link on her blog for the free template which comes from Waltzing Mouse; she made a modification to the template which makes it much easier to cut out. So, pop on over there and check out her project, decorated beautifully with one of  Layers of Color's  new Christmas releases.

My stocking was decorated with Layers of Color's set, Reindeer Waltz;  just love these guys -- they are so artistic! "Merry Christmas" came from Michael's and "Something for You" is from Stampin' Up.

I was lucky enough to meet Melisa when she moved to the Houston area from Florida. We were able to get together several times to stamp and craft and  chat and I enjoyed her friendship tremendously; it was hard to leave her when I moved away -- if she hadn't been in the process of buying her new house, I would have tucked her into my suitcase! But thanks to the internet, I can still enjoy her friendship and her generosity as she shares so much of what she learns on her blog.

Hope all of my "internet buds" out there have a great day (looks like it may rain here!),
Betty

Roses September Challenge

This month it was my turn to name the challenge for the Roses. It may not have been much of a "challenge" for this talented group of gals, but I wanted to see RIBBON on everyone's cards.

The colors in my photo are actually turquoise even though they look blue. I love this sheer ribbon that I found at The Dollar Tree a year or so ago. Cardstock is PL Ocean Mist by Gina K. Designs and Very Vanilla and Tempting Turquoise by Stampin' Up.  DP is from a paper pack by Pressed Petals. The stamp is from one of my favorite stampTV kits, Elegant Flowers. (my other favorite is Spring Mix!)

My card is a CASE of a card by Deb Felts, "HBD Lee!"  The Friday Free For All at stampTV is a challenge to case a card of Deb Felts, Design Team Member. Take a look at her card, it is a stunner!

I'm off to church now. Will visit everyone's blogs later this afternoon! Have a blessed day!

Betty

Make It Manly

My last post showcased a "girly" card. Today, we're switching directions and going with a "manly" card.

I have four challenge spots to thank for my inspiration for this card.
Eat, Sleep, Stamp  sketch challenge 148
AnnaBelle Stamps  Say It With A Male Card
Speedy the Cat's Friends  to make things with wings
Fab N Funky Challenges  to make a card that's "hard for you to make".

I used Stampin' Up cardstock, Close to Cocoa and Creamy Caramel and papers from a Scrapbook Kit titled Great Outdoors. I used the Cuttlebug CheckerBoard embossing folder on the small circle to imitate the pattern on the square paper.

I don't make a lot of "manly" cards because "girly" just comes much easier. However, this one seemed to come together with no trouble at all, thanks to a great sketch and a beautiful dragonfly image that I printed, cut out and popped up. The sentiment from AnnaBelle Stamps "All Things Grow" is also popped up to add some dimension.

Hope you all have a pleasant weekend!
Betty

Thinking in Pink

My card today is pink and white, with just a touch of green.

 I made it with two challenges in mind. The sketch comes from WHAT IF? Wednesday Sketch Challenge S211 with Repeat Impressions Stamps. And Stampin' B's Challenge 129 is to use two or more Spellbinders Dies.

Here's the sketch:


This is definitely not a card to send to a gentleman -- it's feminine all the way!

Later,
Betty

Peaceful Christmas Card

This is my first time to enter a challenge at Joan's Gardens. I was checking out my online friend Theresa Pollack's blog today and saw that she had made a card for this challenge so I decided to join in with her.
The challenge is to make a Christmas card with a background that has been embossed with an inked embossing folder. It also has to have striped designer paper and a sentiment heat embossed with gold powder.
I think this one fits the bill and I do hope that I will be able to join in more often with their challenges.

On another note, our bookcase was delivered yesterday and I started unpacking our remaining boxes and filling in the shelves. There are still a few boxes left but they are filled with photo albums and framed art pieces. Haven't decided what I'm going to do with them yet.

We were out running errands most of the day. Had lunch at a neat little place called Lake Taco and had their special of the day, Shrimp Louie Salad. We thought we were in heaven -- YUM!!!!!!!

Hope it's been a good day for everyone!
Betty

What a Blessing!

Have you seen the new Christmas release from Layers of Color? I can't hardly believe the awesome news I have to share with you today -- I am the winner of the complete release!! What a tremendous blessing and I just can't thank Laura at Layers of Color enough. I am so looking forward to sharing my good fortune with other stamper friends from church at our next meeting! We're going to be able to make extremely lovely Christmas cards this year -- the design team at Layers of Color have extremely beautiful examples to get us inspired!
What an exciting way to start the morning -- finding wonderful news in my inbox! But blessings abound each day -- we just have to slow down and recognize them. Yesterday, I was blessed by a couple of birds playing on my fence; want to see pictures????

See those little curved pieces they are standing on? They look so cute hopping from one to the next all along the fence -- just like they are chasing one another! They act like that fence was made that way just for their pleasure! And on the next picture, my husband says that the uppermost bird is the female (bet you can't guess why!!)

Enjoy your day,
Betty

Lily Pad Christmas

Hope everyone had a blessed Sunday. Before I headed off to church tthis morning I ran across a "new to me" challenge at Lily Pad. This was a sketch challenge that completely appealed to me. Here's the sketch and my take on the sketch:

My card base is glossy cardstock. The thin blocks of color are Night of Navy, Brocade Blue, and Bordering Blue. The snowflake and sentiment were done with a resist technique on glossy cardstock. I've enjoyed doing several things lately with the glossy cardstock/resist technique.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week,
Betty

CASual Friday with Annabelle Stamps

Hello, friends! I took a day off from crafting yesterday to go to Guadalajara with stops at Costco and Home Depot. I just love looking at hooks and all sorts of other gadgets at Home Depot; I even spied a soaking tub that may one day come to live at my house (we just have showers in our bathrooms now). Fighting the traffic in Guad was not exactly fun and we were sure glad to get back to our quiet home in Chapala!

Woke up this morning and while checking emails and Facebook, saw that Annabelle Stamps is hosting the challenge at CASual Fridays this week. The challenge is to make a Clean and Simple Mini card no larger than 4" x 4". My card is 3" x 3". I have a Cuttlebug butterfly die with matching embossing folders and that is the focal image of my little bitty card, with the sentiment  from Gina K. Designs.

Hope you can join in on this challenge -- the winner gets a $20 shopping spree at Annabelle Stamps and will have a hard time making a purchase decision, I'm sure! I've got my fingers crossed!

Betty

Christmas Projects

The first project I want to share with you is a Christmas star ornament. I found a tutorial at Melisa Waldorf's blog and knew I had to try one. Here is mine and if you'd like to give it a try, head on over to Melisa's for the instructions! The large star was made with patterned paper, sponged with an ink spot on the creases and edges. The smaller star was inked with So Saffron ink and then "kissed" with a Christmas ornament stamp that has swirls on it. The little "Feliz Navidad" stamp is from a set of Spanish sentiments that I got from a lady here who is returning to the United States this week.

My next project is a card made for a sketch challenge at Repeat Impressions. When I saw the card made by DT member Lynette Neus, I knew what I wanted to do for my card.

The stamp is one I got years ago at Michael's. I embossed it with gold powder which disappeared when I used the only two Copics that I have (red and green) to color it. So I used some gold paste to go over the center of the poinsettia. Hope you like it.

Be sure and pop over to Melisa's and have a go a making some star ornaments yourself!

Betty

Annabelle's 2 B's Birthday Challenge

Here is my card for the third and final challenge at Annabelle Stamps. Decided I'd better do a birthday themed card since that IS the occasion! I have used Annabelle's stamp set Sentimental Bluebells for each of my cards and there is not a bluebell in sight on any of them!! But at least I got the "sentiment" part -- really like the font on these sentiments and they stamp so beautifully. We were challenged to use two embellishments that start with the letter B (for birthday, don't 'cha know!). Unfortunately, I had used two Butterflies yesterday, so had to take another direction. Decided to go the Buttons and Bows route! The ole favorite Swiss Dots embossing folder came out for this one and also a piece of printed paper that I've been hoarding.

I'll make this post short and sweet so you can leave here and get started on your challenge cards -- help us say "Happy Birthday" to Annabelle Stamps!

Betty Benton
(B.B., BeeBee, 2 B's) I think I really ought to be in the running for winning a stamp set for this one!!!! Don't 'ya think so???????

Annabelle Stamps Blooming Birthday Challenge

This is my second post today. I was able to complete the second birthday challenge for Annabelle Stamps. My blooms were created with a Spellbinders Impressability which I used as a stencil with SU Brocade Blue. The textured ivory cardstock gives a special look to the stenciled design. My images (grasses and butterflies) come from Annabelle's set, All Things Grow. I think I had forgotten how much I love this set. The sentiment  is from Sentimental Bluebells; such a pretty cursive font!

If you haven't gotten started on these challenges, you should -- enter all three and you get a chance to win their entire latest release and Annabelle has wonderful stamps! You have until Sept. 14 to complete all three so there's plenty of time!

Betty

Annabelle's Birthday Bash Challenge

Hey everybody! I've been absent this past week due to sickness. Monday and Tuesday, I wasn't feeling quite right; Wednesday and Thursday, I was flat on my back in bed; and Friday, Saturday, and today I've been trying to get some strength back.
I missed the first day of Annabelle Stamps birthday celebration but here's my card for the recipe challenge #1. And the recipe is:
   1. use a new stamp, or your latest Annabelle stamp.
   2. use a die cut or punch
   3. add bling
This was my third attempt at this image. First, I tried to do it with glitter -- didn't work! Next, I painted flowers with twinkling H2O's and the rest of the image with regular watercolor paint but the look was a little too brash. The third time was the charm when I went with watercolor crayons and a waterbrush.
The stamp sets I used are from Annabelle Stamps. The image is from Ballerina Rose and the sentiment from Sentimental Bluebells. They are my most recent Annabelle purchases.
Cutting was done with Nestabilities Long Classic Rectangles Large and their Scalloped counterparts.
Added four green pearls for the bling, and FINALLY, I had a card completed even though it fought with me tooth and nail! Join me in a cup of the Recipe (I watched an old episode of The Waltons while I've been on the couch recovering) and enter your card over at Sue's blog.
Happy Birthday, Annabelle Stamps!

Betty

Make It Monday and Monday Market

Dawn McVey over at Papertry Ink has done a Make It Monday video to show us how to make a background design with stamps that are not normally used for backgrounds. Check it out and see how easy it can be!  I was blog hopping this morning with Annabelle Stamps and Marion had a beautiful card posted. I had been thinking about what to do for the Make It Monday challenge and her card just screamed at me -- CASE ME, CASE ME!! So I did -- you never want to argue with a beautiful card! The stamp that I used comes from Papertrey Ink's set, Everyday Button Bits.

Changing subjects..........

We went to the street market yesterday morning and bought lots of good stuff --
a watermelon
a bagful of roma tomatoes
leaf lettuce
a papaya
a bif ole mess of green beans
4 zucchini
5 small onions
bell pepper
4 avocados
7 plums
2.2 pounds of large shrimp
2 guitar instrumental cds
spray bottle
and we only spent a little over $20 US! We're going to be eating very good for a while and entertained with soothing music! This is a photo of the street market that my sister took when she was here in July. It is several blocks long with stands on each side of the road.

Until next time,

Happy Stamping to All,

Betty

Day Trip to Tonala, Mexico

We took a trip to Tonala today. This is a place where you can find almost any type of home decor that you would like to have! If you have the time, come along with me and see just a little bit of what there was to see!

Above are examples of Mosaic Glass Art. Don't you just love the half-eaten apples!

Above, most anything you could want to hang on a wall (home or garden). I don't think the bubble gum machines were for sale!

Next, planters abound!

And below, many types of fountains.

If you need a little snack to keep up your shopping energy, these ladies will sell it to you. We bought dried cranberries; our friends got pistachio nuts and spiced pecans.

Are you in the market for stained glass lights?

Or how about pretty glass doodads in every color of the rainbow?

At this shop you can buy a zebra, pink flamingos, lions, horses, a giraffe and I think I can even see a pig too!

We found a number of art galleries. Who wouldn't fall in love with this painting??? Look at that gorgeous face -- the eyes just drew me in!

I had to get a photo of this outsanding stained glass over the doorway to a shop -- incredible!

These chickens have a large rock as their bodies and they bob up and down if you give them a little push. I'm thinking that I may need one or two of these for my yard!

Don't exactly know what these twisted limbs are for but they sure did make an interesting sight in the back of a pickup truck!

Hope you enjoyed a glimpse of Mexico and feel like you experienced a little of it along with me!

Till next time..........
Your friend, Betty

Embossed Cards