Missing the Deer in Texas

This is my card for Freshly Made Sketches #28. The patterned paper is from a Martha Stewart paper pack, Classic Woodland. The sentiment stamp is from AnnaBelle Stamps; image stamps from Stampin' Up. I pulled out my Perfect Layers tool today so all the mats are very even!

Here's the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. If you want to play along, best get a move on -- this challenge ends on Monday at noon PST.

I have to admit that I do miss all the deer we used to see in our backyard in Texas. But we've been blessed with so many things since our move to Mexico that I'll just be thankful for all the deer we used to see and can still see by looking through all our pictures stored on the computer!!

Today's a wonderful day for counting our blessings,
Betty

Wedding Card

I knew this week seemed like it has been pretty busy and I just checked my blog and realized that I haven't posted since Tuesday! We had a get-together at our house on Wednesday evening for games with friends; then on Thursday we visited a pastor in a small village nearby and took Larry's mom's clothes for he and his wife to distribute to folks there who need clothing; then today we went to lunch to say good-bye to friends who are leaving tomorrow morning to drive back to Missouri.

Also found time to make this wedding card for church friends who have a niece getting married tomorrow. I found the image from a free clip art site online; embossed the glossy white cardstock with Cuttlebug's folder from the Paper Lace II set; sentiment is computer generated (spanish provided by my friends!) and cut out with Spellbinders' Fancy Tags.

Hoping you all have a fantastic weekend!
Betty

A Christmas Card and a Corner Bookmark!

I have two projects to share with you today. The first is my card for Sketch #13 at Merry Monday. Here's the sketch:

I made my card with a paper pack from Hobby Lobby called Magic of the Season.  I love these red, black, white and ivory papers -- just something a little different from traditional Christmas colors. I also used an older Stampin' Up pack of rub-ons called Old Saint Nick for the snowflake and the tree border with the sentiment "May The Season Bring Gladness". I usually follow Lesley's sketches to the letter -- they are very striking without a lot of extras! Check back with me next Monday -- I'm excited to be a guest designer for Merry Monday Challenge #14!

Next, is a corner bookmark made for the weekly challenge at Joan's Gardens.

It was made by cutting off the corner of an envelope from that most sought after item -- junk mail! Both sides were covered with the red and then a bit of  a border punch was adhered and then I added a little flower I cut out from a piece of patterned paper. Super easy!!

It's another beautiful day in my neighborhood -- hope it's the same at your house!
Betty

Roses March Challenge

Today is the last Sunday of the month and time for the Roses' Challenge. We have made our cards this month with the lovely Connie Rose in mind. She has been taking a break from blogging and we want to let her know that we miss her dearly!

Check out the other Roses' cards for this challenge. I have them listed on my sidebar.

This virtual card is for you, Connie! Now, since I have not mastered the Mexican postal system, I am  not able to send it to you. I hope that it will please you to know that I am going to donate the actual card to my Monday Market sale and will donate the entire sales price to Hope House, the boys home that I am selling my cards to benefit. There are 18 boys there, and most all of them are in need of dental attention. My friend Ruthie (you met her on my Monday Market post a few days ago) and I are donating the money we raise to their dental care. One boy had to have three teeth pulled last week because they were in such bad condition that they couldn't be saved.

I used the Spirelli technique (Susie Nelson has a tutorial here at Splitcoast Stampers) with Brazilian embroidery thread that was given to me by a fellow church member who wanted me to use them in my card making. It is not a difficult technique and I'm hoping that it will be a crowd pleaser at the Monday Market!

Hope all of you Roses and all of our other blogging friends have a great day!
Betty

A Sketch and a Spring Theme

I have the honor of being a guest designer at A La Card Monkey this week. I enjoyed this sketch because it's a little different from most of the the sketches I've seen lately. My DH was also impressed with the layout of my card. First, I'll share the sketch with you......

The sketches at A La Card Monkey are just as pretty as a card themselves and are a source of inspiration in addition to the cards by the designers! This week's challenge has a Spring Theme.

The papers I used are older Stampin' Up designer papers and the stamps are from Gina K. Designs' Spring Mix stampTV kit. I used Spellbinders dies and SU circle punches to cut out my image and sentiment. Also pulled out the Embellie Gellie to adhere all the rhinestones to the scallops and a little sheer bow caps it off!

I'll really like to have some of my buddies come and play in this challenge with me -- who can resist that cute little duck staring up at you from the sketch?

Betty

Merry Monday on Festive Friday!

What a task this was, to get a good picture of an (almost) all white card with embossing and an iridescent ribbon! I think I finally got it, after taking numerous photos in different locations. This is my entry for Merry Monday Sketch 12, and here is the sketch:

I embossed my paper with a Cuttlebug embossing folder, Winter Wonderland; this is one of a set of six folders. The stamp is from Stampin' Up and the ribbon is from Michael's. Hope it puts you in a festive mood and makes you want to play in this challenge. Click on the link to get great inspiration from the design team.

This is my second post today; please see my previous post to take a trip to the Monday Market, where I sell cards to raise funds to benefit a home for older boys in our area.

edited to add: Well, I just realized that I totally messed up the title of this post. I had meant to save it to post tomorrow morning (Friday!) then got distracted and decided to do a second post today. Oh well...........

Betty

Monday Market

I'd like to take you on a little trip to the Monday Market with me today (even though it's Thursday!). First of all I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Ruthie who got me started in this enterprise. She is such a fun gal, we go to church together, and she is so excited about her work with the boy's orphanage, Hope House. I love how she designs her table each week (I do the same thing each time -- lazy me!) and she always dresses to coordinate with the colors of her table! Here she is on March 12.....

And here she is this past Monday, all decked out in black and white to celebrate Oreo's 100th birthday!

Next is me -- a collage of me and my table, and a closeup of the table and sign. My tablecloth is a batik piece from Indonesia.

Here is another friend from church; her name is Betty too!

This is DH's favorite booth; Larry doesn't carry any extra weight right now but after spending too many $ at this booth, he may begin to look a little like Big Daddy!

The lady who has the table next to me sells Chiles en nogada which is a dish from Mexican cuisine. The name comes from the Spanish word for the walnut tree, nogal.^[1] It consists of poblano chiles filled with picadillo (a mixture usually containing shredded meat, aromatics, fruits and spices) topped with a walnut-based cream sauce, called nogada, and pomegranate seeds, giving it the three colors of the Mexican flag: green for the chili, white for the nut sauce and red for the pomegranate.
(Thanks to wikipedia for the definition and photo!)

Monday was a holiday here in Mexico (Benito Juarez' birthday) and I was able to meet her husband, daughter and son.






Next, is a lady who makes the MOST delicious black bean soup -- talk about lip smackin' good! That is the only thing I've bought from her but I'm sure the rest of her stuff is delicious too!

The next ladies make the most delicious looking quiches and sweets -- I guess you can tell by now that food is the best seller at our market. It is funny -- I sit at an entrance to the market area and some people walk in with a definite purpose -- they head for their favorite food table, looking neither left nor right, and get lunch to go!

Hope you enjoyed the visit to the Monday Market. That was just a sampling of the interesting things you can find for sale there.

I had planned to post this yesterday but we received word early yesterday morning that Larry's mom had passed away. We had been expecting it for the last week because she stopped eating solid food and was only having little tastes of Ensure mixed with ice cream. Last November she had a bladder infection and starting having delusions; she just never came back from that, even after the infection cleared. We are thankful that she wasn't in any pain at the end of her life and are so grateful to everyone at the assisted living home where she lived; we have never seen such caring attendants!


I'll be a guest designer for Challenge #101 at A La Card Monkey -- hope you'll you be able play along with us. Check back with me on Saturday to see my card; it's a great sketch -- a little different from most and I think you'll like it!

Betty

Celebrate with A La Card Monkey

 A La Card Monkey is celebrating with their 100th challenge this week! Do you see my badge in the sidebar??? Last week I was a Flower Monkey Princess! There's a great prize package up for grabs this week to celebrate. I'll post a picture of the prizes and the sketch for you to follow.

Their sketches are just as pretty as a card! There is a "Celebration" theme to the challenge as well. As you can see, I followed the sketch very closely! And my card will be used to celebrate a birthday!  I used the "Ink Up Your Cuttlebug Folder" technique to add color to my embossing. My stamps are from Gina K. Designs and Layers of Color. Added clear rhinestones to the scallops of the mat for the image -- what's better to celebrate with than "diamonds"?

Come along and play -- you might just win a wonderful prize package and a Princess Monkey badge -- isn't she just cute with that crown?????? The deadline to enter is Thursday at midnight PST.

I would also like to enter this card in the Mix It Up Monday challenge at stampTV -- make a card to Welcome Spring. I think the soft purples and the lovely flower stamp are perfect for a springtime challenge!
Supplies:
Cuttlebug Folders Swiss Dots and Paper Lace II (a set of 4)
Spellbinders Dies Scalloped Circles and Ribbon Banners
Stamps: Gina K. Designs You Are Not Alone and Layers of Color Sentimental Banners
Ink: Stampin' Up Lovely Lilac and for sentiment, Lavendar Lace
Misc: Clear Rhinestones

Have a great day y'all,
Betty

Build a Flower

The petals of my flower were created with the Colored Kissing Technique demonstrated on the Make It Monday video by Papertrey Ink. Heather Nichols demonstrated the technique.  I did not have many solid clear stamps so I went with this flower petal. First I inked the stamp with the lighter plum color, stamped on white paper and followed that by stamping PTI's Basic Backgrounds: Gingham in the darker plum color onto the petal stamp and stamped it on top of the lighter color. The flower parts are from a set by Autumn Leaves, Build-A-Flower. I also used the Gingham background stamp again by stamping in dark green on a lighter green cardstock. Sentiment is PTI, Everyday Button Bits.

I also made this card with the Sugar Creek Hollow challenge in mind. This week the challenge is Lots of Layers and the design team offered examples of the primitive style. I think that the gingham petals of the flower as well as the dashed stem and leaves give a country effect to my card. However, I think it may fall slightly short of the primitive style -- what do you think, Sugar Creek Hollow DT????? Any suggestions as to how I could get it to look more primitive? At least, my card does have lots of layers, especially if you count each petal as a layer -- they are layered one on top of each other at their points, after all!!

Later,

Betty



Happy Hellos

Yesterday I shared the Easter card I made for my granddaughter, Brianna. Today, it's equal time for  grandson, Ashton. He'll probably think he's too old for this silly card, but at least he will have received something in the mail from his BeeBee! I'll be entering this card into the challenge at Do You Stack Up? which is a favorite color challenge. I can't say that orange is my favorite color but it has always been Ashton's favorite color and that's why I used it!

Sorry, I wasn't able to find info on the creator of this digi image. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up (I did not ink up the last line of the stamp due to lack of space).

I used Sketch #26 from Freshly Made Sketches and here it is:

Hoping that you will check out the Freshly Made Sketches site and play with me there. This challenge closes on Monday, March 19 at noon, PST so you have all weekend to get your card made!

Betty

Easter Joy

Back again with a second post today.  This week's challenge at Joan's Gardens is to:

•   Create an Easter card with a bunny
•   Use an embossed background
•   Use appropriate Easter colors
•   Use some kind of flourish
•   Use rhinestones

Phindy's Place is having a Spring Has Sprung challenge. We are to make a card with a Spring theme and even show lots of Spring flowers.

Stamps are from Gina K. Designs, Stampin' Up and Michael's dollar bin. Ipaper pieced the flower pot with the little bunny. Background is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder, Heritage which is a set of four folders.

This will be my Easter card for my granddaughter, Brianna. Next, I need to get to work on one for grandson, Ashton.

Betty

Christmas Joy

This is my card using Lesley's Merry Monday Sketch #11. I think it turned out really cute and it went together so quickly -- would be an excellent card to mass produce. My image is recycled from a old Christmas card, cut out and embossed with a scalloped oval Nestability.

I am also entering this card in the Dutch Dare Challenge which is to use dots and stripes. The green/brown strip of paper has both stripes and dots but you can't ever have too many dots, so I added more with the red panel!

I've been meaning to share this cute little basket that I made several days ago. Saw one over on LeAnne's site, Wee Inklings. The instructions for the basket can be found here.

Have a wonderful day, my friends!

Betty

Front & Back Challenge

This is my card for the Flourishes Noon Time Friday Challenge. Here are the particulars:

To play in the “front” and “back” challenge, all you need to do is use the same image in the foreground for your main image as you use in the background! Have a beautiful focal image? Why not use that same stamp as a subtle background? The way you take on this challenge is up to you – just make sure you can see the same image in the foreground and background of your creation!

My card is made with the Flourishes set, Paperwhites. By using a Flourishes stamp, you will get two entries in this challenge. The focal image is colored with Koh-I-Noor pencils, blended with baby oil. Nestabilities dies were used to cut out the image and the sentiment. The image in the background was stamped with Momento London Fog.

Remember -- you have until Friday at 5pm, EST to enter both of the noon time challenges.

Betty

Round Cards

The Flourishes noon time challenge for yesterday was to make a card with a round base. I made the Thank You card with the yellow flower (which is a Martha Stewart two step clear stamp) for the challenge but decided -- why stop with one???? The pink flower is also MS, the red flower is Gina K. Designs, and the bottom two are Stampin' Up. Sentiment stamps are GKD and SU. All have scalloped bases, and pretty little bows attached.

The cards are 3 3/4 inches, so I'll have to make envelopes to go with them. That may not be as fun as making the cards but I can live with it!!

I see that it's after 12:00 now; we haven't "sprung forward" in Mexico yet -- so I've got to go see what the challenge is for today. The deadline for these noon challenges is Friday, March 16, 5pm EST. The prize is the entire March New Releases -- come check it out!

edited to add: I totally forgot that I wanted to enter my cards in the For Fun Challenges -- Helen wants us to use circles!

Betty

Gracias

The challenge at Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday is "Lace and Scallops". Since this week is New Release Week, the winner will win the entire March new released stamp sets. Can't get any better than that! Actually, there's more than one way to win the March New Releases. Check out the blogs at flourishes.org and get a a card entered in one or all of the challenges.

For the lace and scallops, I used a Martha Stewart punch that not only looks like lace, it is scalloped! I stamped my image and sentiment and then cut them out with a Nestabilities Oval Scalloped die. A lady at the Monday Market where I sell my cards requested a thank you card in Spanish.

By the way, I took pictures at the market this week but failed to get a picture of my own table!! So, next week I hope to be able to share a little bit of how I spend my Monday mornings!

Betty

Paper Ruffles

Hello, friends! I'm back this evening to report on my attempt to do the paper ruffle technique. I am proud of myself for attempting it, and for persevering through it, and I think my card looks pretty good (can you hear the "but" coming????) BUT, having said all that, I will not be spending this amount of time trying to do it again. My first strip of ruffles went in the trash can, the second and third ones looked a little better but I definitely had trouble getting plumping out the ruffles and getting the pleated top edges to lay down flat on my card. I don't want to discourage anyone from trying the technique -- I do much better with something new if I have someone show it to me directly or on a video; so, your attempt may go much more smoothly than mine -- right, Patti????  Let me know how it goes for you -- but you don't have to gloat!! lol

Oh, yes, forgot to say that the beautiful image came from The Graphics Fairy.

Betty

Fresh Flowers

I have made this card with two challenges in mind:

Flourishes March Release Week Challenge

 If you would like a chance to win Flourishes stamps and work with a beautiful color pallette, play along with the March Release Week Challenge at Flourishes.  Click on the link for full details.


Freshly Made Sketches #25
And, if you want a fresh, clean sketch to follow, try this one at Freshly Made Sketches. This challenge will end on Monday, March 12 at Noon (PST) so you best get hopping to play with this one!

My card uses Stampin' Up card stock, Elegant Eggplant and Lavender Lace, along with markers in thoses colors, plus Mint Melody. The other marker I used is a Marvy LePlume II, Spring Green.

I also used patterned paper and textured card stock from my stash of papers; not sure of maker.

Stamps are from Stampin' Up and the ribbon is scraps from my ribbon jar -- a purple and white striped ribbon on first and a sheer purple ribbon on top of it.

Hope you're all having a blessed Sunday!
Betty

A Flowery Postcard

Many thanks to Patti P. who shared a link to a wonderful website in her post this morning for Sugar Creek Hollow's Momochromatic Green challenge. Thanks to her link I found this wonderful free postcard image at Ephemera's Vintage Garden. There were three other beautiful postcards with flowers that went along with this one but I only needed to use one of them.

Patti also shared a link to a terrific tutorial for making ruffled ribbon from paper. Be sure to check out Patti's card at Patti's Paper Creations -- I thought that her ruffles were make from ribbon, for sure!!

I have used the Monkey 99 sketch and flower challenge for my card. I had to rotate the sketch so that it would work with the size of the postcard image. Here's the sketch, which is a beauty itself.......

Hope you're able to check out some of the links -- I know you'll be glad you did!

Betty

A Recycle Project

This is my project for the challenges at Joan's Gardens and Sugar Creek Hollow which call for recycling an object. This is how my project began.......

The particulars for Joan's Gardens Weekly Challenge #9 are:

• Use a recycled box, preferably round
• Color theme can be your choice
• Use some Lace
• Use Pearls and Flowers

The first challenge of the new Sugar Creek Hollow is called TRASH TO TREASURE. This week we are asked to take something that would normally be headed for the garbage can or recycling bin and transform it into a vintage, shabby chic or primitive treasure.

My recycled object is a tin for holding pellets for a BB gun. I used the required lace, pearls and flowers and added a little bow. The sides of the tin are wrapped in thin grograin ribbon although I don't have a photo of that.

I had a sand dollar that fell and broke during our unpacking and I've been saving the little "doves" that you find inside the sand dollars in this little tin -- now they have a pretty home to live in!!

Hope you enjoyed seeing my "beautified" tin and that you'll be able to join me in sharing a recycled project.

Edited on March 9: Karen asked that I link this project to the Word Art Wednesday site. They share a piece of free word art each week but if you happen to be working on a project with a scripture or inspiring sentiment you are free to link that project. Thank you, Karen!

Betty 

Merry Monday #10

Here's my card for the Merry Monday #10 sketch challenge. My card base is Stampin' Up Night of Navy, paired with Basic Gray and Going Gray. The trees are from Stubby Stampers and are stamped with Color Box Frost White pigment ink. I added a little clear rhinestone at the top of the trees for a bit of shine. The sentiment stamp was stamped in the same white ink and allowed to dry. Then it was outlined with a Versamarker, using the VersaShadow Technique found here. I added a couple of more rhinestones, a piece of ribbon and a little bow to finish it off and I have one more Christmas card done!

I have a couple of other pictures to share with you. Our dog sitting job came to an end this past Friday when we took Peppe back to his mom. It was really a tough job, but somebody had to do it!!!!

Now, I don't want to sign off with a photo of me being terribly lazy, so I'll share another sunrise. Can you see the "fat flame" surrounding the sun?

Later,

Betty

Pink & Green

My card today is made with the sketch #255 from Card Positioning Systems, and the color challenge at Pals Paper Arts to use Lucky Limeade, Always Artichoke, and one other color (pink). Digi Doodles #97 is a color challenge of Pink and Green and I would like to enter my card in that challenge as well.

The patterned paper for the leaves and grass is K & Co. and the darker pink is from My Mind's Eye. I used a Martha Stewart grass punch and I borrowed the leaf punch from a friend at my stamping group this past Saturday. The flowers are a two step clear set from Martha Stewart and the sentiment is from Gina K. Designs, which I cut out with a Spellbinders Fancy Tag die and popped up with foam dots.

We had lunch at the assisted living home with MIL today. She hasn't been eating well and said that she would like some ribs. So we bought ribs and took them over today, sharing with the other ladies there. Unfortunately, they didn't entice her to eat any more than she usually does.

It's been another beautiful day here today -- sooooo glad the warm weather has returned!!

Betty

Shaving Cream and ReInkers

Our card making group met this morning and we had a blast playing with shaving cream and reinkers to make pretty patterned papers! Here are a couple of pictures of some of our group.....

And here are just a few of the papers that we made.....

One of these days I'm going to talk some of you into coming down for a visit -- if you are here on the first Saturday of the month, we can all stamp together at the church!

Betty