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