Bright and Sunny

Hello everyone! It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood -- the sun is shining, the roses are blooming and the birds are singing!  Tami Mayberry at stampTV  has challenged everyone to use the inspiration photo above to design their card. Here is mine:

My patterned paper is from K&Company and I used two Martha Stewart punches, Half Daisy and Daisy Corner for the flower accents. The elements that I used from the inspiration photo are the colors and the flowers. I will be donating this card to Operation Write Home.

Betty

For Someone's Beloved

Layers of Color is sponsoring the challenge at If The Shoe Fits -- Scrap It! The challenge is to use green or a green jewel in your project and ends at 9 pm EST on August 18th. My card is made with a base of Certainly Celery from Stampin' Up and a sheet of patterned paper (origin unknown). I stamped The Warbler by Layers of Color in So Saffron ink by SU onto white cardstock. There are so many types of warblers -- this is my attempt to color a yellow warbler using colored pencils and baby oil to blend. I cut out another leaf from the patterned paper to put in the upper left corner and also cut out the warbler. Then I stamped "Beloved" from the set, The Love Chapter by Layers of Color, on the leaf. Oh, by the way, I used Martha Stewart's border punch, Birds on A Wire, on the patterned paper, to add a bit of interest to the inside of the card -- totally cute! I will be going to to the States in mid November to visit family and plan to take a batch of cards to send to Operation Write Home. This will be one of them; I'm hoping that some soldiers' Beloved will be a fan of birds!!
Betty

What a Sunset!

We were watching House tonight on television when we looked out at the sky. Even though it was a pretty good episode we had to quit watching and run up to the mirador with the camera. What a fantastic sunset -- it was so darn glorious! Hope you all can enjoy it a little bit too!

Betty

Roses

We have been so blessed to have roses bushes at our new home. Thought I'd share a couple of pictures of the roses I cut this morning and brought into the house

Aren't they gorgeous?????
Betty
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Paper and Such Sketch Challenge

I found a really terrific sketch challenge this week thanks to my blogging friend, Patti P. and knew I had to make a card with their sketch. Here is the link: Paper and Such. You have until midnight, August 6 to play.
and here is my card...The flower is from Stampin' Up's set True Friends; card base and frame for the image is Gina K. Designs PL Ocean Mist; the ribbon is a former "In Color" from Stampin' Up. I made two cards yesterday -- I posted the first one yesterday which was made with upbeat, bright, happy colors; then this one which is soothing and tranquil; and I love them both!

We took a trip to Guadalajara on Monday to the Costco store; a friend showed us a different route and we truly enjoyed the trip because it was such a scenic drive. Passed through several interesting villages but unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me. Will be sure to take it next time because there were numerous photo ops that I'd love to share with you. We passed by a candy factory that had the neatest mural painted on the outside wall showing the candy making process -- so sorry I didn't get a picture of that one!

Wishes for a terrific day,
Betty

Magical Painted Pony

Audrey has a challenge this week at There's Magic in the Air to do a card/project with some type of mystical creature such as fairies, angels, unicorns, mermaids, etc. If you need an image to complete the challenge, Nina is offering one of unicorns for only $1.

I have always thought that Nina's image Painted Pony is very magical so this is the one I used on my card. She has also a similar image titled Painted Cat that is also one of my favorites. I felt like bright, happy colors today, having been inspired by Stephanie at Annabelle Stamp's blog hop last night. Her card was so bright and beautiful!

Hope my card brightens your day,
Betty

Speedy the Cat's Friends No Ribbon Challenge

The latest challenge issued by Speedy the Cat's Friends is to use twine, bakers twine, jute, yarn, anything other than ribbon on your card. My card uses paper and a punchout from a scrapbook kit called Great Outdoors. I wanted to convey the impression of Speedy the Cat looking out of the window from inside his house at a bunch of birds on a wire.

The inside of the card says "May your future in your new home be filled with much joy and laughter". We have some friends here who are going to be closing on their new home on Friday. It is such a wonderful story. They were having dinner with a friend who is in the real estate business. They mentioned to her that they were in the market to buy a washer and dryer and that talk led to them buying a house!! And it was all accomplished within a few days! The way things happen around here is just incredible sometimes and this time it couldn't have happened to a nicer couple -- congrats to Bob & Sue on their new home!

Betty