Tea and Chocolate!

It’s a good thing that bugs are welcome to the chocolate tea party in Hershey this week. My cute little guys wanna go to it. They are so drawn to the light that is being displayed there, AND the ultimate snake charmer has lured them into thinking they need chocolate. What? You wanna know who the ultimate snake charmer is? Why it’s da Muddermark, of course. You see, yesterday her boa constrictor got loose and ate her ovals, so she claims. Yeah, I know. Doesn’t make sense. You gotta read the story on her blog to (somewhat) understand it. She’s such a charmer. Anywhoooo, Muddermark had to pull out her lute to get her boa back under control. My cute caterpillars were inching along their merry way when they heard her music and were charmed by it. The music she was playing was:

I saw the light, Lord, I saw the light,
no more darkness, no more night;
if you want some chocolate, follow me tonight…
I saw the light, Lord, I saw the light!

She’s like the Pied Piper just luring people and bugs alike to her tea party in Hershey. I guess a few of the gals have gotten a little rowdy swimming in the chocolate. I and the caterpillars are looking forward to the chocolate!



I thought about using my wavy crimper to simulate the wavy bg in the inspiration teapot, but decided to use this Cuttlebug embossing border folder instead. My caterpillars are taking a supply of ovals to Muddermark so she can get them on her card and be in compliance with challenge requirements.

The items at the top of my card are the SU flower punch cut in half with earth elements brads.

I hope you can come to the tea party. Check out Mothermark's blog for the details:

Here’s an interesting bit of news. Last week we were at Windsor Castle for our weekly tea party. Today, I heard on the news that the Queen is asking her loyal subjects to donate money to her budget for renovations to Buckingham Palace. I think the wax was outta my ears when I heard them say $66 million was needed! Jeesh! I wish I had some loyal subjects.

Embrace Simplicity

I got up early to do Mothermark's Teapot Tuesday challenge before work this morning, but (sob!) there was no post on her blog yet (sniff!). I was so sad (hiccup). Must be my poor buddy was having some Internet or Blogger issues. Hopefully, I'll be able to play after work tonight, though, because her tea parties are a riot! The gang gets a bit rowdy, but it's all in good fun.

To get over my depression of no teapot to inspire me, I went to the color challenge on Splitcoaststampers, and whose sweet face should I see as this week's challenge hostess? SCHIRMCAT! Oh yes, Kelly is a sweetie and a friend to all, but you need to know that she maintains an annual naughty list for Santa. So, if you don't want to end up on the naughty list, be good to Kelly! Personally, I take great pride on having been on her naughty list last year, and am striving to keep that status. Hee!

Kelly's elegant color combo this week is to use Night of Navy, So Saffron, and Kraft. Here's what I came up with:



I stamped my Embrace Life flowers onto kraft cardstock and colored the bloom with Night of Navy reinker and blender pen. I added touches of white highlights with my gel pen. I cut out the blooms and popped them up with dimensionals.

I kept this very simple to let someone who is undergoing a serious and major life change know that I am thinking of and supporting her.

Life Lesson: Remember to count your blessings every day and be thankful for the things you do have. There will always be someone who is better off than you and someone who is worse off than you.


Stamps: Embrace Life, All Holidays
Cardstock: Kraft, So Saffron, Whisper White
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Night of Navy
Accessories: blender pen, dimensionals, 3/4" circle punch, grosgrain ribbon, gold cord

CCEE Supply Challenge

Whoooo! Whoooo! Happy Monday, ya'll! It's time for another CCEE challenge, and this Monday is a supply challenge by yours truly. The supplies I sent to everyone were:

Pink Designer Paper
Two Chocolate Brads
One pink gemstone brad
Two ribbons: One pink & one chocolate
One chocolate oval all punch & two white oval punchies
One pink pirouette curly label punchie

Everyone was to:
use all or a portion of the designer paper
use either the pink gemstone brad or chocolate brads or both if we liked.
use a portion or all of one of the ribbons or both if we liked.
use either the oval all punch & oval punch shapes together or the curly label punch or both if we liked.

I chose to use the dp, the pink gemstone, the chocolate ribbon, and the oval all punch for my sentiment. I love this owl image; I enjoyed using pink and chocolate to color her.

I used sketch design #7 from the Midnight Madness sketch challenge!

We'd love it if you'd play along with us. You can get the details on our CCEE Blog.

Stamps: Clear stamps by Inkadinkadoo
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, Chocolate Chip, SU Chocolate Chip dp, Cryogen Sparkle White
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black
Accessories: pink gemstone, chocolate ribbon, Oval All Punch, 1/4" circle punch, oval Nestabilities, dimensionals, dauber, Cuttlebug border embossing folder , Copic markers

Featuring Dawn L!

My friend and CCEE buddy, Dawn L, is today's featured stamper on Splitcoaststampers! I was first drawn to Dawn's gallery because of her gorgeous floral creations. After following her gallery these past few years, I have realized that Dawn's talent and creativity knows no bounds. She truly is a very gifted stamper.

I chose to case Dawn's gorgeous Memorial Day Memories card. Things I changed:

1. stamp sets
2. colors
3. added ribbon
4. sentiment panel shape
5. border punch shape
6. made mine a Christmas card

I colored my image with Copic markers and cut it out with an oval Nestability. Leaving the oval Nestability in place, I used a scalloped post-it note to lightly sponge Bashful Blue around my bird image, creating my clouds and leaving a white outer edge on this panel to create a faux matted look.

My fern leaves were punched out of this striped My Mind's Eye dp, which closely resembles River Rock and then I sponged the leaf edges with True Thyme for some depth.

The bg SU designer paper is some I've had for a very long time. It is a white floral pattern on what closely resembles River Rock. I then stamped my Weathered bg stamp in Riding Hood Red onto this dp.

Congratulations and enjoy your day, Dawn!

Stamps: A Cardinal Christmas, Weathered bg
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, River Rock, White, SU dp, My Mind's Eye dp
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Riding Hood Red, Bashful Blue, True Thyme
Accessories: Copic markers, Oval All punch, MS zig zag border punch, MS leaf punch, oval Nestabilities, circle punch, Cuttlebug embossing folder, dauber, dimensionals, Riding Hood Red striped ribbon

Zoe and Me

This is my sweet great-niece, Zoe. Isn't she beautiful? She was born five days before my birthday and turned one this past January. She has the most beautiful red hair and is so smart! My husband took this (altered by me) photo of Zoe and I a couple weeks ago when we were celebrating June birthdays with family.

I altered the real photo (see below) to fit in with the design print I selected from Sarah Collier's designs for today's Inspiration Challenge (IC) on SCS. I chose her In the Kitchen print. I altered my photo to be black and white and polarized it a bit to fit in with the era of the times. Also, I wanted to color just our tops we were wearing that day to match the colors in my designer paper. I used my Copic and SU markers to color them. Zoe and I were in her mama's kitchen, so I figure that fit in with the kitchen theme of the IC design, too. I stamped the Short and Sweet heart/flower/sentiment images in black to imitate the black steam in the inspiration design.

And here's the real photo:

And here she is thinking that Great Aunt Charlene needs to eat more potato chips (right):

Lawd, isn't she precious? I just love her to pieces!

Stamps: Short and Sweet
Cardstock: Taken with Teal, White, SU dp
Ink: Versafine Black
Accessories: word window punch, glittery turquoise brads, dimensionals

Retirement Day

Today's limited supply challenge on SCS was given to us by Wendybell to make a masculine card selecting one item from each of the three following menus:

Menu #1 – Images (just pick one item from each menu!)
1. Planes, Trains, & Automobiles – basically anything with locomotion (this would include boats, too!)
2. Non-floral Nature
3. Neutral Images (stuff that isn’t girly, for sure) . . . I used a clock . . .

Menu #2 – Color Schemes (are ya still with me, friends??)
1. Reds/Blues
2. Greens/Browns
3. Neutrals

Menu #3 – Embellishments (this is where it can get tricky!)
1. Ribbon & Brads OR Eyelets (tie masculine KNOTS instead of girly BOWS)
2. Diecuts/Punches & Embossing Folders/Texture Plates
3. Natural Fibers & Hardware (hodpodge, charms, etc.)

The challenge was a perfect one for me since I needed to make a retirement card for my brother-in-law who is retiring after many years as a firefighter. This card is in no way reflective of him because he certainly is not one to just sit around watching television. He is always on the go!

You can see from the menu that I chose a neutral/non-girly image, greens/browns for my colors, and diecuts/punches for my embellishments.

Also on SCS, Christina gave a paper piecing challenge in the My Favorite Things (MFT) forum. I paper pieced the chair with My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus designer paper. I also used Cindy Haffner's MFT sketch challenge. In case you're interested in participating in the MFT challenges, be sure to note that technically your entry can only be used for one or the other challenge....not both....which is what I'll do. The paper piecing was perfect for my image today, so I'll submit this for Christina's challenge, but I also really liked my friend Cindy's sketch design, so I used that even though I cannot submit the card for both challenges. Does that make sense?

Stamps: Let's Hear It For the Boys (My Favorite Things)

Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Cryogen White Sparkle, My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus dp

Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Versafine Black, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive

Accessories: Copic markers, tag corner and photo corner punches, paper piercer, oval Nestability, dauber, dimensionals

Honey! Do you have.....???

So, my husband says to me at 11:00 p.m. last night as I'm getting ready to crawl into bed, "I need to get a birthday card out to James' tomorrow. Can you pull one out of your stash for me?" What? Like I have tons of masculine cards laying around? I don't think so! James is my husband's eldest son from his first marriage, and I must admit that I screwed up by forgetting to make one in advance for him, but there was no way I was taking the rap for my oversight! I scolded dear hubby for asking me at the last minute! LOL!

Awwww, don't worry about him. He knows I'm a softie and knew that I would come through for him. I got up early to do the sketch challenge on Splitcoaststampers this morning and set to making a birthday card for his first born.

I hadn't used Baroque Motifs in a long time and thought it to be a good set for a masculine card. I gold embossed the scalloped circle shape and silver embossed the starburst center shape. The gold flourishes in the corner are from SU's brushed gold cardstock (I can't believe they aren't carrying that anymore and I'm almost OUT!!! Egads!). I used a Sizzix die for the flourishes. See the cool silver divine swirls embossed cardstock behind the Baroque images and underneath the vellum sentiment? That is really cool currency paper that Stamp Muse sent to me a short time ago. Reaaaaaallly cool paper! Thanks, again M!! The striped bg paper is from SU's Rockabilly designer set; I absolutely LOVE the Rockabilly papers. Note to self: buy more!

Stamps: Baroque Motifs

Cardstock: Black, Silver currency paper, Rockabilly dp, white, Brushed gold

Ink: Versamark and Gold

Accessories: vellum sentiment, gold and silver embossing powders, gold and silver brads, Sizzix flourish die, divine swirls embossing folder, decorative scissors, dimensionals

Tea at Windsor Castle

The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain...

When I learned that we were having tea at Windsor Castle today with the Queen of England, I immediately called my friend Eliza for some lessons in manners and etiquette. She taught me how to speak like a lady and walk like a lady and hold my little pinky high while delicately sipping my tea with royalty like a lady!

So, in honor of my dear friend Cindy's 52nd week of Teapot Tuesdays, I hereby submit my CAS entry for admission to high tea at the castle! Congratulations, Cindy! You host the bestest tea parties, evah!!

I told Bertie that she had to be on her best behavior this week, even while standing in line at the castle with all of the others. I know she's really, reeeeeealllly tempted to flirt with those cute guards at the castle doors, but I told her she didn't want to ruin it for the others by getting kicked out before we even get in!!! Needless to say, Bertie won't be standing too close to Schirmcat because she really is the naughty one of the group, and Bertie can be led astray so easily.



Cindy's offering some fabulous candy on her blog if you play in her challenge this week in honor of her one-year anniversary of Teapot Tuesdays.
http://mothermark.blogspot.com/

Well, I better finish getting ready and get on over to the castle. I hope you can join us! If you go over to Splitcoaststampers and do a keyword search on MMTPT52, you can view all the cards everyone made, too!

The Amazing Talent of Anna Wight

Who doesn't love the amazing talent of Anna Wight? Her rubber stamp images she designs for Whipper Snapper, her darling card creations, and her awesome photography! I love reading the delightful stories and captions on the photographs on her blog and checking out all her stunning photographs.

For this week's CCEE challenge, I challenged my friends to go to Anna's photo gallery and choose one of her photographs that inspired them and make a card around that photo. For my card, I chose this beautiful sunflower photo. I love the happy feeling sunflowers evoke.



I used my Copic markers to color the sunflower. To replicate the tiny yellow dots in the center of the photograph, I used 3-D Puffy glue, heat set it, and then colored it with my yellow Copic marker. I cut the flower image and bent some of the petals forward for dimension. I watercolored the stems and leaves with Mellow Moss reinker and watercolor brush. My clouds were made with Stampin' Up's cloud template.

Please check out our CCEE blog if you'd like to see the creations my friends made and/or participate in our challenge. Have a happy day!

Stamps: A Year of Flowers (Gina K); Pullin' for You (My Favorite Things); Wonderful Words and Aida Cloth bg stamps (Stampin' Up)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Soft Sky, Always Artichoke, Gina K Pure Luxury White
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Chocolate Chip, Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke, Soft Sky
Accessories: Copic markers, circle Nestabilities, MS picket fence punch, 3-D Puffy Glue, paper piercer, chocolate chip marker, SU cloud template, watercolor brush

Rockabilly Berries

I absolutely love this Stampin' Up Rockabilly designer paper and chose to use it for my casing of Christy S's card on Splitcoaststampers because Christy is the featured stamper today! We are required to change two or more things when we case the FS's card.

Things I changed:
1. stamp sets
2. colors
3. sketch
4. added eyelets, ribbon, and corner punch

I'm really bummed that my Curly Label punch went on the fritz after I punched my sentiment. I haven't had it that long, and I hate when I have to hassle with returning merchandise. Oh well.

I'm off to go visit my dad in honor of Father's Day, and I hope you are able to be with your loved ones on this special day, too.

A Couple Thank You Cards

I tell ya, SCS friends are just the best! They are so thoughtful and generous. I received this RAK package from my friend Dawn, aka Flowergal36, as a thank you for featuring her as our Catchy Name Featured Stamper (CNFS)for our CCEE challenge. Her coloring on this adorable card is fabulous; I love their pink cheeks and tummies. There's just a hint of glitter on the gorgeous rose. I fell in love with this card when Dawn had uploaded it into her SCS gallery not too long ago; little did I know I would be the recipient of it! Woo-hoo! Thank you for the sweet card and the fabulous goodies, Dawn!


Here's another beautiful thank-you card I received from Laurie, aka imamuttnut (isn't that just the cutest username?). She was our CNFS in May. Isn't that paper-pieced dress just so flirty and pretty? I love the ribbon with the floral hardware at the waist. Thanks, Laurie!

Thank You, Stamp Muse!

Lookie at what Mr. Postman delivered to my mailbox today: a RAK from Emily, aka Stamp Muse, aka M, on SCS! I had seen this GORGEOUS card Emily made with her currency paper and exquisite butterflies. I had never heard of the currency paper before. Emily sent me a generous supply of this paper, some of it embossed, some of it not. She also enclosed this OUTRAGEOUSLY gorgeous and elegant black, red, and gold butterfly card. Oh my goodness, I wish you could see this in real life. Pure class and elegance.




I just had to take another picture of just the card and coordinating envelope, too, so you can see it up closer. Isn't it exquisite?























Thank you so very much, Emily! I love the currency paper and am looking forward to using it!

Bugaloo!!

Stephanie, the Inspiration Challenge hostess on SCS, came across another cool website for our inspiration today. Today's inspiration is baby shoes from the Bugaloo website. They are just the cutest baby shoes. I chose the birdie baby shoes for my inspiration today. My sketch design is from the Card Positioning Systems blog. I used the spotlighting technique to fulfill the requirements of the CPS120 sketch design.

I made this card for a co-worker's birthday. I thought this stamp set was perfect because she's always the bluebird of happiness, and this Happy Day stamp set from There She Goes has the cutest little birdies in it. I used Copic markers to color the scene and cut out and popped up one of the clouds for dimension.

I hope you are having a happy Saturday!!

Stamps: There She Goes
Cardstock: Cool Carribean, Chocolate Chip, Gina K Luxury White cs, Basic Grey Figgy Pudding dp
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Copic markers, MS picket fence border punch

Sumo Wrestlin' Bunny Butt Michio!

Hi! I would like you to meet Michio from Michigan. In case you don't know, Michio is a Japanese name meaning "man on the (correct) path." Paper-pieced Michio is hopping his way through the tall Japanese grasses of Michigan to a sumo wrestlin' Japanese tea party in Colorado today! Our guest of honor is Hiroyuki (means "widespread happiness" in Japanese). Hiroyuki is a professional sumo wrestler and will be giving each of the tea party attendees free sumo wrestlin' lessons and a shot at wrestlin' with the Great Hiroyuki himself! Woo-hoo! If you check out da Muddermark's blog, you can view a picture of the Great Hiroyuki and you'll understand why he was given the name he was. Check it out here. Please do not ask me what the pink represents on the sample teapot.

Michio is going to have to enter through the back door to this week's tea party over at da Muddermark's because he is showing off his cute li'l bunny butt, and the tea party rules this week are if you are showing any kind of butt, you must enter through the back door. Michio doesn't mind, though, because unbeknownest to da Muddermark and Hiroyuki, Michio has spiked the Japanese tea with sake! Oh yeah, baby! We're gonna have a good time at this party! Who's bringing the sushi? Are we gonna be flinging sushi, Muddermark? I wanna fling sushi.



This fabulous sketch design was a challenge given to the Doubledog Dare Challenge group by our sweet friend, Bev (beestamper).

Stamps: A Li'l Behind (H&M Stamps)
Cardstock: Brocade Blue, Pink Pirouette, Black, SU dp
Ink: Versafine Black, Brocade Blue, White Craft
Accessories: Cuttlebug embossing folder, circle punches, ribbons, paper piercer, dimensionals

Gone Fishin' Tri-Shutter

A few weeks ago on Splitcoaststampers, Lynn challenged everyone to make a tri-shutter card for the technique challenge. I wasn't able to participate that week, so I decided to make it one of the challenges for the CCEE group this month. It is such an easy technique, and I absolutely love how it looks. It even folds up to a regular A2 size card so you can easily mail in a regular envelope. You can view Bonnie Szwalkiewicz's tutorial on how to make these here.



I've had this Gone Fishing sign and fishies on a wire for a loooooong time and have finally put them to good use. I can't believe it, but there's no stamping on this card. I used some older SU designer paper from a scrapbook package, the fishing theme embellishments, large and small brads, and SU circle, oval, and word window punches. The polkadotted dp is chocolate and sage shadow, although it looks black in this photograph.

If you would like to play along and see the tri-shutter cards my friends made, please visit our CCEE blog.

Stamps: none
Cardstock: Sage Shadow, SU scrapbook dp
Accessories: Gone Fishing embellishments; brads; oval, circle, and word window punches

Honoring Sumtoy

Our featured stamper on Splitcoaststampers today is none other than sweet, kind-hearted Sumtoy, aka Roseanne! Roseanne is always so kind and encouraging to others, so I wanted to be sure and honor her today by casing one of her fabulous cards. A lot of her cards are made with lighthouses, trees and florals, and it took me forever to settle on one. I chose her Yellow Rose of Love card.



We are required to change at least two things when we case a featured stamper's card. I changed:

1. stamp sets
2. colors
3. used border punch instead of ribbon and layered it vertically instead of horizontally
4. added punched leaves
5. no brads

I used a blender pen to color my Embrace Life flowers and stems. I used my Mellow Moss marker to color some of the leaves and the dotted lines in the Pink Pirouette dp.

Stamps: Embrace Life, Trendy Trees
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Mellow Moss, Pink Pirouette dp
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, Mellow Moss, Pink Pirouette
Accessories: topnote die, oval Nestabilities, MS leaf and border punches, dauber, blender pen

Inspired by Others

A co-worker asked me to make a "Welcome" card that she could place in her cabin with a note inside to welcome visitors who rent the cabin. She asked that I use green and yellow to coordinate with the bedroom she wants to place it in. Knowing how many variants of green and yellow are out there, I showed her the Stampin' Up colors and asked her to choose which shade of green and yellow she wanted. She chose Summer Sun and Garden Green.

Like a writer with writer's block, I think all of us at one time or another suffer from stamper's block. That's what happened to me a couple nights ago when I sat down at my stamping table to work on some designs for my co-worker. I played for a while and just wasn't happy with what I was coming up with, so I went to one of my favorite websites, Splitcoaststampers, for inspiration. There I found so many pretty daisy cards to inspire me, and I have two talented stampers that I'd like to thank because I cased their cards!

This first daisy card I made was inspired by this card made by Mary Fish (aka Petal Pusher on Splitcoaststampers). I loved her creativity to use an oval punch to create the flower vase. In my case, I used an oval Nestability die. The vase design is the Aida Cloth background stamp because I wanted a black and white vase with this pattern. I also love to use designer papers, and I think it was Mary's use of the cool Rockabilly dp that really caught my eye.

I used my Summer Sun marker to color the center of the daisies, added some 3-D Puffy Glue, which was heat set and colored with a Summer Sun marker, and then sponged Barely Banana from the center outward for a little highlighting. I fussy cut each daisy and popped them up with dimensionals.

The welcome sentiment is from Stampin Up's Short and Sweet set. I used a black marker to highlight the welcome only as this particular stamp reads Welcome Baby.

Stamps: Gerber daisies by Stampabilities; Short and Sweet (sentiment); Aida Cloth; In Full Bloom
Cardstock: White, Black, Summer Sun, Garden Green
Ink: Versafine Black, Barely Banana, Summer Sun, Garden Green, Barely Banana
Accessories: oval Nestability, photo corner punch, oval punches, lace border punch, 3-D Puffy Glue, Summer Sunand Basic Black markers


For my second card, I used what will always be one of my favorite Stampin' Up flower stamps, In Full Bloom, because I like how playful these daisies look when you cut them out and arrange them in such a fashion. For this layout, I was inspired by Patty (aka LaLatty) with her clean and simple, yet oh-so-very-pretty, card.

Again, I colored the centers with my Summer Sun marker and I added some 3-D Puffy Glue, which was heat set and colored, for some texture. "Welcome" was made with my A-Z and 1,2,3stamp set by There She goes.

Stamps: In Full Bloom, A-1 and 1,2,3 (There She Goes)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Garden Green
Ink: Versafine Black
Accessories: paper piercer, 3-D Puffy Glue, zig zag punch

Although Mary and Patty probably do not even know me, I'd like to thank them for saving me from a bad case of stamper's block!

Oh, by the way, my co-worker said she loves both cards and had a hard time choosing between the two, but she did settle on card #2 for her cabin!

¡Feliz Cumpleaños!

We're celebrating a co-worker's birthday today, and I realized at the last minute last night that I forgot to make a card for him. Yikes! I came upon this cute Chihuahua party dog stamp and thought he'd be something fun and different from the traditional masculine cards that I'm so terrible at making. I crack up over the expression on his face (the dog's face, that is...hee!).

I colored the images with Copic markers and then used my More Mustard marker to draw the lines on on his hat to make it look like a woven straw hat.

Stamps: Canvas bg, Party Hearty, and $1 chihuahua dog stamp
Cardstock: More Mustard, Taken with Teal, White
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black, More Mustard
Accessories: MS zig zag border punch, More Mustard brad and marker, Copic markers

Oh Happy Day!

I made this card several days ago for a friend's birthday and am just now getting around to uploading it.

I really love this stamp set from There She Goes. The birds and trees are so much fun to color and those sweet little birdies are so durn happy just walkin' a long and whistlin' Dixie! In this case, my birdie is whistlin' Happy Birthday to my friend.

The little flowers and grass are stamps from the Kittie Kits Cause A Scene set distributed by Rubbernecker. And that cute polkadotted brad came with a package of fun brads my dear friend, Traci, gifted me. I paper pierced around the edges so I could make my faux stitching with a black marker.

I hope you're having a Happy Day today! Each of us makes it what it is.

Stamps: There She Goes, Rubbernecker
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, White, Bella Rose dp
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black
Accessories: rectangle Nestabilities, white gel pen, circle punch, polkadotted brad, ribbon, paper piercer, black marker

The Rooster is a-Crowin'!!

"What is that dad-blastit durn noise?” I asked my husband in the wee hours of the mornin’ this fine Tuesday.
He said, “Why, it sounds like a rooster!”
“A rooster?!?” I exclaimed. “Who do we know has a rooster?”
“Well, dear, you do live in the country. Perhaps one of the farmers around here now has a rooster.” The love of my life replied.
“Oh, brudder!” I moaned slowly rolling my sleep-deprived body out of bed. I decided to just get up and get ready early for work.

As is my usual routine, I stumbled to the bathroom and when I turned on my radio, the disc jockey was cockadoodle-doodling! I thought that was really weird, but you know how disc jockeys will do anything to boost their ratings. Stumbling to my stamping room, I turned on my computer to get my morning fix of stamping news.

“Cockadoodle-dooooooooo!” screeched from my computer as it roared to life.

“What the…???” I exclaimed. You see, my computer has never cockadoodle-dooooed before!
My foggy mind still wasn't making any connection when I went to the links in My Favorites.
I clicked on the link to one of my bestest buddies' blog called, This Is My Story. (You may know her as Mothermark or Cindy. I lovingly refer to her as da Muddermark or sometimes her alter ego, Gertie.)

“Cockadoodle-doooooooo!” screeched yet again from my computer as the infamous This Is My Story glob came into view. I just had to chuckle when I saw da Muddermark’s inspiration teapot today: it was a chicken!! Oh, brudder!

By this time, I was finally fully awake and it dawned on me that somehow, some way, da Muddermark had stopped by for a visit. She has amazing powers and this was her way of reminding Bertie (my alter ego) that it was Tuesday and she wanted me to get up and play in her TEAPOT TUESDAY challenge!

I knew it was definitely a sign!!! Quickly, I showered and readied myself for work so that I would have some time to make a card, and here’s what I came up with:



I stamped one of my favorite chicken stamps from Stampin' Up's Best of Cluck set with Tuxedo Memento Black ink so I could color him with my Copic markers. The layout is a design from the Card Positioning Systems website, sketch #118.

As you can see, my chicken also has the pox, so he'll be safe in attending the tea party in the coop this week.

You wanna play, too? Go check out the details on Cindy's glob! Bertie's bringing m & m chocolate covered chicken eggs!


I also have to show you this adorable teapot pin that MariLynn sent me. MariLynn has been a faithful Mothermark Teapot Tuesday challenge participant, and I am honored and delighted that she made this for me! Isn’t it cute?? Thank you, MariLynn! You are so very thoughtful and sweet!


Have a wonder.....er, I mean, COCKADOODLE-DOO splendiferous day!

It's Flowergal36

I love our CCEE Catchy Name Featured Stamper (CNFS) challenge. This month I chose Dawn, aka Flowergal36 on Splitcoaststampers. Dawn is so sweet and a very talented stamper. If you get a chance, check out her gallery on Splitcoaststampers and leave her some love.

Dawn told me that she loves to garden and has quite the green thumb, however, she finds it difficult to stamp with flowers. Therefore, I told my CCEE team mates that their project had to have flowers on it. The other fabulous thing about Dawn is that her favorite color is the same as mine: Purple!!! Yeah, baby!

One of my favorite flower stamp sets is A Year of Flowers designed by Melanie Muenchinger (distributed by Gina K Designs). This rose is so exquisite and a pleasure to color. I gold embossed the rose and watercolored it using my Stampin' Up reinkers (Pretty in Pink and Riding Hood Red). I also gold embossed the stem and leaves onto Always Artichoke cs and cut those out. The flower, stem, and leaves are raised on dimensionals. You can't see it in my photo, but I added droplets of Crystal Effects onto the rose petals to simulate morning dew.

I just received this SU Bella Rose dp and knew I wanted to use it in my card for Dawn. The opposing side of this pretty floral is the Kiwi Kiss green and white polkadotted dp you see on the inside of my card, which I punched with the MS picket fence punch that I used on the white cs on the outside of my card.

Would you like to see the projects my friends made or play along with us? Check out our CCEE blog for the details! We will send our projects to Dawn.

Stamps: A Year of Flowers (Gina K. Designs)
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Old Olive, Whisper White, Bella Rose dp, Cryogen Sparkle White, Always Artichoke
Ink: Gold, Always Artichoke, Riding Hood Red, Pretty in Pink, Versafine Black
Accessories: Cuttlebug dotted swiss embossing folder, Marvy scalloped corner punch, Martha Stewart picket fence punch, oval punches, gold embossing powder, dimensionals, crystal effects

Blog Candy Alert!

Wow! Melissa has the most awesome blog candy going on right now. You have to check it out on her Creating from the Heart Blog!! She's even giving away a Big Shot!

Along the Shores

Today we are honoring Kisa, aka Kisamari on Splitcoaststampers, as the featured stamper. I am not very familiar with her work and really enjoyed perusing her gallery. I chose to case her stunning Sandy Sunsets card. We are required to change two or more things in our casing of the featured stamper's card. I changed:

1. colors
2. stamp sets
3. added slotted punch and brad at top
4. made my own designer paper framing my main image

I used post-it notes on my glossy white cardstock to mark off the sky, water, and beach and colored each section with various shades of the respective color palettes with sponge daubers. I added Ranger Frayed Burlap distressed stickles for texture to my sand. I used white Tulip paint to paint the waves in the ocean and along the shoreline and then I added some puffy paint to create the froth of water on the sandy shoreline. I used Stampin Up's scallop punch on a post-it note to make a template to sponge and create the clouds in my sky.

The silhouetted images are from an Inkadinkadoo set called Coastal/Maritime. I am very careful about stamping images onto glossy paper as they tend to slide around and smear.

I stamped the Weathered background stamp with Not Quite Navy onto another piece of Sahara Sand and sponged the edges with the same color. I used a seashell border stamp within the same stamp set as the palm trees to line the bottom of the inside of my card.

While we don't have palm trees in Michigan, we are blessed to have many lakes, especially the Great Lakes. This scene reminds me of walking the northwestern shorelines of our beautiful state with my grandfather collecting sea shells. Creating scenery cards, such as this one, are definitely a stretch for me and they take me quite a while to make. I am pleased with how this one turned out.

Stamps: Inkadinkadoo Coastal/Maritime, Stampin Up's Weathered background
Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Not Quite Navy, Glossy White
Ink: Versafine Black, Creamy Caramel, Cool Caribbean, Buckaroo Blue, Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue, Brocade Blue, Night of Navy
Accessories: Tulip white paint, Puffy 3-D Glue, Ranger Frayed Burlap Distressed Stickles, circle punches, slotted punch, twine, brad, button, dimensionals, sponge daubers, heat tool