Daring Cardmakers - Mum's Recipe

This week's little extra at Daring Cardmakers challenges us to follow a recipe for our cards -- 2 buttons, 1 ribbon, and a 'spoonful' of flowers. Here, I've kept it simple, with stamps and supplies from Stampin' Up! and buttons from my button bag. I do appreciate challenges that allow me to make spring-themed cards -- it's snowing here again and I really need to see some flowers popping out of the ground!

Moo Card - Travel

The challenge this week at Make a Moo or Two is travel. I have a single moo card for this theme, but may add a few more later when I have time. I had no particular destination in mind here, in spite of the New York postmark. It's all about the journey anyway, isn't it? For this card, I've used a bit of hand-dyed mulberry paper, and all cardstock, ink and stamps are from Stampin' Up!.

Theme Thursday - Warm Colors

This week's theme at Theme Thursday is warm colors (red, yellow, orange). Pictured here is a simple card made with paper from The Paper Studio (it's actually more orange than in this photo) and a stamp from Stampin' Up!. The stamped image has been lightly tinted with a blender pen. I had forgotten how much I enjoy watercoloring with blender pens - so easy to control!

DCM - Oh So Juicy!

The mid-week dare over at Daring Cardmakers is to create a card in citrus colors. Because I like the combination of orange and pink, I've added berry colors to the mix as well. That yellow ribbon is actually lime-green in real life. Here, I've used the Traffic Jam embossing folder (Cuttlebug), paper from The Paper Studio, cardstock and stamps from SU!, and a flower bead from my stash.

Moo Cards - Friendship

The theme this week at "make a moo or two" is friendship. These are my first moo cards, and they certainly won't be my last. Although it took some time to get used to cutting out tiny elements and planning the space on such a small scale, I do enjoy working in this size. For those not "in the know", a moo card measures only 2.8 x 7 cm, or approximately 1.1 x 2.8 inches.

I seem to be stuck on turquoise lately. I'll try to move on!

By the Sea

Pictured above is my submission for Theme Thursday, where the current theme is By the Sea. Basic Black cardstock, Basic Black ink, and stamps (retired) from Stampin' Up!, with Ballet Blue and Tempting Turquoise ink (both SU!) brayered onto glossy cardstock. Thanks for looking!

DCM - Love & Friendship

The current challenge at Daring Cardmakers is to create a Love/Friendship card, preferably using Stampin' Up! products. Here, I've embossed a retired SU! stamp in White Stampin' Emboss Powder with Versamark ink. I've also used Tempting Turquoise cardstock from SU!, Positively Pink cardstock (which I believe is discontinued), and patterned paper from My Mind's Eye.

Yo Yo Quilts

I have never, ever wanted to make a yo yo quilt. Now, don't get me wrong. I think they're beautiful, and I admire anyone who has the patience to make enough yo yos, by hand, to craft an entire quilt out of them. Until this week, I could count on one hand the number of yo yos I've made in all my years as a quilter.

But, you see, it's still winter here in Illinois, and when it's cold I want to bake all the time. So, out of respect for my newly flat abs (the result of remodeling overwork, not working out), I thought I'd seek out a "comfort activity" that doesn't involve sugar, and decided to do a little handsewing.

I chose to make a few yo yos, after being inspired recently by Tess over at Made by Tess, and I must confess that I'm hooked and will be making more.

What will I do with these? Maybe use them as embellishments on a bag, or on a hat, or perhaps just let them continue to live in the sugar bowl on my desk (without sugar, of course). But I vow that I still never, ever want to make a quilt out of them!

OWOH Giveaway - We Have a Winner!

Happy Valentine's Day, and thanks to everyone who visited this blog and entered my giveaway for One World - One Heart. A special thanks to Lisa Oceandreamer, who so freely gave an incredible amount of her time and energy to sponsor this event. As a result of OWOH, I've already "met" some wonderful, creative people and have had the opportunity to visit many blogs that I would never have found otherwise. The favorites list on my browser is growing long!

As promised, I used a random number generator this morning to select a winner, and that winner is..... Patricia J. Mosca! Pattie is an amazing, gifted artist with a beautiful heart, and deserves to win many, many prizes.

Again, thanks for participating, and keep an eye on the OWOH blog next year. I'll be there!

Daring Cardmakers - Love

The mid-week dare at Daring Cardmakers is to use both black and red ribbon on a romantic card. For my card, I used the Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls folder for the background, and although you can't really see it in this photo, the small heart (Stampin' Up!) is embossed in silver.

Daring Cardmakers - Paper Pesto Template

The current challenge at Daring Cardmakers is to create a card using a template provided by Paper Pesto, a scrapbooking and specialty paper company in New Zealand. Their products are beautiful, but I'm afraid to know what it costs to ship them to the United States.

For my card, I've used papers by K & Company and cardstock from Stampin' Up!.

Theme Thursday - Spring

This is my first time participating in Theme Thursday, where the topic this week is spring. For my entry, I've made an ATC. Stamps from Stampin' Up! (all discontinued).

Wednesday Stamper - Asia

The theme this week at Wednesday Stamper is Asia. I gave all my Asian stamps to my nieces before I moved, except for this bamboo background stamp, which I use often. For this card, I stamped the bamboo with Versamark ink on glossy white cardstock, then rolled it with a brayer and 2 shades of blue ink. I found the charm at a gem and jewelry show a few years ago, and until now wasn't sure how I would ever use it.

TMTA - Cats

Monday's prompt at Think Monday-Think ATC was cats. Above, I've used an image transfer of my cat, Daisy, that didn't quite work out for another project. I'm so glad I saved it! It has been lightly tinted with Prismacolor pencils, and surrounded with cutouts from scrapbooking paper. I've been hoarding that piece of ribbon forever, but decided that Daisy was worth using a bit of it.

One World One Heart Giveaway

Although I'm joining in a little late, I've decided to participate this year in the 2nd annual ONE World-ONE Heart event, hosted by Lisa Oceandreamer of Heart of the Nest and Imagination Cafe. ONE World-ONE Heart is a blog-wide giveaway event, designed to bring together bloggers from around the world, who wouldn't ordinarily meet, and to maybe even win a prize or two.

For my giveaway, I am offering a set of 5 marble magnets, which I've made from flat-back glass marbles and tiny designs that I've recycled from magazines and catalogs. They measure approximately 1/2" in diameter.

The rules are simple. Just leave a comment to this post (comments on my other posts won't count), no later than midnight CST on Wednesday, February 13th. On Valentine's Day I will use a random number generator to select a winner, and will post the winner that day. If you haven't left an email in your comment, or if I can't contact you through your blog, you'll need to check back here on the 14th to see if you've won. For my giveaway, I am not requiring that you have a blog in order to enter.

Depending on how this goes, I may offer other giveaways in the future.

Be sure to stop by the ONE World-ONE Heart blog for a list of other participating bloggers. There are lots of wonderful, creative things to look at out there, and plenty of great prizes up for grabs. Don't forget to bookmark your favorites so you can visit their blogs later.

Thanks for stopping by, and good luck!

Happy Groundhog Day!

Today is Groundhog Day here in the United States. I'm pretty disappointed with Punxsutawney Phil this year, because he claims to have seen his shadow and has announced that we will not have an early spring.

I never paid any attention to Groundhog Day until I lived in Pennsylvania, and my boss had a little office party for us every year on February 2nd.

Frankly, I got a little spoiled while living back down South, and this Southern Illinois winter is starting to wear on my nerves. I hope Phil is wrong.

Wednesday Stamper - Charms

The challenge this week at Wednesday Stamper is to make a charm with stamps. For my charm, I punched a hole in a tiny scrap of mat board, inked it with Versamark, and used multiple layers of gold embossing enamel. While still hot, I impressed it with a bamboo leaf stamp. For safekeeping, I've attached it to a stamped ATC. Thanks for looking!

I hope to have my photo studio set back up this week (although in a much tinier space in this house than the last), which should result in some much improved photos.

Daring Cardmakers - Red & White

This week's dare over at Daring Cardmakers is Red & White. After a 4-month absence, I was happy to jump back in with something that was fairly easy for me to pull off!

Coincidentally, yesterday was Wear Red Day, part of the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women movement. February is also American Heart Month here in the US. You can get more information about Go Red for Women here.