My First Waltzingmouse Waltz Entry!

Actually I had started on this card before I noticed this month's Waltzingmouse Waltz theme. It is a birthday card for our grandson but it would work just as well for a Fourth of July celebration card. Happy Birthday, USA! Here is a link to Claire's blog where you can get more info and see lots of red, white and blue beauties. How sweet of her to choose an Americana theme for this month!

I had this tissue paper with the happy birthday sentiments and had planned to use it for a recent MIM challenge at PTI. I've never used tissue on cardstock before and love the easy, fun effect. I already had my stars cut out so with a tag die, a button and some twine it came together so quickly. I am trying out more CAS designs and have really been enjoying the results.

It's so hard to believe it is almost the 4th of July! OMG, it makes me think I should be working on Christmas projects!!

Thanks for stopping by........

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Sewing Box: Hugs (Waltzingmouse Stamps)

Cardstock: Enchanted Evening, Pure Poppy, Stamper's Select White (PTI)

Patterned Paper: Bitty Dots (PTI)

Additional: Tag #4 Die (PTI), Tissue Paper (Hallmark), Divine Twine, Button, Embroidery Thread

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #6: Just BEE-Cause!

I chose to use Gems-Dies-Flowers

'Playing tic-tac-toe'----these CFC challenges are so much fun. Today I used two PTI sets-Honey Bees and Garden Variety. This patterned paper reminds me of honeycombs. And with inspiration from the current MIM challenge at PTI, I was reminded how effective the rock and roll technique using two inks can be. I cut out the watering pitcher and then inked the stamp first with gray and then rolled it in black. The bees I did the same way--gray first, then a little brown. That is a little tricky with such a small image! I used a prismacolor pencil to add more brown on the thorax. For the abdomen I colored with a yellow Copic and added black lines. I know, I sometimes get a little hung up on details!!

You can check the rest of the CFC entries here. 

Hope you're having a great week! We have been spending a lot of time in the garden. Between the 100 degree temperatures and then a hail storm our daylilies look worse than they ever have. We're finally getting lots of blooms but the foliage looks awful so they are seen best from a distance!

Smiles,

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Honey Bees, Garden Variety (PTI)

Cardstock: Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart (both PTI); Textured Gray (Bazzill)

Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye

Dies: Nestabilites Circles, Garden Variety (PTI)

Additional: Corner Punch, Rain Dots, Antique Linen Distressed Inks (Ranger), Memento Inks, Copics

PDCC #84: Hello Friend; Papertrey Peeps May Challenge

Flowers for the May Peeps Challenge (submitted by our talented Terri) work for the current Play Date Cafe Challenge too! At first I struggled a bit with this color combo. So in the end I decided flowers might work best. These are from Beautiful Blooms II by PTI. The images were a little smaller than the dies so I did some trimming and also touched up the edges with a Copic marker so less white would show. A combo of leaves, a little lace and one of those sweet Tiny Tags and it came together pretty well. 

I am still behind on getting the Peeps Challenges done so hope to get more done soon. And you can still enter either of these challenges on the links above. But the PDCC ends tonight so be sure to hurry!

Thanks for dropping by,

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Beautiful Blooms II, Tiny Tags (PTI)

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, New Leaf, Lavender Moon (all PTI)

Dies: Branch with Leaves (Sizzix); Tiny Tags, Beautiful Blooms II #2 (PTI)

Additional: Leafy Branch Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug), Pearls, Brad (Basic Grey), Lace (JoAnn's), Copics, Rose Bud and Bamboo Leaves Ink (Memento), Spring Pansy Ink (Versamagic)

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #5

Happy Sunday! The birds are splashing in the pond and the daylilies are starting to bloom. It certainly feels like summer. Of course, the 100 degree temperatures are a sure sign too. I just hope this won't continue all summer!

I wanted to try a new challenge. I love following my stamping friend Renee's blog (It's a Patchwork Life). And she's has been entering CAS-ual Friday challenges and doing a fabulous job. I just love CAS and see so many great examples out in blogland so thought I would do my own.

We are to use this sketch:

This card ended up being so easy I almost feel guilty!

The curved sentiment from All Booked Up was an easy choice. I thought this would make a fun masculine card that could be given with the gift of a book or a gift card to a bookstore. I also liked this Graphic 4 plaid paper. And since I had to make a card for hubby's golfing buddy's retirement party, I used it again to make this card.

I have gotten such good use from this Riley stamp! I have made at least a half dozen cards for various people who play golf. 

Hope you have a great week and if it's as warm where you are as it is here, try to stay cool!!

Sharron

Supplies (for both cards)

Stamps: All Booked Up, On My Couch (sentiment)-both PTI; Riley Playing Golf from Riley and Co.

Paper: Kraft, Pure Poppy, True Black, Vintage Cream Cardstocks from PTI; Patterned Paper from Graphic 45

Additional: Copics, Black Rhinestones, Martha Stewart Baker's Twine, EK Success Border Punch, Nestabilities, Circle Punches, Flag Charm

PTI May Blog Hop

May is when the flowers are starting to be in full bloom. Spring is ending and summer is just around the corner. So for the May Blog Hop we were challenged to make something with flowers. Here is the link to Nichole's blog with all the Blog Hop details. You have all day to enter if you haven't yet posted your entry.

I just received my PTI order two days ago and my Waltzingmouse order came just before we left on own trip. I used a little bit of both. The stamp set is Garden Variety. I LOVE it and know it will be a favorite! I also used the Garden Variety dies and the new Picket Fence one. I like using foam as a backing layer for the buttons cut from cardstock. A different color adds contrast and the thickness adds dimension but I still have an easily mailable card. I used a stamp from Waltzingmouse Gingham and Company to create the gingham fence--black on Pure Poppy! The tools are cut from some Bazzill textured cardstock and I used PTI vellum for the sentiment. A couple of score lines were added at the bottom.

Looks like there are lots of entries already posted so I have much visiting planned for the rest of the day.

Thanks for visiting and enjoy the Hop!

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Garden Variety, Everyday Button Bits (PTI); Gingham and Co. (Waltzingmouse)

Cardstock: Pure Poppy, Spring Moss, Stamper's Select White, Soft Stone (all PTI); Vellum (PTI); Gray (unknown color-Bazzill)

Dies: Mat Stack 3, Picket Fence, Garden Variety, Buttoned Up #2, Button Card Collection (all PTI)

Additional: Memento Ink, Embroidery Thread

Saying "HI"!!

Good Morning Peeps!

No card or anything visual to post so I am just saying 'hi'! These past two weeks have been a blur! Things started with our daylily club having our big Spring Sale. Then came arrangements and plans for our trip to Wisconsin. Hubby has been working with Science Olympiad for years now--starting as a coach at the high school where he taught, then working with the State meet and then the National. He prepared and gave the Ornithology Test this year for the middle school kids at National. I had never gone with him when I was working so this year I went and helped with the grading. It is a fantastic program where middle and high school students can be recognized for their achievements in math and science. Forty seven states were represented this year and with over 7000 people there it was an amazing and crowded event!

We took some extra time to visit various areas in Wisconsin plus do some birdwatching. The meeting was at the University of Wisconsin in Madison--huge campus and a beautiful town. And I have never seen so many bicycles!

On a sad note, our almost 15 year old Sheltie was sick while we were gone requiring many phone calls between us and the lady who came in to take care of him and also the vet. He still is not taking his meds and doesn't seem to want to eat much of anything. We thought it just might be stress because we were gone and our other dogs were at the kennels but this morning he is not much better. One of the hardest and saddest part of having pets is when they are getting old and health issues start coming up. I thought I would just watch him for a day or so and then have him go back to see the vet.

Looking forward to getting back to stamping and doing something creative soon! And I will take some time to visit blogs and see what you all have been doing.

Have a wonderful week!

Sharron

You Did It!: Make It Monday Challenge #13

The Make It Monday Challenge this week is Impression Plate Tricks, hosted by Erin Lincoln. There are several PTI impression plates on my wish list but for now I have only one :(.  So today I decided to use a Sizzix Embossing Folder. This is a fun and relatively easy technique and I love the effect. The only hard part was lining everything up and keeping it that way! Several pieces of artist's tape really helped.

I got out my button dies, which sad to say I had never used. And I decided to use fun foam (a material I tried for an earlier challenge) and paper. Using both is a great way to add dimension and still have a card that can be mailed.

I love these weekly challenges. The videos are wonderful and even if I don't have time to participate, I still have a chance to learn something new. 

Be sure to check out all the fabulous examples from this week. 

Thanks for visiting,

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Everyday Button Bits, Everyday Classics (both PTI0

Cardstock: Vintage Cream, Harvest Gold (both PTI)

Patterned Paper: Material Girl (Cosmo Cricket)

Additional: Button Dies, Mat Stack 3 Die (PTI); Sugar Embossing Folder (Sizzix), Embroidery Thread, Memento Ink