Waltzingmouse March Blog Party

Theme: St. Patrick's Day/Irish/Green

Fáilte! Happy St. Patrick's Day to All! I've always loved St. Pat's Day--not because I'm Irish (well, about an eighth!) but because it's fun and festive. And there's lots of my favorite color--GREEN! I don't have much in the way of stamps though so decided to use Claire's freebie Shamrock image today! Isn't it pretty! And, of course, it gave me a chance to do some more paper piecing. I printed the image out on three different papers--PTI White, PTI Fine Linen, and a Soft Green (source unknown). I got lots of unknown papers that I bought when a local store went out of business. The price was down to 10 cents a sheet (couldn't resist that!) but I have no idea the name of manufacturers or colors!

I cut out the cloth layer from the Fine Linen, then the shamrocks from the green. Next I colored the shamrocks with darker green Copics and used mauve colors on the Fine Linen. Before assembling, I cut the white layer with the largest Labels 5 die. I really like that the three layers help give more dimension to the card. My sentiment is from a PTI mini set. And the plaid paper is from one of my very favorite Cosmo Cricket paper pads, Mitten Weather. This is my last large piece so will need to be on the lookout for more!! I tend to hoard plaid! For the bow I combined some sheer black with a touch of green gingham. Love that this card includes my favorite color (green) and two other favorites (plaid and gingham)!!

Have a wonderful day--be sure to wear something green or enjoy a bit of Irish cuisine--perhaps even some green beer! And most of all, thanks for coming to the party!

Have FUN!!

Sharron

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge #88; Embellish Spring Challenge

I have had my 12 Kits Christmas entry up on my blog since the end of February so am finally switching to Spring! I feel awful that I haven't posted anything for so long. I have been busy but mostly just haven't been able to get anything I have attempted completed. But with a great new WM sketch by Renee and this gorgeous Spring inspiration photo from Embellish, I have created this card!

I have already placed three orders for Memory Box dies! Can you tell I LOVE dies!! For this card I used the Primula Blooms die. I cut off the bottom part. The flowers are layered and sponged with a bit of ink, then topped with a pearl that I colored with Copics. The wonderful sentiment is from WM and is accented with one of the small butterflies from a Martha Stewart punch.

I made this for a friend who had knee replacement surgery. The weather here is beautiful and warm--a perfect Spring day. There are lots of daffodils and the Bradford pears are starting to bloom--just lovely! Hope it's wonderful where you are too!

Happy Monday,

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Say It Loud (Waltzingmouse)

Cardstock: Sweet Blush, Stamper's Select White, Spring Rain, Spring Moss, Berry Sorbet, Harvest Gold (all PTI)

Patterned Paper: Material Girl (Cosmo Cricket)

Dies: Primula Blooms (Memory Box), Framed Out #1 (PTI)

Additional: Inks (Memento, Amuse, Tim Holtz Distress); Pearls (Recollections); Butterfly Punch (MS); Copics

The 12 Kits of Christmas: February

Another exciting reveal for the 12 Kits group! It is such fun to see what everyone has created. For those of you not familiar with our little group, we started out this year with a group of 12 stampers who all wanted to get a jump start on Christmas! Each month one of us puts together kits for all the members. We all get the same supplies and then post our creations on the last day of the month! 

This month Cathy, The Empty Nest Crafter, is our hostess and below is a photo of the supplies in her kits. Kara has kindly taken pictures that any of us can use if we didn't do pictures when our supplies arrived. Guilty here!! And thanks much, Kara! I love the day the kit arrives! It's a total surprise packet--full of wonderful stamping supplies--like a Christmas package full of goodies!! Thank you, Cathy--I loved working with this month's kit!

Photo by Kara

Meet Wesley Bear--isn't he adorable! Cathy cut out several copies of Wesley and stamped him. She also included a felt version. You'll see him in a second! Also included was a snow globe and lots of pretty trim pieces for us to try. I wanted to add some of the 'snow' Cathy sent so I cut a circle out of the front and added a piece of clear plastic. Wesley is now enclosed in his little winter wonderland. Loved those little sparkly snowflakes so had to use those too! The snow globe card is then mounted on a base of kraft cardstock and a piece of the Memory Box patterned paper in the kit. The front of the globe can be lifted leaving a circle where a message can be written.

And here is felt Wesley. Don't laugh at his nose! I embroidered his face but kept looking at him thinking his nose was too big! I debated about redoing it but finally decided to leave well enough alone! The sweet little scarf was from Cathy! I did add something not in the kit. The Nordic patterned ribbon was part of a Christmas gift from my dear friend, Renee. I thought it was just the perfect touch! Wesley loves it too!

Here is a list of everyone who is participating. Be sure to visit their blogs for some wonderful inspiration! You don't want to miss even one!! I'm going to try and stay up late tonight so I can see everyone's posts as soon as they go up!!

Renee
Cathy
Suzanne
Marybeth
Joyce
Amy
Christina
Kim
Kara
Jessica
Jeanne
Sharron--you're here!

So happy that you came to visit. Hope you had fun!

HUGS,

Sharron

Supplies in Cathy's Kit (Those I Used Are in Red)

Snow Globe-My Time Made Easy

Paper-Yuletide Collection-Memory Box

Polar Bear Stamp and Die (Wesley)-Memory Box

Banner Die-Spellbinders Ribbon Banner Trio

Embossing Folder-Tim Holtz

Buttons-PTI

Sentiments-Holiday Lights, In the Meadow (PTI); Compliments of the Season (WMS); Cocoa Bear (Lil Inkers)

Synthetic Snowflakes (Michaels)

Liebster Award

Earlier this week Kelly, Gingham Girl, sent me this wonderful award! I admire her work so much and love seeing each of her new posts. She now designs for Waltzingmouse Stamps and does creations with so much charm and beauty that she is a constant inspiration to me.

Liebster' is German for 'dearest'.  The award is a 'share-the-love' arrangement, given to inspirational bloggers with less than 200 followers. 

Here's the to-do list of any Liebster award recipient:

Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
Reveal your five blogger picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog
Copy and paste the award on your blog (see above)
Hope that those you award forward it to their favourite bloggers

Below are five favorite bloggers who have different styles but always inspire me with their work. I love having this chance to let them know how lucky I have been to meet them through this shared stamping adventure!

Cammie, Sweet Violets Paperie

Carol, Carol's Ink Spot

Cathy, The Empty Nest Crafter

Renee, It's a Patchwork Life

Rhonda, Stamp n Piece

Thanks again, Kelly, for sharing this award with me and giving me the opportunity to pass it along to some very special people.

HUGS,

Sharron

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge #85

Another wonderful sketch from Jennifer Culbertson for this week's WMSC. I'm still playing with L'il Buddies so my card includes three of the adorable little chicks along with that sweet butterfly!

For some reason it seemed to take forever to complete this card. I made three tries to get the grass and chicks spaced correctly! Then the little guy in the middle ended up with his feet buried in grass so when I colored them with Copics they looked a little strange with the green grass streaks! I finally decided just to  cut some out and glue them on top! Both the chicks and the butterfly are paper pieced, using Bitty Dots patterned paper in Lemon Tart and Raspberry Fizz. A little shading was added with Copics.

Wow, it was so warm here yesterday that people were out working in their yards and running around in shorts. Can't believe it is still February!! 

So glad you stopped by. Love your visits!

SMILES,

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: L'il Buddies, Say It Loud (WMS); Half and Half, Daily Designs Sentiments, Garden Variety (PTI)

Cardstock: Light Denim (Paper and Co.), Lemon Tart, Spring Moss (PTI)

Patterned Paper: Bitty Dots Basics (PTI)

Dies: Half and Half (PTI)

Additional: Memento Inks, Pearls (Recollections), Copics

Happy Birthday, Cathy!!!!!!

Cathy, The Empty Nest Crafter, is celebrating a birthday today and we're throwing a Card Party! We hope she is been having a fabulous day so far and is now ready to join in some blog fun!!

Cathy, if you have been following along on the blog hop, you have made it almost to the end. But you can also stop and start anywhere along the way. Here are all the party-goers:

Joyce

Renee

Kim

Marybeth

Jeanne

Sharron---You are here!

Jessica

Kara

And here is my card! Hope you are having a WONDERFUL birthday and are looking forward to lots of crafty fun in the year ahead!

I noticed that you use this WM set quite a bit too so I bet you love it as much as I do!

HUGS,

Sharron

Thankful Thursday

I recently received an email from a friend in the PTI Peeps group asking me to be a featured stamper on her blog. Gosh, I feel so honored--I've never done anything like this before!! Rhonda (Stamp n Piece) has started a new feature on her blog called Thankful Thursday. Here is a link to her first post where she explained her plan for the year. She was so sweet to ask me to do a card for this week and I was tickled to accept!

I wanted to do something using the trendy colors--pink and orange. I used a soft pink though--nothing too daring!! Cardstock is Sweet Blush, Orange Zest and Stamper's Select White (all PTI).

The butterflies are from Butterfly Dreams, a PTI set by Niki Estes and there are lots of different images! Aren't the little background butterflies sweet!! They are stamped in Amuse Pumpkin ink.

I used a die from PTI's Half and Half set and the butterfly die that goes with the stamps. The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse Say It Loud--probably my most used sentiment set--LOVE it!!! 

Don't forget to visit Rhonda's blog--you can see what she has posted for today and give her some support along her journey of thanks! I know she would love it if you linked one of your own thank you cards!! 

Happy Thursday,

Sharron