ROSETTE (aka: fan fold) FLOWER / DCBD #174 & FTL #88...

I need some help here peeps - I saw this rosette flower on someone's blog with a link to a video tutorial (I think?!?) but now I don't remember who or where... if you made one of these in the last week or so & think I found it on your blog, please leave a comment...

[ETA] - I found the tutorial for this flower, just not the person who led me there.... enjoy!

[ETA] YAY - IT WAS ROBIN!!! She did this super gorgeous card that made me want to try this... her flower is just the BEST... check it out!

Here's a quick card while the kids are napping, I'm at home today since one of the babysitters (my mom ; ) is at the Grand Canyon enjoying the snow - lol! Since I knew I had limited time I went for the ever-so-awesome Fall-to-Layout, and paired it with the Diva's wild colors! I had already made the rosette a few days ago & it just happened to be the right color! YAY!

The swirls are from Stampin' Up!'s set, Priceless. The border punch is the Pinking Hearts from the Occasions Mini - today's the last day to order! The sentiment is also Stampin' Up! - Thank You Kindly.

Thanks for dropping by~

{HOPPY} TINY TREATS: VALENTINE / TESC #110...

Using patterned paper has always been somewhat painful for me... I hate to admit that I hoard it, afraid that if I use it up, another project will come along that I REALLY NEED it for & I'll just be left with painful memories of how gorgeous it was and how second rate the newest project will be if I can't use the paper it really needs... silly huh?

But with a super fabuloso sketch like this from Taylor, you just HAVE to use a lot of pattered paper, right? This paper is from My Mind's Eye - Quite Contrary Little Boy Blue Collection. I love these colors and patterns, and I bought a lot of it, so that's the only reason I could bear to use any of it - lol! The stamps are from Papertrey Ink, the set is called Tiny Treat: Valentine. I love that froggie! He's colored with Copics, cut out & popped up. I paired this paper with Stampin' Up!'s Sage Shadow, Kiwi Kiss and Chocolate Chip. I'm gonna miss Sage Shadow...

Today is my Friday, mom (one of my babysitters) & dad are in the Grand Canyon this week, so I'm having to take tomorrow off to watch my own kids... YAY! That means I can stay up extra late tonight stamping - DOUBLE YAY!

C U L8R ~

PS - weird sign-off I know... I've been daydreaming about 80's movies all morning... does anyone remember The Breakfast Club or Real Genius? I must have watched that movie 100 times...

COCO HAS A CUPPYCAKE / CD #65 & SSSC #66...

Perfect colors over at the Color Dare this week for this cutie~patootie stamp, thanks Riley! Isn't she a little doll, I just love this image ~ SO FUN! (even if she DOES have a gigantic bobble head...)

COLOR DARE : Ruby Red, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze & Pumpkin Pie

Okay, I 'sorta' strayed from the sketch a little bit, you know it happens - you're just playing along & one thing turns into another and before you know it you've colored 'waaaaaay outside the lines'... So I hope Karen doesn't send out the sketch police, since I absolutely LOVE her Sweet Sunday Sketches each week! I paired her sassy little sketch with the latest and greatest Color Dare... just perfect - like peanut butter and jelly, baby!

This little cupcake wielding beauty is from Stamping Bella, called Coco has a Cuppycake. I colored her with Copics and added Stickles to the cupake. The background is an embossed panel that I inked with Kiwi & Baja before I ran it through the Big Shot using my argyle EF.

Hope you're having an awesome Wednesday!

BUTTON FLOWERS / CQC #30 & CCCB#2...

Time to get your creativity all juiced up with today's colourQ challenge! I loved the inspiration for the challenge so much, I just had to emulate it in the design of my card...

I got an email last week asking my to be the guest designer for week 2 of a new challenge blog, City Crafter. I was SO HONORED! Their challenge this week is to make an easel card, something I've been meaning to do but hadn't... (there are a lot of things on that "meaning to do" list!) Thank you so much to ladies at City Crafter for letting me check something off my list -lol! Be sure to check them out play along this week!!!

I paired their challenge witht the latest colourQ - lovely colors, I could just eat them, they're so luscious!

I dug out every circle punch I own when I sat down to make this card - so fun! I also used the Swirly Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die and the Lots Of Tags Stampin' Up! Sizzlits for this card. The buttons are Papertrey Ink - ccan't GET enough of their buttons!!! The back panel is vellum that I first ran through the Big Shot with a EF & then through the Xyron... I run my vellum through the Xyron so that the whole thing is covered in adhesive, as opposed to using strip tape or an ATG, in which case there would be lines showing where the tape was.... make sense?

Bye for now & don't forget to play along with colourQ & City Crafter this week!

THANKS SWEET PEA / PTI BLOGHOP, ACT #27 & SR #16...

Uhoh - I'm barely on time for the blog hop... I completely forgot about it! For the monthly Papertrey Ink bloghop, I used the new sets Sweet Pea and A Little Argyle - man, do I love that set! I used Stacey's awesome colors & the sketch from Stampin' Royalty.

Gotta cook dinner before I can 'hop'!

Bye for now & thanks for stopping by!

UNSCRIPTED EARTH DAY BLOG HOP...

Good morning and happy belated Earth Day! If you've come from April's blog, you're in the right place... if not - you should start at the beginning at Unscripted Sketches! Not only do we have a great sketch for you this week, we also are using recycled materials for our sample cards!

My card uses scrap cardstock (I file all my scraps by color...), the ribbon was a scrap, also. I keep all my scrap ribbon in a big jar. The flowers were cut from a cereal box, the printed paper is from a magazine, both were on their way to the recycle bin. I even printed the quote on the back of a piece of paper that was going into the recycling bin! Okay - I admit - the brads are the only thing that are new...

Thanks so much for hopping by, now you're off to BR-T's blog, have fun!

VINTAGE VOGUE / CTD #89 & DCDB #173...

Wow - it sure can take a long time to make something look vintage - lol! But it's worth it...

This card is for a few challenges - Color Throwdown, Diva Coffee Break Designs and Just Add Ink. Three EXCELLENT challenges this week. LeAnne hosted the CTD - and these colors really kicked my booty! This is actually the second card I attempted with these colors, the first will never see the light of day...

It's soooo late, I'm going to bed now...

See you tomorrow/today!

Maisie & My Digital Studio...

I'm starting to tinker a little more with My Digital Studio... I swear, I'm a Photoshop gal & although I love MDS, I could have done this much faster by hand - lol! I made this 8X8 and will be printing it as an 8X10 at Walgreen's to see how it turns out.... Has anyone done that? How did it work for you?

Bye for now...

GRASS BORDER PUNCH FLOWER / 2S4Y #50 Bonus & EMBELLISHparties...

I just noticed part of the Embellish Magazine challenge was that the card had to be party related... which mine is not! I guess I'll be using these colors again soon, which is great since I really LOVE them...

I played along with the bonus sketch over at 2 Sketches 4 You, which is cool! I think this is the first time I managed to do both! I thought it would go nicely with my new argyle stamps & these classic colors from Embellish Magazine's latest challenge!

I've been seeing that MS grass border punch all over the blogs lately just HAD to get one... not really to make grass, but another awesome punched flower!!! It turned out super cool! And I am in LOVE with the new set A Little Argyle by Papertrey Ink. It's really fun stamping with it! This is probably my last card for today... thanks so much for stopping by!

Going home soon to pass out...

BTW - I was a TOP CROP over at Taylored Expressions last week - YAY!

THINGS I LOVE / EBKCC #20 & PPA #38...

I missed the deadline on this sketch challenge, but I loved the sketch & had to use it anyway...

Julie has a super swell color challenge over at Easy Breezy Kewl right now... I just love it! And Margaret's sketch from last week at Pals Paper Arts was awesome, as usual - I just hate I missed the deadline!

I've really been lovin' the houndstooth pattern lately, and have almost used up all my b&w houndstooth paper from the retired Night & Day DSP from Stampin' Up!. (Hoping they bring it back in SOME form....hint, hint) I remembered last week that SU! used to have a houndstooth background stamp, so I tracked one down & bought one that had never even been inked. I got it in the mail on Monday & here it is - I inked it with black & stamped it onto kraft - LOVE IT! Now I can go crazy & have houndstooth in ANY COLOR I want - YAY! The stamps are also from Stampin' Up!, called Things I Love.... aren't they darling?

Bye for now...

BIG HAPPY FLOWER / CD #64 & TPE #63...

I am back @ work today, but still not 100% - who knows, today may be more restful... I never knew staying home sick wasn't very helpful if you have 2 kids in the house! At one point I even told Jeff I was going to run away! I am feeling somewhat better ~ thank you all for your 'get well' wishes!

Riley chose beautiful spring colors for this week's Color Dare, I had so much fun with them! I knew I wanted to do a flower, so I paired her colors with the sketch over at The Pink Elephant, it seemed perfect!

I loved the effect embossing die cut flowers had on a card I made last week, so I re-created it with this flower made from the Flower Layers die. I actually inked the EF with Summer Sun ink before I embossed it to add a little more texture/depth. The center of the flower is faux quilted... I used my 1/4 inch punch for this. Those squares were so tiny ~ you may never see me do THAT again - LOL! Now here's a confession: It was 1am when I was finishing this card, and when I stamped the sentiment, I originally stamped it onto the polka dot paper... but it was waaaay crooked! So I added the tag! And when I tilted it to cover up the mistake, it looked pretty cool ~ I think I like it better that way!

Hope you have a beautiful day & don't forget to play along at the Color Dare this week!