Whooo Hooo! Time Spent With You

Tick!  Tick!  Tick!  Time Spent with You Clocks

Today I had some nice surprises in the mail--some exercise dvd's for the "new me" and several sets of stamps.  I had to use them right away--another "new me" resolution so I decided to play along at FOSFTV--Friends of Speedy Fox TV  (here).  It's a sketch challenge and so I used clocks from 2 Inkadinkado sets and one from Stella Rose.  I thought a parchment card stock would be nice with Tea Dye distress ink and some double sided print dp.  One of my favorite Angel Company sentiments is "Nothing could be better than time spent with you, my friend" so you can guess why I was excited to use new clock images.  Speaking of time, I have turkeys and pumpkins to finish so we can get them to the craft shops.

Bicycle Masculine Birthday Card

Bicycle All-Occasions Card

I'm having a memorial service today for my embossing heat tool,  "Gunner" as I fondly called him.  No amount of coaxing will bring him back to life and my intentions of making a Cracked Glass card for another challenge are dashed.  Instead, I turned my energies to a masculine birthday card for the Speedy Fox & Friends challenge.  No cars or tools for this one, but I love this bike stamp that I thought might bring back childhood memories to a guy.  Kind of brings Easy Rider to mind, doesn't it?  With a manual varoom, varoom required.  Five days of 50% chance of rain are headed my way so maybe I can come up with a sketch card for MFP.

Masculine LAAT Card

Lovely As a Tree, Woodgrain Embossing Folder, TAC Sentiment

Where did the time go?  We had guests for 4 days and rain every day.  Then all those errands and chores to catch up on and Santas to finish.  So it's been a while since I've had time to play in the studio.  Here is a CAS tree card inspired by the Simple Salutations challenge at MFP.  I had to make since I received my woodgrain embossing folder. It uses an old favorite-- the oak tree from the Lovely As a Tree set.  It's one of my go-to ten minute card ideas for guys.

B/W/Y At the Beach

The flowers are in bloom, the birds are singing, the stream is roaring, and our friends are at the beach.  In honor of their beach trip for the holiday weekend, I made a black/white/yellow card.  Yellow for the sun, white because they will start off pale without a tan, and black because blue seemed too predictable.  I challenged myself to use a die and gingham ribbon so you will see those elements.  I found a white heart button and a great sentiment from MFP.  So this card is off to the Sketch with a Twist challenge and I am off to run an estate errand.

Lucky Us

We are so lucky to be in NC this summer.  I was speaking to someone in Texas and she is excited when the temperatures drop down into the 90's.  It's such a hot summer!  It's hot here in the sun so we're staying cool in the shade.  Hey!  I need that Cool Breeze sentiment in one of the MFP stamps sets.  Today I am trying to finish up some Santas to take to the craft co-op.  I am also entering a card in the MFP/Speedy TV challenge.  It's a CAS challenge called Simple Salutations so my SU tulip border embossing folder, the cute little TAC hedgehog with flowers, and the MFP hospitality sentiment will do the trick.  I "did" it--"deemed it done".

Happy July 3rd and 4th!

I've had a busy two days making Santa leggings and socks.  A day without a glue gun burn is a good crafting day!  While waiting for the hot glue gun to get hot, I've been making cards for MFP/Speedy TV challenges.  I can't seem to stop myself.  I will make one card and soon I am on to the next one.  Unfortunately, the glue gun does eventually get hot enough and I have to get back to the "job".  Now the difficulty will be to decide which I think I should post on the site.  I love this image and it is special to me because my Mom had a sewing machine just like this one.  You are sure to see me use it often.  And what's happening at MFP/Speedy TV?  Lots of interesting challenges and the cards are amazing.  I find myself thinking, I wish I had thought of that.  I am enjoying seeing what other ladies are coming up with.

Small Ho Ho Ho Santa

We've been working on 3 Santa designs and one more is ready for the shop.  He's small but he's cute!  I have a few more that just need leggings and socks and a little finish work on their hats.  Maybe they will be completed tomorrow.  Rain is expected and that's good crafting weather.

Red/White/Blue

I can't believe that is it July already.  With so much sadness in my life since January, I am happy to see Independence Day looming on the horizon.    With Mark's Finest Papers suggesting a red, white, and blue theme this week, I was happy to try to work with some patriotic colors again this week.  I chose an MFP lighthouse image from Light My Way and decided I wanted to do a fairly CAS card with an emphasis on the image.  So here is my final product. I used a Provocraft greeting die and the argyle background stamp.  It was fun to do and it is fun to share it with you!

Using Metal/In Stitches

Today the challenge to myself was to make a second metal card for the Mark's Finest Papers challenge on using metal.  I wanted to use the In Stitches set I won for the blog hop entries, so I ended up with threading "stitches" through metal eyelets.  I was going to add an image, but I just loved the sentiment and stopped there.  Tomorrow, maybe I can try adding an image and see how I like it.  Meanwhile, the SU square lattice embossing folder that looks so much like fabric and some of my favorite K&Company paper did the trick with a faux ribbon with a herringbone emblossing folder.  I "did" it--deemed it done.  I think the In Stitches set from MFP is sure to become a favorite!  So many possibilities!

Using Metal

At MFP there is a challenge to use metal on a card.  Because all my metal embells are elsewhere, I will have to try some new approaches.  Luckily I do have my alc reinkers so I can play with color a little.  Here is one attempt.  I think I will try more cards to see what I can come up with.  These challenges are certainly getting me to try some new things.  Who knew I would become a blogger again and who knew I would enter challenges.  This is a new experience for me.