Fun with Hamlet PigWit

Hamlet PigWit (From the Heart) is ready for Spring and he is not along - I am too!  I actually saw a few crocuses the other day and some daffodils poking up out of the ground.  Yay! 
But just when I thought we were putting winter behind us, it snowed again!  Only enough for everything to be beautiful though,  not the 5 foot drifts of a few weeks ago.

This card is made with the colors listed in the From the Heart weekly challenge.   I did enjoy coloring it with so many Copic colors.
The three flowers and leaves are cut out with a Cuttlebug die.  The circles are Die-namic Circle Stax.

Challenges:
From the Heart - sketch, twist, or colors
Die Cuttin Divas - animals
Simon Wednesday - anything
Dies R Us - think spring
Word Art Wednesday - anything 
                         

Lowering the Left Over Pile

All week I have been using up left overs - scraps of paper, extra digital images, extra stamped pieces,  etc.  And I am happy to report that I have basically cleaned out the pile.  Okay, that isn't quite true - I will never be able to get to the bottom of the patterned paper scraps, but I did reduce the extra image pieces to next to nothing.
Here is the last card I made with a pre-colored digital image by Doodle Pantry.

The oval is cut with Elizabeth Craft Stitched oval.  "Hi" is cut with MFT Hello set. 
Stripes are washi tape.
Sketch is MFT

Challenges:
Die Cuttin Divas - animals
MFT - sketch
Simon Wednesday - anything
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Paper Creators - love is in the air

Future Birthday Cards

Getting a jump on a few birthday cards for the men in my life.  I will need several in March and April. 

I've been wanting to use this digital image but never could come up with a sentiment. In the back of my mind, I thought of a SU stamp that I had never use.  Here is the whole sentiment:

I only wanted to use the center part of the stamp so with the help of the Misti and masking, I was able to eliminate the cake and the last two lines which will be used inside.
I love this brown Kraft cardstock from the Kraft Outlet.  The printed piece of Kraft is from a 6 x 6 tablet.  Black twill tape is also from the Kraft Outlet.  I really like using score tape to secure ribbon and wide fibers to a card front, wrapping the score tape and the ribbon to the backside of the front panel.  Keeps them secure without buckling.
The circles were cut with MFT Die-namic Circle Dies.  Sentiment was cut with a Spellbinder tag die.
Sketch used:

Challenges:
MFT - sketch
Simon Wednesday - anything 
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Stamploration - theme (retro) or sketch
Crop Stop - anything

Rainbow of Buttons

Button, buttons.  I have so many buttons and hardly ever use them.  I wanted to use the sketch at MFT one more time this week so I decided to use a few buttons with it for a change.

Sketch:

"Hi" is from the Hello set by MFT

Challenges:
MFT sketch 
Tuesday Throwdown - say it with words
Cardz TV - anything
Cute Card Thursday - no patterned paper
All Sorts - anything

Challenging Sketch

The sketch at MFT this week is really out of my comfort zone so of course, I had to try the challenge.  This is what I came up with:

Here is the sketch:

Fun?  It gave me a chance to use up some more little scrap pieces and also use my new die from Elizabeth Crafts.
If I have a chance, I want to make another card with Washi tape.  That should look good. 
Have a great weekend.

Challenges:
MFT - sketch
Simon Monday - favorite tool (Cuttlebug) 
Work It Wednesday - new product
Tuesday Throwdown - sentiment is main focus
Cardz Tv - anything

Love of Dogwood

Second post today.
Yes, I love the Dogwood tree.  Wish I had one.  This beautiful image was a freebie by Maxam Made Studio (thank you Ginny).  Isn't it beautiful?  I just added a bit of Copics.  Love it.
The background is also a freebie by Stamploration.  Added a bit of green to the centers. 

I used the sketch at Tuesday Morning :

Challenges:
Simon Monday - use favorite tool (Cuttlebug)
Tuesday Morning Sketch 
Simon Wednesday - fantastic florals
Crafty Creations - anything
Dies R Us - think spring
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Cardz TV - anything 
Work It Wednesday - use a new product (new digital image)
Stamploration - Never ending anything goes 

Fun Card with Pieces

What do you do with all the little scrap pieces?  I tend to keep way too many so every once in a while I make up some cards with just scraps.

Cute image by From the Heart that I colored with Copics and I used the sketch at the FTH challenge.

Other Challenges:
Simon Monday - use favorite tool (Cuttlebug)
Crafty Creations - anything
Word Art Wednesday - anything
7 Kids College Fund - anything goes

CAS Valentine

I madly finished my Valentines so I could deliver 5 more to grandchildren who live close by.  Here is one I am givng to one of the girls.  You will recognize the stamp I used - I posted another card with it on the front. Inside this one I typed "And so do I" .

Tools used- Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Elizabeth Craft Stitched Oval die.  Sentiment is a Our Daily Bread Design stamp. 

Challenges:
Simon Monday - favorite tool - Cuttlebug
Die Cuttin Divas - purple
Tuesday Throwdown - Say it with words
Happy Little Stamper - anything with dies
7 Kids College Fund - anything goes
Paper Creators - Love is in the Air

Ready for Spring?

Here is a touch of Spring if only in the form of a card.  I must say, it was good to see some green grass and ground yesterday after being covered in a blanket (deep blanket) of snow for so many days.  And it was good to get down our driveway and to church yesterday.  Hopefully we are done with the severe weather and can look forward to Spring.

 I love this bird image.  It is a digital but I have had it in my "pieces to use" basket so long, that now I can't even find it in my computer files.  Sad, because I love it and would like to use it again. (If anyone has it and knows where it comes from, let me know.)  The sentiment is by Doodle Pantry  and it is cut out with a Spellbinder die.  The bird image is cut with Die-namic Circle Stax. 
The background paper is a Stamploration freebie from their Color Blooms collection.
And lastly, the sketch is MFT.

Challenges:
MFT - sketch
Send a Smile 4 Kids - for girls
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Happy Little Stamper - anything with dies
Stamploration - Never ending challenge

Cutploration - cuts/ passion

Wee Bit Irish

Each year, for many years, I have made only one St. Patrick's Day card - for my daughter.  Now that she is married, I make one for her husband too.  We have only a minute amount of Irish in our ancestry but it is still my daughter's favorite day.
Why am I making a St. Patty's Day card so early?  I wanted to play the sketch challenge at From the Heart Stamps so I used one of the FTH images and the sketch (and I needed to make something really different from the red and pink and hearts and Valentines )  I have never used this image, so hey, why not now?

The sketch:

The image is cut out with a Die-namic Stax circle.  The 4 leaf clover is cut with the Silhouette.  Green sparkly strips are just pieces from my stash.
Image is colored with Copics.

Challenges:
From the Heart Sketch Challenge
Simon Wednesday - cute

Work It Wednesday - use something new 

Tagged Valentine

Inspired by the Tag blog hop at Stamploration, I made a Valentine card with a tag.

Using Unity stamps, I stamped the "love you" heart on the top right and the 5 hearts (which is one stamp) on the bottom right.  The double hearts on the tag are also Unity.  I added a strip of Washi tape on the left side.  The camera shot picked up a wrinkle in the tape but you can't see it IRL.
The scallop tag is a shiny smooth surface which really "pops" off the card.

Challenges:
Stamploration Tag challenge

7 Kids College Fund - anything
Simon Monday - young at heart
Time Out - words: heart to heart
Paper Creators - love is in the air

String of Hearts

Here is a cute digi by Sami stamps that I have never used even though it has been in my files for quite some time.

I used a sketch at MFT:

Bird is colored with Copics.
Circles are cut out with Die-namic Circle Stax
Little hearts are punched.

Challenges:
Simon Monday - Young at Heart
Simon Wednesday - cute
Dies R Us - hearts
7 Kids College Fund - anything goes with dies
Word Art Wednesday - anything
MFT - sketch
Tuesday Throwdown - heart strings
Time Out - words: heart to heart 

L.O.V.E. Tag

Still can't get out of the house with the huge snow drifts,  so I'm making cards, mostly for kids, but also entering some challenges that caught my attention.
Stamploration has a Love Tagploration blog hop which prompted me to make this tag:

"LOVE" is a Unity stamp.  After embossing with red, I cut out each letter and applied them to the tag I made out of some designer paper.  "You" is a Verve die.

Challenges:
Cuttlebug Mania - red
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Die Cut Divas - red
Stamploration Tag Blog Hop

Crafty Calendar - Love is in the air
Happy Little Stamper - anything goes with dies

Lovely Left Overs

I made 32 Valentines (8 different layouts) for a women's breakfast at my church.  There were lots of left over pieces which were fun to play with.  This is one of the cards I made with some of those spare pieces.  I've had lots of time to play the past few days while being snowed in. Hopefully we won't lose power and I will be able to post a few more cards this week.

Darice embossing folder
Large heart was cut with the Silhouette
Middle heart was cut with a Cuttlebug die
Top heart was a pre-cut heart that I sponged on color and then put a punched heart in the middle.
The border was made with a punch, using the same designer paper backing the hearts.  I topped the border with the heart lace.

Challenges:
Simon Monday - young at heart
Tuesday Throwdown - heart strings
Crop Stop - anything
Word Art Wednesday - anything
Die Cut Divas - red or pink
Crafty Calendar - love is in the air
Happy Little Stamper - anything goes with dies
Time Out - inspired by words
Dies R Us - hearts

Beautiful and Diverse

We just came home from a nine day stay on one of the Hawaiian Islands.  Here is a pic of what I was enjoying :

and this is what I came home to:

It was quite an adventure getting home  - cancelled flights, driving 7 hours (normally a 5 hour drive) in snowy conditions because one of our flights was cancelled, then getting stuck in the snow at the end of our 600 ft driveway.  My SIL drove his tractor over a mile to come and clear a walking path with the front loader so we could walk to the house. We have 5 foot drifts in the driveway, 31 inches against our door and as you can see one of the drifts in the back is over 6 ft.
Quite a shock to come home to this but we are safe, warm, and have lots of food in the freezer.
It has taken me two days to catch up on emails, viewing blogs, etc.  And it looks as if I will have lots of time to make cards for the next few days! seeing that we can't venture off the porch and there is more nasty weather ahead.

I have Valentines made which I can't mail but I can show some of them to you and either mail them late or save them for next year.
Here is one that I really like:

The sentiment is by Our Daily Bread Design.  Many of my valentines have a scripture verse or sentiment about the love of God, the ultimate love.  The two die cuts are with Spellbinder Stately Lace circles.   Very easy card with designer paper background, the two cuts, crinkle ribbon, and fabric flowers which are inside a heart cut with a Cuttlebug die.

Challenges:


Word Art Wednesday - anything
Crafty Calendar - love is in the air
Crop Stop - anything
Die Cut Divas - red or pink
Simon Says Monday - young at heart
Dies R Us - hearts