Friday, November 30, 2018

Staying Warm in the Snow


I recently saw the Picket Fence Jill Girl on  a card someone shared on Facebook (I'm sorry that I don't remember who) and I fell in love with the stamp. I immediately went in search of attaining her for my own stamp collection. Picket Fence was out of stock, but not to despair. Google is my friend and I was successful.

She is a dream to stamp - so clear and pristine even with all of the details on the stamp. And what fun to color her, too. 

Yes, I am definitely glad I found this stamp!




 I'm entering this card in the Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop event.




Thanks for stopping by my blog today!


Stamp: Picket Fence Jill Girl stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers

Papers: Recollections Black and 110# White and SU Sahara Sand CS and DP from my scrap file

Embellishments: Paper Studio Metallic Brads and a Snowflake Brad from an unknown vendor

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Keep Warm and Snuggle Up


It's Thursday, which on my blog means it's the day I post for The Project Bin stamps.

It truly is an honor to serve on the design team. Denise is a sweet business owner who is doing her best to bring a product to the stamping world that no one else is doing. If you haven't checked out her store - or not in a while - you really should.

For today's card I used one of her newest stamp sets - North Pole





Keep Warm and Snuggle Up
Isn't this sentiment awesome?





Thanks for stopping by my blog today!


Stamp Set: The Project Bin North Pole stamped with Memento Paris Dusk Ink

Papers: Recollections 110# White and SU Night of Navy and Orchid Opulence CS, Paper Studio Big Stripe Blue/White DP, and other DP from my scrap file

Dies: Rectangle Nestabilities 

Embellishments: Recollections Rhinestones

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Grace and Gratitude Week 4


I've just completed the fourth week in my devotional journal Grace and Gratitude. This is a book by Shanna Noel. There's a group on Facebook where the participants share their entries daily, which I've been doing. However, to make my blog less cumbersome, I'm choosing to show the pages here on my blog a week at a time, every Wednesday at 6:00 pm. 

If you've missed seeing the first three weeks and would like to, you can find them here... Week 1Week 2, and Week 3.


Day 22




Our Daily Bread Stamps - Pray
Praying Hands Stamp


Day 23



Our Daily Bread Stamps - Plant a Garden 
Stamping Bella Stamps - Uptown Girl Chanel the Chef


Day 24



Our Daily Bread Stamps - Nail Cross
Verve Stamps - Scripture Medley 3


Day 25



Unity Stamps - That Stinks


Day 26




Inky Antics Stamps - This Is
Print Works Stamps - John 3:16


Day 27



Unity Stamps - Abundant Blessings
Unity Stamps - Faith Looks Up


Day 28



Illustrated Faith Stamps - Seeds of Faith
Whipper Snapper Stamp - Sophie


Thanks for stopping by my blog!


Guys + Tractors = "Die"nomite


The Challenge Your Stash group on SCS was formed to help us use what we have. The idea posed by our leader Barb is that we cannot purchase anything for our project. We have to use what we have. And we all take turns choosing the theme for the month. Then, on the 28th, we show what we made.

Maggie chose our theme this month. She asked us to make something masculine... and to use a die in some way. 

I actually used a die that I have owned for quite a long time, but it has never been used before. It is a die in the My Favorite Things Blueprints #15 - kind of wonky and fun. 




I hope Maggie (and the other Challenge Your Stash gals) like my card.


Thanks for stopping by my blog today!


Stamps: My Sentiments Exactly Birthday Innies and Outies and Our Daily Bread Plough the Fields stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Die: My Favorite Things Blueprints #15

Paper: Recollections Black and 110# White and SU Cucumber Crush CS and DP from my scrap file

Embellishments: Brads and Washi Tape from unknown vendors

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Personal Challenge 2018 - Week 48


This is the 48th week of my personal 50-week States of the Union Challenge. Each week I research one of the 50 United States (in the order they attained statehood). I share tidbits of information about the state here on my blog and I create a card that is inspired by something about that state.

This week's state (the 48th one to attain statehood) is...





Arizona
Date of Statehood: February 14, 1912


Arizona is large enough to fit all six states of New England (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) plus the state of Pennsylvania inside of it.

In area, Arizona is the sixth largest state in the United States (behind Alaska, Texas, California, Montana and New Mexico). Arizona is close to 114,000 square miles. It’s about 340 miles wide and 400 miles in length.

Although Arizona is the sixth largest state in the US, only about 17 percent of it is privately owned. The rest goes to public forest and park lands, state trust lands, and Native American reservations.

Arizona is the 15th most populous of the 50 states with over 6.7 million people.

A person from Arizona is called an Arizonan.

No other state of America is as native as Arizona. It has the largest amount of land designated as Indian lands and has 22 Indian tribes which are federally recognized by the American government. Navajo language is the most widely spoken language here after English and Spanish.

Arizona is the only state in the nation that elects a Mine Inspector.

Arizona has the 2 largest man-made lakes of America, Lake Mead, and Lake Powell. Lake Powell has a shoreline of 2,000 miles, more than the Pacific Coast.

There is a village called Supai located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon which happens to be the only place in the country where mail is delivered by mule trains. The mule train makes the 8 miles, 3-5 hour trip 5 days every week carrying a ton of mail that includes letters, food, supplies, and furniture.

Arizona’s famous attractions include the Grand Canyon, the Petrified Forest, the Painted Desert, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Fort Apache, and the reconstructed London Bridge at Lake Havasu City, etc.

For a few hundred dollars, one can sleep in a 22 stories underground hotel room of sorts at the Grand Canyon Caverns in Peach Springs for a few hundred bucks a night. 

In 1956, two planes detoured over the Grand Canyon’s airspace for a better view and ended up colliding directly over the canyon. The FAA was created in 1958 as a result.

The Arizona Trail is 800 miles long and is dedicated to hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding and cross-country skiing.

Arizona has more mountains than Switzerland, and more golf courses than Scotland.

The sun shines in Phoenix and Tucson for 85% of the time and 90% of the time in Yuma, even more than Florida and Hawaii.

According to the National Weather Service, the biggest snowfall ever recorded in Phoenix measured one inch—once in 1933 and again in 1937.

Arizona’s diverse climate can record both the highest and lowest temperatures in the US on the same day. In fact, you can be tanning in Phoenix and skiing in Flagstaff just a few hours away.

The saguaro cactus blossom is the official state flower. In April or May the saguaro or “The Giant of the Desert” blooms, giving way to edible fruit. The fruit splits open when ripe, exposing the brilliant crimson inside, which is often mistaken for a cactus flower.

It can take up to 100 years for a Saguaro cactus to grow an arm in areas of low precipitation.

You can find roadrunners running up to 17 mph from their enemies in Arizona. 

Two of the top-rated waterfalls in the United States are located in Arizona: Grand Falls and Havasu Falls.

Arizona grows enough cotton each year to make more than one pair of jeans for every person in the United States.

The world’s first McDonald’s drive-thru was installed in Sierra Vista, Arizona in 1975 for the soldiers from Fort Huachuca as at the time; they were not allowed to leave their vehicles while in uniform. So, McDonald’s installed a drive-thru and soldiers were finally able to get a Big Mac during their lunch hour and have been Lovin’ it ever since.

England’s original London Bridge which was replaced in the 1960’s was purchased, dismantled, shipped stone by stone and reconstructed in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where it still stands today.

The Four Corners is a spot in the United States where a person can stand in four states at the same time, and includes Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah.

The legendary Gunfight of 1881 at the O.K. Corral in the Arizona town of Tombstone is one of the most famous shootouts in the American history and guess what, it lasted only 30 seconds.

Women in Arizona were granted the right to vote in 1912, eight years before national suffrage.

Arizona has some interesting laws... donkeys are not allowed to sleep in bathtubs and it’s illegal to refuse a person a glass of water. 

If you cut down an endangered cactus like this Saguaro in Arizona, you could face up to a year in prison.

Hunting camels is prohibited.

Any misdemeanor committed while wearing a red mask is considered a felony.

When being attacked by a criminal or burglar, you may only protect yourself with the same weapon that the other person possesses.

Cards may not be played in the street with a Native American in Globe Arizona.

A Mohave County decree declares that anyone caught stealing soap must wash himself with it until it is all used up.

I decided to go with this bit of Arizona information for my card's inspiration... rainfall averages for Arizona range from less than three inches in the deserts to more than 30 inches per year in the mountains. 





Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Stamp Set: My Favorite Things Rain or Shine stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers

Papers: Recollections Black and 110# White and SU Bordering Blue CS and Making Memories Navy Marble DP

Embellishments: Recollections Rhinestones and Washi Tape from an unknown vendor


Monday, November 26, 2018

Gallery Gazers CASE #5


Each month the members of the Gallery Gazers blog group are supposed to choose a card from the SCS gallery to CASE. We can choose what day to do this. I tend to wait until close to the end of the month so that I have more cards in the gallery from which to choose.

This month I decided to case a gorgeous card made by katie-j, I think it's safe to assume her name is Katie. You can see her card HERE. The card is also on her blog HERE

One of the things I loved about her card was the way she colored her image, mainly the leaves were colored, along with the very center of the flower. Nothing else. However, when I tried that with my image, I thought it looked like I forgot to color any further, so I did add a bit of shadowing on the flower itself.

I also really liked the overall design of her card, which I mostly followed. I added some embellishments (rhinestones) and I did my sentiment a bit differently, since I didn't want just that black banner, since I thought it made it difficult to read the sentiment.

Thanks for the inspiration, Katie!



Here's my card:





Thanks for stopping by my blog today!


Supplies Used

Stamps: Hero Arts Antique Poinsettia and Merry Christmas (no company identification on the wooden block) stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored with Copic Markers

Paper: Recollections Black and 110# White and SU Wild Wasabi CS

Embellishments: Recollections Rhinestones

Sunday, November 25, 2018

I'm Ready for Spring!



I don't know about you, but I'm needing some warm weather - and FLOWERS! Yes, sad to say, but I'm already tired of the cold temperatures and snow and it's just barely past Thanksgiving.

What's a girl to do? Stay inside where it's warm... and color flowers, of course.

The flowers on my card are from the SumMore Fun Crocus Cravings stamp set.


You might have noticed that there isn't a leaf in the stamp set, yet there are two leaves in my floral wreath. Yep, that would be true! See that single flower on the right of the stamp set above I colored the flower GREEN and fussy cut just that one petal out to make a leaf. And then I did it again to make a second leaf. Works for me.


And right now is the perfect time to make a purchase at SumMore Fun.... because this is day 3 of a 4-day sale at the site. The discount code is: BLACKFRIDAY. All of the stamps are 50% off! Everything on clearance will be marked down to $2.00. That includes dies, embossing folders and clearance stamp sets. AND... there will be bonus items included with qualifying orders.

WOW! Let's go shopping!!!




My card:






I feel a little better about this cold weather now. I just might make it until Spring... if I color flowers often enough.


Thanks for stopping by my blog today!


Stamp Set: SumMore Fun Crocus Cravings colored with Copic Markers and an Amazapen Gel Pen

Die: Stampin' UP! Swirly Scribbles

Papers: Recollections Black, Kraft, and White and SU Cameo Coral CS and DP from my scrap file

Ink (for sponging on wreath): Ranger Vintage Photo Distress Oxide

Embellishments: Eyelet Outlet Jewel Strip, SU Ribbon and other Ribbon from an unknown vendor

Saturday, November 24, 2018

Water You Waiting For


I love funny cards... humor just seems to make my day. 


What are Water you waiting for?

Call me so we can catch up.






I used several different Eyelet Outlet products 
to make this humorous card:


I generated the phrases on my computer 
and printed them out from there, 
so this is a stamp-free card.


Here's a closeup so you can see some of the details better:





Thanks for stopping by my blog today!


Eyelet Outlet ProductsJewel StripsPipe Set BradsSelfie Phone BradSkinny Washi TapeTear Drop Bling, and Telephone Brad

Paper: Recollections Black and White and SU Real Red CS and October Afternoon Walking in the Park DP