Seize the Birthday ~ OFF the Edge!

We have another Seize the Birthday Challenge with JoAnn as our hostess and she wants to see images "OFF THE EDGE".  I liked this one a lot and thought it was fun to stamp off the edge. 

 I used watercolor paper and did a touch of watercoloring on the leaves...a very simple card with a little bit of stamping off to give it added dimension.

There are some very clever cards to inspire you with this challenge!  Please join us at Seize the Birthday and make a birthday card, if you don't want to go along with the "topping"  then any kind of BIRTHDAY card is okay to enter!

Heart Hugs, friends!

CAS CHRISTMAS ~ Warm & Cozy

This is our last month of CAS Christmas Challenge until January 3rd friends!

We are taking the month of December off to spend time with family.

Trina is our hostess for this month and her challenge is WARM & COZY!

I thought this cute little Llama was full of warm fleece!

cuttlebug snowflake folder

Flora & Fauna:  Woolly and Warm

Please join us and make a Warm and Cozy Christmas card!

I will see you in the gallery!

 

Heart Hugs, friends!

Seize the Birthday ~ It's All About the CANDLES!

Hi friends!  Today we are celebrating birthdays with candles!

Shirley is our hostess this time at Seize the Birthday.

If you're not a toppings kinda person, well.....you can just
stick with our usual "Anything Goes"Birthday!

Just remember to keep it a Birthday Theme!

 

Please check out all the fabulous inspiration from the design team and from our special Party Guest!
 See you in the gallery!!

Heart Hugs, friends!

Crafty Stamper Retreat

I may be one of the last to post some pictures from the fabulous retreat I had in Nashville, Indiana with 7 friends who are near and dear to me (especially after spending 6 days with them!)

Brenda started the ball rolling months ago and she asked her SIL, Sharon to help with the planning shopping and organizing.  They are the best...the food was delish and the house was awesome and all the guests invited are wonderfully kind and loving people who are now my new best friends.

Darnell, Kara, Greta, Maria, Linda and myself all met at Brenda's in Indianapolis and drove the hour to The Farm in Nashville.

It has a pond in the back where deer wander for a drink.

front row left to right:  Brenda, Darnell, Sharon

back row:  Linda, Greta, Kara, Maria, Colleen

Brenda bought the wonderful aprons with BIG pockets for us and Sharon embroidered 

Crafty Stampers

Our name

I love it!  The pockets can hold a cell phone and of course kleenex and misc. other things!

Our early evenings were spent outside in 70+ degree weather with favorite drinks and snacks,  Darnell was the bartender!

The craft table was an 8 foot x 4 foot wide table that was perfect for the 8 of us.

 We took time out to share our stories, that's what friends do, right?  Where do we come from, how did we get here?  What and who is important in our lives?  Precious!

Our last morning packing up the car in the pouring down rain!

Three of us (Colleen, Linda, and Greta) came from Oregon, Kara from Wisconsin, Darnell from California, Maria from Ohio, and Brenda & Sharon from Indiana.

What a fabulous time we all had, we laughed and ate and stamped a lot and learned a lot too!

I hate being back in real life with "things to do"...you know like cleaning and cooking and laundry and doing it all over again!  With my memories I can transport myself back to this time and look at these pictures and more, and remember the wonderful memories made with these 7 ladies!

Thank you Brenda and Sharon for all your efforts and hard work!

I love you both!

And I love getting to know everyone that was there!

Heart Hugs, friends!

CAS Christmas October Challenge ~ A Winter Scene

More inspiration for you from the team at CAS Christmas Challenge, I hope you will be able to play along by creating a winter scene.

I was gifted this die from Trina, one of my team mates here at CAS Christmas when we were at our Craft Retreat back in May, I don't have a name for the die, but it came with 5 dies of different sizes.  I really like it!  I sponged on some DOX in the background and used a Sizzix thinlets die called Tree Line.  I tried cutting it out with a dark forest green originally, but didn't really like the looks of it, probably because I tried to add snow drops and that really was not the right thing to do!  That was put in the circular file (LOL) and I started over, I think the white looks more like a winter scene with snow on the all the branches, that must be what a winter wonderland looks like!

the little deer is from SSS.  I think he is so cute turning his head like that.  I cut him out with kraft paper and then sponged on some distress ink.

The challenge is open until October 24.  We will have one more month of CAS Christmas Challenge, then we will take a break to get ready for the holiday and spending time with family!

See you in the gallery!

Heart Hugs, friends!

Seize the Birthday ~ for a KID!

Seize the Birthday is hosted by Lindsey this time and she says, "let's make a card for a kid"!

What kid doesn't love to swing the bat at a PINATA?  

I used an image (Life of the Party) from a retired stamp company, Fresh Squeezed Stamps.

I used a balloon image from the same stamp set and used versamark to get a watermark for the background.  I colored in the pinata with copic.

I hope you will play along with us and make a card for a "kid" and I will see you in the gallery!

Heart Hugs, friends!