Color Challenge 20

Here is my contribution for Marjorie's Color Challenge number 20. Her colors this week were Moonstruck, Watermelon, Hydrangea and Heavenly Blue. I drug my Cuttlebug out and put it to good use! The card itself is embossed with the Swiss Dots folder. Then I used Watermelon, Moonstruck and Heavenly Blue cardstock and my Nestabilities to cut the scalloped and straight edged rectangles. Stamp set is Thoughts of You for the flower and April Word Puzzle for the Beauty sentiment. I used my belnding brush and Hydrangea to color the flower. A piece of skinny white ribbon from my stash completes the card. And since I love to kill two birds with one stone, I did extra's of these to have for Convention swap cards. And see, you thought I was actually gonna do one whole post and not mention Convention! Wrong!!!

Happy Memorial Day

In honor and in tribute to those who have served. Happy Memorial Day.

same old!

New day, same old cards! These two cards uses up the Whoops A Daisy paper pack. I really don't think it will be one I'll re-order. Way too bright for my taste!

I dug out my alpha and number solo sets for the first card. I reverse stamped the "4" on coasters, cut them out then used my sponge daubers with Ocean ink for a softer look. Then drug the whole thing thru the embossing pad, covered it in clear embossing powder and embossed to give it sheen. Tied a piece of Blush waxy flax around it. The "U" is stamped in White Daisy and cut out. I knew it would stand alone on the bright colors. I used my Marvy scallop punch on Ocean textured cardstock.

The second one is the feminine version of the buckle card. I used Playful Flourishes, Spot On and Say It In Style stamp sets.

Cards, cards, cards!

Three more cards. Don't know if I'll use these as samples for Trish or for Convention swaps. Or both!

First one is a 4x4 done with 1" squares of various B&T from Boom Di Ada paper pack, then I used Simple Stitches to "sew" the lines and for the sentiment. A piece of frayed RicRac for some texture.

Second was stolen from the CTMH Artwork board. I used June SOM, With Love and stamped the flowers in Sweet Leaf. Then stamped one flower in Hollyhock and pop-dotted it for dimension. A photo hangar with a piece of white organdy ribbon. Simple but a really cute card, I think!

And last, is a buckle card using Good Times paper pack. I tried to make this one a bit more masculine since the vast majority of mine are feminine. I will probably do some more of this style in a feminine paper pack.

An interesting turn of events

Frito Lay had their Spring Fling BBQ a few weeks ago. They had a great play area for the kids, one of the bosses played DJ, they had a dunk tank and each of the bosses had to take a turn in the dunk tank. They had prizes that you bought raffle tickets for and the drew winning numbers. We ate some great BBQ and had a nice afternoon socializing with everyone. All of the proceeds from the dunk tank and the raffle went to Susan G Komen Race for the Cure. There are quite a few ladies who work at the offices in Tampa who have friends and or family members who are either battling breast cancer or have lost their lives to breast cancer. My dear friend Glo lost her battle on April 20, 2007. She was not even 50 years old. She left her loving husband of almost 27 years, Dave and three wonderful boys, Keith, Kyle and Kent. The picture of Glo and Dave was taken at the Creekside Wedding Chapel in Gatlinburg, TN on their 25th anniversary Sept 20, 2005 when they renewed their vows.

One of the ladies at the offices, Trish Jones, decided she was going to participate in the 2008 Three Day. You raise funds then walk 60 miles in three days. We started talking a the BBQ and I showed her my silicone bracelet that had not left my wrist in over three years. It was showing signs of age! The silicone had started to crack and it was very faded from it's original vibrant pink. We promised Trish a contribution to her walk if she could get me a new bracelet. Due to some unforseen circumstances, I just received my bracelet when John got home last night. I emailed Trish this morning to thank her. We emailed back and forth a couple of times and to make this long story longer ;), I ended up telling her I would be willing to make cards for her to help raise money for her walk. She asked me to make some for the other ladies in the office who will be joining her on her walk. So that's what I worked on today. Here is the link to the main website for the Tampa Trotters. If you're in a giving mood, drop a donation. Breast cancer affects ALL of us. Together, we can find a cure. Tampa Trotters

Guess what?!

More Convention swap cards!

When we were running errands this past Saturday, we had to go to Staples. Course John is in Staples like he is at Home Depot or Lowes. He must look at every. single. item. in the store. Not unlike his wife at Ruban Rouge, hee hee!! So I wandered aimlessly about the store, with every employee asking me numerous times if I needed help. And why is it that when I don't need help, there is an employee every 10 feet? But when I do need help, they are all on break or lunch?! Murphy and his law!! @@ I came upon a bin of marked down items. And in that bin was the cutest little emoticon clips! I thought they would match almost perfectly with the WhoopsA Daisy paper pack. There were 6 different emoticon faces for .50! Yep, half a buck...so I got 2 packages. And lying right next to them was some really cute decorative paper clips; 10 in the package for $1.99. They would work perfectly with Boom-di-Ada! So I got a package of them too! And I know some CTMH purist is gonna get her panties in a knot at Convention because I didn't use all CTMH product, but ya know what? I don't care! If someone doesn't like it, they don't have to swap with me. I have plenty of all CTMH product cards that I can use as a swap if someone doesn't like the fact I have one element that is not CTMH.

Marjorie's Color Challenge #19

Number 19 already?! Wow, time sure does fly when you're having fun!

Marjorie's color choices for this week are Ocean, Breeze, Honey and Goldrush. I decided to use one of the Emerson Quillin images that Liane RAK'd me with last week. Emerson Quillin : American Art Stamp I just love the sass of these ladies! I used my Prismacolor pencils to color them, using colors pretty darn close to Breeze and Ocean! Then I drug the edge of the cardstock thru my Ocean and Breeze ink pads. Found some Wild Asparagus paper in my stash that matched the Honey and Goldrush pretty close, and a piece of a honey-colored corrugated paper from my stash. I piece of black and white ribbon with a piece of black ric-rac from my stash completes this card. First person to comment on the card gets it in the mail!

What am I gonna do...

Once Convention is over? I'll have to find something new to bore y'all with, that's for sure! Worked on more swap cards over the weekend.

First one uses Boom-di-Ada paper pack and flowers from our Dimensional Elements. I covered the flowers in the stripe B&T. Did a little Random Stamping on some white cardstock that I marked grid lines on using my Scor-It for some added interest. A piece of our new green ric-rac for the flower stem.

For the second card I used WhoopsADaisy paper pack. Man is that paper pack bright! For this one, I scored lines around the outside edge of the white cardstock using my Scor-It again, then inked the edge with Topiary ink for some dimension. The flowers were stamped using Delight In Everything stamp set and Watermelon and Hydrangea inks. The big flower I used some embossing powder from Sparkle and Sprinkle and pop-dotted it for dimension.

A pretty boring weekend here at Chez Waters! Saturday we ran some errands and stopped at Chipotle (http://www.chipotle.com/) for dinner. We had some sprinkler heads that had puked, so we got new heads and while I played turn on and off the sprinkler system girl, John changed heads. Since we can only water one day a week, there's no sense in the water just shooting straight up in the air and not watering what it needs to water. We did get a precious spit of rain yesterday afternoon. Everything is so dry and brown. There have been numerous wildfires over on the east coast of FL and also down by the Everglades. June 1 starts Hurricane season, and while I do not want a repeat of the 2004 season when 4 of them came thru FL, I certainly hope we get some beneficial rain this season. We've not had a good rainy season since that record breaking season of 2004.

'Nother Liane RAK and more Convention stuff

Mailman surprised me again the other day with another RAK from Liane. She sent me a bunch of the new Emmerson Quillin images to color, paint, waterbrush, whatever! I still can't decide which one(s) I can't live without, so I've not ordered any for myself yet!

And, a couple more cards for Convention. We are at 77 days away today. We found out about this time 2 years ago that it would be in Orlando and it seemed sooooo far away, and now it's almost here!

The first card uses new Boom di Ada paper pack, Cottage Floral and Say It In Style stamp set and Sweet Leaf, Autumn Terracotta, Barn Red and Hollyhock inks. The green floral and green strip with "Just Because" sentiment are both distressed using the sanding block.

The second is my take on a card Liane found on a blog and sent me. She jokingly said she knew I had the Little Bee stamp set and the Word Window punch and I could make her some! Well, I did! And can I just say what a PIA cutting out and cutting down all of the word windows was to make the bee hive! This will never be a mass-produced card for me! The big bee is embossed with black then I used Sunny Yellow and my water brush to color the body and wings.

Color challenge #18

Marjorie's going girlie this week! Pink Carnation, Baby Pink, Kiwi and Key Lime were our 4 colors.

I had gotten the new stamp set Cottage Floral last week and had yet to ink it up, so today was as good a time as any. The flowers are done in the two pinks, with a twist. I inked them up, then lightly misted with water. The leaves are done in the 2 greens with the same water misting technique. It really softened the colors. Then I came back with my Sakura Jelly Roll pens and added some green and red highlights. Some bling and a white brad for flower centers. The papers are all unknown out of my stash and the ribbon is a piece of leftover that I had custom painted using blush reinker and our Pearl Paint.

Mail surprise

My friend and CTMH sister Debbie has a son who's name is Evan. Evan has some physical challenges, not the least of which is severe eyesight difficulties. Braille is his main means of "written" communication. Imagine my surprise yesterday when an envelope arrived from Evan! Mom did help address it, but HIS name was in the return address space, not hers. Inside I found these adorable alterable clipboards. Deb told me that Evan picked them out himself and took quite a while deciding on what would be the "perfect" surprise for me. But his personal handwritten note means more to me almost than the clipboards. I know how difficult it is for him to write as most of us do and take for granted. I will cherish his note forever. I wanted to share this with everyone. Thank you Evan! Thank you for being my friend.

Sixteen years ago

my Dad passed away. A few years ago, my local paper had a contest for Father's Day. It was supposed to be about trips you took as a kid with your dad. This was my winning entry.

It was summer, July 1969. I was 11 years old and my sister Kathy was 7. Mom and Dad had divorced four years earlier. Dad was taking Kathy and I on vacation to Punta Gorda to visit old friends. We arrived at Howard Johnson's on schedule and they had the most glorious crystal-blue swimming pool two girls could have ever hoped for. All we wanted to do was swim and play on the pool.

One morning we woke up and of course wanted to go to the pool. Dad said, "OK, but only for a little while." To us, it seemed like only a minute when Dad said, 'Girls, we need to go back to the room. There's an important event happening and it's going to be on TV."

Now the last place we wanted to be was in our room, but Dad insisted, saying, "Someday you'll thank me for this." So with long faces, we went back to our room.

Soon came the face of Walter Cronkite, talking about man landing and walking on the moon. So, from our hotel room, looking down at that beautiful swimming pool, we heard Neil Armstrong utter those now famous words: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

At the time, to my 11 year old mind, it was no big deal. I just wanted to go back to the pool. Years later, I did thank my Dad for insisting we watch the moon walk. I also thanked him for many other seemingly insignificant events he insisted we watch or ba a part of.

He was only beginning to teach my nephew of life's many wonders when he was taken from this Earth on May 13, 1992. My Dad, Herbie M. was a wise man and he is missed every day. Once again, I'd like to say, "Thanks Dad, for all that you taught us."

A new toy

for John. We had to go buy him a new laptop yesterday.The battery in his old one died and it was so old, that the mfg no longer even made his battery any more. So we took advantage of the sale at Best Buy and combined with some Gift Cards he had won in various contests at work, were able to take and additional $200 off the cost of the laptop. Of course that all got added right back on and then some with Vista, Norton's and Word. Not to mention the service agreement and tax and such! He's having a good time now taking all of his work info from the old computer and putting it on the new one.

RAK from Liane

My mailman was berry berry good to me yesterday. He brought me a RAK from Liane. She sent a bunch of Bella images. One's that I don't have. Gotta love that! She also found a new stamp designer...well new to us anyway...Emerson Quillen who does these fabulous "Maxine" style images and sentiments. Emerson Quillin : American Art Stamp She sent me not one but two cards that she made with images she ordered from the company. So far I've resisted the urge to purchase any. No guarantees as to how long I'll hold out!

Color challenge 17

They don't call it a challenge for nuttin'! Marjorie found some summery paper and chose her colors from that paper. Holiday Red, Orange, Sunflower and Bubblegum. I'm gonna go ahead and list the other colors I used, cuz there's a bunch! Grey Wool, Sweet Leaf, Cocoa, Brown Bag, Sunkiss Yellow, and Chocolate.

Liane had sent me a RAK of Bella images I don't have, and one of them is Puppy Bella. I used the Holiday Red, Orange, Sunflower and Bubblegum on her dress, shoes, hair bow and the puppy's bow. Chocolate, Brown Bag and Cocoa were used on the puppy. Sunkiss Yellow, Cocoa and Brown bag on Bellas hair. Then I outlined everything in Grey Wool for some dimension. I used my new Spot On stamp and stamped the 4 color challenge colors on white texture cardstock, then divided the colors using White Daisy and Sweet Leaf RicRac. Used my Deckle scissors to cut the large Sweet Leaf oval. Took my deckle scissors to a Big Pink flower, then used Fruit Punch Stickles to cover the petals. Found an orange button in my stash and used that for my flower center. A bit of Lime Green Stickles around the outside of the white oval and add one more to the record books!

SOM Card/Birthday Card

I've got a theme with cards going on at the ranch the last couple of days! First is a card for our oldest nephew who will be turning 18 next week. And just where did those 18 years go? I know I'm not 18 years older! I used a SU stamp set for this one just cuz I lurve the little crab! My camera is having some "issues" this morning, so the sentiment says, "Snappy Birthday." I know it's very hard to read...sorry! I found the idea on a blog...who's I don't remember! I read so many! It's got a little pocket cut out for a gift card. I thought it would be perfect for K's birthday.

Then for the second set of SOM swap with my Yahoo group, I used the same idea, just used the June SOM With Love and Whoops A Daisy paper pack. And if any of the SOM swapper girls are reading, NO you are not getting a gift card! You are getting a replica of a GC!! Love you gals, but don't love ya that much! ;)

Happy Everything/SOM cards

This is my contribution to our teams Stamp of the Month swap for June. Stamp set is called With Love and will be available during the month of June. Colors used are Watermelon, Ocean, Hydrangea, Sunny Yellow, Garden Green, Topiary and Sweet Leaf. I Random Stamped the flowers, stems and flourishes on White Daisy cardstock. Cut a small file folder using my Coluzzle and covered it in the stripe paper from the Whoops A Daisy paper pack. Attached clear buttons to the solid side of the stripe paper and added some white waxy flax to it for the center of the flower on the file folder. Triple-stamped Happy Everything on the inside of the file folder. Then put the flower on the wrong side of the file folder! When you open it, the flower bends. Oh well! Too late to change it now! Added a photo clip to keep the file folder closed. And Liane, not a BIT of Liquid Glass anywhere!!

Six Quirks

Marjorie, Mommy Scraps, tagged me last week. Here are the rules:

Link the person who tagged you.
Mention the rules on your blog.
Tell 6 unspectacular quirks about yourself.
Tag six fellow bloggers by linking them.
Leave a comment on each of the fellow bloggers blogs letting them know they have been tagged.

It's taken me this long to figure out 6 quirky things about me! And I know, y'all could come up with eleventy bilion off the tops of your heads!

1. My hands have to be covered in order for me to fall asleep.
2. I have to have a fan going at night. Even in Winter. It doesn't necessarily have to be blowing ON me, but the white noise from the fan makes it easier for me to go to sleep.
3. I love to surprise people, but hate being the one who is surprised. And I love playing guessing games with friends but hate it when they do it to me!
4. I enjoy having my fingernails and toenails match the season or an event.
5. I cannot tell a short story. Everything is "War and Peace" with me!
6. I could eat sushi 7 days a week.

I'm not tagging anybody. If you read and want to play, feel free.

More Convention swap cards

I had so many swaps to get completed and to hostesses before May 1, that my Convention swap cards kinda got lost in the shuffle! I cleaned off my (s)crap table the other day and found the beginnings of a batch of cards that I started back before we went to the mountains and figured I'd best get them finished. I don't remember if the final result was what I had in mind when I started them, but I really like the end result! It's a tri-fold card. I used the scalloped Nestabilities for the biggest circle and Coluzzle to cut the smaller circle. I used Take Flight stamp set and Game On paper pack. For the cardinal, I stamped the image in black StazOn, then picked up Holiday Red and Ponderosa Pine with the blending brush to apply the color. The owl is stamped in Desert Sand with some Ponderosa Pine pine branches. I've still got most of a pack of Game On papers left, so I'm gonna see what I can create now that I can use to swap with.

Purtty flowers

Chickens

What's left of the pink grapefruit on our tree.

Confederate Jasmine. The bees and hummers love this!

Gardenia. Sure wish this was Smellernet!

Magnolia not open completely.

and a few other things. Jeanne, silly to sane. . . ., is doing a photo a day class and posting to a gallery. She's posted two pics of different flowers and it inspired me to get out and take a walk around OUR yard and see what's blooming. I was amazed. But we'd better get some rain right quick or everything is gonna be dead. The grass is crispy under my feet. We can only water one day a week and with temps approaching 90 already and no clouds, the sun is doing a number on lawns here in FL. Jeanne's on the other side of the state from me, so she knows what I'm talking about.