One more scrapped page!

This is the last of my scrapped Christmas photo card pages. This is my friend Melan and her 3 furkids. I scanned the pic and enlarged the bottom three pics and turned them into black and white to add some visual interest. The papers and embellies are all from my stash.

Now I'm moving on! My mother gave me a crap-load of pics of the kids at Christmas that she wants scrapped. So I'll be spending the next year or thirteen working on them! I'll share a few here and there as I go.

A feel better card

Sister Jan's niece is at All Children's Hospital in St Pete. She has CF and has had a pretty rough road this last month. She's on week 5 of being in the hospital. They cannot get her stats up and she keeps getting unexplained blood clots. Really sucks when you're just 13 and have to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas, and probably New Years in a hospital bed. I decided to make her a cheery card to help boost her spirits.

I used CTMH Veranda pp, along with my new Maaatha Stewart Lattice punch. The flower and the drops are more of what was in my goodie tin from Debbie and Evan for my birthday.

CPS challenge

For the last week of the year, Tami challenged us to use any of the 147 sketches at http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/. I went almost to the beginning and chose number 8!

I'm working on my Thank You cards for Christmas, so this fills one of those spots. The ASL metals are part of my birthday goodie tin that Debbie and Evan sent that was chock full of all sorts of scrapping/carding goodies. The mask at the bottom was part of my Christmas gift from them. I stayed pretty basic and simple with my color choices beacuse I wanted the ASL metals to take center stage.

Great bargins

Debbie and Evan sent me a Michael's gc as part of my Christmas gift, and of course it was burning a whole in my pocket, so I had to go see what was marked down yesterday! I had looked at the Santa stamp before Christmas, but refused to pay the $15.00 I think it was price. So my patience paid off! I picked it up for just over $3.00!! And I never look at the Maaatha Stewart stuff unless it's on sale because it's marked so high just because it's got her name on it! The Bakers twine was $1.59 (for SIX rolls!) and the punch was $4.79! And I can use both year round. I also scored three boxes of Turtles that happened to jump in my hand and stick like glue as I passed the candy section! They might just as well have jumped onto my hips, cuz that's where they'll end up!

She's still scrappin'!

Two days in a row! This must be a new record.

This is favorite youngest sister Jan and her family. Paper pack is the CTMH Caboodle, which I thought lent itself well to the green background Jan chose for the photo. The flowers at the top are CTMH Fancy Cut Botanicals and the ribbon is from the Sweet Leaf collection.

Everyone have a safe and Merry Christmas. We're off to spend the evening with my side of the family at Jan's and tomorrow the in laws will be here, as usual.

She scraps!

Miracles never cease! I think this is my first scrapped page in a year. My New Years resolution for 2009 was to scrap more. This is my first page of the year. Now you see why I don't make resolutions?!

We got some GREAT Christmas photo cards this year, so you'll be seeing more scrapped pages. This is my friend Evan. I used to say he was my CTMH sister Debbie's son, but now I consider him a friend just as I do her. He is such a handsome young man and I'm proud to call him "Friend."

I used the CTMH winter special Felicity papers for this layout along with the accompanying stamp set. I made another brad with my i-top brad maker. LOVE that I can make my own brads any way I want now!

Treasure Life

Tami challenged us with a circle card this week at http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/. So fun!

I pulled out another new CTMH new for Spring stamp set. This one's called A Tweet and is an "A" set, which CTMH has lowered the retail price on, making it a very affordable $7.95. You get 5 clear stamps in this set. The paper pack is Veranda. I cut out the bird and it's pop-dotted, along with the bottom flower for some visual interest. The bird's "feathers", bottom flower and the branch all have Smooch pearlized paint on them for some shimmer. I stamped the sentiment on Twill ribbon.

Perio visit

Had my two month post-op check yesterday.

First, can I just say how much I HATE the taste of latex?! It is still lingering in my mouth, despite brushings.

Overall, he was very pleased. Glad someone is! He said the back three molars have tightened up nicely. They were very loose at the beginning because of the extensive bone loss. He said that is a sign that the new bone is growing. However. The nerves that are giving me such pain/sensitivity issues will be part of the last to be covered by the new bone growth. That did not make me a happy camper. He said I could go back to my regular dentist on the 31st for my cleaning. He is sending them a letter telling them NOT to poke, probe or generally disturb that area because of the bone grafts. I told him there was no worries for them doing anything like that so long as I had breath in my body! I go back to see him in April. At that point, HE will clean them and since we will be at 6 months post-op, he will also probe and see where we stand. What was originally supposed to be a year long, once every four months procedure now looks like it will be closer to two years to complete. Because I am such a slow healer, he does not want to make it impossible for me to eat/chew/drink on both sides of my mouth at the same time. I don't know if that's a good thing or not! He did give me a Rx for a sensitivity toothpaste. It has more "stuff" in it than what you can buy over the counter to ease the sensitivity issues. He said it would take a few days for me to feel the effects of it. So I guess I keep on keepin on. And maybe one morning when I wake up, the pain will be gone. One can only hope!

Tea Pocket Card

I saw something similar on the Hero Arts blog and decided I'd give it a try! I always like to do a little giftie for the ladies at Jan and John's for Christmas. I usually do cello bags of candy, so I decided to mix things up a bit for Christmas! These went together in a snap. I random stamped using the new Cherished Flourishes stamp set, cardstock with Chocolate, Baby Pink, Heavenly Blue and Vineyard Berry. Then I used the blue B&T from the new CTMH Topstitch paper pack along with the floral strip B&T for some contrast. The sentiment is also new, called State of Mind! It is a set of nine different words with the definition of them. Words like Favorite, Happiness, Joyful. I think this will become a "go to" set for me! I left the top edge of the blue B&T loose so that I could slip a couple of tea bags in and I have some pretty simple but nice gifties for the ladies!

Edited to add:

I ordered a new toy! An I Top brad maker. I've been thinking for a long time how cool it would be to be able to make my own brads and naturally someone else came up with the same idea, but acted on it! I love this thing! You use coordinating papers, lace, fabric, whatever you can dream up and make your own brad. So I added a brad to each of the tea pocket cards I made earlier this week. I think this could become a new addiction for me! And yes, the tea bags changed! I've been looking for the new Twinnings Lady Grey tea bags since I saw them advertised in a magazine. My grocery store finally had them in stock, so I bought them to go in the pockets instead. The tea is very nice. Light, with a hint of orange and lemon. I like it very much.

Layers upon layers upon layers...

Tami created a multi-layered sketch at http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/ this week. So much fun!

Another new CTMH paper pack for Spring! This is the last of the four new paper packs and it's so fresh and pretty! It's called Caboodle and has Buttercup, Crystal Blue, Sorbet and Sweet Leaf. I think this would also would make ideal Easter layouts or cards! The stamp set is called So Sweet and has flowers that can be layered, or like I did, used Staz-On and my waterbrush to make the flowers a softer color. The hummingbird is also a multi-layer stamp. I used Dutch Blue and Crystal Blue for my hummer then added Diamond Stickles to make him shine. It also has a couple of nice sentiments in the stamp set. All of the layers have been sponged using Sweet Leaf. There are three new Tiny Tabs along the side of one of the layers. These have designs and words on them and are so versatile!

This card will be headed out to my Aunt Reen (otherwise known as Groovy!) later today. She had eye surgery yesterday so I thought this would brighten her day.

CardPatterns challenge

I think the thing I love best about the challenges at CardPatterns is that as a general rule, as soon as I see the sketch, I know what I will do with it. This week was no exception!

Since I've got all of these new papers from CTMH just begging for use, I pulled out Topstitch. This is a beautiful paper pack with Baby Pink, Chocolate, Heavenly Blue and Vineyard Berry as the primary colors. I covered some chipboard letters with the blue B&T paper, then sponged the edges in Chocolate ink. Chocolate Rub-ons completed the words. There are new Filigree Charms in Pewter, along with new Soft Suede Pinwheels with buttons for centers on the card. And a new Colonial White Designer Brad in the center.

Like a rock star!

Another sneak peek at upcoming stamps and paper packs from CTMH. This is my favorite of the new papers! It's called You Rock and the stamps set is Star Power. Both of these say "t!m Holtz" to me.

I decided to try something new for the card base. This is an easel card. It's hard to tell in the picture, but the wings are pop-dotted for dimension.

Tweetie Pie

I got a loverly box of new Spring CTMH toyz the other day! I love all of the paper packs and there are quite a few new stamp sets that I am in love with as well. One new set in particular just smacks of t!m Holtz to me so I'm already thinking of how I will be using this set to make my cards for Susan's swap.

This first card for her swap uses the new Veranda paper pack. Lovely greens and yellows in a floral pattern in this paper pack. I think this would be an ideal paper pack for Easter scrapbook pages. In addition, the stamp set is Love Birds. Three different cages in this set, along with 4 different birds and numerous sentiments. In the corner is new Soft Suede Pinwheels. There are 6 of these to a package in three styles and two colors, Bamboo and Blush with Chocolate stitching.

Card purses

I found these adorable Card Purses on Splitcoaststampers News and knew I had to try them. Sister Jan has three nieces who are with us on Christmas, so I always like to give them a little token something. I used CTMH Jingle paper pack along with CTMH Posterboard Alphabet. I used my Nesties to cut the circles. I used Stickles on the inside of the letters for the girls names for the required girly bling! Ribbon and flowers are unknown from my stash. I'll get some nail polish and candies and put in the purses for each girl. And while they are *supposed* to be used for cards, I would think that the possibilities for uses would be endless, so long as the items aren't too big or heavy!

Gift Card Holders

I needed some gift card holders for Christmas. And I can't just put them in a card! What would people think?! Every year it gets harder for me to come up with a new idea to house the gift cards.

This year I pulled out some of my round coasters and using CTMH Jingle paper pack, I covered them and inked all the edges in Juniper ink. Santa is from Magical Season and he was colored using my Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. He's got Liquid Applique on his hat and Diamond Stickles on the stars and his beard. The gift stamp is from Jingle Borders.

And on a totally unrelated note, we got 4.5" of rain yesterday! A nice, steady, all day soaking rain. We didn't get enough rain over the summer to bring our totals back to normal, so I was very encouraged to hear that we would be in an El Nino pattern this winter. Basically that means a wetter than normal winter for us. Anything we get that helps bring the water table up to where it shoud be works for me!

CPS challenge

I FINALLY got the last of my Christmas gifts finished up yesterday, so now I can move on! Still bothered by the nerve pain in my mouth. Not a whole lot else to say about that! It is what it is. I'm learning to just deal with it. Not that I've got a whole lot of other options in my arsenal!

Another great sketch at http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/ this week. And since I've still got the new CTMH promo Felicity pp sitting next to my table, that's where I went! I tried to stay with a monochromatic pallette with this one. I only used three colors of ink; CTMH Autumn Terracotta, Bamboo and Cocoa. The circle is discontinued CTMH Twill Stickstock that I random stamped with one of my Technique Tuesday flourish stamps to try and match the flourish on the background B&T paper.

Bags and Tags

Trying very hard to work thru the mouth pain and get my hand-made Christmas gifts done this week. I need to move on to other things and the only way I can do that is to just work thru the pain. I keep hoping that this morning will be the morning I wake up and the bone has grown enough to cover the exposed nerves. But so far, this morning hasn't come. But you didn't come here to listen to me complain!

I make cards every year to give both of my sisters and mom as well as my hair and nail gals. They look forward to recieving them every year and I enjoy coming up with new and different ideas to make them. I also come up with some sort of "holder" for the cards. This year I decided to buy plain white gift bags and alter them in non-Christmassy papers so that they could re-use them later on in the year. I used some of an old CTMH promo pack called Tickled Pink. Each bag is just slightly different with flowers and colors used.

For my tags this year, I stayed traditional, using CTMH Jingle paper pack. The ribbon is Making Memories (I think!) from a few years ago as is the puffy sentiment on the tag.

Giving Thanks

We had a wonderful day at sister Jan's yesterday. In addition to both of my sisters and their families and my mom, we had 3/4's of bil John's family as well as sister Kathy's mother and father in law. Not that there was any worry that there wouldn't be enough food! But of course I had to be my smart @ss self and tell Kathy's in laws that I really wish they'd pick up a bucket of chicken or a pizza next time before they came!

We had turkey AND ham, garlic mashed taters with eleventy billion kinds of cheese in it. I was assured that all calories had been removed! There was Mom's Famous Squash Casserole (she didn't make it one year and bil John informed her that if she didn't make it in the future, not to bother to come! It's her "pass go" card!), cranberry relish, my Famous lemon juice and soy sauce marinated asparagus, baked pineapple "stuff" (cuz I can never remember what it's REALLY called!) corn pudding, sweet potato casserole, three types of bread/rolls, tossed salad (because Kathy thought we might not have enough food otherwise!), stuffing. There's more, but I don't remember and I have no pictures to guide me because somebody (read ME) forgot to take her camera. @@ There was apple pan dowdy (like an apple crumb cake for you Yankees!) made by Kathy and I made a Peanut Butter & Chocolate pie for dessert. There was much moaning and groaning and belt-letting-out after we ate and most were looking for a quiet place to sit and digest. But with our rowdy crew, there's not much chance in that! You are quickly found and picked on by others around you. But isn't that what being with family's all about?!

So this morning, I needed a couple of quick Thank You cards. I pulled out the Felicity paper pack and stamp set once again to do these cards. I also shamelessly lifted the card idea pretty much lock, stock and barrel from CTMH Wishes Idea Book and is called Simple Statements.

CPS challenge

Needed a really quick card to take with me to the Thanksgiving feast at Jan's later today, so I turned to http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/ for my inspiration!

I pulled out an old CTMH Promotion paper pack that I have eleventy-billion packs left of called Serendipity and the accompanying stamp set to make this card. This is one of my all-time favorite paper packs. Which is why I've got eleventy-billion packs of it! I ordered the crap-ola out of it!! The flower is pop-dotted for some visual interest.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Safe travels to one and all.

Look what the mailman brung!

My friend Jill out in California-land sent me a "feel better" package. She knows how much I love everything that the Temecula Olive Oil Company has to offer, so she got some Lemon Verbena Olive Butter (for the skin) and sent, and man does that stuff smell GOOD and make your skin feel sooooo soft! She also sent along the Sonoma Farm Hope Stoopid Ale that she forgot to bring when she came to visit this past summer. I've been known to spell stupid "Stoopid" when talking about really stoopid people or events and she said as soon as she saw it, she knew she had to get some for me. And I must confess, I wasn't crazy about the beer itself, but the empty bottle will have a place of honor on my shelves. She also made a beautiful Asian inspired card to make me feel better from all of the mouth troubles that are STILL going on. It's the exposed nerves that are giving me fits. I can't wait til the new bone finally gets in gear and starts growing to cover them. Thank you my friend!

CardPatterns challenge

Took advantage of the CardPatterns challenge this week to use a beautiful new CTMH Promotion paper pack. It's not available to customers til Jan 2010, but Consultants could begin ordering it now to get samples made up. There are 12 B&T papers, 6 Die Cut papers and a combo alphabet and floral stamp set included in this set.

I needed a thank you card, so I used one of the die cut papers for the outside circles. There are two sizes of birds in the stamp set, so I used the larger of the two for my image. A Bitty Brad for it's eye and Diamond Stickles cover the entire bird.

CPS challenge

Needing a birthday card for bil Bruce, I turned to this weeks http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/ challenge.

I used CTMH Stardust paper pack, along with two CTMH stamp sets, Happy Birthday and Celebrate the Everyday. Stickles were used for the requisite bling! Boyz need bling too!!!

gift bags

I had to go run some errands yesterday and one stop was Target. LOVE the Dollar Spot at Target! Very rarely do I ever not find something I can't live without!! They had some really cute clear cello bags with snow and snowmen on them, 20 for $1.00. Also found some 12 x 12 Christmas scrapbook paper to use for projects; 8 sheets for $1.00. I bought some Christmas candy and made up some bags to give all of the ladies who will be at sister Jan's for Thanksgiving. I stamped the topper using CTMH Jingle Borders stamp set and just stapled it to the tops of the bags. Candy used was Hersey's Miniatures, Life Savers Holiday Mix and Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark with Dark Chocolate Squares.

And can I just add, those Peppermint Bark Dark Chocolate squares. To. Die. For. Go quickly and get you some! I bet they don't last long. And they're on sale this week at Target! I think I *may* need to go get a bag just for me.

I'm just sayin!

Out with the old...

We finally got the house painted. Well...most of the house anyway! Both of us managed to brain-fart doing the bottom edge of the FRONT of the house! Not the back or the sides. Nope, the front. The part every.body sees when they drive past. Once a redneck always a redneck! It will get done, but we were both so beat when we finished up Friday afternoon that all we could do was stand back and laugh at our brain-deadedness! So anyway!

We went from a cream colored house with blue trim to a mustard colored house with a brownish trim. I was going for a "Tuscan" feel. Don't know if I accomplished that, but we like it!

CardPatterns challenge

Needing a sketch to make my last (for a while) CTMH SOM swap cards, I used this weeks sketch at CardPatterns.

I used CTMH Grace pp, along with the Dec SOM, Notice the Details. There's also some Smooch pearlized accent ink along the top edges of the sqaures for some detail.

I'm still here!

Still having pain and swelling issues with my mouth. Maybe the Perio knew what he was talking about when he said it would take the full four months for me to heal. Hmmmmm!! Just yesterday John and I noticed I was all brusied and swollen under my left eye again.. Seems a bit better this morning.

John's on vaca this week. And this is the vacation that we do the "honey-do's" around the house that we never have time to get to when he's working. So we've cleaned the flower beds around the house and trimmed back all of the stuff around the house. (Trash men LOVED us yesterday!) We started painting the exterior of the house yesterday but the remenent rains from Tropical Storm Ida drove us inside. It's cloudy today, but no painting since John needed to go to his folks and check on them. Mother-in-law is doing better now that she's back home, but John wants to keep a very close eye on them. Hopefully the weather will cooperate with us and we can get the painting finished up tomorrow. I'll post pics once it's done!

I posted a while ago about my Double second cousin, Nona. http://sue-thislife.blogspot.com/2009/09/from-heart.html I'm sad to say that she lost her battle this past Saturday, Nov 7, 2009. She was a class act. A true Southern Belle in every sense of the word. She will be very much missed. Not only by her family, but many in the community that loved her. Rest in Peace, Nona.

CPS challenge

One of my favorite CTMH people, Susan Tomaino is once again the sponsor for this weeks sketch at http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/ and Tami has another great sketch for us to try.

Even though we are a bit cooler than we were last week, breaking record high temps all week, we are by no means "fallish" here in the Sunshine State of FL!! But ever the optimist, I went with a fall theme card!

I pulled out CTMH Twitterpated pp, along with two "oldie but goodie" stamp sets; Fall and Skeleton Leaves. The leaves are embossed and cut out and pop-dotted for eye appeal. I stamped the sentiment on Twill ribbon with Chocolate ink. The shapes were cut using my Nestabilities.

CardPatterns challenge

We recieved a box of goodies from John's cousin in Japan the other day. Akiko-san sent green tea, soup, crackers, seaweed sheets, candy. Trick or treat candy at that! Who knew they trick or treated in Japan?! She also sent some really cool scrapping stuff; crochet flowers, lady bugs and leaves. Stickers and the sticky ribbon trim that's at the bottom of the card. But best of all was a picture of her adorable little boy! I don't know the correct spelling of his name, but phonetically it's Show-aye. He is almost 6 months old now and just adorable. Love those toothless baby grins!!

I had to make a Thank You card to send to her, so what better place to find inspiration than CardPatterns?! And since it's going to Japan, I pulled out CTMH Aspirations paper pack! Along with CTMH Aspiration, Thank You and Intrinsic Backgrounds stamp sets. I used a CTMH crochet flower as well.

CPS challenge

Another Thank You card for mil to send to another of her favorite nurse at the Rehab Center. Actually, it's ME sending the cards. Mil still doesn't have enough control of her right arm to be able to write yet, so I'm her acting social secretary!!

For this one I used my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder, along with CTMH Sweet Home pp and Thank You sentiment stamp set. The crochet flower is CTMH and the heart brad is one from my stash. A pretty simple card, but I hope Janis likes it.

CardPatterns challenge

Yes, it's been a while. Still pretty sore from my periodontal surgery last week. The "play dough snake" is gone and in it's place is exposed nerves that hurt like a.......well, never mind! It hurts 24/7. Something I'm gonna have to get used to because the Perio says that due to the extensive damage it's probably going to take me a good 4 months to heal completely. I've been having some problems with the up close and personal work required to craft, so posts may be few and far between for a while.

On the good news front...we brought my mother in law home from the Rehab Center late yesterday. While she is not 100% (and probably never will be again), she wanted to go home. And the therapies they were doing at the Center can be done with home care nurses. So that's the path she chose. And we have to abide by that.

And that brings us to today's challenge. She needed a couple of Thank You cards to send to her "favorite" nurses and of course she asked me to make them! Who am I to tell her no?! This card uses CTMH Twitterpated pp, Thank You and Grown With Love stamp sets. There are buttons from the CTMH Basic Buttons collection as well as Crystal Blue and Colonial White Waxy Flax. CTMH Dimensional Elements-Organic and Sorbet brads and hemp. The tree and sentiment are pop-dotted for added visual effect. I hope Nurse Teresa likes it!

Meeting an old friend

After "knowing" her for almost 5 years now, I finally got to meet Jeanne and her dh Frank AKA the 9TS (Nine-Toed Sloth after he had to have one toe removed with cancer) last night. Frank's cancer has come back and they've been part time residents at the Hope Lodge at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa for the last 6 weeks while Frank has been having chemo treatments. This morning is his LAST treatment and thankfully so far the results have all been positive.

Jeanne and the 9TS have found some pretty awesome restaurants to dine at while they've been in the area and we joined them at one last night. Broadway Ristorante & Pizzeria Welcomes You! and man was it good! Jeanne raved about their brick oven pizza, but with me still on my soft food diet, pizza was out for me last night. I had fettuchini alfredo and it was wonderful. John got stromboli that he said was great. Jeanne and the 9TS split a pizza. Tomato and basil for Jeanne's half and anchovy, onion and red pepper for Frank. LOVE that Frank got anchovy on his half!! Dinner passed all too quickly and Frank was getting tired, as was I, so we called it a night. It was so wonderful to finally be able to meet both of them. Now we'll have to get together again, and hopefully not have to wait 5 years to do it!

When you've nothing else to do...

How about a little Periodontal surgery for laughs?

I have bad Periodontal disease. Really bad. To the point where yesterday began a year long oddesy of splitting open my gums and grinding down damaged bone and injecting cadaver bone to meld with the remaining bone so that hopefully I won't lose all of my teefs. Surgeries will fall once every four months or so, depending on how quickly I heal.

Once our co-pay was in the books, I was given a little blue pill and within 20 minutes, I was very relaxed and didn't really care what was going on around me. Susie, my nurse helped me float to the surgery room where she then hooked me up to the Nitrous Oxide tank and I got to sit on a toadstool whilst fairys and butterflies danced around my head. It was a lovely trip!! I was awake during the entire procedure, but neither cared nor could do anything about anything! Surgery took a little over an hour. We started with the upper left side, since that's where the worst damage was. I have a "play dough-like snake" in my mouth, surrounding those teeth to keep any small bits of food out. I have lots of "good drugs" to keep the pain at bay. They make me really loopy and I feel like I'm drunk and I haven't had anything to drink. Good thing I don't have to go to work or operate heavy machinery! I promised John that so long as I'm on the pain meds, I won't be driving anywhere. Yesterday my diet consisted of pudding cups, jello cups, yogurt, watermelon and canteloupe chunks. All cold foods. No hot. Today I can graduate to soft foods and I've already put in my request for sushi tonight since sushi's soft! I can't talk so good right now. It hurts to open my mouth to form words, so John is in his glory with a mostly silent wife!

CPS challenge

Such a fun sketch this week at http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/! There's so many directions you could take with this sketch. I'm sure it's one I'll go back to time and again.

I was needing a birthday card and even though the thermometer in Florida is still in the mid 90's, I'm also feeling "fallish" so I pulled out CTMH Grace paper pack. I love the colors in this paper pack. I used my Nestabilities to cut the B&T and also the tag. I used an old CTMH stamp set, Delight In Everything for the flowers on the printed B&T and CTMH Happy Birthday for the sentiment. Three buttons with Crystal Blue Waxy Flax complete this simple card.

Wait'll next year!

After failing to live up to the World Series team of '08, our Tampa Bay Rays finished their '09 season yesterday. There were highs, like having our entire infield elected to the All Star Game and Carl Crawford's MVP catch to win the game for the American League. There were some lows, like the bullpen collapsing coming down the stretch. But there's alway next year. Hold your heads high boys. We've nothing to be ashamed of. 162 days til Spring Training starts!

Double Duty

Love it when I can combine challenges!

I'm using the sketch from CardPatterns and the challenge from {capture the moment} to incorporate a Japanese theme in a card.

Paper pack, ribbon and flowers are Prima's Tea and Silk collection. The magnet (yes, it's a magnet!) is one of a collection that sister in law JoAnn gave me for Christmas.

Another card I can take to my mother in law to brighten her bedside.

CardPatterns challenge

Great sketch again this week at CardPatterns.

I decided to use it to do my CTMH Nov Stamp of The Month swap cards with. This set is called Around The Block and has a house, two roofs, doors, windows and other "house" stuff! I paired it with CTMH Twitterpated paper pack. The coloring was done with my Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. I found yet another use for common household string! It's become one of my new favorite embellishments! And a bit of Stickles for the required bling! See the heart brad in place of the "a" in "heart."

CPS challenge

Lovely, simple sketch this week at http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/! That's good, cuz it's been a crazy hectic week.

My mother in law has had a series of strokes and falls over the last couple of weeks. She is now at a rehab center to hopefully get some physical, speech and occupational therapy so she can go back home. There's been a lot of running back and forth between our house and the in laws and now the rehab center. She needs some soothing things to help ease her mind so she can concentrate on getting better, so that was my thought in making this card. The image is one I got at the Kodomo booth at CHA. The sponged ink on the cream cs is really grey, but it photographs a funky greenish color. There's some Washi Tape and some black grosgrain ribbon on there as well.

CPS challenge

Another great sketch from Tami at http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/ this week.

I needed a birthday card for my siser-in-law, so naturally I went for my Japanese stamps! Also some of the Kodomo papers I got at CHA, along with some of the Washi Tape I got at their booth. The background random Kanji I stamped using CTMH Wisdom stamp set and Sorbet ink. The images are all colored using my Prisma watercolor pencils and Gamsol and are pop-dotted for visual interest.

CardPatterns challenge

Another fabulous sketch this week at CardPatterns!

I pulled out my sun brass stencil and ran it thru my Cuttlebug to raise the edges, then with the stencil still in place, sponged on CTMH Sunny Yellow ink. I used my Basic Grey Wisteria pad for the background papers. The ribbon is unknown from my stash and to give it just a bit more visual interest I gathered and stapled it. Sentiment is from CTMH Treasure stamp set.

Grace

This is my take on the CTMH Grace Workshop On The Go cards. I made 6 cards, using only parts of four of the 18 sheets of B&T and cardstock that are included in the kit. There's lots of paper left to make more cards and scrapbook layouts as well. I changed the sentiments up a bit, knowing that the sentiments that are included in the stamp set you get with the papers would not be used by the person these cards will go to.