Glad Tidings -- Christmas in July #15

 

 

Sadly, I did not meet my goal of 31 cards this month.  On the bright side....I did get 20+ cards made so I really got a leg up on my holiday cards.  If I continue to make a couple of cards per week, I will have all that I need by the first part of December.

 

For this card I used sketch #101 from Sketchbook Saturday on the Random Acts of Creativity blog:

 

I am also entering this card at Paper Smooches Anything Goes Challenge

 

Thanks for checking out my blog.

Some recent Junkin' Finds

I love to hit thrift stores, consignment shops, yard sales and estate sales.  I also peruse eBay and Craig's List.  My favorite shows are American Pickers and Pawn Stars.  I am a junker at heart I guess.  My mom and I would go out yard sailin' on Thursdays (her day off) when my boys were little and those days are some of my favorite memories with her.  I want to occasionally do a blogpost with some of my favorite and recent finds.

 

When I found this small bushel basket it was an ugly, beat up brown (wish I had taken a picture of it).  I lightly spray painted it white (spray paint is a junker's favorite go to item!!) and used some anchor printed washi tape (paper craft tape) around the top of it and I love the end result:

 

 

Here are a few more Items I found recently:

 

We have a large gallery wall with photos that my hubby took (he's an awesome amateur photograher) and nice white frames are not cheap to come by.  When I see them, I grab them.  This one is 11x14 and was $6.  The basket is perfect to hold my Christmas in July cards that I am creating this month and set me back $2.  The glass coasters were 50 cents apiece and you put your own photos in them.  I have a summer beachy theme going right now.  Here is an example of a couple of them:

 

The cool thing about these coasters is they are so easy to change up the photos....I can see changing them for fall, Christmas, etc.
 

My favorite find this summer has been this set of 2 teak adirondack chairs and a matching table for $75:

 

 

We are not sure if we will just clean them up and leave them natural or paint them a bright summery color.  What is your opinion?

 

Thanks for stopping by and I would love it if you would share your favorite recent find in the comments below.

 

I am linking this up to Crafty Goodies Gone Junkin' Friday post.  I love to see what Connie shares on Friday.

Chicago 16 Miami 0

I waited nearly 3 years to scrap this awesome picture of my hubby and I along with my son Matt, his beautiful wife Amy and my granddaughter Abby who was 2 1/2 at the time.  Matt and his family had come to see us in Florida and I was able to score some Bears vs Miami tickets.  We are all BIG Bear fans and had an awesome time at the game especially since the Bears shut out the Dolphins.

 

I used this sketch from Let's Get Sketchy:

 

 

Thanks for stopping by my blog and checking out my creations.

Christmas Greetings -- Christmas in July #14

Here is #14 of my Christmas in July cards.  If I am going to meet the challenge of 31 cards this month I need to have a very productive weekend these next 2 days!!

 

For this card I used this sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch:

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog today.



Christmas in July #13

 

Here is the 13th card that I am sharing in my Christmas in July series this month.  I love those little metal letters and have very few of them left so I was glad I could spell out J-O-Y.  For this card I used this sketch from Sketch-n-Scrap:

 

 

Thanks for checking out my blog.



Joy Joy Joy

 

I love my little winter owl stamp from Lawn Fawn and he will most likely appear on several of my Christmas cards this year.  (Yes it is still July and I am still making Christmas cards)

 

I am entering yhis cute little card in Lawnscaping's Paper Piecing challenge.  I paper pieced his cute little scarf and the inside of the polaroid frame.

 

Thanks for checking out my blog.

 

Best Wishes

We are back from our last planned trip for this year and while I always love to travel, I love coming home and picking up my normal routine that I enjoy so much.  Tonight I made some cards for challenges and wanted to share this one.

 

I used this sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch:

 

I am also entering this card in Simon Says Stamp's By the Sea Challenge.

 

Thanks for checking out my blog.

 

Project Life Week #19

Well, I may be behind a few weeks (10 or is it 11??) but I am still plugging along at Project Life and I must say I am LOVIN' it!  Here is my Week #19 which was the second week of May.  Page one is above and page 2 is below.

 

I used this sketch for my Week #19 card:

 

 

Week-2-Week is the Project Life challenge blog that my friend Suzanne and I run.  If you use this sketch and load your PL page to our blog you will be in the running for this awesome prize:

 

 

I love that Bo Bunny paper pad......hmmmmm, I wonder if Suzanne would notice if I entered the challenge???  I would love to win!!  JK...but some lucky person will get this  and it may as well be YOU!  Click HERE for all the details on the challenge and to link up your entry.

 

I am also entering this over at Stuck on You Sketches for their Project Life Date stamp Challenge.  Check it out HERE.  You can enter their challenge and our with one PL spread.  I say GO for it!

 

Thanks for stopping by my blog.

 



Peace -- Christmas in July

 

I am not much of a ribbon person but I have a real weakness for hand dyed crinkle ribbon and love bows done up right in it.  I have a long way to go to learn how to make one but this card and bow did not turn out too badly. This ribbon is called Toadally Green and it is from the shop at My Craft Spot.  You can see it HERE.  This is the 11th card that I have shared so far from my Christmas in July cards.  For this card I used sketch #100 from Random Acts of Creativity:

 

I am entering it at My Craft Spot for their Christmas in July challenge.

I am also linking this card up to Moxie Fab World's Holiday Card Challenge.

 

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog.

 

JOY -- Christmas in July #10

Here is the 10th installment of my Christmas in July cards.  I think this little owl with his top hat and scarf are sooo cute.  I stamped the background with the Hero Arts Polka Dot background stamp with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  I love the look it gives of a tone on tone print.

 

I used this sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch:

 

I am entering it in the following challenges:

 

Simon Says Stamp Pin It Challenge

 

and

 

Casual Fridays Polka Dot Challenge

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog.

 

Don't Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle

 

 

Here is my 9th installment of Christmas in July and for this card I used the cutest stamp set EVER from Unity Stamp Co.  I have just recently accumulated some Unity stamps and I must say they are the best stamping stamps that I have used.  Such clear and crisp images!!

 

I had no idea that Unity has monthly challenges until I stumbled on them this month.  I used the card sketch for this card and if I have time I would like to take on the color and scrapbook page sketch challenges as well.  The sketch I used is in the lower lefthand corner:

 

 

There is still time to enter.  You can see more details on their blog HERE.

 

I am also entering it in Merry Monday's Anything Goes Christmas Challenge.

 

Thank you for checking out my blog.

Christmas in July #8 -- Christmas Cheer

Here is another card in my series of cards for Christmas in July.  For this card I used another one of Tuesday Morning Sketches:

 

I used the bottom right sketch for this card and am entering it in their 4th Anniversary Sketch challenge.  You can see all the details HERE.



Tis The Season -- Christmas in July

I am still working on my Christmas cards for a Christmas in July challenge that I am currently participating in.  It will be awesome to have 31 handmade cards at the end of this month.  I will probably only have to make a few more.

 

For thise card I used the top left sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches:

 

 

Tuesday Morning Sketches is celebrating their 4th Anniversary.....congratulations!!

I am also entering this card over at CARDZ TV's Christmas in July Challenge

 

Thanks for checking out my blog.

Seasons Greetings to My Coolest Friend

 

Boy it is a REAL challenge to make a one layer card but I took on the challenge and created this one layer card.  I flipped the sketch from Paper Smooches that you can see here:

 

 

And I used their Swanky Snow Dudes stamp set. 

I am entering this card in the Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge which is one of my favorite challenges around.  I love my Paper Smooches stamps!

 

 

I am also entering this card at:

Festive Friday Trigger Challenge -- SNOW!

and

Merry Monday's Anything Goes Christmas Challenge.  It runs all month long so you should check it out.

Happy Birthday (Colleen)

I have several cousins on my dad's side that I saw quite a bit when I was young but shortly after entering my teens we did not see much of each other.  I lived in the Midwest and they lived on the East coast or in Florida and sadly we drifted apart.  Fast forward 40 years and I have joyfully reconnected with several of my cousins through Facebook.  This birthday card is for one of those cousins....Colleen.  I always adored Colleen's parents.  My Aunt Pat and Uncle Jimmy were my favorite aunt and Uncle when I was growing up.  Colleen lives in Tennessee now just outside Pigeon Forge and it is her birthday this week so I made her this card.

 

I used the July sketch from Artful Delight:

 



I am also entering this card in Seize the Birthday's Anything Goes Challenge.  You can see all the details HERE.

I hope your week is going well....hang in there it is almost the weekend.  Thank you for stopping by my blog today.

Christmas Peace

I am still going strong creating Christmas cards and finding sketches and challenges that I can enter them in.  For this card I used the awesome Lawnscaping sketch challenge.  Here is the sketch:

 

 

I used my Winter Owl stamp which I colored and paper pieced his scarf.  I cut out the "Christmas" from the Winter Owl sentiment and used my Sally's ABCs to spell out "peace" below it for a custom sentiment.  All the papers are from Lawn Fawn as well.  I am having a blast making Christmas cards this time of year and it will be great having them all done come December.

I am also entering this card at Merry Monday's Anything Goes Christmas Challenge.  The challenge there runs all month so you have pleanty of time to start on your Chriastmas cards and link them up.

So Precious.........

 

I have a friend who after years of longing for a child just adopted a beautiful little girl this week.  I had fun going out and buying a baby gift for (little girls are SO much fun to buy for).  Today I made this card and matching gift tag to go along with the gift.

 

The challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays was Material Girl.  I had to use material on my card.  I immediately though of some adhesive backed fabric paper that I had received in a prize package from American Crafts and I had never used.  Here is what it looked like before I cut into it.

 

 

I also decided to try to cut some felt pieces with my Cuttlebug and Spellbinders dies.  I had heard they cut felt but I had never tried it and you know what?  IT WORKS WONDERFULLY!! So the only paper on my card is the sentiment and the punched out heart.  On the matching tag the only paper is the cardstock that McKenna's name is printed on.  Her room is done in owls so I used my Basic Grey blinged out owl on the tag.  When she gets older she can use it for a bookmark perhaps.

 

Here is a close-up of just the card:

 

 

Thanks for checking out my blog....hope you had a fabulous weekend.

Merci

One of our neighbors blessed us last weekend with an incredible gift....she did a pen and ink drawing of our home....matted it and had note cards printed of it.  She presented it to us last Saturday to thank us for "beautifying" the neighborhood.  We bought a foreclosure 3 years ago and have been working on it since.  The inside wasn't too bad but the landscaping was pitiful.  There was little grass and now after 3 years of work, my husband has cultivated a beautiful lawn.  Here is the drawing she did for us:

 

Isn't it beautiful? To thank her, we are having her to dinner soon and I made the above card for her. I used this sketch from  Mojo Monday:

 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday afternoon -- thanks for checking out my blog.

 



 

Season's Greetings -- Christmas in July #4



Here is my 4th Christmas card to share with you.  The trees are stamped with stamps from My Mind's Eye and the sentiment is from Paper Smooches.  I colored in the lights on 2 of the trees and used Stickes glitter glue for the lights on the other just to add some sparkle.  I used this Page Maps card sketch from DCWV:

 

I am also entering this card in Pumpkins Spice's current challenge....use stars
and
Merry Monday's Anything Goes Christmas Card Challenge

 

Well since my creative juices are flowing, I think I will see if I could create another couple of cards this afternoon.  I will be back later to share them here.  Thanks for checking out my blog.

 

Be Merry -- Christmas in July #3

 

I absolutely LOVE this sketch from Mojo Monday and decided to use it again on another Christmas in July card.  The challenge this time was to use the image of a wreath. I love this sketch so much I am about to go make a thank you card for a sweet neighbor of ours and might even use it a 3rd time.  They are having an 300th sketch celebration at Mojo Monday's blog and entries are unlimited this week  The prizes are awesome so why not use the sketch again, right?  Anyway here is the sketch again:

 

And HERE are the details on the challenge....you still have time to enter -- the deadline is Sunday night.



A New Blog and Design Team call........

There is a new challenge blog starting up and they currently have a Design Team call out.  I applied....why don't you????

 

Here is a link for the details

 

http://useyourwordchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/design-team-call.html?showComment=1373122807057#c7331822976777242255

Christmas in July #2

 

I will be sharing several holiday cards as part of the Christmas in July 31 day challenge I am participating in this month.  Here is another card that I created. I love using non-traditional colors when making some of my Christmas cards.  I actually heat embossed the wood veneer stars on this card.  It is a really cool technique....just make sure you use tweezers!!

 

I used this versatile sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch:

 

 

I am entering this card in the "Snow" challenge over at Festive Friday.  I just found this challenge blog and I think the challenges over there will help me really get prepared for Christmas this year. 

 

Thanks for checking out my blog....have a wonderful summer weekend.