Kiss Me In The Summertime

Did I get your attention???

Probably not what you think....

I bought this cute little "critter" card from a set of six at Blue Moon Scrapbooking

they are from "Pretty Little Studio".....

The bitty bit of gingham paper, the heart and the fabric flower

are all pieces from my scrap bin and somehow the "kiss me" just seemed so right

as the little chippie looks like he is going to give a big ole' kiss to that strawberry!!

I also used an already cut top note die from my scrap bin....I have always loved this SU die!!

 

 

This week at City Crafters, the challenge is "summertime"....

now lots of things come to mind thinking of the summer...

beaches, flowers, umbrella drinks, but strawberries are always a

 sure sign of summer to me...I can hardly wait for their juicy goodness to appear.....

 

So this is my take on summertime...strawberries!!

Entered into City Crafters Summertime

and

Inky Chicks Summer Colors

Hello Sweet Friend

I took some time out of my busy day for "me time"....

I came across this "new to me" challenge at "Paper Secrets" 

using the sketch challenge below.

 

 

This sketch just called to me, I think it was the doily that did it...

you all know how I love doilies.....
I know the sentiment looks washed out, its the lighting
for the photos...next month I am ordering a light box
which should improve things greatly!!

 

 

I even finished the inside of my card for once !!!

 

 

I love how it all came together...the flower I made while in Indiana

last week at Joan's Gardens.....I came away with a mountain of new stuff....

had a ball meeting up with other friends, Dar from Ohio, Judy from Indiana,

Bette and Gretchen both from Illinois and met a new friend, Rita from Arizona

(she was there with her dog in her big RV and camped at  a nearby state park)

and then of course visiting with Joan herself!!

Supplies used are as follows:
Graphic 45 Little Darlings DS paper
SU Very Vanilla card stock, Soft sky Ink, Sentiment is from Six Sided Sampler, and oval punch
Cheery Lynn Designs French Pastry Doily Die
Heartfelt Creations Flower and leaf and dies

Waiting

A few weeks ago I came across a new blog called
"Our Beautiful World".

It's a blog different from our papercraft world

and kind of fun to "take a day off" you might say

and share photos of what going on in your life...

 

This week the word was "waiting".

 

My photos were taken quite a few years ago with

my Kodak Easy Share of our barn during one of our Michigan winters...

We have a metal roof over the deck of the barn and it had started to slide off....

a perfect representation to me of the word.....

go check out the blog

 read the rules, visit, see what's been shared and join in!!

On The Road With City Crafters

I have been gone from my poor neglected blog for so long

that I had to find time to post again!!

Remember the old song from Jim Croce "Time In A Bottle"??

well, I wish I had that bottle, because I would take a BIG swig of it

as I sure could use some more time!!

 

I rarely miss a challenge at City Crafters, but I have, so I couldn't let

another week go by without joining in!

 

 

This week the challenge is "On The Road"

which made me think of "travel"

which made think of a stork....now don't ask me why...

that is just how my tired old mind works!!

And just remember we all have traveled with that stork once...Ha!

 

I cut my stork on my Cricut and mounted him on some gorgeous

Glitz paper with pink girlie clouds on it!!

The welcome baby sentiment as well as the one inside is from SU

I added some pink gingham ribbon (hard to see) and white sheer ribbon

and a gorgeous Prima (I think) flower.......

 

well, that's it for now...back to my creative room to finish my designs

for Classy Cards n Such.......don't forget, you can use the link above right

with the code DIANE-10 to get a 10% discount now thru Sept at

Classy Cards n such online store...see ya!!

Christmas In July and Other Things

Well, I have to tell you, it's been awhile since I created anything

except for working on my designs for the guest designer post I will be doing....

AND it has been rather crazy around here....

first, while driving home from "Up North" as we like to call it, a BIG Hawk was

at the side of the road, and as we approached him (we were doing 70) he flew up and

away and then turned right at us...I covered my face with my hands and ducked, as I

thought he was coming thru the windshield, but he hit the hood of my SUV crossover

and put a mammoth size dent in it.....nice...not!!

No harm was done to the hawk!!!

Then we had a demented woodchuck, he ran around the house and tried to get in the

slider at the bedroom, this was after he tormented our outside cat.....

he is now in woodchuck heaven!!

This am, I woke up to a house full of ants in the cat food dish....

and to make my day perfect, I took my shower with the shower liner hanging out

and didn't notice it til I stepped out and had a flooded bathroom..

well, at least the floor is clean now..lol

So, that has been my week, I tell you sometimes country life can be a bit trying

and condo life is looking better and better...lol!!

To end the perfect week, we have 3 men with  guns on the run in our area...

they robbed a store in our town and ended up out here in the country...

remember the pictures of the country wedding I shared??

Well, they think one of the men is hiding in their woods and she has police

from 4 departments hunting for him....a state police helicopter is on it's way...

we are all locked up.....it has been the most bizarre week!!

Edited to add, all 3 were caught, however, they think there is a 4th

still on the run..

 

After that being said, I finally took a break and made a card.....

I have been seeing on a few blogs some Christmas challenges...

I have thought of joining in numerous times, but this one really caught my eye....

at "Festive Friday" the challenge was "pink~white~silver"....

Using my favorite (again) Cheery Lynn Designs die "French Pastry Doily"

 

and the Cheery Lynn Designs O'Tannebaum Xmas Tree die,

I came up with this card.

 

 

I didn't have any pink pearls so I colored white ones with a SU marker

I am entering this into the Festive Friday Challenge and into

the challenge at Cheery Lynn Designs to use silver/and/or gold.
and the
 Merry Monday Christmas challenge "anything goes"

 

 

and into Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge Extra  ..anything goes..

 

 

And I wanted to share a picture I took today in my garden

of my beautiful red Hibiscus.

 

Orchid Time

I have had this wonderful Cheery Lynn Designs Orchid die for quite some time...

I need a little practice getting it to look right, but practice makes perfect, as they say..lol

It is a bit more "3D" in real life.....

 

I decided to do  the challenge at Joan's Gardens today (it ends on Thursday morning)

 

 

the challenge is to :

use double ovals

use a sentiment

have a plain background

have 2 colors and

an item purchased from Joan's Gardens

 

I really need to get busy and do a few things, but that orchid die kept calling my name

you know, like chocolate calls you!!

 

Products used that can be purchased at Joan's Gardens

are Cheery Lynn Designs Orchid die and Cheery Lynn Designs Polynesian Sails die

the sentiment is a Marianne stamp

Also, every Wed Joan has a "Wild Wednesday" sale...so go take a peek!!

Paper Doilies for JustRite

Morning All,

I had a "brainstorm" morning ( have I frightened you yet....lol)

 at the JustRite challenge blog...

 

 

the challenge is "Delicate Doilies" and of course to use JustRite products....

I usually cut my own doilies, but before those dies were available I

stocked up on some paper ones....

they are great to use if you don't have time to cut your own....

I created a fan fold flower, using two doilies that I first stamped with crumb cake ink...

the stamp is from a  lovely JustRite set called Lace Medallion Labels.....

 

 

I just love how delicate the stamp looks on the doilies.....

the background is entirely a piece of My Minds Eye designer paper...

I mounted the DS paper on kraft card stock and then onto chocolate chip card stock...

it is a big card...but my doily flower is big.....thanks... hope you enjoy it!!

 

Also here are some more pics from my flower garden

July Screen Door

To start this week off I want to give an appreciative "shout of thanks"

to the "Cut It Up Challenge" for picking my Americana tag as a Top Pick winner

and to City Crafters for once again picking my card (clean and neutral) as a spotlight artist

and to Cheery Lynn Designs for picking my burlap wedding card as a winner..

and to City Crafters again for week 165, my quilt card for spotlight artist

and to the Aloha Fridays challenge for picking my American tag as a top 4

I feel so honored!!!!!!  Thank you~Thank you!!

 

 

Hard to believe the year is half over......

we have been on vacation for most of last week.....

I am finding it hard to get back into doing anything....

I started the week with this card I made for the challenge at Cheery Lynn designs

to use "stitching".....

every time I use my sewing machine for cards, it makes me cringe...lol

my machine is probably cringing, too...

 

 

Also, I wanted to mention that you have probably noticed I use ALOT of

Cheery Lynn Design dies.....

Most of the dies I use can be purchased "HERE"..... at Classy Cards n' Such

and the best part is, if you use the code DIANE-10 just like I have it listed,

you can get 10% off your entire order...

 

Dies used are Screen Door With Cat

and

Tags 4

 

And last, I snapped about 50 pictures yesterday of some of my flowers....

the first 3 are of Day Lily's...such pretty colors

and last is a group of Lily's