Now and Always ...

I'm so glad you stopped by today !

It's time for another beautiful color challenge from

Everything about this color graphic reminds me of

RELAXATION

The colors are simply beautiful and perfect for

the celebration of Spring

I recently received these beautiful stamps from Gina K Designs

and thought they would be perfect with these colors.

Yep . . . it's Clean & Simple and straight to the color-point.

I stamped the 'Vogue Vases (2)' using inks from Colorbox & Ranger.

The beautiful 'Poster Board Sentiment(s)' was just the

right greeting.  The baker's twine is 'Orchid' from The Twinery

and the frame was created from paper by Lily Bee Design.

I hope you will come play with us this week.

We have a brand new sponsor joining us

and they have a terrific prize package on offer !

I know it's a short . . . post for today.

Things are busy here at Casa de Murray

but I'm always thinking of you ... 

and am so grateful that you stop by for a visit.

Project Recipe:

Patterned Paper: Picket Fences by Lily Bee Design

Stamps: Vogue Vases 2 & Poster Board Sentiments 

by Gina K Designs

Inks: Banana Custard & Plum Berry by Colorbox, 

Dusty Concord Distress by Ranger

Embellishments: baker's twine in Orchid from The Twinery

 

It's a Sweet Taste of Summer

The day is here !!

It's New Release Blog Hop Day at

If you have arrived at my blog from my talented teammate

Elizabeta Kushner's Blog

then you are in the right place!

If not, start back at the beginning at the

TCM Blog

 and get started there because

when you do, you could  
win big . . .
All SIX stamp sets !!!

What I love about TCM stamps is the diversity
within
each set.  I chose to use the beautiful poppy from the
'Hope Blooms' set & the sentiment from the
'Sweet Taste of Summer' set.
Now . . . when you see the entire set of 'Sweet Taste...'
you'll see what I mean when it comes to the diversity . . .

 'Sweet Taste of Summer' by Mabel R-O

'Hope Blooms' by Karen Baker

Do you see how different these two sets are in
their styles and yet, they can certainly be used together.
That's what makes your stamp set purchases
so valuable.

All of the supplies I used for this card are below 
in the 'project recipe'.

Earlier this week, I created projects using the same two sets
and once again, I created two more designs 
that were totally different.
You can see them HERE and HERE 

Now for a chance to win ALL SIX NEW RELEASES  . . .

Visit each designer's blog on the hop, leave a comment

{there's only 15 total}

and you have until 9:00pm PDT, Sunday, July 22nd to do so.

They are all on sale today!!!

Don't forget . . .

You can get this set FREE

'Summertime with Fibi & Lilly' by Mabel R-O

with a purchase of $50 or more,
but only for a limited time

Look forward to your comment and I will keep my fingers

crossed that YOU are a winner!

The next stop on the hop IS the very talented

Karen Baker's blog

Just in case there are any glitches in the blog hop,
here is a complete list of blogs participating for TCM:

The Craft's Meow Blog
Amy Tsuruta
Amy Wanford
Iwona Palamountain
Jackie Rockwell
Jean Martin 
Jen Cuthbertson
Jessica Fick
Naomi Gong
Elizabeta Kushner
Julie Ranae

Karen Baker
Lindsay Amrhein
Mabelle R-O

Nina Brackett

 Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: Heidi Grace  
Stamps:  Hope Blooms & Sweet Taste of Summer
both from The Craft's Meow
Inks: Old Paper Distress Ink by Ranger, Copics

Tools:  Loop border punch by Martha Stewart

Sweet ... EAD Color Challenge

For The Play Date Cafe Challenge

Please Scroll Down

It's time for another color challenge from

I adore these colors together!

I do need to learn more about photo editing because the colors on this card

matched the EAD Stickerz that were used for the challenge.

They just don't translate in the photo, but I know you'll get the idea!

The name of the Stickerz set is In a Park and the designs are so funky.

I chose the images I wanted to use and then layered my colors to fit.

I 'aged' the edges of each panel with Old Paper Distress Ink

to give it some dimension.

The feather and the bird have dimensional tape underneath to

pop them off the page.

I hope you will play along with us.

Check out the inspiration by our design team and then

have fun with these colors.

You'll find their projects on the

EAD Designs blog.

Project Recipe: 

Cardstock:  American Crafts
Embellishments: In a Park Stickerz by EAD Designs
Ink: Old Paper Distress by Ranger
Tools:  Dot EF by Cuttlebug, Big Shot

No Greater Love

Happy Friday !

I am so happy you stopped by The Open Window today!

 

The Craft's Meow is having a wonderful blog hop featuring a

a beautiful stamp set for Easter.

If you've come by way of my talented friend

Jessica Fick's blog

then you are on the right trail to complete the hop.

If not, I would love for you to start at the beginning over at

The Craft's Meow blog

because YOU could win our fabulous giveaway!

Our beautiful set was designed by  

Nina Brackett of NinaB Designs

The set is called 'No Greater Love' and is absolutely stunning!

The details on the beautiful cross are amazing.

I stamped the cross in Slate ink by A Muse Studio 

on paper from Little Yellow Bicycle.

I love how the vintage ornate look of the paper really enhances

the image. I mounted it behind an oval die cut card.

The sentiment was stamped & edged in 

Aged Mahogany & Old Paper Distress Ink from Ranger.

There were so many ways I thought of embellishing the crown,

but decided to keep it simple with clear rhinestones.

As I mentioned earlier, you can THIS SET if you stop

by each blog on the hop.  There are ONLY TEN BLOGS TO VISIT.

Make sure to leave a comment on each to be entered to win!

You'll have until 9pm PST, Sunday March 4th to hop.

Before I send you on your way to the next blog, I want to remind you

of what an exciting month it is as TCM celebrates

We are celebrating right now over on the  

TCM Facebook Page

Come check out how you can win up to a

$100 Shopping Spree!!

It's time to send you on your way to our

newest design team member, my friend

Karen Baker

Don't forget to leave a comment before you head on

because I would love to see YOU win!!

Project Recipe: 

Patterned Paper: Saturdays by Little Yellow Bicycle
Stamps:  No Greater Love from The Craft's Meow  
Ink: Slate from A Muse Studio
Aged Mahogany & Old Paper Distress Ink by from Ranger 
Embellishments: rhinestones from Recollections

DeNami Design Floral Frenzy Blog Hop!

For the DT Call at

'CAS-ual Fridays',

click here!

 

It's finally here!

Welcome to the.... 

DeNami 'Floral Frenzy' Blog Hop

and I am thrilled to be participating.

In fact, I think there are a fair number of my

design teammates from The Play Date Cafe that are

playing along too!  Our PDCC team are

super excited that 

DeNami Design will be

sponsoring this coming week's challenge

and Paulina Nakamura will be our very

special guest designer in The Cafe.

If you came here from Nicki's blog

then you are on the right path.

If not, you may want to start from the beginning

of the hop at DeNami Design Blog

so you don't miss a thing!

Here's what's in store for you along the way....

a wonderful opportunity to be inspired by creative

designers all over the world who love to use

DeNami Design stamps in their projects

a chance to win a mini-shopping spree

on the DeNami Design Website

 and the way to do that, is to make sure you

visit each designer on the hop

and leave a comment!

You will have until 11:59pm PST

Monday, March 14th

to visit all the blogs and leave

your comments.

With a theme like 'Floral Frenzy' it was great to start

thinking spring!

I loved working with these colors and all of elements

that went along with the great designs from DeNami.

Now, I am sure you can see where I used the

sentiment stamp, but you may have to look

a little closely to find the 'decorative crest' image.

Yep...there it is stamped on the petals

of the green flowers!

I hope you enjoyed your visit to

The Open Window

 

Next stop on the hop,

is my very talented teammate from

The Play Date Cafe,

Colleen Dietrich

Make sure you leave a comment here to be

eligible for a $20 Gift Certificate from

DeNami Designs.

Today's Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Core'dinations

 Designer Paper: K&Co 'Sweet Nectar;
Stamps: DeNami Design
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in 'Frayed Burlap' & 'Fired Brick'
Ranger Adirondack in 'Lettuce' & 'Black'
Tools: Big Shot, Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dot' EF, Tim Holtz Alterations 'Tattered Florals'

Embellishments: baker's twine by The Twinery in 'Honeydew' & 'Pink Sorbet'

rhinestones/pearls by Recollections

The Remedy for Love

Gosh....just the idea that someone would need to

look for a remedy for love.....feels a bit sad at first.

It's H{ippity} Hop Monday!

What a terrific way to start the week by 

feeding your creative needs with some

wonderful inspiration by all of the

Ippity chicks and fans listed

on the Ippity Blog.

So.....

What is the remedy for love?

 According to this wonderful quote, it's to 'love more'!

This is such a fun set from Ippity called

'Quotes A'la Happy'

Twenty fun, creative images 

just right for so many occasions.

I have an order going in to Ippity this week

and would LoVe for you to get in on it!

Place an order for this set or any other

Ippity set from my page here and you will

receive 10% off your entire order!

Order $50 or more and get your choice of

one of these stamps free:

You'll find all Ippity sets here!

This offer expires on Sunday, Feb 6th at 11:59pm CST.

One more thing.....

You know I am on the design team for

The Twinery, right?

Well, I wanted to make sure you were aware of

the newest colors which are now available and

are shipping immediately....

Aren't they gorgeous?

One of the most requested colors has been black

and it's now here for you!

I personally LoVe the Honeydew and am really

excited to know mine is on the way!

There's also a very fabby Valentine's giveaway going on

over on The Twinery's blog!

So glad you were able to stop by.

I hope you'll leave me a quick little note to

let me know you were here.

Make sure you stop back later tonight as I will be

announcing the winner of the blog candy from the

'March of the Snowmen' Blog Hop.

Today's Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Bazzill, The Paper Company

Ink: Ranger Archival in Black, Tim Holtz Distress in 'Frayed Burlap'

Stamps:  Ippity 'Quotes A'la Happy'
Die Cut Tools: Cricut 'George & Basic Shapes'

Embellishments:  The Twinery baker's twine in 'Maraschino'
Recollections & K&Co rhinestones

Tools:  Fiskar's Corner Rounder, misc markers

Celebrating a Golden Birthday!

Happy Friday to all!

I have just a quick post for you today as it's a busy one

for me.  Tonight is our night to watch my two oldest

grandsons and Paul is home as well.

We are taking CJ and Caleb out to celebrate

CJ's report card...can I just brag? 

He has been declared

top of his 2nd grade class 

and also received 

'excellent' on all behavioral levels in class.

His choice for dinner.....''the mall where Papa works"

He went on to explain that as he likes Japanese food, we

would all get to choose a 'type' of food 

we like in the food court!

The dinosaur exhibit is also there and he is a huge fan

so we'll spend some time there and I am sure both

boys will be able to talk us in to a trip to 'Papa's store'.

Barnes & Noble is there favorite place to make

a stop because they both love to read.

Anyway......

My PDCC teammate Fiona suggested a challenge

for me that I was unfamiliar with.  This one is from

her homeland of Australia and I was thrilled to

have an opportunity to participate for this

special occasion. 

Inkurable Stampers is having a 

'Golden Birthday' Challenge.

My British husband has made it pretty clear that

the celebration of 'golden birthdays' is a very

American thing....so I was surprised to see it

celebrated in Australia, but apparently, it's new

to them as well!

A birthday card which includes the use of

gold made me reach immediately for these

wonderful EK Success 3-D stickers.

The gold glittered center of this cake is perfect!

I also embossed the bottom of this beautiful gold

shimmer paper with a sweet heart from Sizzix.

No cake is complete without a little icing, so I

used some of my favorite trim in white and pink

and added pearls at the top.

Quick reminder....you have until

midnight CST tonight to leave a comment on

my post here to have a chance to win some

pretty great blog candy.

I'd love to know you stopped by today, so I

hope you'll take a moment to say hello by

leaving a comment...I appreciate all of your notes!

Today's Project Recipe:

Cardstock: The Paper Company

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink in 'Frayed Burlap'

Stamps:  Kristen Powers
Sizzix EF 'Heart w/Flourishes'

Embellishments:  EK Success Sticko 'Wedding Icons', ribbon, pearls

Tools:  Fiskar's Corner Rounder

Welcome to The March of the Snowmen Blog Hop!

It's so great to have you visit The Open Window today!

I am an official stop on the....

....and I am very happy to share my little

creation with you

and

give you the opportunity to win some

fabby blog candy along the way!

Did you get here from Joan's blog?

Hope so!  If not, why not pop back to the very

 beginning of the hop here

to start fresh...it's the best way to

not miss a thing!

I really enjoyed making this card because I find once

the holidays are over, I rarely use my snowmen stamps.

The winter season is looooong

and snowmen deserve a little shout out once in awhile!

I used Ippity stamps from 'Kissmas & Mistletoe'.

I am proud to say that this wonderful Ippity set is available

to order on my Ippity page here.

I inked up my little guy using Tim Holtz Distress Inks

variegating between two colors.

I did a tight zig-zag stitch on the machine, but quite

a bit of it is covered with the rest of the elements.

I recently purchased 100 yards

of plain white seam binding to do a little

custom-dying, so I had plenty of white to lend here.

I offered this card on display for the
Stamp With Fun Challenge too!

Now....want to win 

a little blog candy from me?

All you need to do is leave a comment here on my

blog and you just might win!

Of course, I would love for you to become a 

follower here at The Open Window too.

You'll have until 11:59pm EST
Friday, Jan 28th to leave a comment to win.
The random draw will be held during the weekend
and the winner announced on Monday, Jan 31st.

Once you leave here, make sure you hop over

to Kim's blog here......

and if I were you, I'd make sure you stop by

each blog because there's a whole bunch

of blog candy up for grabs.

Here's a list of all the participants in

The March of the Snowmen Blog Hop:

Angella Crockett

Barb Foster

Deb Felts

Holly Brown

Jen Carter

JenMarie Taylor

Joan Ervin

Julie Ranae

(you are here!)

Kim Sears

Laurie Willison

Linda Lucas

Lynn Stevens

Pam Imholz

Patti Gilliam

Sue Pelletier

Stacy Rogers

Melisa Waldorf

Have fun!

Today's Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Bazzill

Designer Paper: DCWV 'The Four Seasons' Stack

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Inks in 'Faded Denim' & 'Vintage Photo'

Stamps:  Ippity 'Kissmas & Mistletoe'

Embellishments: Recollections pearls & flowers
Prima Crochet Flowers
Seam Binding in Winter White

Tools:  Fiskar's Corner Rounder

Clean and Simple Valentines

I spent a day last week playing around with these very

simple heart shapes, which I created using my Cricut.

I was inspired by an article I saw in the current issue

of Scrapbooks, Etc. and thought I would really

focus on CAS.

There really aren't many details to share.

It's all pretty self-explanatory, so I'll just share them with you.

I will mention that I find one of the easiest ways to

dress up a simple card is to add rhinestones and pearls.

I love textured cardstock...it always seems so much richer.

I have always loved this little sentiment from the

classic PSX rubber stamp company.

I have been hanging on to this one sheet of paper from

Sassafrass Lass for the longest time.

All of the hearts for these cards were cut from 

that single 12x12 sheet.

So glad you took a moment to stop by.

I am planning taking another inspiration from that same

issue to help my grandson create Valentine's

for his 2nd grade class.

He's coming over for the day tomorrow, so we

will be creating and I hope to share those

photos with you soon.

Hey....one more thing!

Hope you will mark your calendar as I

have been invited to participate with a very

talented group of ladies for the....

Today's Project Recipe:

Cardstock: Bazzill

Designer Paper: Sassasfrass Lass

Ink:  Versamark,Tim Holtz Distress Inks

Stamps:  Ippity, Unity, PSX, Studio G

Die Cut/Embossing Templates:  Cuttlebug 'Swiss Dot' EF

Cricut 'George & Basic Shapes',

Embellishments: Recollections rhinestones & pearls

Tools:  Fiskar's Corner Rounder