There's a First Time for Everything....

Just a quick little post to share this 

bright and cheerful card with you.

Over at the CARDS blog, Paige is calling

for cards using flower paper, so I thought

I would share this over there as well.

You may notice I have been breaking out my

Cosmo Cricket paper lately.

I LOVE IT!  I LOVE IT!  I LOVE IT!

It's from the 'Material Girl' collection.

This card is all paper-layering with a few

little pearl rhinestone embellishments.

I used my Martha loop punch for the center border.

Before I go, I just HAD to share these two

photos with you.  Last week, I mentioned that

my daughter and grandson would be in a wedding

together, she a bridesmaid for the first time

and he was the ring bearer.

There were MANY firsts that day.

I have to tell you that when I took this photo,

they had just seen each other for the first time before

the wedding.  My daughter had to fight back the

tears as she was SO proud!

It was such a great day!

At the reception, he finally gave in and

danced with his mom, which was 

another first for both of them.

Then....he got his 'mema' out on the dance floor.

That was a first for me...to dance with my grandson.

He could have danced the night away with me.

I think it was approximately 10:30pm

when he came to me and said ''Mema, I'm 

ready to go to your house to sleep over" and

believe me, it wasn't long before he was out

like a light, sandwiched between

Paul and I.

Speaking of Papa Paul....

These two just make me smile.....

A Little French Inspiration

It is SO good to be back in my little

art space.  I confess that

I haven't had much time to create

this week, and it just so happens that

I chose to participate in a couple of

challenges, which is a great way

to get you focused.

.....One challenge is simple in it's sketch

and one that's inspires layers......

If you have read my blog for any length of time,

you probably know that I am in love with the

Provence region of France.

So when I saw City Crafters' theme this week

was 'I Love Paris', I knew I wanted

in on the fun!

The sketch over at Card Patterns was just

right because it was simple enough to allow

for lots of creativity on the page.

I went major BOO on this card.

The DP is actually stationary from

The Paper Company which

I purchased many years ago along with

a little DCWV accenting.

The 'Paris postmark' stamp is Stampabilities.

The fab die-cut in the center is from

Tattered Angels 'Creme Collection'.

I'm sure you not only recognize the 

Martha Loop Punch, but also the bird die cut,

which is from Tim Holtz and the Spellbinders 

Nestibilities scallop.

The bling and flowers are from Prima.

Glad to be able to share this with you.

I hope when you stop by, you will take a

moment to say hello...

I 'Embellished'...this Challenge

I have just a really quick post for you today.

I have spent most of the day at the clinic with

my sweet husband while he had a medical

procedure done on his esophagus, so I am

spending time between 

giving him some TLC 

and my studio/computer.

 I thought it would be fun to put something together

for this week's Embellish challenge and I knew if

I didn't get it done today, I would

miss out on the fun.

Ashley Cannon Newell is the wonderful host of

this challenge and e-zine AND is our guest

designer in The Cafe this week.

Although my grandpa's have long since passed on,

I was thinking of my grandsons and their love for

'Papa Paul' as I made this card.

I LoVe this color combination and I 

managed some MAJOR BOO on this

project as I broke out some fabby

rub-ons from SEI.

The cardstock is Bazzill & the DP is

from The Paper Company's 'Mirabella' stack.

Everyone's favorite Loop border punch 

is Martha Stewart/EK Success.

I used Spellbinders Scallops for the

dimension and centered it with a

fabric-covered brad from My Mind's Eye.

So that's it in a nutshell!

I will see you tomorrow night at

midnight, EST for the new challenge

from The Play Date Cafe.

Jump Starting Creativity...A Couple of Challenges

As you know by now, I have been out of commission

for over a week, so I was delighted to find a few challenges

that peaked my interest and I thought it would be a
great way to jump start back into my art studio  : )

I thought I would enter this card in 2 different challenges.
First, Paige over at the CARDS blog issued a
challenge using 'woodgrain'.

I used DCWV's 'Green Stack' and with
Earth Day just around the corner, it's great to use
something made from 70% recycled material  : )

Then the girls over at OCC are getting into the

'Spring' of things with butterflies.

This fabulous butterfly stamp is from the UK company

Elusive Images (thank you, Sarah)

and was stamped in two parts.  

The sentiment is from Scrappy Cat.
I used Martha's Loop punch and
assorted pearl and rhinestone embellishments
to finish it off.

 See you soon!

Sweet Dreams are Made of This...

Yeah I know...4 posts in 3 days!

I couldn't resist doing the 'Tuesday Trigger' challenge

over at Moxie Fab.  Yes, I have been hanging out there alot

this week.  I love the inspiration using these colors.

Here it is.....

Makes me think of... summertime...sitting in my conservatory 

with a lovely glass of iced tea...a stack of magazines 

next to me...sun shining in and all is right with the world.

HA!  I do have the stack of magazines, but the rest of that story

is all but a dream.....

Thought the Martha 'Loop' punch was a good match for

the wicker chair texture.  I used the Cuttlebug 'Stylized Flowers' EF

to give the flowers texture, which were cut from the Spellbinders

'Dahlia' dies.  The DP once again is from Cosmo Cricket.

Take a look at that crocheted flower, though.

That's from Webster's Pages 'Le Jardin' embellishments.

BeAuTiFuL!

Please continue to share with me your favorite color combos.

I spoke about it in yesterday's post, which you find HERE.

You may be surprised to find that YOUR favorite combo

may be one of our next challenges over at 

The Play Date Cafe!

Lots of Fun to Share

It's been a really nice day here in Northern Illinois...55 degrees as I post this message.  But alas, it is not to last.  The temps are due to dip down into the 20's by tomorrow with yes, a bit of snow.

So I made this little card because of it's cheery colors.

I used a variety of fun things to get this one done.  I embossed the Basic Grey background using my new Cuttlebug Paisley EF which I got my friend Mona.  I made a matching paper flower with the Scalloped Nestibilities and finally, finished off the border with my Martha Stewart Loop punch.

Yes...it's a lot of matchy-matchy...but I think it works!

At the end of this post I have some great news

for those who LOVE this border,

so make sure you keep reading.

So I was very excited to receive an email from my friend Heidi who runs the blog for GCD Studios.  If you have been reading my blog for very long, you KNOW I LOVE GCD STUDIOS!  Heidi wanted to let me know that one of my cards was featured on their blog as they were honoring past blog candy winners and fans, of which I am BOTH.  If you click HERE, you can read the post and

you will find my card.

Then today, the FedEx truck stopped by to deliver these 3 fabulous sets from GCD Studios!

Included in the box were some fabulous embellishment packages to go with the latest release of the 'Artsy Urban' Collection by Melody Ross.  So I am looking forward to working with these
FABU collections!

In case you though I had forgotten about the 'Autograph Sessions' with our artists and authors, I truly have not.  On the contrary....in fact, I have been working to edit all the fabulous information that has been shared by these wonderful folks and am hoping to get a new Session up in just a few days.  To whet your appetite though, I can tell you that we have a couple of wonderful 'famous' stamp designers along with mixed media artists and workshop instructors and of course, our authors, whose books really tell the story.  Speaking of story, if you love art journaling, you are going to love our next guest, so make sure you stay tuned!

DESIGN TEAM CALL
If you hadn't heard, The Open Window has announced a design team call for those who specialize in vintage/retro paper arts.  There are so many wonderful places to draw inspiration from for lovers of vintage and we have a new challenge blog that we want to include in that list.
To get more details, click HERE!
Some of my favorite vintage-style blogs are:
A Vintage Chic, Iralamija, Lilybean's Paperie
Some of my favorite retro-style blogs are:
Gauche Alchemy, Just Add Glitter & Stir, A Vintage Spirit and Chronically Vintage

Visiting these blogs may help you to know if you have THE STYLE!

Last but not least, I have heard from a number of you who are just not able to get your hands on one of my favorite punches, the Martha Stewart Loop punch.  So I thought I would go ahead and offer some of my favorite borders to you in my Etsy Store.

These are the borders I used in the card above and they are ready for you to add to your cards and scrapbook pages.  They are large enough to cut in half so you double what you already get AND many of these are double-sided papers, so you have more choices.

So click here or on my link at the top of my sidebar to see what choices are there.

I will do my best to add to the selection as quickly as I can.

Long post....long overdue!  Thanks for hanging in with me.
that greeting card at the top...

That's for YOU!

Being Creative with The Artistic Stamper

Finally!  The wait is over! 
The stamps from The Artistic Stamper arrived!

A few days ago, I received a big ol' box of rubber stamps and believe me, my head has been spinning with ideas!  Rather than spend time creating a bunch of things to share with you, I thought I would at least get one card up that I thought was kinda fun.

This simple creation was made using four different stamps from Jennie & Hels.

The bird is actually 2 different stamps, a negative and positive, if you will.  These are from the Stitchels line by Hels Sheridan.  The new Chicken Wire stamp was a fabulous background stamp for this card.  Then, there is the simple sentiment 'Imagine', which is perfect for just about anything.

The extras I used on this card are the Martha Stewart Loop punch and rhinestones.

This sweet bird's tail just cried out for a little bling!

 Jennie gladly ships to the U.S. and shipping is extremely reasonable.

The stamps are unmounted,
beautiful red rubber.

Thought I would share a few of the images with you

 

I love the stamps from The Artistic Stamper
and I know you will too!

More to come......