in the pink, well maybe

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, full of things that delighted your senses. I spent the weekend nursing a cold, sleeping, waking up long enough for another dose of medicine. It stinks to be sick on the weekend! So I am thinking pink, being positive, and hoping I'll make it through my very long workday. Pam issued the latest 365 Card challenge and gave us the movie "PRETTY in PINK" to inspire us!

My card also fits for the Basic Grey challenges week #2 to use the color combo brown, yellow and pink. You must include at least one BG paper in your work. I must admit I hoard my BG papers, but I did have a great time going through all the paper groups for the perfect pink for my undies!!! So many luscious hues. In the end, I selected LUSTER from the Euphoria collection. It is a lovely pastel with the tiniest bit of texture. My yellow is the new fence posts of the clothes line. And the brown is repeated in the fabulous tree (Memory Box paper from Sugardrop) and the cardbase which is Brazzill linen texture.

I'll jump at any chance to use this wonderful lingerie from B Line Design. And the clothesline image(Finders Keepers) was from a tag sale in town earlier in the summer. I just knew it would come in handy. I used tiny wooden clothespins to attach the undergarments. The sentiment is a rub-on.

Thanks for stopping over, I am glad I am spreading no germs out in cyberspace. Have a great week!

You're a real cracker jack

Morning all! It's the weekend once again, yippee. That means late nights playing in my house...I can hear silly giggles from college guys in one direction and other boys chasing balls in the virtual world in another. Today's Inspiration Challenge on SCS was to go to the Creative Wall Coverings website and find something that gets the creative juices flowing. Well, I can never resist the sports selections and this fit nicely with the 365 Card Blog to get Sporty using some sort of a ball on your card. I really like Artistic Outposts' Cracker Jack plate, especially with my star lefty! For this card, the Cosmo Cricket wood grain paper was perfect. I stamped the stadium collage in Tim Holtz scattered straw directly to the paper. The sentiment is also TH brushed corduroy. I added the Boston Red Sox player faintly inked in ChalkBox yellow citrus. The baseballs were stamped with ChalkBox burnt sienna and roughed up a bit with ColorBox alabaster. Speaking of baseballs, did you know a typical major league game used 8 dozen balls! The lefty player is from the little man Cosmo Cricket die cuts.

Thanks so very much for stopping by today. I hope your weekend is swell!

NEW...

It's an exciting day for my friend, Kelly S (Gingham Girl) who launches a new weekly challenge today. It is called WOW: Word of the Week. She picked a most appropriate word, NEW! I knew immediately the direction I would go with this wonderful scripture stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms...new creation. I used two other challenges, the SC243 over on SCS and the 365 Card Blog Checkerboard Background.

My paper is an unknown checkerboard and Yellow Bicycles fabulous flocked flourish. I used GP white cs and Brazzill red linen texture. The scripture was inked with Memento Tuxedo Black and embossed with clear ep. I used a square nestability to emboss the frame. A piece of deep red ribbon finishes it off.

Congratulations, Kelly on starting your own challenge, it is one that I will enjoy participating in. I love to read and try to exercise my 'wordsmithing' on a regular basis. So bring it on!!!

tiny dancer

It's Saturday morn...oh, what bliss! I've managed to combine two challenges today. The IC194 on SCS to be inspired by the Pylones website. This is a trendy gift manufacturer. Very mod, fun and funky. And over on the 365 Card blog, it's Layering Stamps. Well, every girl needs a jewelry box, don't you think. I was inspired by the jewelry choices on the Pylones site and decided to craft a special treasure box. Instead of trinkets, I put words of affirmations...words to encourage and uplift...just like my tiny dancer whose tutu is paper pieced from the Eva paper group (Basic Grey). The jewelry box is from Museum of Modern Rubber. I stamped it on PTI sweet blush paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I used mirror paper with Jet Black Stazon. My tiny dancer is stamped on GP white cs and popped on the little pin that helps her spin. For the layering stamps challenge, I layered the encouraging words onto the jewelry box and I also used Purple Onion's vintage Damask background stamp on top of the Making Memories Sabrina paper. A sheer ribbon with hearts on the edge finishes off this pink confection!

Who wouldn't like to open up a box like this everyday and be reminded to always dream, always create, always have a wish, hold out hope, live with passion, stoke the imagination, and always, always SMILE.

Have a spin around wherever you are today!

almost pumpkin time

My very favorite time of the year is almost here...I can feel it in the air. And Pam's Just Peachy Challenge over at 365 Card Blog fit right in with my pumpkin girls (Ken Brown line at American Art Stamps)...there are many shades of pumpkins, right???

I stamped the girls on Core'dinations peach paper and then colored the pumpkin heads with Copics Y38. The bucket head girl's dress is paper pieced with a pattern from Basic Grey Mellow and the other girl's leafy head covering and scarf with paper from Memory Box. The wonderful leave paper is from Memory Box Twiggy. I added a bit of vintage upholstery trim for the trunk and slipped Art Impressions sentiment in among the leaves. "LEAVE the everyday"

I definitely try to leave the everyday as much as possible. My oldest son and I recently had a conversation about just this very thing. We were out for a walk and a talk and he remarked,

"Mom, I think I have lost that sense of wonder of seeing nature like I used to." I can remember Kincaid sunset moments, starry night skies, and forsythia in the spring. It grieved my heart to think he could loose the treasure of innocent eyes. So I've purposed to remind him through my words and art to sharpen his focus and NEVER settle for the everyday!

Have a happy weekend everyone and let me know what you are seeing~~~

summer afternoons

I long for times like this, how about you? This Artistic Outpost image was perfect for where my mind is today. It is part of the Keeper set and you can find it here. I accepted the 365 Card challenge, Mixed Message. You were to use three different types of characters to spell out a message. I chose a Scrabble tile, the ampersand from Purple Onion's Ancient Med alpha, and some fabric letters that I do not know the manufacturer. The image was inked on white GP cs with Adirondack Slate. The chairs were colored with a Copic, R81 and the sky was chalked with ChalkBox inks (azurite and icebox blue). The gorgeous velvet rosette is from a RAK, my friend Amy sent me. I am so proud that I actually parted with it instead of just looking at the package on my counter!!! Thanks so much Amy for this beautiful embellishment. A baby blue satin ribbon finishes the card.

Back to speaking my mind and memories of beach houses growing up and the vast, endless amounts of days then, the Henry James quote could not have said it better:

Summer afternoon~~~

Summer afternoon.

The two most

beautiful

words in the

English

language.

So I'll leave you with the thought to steal away a few moments THIS afternoon to pause and enjoy where you are at this *1*. Thanks for having a peek

don't ya just love RAK's???

and pay it forwards??? I received this delightful art fairy stamp in the mail recently. It arrived unannounced. Picked for me by someone who thought the fairy should live at my house! I just love that~~~thanks Christine. And I am paying it forward by creating a gift bag for a fellow artist who is celebrating a birthday and a renewed passion for all things arty. I've watched her blossom this year and branch out, taking lots of workshops and really exploring her art form. Inside are treasures I have collected and a fun ticket when Art and Soul comes to Portland. A now and then gift, keeping those dreams alive.

Pam's day170 challenge on the 365 Card Blog was to create something that was double duty, but not a gift card holder. I just had to use this elegant tote. You can find the instructions over in the SCS resources, it is called box in a bag. It is quite easy to construct, the hardest part is deciding on the papers (I chose Basic Grey papers). And as a suggestion, I staple the bottom box together in the corners (it doesn't show and is faster than using the red sticky tape). The eyelet trim is a Fiskars punch. I also didn't have a tab punch, but used one of the Hot off the Press template pages for making tabs.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope you found in your Monday a bit of time for creating!