In honor of love and old friendships

Some of us were blessed enough to grow up with a really close friend with whom we shared pretty much everything. As adults, we might grow apart or go our own ways for a while, but that person will always remain special to us. They've taken a piece of our hearts and kept it with them. My husband was lucky enough to have one of these friends. Rick and Robby were inseparable for years, or so I am told. They did typical boy things...let off model rockets, played with toy soldiers and cars, and got dirty in the back yard. During these boyish activities, they hurt each other and then the hurt one covered for the one who inflicted. They were brothers of the heart.

Rick and Robby grew apart as they aged and followed different paths in life. Both of them grew up to be good men with great hearts, but they didn't see much of each other for a while there. I've only met Robby a few times, but when he came to Rick's memorial service, he sat next to me in the front row. He earned his place there as the little boy who stood beside Rick for years, who had grown into a good man. Now Robby is getting married, and I wanted to make him a special card. I had to girlie it up for his bride, but I used a precious image from Lili of the Valley for Robby. I thought the two little kids on the swing together might bring back memories of his own childhood and the things they shared. I know that Rick would want to be there in person to celebrate with him, but that wasn't to be. Instead, he gets to smile down on the whole day, and maybe play a prank or two (as he liked to do...if things go wrong that day, or little annoyances happen, he'll probably be up there in heaven, laughing his fool butt off).

Anyway, this card was made with the LOTV image and several punches to meet their challenge for the week. I used the heart border punch, leaf punch, and butterfly punches from Martha Stewart. Papers are Memory Box Minuet. The smaller flowers are Wild Orchid Crafts,while the large yellow roses are Recollections. The little journaling card says "enjoy every moment" and is from Webster's Pages. The congrats stamp is from the $1 bin at Michael's. The card opens below the heart border to show a pocket, where I plan to place some cash on their big day.

I colored the image with copics, then covered it with a circle of paper so I could spray with smooch spray. Then I used spellbinders to cut it out and pop-dotted it onto the card. Here's the inside:

The sentiment goes down into the pocket slightly and I added the "perfect pair" embellie, as well.

Thanks for looking! I plan to enter this card in the Lili of the Valley challenge to punch it up. As I already mentioned, I used three punches on it. It also fits the Color Create challenge to use pastels.  The main colors are light blue and yellow, as well as Stamp Something's edict to make a spring card. What's more spring than flowers, butterflies, and swinging on a swing with your buddy? Card is also for A Spoon Full of Sugar to use ribbon, flowers, and pearls. And last but not least, for the Simon Says Stamp challenge to make a girlie card. I'd say this one is pretty girlie, even if half of the pair it's going to isn't!!! LOL

I had a lot of fun with this card. I hope they like it!

With sympathy...

My dear friend Brenda lost her mother-in-law a short time ago. As you can imagine, it's been a rough and emotional time for her whole family. I wanted to send her a little card to let her know that I was thinking of her and her husband at this awful time. I have a really difficult time with sympathy cards, though. In the end, I decided to use one of my favorite Sweet Pea images from Ching Chou Kiuk. Okay, okay...it's true. Sweet Pea images are one of my new obsessions, so I think my faves list is a bit long, but still....

I colored the image with copics and attempted another multi-fold card. I have a very, very difficult time with measuring, scoring, and folding, despite owning the appropriate tools for doing all of that. I must be getting better with practice, though (or so I tell myself), because it seems to be getting easier and the folds seem to be lining up better. Woot woot!

Here are two pictures of how the card looks when it's opened:

And here's the copics I used. This image doesn't call for many:

I plan to enter this card in the Sweet Pea Dream challenge, which is to make a card for spring. I think the flowers, colors, and little bird qualify this one. I hope so, anyway! I'd also like to enter it in the Color Create challenge to use pastels.

Now it's back to doing the laundry. I finally pulled my spring clothes down out of the attic and I've been washing, washing, washing all day. I don't know how that can be, when I didn't have that many clothes, but it sure feels like a never-ending job. Happy Sunday, everyone. And Bren, you know I'm still sending prayers and hugs your way, girl. Love you!

Thanks!

Voting is almost over for the Sweet Pea stampoff, round 2. I'm still in the #4 slot, which means my little card is not moving on to round 3. It's  all okay, though. The competition was fierce and the cards that did move on are fantastic. Very creative, pretty, and obviously labor-intensive. Gorgeous stuff! Congrats to the top three!
And here's my card. It took me a while, because you all know that I suck at measuring, scoring, and folding. I colored three sweet pea images from ching-chou kiuk, using my wonderful copics.

That's how she looks opened. And closed, the card looks like this:

From the closed picture, you can see the first panel pretty well. Here's close-ups of the other three panels, too.

They all have a bit of bling on them using stardust pens, as well as tiny little pearls here and there.

Thanks for looking, and if you got the chance, thanks for voting! And congrats, once again, to the top 3!!!

Cottage cat is sweet, not sneaky!

Some people think cats are sneaky. Admittedly, they can be. Sophie is a perfect example. She knows she's not allowed to chew my one lousy little plant, so she waits until I leave the room and gives it a taste. Then she's like those sour patch kids commercials. First she's sour and chewing on my plant, then she's sweet and loving up on me, purring away. Well, cottage cat from Guylou's Inimitability has decided to show you the sweet side of being a kitty cat. Just check him out. Don't you want to come love on him?

I colored him up last night, using my copics. I added glossy accents to his eyes and the umbrella. Cottage Cat has been at Guylou's store for a while. He was one of her earlier digistamps, and has remained one of my favorites. I love any image of cats and this one just reminds me of how serene and sweet they look when they curl up to check out the world or nap. The design of the card is based after sketch 100 at the Sweet Stop. Check it out; the prize this week is awesome.

I'm currently trying to build up a stash of cards to send to Operation Write Home. I only have two more cards to make for events in my life (provided that nothing else pops up unexpectedly), and then I'll be set for my cards through early May. In the mean time, I'm trying to make a card here and there for OWH. It's a great cause, to help out our wonderful military who make sacrifices for us every day. This card is not the right size for them (they prefer A2 size for shipping reasons), so I'll use it for one of my own needs. I just wanted to take this opportunity while I was writing already to remind people about OWH. I know, totally off topic of my cottage cat card, but since when have you known me to stay on topic througout a whole blog post?!?!

We're seeing spots over at Guylou's Inimitability!

Come play along and see some spots with us! The challenge this time around at Guylou's Inimitability is to make a card using dots. Polka dots. Fat dots. Dalmation spots. Ha...check me out, channeling Dr. Suess. What a talented man he was. My little rhyme pales drastically in comparison. Ok, again, I digress. You're used to that by now, I figure.

The DT worked with an adorable image called "cat and fish." I think it's pretty obvious that cat images always make me smile. I had a good time making my card. It's actually a gift card/cash holder. One of my neighbor's older children is going to take care of my cats for me for a bit, so I wanted to make her a little card to thank her for her time. I'm going to give her a wee bit of cash for it, too, which will definitely thrill her. She's coveting some jewelry from Avon, and some new markers for her art, and probably some clothes. Hey, she's a teenager, what do you expect?

Without further ado, here's my card:

Of course, I would hope that while she is taking care of them, it's not in the mindset of that kitty cat who wants to eat the fishies!!! LOL.

Like I said, it's a gift card holder. It opens where the scalloped border is. The bottom half of the card makes the pocket. I used rain dots as the little stones in the fishbowl, added glossy accents to the fish so they're shiny looking, colored the image with copics, and cut it out with my spellbinders. The fish paper is Cosmo Cricket.

You have until March 31st to make your own card for Guylou's Inimitability. Just make sure you don't forget to include the spots! Easy peasy, right? Well, then, what are you waiting for? Get to it!

What a flattering birthday present!

A few days ago, I received an adorable birthday card from my friend Guylou. G owns a digi stamp store and I've been on her DT from day one. As if it was not flattering enough that she included me in this endeavor, then she went and drew me!!! Yes, that's right, she surprised me with a digi image of none other than myself, sitting with my two sweet kitty cats. Not only am I so flattered and touched that she did that, but I'm also happy to see that she made some...um....welcomed changes. In the world according to Guylou, I am no longer flat-chested and chubby. I've well-endowed and willowy. Man, you gotta love friends who see the skinny inner child living inside of you!

As soon as I saw the image, I knew I had to color her up and put her on a birthday card for my gram. My gram loves purple and I also know that she'd get the biggest kick out of getting a card with me on it. So, here's what I came up with:

I colored her up with copics, added a sentiment stamp that I got at Michael's, and some flowers and leaves that I had in my stash. I had to give her freckles, because I've got quite a few. The chandelier gems are from Michael's wedding section. I was worried that the big cluster of gems, leaves and flowers might be a bit too big, but my gram loves all of that frou-frou stuff, so I decided not to tone it down. The design of the card is based after this week's sketch over at the Sweet Stop. Go check it out...they've got great sketches to inspire you!

RAK WINNER!!!!!!!

So, I know that when I am waiting on a RAK draw, the wait is the worst part. I didn't want to torture everyone too badly. I can't for the life of me figure out how to put the darned random.org results in my posts so you can actually see the calculator. Sheesh.

Without further ado, the winner of my combination blogaversary and birthday RAK is: #24 Debby W - Paper Pearls!

Debby, please shoot me an email at (email removed to prevent Spam). If I don't hear from you by 8:00 a.m. EST on Monday, March 18th, I'll draw for a new winner.

Congrats, Debby! I've added several things to the RAK since I posted it back in February. I hope you enjoy it all!

Help! I need a sentiment!

So, I wanted to enter some more challenges and also play with some of my newer stamps while I was at it. I colored up this adorable little kitty. My mother-in-law loves cats. I want to give it to her for Mother's Day, but I can't figure out a good sentiment. Any ideas? I've got time to think about it, thank goodness!

Image is from Sweet Pea stamps, and colored with copics. I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Fuzzy Wuzzy - sketch challenge
In a Sweet Pea Dream - pink sweet pea (card is primarily pink and mint green)
Simon Says - anything goes

Mojo Monday, when you don't have any of your own

I ran out of mojo today. Yesterday, Mr. Mojo was visiting me and having a grand time, but I guess he got bored with my company. As usual, when my mojo has decided to take a vacation, I turn to a sketch. I find that designing the card is often the hardest part, and the sketch challenges alleviate the need to come up with a design completely on my own. This time around, I used a sketch from Mojo Monday. I love their sketches. Fabulous stuff!

I needed yet another birthday card. I recently got this stamp set with a cute little bunny and some adorable sayings. One of my fave is "I hope your birthday is as fabulous as me!" Too funny. For this one, though, I just used the "go forth and eat cake!" sentiment on the inside.

Most of the papers are from that pack I found at Tuesday Morning for only $2.99. They're Heidi Swapp. Then I threw on some Doodlebug pink dotted cardstock from my scrap pile, and the blue cardstock was also in my scrap pile. I colored this cute bunny up with copics, then added liquid applique for cake frosting, and glossy accents on the candle and his nose.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Once again, it's about Tammy and the bears!

So, a day or two ago, I posted about the sweet and awesome bear that Tammy made for me. Even though I commissioned her to make the bear, I wanted to send her a special thank you for her compassion and just overall fabulousness. Here's what I came up with:

There is a very thin layer of red around the outside of the card. Due to my measuring snafu, it's not as thick as it should be. Hopefully, that does not detract from the card. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts, with the exception of the big red rose. I got that at the Dollar Store. Papers are Prima, sent to me for my birthday by my great friend, Terri. I got a huge roll of red tulle on sale for 70% off at Hobby Lobby after Valentine's Day, so I added it to the card, too. I have tons left! The image is colored with copics on Hammermill paper. I have so many wonderful friends...another one of them (Tracy) sent me the Hammermill to try. She loves it, but it didn't work for me. I'm sticking with my Gina K or Neenah. I love that Tracy was generous enough to share her stash of Hammermill so I could try it, though. Wasn't that sweet of her?

So, anyway, this card is based on this week's sketch at Friday Sketchers. I'm also entering it in the Belles N Whistles challenge to use red, pink and white on a card, as well as the DYSU challenge to layer. As you can see, I layered paper upon paper upon paper. It's a pretty heavy card! I hope it makes Tammy smile.