Twin Willows

I had colored a couple of images of Willow with her umbrella, then found this beautiful paper in my stash. So with Martha Stewart's picket fence border punch and her branches punch I created a couple of very simple cards to cheer up any rainy day. I like texture on cards so the clusters of punched branches in coordinating colors brought the background forward! Fun!

However, I don't like my glitterwork, so these cards will just remain in my personal collection as lessons learned. I do like the coloring on Willow --- a bit different than I have been doing --- so, again, lessons learned.

Thanks for stopping by!

Melinda Missing You

I had Angel Melinda and her books and Willow's chair all colored with Copics and just waiting to be placed on a card. So when I was making the cards for the Whiff of Joy Challenge #15 I started playing with some scraps of paper. Before I knew it I had a little parlor scene. The upper right corner was bare and I found just the right piece of ephemera to look like a vintage photo of a beloved family. The inside sentiment seemed appropriate and here is a lovely "Missing You" card. I hope you like it!

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a little note to let me know you were here. It is so much fun to visit the blogs of those who visit here.

If You Love Vintage.......

If you love all things vintage like I do, you will love Sharon's My Vintage Studio! I found her by browsing Allison's Newly Discovered and immediately added her to my list of favorites, even starting a new category for vintage and retro blogs. Sharon makes beautiful gifts, shops antique stores for ephemera, offers free downloads of vintage images, and is in the know on lots of blog candy.

Look at this sample of one of her free scanned images! Adorable!

You've just got to pay her a visit!

Whiff of Joy Challenge #15

Well, not only did I jump right to work on this week's challenge, but I had so much fun I did three cards!! Actually, I did three more cards, too, but they aren't for the challenge, so you'll just have to come back to see them ;-) .

Lizzie with a muff is one of my favorite images --- ok, so they're all my favorite images! Here I matched Lizzie with K&C double-sided DP, punched the border with Martha Stewart, cut the circles with Nesties in my Cuttlebug and "aged" them with Memories Sepia dye. The flowers are some I have in my stash and the sentiment is SU. Lizzie is colored with Copics. The inside sentiment is from JoAnn's.

This little Lizzie is just too adorable! She also colored with Copics and matched up with DP from K-ology. I used my new Nesties for the center pieces (I'm hooked on Nesties, too), Martha Stewart punch for the border, woven trim in blue and green stripe, and SU sentiment. The inside sentiment is from JoAnn's.

The third card is little Lizzie again, colored with Copics and matched up with Heidi Grace double-sided DP. The border is Martha Stewart punch and the centerpieces are cut with Nesties. The outside sentiment is SU and the inside, again is from JoAnn's.

I can't wait to see what next week's challenge will be! Yeah, I'm hooked.

Tis the Season of Awards!

Wow, I am overwhelmed at all the awards that have come my way. One of the best things about blogging is meeting people from all over the world with the same interests and being able to recognize their good works with awards. So receiving them is such a good feeling.


This week I received two more awards and they are so very special. The first one touches the cheerleader in me. Nancy at Windstar Creations gave me this one:



I love Nancy's beautiful cards. Even more I love her heart and her spirit of giving. She is one busy lady but still finds time to make literally hundreds of cards when duty calls. On top of all that, Nancy regularly visits her blogging buddies, leaving sincere comments and encouragement. Please take a jaunt to her blog and get to know my friend and encourager.


So many others have left me words of encouragement, which help to keep me going when sometimes the mojo just isn't there. So, I am passing this award along to these ladies who have been so generous with their comments and time:


1. Heidi
2. Leigh
3. Mary Jo
4. Carolyn
5. Barbara


The second award is this beauty that I received from another beauty Carolyn at P.M.S Etc. If you haven't seen Carolyn's work you just have to go visit! She is a fantastic crafter and a loving person. Here is what she sent me:



Isn't it gorgeous? I know I feel the love and want to pass it on to everyone! In particular, these five ladies have tugged at my heart because they generously spread the love to their fellow crafters and to their families and friends:

1. Patricia
2. Marion
3. Julie
4. Julie
5. Nancy

Please visit all these fantastic talented folks and spread the encouragement and love!

Whiff of Joy Challenge #14

I think I am getting in right under the wire, but even if I miss the deadline, it has been so much fun working with purple and green. That's not a color combination I usually work with, but it turned out really pretty! So here is my card for the Whiff of Joy Wednesday Challenge.

I used Bazzill CS for the purple and green plain. The print is Heidi Grace and Willow is colored with Copics.

My Little Shop

This is just a quick little post to show my little corner in the Branson Craft Mall. Mom and I share a booth there --- she makes comfy-cozy jackets from sweatshirts and decorated T-shirts. The picture is not very good quality --- phone cameras just don't stand up to my Canon, but I forgot to take the Canon with me. Oops! We moved to a different part of the mall and took a whole new approach to the display. Gone are the rotating card racks which just seemed to get in the way. Everything will be on the walls. My photography is there, too. And we have warm and inviting lighting and props.

My antique treasure-hunting was rewarded with the telephone bench seen on the right side. Way back when people had only one phone in the home and it was on a short cord on a little table they sat nearby while they talked. So these tables were often found in a hallway or foyer, a central location. Can you imagine that? Anyway, I just thought it would be a cozy display and goes well with the table built on an old Singer treadle machine base.

This is the slow time of year here, but I need these couple of months to restock. Then I'll pray for a successful reopening in March!

A Treasure of Greeting Cards from 64 Years Ago

There are many antique stores here in the Ozarks and they are full of treasures and trips down memory lane. I often look for, and find, old photographs. Looking at them I wonder who the folks in the pictures were, who did they love, what did they do for a living, and how did these priceless gems end up in an antiques store so many miles from their original home?

On a recent treasure hunt I found a scrapbook that dates back to 1944. It chronicles a soldier's experiences in World War II, apparently in Germany, Africa and Japan. That soldier was PVT Robert Winquist. There are photos, typed reports of battles, hometown newspaper articles of local war heroes, as well as greeting cards and letters he received from his wife and family. I am still reading all the interesting mementos, but I want to share parts of this amazing memoir from one America's true heroes, who fought on foreign soil, who often didn't see his family for as long as two years, and fortunately returned home to enjoy the freedom he risked his life for.
For more of this soldier's scrapbook go to Picture This At Last where I have posted some photos, newspaper clippings, and Army documents from 1944 and 1945.

Greeting cards are ageless and have filled scrapbooks and boxes for generations. More often than not it is the sentimental value that makes them family treasures. Sometimes they are just too pretty to toss out. In any case, they are "Made For Keeps"!

These cards are beautifully preserved in the scrapbook, as are the love and feelings expressed in the verses as well as the handwritten notes. Enjoy this little peek into the lives of a World War II veteran and his loved ones.

I love this dried flower that was tucked between the pages. It looks like a carnation.

Just imagine, all my fellow-cardmakers, who might find our cards in 60 years and what might they think about them. I won't be around, but I hope my love and best wishes will live on in my cards.

A Few More WOJ Cards from the "Assembly Line"

Well, the term "assembly line" isn't really fair to the creative process. About the only thing I do at one sitting is stamping a bunch of images then spending hours coloring to my little ol' heart's content! Then each image is carefully matched to the papers and embellishments. Unless I am following a sketch for a challenge, each card takes on a life of its own. That is the essence of art in any form, don't you think!


So, this precious little Lizzie fit beautifully with the delicate flowers and swirls of the DP, with just a touch of light teal to frame the lovely sentiment I cut from a piece of DP. The hearts and corner swirl are cut from Cuttlebug dies and Nesties and made the perfect cuts for the image and scalloped border. Lizzie is colored with Copic Sketches and accented with simple pearls.


Angel Melinda love to blow heart kisses, and they just get bigger and bigger as they spread around the world. (Heart stickers from Walmart) This card is simple thanks to a portion of a double-sided piece of Daisy D's cardstock. A touch of glitter paper cut with the scalloped rectangle Nestie frames Melinda. A bit of glitter on her wings and outfit and she is ready to spread her love to someone special. (I'm not real happy with the photo quality here. The glitter paper washes out the bright hues of the Copic Ciaos used to color Melinda's flowing hair and red jeans.)



Teenage Lizzie appears again here, but this time colored in pink and lavender Copics. Scraps of DP and glitter CS surround Lizzie with soft hearts and sparkle. Gentle flowers and pearls are perfect embellishments for lovely Lizzie.



Here Angel Melinda likes big pastels to go with the butterfly sketch on the Daisy D's DP. The card is simple and sweet, just like Melinda.

Well, I have more colored images to match up to more beautiful papers. So there will be more cards to come!

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