My Son's Birthday Card

This Thursday is my son's 36th birthday.  I don't know how he got that old!!  It's like the soap operas where a baby grows to teenager in a record 5 years and becomes an adult a mere 5 years later.  Then they never age for 20 years -- still having babies, too!  Well, that must be what happened here!

Anyway, I am posting my son's card tonight with no fear that he will see it before I take it to him this week.  He never reads my blogs! 

The sketch is one that I saved from Mojo Monday.  I love all the shapes and opportunity for textures and patterns.  The paper came from Latte Matstock by DCWV.  Great colors and designs.  The quote by Aristotle is a Stampin' Up stamp I've had for years.  The flower impression is from Hero Arts that I used embossing glitter on.  Topped off with paper piercing and pearls for style, but I hope is still suitable for a man.  The border is MS iron fence.  The flower design on the bottom half is actually on the paper and I added tiny pearls in the centers.  No coloring at all on this card! 

I love being Scott's mom!  Happy Birthday, son!

Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge --- Celebrating Babies!

Who creates the cutest, most animated little kids?  Judging by my collection of Mo Manning illustration I would say --- MO!  This week's challenge over at Mo's is celebrating babies, which gave me a chance to color up this little Angelina with balloons. 

She is colored with Copics and sits on a stack of "So So Sweet" dp from The Paper Studio and mulberry paper.  Embellished with flowers and brads, rhinestones and scrools, rickrack and the brad saying "having fun".  There's nothing like the giggles of a child with balloons, even when it's a hair-raising experience!

It has been a quiet Memorial Day for me.  Lots of reflection on the founding of this great nation and all who have served and died in defense of our precious freedoms.  Many gave all.  The least we can do is to honor them and express our thanks.  For me that is a daily pledge, not just one day per year. 

I hope you all had a fun weekend, whether is was for the holiday or not.  Your visit here is much appreciated.

Another Side of My Life...........

You might have noticed lately that I seem to be in catch-up mode quite often, posting 2 or even 3 challenges in one day then skipping a few days.  That's the case with my housecleaning and laundry, too.  But all is well, just busy.  In fact all is very good!  One of my goals when moving here, or for my life, for that matter, was to be a professional photographer.  I've been taking hundreds of photos for my shop and blogs, and now I am the wedding photographer at The Hummingbird Inn which also happens to be one of my neighbors.  In the past eight weeks I have photographed 20 weddings, ranging from 2 people to 26 people.  I love that these are intimate.  We have a lot of fun and even make new friendships.

To take a peek at some of my photos, weddings and locally, hop on over to Hampton Road Photography.  Cardmaking is also my passion.  My challenge is balancing the two!  But when I love what I do, work is fun!

Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge -- What's Love Got To Do With It?

Two posts today!  I find myself in catch-up mode again. 

The challenge at Mo's Digital Pencil this week is all about LOVE!  All kinds of love!  This was the perfect chance to use this illustraton of Jack and Ginger that I've had colored (with Copics) for awhile.  These cute lovebirds remind me of my aunt and uncle who are coming up on their 69th anniversary!

The card is very simple with a couple of specialty papers from K&Company.  The 5x7 card base is shimmery cardstock and I cut a 4.5 by 6.5 inch opening in the front.  I used an acid free spray adhesive on the front of the Jack and Ginger illustraton and attached them to the underside of the printed acetate sheet.  Then I attached the acetate to the front of the card.  The dp inside the card is also from the K&Co stack.  That's it!  I didn't add any other embellishments; it just didn't seem to need it!  For a personal note I will add a printed panel to the back of the card.  The 5x7 inch size makes this easily framed for display or scrapbooking.  Here are some other views of it:

If you haven't already, hop over to Mo's challenge to see the awesome creations by the DT.  And Mo is busy creating so many new illustrations that you can see at Digital Pencil, Too. 

Thank you for stopping by today!

Bah! Humbug! Challenge --- Ribbons!!

The creative ladies at Bah! Humbug! gave us a very fun challenge this week!  RIBBONS!  I love ribbons almost as much as I love papers so I was looking forward to doing this card.  Finally last night I had time to sit down with rolls of ribbons.  So many ideas and this card was the outcome. 

There are three metallic ribbons in a simple woven pattern.  To cover the raggedy edges I mounted a 5x7 (inches) mat with a 4x6 opening over the card.  This actually makes the card ready to pop into a 5x7 frame! 

The sentiment is from the lovely stickers I received in the spot prize right here at Bah! Humbug!  I just might do more of these for the holidays!  Heaven knows I have enough ribbon to use up!  Those after-Christmas 70% off sales are irristable!

Thank you for stopping by today!  Be sure to hop over to Bah! Humbug! to see the DT's beautiful creations and join in the fun!  I hope the spring weather is gorgeous where you are and that your days are happy.

May Blog Hop --- Busy Beauties Go Burtonesque

Not only do we have some marvelously macabre new images to share with you today, but we also have some fun & funky friends joining us: The Burtonesque Dolls! Our new images are inspired by the Tim Burton classic, "THE CORPSE BRIDE", and BBB illustrator Thomas Goins has really outdone himself with these amazing images! We thought they would be right up the Dolls' alley, so we invited them along for the hop *and* are super excited to announce that Busy Beauties will be sponsoring their challenge next week!

For my card I used the BB Queen of Hearts image from the Alice in Wonderland series released last month.  It reminds me of the Queen of Hearts in the Tim Burton version of Alice in Wonderland.  I loved that movie!

Here is the complete list of hop stops for today, and we have prizes so fab, it's freaky! Be sure to hop along and leave lots of comment love, because there are TWO Secret Beauties or Dolls along this Burtonesque inspired hop… and TWO winners will be selected from their blog comments to receive 5 (yep, FIVE) Busy Beauties images of his/her choice! So whether you are in the mood to be beauty-ful or get funky, we've got you covered.

1. Kelly
2. Suzi
3. Michelle
4. Rachel
5. Debbie
6. Barbara (me!)
7. Betty
8. Annita
9. Lorie
10. Jackie
11. Grace
12. Nicole
13. Carolyn
14. Margie
15. Catherine
16. Kadie
17. BBCS Blog
 
At the end of the hop, the new Busy Beauties Creation Station challenge is waiting for you. It's a sketch challenge provided by PaperAddict Catherine, who is a member of both the Busy Beauties and The Burtonesque Dolls DTs. We hope you'll play along! You have until 11:59 EDT on June 2nd to link your creation at the Creation Station. In the meantime, we hope you'll have fun hopping and find lots of other-worldly inspiration! Enjoy the show!
 
 

 

Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge #31 --- Father's Day Fisherman

 

Mo's Digital Pencil challenge this week is all about flowers.  Flowers?  But this post title says something about a Father's Day Fisherman --- what does that have to do with flowers?  Well, check this out:

Now, I don't like to fish (just ask my husband), but I do like being around the lakes, walking along the shores, watching the fish jump out of the water.  I've noticed the beautiful flowers around the edge of the lake, often sprouting right out of the water like reeds do.  The flowers I used here I found at Hobby Lobby and I wish you could reach in and touch them.  The texture is like suede, soft and slightly spongy.  Plus, when I bought them I had masculine cards in mind.  Just something about them seemed to be not quite as delicate and feminine, though I'd love to have them growing in my own yard.

On to the card itself.  I made an easel card so that I could take advantage of the fish and tackle box I found on "Masculine Collage Paper" by Hot Off the Press.  This scrapbook paper has been in my stash for a long time.  It is the perfect background for Mo's "fishing" illustration, which I colored with Copics.

I used silver metallic thread for the fishing line, following the lines on the original illustration. While exploring the shores around a lake I've noticed lots and lots of dragonflies (I love dragonflies) so I used several as embellies on both parts of the card. 

The sentiment on the front is computer generated using a terrific font made of fishing poles.  It is printed on PaperTrey Kraft paper, as is the sentiment on the inside of the card.

I think this is a very masculine card, even with the flowers.  What do you think?  I will be making a matching envelobox since the card is quite thick.  Now, what man in my life would like to see this sitting on his desk?  Hmmm....

Thanks for stopping by today.  And don't forget to hop over to Mo's Digital Pencil challenge.  The DT has beautiful and inspiring projects to see!

Bah! Humbug! Challenge --- Punched Borders

It's only Sunday and I have my Bah! Humbug! card ready!  No sliding in under the wire this week!  The theme this week is "punched borders" and I've had the Martha Stewart snowflake punch-around-the-page set just begging for a debut.  While I was at it, I punched some die cuts and single punches, too.  In fact, this card has no stamped image at all, but lots of sparkle!

Navy blue and white is one of my favorite color combinations, especially for winter cards.  The blue card stock has white flecks in it, like a snowy night.  The border punch circles around a sheet of parchment paper for the outside as well as the inside of the card.  I used the Spellbinders Lattice Pendant die and translucent paper which looks like a large snowflake.  The blue center and white glitter corner are dies from the pendant set.  The MS snowflakes are punched from white glitter paper.  A scrap of  the blue cardstock and white mulberry paper add layers.  The white flowers and glitter stems are from the Michael's bridal department, then lots of rhinestones scattered around to add more sparkle.

This was a very fun card to make with all the shapes and textures.  This will be saved for someone very special at Christmas.

Before I close this post I want to show you the wonderful goodies I received in the spot drawing last month.

I can't wait to use the adorable bear stickers, the sparkly gold and silver peel-offs, the vellum stickers and the snowmen embellies.  Also, I was thrilled to get the wonderful handmade cards.  The volcano in Iceland held up delivery for a few weeks since the planes carrying precious cargo to the U.S. couldn't leave the U.K., but it was worth the wait!  Many thanks to the ladies at Bah! Humbug! for such an awesome  pressie! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!  Thank you for stopping by here and be sure to hop over to Bah! Humbug! for Christmas fun and inspiration.

Sunday Sketch and Stamp Challenge --- Maggie's Sketch

Graduation Congratulations!

My goodness, where did the last two weeks go?  It seems that time just moves faster and faster, especially with so many great card sketches and images to play with!  Well, Sunday Sketch and Stamp has another fabulous sketch from our fearless leader Maggie this week  You are going to love the possibilities with it!  But first, a great big THANK YOU to everyone who participated in our last challenge:  welcome to the newbies and good to see our followers.

Now, on to Maggie's genius sketch:

I love all the shapes and layers!  Here is my take on her sketch:

Actually, this is a graduation card for my niece Kelsie.  She graduates from high school in a couple of weeks.  It's not likely she will see this before then (I hope) and I just couldn't wait to put it out here!  I love the graduating kitty from Mo Manning.  It is a new release and I grabbed it as soon as I saw it!  (Gotta love digistamps!)  She is colored with Copics and I chose orange for the robe as that is the school color.  At least I think it is the school color; it's what was on their website.  Kelsie lives several hundred miles away and I won't be there for her big day, but I wish her all the best in her future with lots of love.  The dp and stickers are from a graduation scrapbook kit by DCWV.  I had another card to make, too, so there was plenty here for both and more!

Here is the inside with space for a handwritten note:

To all the graduates out there I wish you a bright future with lots of opportunities for your success and to help make this a better world for everyone!  But first, celebrate your hard work and enjoy the moment!

Congratulations!

Barb

Bah! Humbug! Challenge -- Christmas Food

The weekly Christmas party over at Bah! Humbug! just wouldn't be complete without some goodies, like cookies.  So, I used one of my favorite Whiff of Joy images to make a yummy card.  I imagine these to be chocolate chip cookies, piping hot from the oven.  Mmmmm!  Got milk?

The image is colored with Copics and sits on a simple paper doily with a piece of red cardstock behind it.  The ribbon is some great Christmas velvet with a furry edging.  I think I'll be using a lot of this ribbon!  The buttons, cookie cutter, and cookie tray are from a bag of embellies I got somewhere for just $5.00!  Sure wish I could remember where I got them! The card base is from the DCWV Christmas collection. 

Last month I was the lucky winner of the Bah! Humbug! Spot Prize.  I don't often win anything so I was giddy with excitement, jumping around, scaring the dogs, setting off car alarms ---- and, apparently triggering a volcano in Iceland!  Well, let's just say I was excited but I certainly won't take credit for the volcano --- what was the name of that thing?  Anyway, the volcano made such and ash of itself (sorry, had to say it LOL) that the planes couldn't leave the UK with my precious pressies on board.  I'm happy to say that I finally got all the goodies Monday and I started jumping around, scaring the dogs.......... well, you get the idea!  If that volcano goes off again I didn't do it!  I promise I will post a photo of the goodies, but I need to wait till morning for a natural light photo.  They are so sparkly that a flash photo will just be one big glow!

I love Bah! Humbug!  Come join in the fun, if you haven't already!

Thanks for stopping by!  More to come tomorrow!

Fresh Brewed Design Challenge --- Sketch 1

Welcome to the first sketch challenge at Fresh Brewed Designs blog!  Our lovely Heather is ramping up the fun at FBD and we are so excited to be on board!  Be sure to follow us each week as we introduce new challenges.  But first, this week's sketch:

And here is my card.............

This java-sipping pinata is one of my favorite images from FBD's May release.  For more of these festive digistamps check them out here.   I colored this cool guy with Copics.  The papers are scraps from other projects, all mounted on Kraft card stock.  Simple, friendly and fun!

For all the deets about this week's challenge hop on over to Fresh Brewed Designs.  I sure hope you play along with us!  Any image will do!  Lookin' forward to seeing your projects!

Mo's Digital Pencil Too Challenge #30 --- Rain or Water Theme

Mo's Digital Pencil challenge goes right along with the weather we've had here the past couple of days --- RAIN!  The illustration I used is Mo's "Duck Day" which I had colored some time ago, waiting for just the right time to use it.

Cute, cute, cute!  This is colored with Copics and was so much fun!  Lots of bright colors to go along with the happy feeling it creates.  The water droplet paper is from my stash.  I've been accused of having more paper than Michael's!  Well, I started scrapbooking 13 years ago and, being a paper addict, I have collected quite a stash.  Since I gave up scrapbooking for cardmaking I'm putting all that paper to good use.  Only one problem, they keep coming out with more fabulous papers!!

I used plastic buttons from Walmart and sheer flowers from Prima for the embellies.  The flowered ribbon is from my stash.  Again, I love ribbon and have been collecting it for years, especially when I find good sales!

Here's a close-up:

Gotta love those ducks!

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you pay a visit to Mo's Digital Pencil challenge blog.  Her amazing DT has amazing projects to inspire you!

Whiff of Joy Challenge #78 --- Jane's Sketch

Yesterday was Mother's Day and I hope all the moms, grandmas, and great-grandmas were showered in love and gifts of affection!  I always have wonderful Mother's Days and this year was made even more special with the reuniting with my step-daughter after 24 years!  For the first time I met her husband and two teen-aged daughters.  Very happy times!

There are always many new moms each year.  That's why this WOJ image of Willow with baby makes a perfect first Mom's Day card, too.  So I used it for Jane's sketch for WOJ this week.  Jane always has beautiful sketches and this is no exception. 

There is quite a bit of detail in this card, which I like to do.  The card base is lavender card stock partially covered with a beautiful scrapbook paper of hydrangea print.  The pink parchment paper border is punched with Martha Stewart eyelet lace border punch.  The same paper was used for the bottom Nesties oval die cut.  Willow and baby are colored with Copics.  The ribbon is sheer with butterflies in lavender.  A pewter charm saying "Perfect" is surrounded with little flowers from the Michael's bridal department.  Finally, this card just cried out Pearls! so there are lots and lots of pearls.  Even a few on the sentiment oval inside the card. 

 

I'm so glad you stopped by today, indulging me in my three posts!  Whew!  It is a busy time for making cards and I like it that way!  Be sure to check out the gorgeous creations over at the Whiff of Joy challenge blog --- new stamps releases and yummy candy to win, too!