A sketch & an RAK

Good morning!! It's Wednesday & that means Sketch Challenge day on Splitcoast!!! Today's sketch is perfect for an image I had colored last night.

I bought this Penny Black stamp, Green Friends, at the same rummage sale I bought THIS STAMP. What a deal!! Clearly there is supposed to be a sentiment to go with it, since one frog's mouth is open, clearly talking, & other has such a look on his face. I'll have to be on the lookout for a saying that would go with this!! Anyway, I colored the froggie friends with my Prismas & gamsol, & added Crystal Effects & Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the water. Believe it or not, I used something other than Basic Grey ~~ the designer paper on this card is from Cloud 9 Design & it's called Baby Boy Stripe (I also have Baby Girl Stripe, lol). The blue in the background is the reverse side of the stripes. The other papers are from the DCWV fall stack. The flowers are a combo of Primas & punches, & the leaves are of course punched with the Martha Stewart branch punch. This card turned out quite heavy, as I kept adding more & more layers, lol! Blue & green is one of my favorite combos so I added as much as I could :)



I also wanted to share a card with you that I received the other day from my friend Cris. Cris & I actually met on Splitcoast a couple of years ago & have become good friends IRL. She was with me at the infamous rummage sale where I scored all these wonderful Penny Black stamps :) Anyhow, she's been uber busy making Valentines.....how cute is this Whipper Snapper kitty??


The picture doesn't show it, but she did quite a few layers on the cat....she did an extra layer of whole cat...lol...then a 3rd layer with just his nose & paws. It is sooooo cute...thanks so much, Cris!! Sadly, she doesn't have a gallery nor blog, but hopefully someday soon.....she's too talented NOT to show off her work!!

You still have about 3 hours to enter my blog candy above........it will close at noon today, & I will pick a winner sometime tonight. Thank you so much to everyone who has already visited & entered.....I have LOVED reading about your favorite candies....especially those from overseas, because I haven't heard of many of them!! We may need to do a candy swap :)

***Edited to add Deana told me she got this stamp, & along with the stamp she got the saying "Glad to see you made it through another year without croaking!" Bahahhahahahaaaa ....that is GREAT......now I'll *have* to have that stamp, of course!! Thanks, Deana!!

Ahhhh....it's over....

Good Friday afternoon ~~ have you recovered yet?? Isn't it funny how the kids look forward to Christmas, but the parents look forward to AFTER Christmas? LOL!! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday. We spent both Xmas Eve & Xmas Day at my mom's. Xmas Eve it was just us, & yesterday a few extended family members joined us. Relaxing for me, since my mom was kind enough to host both days. The hardest part was getting there!! The snow has finally stopped & the temps are climbing ~~ so all that snow we got will be turning into small lakes soon :(

I still haven't gotten to create anything new, so I thought I would share some of the amazing Christmas cards I was lucky enough to receive! Here they are, in no particular order:

This one is from Inge, my High Hopes design team co-Diva. I won a couple of Magnolia stamps on her blog & she was kind enough to include this adorable card!!

This one is from Tammi, & is so adorable. It has a pocket on the inside (guess I should have taken a picture of that) in which she put some fun Rachelle Anne Miller images (which I also should have included in the photo)!

This amazing card is from Crissy, artist for High Hopes. Who doesn't know Crissy & her fabulous work?! She's amazingly talented, & one of the sweetest people I know!!

This one is from my good friend Dawn. VERY sparkly ~~ tons of red glitter, which I see now I didn't clean off of the card before I took the picture ~~ but such an adorable card. I believe her daughter drew the picture, then Dawn finished it off. Very unique!

This one is from Cheryl, who also sent along some snowflake punchies. I'm so glad she started a blog recently, she is sooooo UBER talented & I love seeing her work close up!

This adorable card is from Tori, whom I met on SCS but we've become great blog friends. She's my "how does she do it?" friend. She has 3 young kids & works full time, but still finds time to create & update her blog almost daily. You amaze me, Tori!

Last but certainly not least is this ADORABLE creation from Ila, another co-Diva. She is the coloring QUEEN & I'm always excited to receive one of her works of art. As you can see, she also sent me some Magnolia images. She's the best!

Thank you thank you thank you to ALL of you, for thinking of me this Christmas season. All of these ladies have so much talent, I'm honored to be friends with them (click on their names so you can visit their blog or SCS gallery!!). Hopefully I can get a little time today to make something fun. My boys are busy playing with all of their presents, & hubby is ice fishing with a friend. So in between loads of laundry I hope to do me some stamping!!!! Have a great weekend!!

A good friend

OK, I'm slacking a bit. I have a list of things to get done & have had no time to do them. Well, that's a lie. I've worked the last two days & have been BEAT by dinner time. Usually when I work, I stamp after my kids go to bed. But the last couple of days of work have worn me out, so I've just vegged in from of the tv. I've been working a lot with the special needs kids, something that is fun, yet challenging. And being a sub, I don't know these kids yet as well as I eventually hope to, & I sometimes struggle with the right thing to say & do. My over-40 brain & body are completely burned out by day's end!

Anyway, I haven't had time to create anything new so I thought I'd show you a Halloween card I made for my wonderful friend Dawn (flowergal36 on SCS). We met on SCS this past summer & became fast friends. She was the sender of the fabulous package of goodies I raved about HERE. So I made her this Halloween card:


She had really liked a card I made using this same image a few weeks before, so the very least I could do was make her one similar to that one. I stamped the image onto watercolor paper with Colorbox black pigment ink, then embossed it with clear EP. I used my SU markers & blender pen to color it in. The designer paper is from Reminisce ~~ I bought it last year & have used almost every inch of it. Lots of embossing, Nesties & punches on this card, followed by my custom made pseudo Dew Drops (I used my 1/4" hole punch to punch green cardstock, then applied it to the bottoms ~ voila ~ matching Dew Drops).

I am so grateful I discovered SCS, because I have met some of the most amazing people there. Dawn, I treasure our friendship!! Thanks for all you have done for me!!

Hope you all have a wonderful Thursday night!! We had a brief showing of sun today, but now it is pouring ~ again. But that's ok because ER is on in 10 minutes & that is definitely a bright spot in my day!!!!

I am so blessed!!

Well, talk about a happy mail day!! You could have knocked me over with a feather when I opened my mailbox yesterday & found a HUGE envelope from my good friend Dawn Burnworth ~ flowergal36 on SCS. We met on SCS a few months ago & became instant friends. My only regret is that we didn't start chatting sooner, because just as were getting to know each other, she moved from IL to NC for her husband's job. Aw, MAN!!!!! Had she stayed in IL, we could have met IRL!! NC is a little out of my driving range (not that I wouldn't LOVE to visit one day). But we email each other just about every day & she's become very important to me.

On to the goodies:


She sent me: a Martha Stewart snowflake border punch, a Magnolia stamp, a container of red & pink Primas, some bling, AND an *adorable* High Hopes card!!! Could you all hear the gasp I let out when I opened it? LOL!! Thank you sooooooo much, Dawn! This is all so incredible, but I'm most thankful for your friendship!!

Today's been a busy day so no stamping time for me. I went to school to help Michael's teacher, & I ended up instead subbing for an aide that had to go home sick. That's the third time that's happened, where I go to school thinking I'm going to help the teacher & I end up working, lol!! I don't mind at all, I usually end up working in the special needs room, where they definitely can't afford to lose an aide for a day. Some days I feel like I'm not much help but I think they just appreciate the extra hands. I have a feeling that's where I'm going to be tomorrow too ~~ the sickness seems to be running rampant in that wing of the school, & there are a few aides who haven't gotten it yet so I'm sure their turn is coming. LOL!

Have a great Tuesday!!

I love happy mail!!!

Happy Sunday everyone!! I just had to share some happy mail that I received last week, from 2 of my very favorite stamping friends!!

The first is from Tammi ~~ aka LOTRFAN. Tammi recently started a blog, Tropical Dreams, & I couldn't be happier about it!! I've been a fan of hers for a long time ~~ she uses the cutest images, & her layouts & coloring always make me smile. Along with this adorable card, she sent me a ton of Fluffles & Rachel Anne Miller images. Thank you so much, Tammi!!


The second card is from Inge, my fellow High Hopes diva. I love Inge's style ~~ her coloring is always the best, & she has such an eye for patterned papers! She always knows exactly what to put on each card to make it absolutely perfect!! Her cards are always a joy to look at. She already sent me a card & some images for my birthday last month, so imagine the smile on my face when I opened up this card & found even more fun Magnolia images!!! Inge, you spoil me!!! Check out her blog here!


Don't I have the best friends?? Thank you so much, ladies! Your friendship means the world to me!!!!

The birthday cards keep coming.....

Well, of course I'm happy to keep celebrating my birthday, if it means I keep receiving fabulous cards like these!! These have trickled in over the last few days & I thought I would share with you.

This gorgeous card is from Jennifer Bradley (mackbrad on SCS). Jennifer & I met on the Inky Antics chat board & have been friends for a couple of years now. I just love the glitter on the turtle's shell :)


This gorgeous card is from Inge, one of my very favorite artists & a fellow High Hopes diva! She is AMAZING!! Her creations are all so unique, so perfectly colored, so well put together. She sent me a little project along with my card ~~ a paper bag project. Hopefully I'll be able to put it together, since the instructions she sent with it are not of the English language (Dutch??) but there are pictures & I know Inge will help me if need be. I can't wait to try it!! Meanwhile, I can't stop gazing at her adorable card!


This card is from Deb Corder (dcorder on SCS). What a perfect summertime birthday card!! The fruit is adorable, & I love how she did the grids & the teeny weeny "birthday wishes" from Papertrey Ink is the perfect touch!!


Thank you to everyone who sent me cards, gifts, projects & even Happy Birthday emails!!! You truly made my birthday special!!!

Happy Birthday to Me!!!!

Happy Monday everyone!! It was my birthday last week, & I received some FANTABULOUS cards!!! I gathered them together into 2 groups, so I didn't clog this post with pictures. Thank you so much to everyone for thinking of me!!!!


Left to right, top row: Collette (heavensent), Dody (beachbound)
Left to right, bottom row: Dori (rtjmom), Linda Palmer (also her SCS name), Michele (mlehmer)



Left to right, top row: Ila (craftess, who also sent some Magnolia images ~ thank you!), Anna (sweetmissdaisy), Lynnor (icensheba)
Left to right, bottom row: Cindy (cynamom), Stephanie (StephStamps1982), Joyce (broncomom)

You all made my day special ~~ my birthday usually gets forgotten about, since it's so close to Michael's ~~ I can always depend on my SCS friends to make the day wonderful for me!!!