House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge #26, Mother's Day

Here is my Mother's Day card for this week's House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge #26.

A quick 5x5 card using a past HM stamp and a new sentiment that came out with this months' House Mouse of the Month stamp. (of course I have that one too...but this sentiment fits so well with this cute stamp!) I received this pretty Stampin Up Dp from some blog candy I won last year...pretty stuff!

Sorry to make this short and sweet but I am getting ready to go for a GWAMMA visit to see baby Cole and I need to pack so I can get on the road right after work tomorrow.

Stayed tuned for some new pics of baby boy...Gwamma always has to brag!



Stamps: Gorgeous Guinea HMLR1029, Day Spent Pampering FR1096

Cardstock: Pink by SU! Dp retired SU!

Ink: Memento Black, prisma's/oms

Misc: Nesties, buttons by Rhonna Farrer called French Twist, ribbon by Dashes, Dots and Checks from Michaels.
Ink: Memento Black, prisma's/oms

Pig Pen in Blue, Brown and Buttons

Okay...week two of Kerry's new inspiration challenge...this week the challenge is to use Brown, Blue and Buttons in your creation! I would love to see you join in the fun at 3 Clovers Thursday Challenge #2. We had a lot of players join in last week and lots of great creations to view. Make sure to go check them out say Hi to Kerry!

I love this Peanuts character...remember the animated Peanuts cartoons where Pig Pen would be walking with a cloud of dirt around him all the time????...typical little boy stuff!

This is a pretty straight forward card so I will spare you a description. Hope this card brings back memories of the Peanut gang for you!



Stamps:Pig Pen F1088 by Stampabilities

Cardstock: Brilliant Blue, Choc Chip and DP-all from Stampin Up

Ink: Memento Black, prisma's/oms

Misc: SU! buttons and natural twine, nesties

From Courtney's Closet Challenge #31 -Here Kitty Kitty

Okay...I find I don't have any kitty stamps...What's with that? Maybe I am afraid they will chase the meeces out of my craft room...hmmm. I found this image that someone shared with me...isn't it cute? If you know the name of the stamp and the company, I would love to give credit to them...this is a darling stamp.

This is my submission for challenge #31 at From Courtney's Closet Challenge. Courtney is wearing a cute little pink and orange number with kitties on the front...I did manage to stick with the color scheme and even include a few pink kitties with their fur friends! I think Libby is going to make me use orange until I fall in love with it LOL! Actually, I do really like this card...so maybe her scheme is working!

I used this card for my inspiration...I saw it while surfing and thought it was just one of the prettiest cards I have seen. She used the sketch challenge from the SCS February fan club Dirty Dozen Challenge here.

I cut out the image with my nesties and sponged around the edges to give the image a little more definition. The little flower is one I got at the dollar spot of Target last year...about time to use it!

Do you recognize this motley crew?

Stamps: Image of the fur babies is unknown...please let me know if you recognize them, Sentiment is part of a past SU! celebration set-Lots of Thoughts. ETA: Debbie Fisher tells me this an Inky Antics stamp...thanks Debbie!

Cardstock: Pink Passion, Pumpkin Pie and Summer Picnic SU! DP (retired)

Ink: Image colored with prisma's/oms and sentiment colored with SU! markers in Pink Passion, Pumpkin Pie and Really Rust.

Misc: Nesties, Target dollar spot flower


Lil' Cupcake in her kitty outfit!

House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge #25

I just loved the sketch posted this week on House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge. This week they put up a wonderful sketch challenge drawn by a new sponsor, 2redbanana's. You can see the challenge HERE.

This sketch made it easy to make a great card....I love it and will probably have to use it again! ...and no nesties with this card...I pulled out my trusty creative memory circle cutter to cut out the image and still leave some of the image "sticking" out of the circle. I was very careful cutting this out and then when I was putting the adhesive on, I thought I saw a little stray piece of cardstock stuck to the adhesive and pulled it off...and off went my poor mousie's tail...YIKES! oh well, I am going to stick with the story that I MEANT TO DO THAT!

Inside card

Stamps: Lavender Dreams HMKR1012 by Stampabilities.

Cardstock: Cranberry Crisp (retired SU in color) DP by Nana's kids

Ink: Memento Black, prisma's/OMS

Misc: Creative Memory circle cutter, SU! cranberry crisp ribbon, misc brads

Three Clovers Thursday Challenge-Happy Easter!

Kerry over at Three Clovers Designs is starting a new challenge called Three Clover Thursday Challenge (TCTC) . Her challenges will be different each week and will feature an Inspiration Team .

And guess what...I get to play along!

All these wonderful stampers will take turns participating in Kerry's weekly challenge, which could be a sketch, a color, theme or something fun Kerry has chosen to tempt you all to join in!

Make sure to blog hop around and check out the other TCTC "Sisters"!

Elena Joldersma
Lisa Somerville
Kristen Catalano
Sharon Caudle
Ida Krause
Mary Jo Price-Williams

TCTC #1-Sketch Challenge

My Card's Details

I love this bunny stamp...probably because of it's shape. The plaque is on dimensionals as well as the sentiment is also on dimensionals...so this really is a 3D design!


Stamps: Easter Plaque M210-Stampendous

Cardstock: SU! Lavender Lace, GP White, Bo Bunny DP

Ink: Memento Black, SU! markers, prisma pencils/OMS

Misc: Martha Stewart border punch, misc ribbon, dimensionals, Kaiser crystals, SU corner punch

From Courtney's Closet Challenge #30

Okay, I don't know where this card came from...I guess I saw little Courtney's dress here and I could not get Mary Engelbreit out of my head. I don't even think I followed the right color scheme...I might need to adjust my contacts a wee bit!

Well......... I did use one of my new toys on this card and I had never used this stamp before...so it must have been destined to be. I got my cuttlebug embossing borders out and embossed the top and bottom of this card, added the swiss dot white center edged with black and gold pin dot ribbon--- and 'plunked' down the image on dimensionals.
The image is embossed with black detail powder and colored with SU! markers.

Don't forget to join in on Libby's Little Addiction's challenge this week...Courtney's inspiration outfit is darling.

Stamps: Mary Engelbreit-Miracles

Cardstock: Real Red, White

Ink: Black embossing ink, SU! markers and a touch here and there of H2O's for shine

Misc: American Craft ribbon, Cuttlebug embossing border and swiss dot folder

Maude is at it again!

I made this Valentine card for my Mom. She is recovering from surgery and could use a real "Maude" pick me up. This card was inspired by the lucious Valentine cards that Jennifer at Jennifer's Sweet Designs has been making. I love this card and the chocolate brown has just stuck in my mind ever since I saw her card! Be sure to check out all the wonderful Valentine's she has shared!

Susanna at Card of the Week has a sketch challenge up today that you should all try. You can see it here. Although I did change it around some, I followed the basic sketch I think!

Now, if you've been around my blog long enough...you know Maude is my favorite stamp of all time...I don't own her, but she comes to visit occasionally so I can stamp some of her images. She is quite a character! Thanks to Barb for letting Maude come visit! She is made by Art Impressions. I did paper piece her robe and bunny slippers!

If you have a "Maude" card you would like me to link here...just send me an email...

Jenny at One Krafty Kat created a Maude card.

You can see Jenny's creation here.

Coffeestamper on SCS posted this one.

bmbfield on SCS created this funny scene with Maude.

I made this one for Courtney's Closet challenge.




The bottom inside of the card. I have to thank Kerry for sending me this Martha punch..it was very hard to find!


Stamps: Super Maude-- she used to come in two sizes, so you might want to look around Art Impression's site, Isn't Life Sweet sentiment by Stampabilities and bought at RKStamps. It is a sentiment made to go with my House Mouse stamps.

Cardstock: Wonderful DP by Stampin Up!, Real Red, Choc Chip, Heart DP is used for paper piecing Maudes robe and slippers(company unknown)

Ink: Memento black, prisma's and prisma's/oms, SU! choc chip and real red markers to color the sentiment

Misc: Nesties, Martha punch, misc red ribbon, Making Memories heart brads

Valentine Cookie recipe and a little treat

I found these cute heart bottles at Craftwarehouse in Portland. I filled them with Jelly Belly's and made a quick nestie heart tag. The sentiment is from a retired SU! word set. Added a few red pearls and all done! I made these for my friends at work!

I am on a sugar buzz!

I did my own sugar cookie taste test this year...I made cream cheese cookies, orange juice flavored sugar cookies and a powdered sugar recipe...my old standard Betty Crocker recipe won over both the others...although when you smother them with frosting they sort of all taste the same LOL! Here's my favorite recipe from the Betty Crockers Cooky Book.

Mary's Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 sifted powdered sugar (I'm too lazy to sift LOL)
1 cup butter or margarine
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond flavoring (sometimes I use all vanilla)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar

Mix sugar and butter. Add egg and flavorings, mix thoroughly. Measure flour by dipping method or by sifting. Stir dry ingredients together and blend in. Refrigerate 2 to 3 hours (or overnight) to chill quicker separate dough into thirds, flatten and wrap with plastic wrap.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll 3/16" thick, on lightly floured pastry cloth. Cut with cutters. Place on lightly greased baking sheet (I use my silpat non stick mat and do not grease). Bake 7 or 8 minutes.

Frost with your favorite frosting. I use the buttercream recipe from Wilton.

Frosting

1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup shortening(Crisco)
1 lb powdered sugar (4 cups)
1 tsp vanilla (clear if you want a crisp clear color)

add a small amount of hot water to the frosting mixture to get desire consistency. Maybe a tablespoon or two.

My frosting of preference this year was a cookie dipped in melted almond bark. I then colored some of the bark with pink paste coloring and sort of splattered it over the cookie with a fork...these are yummy! Very quick and easy!

Monday Night Stampin' Up Projects

Once a month I attend a fun night of stampin' with my local Stampin' Up crafty buddies. Charla is my SU! Demo and she brought these wonderful Valentine projects over the last 2 meetings. (I think I am missing one of them...hmmm maybe I ate it???? LOL)

She had them all decorated pretty, but I was busy gabbing and being the monthly hostess, so I had to finish these projects on the fly at home...and I think I didn't follow directions very well...it's a memory thing! Oh well, several of the projects were made from Dawn's ( Dawn's Stampin Thoughts) wonderful video's here and here.

OH NO! I bet you are sick of these, but I just had to try to make an all Stampin' Up stair step card...I almost made it, but I did have to sneak in the stamp in the middle...not sure where it came from, I have had it for years. Everything on the Riding Hood Red was embossed with SU! white embossing powder, so it had a nice texture.

I made thes fun little candy tubes for part of the nightly munchies. I used a retired tag punch stamp and both sizes of the SU! tag punch and some misc Craft Warehouse ribbon. I bought the tubes from a stamper who had a "tube share" on Beate's Stampin Up Yahoo group. She has a wonderful blog here as well. Wish I had ordered more now...

Stamp: Stampin Up Love You Much (page 27), Retired Valentine tag punch

Cardstock: RHRed, Real Red, SU! DP in RHRed and Pink Pirouette, Candy Lane DP,

Ink: RHRed, Black, Chocolate Chip

Misc: Heart to Heart Punch, Tag Punches, Scallop Punch, (most punches on pages 184 and 185), Stampin Up Bigz Dies Top Note(page 196) and Petal Card for the heart box (page 197)

Penny Black Stairstep card

There's a whole lotta paper piecing happening on this card! The little letter the "chick" in front is holding is pieced in pink SU! DP, as well as parts of the hats and the bow too! I got some new SU! Riding Hood Red DP in all the different prints and it is just beautiful. I just had to try to fit it in on this card where I could.


I used copics, prisma pencils and OMS and SU! markers to color this card. (that's a lot of stuff to clean up too LOL)


I dug out a retired Stampin Up Chicken Wire background stamp for the back drop . I used to be such a background stamp fiend...but have gotten more where I use DP now. (which explains the chaos of my craftroom!)

This card is for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge #35.

Now, I think this might be the last stairstep card I make for a while, but no promises...I just love making the little scenes this style of card allows!


Stamps: Penny Black Pinky and Porky 3110K, Penny Black What a Day! 2350F, Studio G $1 sentiment stamp from Michaels, Stampin Up background stamp.

Cardstock: Stampin Up DP and Riding Hood Red, SU! Pink

Ink: Memento Black, RHR, Prismas, SU! markers and copics

Misc: Martha border punch, SU Riding Hood Red ribbon, Nestabilitie Hearts

Beary Full of Truffles

I could use a couple truffles after a busy day cleaning my house...it was time...I would rather be stamping.

Here is one of the stair step cards I promised to show you. This card fits the House Mouse Monday Challenge #23-Valentine cards.

I have another Penny Black stair step card I need to post too. I used my new Stampin Up DP on both...boy I love that stuff!

hmmmm...I am off to find some truffles...I need a house cleaning treat.

Stamps: Beary Full of Truffles (Pebble) VR1004, Studio G $1 stamps from Michael's (Circle Sentiment and hanging hearts on the front of the card

Cardstock: RHRed, RHRed and Pink Pirouette DP

Ink: RHRed ink,Memento Black, colored with prisma's and OMS.

Misc: Heart Nestabilities, Martha punch, SU! punches, RHRed satin ribbon, scorepal

Penny black Circle Card.

I made this cute little card for the Penny Black Saturday Challenge #34. I've been planning on making this card for over a month, and when the challenge came along...it got me movin'!

This was a very quick card to make. Pretty simple and sweet...

Stamps: Penny Black Baby Hammock

Cardstock: SU! Pink and Certainly Celery, GP white

Ink: Memento Black, Colored with prisma's/oms and a few copics

Misc: Nestabilities, May Arts white ribbon, Cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder

Courtney's Birthday Celebration!

Happy Birthday Cupcake!

Courtney turns 1 today!

Today is a very special day over at Libby's Little Addiction blog. Little Courtney-the star of FROM COURTNEY'S CLOSET CHALLENGE, turns one year old today and her Mama is celebrating in a big way!

Libby has asked some of her blogging friends to help ring in Courtney's special birthday by posting our challenge creations this morning.(of course I told her I would be happy to be on Courtney's Design Team LOL).

Libby will be offering up a chance to win some amazing blog candy to all who participate and create a project this week! Visit Libby's blog to see her creation and her blog candy....she tells us it's great stuff! Join in the fun...and let's party!

You can visit these other amazing bloggers to see their From Courtney's Closet Challenge(FCCC) creations!

Carole Burrage at Mother's Little Helper.
Leslie Miller at Running With Scissors
Maria Gurnsey at Scrappin by M
Melissa Sauls at In Stampin Mode
Nancy Riley at iSTAMP
Rose Ann Reynolds at Paper Delightz
and me!(can you believe who's on this list with little ole me?...woo hoo---some of these ladies have been on my list of original blogs I first started stalking over a year ago...and some I am just discovering and will now be stalking..LOL...they are all just wonderful!) Please visit and leave them a FCCC greeting!

My first try at a Bind It All book! Yikes...this was a lot of fun to make, especially for such a special little girl! I don't think I mangled the chip board or anything...so I am going to say my first one is a success, even though I have learned tricks I will do different on the next one!

The button covered cake actually pulls up out of the holder and says HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

This book is why I have enjoyed FCCC's challenge so much. This challenge has forced me to grow as a stamper by trying new things, and really using my BIG stash of stamps that were waiting to get inked!

Of course, the meeces are checking out the inside of this book!

Stamps: Misc individual House Mouse Stamps inside the book, Streamer stamp(?) , Stampin Up circle sentiment

Cardstock: SU! mint melody, rose romance, purely pomegranate, (all retired I think),very vanilla, and SU! DP inside as well as Heidi Grace DP

Ink: Memento Black and Purely Pomegranate

Misc: Rhonna Farrer Autumn Leaves French Twist Buttons, Mega flower punch, misc bling, Nestabilities inside, Martha border punch, Bind It All, SU! ribbon and May Arts ribbon, cuttlebug alphabet.

Book Size: 5 x 5