RECYCLING - REPURPOSING

Last year we received a Christmas card that had three pretty green ornaments on it-in three sizes. I save all my cards and while looking through them this year I thought how pretty those ornaments would be recycled onto another card. I cut the three ornaments out and Presto!, well not that quick, but it didn't take long, to make three new Christmas cards.
The above card is brushed gold cardstock. I attached the large ornament, added gold cord for the hanger and added a sentiment in green ink. Since the ornament had a blueish edge I added a blue strip of cardstock and some gold metallic stick-ons.

I think this card has the feel of the Season. I used a green card base, matted with red and some pretty Paper Studio designer paper. Added a red sheer gold edged ribbon and the smallest of the ornaments with some gold cord.

This card also uses brushed gold card stock layered with red card stock and some beautiful Paper Studio ornament designer paper. Added the medium sized ornament with some gold cord.

I love how all three cards turned out using something I thought too pretty to throw away!

Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

POTPOURRI

I have been really lax in posting during November-will try to do better. Had a really nice Thanksgiving with family. Too much food, but very good!

I had this layered candle I had used in a Thanksgiving centerpiece last year, wanted to use it again but thought it needed to be dressed up some. I put a wide piece of brown ribbon around the middle, added a smaller leaf print ribbon then attached some cutout leaves I had stamped using Hero Arts Leaf Prints. I also added some toned striped ribbon at the top and bottom. I am also uploading a photo of the candle in the centerpiece.

Had my monthly Weigh In with the Wannabees on Wednesday and wasn't happy, back to counting carbs as I am diabetic. Since DH and I are both diabetic, I don't do much baking but saw this recipe somewhere that sounded easy and good. I plan to make a half batch and give some away or freeze for when I need a snack for guests. I love pumpkin and spices so these should be good.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies- 5 dozen

2 boxes of spice cake mix

1 stick of butter, softened

2 eggs

1 large can of Libby's pumpkin

2 cups of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. mix ingredients and scoop spoonfuls of pumpkin batter onto greased cookie sheets. bake for 13 minutes. Let cookies cool on wire racks. Serve them warm with tall glasses of milk!

Now it is time to think about Christmas and all the events leading up to that happy time. Will post some Christmas cards I have made in a later post. I usually put my tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving but still don't have it up-planning on this weekend.

CUTTLEBUGGIN'

I love my Cuttlebug! For my non-stampin friends, a Cuttlebug is this neat, little green machine that embosses and die cuts cardstock.

With the sides down it makes a platform on either side that you slide your embossing or diecuts through. Here are a few of the cards that I have made since getting my Cuttlebug a few years ago as a Mother's Day gift!

This card uses the Happy Birthday embossing folder, flower and leaf die cuts.

This embossing folder named Textile, along with Swiss Dots, are my favorite embossing folders for backgrounds. I made the flower using the Stampin' Up round scallop punch. The punched border was made using a Martha Stewart border punch.

Blogger isn't wanting to upload photos properly tonight so I will try posting some more photos in a later post.

FALL CARDS

Here are a couple of 'fallish' cards I made but haven't posted.  The one above was made using SU Lovely As A Tree stamped on Canson watercolor paper and colored with a aquabrush and SU ink pads. The green panel was embossed using the Houndstooth Cuttlebug embossing folder.

I stamped the Hero Arts leaf stamp on some of the distressed pages from different Basic Grey pads using assorted ColorBox inks. Cut them out with detail scissors, glued to a frame and popped them up on the Basic Grey gold base. The cranberry swirls were cut using a Cuttlebug swirl die.  Added a sentiment and done!

FALL IS IN THE AIR

The two cards below are made using the same Stampin' Up stamp set Happy Blessings (retired) but using different images from the set.  They both use the same sentiment stamp which is hard to read, it says:


happy thanksgiving,
happy fall,
happy blessings
to one and all.
                   

The card above  is for the WT293 Challenge to use fabric on our card and F4A35 to make a flap card.

I have had this fabric by my sewing machine just waiting for the right time to use (have several pieces like that) on a card. I ironed a piece to Heat 'n Bond, cut out with pinking shears and ironed to a piece of More Mustard cardstock. Since I was making a flap card I just used a single piece of Really rust for the base so my card wouldn't be so thick and heavy. I stamped Happy Blessings on watecolor paper using Stazon Saddle Brown ink and watercolored with ink pads using an aquapainter. Distressed all edges and used More Mustard around the image panel edges. The sentiment inside the flap 'cardlet' was cut out using the round and scallop punches. Added some orange buttons after discarding ribbon ideas.  The image panel raises up to show the sentiment like a flap.

This card is for SCS Sketch Challenge 303  shown above. 

 

My oval punches didn't work for my image so I changed to rectangles for my image panel. Stamped Happy Blessings image on Canson watercolor paper using Stazon Saddle Brown ink. Used Faber-Castell watercolor pencils and a aquabrush to color. Used scissors to distress the panels.  The base card is SU More Mustard cardstock and the checked and striped paper is from K-ology.

                             

                                                                               

WHITE OUT

This card was made for two challenges:

1.  One Layer Wednesday (OLW24) to use no white, cream, red or green on our holiday cards..

2. Splitcoaststampers (F4A34) to use no white on our winter cards.

 

My card base is SU Blush Blossom and the sleigh scene from SU Sleigh Bells Ring set is stamped using SU Eggplant Envy.  The sentiment is from a Penny Black set-this and every year.  I used my Fiskars scoring blade and scored a couple of lines by the sentiment. Easy card to make and would be fast to duplicate if you have several holiday cards to make.

                                            

PINK IN THE FALL

I love fall and I love the color pink in all it's variations.  I still have a few 'pinkish' flowers blooming. 

Watermelon crepe myrtle is a beautiful reddish pink.

Sedum Autumn Joy goes through lots of beautiful shades of pink  before settling on a rusty red.

Neon sedum is just that--a gorgeous neon pink.

My Four-O-Clocks have several different shades of pink-beautiful!

The Four-O-Clocks have been really lush and beautiful this year-love the smell.

My lone Cleome plant.  Came up in the front of this bed-not the best place but I left it.  Need to collect seed and plant in a better place next year.

Love the color of this Rose of Sharon bush.

Have just a few Echinacea (coneflowers) blooming.  The hot dry months of July and August slowed things down as I don't water from our well.

ONE-LAYER WEDNESDAY 22

The challenge for the OLW 22 (one-layer-Wednesday) Challenge is to make a one layer card and keep embellishments to a minimim.  You can check out the details HERE.  We were to make a card expressing gratitude to any mother.  I made mine in memory of my mom who loved flowers and nature. 

My card uses Stampin' Up Night of Navy cardstock  and I stamped the Stampendous Agapanthus stamp using SU Whisper White ink. I added two stick on pearls and the sentiment is a stamp from SU Small Script set.  I lined the inside with white cardstock to write my message on.

HEART to HEART CARD DRIVE

Cammie (Carolyn King) is having a card drive on her blog in honor of caregivers of Alzheimer's patients.  There is a gigantic blog candy give-a-way as well.  You can read all the details HERE.

The card above I made to send to the facility listed on Cammie's Blog.  My base is SU Cameo Coral layered with some K-ology Hannah designer paper with a Michaels taupe ribbon dividing the two.  The mats were cut from Old Olive and Very Vanilla using the deckle edged Nesties.  The flowers are Cuttlebug die cuts and the leaf is a SU die cut.  Added some gold metallic stick-ons and a SU Sentiment stamped in ColorBox Blackbird ink.

The next card was made for MotherMarks Tuesday Tea Party challenge.  This card will also go to a alzheimer' facility that was listed on the challenge post.  MMTPT113 Challenge has a pretty teapot with flowers. We are to bring flowers with lots of bling and accessories to the tea party.

I used Su Polka Dots backgrounder stamp for my background using ColorBox Warm Red and SU Bliss Blue ink on GP White cardstock. I used a red and white checked ribbon to separate them. My image mats were cut using deckle edge nesties. The flowers and butterfly are Martha Stewart punches and the leaf die is from SU. Added yellow Stickles on the flowers and butterfly.

Both cards use the same design just in different colors of cardstock and designer papers.

ONE-LAYER-WEDNESDAY 21

On Susan Raihala's Blog Simplicity she has a challenge to make one-layer-cards.  Wednesday's challenge was to make a card using the theme- Inspired by Nature.

I love this stamp by Stampabilities-Floral Silhouette 2.  I stamped it on Stampin' Up Apricot Appeal cardstock using Stazon Saddle Brown ink.  It was hard to get the color right-it looks too gold in the photo. I like the color of Apricot Appeal and was sorry when they discontinued it from their line of colors.  The Thank You sentiment is from  Stampin' Up's Warmest Regards set. 

I am sending this card to my cousin who hosted our family reunion this weekend-lots of work and much appreciated!

CARD TIME

I have been Bad about posting the cards I have been making lately.  Here are a few; hope you enjoy.

I gave this card to my youngest daughter for her recent 40th birthday!  I cut 1 1/4" squares out of blue/brown designer papers and glued to the chocolate mat.  I stamped a sentiment on one of the middle squares and added a chocolate satin ribbon.

This was made for a Tuesday Tea Party Challenge-we were to use butterflies on our cards. I stamped, watercolored, cut out and then embossed the butterfly with clear embossing powder.  I added some gold stick on bling to the body of the butterfly and on the sheer white ribbon.

A friend who crochets made the little crocheted flowers and gave me some so I made this card to send to her as a thank you card.  Love the little flowers.

HAPPY EVERYTHING

This card is for the Inspiration Challenge 247 at Splitcoaststampers. Enjoyed looking through the modcloth.com site especially the vintage section-bathing caps no less!

I took my colors from a cape I found on the site-it doesn't want to link to the site for some reason.


We have friends who celebrate their birthdays and anniversary all in the same week. This card will go to them. I tried to make it gender neutral and was happy with the outcome.

I stamped the 'happy' sentiment on GP white and matted it with a brown cs then put it on the Basic Grey sugared stripe panel. I took a small notecard and stamped 'everything' on it and will glue it to the inside of the card, then write my note on the inside of the notecard.

Thanks for looking and I appreciate the comments you leave!

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Some friends came by Sunday evening to show us their new toy-a Can-Am Spyder.  And yes, they had their helmets on when they arrived and when they left. They have been having a good time touring the countryside!  Pretty snazzy machine, comfortable with lots of storage areas.

The Can-Am Spyder is a three-wheeled motor vehicle (two wheels in the front, one in the rear) similar in layout to a modern snowmobile. The Spyder uses an ATV-like chassis with a single rear drive wheel, and two wheels in front for steering. It is often referred to as a "roadster" (a term that BRP uses themselves) but in technical terms is more of what has been traditionally called a three wheeled trike.  It is built in Canada and sold in the USA.

Leon and I had to get our picture taken so I could send it to the girls telling them we had just spent their inheritance! 

MY LOVE AFFAIR

For my family and friends reading this, don't get excited and jump to the wrong conclusion.  Let me explain.





BING CHERRIES

Since DH and I are both diabetics we eat a lot of fruit for snacks and dessert.  I love most all fruits, can't really think of any I don't like. This summer I have really fallen in love with Bing Cherries. The ones I have been buying at Wal-Mart have been really tasty.  We have enjoyed strawberries, watermelon, cantaloupe, nectarines, peaches, grapes and I always keep bananas and apples on the countertop. Does that make you feel better about my love affair?

COUNTER CLUTTER

Counter clutter, but a good kind of clutter!  A friend sent me some squash and peppers.  I thought the long one was a crookneck, DH said a gourd,  but she said it was an Italian Zucchini which I had never seen.  The others are butternuts.  The Cherokee Purple tomatoes are some a friend raised.  He raises lots of different tomatoes and always gives us several.  Last week was Lemon Oxheart which we didn't really care for and some hybrid red ones I don't know the name of which were good.  To me the Arkansas Travelers that I raised have the best flavor of any I have tried this year.  Just wish the vines could hang on a little longer-they don't like it dry with the hot winds and I have watered very little.

I am going to make this squash casserole again with the squash.  My sister gave me the recipe and I really enjoyed it as did both daughters, DH not so much.

SQUASH CASSEROLE

2 pounds squash, sliced

1 small onion, sliced

1 tablespoon margarine

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 8 ounce carton sour cream

2 tablespoons chopped pimento

1/2 cup margarine

1 8 ounce package herb stuffing mix

Optional, but I added some diced, cooked chicken breast

Cook squash and onion with 1 tablespoon margarine until tender, add soup, sour cream, pimentos.  Add 1/2 cup margarine to stuffing mix and add to squash mixture.  Bake in a 2 quart oblong Pyrex dish at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until brown and bubbly in the middle. 

Don't know what makes the long space between paragraphs-not a good thing.

ROOSTERS

I shared a rooster card in green some time back.  Here are two new cards using the rooster image, one in red and one in blue.  A blue rooster??  Yes, in my world there is-I like them all colors!!

.

This card was made for Splitcoaststampers Sketch Challenge 239.  I used the rooster from an old Stampin' Up set, Provencal. Stamped with ColorBox Ruby ink on Very vanilla cardstock and then clear heat embossed. I used a 1 34" square punch to punch out the roosters and then matted them using Ruby Red cardstock. I also embossed the sentiment which was stamped in Ruby ink on dp then matted with Ruby Red cardstock. I used scissors to distress the edges and added a red raffia ribbon.

I used the same rooster image on this card.  Stamped in SU Bliss Blue ink on White Georgia Pacific cardstock from Wal-Mart and cut out with Marvy round scalloped punches.  The blue base card is embossed using the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder, one of my favorites. 

POTPOURRI

                                   Big and Little

I had some volunteer cantaloupes come up in the tomato bed and I left some of the plants to grow.  I was picking tomatoes last evening and smelled this cute, little guy.  I reached down to get him and he just fell off the vine.  The bigger melon I had bought at Wal-Mart yesterday. I want to cut him open and see if he tastes good but want to wait until the girls come by so they can see him.

                               Later

Just because you are cute doesn't mean you are sweet!  The melon had a pretty color but needed to be sweeter.  He was edible if you added a little salt.  The plants had a lot of water in the beginning but then turned off hot and dry-don't know if that has an affect on taste or not.

OLD FAITHFULS

We have a large maple tree just off our back patio which has Lancifolia Hosta, Virginia Bluebells, Orange Oriental Poppies and Orange Tiger Lilies planted around it. They come back year after year no matter what the weather and are a welcome sight.  They have to compete with the maple tree roots and have thrived amid the roots and shade. The bluebells and hosta are first, followed by the poppies and then the lilies which are blooming now.  Going through my files I found photos of all except the poppies.  I have started a list of plants to get photos of next year that I have somehow missed. 

Lancifolia Hosta and Virginia Bluebells in the Spring

Orange Tiger Lilies

I took the lily pictures today. There were less poppies this year and more lilies so I need to make sure next year to not let so many lilies come back or move some to a new location to keep from crowding out the poppies.

Tiger Lilies closup

THANKFUL ON A THURSDAY

Today I am thankful for the nice rain we just received.  We are so dry here and the rain was really needed-not enough but it is a start-just glad to know it can still rain!  Maybe this rain dance photo my daughter posted on her Blog  helped.

I am also thankful to have my computer back up and running after being taken over by a virus-my fault for clicking on a box I should have thought twice about.

Will be back later with more photos.  Have a doctors appointment in Springfield Friday and a funeral to go to Saturday morning for a school friend's husband.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Wishing everyone a Happy Fourth of July weekend.  We will be celebrating with a BBQ tomorrow evening with family. 

The Ways To Use It Challenge this week was to make a patriotic card EXCEPT you couldn't use any hue of red or blue on your card.  How un-patriotic!  (Grin)  I used More Mustard cardstock as my base card and layered with some music designer paper from Provo Craft.  Stamped the small stars with Chocolate Chip ink on More Mustard then cut them out and popped them up with pop up dots.  I used a star punch for the large star and layered with a smaller star.  I printed off the words to America the Beautiful, distressed the edges and used Old Paper distress ink to sponge for an older look. I liked the untraditional colors.  Here is the finished card.

I first started stamping in early 1997.  Here are a few Patriotic themed items I have made through the years.

I think this card was made for Jan at the beginning of the school year-probably when she went to teach in middle school.

 

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A easy, simple card.  The mat and star are made from a blue and silver gift bag.

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Stamped the star from Love It on Georgia Pacific white using Cranberry and Not Quite Navy ink. Stamped and cut out enough stars to double layer, slightly off center, using Scotch Pop Dots. Added some designer paper  from Hobby Lobby on one side and used a piece of yarn for accent.

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I have had this unpainted wooden box for a long time. I collect Americana items so decided to paint it with that theme.

I painted using a light coat of DecoArt Colonial Blue so the woodgrain would show through. Painted the star with DecoArt Burgundy and antiqued both with FolkArt Antiquing medium. Antiqued the second star and added a red and gold dotted grosgrain ribbon around the lid.

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The pouch was made using a business size envelope. Stamped some stars on the envelope and then cut out on each side for the handle. Put some blue tissue paper inside and added some red yarn and a tag. I did have some small flags added.

Sure do wish it would rain but the chances don't sound too good right now.  Went to Cabool yesterday evening to see The Wall That Heals-The Traveling VietNam Veterans Memorial and Museum. Had seen it a few years ago in another town-still impressive the second time.  My youngest brother was killed in Vietnam and we saw his name on the wall. Congrats to Cabool for a fine display over the holiday weekend.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY