Caught

Hi friends.  Today I'm popping in to share a Valentine card with you.  The image and the sentiment inside the card are both from Deedee's Digis.  They have a progressive monthly challenge at Deedee's Digis, which sounds like a lot of fun.  The January digi set is free, so it's easy to get started.  I gave the penguin googly eyes for a bit of extra whimsy.

Here you can see where I added some "shine" to the water.

And here's the sentiment inside the card. :)

Challenges:
Deedee's Digis - Jan. Digi of the Month Challenge
Digitally Sweet Challenges - #125 Anything Goes
Eureka Stamps Challenge - #125 Hearts
Fairytale Challenge - #110 Something with a heart
Sister Act Card Challenge - #91 Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday - #168 Anything Goes

Blessings

• Today marks the third anniversary of my daughter's community outreach ministry!  
• Our little electric fireplace.  It sure warms our home well on a chilly night.
• Learning some new Bible study helps on the computer.

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!

Shelly

Hello

Hi friends.  I've been missing for quite awhile and several of you have very kindly checked with me to see if I'm okay.  So I figured I better add a quick post and let everyone know what is going on.  I've been very ill with a combination of things that have kept me out of circulation.  I'm doing some better, but still not up to creating or doing many other things I need and want to do.  But the good news is that my spirits are high and I know this will pass and I'll be back to doing my normal things.  I have a great support team between God and my family.

I wanted to let you know that my sweet friend, Deedee, will be closing Deedee's Digis on May 14th.  So if you want to buy any of her digis, this is the final week to do so.  Deedee is offering a whooping 75% off of all of her digis right now.  That is practically giving them away!  So be sure to stock up on what you want before this wonderful store closes forever.  The code you need for the discount is on the home page of her store.  Below is one of Deedee's $1.00 sets that I love. 

Blessings

• The help and pampering my husband and daughter have given me while I'm ill.
• The out pouring of prayers, get well wishes, cards, & gifts from family & friends. 
• A wonderful Mother's day. :)

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

That's A Lot!!!

Hello friends. This is a special card for my hubby.  This sentiment says it all. lol   This is the More Than Chocolate set from Deedee's Digis.  It's another one of Deedee's terrific $1.00 sets.  I adore these little sets.  You can afford to buy a new set for any and every occasion or just because.  I apologize for my poor pictures.  I had to take them very early in the morning before the sun was bright enough to give me the best natural light.   It made the white areas have weird shadows.  I used a Cuttlebug Embossing folder on the lower portion of my card.  I tied a bit of hemp through my button to add a slightly masculine touch.  My hubby will be okay with all of the pink on the card, because it's from me and he knows how much I love pink.

This close up view of the chocolate shows the bit of shine on it to make it look more like the real thing.  Are you craving chocolate yet? lol  I colored the image with Prismacolor markers, Prismacolors pencils, gel pens and glaze pens.

Here's the rest of the sentiment on the inside of the card.  Isn't it a perfect sentiment for a chocolate lover to give to someone they love?

I'm so sorry I haven't been getting around to visit and comment on blogs.  I'm battling several physical problems above and beyond my normal ones and to be honest I've been feeling awful.  I'm undergoing tests.  My afternoon out with hubby on the weekend was absolutely awesome, but a bit too much for my strength right now.  It was so worth it though. :)

Blessings

•  A very uplifting testimony from a young woman who has been through severe physical battles.
• Hubby found some good, used books for me.  I love to read.
• Unexpected phone visits with several family members.
• Safety driving to the Dr. in a bad storm yesterday while I was feeling terrible.

I believe my pretty little bird I spotted the other day was an Orchard Oriole.  They only pass through this area during migration.  They like sweet foods and we have humming bird nectar out.  It has been disappearing at an extremely fast rate, so we suspect the Orchard Oriole has been enjoying it. :)

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Eggstra Special!

Hello friends!  As soon as I saw this beautiful new set from Deedee's Digi's I knew I had to make a glittery, shimmery egg shaped card with it.  This is the Dollar Set at Deedee's digis this week.  You can get it for free by participating in this week's Happy Monday Challenge and using one of Deedee's digis on your entry.  The sentiment "Happy Easter!" is included in the set. 

This view shows how shimmery and glittery my card is in real life.

 Challenges:
Cooking It Up With Katie
Sweet Stamps
Incy Wincy Designs

Magical Monday

This is a picture of one of the two big Oak trees in my back yard.  This is the one that I can see from the window of my craft room.  This tree is one of my blessings.  The tree itself is gorgeous and I love the wild life that it shelters.  Everything from birds to raccoons.  When I opened the back door to take this picture I spotted a squirrel and 5 species of birds in my Oak tree at a glance.  I would have seen more if I had taken time to study it more carefully. 

Blessings

• The boy's ranch where we work and live just celebrated it's 46th anniversary!  To God be the glory!!!
• A surprise long distance call from my 8 yr. old niece.  That's something I'll treasure. :)
• Fabulous happy mail!
• A lovely answer to prayer for some special friends.

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A Pocketful of Joy

Hello friends.  It seems hard to believe that it's already Thursday.  This week has flown by for me.

My card is made with the Pocketful of Joy set from Deedee's Digis.  This sweet set is only $1.00.  It's so versatile and uplifting.  I just love it!  I feel like the center of the card is rather bare looking, but it's too late now. :(

 I colored the image with Prismacolor Markers, Bic Mark-It Markers, Prismacolor pencils, chalks, and gel pens.

I embellished my card with Sizzix flowers and leaves, Cuttlebug vines, various buttons, and a darling bird stick pin that my mom sent to me.  Thanks mom. :)

Challenges:
Cooking It Up with Katie
Clear It Out
Digital Tuesday
Top Tip Tuesday

Today's Tip: Thin a thick, white glue (such as Elmer's Craft Bond Glue) with water.  Paint it over a stamped and colored image.  When it dries, it makes a beautiful semi-gloss finish.  I especially like this finish on my moon stamps.

Blessings:

• A wonderful answer to prayer!!!!
• Terrific happy mail!!!
• A friend who is battling cancer received good news.
• A fabulous family day.

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Time to Bloom Blog Hop

Spring is such a marvelous time of year! A time of warming weather, of lengthening days, and best of all, a time of vibrant colors and new life -- a time to BLOOM! Join the Deedee's Digis Design Team this weekend as we celebrate the start of this very special season with a "Time to Bloom" blog hop!

If this is your first stop on the hop, be sure to go to the Crafting with Deedee's Digis blog, where you will find the directions for participating in the hop, a chance to win the grand prize of a $15 credit to our store, AND a little gift for you!  If you get lost along the hop, you can also go back to the Crafting with Deedee's Digis blog to find the list of blogs.

My project for the hop was inspired by my sister, Sheila.  She makes gorgeous pen bouquets and I thought I'd give it a try for our "Time to Bloom" Hop.  The flower pens were quick and easy to make.  My sweet husband made the majority of these. :)  Here's a link with instructions.  

I used stamps from several sets to decorate my flower pot.  The little bear is from the Lucky Teddy set.  I snipped off the clover that the teddy holds and replaced it with a flower from the BEE-LIEVE set. The sentiment is from the Early Bird set.  I colored my image with Prismacolor pencils and oms.

This is what the pen looks like when it's in use.

Before you go, please be sure to leave me a comment in order to be entered to win $5 in free digis of your choice from the Deedee's Digis store! You have until 12 noon Eastern Time on Sunday to comment. I'll choose a random winner then, and all winners will be announced on Monday at Crafting with Deedee's Digis -- be sure to check back then to see if you've won.  Thanks so much for joining us today, and may all the blessings of Spring be yours!

Your next stop on the hop is Stephanie.

Challenges:
Delicious Doodles
Mami Doodles

Stamping with the Dragon
Wags N Whiskers

Inky hugs!

Shelly 

Christ Is Risen!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!!  I hope you remembered to wear green today so that no one pinches you. :)  I was thinking I might have to spend the day in my jammies in order to wear green, but remembered an outfit I have with green in it.  Bummer!  There goes a good excuse for a comfy day in my jammies. lol

My card is made with the gorgeous Christ Is Risen digital stamp set by Deedees Digis.  I kept my card simple, because I wanted the beautiful cross image to be the only place your eye is drawn on this card.  I colored my image with Prismacolor pencils and oms and then coated it with a glaze pen to give it the appearance of a stained glass window.  I scored the edges of the dark purple layer and the corners of the shimmery lavender card, added 3 small rhinestones and that was it.

Maybe you can see the shine on the image better in this close up view.

Again, I kept the inside of the card simple, so that the focus would be on the words of this lovely sentiment, which is part of the Christ is Risen set.

Challenges:
House of Gilli
Lexi's Creations

Important!!!
Don't forget that the "Time to Bloom" blog hop for Deedee's Digi's starts tomorrow morning.  I'm so excited!  We have great things in store for you.  Beautiful eye candy, prizes at every stop, a grand prize and a freebie.  Deedee has really pulled out the stops.

Blessings

• For the past two nights a Mockingbird has been singing in our back yard between 12:30a.m. and 2:30a.m.  A very unusual, but beautiful occurrence.
• We figured out what was making our little dog feel so bad and she's doing better.
• My sweet husband, who is always there for me.  He's such a special man.

Have a wonderful day!!!  Don't forget to share a smile with someone. :)

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A Basket of Easter Blessings

Hi friends.  We're in the midst of a glorious spring here in Florida. (Except for the pollen. lol)  I hope that spring will soon arrive in your area, if it hasn't already.  This Easter card is made with an adorable set called Gifts of Spring from Deedee's Digis.  The set is a terrific value at $2.50 for this darling image and three lovely sentiments.

Here's the inside of the card, which shows one of the sentiments from the set.

Challenges:
Free 4 ever
Crafty Creations
Paper Pretties
The Pixie Cottage
Ladybug Crafts Ink

Please hop long on our blog hop at Crafting with Deedee's Digis, March 18-20th.  We guarantee you a blooming good time with beautiful projects, a free digi, prizes at every blog stop, and a grand prize at Crafting with Deedee's Digis.

 Blessings

• Lots of happy mail!!!
• Listening to a Mockingbird sing while I sat on the porch swing with the dogs.
• Special notes from my family and friends.
• Some outside noise that was interrupting my sleep has stopped.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Lucky Teddy

Hello friends.  I made a tri-fold tag for St. Patrick's Day using digital stamps from Deedee's Digis and lots of bling. I love the little teddy bear.  He's so cute and cuddly. There's a new project to see every day at Crafting with Deedee's Digis and don't forget the Happy Monday Challenge.  Every week Deedee offers a free digi stamp set if you make a card using one of her digis.  If you need a digi to get started, you can pick up a free one to try at her store.  The winner of the challenge gets to select a stamp set from Deedee's Digis. 

Here's a close up view of the tag, so that you can read the sentiments more easily.

Challenges:
Doodle Pantry
Tip Top Tuesday
Tuesday Throwdown

Blessings

• My niece was in a car accident today, but she's okay.  A family friend, who is a former police officer, passed by and was able to help her.  That's not a coincidence.
• Happy mail!!!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

O Give Thanks!

Happy Thursday friends!!  Wow! It can't get much better than it is here in Florida right now.  We seem to be having an early spring and I'm really enjoying it and am so thankful for it.  My wall hanging has a verse about giving thanks.  The verse is a digital stamp from Deedee's Digis. Visit the Crafting with Deedee's Digis blog to see a great new project every day.  The ribbon is a $1 roll from Michaels, the gems are by Darice and everything else is bits and pieces from my stash.

Maybe in this close up view you can see that all of the papers are sparkly.

Challenges:
Crafty Creations
Paper Pretties
Sweet Stamps

Blessings

• Each day more leaves are starting to open on the bushes in the woods.  Things are becoming green again!
• Special happy mail!
• A homemade M&M brownie.  You all know I adore plain M&M's.  This was an awesome combination. :)

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Stop and eat the daisies!

Good morning, friends!  I made this card for my DT post on Crafting with Deedee's Digis.  I used the new release set, Seize the Daisy.  I love the sentiment, plus I wanted to use googly eyes on the goat. :)  It's such a fun set.  Check out the rest of the new release sets at Deedee's Digis.  Remember, you get 50% off your order this week in celebration of the Grand Reopening!  Use the special coupon code found here.

I colored the image with Prismacolor markers and Prismacolor pencils.  I used some burlap paper to add to the farm feeling and faux stitched the edges of it.  I popped up the daisy in the goat's mouth, added a popped up daisy to the sentiment, and gave the goat a shiny nose and googly eyes.

Blessings

• The Jacaranda tree out back is starting to get leaves.  It's a warm weather tree, so I'm hoping this is a sign of spring. :)
• I won blog candy at Holley's Blog!!
• It's a gorgeous, sunny day!!!!!

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Exciting news!

I'm very happy to share that I'm now a member of the design team for Deedee's Digis.  As you all know, I love Deedee's stamps.  They're so full of joy.  You can't help but smile when you see them.

Deedee's Digis has big news today.  They're opening a new web store and to celebrate they're offering 50% off your entire order using a special code!!!  You can read all about it here.

Today's card is for the CDAC Sketch Challenge, which is hosted by Deedee's Digis.  You receive this sweet St. Patrick's Day set to use and the winner will get to choose 2 digi stamp sets from Deedee's Digis. 

 

I colored my image with Prismacolor markers, Prismacolor pencils and ink pads. You can see in this close up view that I popped up two of the shamrocks, the snails body is shiny and it's shell is shimmery.

Blessings

• My new Design team position.
• Everything in the woods behind our home is brown and dead from the hard freezes we've had this winter, but there's one green bush with beautiful yellow flowers all over it.  I've never seen this bush before.  It's so pretty.
• I've lost 25 lb. now!!!
• Had a great, early Valentine date with my hubby Friday night. :)

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Purple Passion

Hi friends.  My pain level is very high this evening, so I'll keep this brief.  The image and sentiment for this card are a set from Deedee's Digis.  Be sure to check out Deedee's challenge blog, where you can earn a free set just by by using her stamps when you enter the challenges.  Can you tell that I like purple? :)

Challenges:
Crafting with Deedee's Digis
Sentimental Sundays
Phindy's Place
Wags n Whiskers
The Crazy Challenge

Blessings

• Happy Mail today!
• Hubby found a season of Family Affair at the library on dvd.  I used to adore that show when I was in kindergarten.  He's always doing thoughtful things for me. :)
• Good news about a friend that has cancer!!!!

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Feelin' the Love

Good evening from chilly Florida.  We live in an old home that is very drafty and we're struggling to keep it warm tonight.  It's supposed to get down to 33F.  Not typical Florida weather, though we've been having far more than usual of that type weather this winter.

This card will warm your heart.  The elephant is a digital stamp from Deedee's Digis.  Deedee gave away the set with the elephant in it last week for taking part in her challenge.  The love ticket is a freebie from Stamp Happy!. I used my SU Heart to Heart punch, my Fiskars heart border punch, rhinestones and a tiny button for embellishments. 

Challenges:
Crafting with Deedee's Digis
Scrap Creations
Bunny Zoe's Crafts
Lexi's Creations

Blessings

•  Happy Mail!!!
• Sweet friends. :)
• New audio books from the library to listen to while I craft.

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Just Bee-cause!

Hi friends.  I hope you had a good weekend.  Mine was very good.  Our daughter arrived back from a pet sitting job and it's so nice to see her.

This cheerful card is made with a digital stamp set from Deedee's Digis.  Beware, her digis are addictive. :)  Some day I hope to own her whole collection. I added a silk flower with a button center to embellish my card.

I'm entering my card in the following challenges:
Crafting with Deedee's Digis
Do You Stack Up?
Sentimental Sundays

Blessings

• My daughter has had plenty of pet sitting business with the holidays & she has been safe throughout.
• Watermelon in January - what a yummy gift!!!
• Phone visits with my mom & both of my sisters. :)

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly