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

You Go Girl!

Hello friends.  My health has been worse than usual for several months, so I haven't been posting or crafting much for that matter. This is also why I've been hit & miss about commenting on blogs.  Just too sick to keep up with anything extra. Normally there are about 23 foods total that I can eat without being sick due to my stomach problem.  Right now the only foods my tummy can tolerate are saltine crackers and oatmeal.  I'm trying not to take pain medicine as that makes my stomach problem worse.  Between the bad pain and the constant nausea it can be very hard to function.  But enough of my woes. :)

On to the card.  I have a friend who is on a weight loss journey and having been on that journey myself I know that encouragement is always welcome.  The image on the card front and the inside sentiment are digital stamps from Doodle Pantry. I tried to give the bird a bit of a feathery look with my coloring.

Inside the card.

Challenges:
 Word Art Wednesday #50 Encouraging or uplifting sentiments.

Twist of Faith Card Challenges #7 Your Favorite - Encouraging cards are my favorite kind to make & this card uses purple, which is one of my favorite colors.

For quite some time now I've been admiring planters made from vintage wooden chairs.  I never said anything to hubby about this.  Recently he came home telling me about this old chair he found that he wanted to turn into a planter and wondered what I thought of the idea.  It's rather amazing how often our minds come together on things without discussing them first.  I guess it comes from 31 years of terrific marriage. :)  So anyhow, this is a picture of the chair planter right after hubby finished it.  The chair has some seriously awesome chippy, old paint.  Makes my heart smile.

Blessings

• My mom came safely through surgery she had on Sunday.
• The lovely fall weather.  Such a wonderful time of the year!
• Happy mail. :)

Have a marvelous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Blue Christmas

Hi friends.  More Christmas in July today. :)  The digi image I used on this card is from Paper Cupcakes.  I'm not sure who makes the little sentiment stamp.  The hat is trimmed with some faux flower soft and I used Stickles on the ice.  The rest is just bits and pieces from my stash.

I'm entering these challenges:

Word Art Wednesday #36 - Encouraging or Uplifting Sentiment.

Stampin' Sisters in Christ #148 - Sparkle

2 Sisters #100 - Christmas in July

52 (Christmas) Card Throwdown - July Color Challenge

Catch the Bug Saturday Challenge - Christmas Cards for Kids.

Send A Smile 4 Kids - Christmas in July

Blessings

• My sweet, little dog snuggled up next to me.
• A great sale on some otc medications we neeeded. 
• I thank God for a husband who not only does the shopping, due to my health problems, but also searches to find excellent buys. 
• Mark bought a used flip side belgian waffle maker this weekend.  We had delicious, belgian waffles for supper tonight.
• Extra time with my sweetheart this afternoon. My favorite way to spend a day.

Have a marvelous day!!!

Blessings and hugs!
Shelly

Fresh Srawberries

It's a beautiful, sunny day here in Florida.  A nice change from all of the rain we've been having. We really needed the rain, but it's great to have a whole day of sunshine for a change.  A warm, southern welcome to my newest follower.  Thanks so much for choosing to follow my blog. :)

I love this digi image by Designed2Delight that I've used on my card.  Fresh fruit is such a treat and strawberries are a favorite of mine.  When I was a teen there was a "Pick Your Own" strawberry farm just down the road from my dad's house.  I used to spend a great deal of time there picking strawberries just so I could eat the strawberries fresh off the plant.  If they had weighed me before and after picking they would have charged me extra. ;)  The sentiment stamp is from International Greetings.  The image is colored with Prismacolor pencils. The punch is from Martha Stewart and I added some dew drops to the card for a bit of embellishment.

 Challenges:
Designed2Delight - Free Digi Challenge
Fab'n' Funky - Baker's dozen!

Blessings

• Nice fruit on the clearance table at the produce stand.
• A new devotional book that I'm getting so much from.
• Mark has been finding lots of used books for me lately - gotta read or a day isn't complete. :)

Have a fabulous day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Flower Fairy

Hello friends.  This sweet fairy stamp is from Stamps Happen.  I'm not sure if this stamp is retired or not.  I really enjoyed coloring it.  I used my Prismacolor pencils.  I added some Shimmerz on her wings. 

 Challenges:
Flutterby Wednesday - Open Week
Crafts and Me - Favorite Stamp/Image
Clear It Out Tuesday - Wing It Out

My little dog, Princess, loves nature.  She will try to make friends with almost any creature that comes along.  The other night she tried to befriend a Blue Land Crab.  Fortunately, it was on the other side of the fence or she may have ended up with a nasty pinch on her nose.  The crabs are about 6" across.

Her favorite friend is one of the squirrels in our back yard.  They spend a great deal of time entertaining each other.  Here are photos of the squirrel peering down at Princess from the tree and Princess peering back up at the squirrel. 

 

Blessings

• Our beautiful, nature-filled back yard.  One of my favorite places.
• I've been able to make some cards lately.
• A good report for my daughter from her doctor.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

Summer Delight

Summer Delight is what I'd name this digi stamp from Designed2Delight.  It includes so much that I love - the beach, flip flops and a star fish.  It's so me. ;)  It's a freebie from the Delightful Inspiration blog and you can get it through tomorrow.  The sentiment is from a digi set by CDSKT.  If anyone knows what the initials stand for, I'd be happy to include the entire name and link.  Sometimes I can't remember a company name when I only have the initials to go by.

I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils.  I popped the starfish and the sentiment up with some ds foam tape to give them some dimension.  I paper sculpted the flower in the dp to give it some dimension too.  I meant to ink the edges of the image and sentiment, but was chatting with Mark and watching tv while making the card and forgot.  Which just goes to show that I can't talk and craft at the same time. lol

 Challenges:
Designed2Delight Image Challenge
Scrap Creations - Summer
The Stamping Boutique - Summer Scene
The Crazy Challenge - On the Beach

Here's a picture I took of a butterfly on a Zinnia.  The Zinnia was beyond it's prime, but the butterfly is so beautiful that I had to share.  I so enjoy nature.

Blessings

• A voucher to have 101 pictures developed for free!!!
• A sweet phone call from a friend.
• A new color of nail polish that my dd gave me.  I can't wait to do my toes. :)

Have a terrific day!!!

Inky hugs!
Shelly

A Christmas Mouse

This is one of a wide variety of Christmas cards I made for this year. I usually only make one or two of the same card, because I get bored making the same thing over and over. Though sometimes I will use the same image many times and just change the layout of the card. I didn't get these two stamps to use together, but had them sitting on my desk and thought the mouse would look cute in the mitten and I do like him in there. : ) The stamps are both from JRL Design Company. These are the only stamps have from this company. I looked for the company online and only found used stamps for sale from them. But several sites mentioned that JRL Design company is related to D.O.T.S., which is now CTMH. An interesting bit of history. : ) The mitten and mouse are both colored with Prismacolor pencils and oms. I highlighted the white areas on the mitten with a white gel pen. The little squares in the corners are cut with a punch and have large white brads embellishing them.


I've had several people ask me about coloring with the Prismacolor pencils and oms (odorless mineral spirits). You don't have to use Prismacolor pencils, but they do work the best. If you have another brand of colored pencils, experiemt with them and see if they will work. They do have to be colored pencils, not watercolor pencils. I purchased my Prismacolor pencils at Amazon.com and they were a terrific buy. The odorless mineral spirits can be bought at the hardware store under the brand name Gamsol. You need blending stumps, which are inexpensive to purchase in the art section of a large craft store like Michaels. It's imporatant that you stamp your image with a permanent ink like StazOn, so it won't run. You also need a good quality smooth white cardstock. Here is a link to a great video that will walk you through the technique: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4912926818455764703


Have a wonderful day!!!


Inky hugs!
Shelly