Where is the SUN???

.....I know I saw a little bit of sunshine yesterday and even earlier this morning, but right now, it's all gray -- dark and dreary and looks like it's about to pour bucket!!  UGH!   We really have had way too much of this weather and I need some sunshine...very soon or I might mold!!

     On a nice note - I am actually feeling pretty good today, which is a blessing!  I also slept in this morning, for the first time this week and it felt good!  I have more energy today and I'm spending most of it working on new cards.

     I'm starting off with a few more of the cards that I created with the packet from card club on Tuesday.  The first is a very simple card, but the embossed/painted and glittered Graphics 45 - Metal Butterfly is what really makes this card.  They come in package of six and I bought a set while at the store on Tuesday.  To create this look, we first ran it through the Big Shot in a Sizzix embossing folder.  We then colored added color with alcohol inks and a blending tool....so easy and then topped it off with Stickles, a gem and two green pearl pins!!

   You can make them in virtually any color and embellish them in all kinds of fun ways.  I think they will be a lot of fun to create with.  They also have flowers and I'm sure there are other items similar on the market.

  T his card was also super easy to make and started with a simple die cut that was run through my Cuttlbug in a random embossing folder.  I then cut it in half and used it more like a frame on top of some Memory Box paper and cream colored card base.  I stamped "Heartfelt Wishes", which is from a brand new set of  Penny Black Stamps I also bought on Tuesday.  I then punched it out with a Circle punch and layered it on a larger circle, along with some pearl bling.    It was a very easy, but fun card to create and I think the Butterfly gives it that extra special touch.    This card was also inspired by this week's new challenge at Crafting By Designs.  Our theme for this Challenge is "Encouragement" and everyone is welcome to join in!

  My next card is one that was totally inspired and cased from the card that Kate shared with us in class and it features two of the cute Paper Smooches stamps, along with a matching Sentiment!  It's super cute and would make a fun friend card or the stamps could also be used for a cute invitation to a summer cookout.

....and again, featuring more Paper Smooches, this is another card from the class packet and one that was also inspired by a card that Kate created as a class sample.

     My next card was one that I created to share with the gals over in the Mixed Media Group at CMC.  It's also very special to me, as it features two of the adorable stamps from "M's Place" which is the brand new collection, created by my friend, Marti Wills.   If you would like to see the whole set, be sure to hope on over to SCACD, where you can find more inspiration from Marti too!   The houses and elements are sooo cute and you can easily create an entire scene with this one set.  I colored mine with a combination of Copics, Glitter, Glossy Accents and even some Pearl Paints.

    I just love whimsical stamps and images and when I first saw Marti's collection, (when we were all down in Baltimore), I knew I would be ordering my own set, once they were released!  I wish her lots of success with this set, and hope it will inspire her to create more!!   Way to go Marti!!

    My new two cards are also very much in a whimsical design and the first is a cute little Father's Day card that I created to submit to today's new Twisted Thursday Challenge at The Outlawz.  It's a cute little digi image that I've had in my stash for quite some time, but I have to admit, I forget where I bought it.  It's a super fun set of adorable stick people images and I paper-pieced on a little shirt and color the rest with Copics.  My sentiment was computer generated to match the colors and pretty much all the card stock ws from my stash.  The blue polka dot card base is from the only exception that is from Memory Box.

  I am also submitting this fun little card to the new Paper Piecing Challenge over at Do You Stack Up!!

• Do You Stack Up - # 75 - Paper Piecing Challenge

   This card was created for Tuesday's Color Combo Challenge, also hosted at The Outlawz and our Twist along with the colors was to add a Geometric Shape to our card.  For my shape I chose an Oval and even make my card base an oval shape.  My cute little digi snowman is from Bugaboo and he was colored to match this week's inspiration image, shown below.

  And, if you are still here and not bored to tears with the long post, I have one last card to share and this one was created simply for FUN.  I had colored up a bunch on digital images, when I wasn't feeling so hot and that's something I do often to relax.  That also makes it fun and easy to make a quick and easy card and that's exactly what this is -- a little 'Hug Bug' card!

  Before I sign off, I'm also giving a shout out to Michelle -- Page Master Designs, who I met this week online via our blogs and "A Blog Named Hero"!   As it turns out, we live very close to one another, and even shop at the same LSS, but had never met.   Now, we hope to get together soon and work on some cards, which will be awesome for me, since none of my local friends are crafters!  She's an amazing designer and I know it'll be a pleasure to meet her and do some stamping !!   I'm very much looking forward to it and very happy that she happened to notice we live in the same State--It is truly a small world !!

Peek - A - Boo....

....and not...I'm not talking about the cute little game I used to play with my boys, when they were little?  I wish, it was about fun!  I'm talking about the teeny, tiny bit of Peek-A-Boo sunshine, which is all we seem to have!   The sun is one for a few minutes and then you blink and it's gone and the clouds are back!    It's also very damp and soooo cold!!!   Gosh, it's early June, yet getting up this morning, it felt more like late winter, especially, when I heard the heat come on!  Who wants their heat turning on in June?   Not me!!  My whole body is aching terribly from this damp wet weather and I really want and need some full sun...very soon!!   Asking all my warm weather friends to please send me some SUNSHINE!!

     Yesterday, I was off and at my LSS (Absolutely Everything) to the monthly Card Club, which is a fun self-paced card making class that is help each month.  Normally, I LOVE being there and taking any kind of class, but yesterday was not a good day for me.   My pain level was really high and between that, the lousy weather and feeling out of it...I just did not have a great time.   Basically, I went through my packet and stamped all the images and then pretty much took every thing home to work on later and that's also what I'm doing today!  I did do a little shopping and that's always fun and I hope to go back on Sunday for the annual Yard Sale, that is held every Summer.   The girls were putting tons of inventory into the classroom (next door) for the sale and it sounds like this will be a huge sale.  It's also one where other vendors can come and rent a table and in the past, it's been really good.   If I go, I need to get there early and it's starts at 9 am, but the store opens at 8am.

      Out of all the cards we had in our packet, four of them featured some adorable images and now have me LOVING, more and more of the adorable stamp sets from Paper Smooches.   They are so fun and whimsical and I've been eyeing them on and off online pretty much since they came out.  I do have a couple of the sentiment sets and now will be adding more to my collection.

   Here is one of the new cards from class, and it's one of the four from class, that include some images from Paper Smooches.   This card also has lots of layers and I realized after I cam home, that I had to cut up some of my "cloud" paper to created the layers, and in the end, it made my sentiment a bit off, but I think it works with a fun card.

   This is another card, super easy to create and it features elements from this set, which is one I bought yesterday, while shopping.

     I also bought this Sentiment Sampler set, and this cutie, called Spring Grove.   I think they will all keep me busy and I'll have lots of fun creating some fun card!    Stand by for more to come in the next couple of days!!

   In addition to those cute cards, these are the others, that I have completed, so far and there are still more in my packet.   A great class and all for only $20, a great deal, if you ask me!!  This next card is totally different the inspiration card, from class.  The only thing the same is the Summer Sentiment stamp, all the rest, I created on my own and the background, was actually meant for a different card, but I thought it looked cut on this one.  The little bird is from my stash and I added a paper clip to give her a frilly tail and green pearl for her little eye.  The star buttons were also in my stash and I tied them on with green twine.

  And next is this sweet little Thank You card, which is was inspired by the card Kate shared in class.  I love the little flower pot and added the pearl bling to mine, one I came home.  I think she said they were from Maya Road, and we colored with them Distress Inks.  The card base for this one was created with a pice of Designer paper from Hero Arts and I have the exact pattern already in my stash, so I can easily re-create a card very similar!

  And then we have another style of Thank you card, that was very easy and fun to create!    This one was so easy, it's simple a piece of embossed cream card stock, that had been used to create a die cut, that used used on another card.   This is a great example of using leftovers and we kept this "negative" to use as a top layer for this card.  Next, we took a piece of Kraft Resist cardstock, and colored it entirely with ink.  I chose a Hero Arts Mid-tone Bubblegum Ink.   That was then adhered to a card based and we then used pop dots to add on the top layer.   I stamped the Sentiment in the same color, cut it down to the size shown, and added that on along with a couple of matching flowers....so easy, yet very pretty!!

   I'm also testing our my new digital camera, which arrived last night.   It's a Canon Power Shot SX150, that I ordered from QVC, when they had it on as a TSV and the price was almost $100 less than Canon's retail price and the lowest I found anywhere, the day I ordered it.    So far, I really like it and find it quite easy to use.  I'm not a great photographer and wanted a new camera that would take nice pictures of my cards and also be an upgrade to my older Camera which was an 8X Optical Zoom.   This one is a 12X Optical Zoom and not only has some very easy basic settings, but can also be set manually.   All the pics today were taken with the camera and it's a dark gloomy day.   I have 30 days to decide and if I had to choose today, I'd say I'm keeping it, but I'll be sure to give it more time, as I hate when I buy things and keep them, even though I don't love them.  My last camera also came from QVC and I've been very pleased with it.   This camera has a lot of great reviews, so I do HOPE I will continue to be happy with it!!!



  I'm off now to finish working on my cards and see what new fun challenges I can join this week.    I'm so happy to be in my warm home and have the rest of the day all to myself.  The insurance adjuster just left, after looking at the water damage and did say it's all covered.  But, how much we'll get, is another story, plus we do have a $500 deductible.  But...at this point, the water has stopped, the walls dried very quickly and hopefully, once we have the roof repaired, it will be over and done with.  I now need to contact someone about repairing the walls and then hope to hire someone to paint!  Wish me luck, as dealing with contractors is NOT my favorite thing!!

Still raining....but dry inside!!

  It's another gloomy and rainy day here in Massachusetts, but thankfully the rain is not nearly has heavy and the  winds seem to be slowing down.  We do not see any more water leaking in, which is also a good thing.   We did contact our insurance and the adjuster will be here on Wednesday to see the damage.    We also had a roofer come by and he told us that some of the roof shingles are missing and apparently have blown off?  And he knew exactly where the leak was, without even seeing it.   He will be back when the weather is improved to see what the best solution is?   To repair it or to replace the entire roof is what we now need to decided!   YUK!!   This is not the fun kind of stuff I like to spend money on, but we'll do whatever is best and what will keep up dry and safe from more damage!!

   I spend most of the morning cleaning up more in my craft room and finishing up the 'One Direction' collage that I have been working on for Demi.   I think it's about ready to do, now I just need to find a box to ship it in, so that it will be protected and also get to her by the end of the week.

  I also worked on two new cards and both are fun and cute cards that were inspired by some new challenges. The first card was created for the new "color themed" challenge being hosted over at "A Blog Named Hero" and also for this current Hero Arts June Challenge which is "Thinking of You".   My image is a digital image by Bugaboo which I colored to match the colors form the logo, as shown below!

   I sure hope I have them right, as every time I look at the colors I'm a bit confused on whether it's yellow or green, so I used a combination of both in my design!!   I colored this image with my Copics and then started working on my background.  I first created a pink layer, and next used my Hero Arts Friend Definition Stamp (CG125) to create the second Blue layer, my third layer is a limey green, which represents the yellow/green color on the logo.   My "Thinking of You" sentiment is from Hero and is from the Friends (CL351) set of clear stamps.  I also picked out matching bling from my Hero Stash and put everything together to make this new card.

Update:   I found out this morning that I made TOP 5 and received a fabulous Award from A Blog Named Hero.   Here is my latest badge, which I am truly excited to have won!!

  My second card was created for a new Greeting Card Challenge being hosted today over at The Outlawz Group, where this weeks' theme is all about bugs/insects.  I picked out a second Bugaboo Image for this challenge, and colored her up with my Copics.  I then simply picked out some papers from my scrap bin and layered everything together to make this cute little card.   My sentiment is computer generated and was created with a new font and I just LOVE, called Parsley and Parsnips!!  Isn't it cute!!   

   I find that I'm really enjoying coloring the past couple of days...it's always very relaxing and the perfect way to keep me busy and keep my mind of wet walls and such!!   LOL!   Tomorrow, I'm heading to my LSS and will be taking this month's Card Club Class, which should be fun.  I'm not sure what the theme is and we never know until that day, but we did get a message this time to bring our favorite coloring medium and to expect to colors some fun and cute images!   I have also packed up a random selection of my Copics to bring with me!  I typically only take about 72 to a class, as I don't want to have to haul too much and don't want to chance losing any.

  Oh, and speaking of Copics, I'm going to be trying the newest line of Alcohol Markers which are the TOUCH Markers by ShinHan Art.    I ordered a set of 3skin-tone colors to try out, as these are far less pricey than the Copics.   Luckily, I have completed my Copic collection, but I still have quite a few refills to add.  It's a bummer that the Copic prices continue to increase over and over again.    I'm thinking if these color even close to my Copics, then I may add some new colors this way, versus buying my Copics!!   Yes, I do LOVE my Copics and so far, NOTHING has come close, but you never know.    It sure would be nice to have a nice alternative and a new way more crafters to enjoy creating with alcohol markers!    You can find them over  Susana's Custom Art and Card Design.   I ordered mine of Friday, and guess what---they have just arrived!!  WOOHOO!   I love Susana's super fast shipping and I'm excited to try them, along with a very sweet new set of Stamps, that were created by my friend, Marti-(Pezadoodle).  They are such a sweet set and will be perfect for using on Cards as well as Mixed Media projects!!     Marti!!   Check out the set, called M's Place -- they are super cute!!  

  I'm off now to for the day, so I can give them a try and then finish packing my craft bag for tomorrow's class!  I haven't been up to the store for awhile and they are having some awesome sales, to make room for all the new goodies that will come out at CHA!   I also printed out the new Class Supply list from the next class I'm taking in July.   It's the new Stretch Your Stamps class being hosted by Jennifer and Kristina and I enrolled last week.   This is one of the few classes, where I don't have many of the stamps sets on the list, so I want to add some to my collection, before the class starts on July 9th.  I love that they give the list in advance and that we also have promo codes for discounted shopping too!     I'm sure little by little, I'll add the sets I want and find some alternatives too!    Hope to see all my former classmates in the new class and for those of you who have not signed up, you can go HERE for all the details!!

Rain, Rain -- Please go Away....!!

   Yuk!!  I've never been a fan of rain or windy nights, but after seeing our bedroom walls this morning, I really like it even less.   And, it's not bad enough that we have some type of roof leak, but it's also not going to clear up for most of the week, if at all!!  
 
    Just when things seem to be going well, and we are starting to get our house all re-organized and such...we now have a water damage issue that needs fast attention, and of all places it's leaking in our master bedroom, which is actually in the newest (addition) part of our home.  Granted, we had the addition built just about 15 years ago, but we still never expected our roof to give us any issue at this point.  We do think and hope that maybe the wind forced the rain up under the shingles and that's what cuased this nice mess on our bedroom wall.

   The water actually leaked in in two separate areas, one right behind my dresser and the other behind hubby's which is where I first noticed it this morning.   Then after checking further we noticed the same thing was behind my dresser, but somewhat hidden by my mirror.   We will be calling our insurance company first thing tomorrow and will go from there to see what may be covered and what we can expect from them.

     The only good thing, if there is one, is that I wanted to repaint this room in the Fall, and we've been wanting to remove the awful popcorn ceiling, pretty much since the day it was done.  We have already removed it in the family room downstairs, but our room has tall cathedral ceilings, and it is a messy job, but I guess it will have to be done now, as I do NOT want more popcorn....ever again!  It's the most awful stuff they ever came up with and so hard to try and keep clean!

  Once we found this, we put on a fan and DH removed a big bubble of water that was sitting behind the paint.  I'm sure we'll also have to replace at least part of the wall and hope it did not damage the insulation or even more that we can't see yet.  I'll also need to start calling some contractors to see who can come quickly and do a good job.  The contractor that built our addition, was awful and I would NEVER hire him again.  He went way over the time line and at the end, he rushed and only showed up, about once a week.  I know had we not held the final payment, he probably never would have finished...!   

   Once hubby had that somewhat under control, I headed to my craft room to work on a project I started yesterday.  It's for my friend Jini's daughter and it's going to be a 12X12 Collage type layout of her favorite band "One Direction", which until Friday night I had never even hear of.   LOL!!   A few years back, I had made Jini a collage of the Twilight Series, for her Birthday and she just loved it.  

   Demi, her daughter, had asked her if she would ask me to make her something like it, but using the band photos and her colors, which are red and white.   This is a sneak peak of what I have done so far, and I hope to have it finished some time tomorrow!!  I sure hope she likes it!   When I make Jini's it was pretty much a surprise, and I made it all up as I went along.  Demi, was kind enough to email the photos she wanted to include and also told me she wanted a red background with white lettering.  The design is a basic collage and it was fun making a second one.  I'll frame it in a frame, just like Jini's and send it off in a couple of days!

   After I pute that aside to dry for a while, I started on some new cards for challenges and the first is this week's CAS Challenge at The Outlawz, which is all about things that make me happy.  I was a bit stumped at first, and was browsing for some inspiraition and that's when I found a wonderful card over at the Hero Arts group, that I decide to pretty much CASE for my card.   The card I love was created by TRace44, and was her take on the newest HeroArts Sketch, which you can find HERE on the HeroArts Blog and also below.

  And this is the fabulous card by TRace44 --  that inspired me  --  Isn't is awesome!!   I also happen to LOVE this Sentiment and knew it was exactly what I wanted to use for my CAS Card!!

Created by TRace44

And this is the sketch that inspired us both!!

   So far, I have made two cards for this challenge and this first one is my card for today's CAS Challenge, where Joyful or Happy inspired card are this weeks' theme.  I also chose one of my all time favorite color combos which is Red, White and Black!!    Additionally, I will plan to submit my card to the HeroArts Challenge and have shared it in the Flickr Gallery with thanks to TRace44, for her wonderful inspiration!!  

  I then continued on to make a second card all based on the same sketch and idea and this one is all about LOVE and would be perfect for a Valentine, Wedding or even an Anniversary card.  It too will be submitted to the HeroArts June Sketch Challenge and also this the Wedding Challenge being hosted at Crafting By Designs.  All of the patterned papers from both cards are from Echo Park - Yours Truly and both cards were from a HeroArts Set.  The sentiments are both from the same Hero Arts Set - Made with Love, which has always been one of my favorites.

  My last card today was created using the same Hero Arts Sentiment Set and was created for the new Sketch Challenge over at OWH's Stars and Stamps Blog.   Below is a copy of the sketch that I used for my card, which is # 124!

  And this is my card, which I am very happy to be sharing, as I had missed out on the past two week's of sketch challenges, which are typically challenges, I never miss.   I am also working on my next package of cards to send to Operation Write Home and hope to inspire you to share some of your card creations with this awesome group.   If you would like to help - please go HERE for all the details!    Every card is greatly appreciated and you'll love doing your part to support our Troops!   

  And now I'm off to clean off my desk and see what project I can work on next.   I think it's going to be another card for the newest Hero Arts Challenge, and this time I'm going to use the "Thinking of You" theme and then have another card to put in my OWH Envelope!

   Hoping that our weather forecast is totally wrong and that instead of more rain, we'll actually have some sunshine.  In the meantime, I am still hoping that the Rain will go AWAY, and NOT come back another day!

Fun Stuff!!!!

 First, I want to say CONGRATULATIONS to Marti Wills (aka Pezadoodle) for having her very first set of Stamps released to the craft world today!!   You can find her cute set over at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design, along with a wonderful variety of craft goodies that will work perfectly with these adorable images.   I had the opportunity to see and use them when we were all down in Baltimore and I have been very excited to have the chance to buy the full set.   Today is that day and I hope you'll hop on over and check them out.   Then be sure to come on over to the Mixed Media/Altered Art Group at the Color Me Creative Classroom and share your new projects with us there!  Marti runs that group, which is totally free and open to all!   I hope to see you there very soon!

  I am kind of out of it today and not feeling so great!  I found that the minor surgery yesterday, turned out to be more than I had anticipated.  Luckily, my doctor was able to "freeze" another suspected skin cancer and the worst of that is over, except for the swelling.  That burning pain is miserable at the time, but it's fast and works, so I'm glad it is done.   On top of that I had to have a rather large cyst removed, and that second procedure was not fun!  It ended up being much deeper and more intense than I had thought.  Needless to say, I'm kind of feeling it today and hope that it will heal quickly and the pain level will diminish over the weekend!!   On the upside I am happy it's over and one with and that I don't even have to go back for suture removal.  All of the sutures she put in yesterday, are the type the dissolve on their own, which is a blessing.  So barring any problems, I don't have to go back and she'll call me with the lab results this week, but feels certain it's a typical cyst and no follow-up will be needed!  Phew!!

   Moving on to happier thoughts --  I have two new cards to share today and both were created for challenges at The Outlawz Group.  The first is a Gate-fold card and it was put together for the Twisted Thursday Challenge, which you'l find here!!   The challenge is anything goes, but you will need to create a gate-fold (any style) for your project.   I made a simply style, and added a band that holds it closed for mailing etc.  The inside sentiment is a digi sentiment and I colored it with my Copics and Glossy Accents!!  It turned out fun and I'm glad I took on the challenge!!

  My second card was created for the new Copic/ProMarker Challenge, which you find HERE!!  The girls have created and colored the most gorgeous cards this week and many of the wonderful images have come from Saturated Canary.  If you have not seen these images, they are all awesome and I just bought my first four to add to my digi collection.   For this challenge, I picked an older digi that I just love from By Lori Designs and I colored her up with my Copics to put together this fun, yet simply card.  

   My Mojo, especially, when it comes to coloring, is definitely not here today!!  On top of this image, which I still do NOT love, I also colored up three others, all of which are now sitting in the bottom of my recycle bin!!  YUK!!!   Let's HOPE tomorrow is much better!!   

   As you can see this is NOT one of my best cards, but I like to show the good and bad and it also helps to inspire me and makes me practice more.   And speaking of coloring practice, I am now signed up for the Level 5--Copic Coloring Class with Suzanne Dean at her Online classroom and I know I need it!!  I love Suzanne's Classes and have learned so much from her, so I know this class will be a great help!!   If you are looked for the best Copic Classes available, I highly recommend you start with Suzanne and you can find ALL her classes, along with some fun "freebie" groups and challenges over in the classroom here!!     Come on over and check out all the projects in the Gallery, or one of the groups open to all!  There are also a variety of other classes, with something for everyone!  I think this is about my 8th or 9th class and I've been so happy with each one and also made a lot of great friends! 

   Oh, and speaking of classes that I LOVE -- Today, I also signed up for the brand new card class series that Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner will be hosting starting July 9th, over at their Online Card Classroom.   It's a brand new series called "Stretch Your Stamps" and it was inspired by the One Stamp/Three Ways class that was part of the CAS series, earlier this year!!   I think it'll be fun and I've taken every class and always been pleased.   I also LOVE the fabulous discounts we get from the sponsor stores and you can bet I'll be shopping for some new stamps from the class supply list!!  If you are interested, you can join too and sign up HERE!!

  And that's it for me for today!   I am going to make something super easy for dinner, then take a very long hot shower....put my feet up and rest!!   I have a lot of fun projects I want to get started on this weekend and sure hope my MOJO will be back!!

  Have a fantastic Friday night and a nice weekend!!   We have rain and nasty weather coming, so it's good that I have plenty to keep me busy -- inside!