Purple Tulips....

.....or tulips in any color are typically some of the first flowers to start blooming in our area.   They are also one of my favorite flowers and I love seeing them popping up in the garden.  It's still too early here, but it won't be long now, plus you can readily find them "in bloom" at your local garden center!

     Today I'm creating my own little form of "Spring" in my cards and my first card today, was inspired by a wonderful floral card that Vicki created at this's week's MUSE over at the Muse Challenge Blog.   I'm so excited to have a card for this week, because I have missed out for the last two challenges and it's a favorite!!    I'll start by sharing Vicki's card and hope it may inspire you to create and play along too!!

Vicki's Card

My Card

      Clearly we both using much different stamps and colors, but I loved her basic design and the idea of adding a nice ribbon to the top of the card.   My card features two stamps from Hero Arts.  The first this gorgeous floral stamp, "Everything Flowers", which is one of the large cling background stamps from my Hero Stash.  The sentiment is from the "Truly Appreciated" and is one I have used often.   For my card I started by masking of the top portion of my card front, so I could easily stamp on the bottom only.  I then took a variety of pink and purple Tombow and Stampin' Up markers and colored directly onto the stamp and then spritzed it with a very light mist of water right before I stamped.  Once it was dry, I stamped on my Sentiment, and then using Vicki's idea of  "coloring and popping" up one of the greetings I chose the work YOU and re-stamped that in the same pink color I had used for my flower.  My final step was to add my bow...and please know, I'm still challenged whenever I try to add a bow to my card.  Even with my little bow maker, they never seem to look as wonderful as they should.  Look at Vicki's for example - now that is an awesome bow!!   Mine....well let's just say, I'm not giving up, I will continue to try to learn to make fabulous bows!!  

    My next card is again another challenge card and I was also happy to see that I still had time to get this one created and added before the challenge ended.  It's for the current "Sketch" challenge over at Reverse Confetti, which you'll find HERE!!   I'm also sharing a copy of the "SFYTT" (Sketch for your to Try), and again hope you will join me and give it a try!  

Sketch # 11

My Card

   I didn't even notice, until now that the colors I used on my card, are also very much like the sketch, but that was just one of those things and was not planned.   Pretty much all the papers and even the card base that I used, were ALL on my desk or in my scrap bin, making it very easy to put this together!!    I do love these bright vibrant colors and also think the sketch was a fun one to work with.   I used two of my RC Dies, Tag Me, along with this Scalloped Border, which I also love.    The sentiment is also from Reverse Confetti and has become one of my most used Sentiment Sets, I just love the fonts and they also stamp very well.  

  And that bring me to my last card of the day, which is the card that actually inspired the title of today's post.  It's another Spring inspired card and I used one of my favorite new Penny Black Stamps for this one.   I know you've seen it before, but I simply LOVE it!!   This stamp is called Promise and it's such a pretty image of three pretty tulips!

   As I did on my first card today, I used my water-based markers (Tombows and Stampin' Up) markers and colored directly onto my stamp.  Right before I stamped my image, I added a very light mist of water and quickly stamped it onto white cardstock.  Watercolor paper works very nicely too, but this was on my desk already, so it was fast and easy.  Once my image dried I used a circle die to cut it out and then created a matching frame one size larger.  My card base was created with more of the scraps and pieces of cardstock on my desk.  The textured/glittery piece behind the flowers was created using a Woodgrain stamp (Hero Arts) and stamping it with "Sticky Embossing Powder", which I quickly covered with some Purple Glitter embossing powder.   It's not a vibrant as I hoped, but is a fun way to add texture!!  My sweet little sentiment stamp is one I found on my last trip to my LSS.  It's by Impression Obsession and is perfect for any type of spring floral card!  

   And that is it for today, but before I go I want to remind everyone to please be sure to stop by on Monday, for the very special Card Drive/Blog Hop that I have joined to support the "Fight on Little Lauryn" Fundraising and Card drive!   You can read all about Lauryn and her battle with Leukemia on my earlier blog post HERE!   There will be some nice prizes along the hop and if you come by here, I'll have my own Blog Candy to Giveaway too!!    

The Hop Starts HERE!!

Polka Dotted Pink Overalls....

....and feel free to stay away!   Yikes, did it ever pour buckets though the night and unfortunately, after such a snowy winter, we really do not need any rain.  Sure wish there was a magical way I could send it off to the places that need it badly.    Thankfully, after a nasty night and early morning, is now over as is most of the day!   The weather people said it would clear early and be nice, guess they were wrong?  Seems it's truly a challenge to predict any weather here in New England.

    The good news is the forecast is for better weather and maybe even a very nice weekend, which would be perfect as my sweet little grandniece will be Christened on Sunday at Palm Sunday Mass.   And one of my goals for today was to work on a card for her special day!    Not an easy task, when you don't rally have any images that relate to a Christening or Baptism, or even many baby designs.  I'm longing for the day that I become a Grammy, and since it's still going to be a while, I really have not invested much in the baby theme yet!!    That gave me the idea of using my Silhouette and I quickly found I had lots of adorable images and card ideas already in my Library!  Yippee!    I decided I wanted to make something cute and girlie, so I wne with this adorable little "Baby Overalls Card" that I created in a theme of pink and white.   I just LOVE Pink Polka Dots and thought that using that on my card would be super cute!!   Little "Rowen", is a beautiful lil' one and I can actually picture her wearing something just like this!

    Not only did I find this cute design, but it also turned out to be a very easy to cut and create kind of card. All I needed was three different colors and I started by cutting the overalls in a pretty pink cardstock, and I then did a second run, where I cute the little straps, pocket and "bloomers" in white, along with the pink polka dotted paper which was used for the overall front and the sweet little flower on the pocket!   If you would like to add this design to your collection, you can find it in the Silhouette Store HERE!  This file was designed by StudioIlustrado and is truly as cute as can be.  I'm going to make a matching envelope with my WRMK Envelope Board and then will have one more thing I can check of my list!  

    The next thing on my list was to work on my card for the April Card Chain, that I belong to.  It's actually open to any and ALL card-makers and is hosted over at Deborah Nolan's blog - Society of Stampholics and is a monthly event.   All you need to do is sign up, create a card, we always have a wonderful choice of themes, sketches and ideas, and then email your card off to Deborah by the time states. She then randomly shuffles the names and sends out an email to all participants telling you who you will send your card too.  It's really fun and you'll soon start to build up a wonderful assortment of cards from all over the world.   Later in the month, after all the cards have been received, the monthly card reveal is posted. You can go HERE, to see the March Reveal.   Should you have any more questions, please feel free to visit this section of Deb's Blog!   I hope I can inspire more of your to sign up and enjoy this monthly card swap!! 

    I am very excited to have completed my card for April and wanted to share it here today!  Hopefully the recipient will not be one of my blog followers and so that it doesn't ruin her surprise?    I decided to use the color combination (Pink, Teal and Yellow) and also went with the theme of "Friends" to create my card, where I again has used one of my favorite new Penny Black Stamps, First Dance!  Yes, it's true, I am a bit obsessed with Penny Black these days, but wow, these new stamps are just stunning!!

  I started this card by choosing my stamp and instead of stamping and coloring it with my Copics, I wanted to again try more of the "Watercolor" look, so I grabbed my Tombow Markers and pulled out the colors I wanted to match this month's color combination -- Pink, Dark Teal and the Yellow.  I then simply colored directly onto the stamp, and once it was all colored, I used my Mini Mister and sprayed on a very fine layer of mist.  I then immediately stamped it onto my white card base and set it aside to dry.   My next goal was to add a bit more color, so I used scraps of deep teal and yellow and cut two thin strips to run the each side of the card.  The final step was my sentiment and knowing I wanted some kind of "Friend" greeting, I thought this one from Hero's "Live Life" Set, was perfect.  I completed the card by adding 3 little enamel dots!   Hope you like it!  

  That brings me to my last card today, which was created for fun and will likely be sent off to one of my Doxie loving friends.   I had recently viewed some super cute "Doxie" cards online and found out that that the images were from Penny Black, some of their older wooden stamps.  I knew I wanted to add them to my collection, and started to look on eBay and Etsy, and then quickly remembered to check "PB Stamps", which is a great online store that sells all things "PB" aka Penny Black.   After a little search I was able to find four stamps that I wanted to see if I could purchase.  I sent off an email and was delighted that all four were still available and could be ordered!  Yippee!  My package arrived yesterday and I could not wait to play with two of my newest stamps today!   The first is the cute little Dachshund is "Spotty" and I combined that with the "Love me love my Dog" sentiment stamp to make this card!!  

     If you are a dog lover, like me -- than I am sure you'll totally agree with that adorable sentiment.   This card is one that makes me smile and that's what makes it special!  It's a Happy Card!!     

Happiness.....

....Happiness for me is a day like today when I actually feel good, the weather is warmer, we had a gorgeous sunny day yesterday, the dogs are happy and enjoying being outside again, my son, Brian called from Cali, just to say hi to Mom, and I'm back to creating.  All those little things all add up to a Happy Day!

     I'm also happy to be sharing two more cards that I created this morning for two challenges, I really enjoy, especially after missing out on so many in the past week or so when I was feel so lousy.   My first card was created and inspire by the current "Cas(E) This Sketch" Challenge, which has been a favorite since it started.  I'm hoping I'm not too late, but did love this sketch and knew from the minute it saw it, I could use it as an idea for my son, (Alex's) birthday card, which I actually now have done a whole week early -- Yippee!!

CTS #71

My Card

   And one of the best things about this card is how easy it was to create.  I started this awesome set of "splats" actually called "Abstract Art", by My Favorite Things.  I then picked out four ink colors:   VersaFine Black Onyx, (my favorite black), Hero's Shadow Ink in Tide Pool and Silver and one of the new Simon Says Inks, the lighter green, which is called - Mint.  I think that was a good color palette for a "Guy"  card and also like how the 'pop' against the white and black backgrounds.   I masked off the center of the my card to leave room for my Happy Birthday sentiment, which is from this set - by Penny Black. 

    My next card is also for a challenge, which is a much newer challenge, inspired and created by one of the gals I know from the "Hero Arts Flickr Group" - Virginia.   Her new challenge blog is called "Virginia's View" and she is now hosting her second challenge, where the theme is "Stencils", which are so on trend and very popular right now.   As you can imagine, I was thrilled, because that gave me yet another chance to use my wonderful new set of stamp/stencils from Penny Black.    

   For my latest card using this amazing set, I started by stamping the "Softly" stamp onto to heavyweight white cardstock.  I then used my heat gun to set the black ink, so it would not blur as it has done in some of my earlier card.  Next, I carefully placed the Stencil on top of my stamped image, and using my wonderful new Mini Ink Blending Tool, along with my Distress Inks, to carefully color in each flower and leave.   It actually goes very fast and was really fun and easy to do.  I used three shades on the flowers (Shaded Lilac, Dusty Concord and Spun Sugar), which blended together very well.   For the leaves I used Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters.   I then stamped on my Sentiment with my new Hero Arts Passion Flower Ink.   The "Just a note" part is from Reverse Confetti Sentiment set and the little "hello" under is from this set by Winnie and Walter.    I added some matching sequins a pretty ribbon and my card was done!   I'm so enjoying all of my newest stamp sets and really found that I loved using the stencil.  

   That's it for now, I am heading back to my desk to work on a Christening Card for my "Grand-Niece" little Rowen who will be Christened next Sunday.   I have never made a Christening or Baptism card, so I hope I can come up with something nice.

    And before I leave, I want to once again remind you that I will be part of a Blog Hop/Card Drive for "Little Lauryn" who is a sweet two year old, now hospitalized and battling Leukemia.  Please be sure to stop by next Monday, too be part of the hop and also for your chance to win one of the two prizes I will be offering.    For more details about Lauryn, please see my side bar which will link you to her blog and the mailing address for cards and/or donations!  Thank you!

Lauryn and her Daddy Josh 

a little Physical Therapy!

Cards, Creations and Caring!!

.....After being away from my desk for a week, it was so NICE to get back today and make some new cards and also share some of the projects that I had been working on, before that nasty Fibro flare invaded my life.  I am sooooo thankful to finally be feeling better and know that today's warm sunshine is a blessing too and I hope that winter is finally over!!

     The first few cards and creations  I have to share were those I created last weekend when I went to a little Amuse Workshop.   We even made a cute little "egg" holder that currently still holding my Cadbury egg along with a cute little Treat box, which I forgot to photography.  It's full of yummy chocolate eggs and I have been very good and haven't eat any --- at least, not yet!!

    We also tried out a cool new little technique of using "Amuse" Reinkers as a coloring medium.  We placed the colors onto a clear acrylic block, and then using a paintbrush, painted the colors onto some pretty stamps.   Great idea to make backgrounds and that's exactly what I did and turned them into cards later that day, when I was back home.   My first card was done using  two shades of purple, of course, along with a pretty silver color which I used to stamp the matching outline stamp on top! 

    And then I tired it with Teal and Lavender and later used that background for this card, which turned out to be my favorite.   I love this color combo and teal is now my second favorite color and a color I'm using more and more!!

     These next few cards were created using those fabulous new Penny Black Stamps and Stencils that I am so loving.   I used the same exact stamp "Softly" on each of the cards, but chose different colors and different color mediums for each card, making them all unique.   This is one of the cards that I created and this one was colored with my Copic Markers and a Clean Wink of Stella Marker.   My sentiment was added at the end and is from my fabulous new Winnie and Walter Set!  Love Love Love!!   I then simply added it onto a piece of Amuse's  Orange Gingham Cardstock with some matching sequins and my card was done.

    I am submitted this card to the new "Happy Birthday" Challenge over at Simon Say Stamp Blog, as well as the current "Anything Goes" Challenge at Through the Craftroom Door.   Feel free to play along at both challenges -- the more the merrier!

~~~

    This is another card, done exactly the same way, only I changed the colors, the orientation and the papers.  I am thrilled with the stamp/stencil set, so don't be surprised if you see it often!!  There is currently a purple version on my desk that is almost done -- stay tuned!

    I am heading back to my desk to finish that now and can't wait to share it!  I think the purple may be my favorite so far!   I also created one in really pretty shades of blue, but that's for a friend's birthday and since I don't want to ruin the surprise, you'll have a wait a bit on that too!  

   Lastly, please remember that we need lots of cards for dear "Lauryn" and please be sure to be here on Monday, April 14th for the Card Drive/Blog Hop.   I will be offering two prizes on my blog and I hope that this helps send oodles of cards to Lauryn's and also raises lots of funds for her care!!    This is my second card that will be sent to her this week!

Please visit Lauryn's Blog HERE!!

  Update:   I have also added a PayPal Donation Link to my side bar, so that everyone can donate directly from my blog!    Remember, this will be a very long journey and this family lives over 70 miles away from the Hospital, where Lauryn is undergoing treatments.    Lauryn's Mom,  Elizabeth has been by her side since day one and her dear Dad Josh, had to go back to work this week.   They also bring Lauryn's siblings up to visit on  the weekend and stay at a local Ronald McDonald home, which is a wonderful benefit, but even that is $15 per night.   Of course, these are all on top of any out-of-pockets medical expenses.   For me, it's almost overwhelming to think about all these costs, when the focus needs to be on healing this sweet little girl!  

Thank you!!  

Please Help Little Lauryn!

       I would like to invite you all to join me and several other craft friends who have put together a "Card Drive" in the form of a blog hop that will take place on Monday, April 14th, all for a sweet little 2 year old girl, "Lauryn" who was just diagnosed with Leukemia and is now hospitalized and undergoing treatment.    A blog called "Lots of Love for Lauryn" has been created where you can also read about her story.  Lauryn, is also the Grand-Daughter of Linda Payne, who you may know from her blog - Payne Holler Cards or from one of the many groups and design teams that Linda is part of!    I had the pleasure of meeting Linda, and her daughter (Jennifer), who is Lauryn's Aunt, when I traveling to Baltimore, for The Outlawz Girls Retreat Weekend, back in May of 2012.   It just breaks my heart to think of how hard this must be for this dear family and I wanted to do whatever I could to help support them.  

    I hope you all will take a moment to read about sweet Lauryn's story and to help her and her family in ANY way that you can.   We want Lauryn's hospital room walls to be decorated with hundreds of wonderful handmade cards and creations to help brighten each day.   Her family is very much trying to make her hospital room, look more like her bedroom and to make it a very comfortable place for her.  You can keep up to date on her treatments and what the family is doing, by following her Facebook Page "Fight One Little Lauryn" and we also ask for you to pray for her and her family, as they begin this long journey towards remission.  Another goal is to help raise funds for her medical care along with the costs of the family being away from their home, to be with her.   This is a wonderful caring and loving family who our help and support.    We are very grateful to all those who have already donated to the family, to the artists who have generously donated the talent and gifted us digital images we are offering for donations, and to those who have donated a prize for the blog hop.    We hope that every card-maker will make a card and send it off and keep them coming.   The hospital address and more details are all on the blog HERE!!   Please share and please keep those cards coming!

    We appreciate you kindness and generosity and any and all help will be greatly appreciated.    We are also thankful to those who have donated prizes for the blog hop and continue to look for more donations for this dear family.   We know that the craft community can be very generous and we are looking to you now to share that generosity with this family.   Feel free to leave me a comment, if you would like to help us!  Thank you!!   

   I sent off my first card and a little "care" package to Lauryn and her family this week.  This is a little wall decoration that I made with one of the fabulous "Sentiment Circles"  that "Claire Keay" of JellyPark, donated on her behalf.   It's one of the images you too can purchase, by donating on Lauryn's blog -- please go HERE to see the other images.   

Lauryn's Card

   After reading on her Facebook page about her love of Princesses, I thought that she needed to have her very own little "Princess Lauryn" crown and I used my Silhouette to create this one, which I hope she'll like!  

   I already have a few more cards done and will try to keep them going out every few days.  I do HOPE you'll be inspired to make something cute and help us do something kind for this wonderful family.   Thanks for stopping by and please get to work on those cards!