Show and Tell

Happy Day

This card is for this week's Get Sketchy challenge — and this sketch gave me fits. I think I finally got what I started out with to work — kind of. This was a tough one for me.

 

 

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The sentiment actually reads "Happy, Happy Birthday", but I ended up covering one "happy" and "birth" with the large button — it was just too many words and I didn't like the way the stamping looked with the music. This is much better. The punched flowers were the final addition. And since everything else was already adhered I left the circles complete instead of trying to trim them to match the edge of the patterned paper. This way adds more interest anyway. Sometimes when you don't think things all the way through before sticking stuff down it can work in your favor, right? :) 

AND TELL:  stamp is from Papertrey Ink (Fillable Frames #1); cardstock is Stampin' Up (Confetti White); patterned paper is My Mind's Eye (Confetti collection); ink is PTI (Berry Sorbet); button is PTI (Hawaiian Shores); also used Stampin' Up's 1-1/4" circle punch, old sheet music, and ribbon and a pre-punched flower from my stash.

Another beautiful day in Charlotte, NC. Even more so than yesterday. Warmer today.

 
An Aussie reader (can you believe someone from Australia reads my blog?!) asked a question about the white-blossomed trees in yesterday's post. They are Bradford Pear trees (an ornamental tree — it doesn't bear fruit...) and were planted like crazy in our area in the 1980s and 90s. Spring was so beautiful with street after street lined with the white-flowering trees. But, then a curious thing happened. The trees, while very pretty and nicely shaped, are weak. My guess is because the trunk branches off sort of low, making the tree top-heavy so it splits pretty easily. Bradford Pears used to completely line the main street of our neighborhood — but it has become quite common to have a big branch (or half a tree) lying in the road after a summer storm. So — the trees are gradually being replaced by trees that aren't nearly as pretty (in my opinion) but are sturdier.  

Oh — and one more thing about Bradford Pears. They look like they'd smell divine. Don't be fooled. They stink. Kinda like dead fish. On the good side (for me, anyway) — my allergy medicine only works well enough that I get an occasional whiff. :)

Hope you've had a beautiful (and happy) day in your neck of the woods! Thanks so much for stopping by. Tomorrow night is the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop, so I'll be back then with a couple more cards. See you then! 

here to give you a lift

I had a few moments this afternoon to work on a card for the current sketch from Get Sketchy. The first time I saw the sketch with the arrow on it I thought, "You have got to be kidding. An arrow?" Now, I know I could have gotten more creative and done something other than an arrow (like this card where Angele positioned butterflies that led to the image sort of like the arrow — so clever). But I knew I had some punch-out cardstock arrows that I won from Emma's Paperie in their first birthday celebration last year. (I know. I won a prize this year AND I won a prize last year. I promise, I'd still love Emma's even if I hadn't won stuff from them... twice.) So, out the sheet of arrows came.

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Most of the arrows were too big for a card, but this one had potential. And just about the whole card — colors, image, sentiment — came from that arrow. The printed papers I used were all in my 2009 prize from Emma's. I usually don't do cards with so many layers, but the card really didn't look right without them so I broke down and pulled out the orange cardstock.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Everyday Button Bits); cardstock is PTI (Vintage Cream, Orange Zest) and Stampin' Up (Old Olive); patterned paper is from Scenic Route; ink is PTI (Dark Chocolate, Orange Zest); also used a Marvy circle punch (the blue one).

It was very important to me to get yesterday's post and the ugly card away from the top of my blog — and now I need to keep up the pace to get it off the first page. I want it in my past! But, I'm pretty committed to showing it all — the good, the bad, and the ugly. (However, I must admit that I have been rethinking that commitment over the past day!)

That's it for today. Spring seems to have arrived here — and I'm so glad. The trees are beginning to bloom and the daffodils are up. Quite a lovely time of year.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you've had a great day!

Golden Squirrel Valentine

{Shhhh. This card is for my brother for Valentine's Day.}

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Lest I give you the wrong impression, my brother is not fond of squirrels. I think I could safely say that he hates squirrels. Specifically the ground squirrels that have burrowed throughout the yard, orchard, and into the basement of the farmhouse that our great grandparents built. The house our dad was raised in. The house that Bob is trying to make livable so that he can get out of the city and be in the country across the road from our mom full-time. Those squirrels are tenacious little things. And mockers. They'll have just seen one of their kind meet its doom (sorry...) and then stare you down from the edges of the fields or the center of the road — daring you to make them next. Hopefully, Bob's sense of humor will be intact when he receives the golden squirrel holding the cute little polka-dotted heart. What is it about the sibling relationship that makes us (even well into adulthood) want to do little things to bug each other.

I used Get Sketchy's sketch #21 for this card, flipping it and turning it on its side. The golden squirrel was one of the first things I cut out when I started playing with my Cricut. Don't ask me why. I had some metallic gold paper sitting there, saw the squirrel in the booklet, and tried it out. It's been sitting on my counter for the last couple of weeks, so this just seemed like a good opportunity to put it to use.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Heart Prints); cardstock is PTI (white), Stampin' Up (Real Red), and Creative Memories (Metallic Gold); printed cardstock is from Heidi Swapp; ink is Stampin' Up (Real Red); also used the Cuttlebug Divine Swirls embossing folder, Cricut's Winter Wonderland cartridge, and the EK Success medium heart punch. 

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday. It's cloudy, but warm (50's) here. Not so good for taking pictures of projects, but great for staying inside and making things. :)

And, tonight the new season of 24 starts. Are you a fan? My husband and our "adopted daughter" (who is also our regular Monday night company) love that show — so, tonight at 9:00 you'll find us in front of the TV. Waiting to see what happens to Jack Bauer on his way to saving the world (yet again...). We'll have dinner beforehand. I'm thinking comfort food tonight. Maybe meatloaf and macaroni and cheese. That sounds good. Then, we'll do it all again tomorrow night. Since it will be Monday. Different dinner. Same places on the couch. More 24.

Thanks for stopping by for a little visit. I plan to be back with another card tomorrow. See you then! 

Loving Life

Edited: I forgot to mention that I used Sketch 16 from the Get Sketchy blog when making this card. The sketch is perfect for a long sentiment like the one I had already chosen to use. Since I also wanted to showcase the embossed and stamped background, especially the one solid red heart, I adjusted the card size and the position of the components to make more of the card base visible. 

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29 years ago today, Ken and I were married. We've had a great life together and I look forward to many more years of love and laughter. He's such a great guy and I'm so fortunate to be living life with him by my side!

AND TELL:  stamps are from Technique Tuesday (Ali Edwards' Loving Words); cardstock is Papertrey Ink (Kraft) and Stampin' Up (Confetti Cream, Riding Hood Red, Certainly Celery); ink is Stampin' Up (Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red); button and twine are from PTI (Scarlet Jewel; Rustic Jute); also used Stampin' Up's Spiral Punch and Sizzix Textured Impressions embossing folder Argyle #2, Large, from the Hello Friend Set. 

  

Did I tell you that Ken cooks our Thanksgiving meal? He always has. I've never cooked a turkey and wouldn't know where to begin. He loved it this year when his cousin's daughter's daughter (would that be his first cousin twice removed?) wanted to see what he was doing when the turkey came out of the oven. (She wanted to see what he was doing, but she didn't want me to take a picture of her seeing what he was doing!) 

We tease him about his spread sheets and timelines, but we always eat when he says we're going to and all the food is always hot. I love that he's organized and time-conscious. Those are definitely not strengths of mine! 

What a blessing he has been to me. My love for him grows with each passing year and I'm thankful to the Lord for putting us together.

So glad you were able to stop by here for a little visit today. Have a great one!

hello again

Boy, am I having trouble being consistent lately or what?? There are not enough hours in the day for me.

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving Day and I hope you did, too. We had 18 for the big meal yesterday and it was so much fun! No time to blog about it all now, because I really want to get this card posted. Then I need to give my attention to other things.

I made this card for Ken's sister Lynne and her husband Mike, who drove from Indiana to have Thanksgiving with us. We were truly honored to have them drive all that way to be here — maybe I'll say more about that later, too. Anyway, this is the card I had awaiting them in the guest room.

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I love sketch challenges, so when starting the card I took it off of Get Sketchy #15. Here is the sketch and you can see that my interpretation of it is very "loose". Use your imagination and maybe you can see how the leaves form both the curved line down and the diagonal box. Then the birdie represents the big vertical box and you can probably tell how the sentiment fits in. The buttons? I don't know. They just seemed necessary. Well, now you know where I started from and how I deviated.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Turning a New Leaf, Communique Curves Sentiments); cardstock is PTI (Kraft, White, Terra Cotta Tile) and Stampin' Up (Basic Black, Brilliant Blue); ink is PTI (Fresh Snow, True Black): buttons are PTI (Terra Cotta Tile); gemstones are Kaiser (Black); also used Stampin' Up's Modern Label Punch and Merry Details die.

Since the family likes to see some more personal stuff on here, I'll show you another of our pre-Thanksgiving projects.

I had seen a picture on Maggie Holmes' blog that showed her family room and just loved the IKEA mirrors above her couch. (You can see it here.) So dramatic. I decided to use the same idea above the buffet in our dining room — just with smaller (OK — cheaper) mirrors. At first I was just going to do three mirrors, but after playing with newspaper circles on the wall decided that six would be way better than three.

 

After another trip to IKEA — and lots of hard work and calculating on my ever-patient husband's part — this is what the finished product looks like.

I love it.

To those of you in the U.S., have a happy, happy holiday weekend. Thanks to everyone for stopping by my little blog today. I'm very thankful for each one of you and the sweet comments that you leave for me. Enjoy your weekend!