My Favorite Color (Right Now)

The challenge at Shopping Our Stash this week was to "use your favorite color."  I guess I'm pretty fickle when it comes to picking a color-- it's HARD to pick just one, or two, or even several-- I really like them all.  Pondering this challenge while working in my garden this morning I realized that TODAY my favorite color is green. Tomorrow it may be the same, or something else.  But for today, I celebrate some of the many shades of green this lush summer day is showing me.

Thanks for looking!

My Desk

Welcome to what we lovingly refer to as The Craft Shack and
a quick peek at my desk, Moxie Fabbers!

When I'm being "good," I put things in their proper places when I'm done with them,

and I can be quite neat and tidy-- even while making a card....

but usually I'm way too involved with the process and the materials
and the fun of the projects--
I don't mind working in a happy jumble and most of the time I can even find almost everything!

Thanks for the visit!

In My Heart

The OWH Midweek Throwdown this week is a challenge to make a miss you kid's card, with an added request to use the Mama Elephant In My Heart stamp set.  

It has such sweet images, and I love the plain font mixed with the gently flourished script. 

 I've noticed that "missing you" sentiments are often missing from nice stamp collections, 

so it's great to find a good one, like Mama Elephant's In My Heart,

 and to support a great organization in OWH, 

because it's a fundraiser!!! 

Mama Elephant is donating to Operation Write Home 20% of the proceeds of the sets 

sold on their retail site. 

My set arrived yesterday and here are my first few cards:

And even though it's almost July with summery heat and humidity, I'm starting to work on 

some wintry cards... A card maker's way of keeping cool???

Many thanks for visiting!

OWH Sketch #230

For the last few weeks I've been trying to make a card for each new sketch that's introduced on the Stars and Stamps blog at Operation Write Home.  Here's this week's sketch:

and here's my card:

  

I used K & Company patterned papers, an Avery Elle sentiment, 

Papertrey Ink cardstock, an Inkadinkado cupcake stamp

(that was part of a set of 3 for $1.49 at TJ Maxx), 

circle dies and my trust old hole punch.

Thanks for taking a look!

Color Challenge: Cantaloupe & Pistachio

I created a card for the Midweek Throwdown at Operation Write Home 

since it was a color challenge very much out of my comfort zone: 

 cantaloupe and pistachio.  

This sound like a delicious combination for a summer salad,

 but it was a bit of a stretch to find a combination that pleased my eye. 

 I like what I came up with and I hope you do too.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:  Rustic Cream card stock and Kraft ink by Papertrey Ink; 

Patterned Paper by Authentique;

Butterflies, Flourishes, and Background Stamps by Hero Arts; 

Sentiment & stickers by Stampendous; 

Dies by Sizzix;

Lemon Grass ink by Avery Elle; 

Lucky Limeade ink and layering paper by Stampin Up!

Versafine Onyx Black ink by Tsukineko; 

clear embossing powder by Stewart Superior.

Oldies & Goodies

What a fun challenge at Shopping Our Stash #156-- to use our oldest die or punch!  Well, for me, that would be my trusty (somewhat rusty) standard hole punch, purchased I-don't-remember-how-many years ago, probably at a Ben Franklin store (which was kind of a great grandparent to today's Dollar Stores). I also used what I believe to be my oldest die, the Cuttlebug butterfly, along with K&Company patterned paper, some Offray satin ribbon, and an Avery Elle sentiment stamped on a bit of vellum.  I added some shiny dot stickers by Stampendous to the butterfly wings and hand wrote always with a Micron pen,

 thickening the downstrokes of the letters.  

I'll be adding this to my box of cards for Operation Write Home.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your day,

and thanks for coming to visit.

Kites

A couple of kite cards for the Midweek Throwdown at OWH

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Playing With a Sketch

During the rain storms we've been having this week, I've had some time to play around with this week's sketch at Operation Write Home.  Here's the sketch:

and here are my cards:

I've been challenging myself to use and follow the sketches,

and trying not to veer too far off the original design (which is just

way too easy for me to do!)  The discipline of working within

the design parameters is its own kind of creativity.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Something Soft

Just a quick post--

as June is here with all kinds of wonderful

graduations and gardening--

to play along with the Something Soft challenge

at Shopping Our Stash:

All supplies are by Stampin' Up! except for the

Fabriano watercolor paper.

Thanks for visiting!

DIY Notepads

I always learn something wonderful and get so much inspiration

from the Make it Monday videos on Nichole Heady's blog at Papertrey Ink, and this week I've actually had time to work on this week's project, DIY Notebooks.

This little gems make such sweet gifts and they are really fun to make. 

I found that it's a great way to dig into your stash and play!

Here are a few of the notebooks I've made and given so far:

Off to make more...

Thanks for stopping by!

To Bee or.....

I love this patterned paper!  It's from the BoBunny Country Garden Collection. 

 I added some stamped and die cut Honey Bees and a die cut flower-- all Papertrey Ink-- and the alphabet is a much-retired one from the Alphabits set by Stampin' Up.  The sentiment
was calligraphed by me.

I'm linking this to the June OBDB challenge at Operation Write Home and
the Critters challenge at Shopping Our Stash.

Many thanks for taking a look!