Live, Swim and Drink

                                                                               

Besties, Sally and Bella are planning their beach vacation.  They live in the cold, snowy, town of Richmond, Virginia, USA.  It has been a blustery winter and they are excited about coming to Myrtle Beach, SC for the best vacation ever.  There they can "Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, and drink the wild air" and of course, visit their favorite Nana "ME"!

This image of Sally and Bella is called "Better Than A Thousand Words"  and it is, of course, the artwork of Cheryl Alger.  If you are planning your summer vacation and would like Sally and Bella to help, click the preceding digi name and it will take you to the Sassy Cheryl Store where you can take them home with a few clicks of the mouse.

I chose Sally and Bella for the Sketch Challenge Sassy Judy has issued for this week.  You should see all of the inspiration the talented DT has provided us this week.  Wow, these girls are really amazing.  Click here and check it out for yourself.  Here is the pic of the Sketch.  They are so easy to complete.  The most difficult part is selecting which Digi you want to work with this week.  Give it a try and join the challenge this week.  The winner get to select 2 digis from the SC Store.  I haven't won this challenge in a very very very long time so I have my fingers crossed that I will be lucky this week.  If not, there's always next week!                                                                                            

          

Coloring medium is Copic Markers and some highlighting with Prisma colored pencils.
Paper is all from my stash.
Circles are from the Spellbinder circle and lace doily.
Flowers are Recollections
Pearls - My Stash
I used Diamond Stickles on the flowers and the hairbow
The shoes and ladybug and topped with Glossy Accents
The Stamp is from My Favorite Things Beach Stamps I bought at Scrapbooks By the Sea

Happy Spring Ya'll

Linda

Sassy Cheryls Favorite Color Challenge

Kaylee's First Car Inside View

My Granddaughter, Kaylee, worked a part time job and saved up enough money to buy her own card.  Her Mom had agreed to match dollar for dollar everything Kaylee saved.  The car had to be safe and approved by all Prties and this is what they decided on.  It is a 2005 Chevrolet and looks like a perfect size for Kaylee.  Isn't it pretty?  Needless to say I have one very excited Granddaughter.  No she just has to earn enough money for the insurance and to keep gasoline in the car.

I couldn't be there to share her excitement so I decided to make her a card.  She can pop this one into her scrapbook and one day look back and see the photo of her car.

The Sassy Cheryl challenge this week is to use your favorite colors.  I was thinking about my favorite colors while sitting with my Mom.  I noticed that her pillow case (pictured below) was one I purchased the first year I was married.  That makes it 46 years old. The I looked at my sofa (arm cover pictured below) that I purchased 13 years ago and noticed the similar colors.  Then I looked at my current favorite paper (also pictured below) and noticed it too has similar colors.    I guess that means my favorite color combination is and has been for a very long time: Navy, Burgundy, Gold and Forrest Green.  Who'da thunk?

I never thought about it before so it was quite a revelation for me. LOL.  Goes to show you that Crafting is good for the brain, it makes it work.  Ha Ha.  I know my mind works in a very scary way.  

Pillow Case circa 1967

Arm Chair Cover circa 2000

Favorite Paper Pad Circa 2013

Oh My Gosh, I just looked at my blog background and it is these same colors, just a lighter shade.  Yep it must me true!  :)
Enough crazy ramblings from a lunatic crafter, here's the deets on my creation:
Digi - Sassy Cheryl's Personal Use Winter Stamp
Cardstock DCWV.  DP - Graphic 45, French Country
Coloring Medium:  Prisma and Faber Castel colored pencils and Gamasol
Gold border stickers and heart stickers - Elizabeth Crafts
Ribbon from my stash
I made the shapes of the tags and mats on the front using a Creative Memories Curvy Cutter and my regular cutter.
Inside red mat cut with a Spellbinders Die
Darcie Cloud Embossing Folder
Car Photo taken by Kaylee Compton
Car Key photo was seen on Facebook posting by Kim Quiggle one of my Inky Digits pals.

I am celebrating Easter this weekend and I would like to offer a special prayer that God  keeps you safe and happy in his embrace.  If you don't celebrate Easter, I hope you have a healthy happy weekend.  Whatever you do and wherever you go.  Stay safe and be happy.

If There Is A Will, There Is A Way

This sneaky little bear wants this cupcake soooooo bad.  The problem is he is supposed to a stuffed cuddly bear.  No one knows he is alive.  So he sneaked over behind the cupcake and is nibbling away.  That cupcake is so worth the fear of being caught.  It has sprinkles on it for goodness-sakes.  You know no one can resist sprinkles.

Actually this story reminds me of my eldest granddaughter.  When she was only 4 she was the flower girl in her Godmother's wedding.  She wore a beautiful long formal gown and had her hair styled and looked so sweet and innocent.  We found out later that at the reception she was seen walking behind the wedding cake, sneaking fingers full of frosting.  Of course everyone thought she was precious and never tattled, but it would have been nice if they would have taken pictures of the little culprit.

This is one of Sassy Cheryl's older digis and I am not sure it is even available.  It is called appropriately enough Sneaky Bear Birthday Cupcake.  Here's a link to her store.  Pop over and see all the changes she is making.  She has developed some new characters and is also selling a couple of images in rubber.  If the demand is there, she will be offering more in the future.  I just pre-ordered mine last night.  I can't wait til it comes in the mail.  I just had to be in on the initial offer.:)

The queen of the colored pencils, the ever talented Sassy Judy wants to see fancy edges, border punches, die cuts and punches in your creations this week.  I have used a little bit of all of them in mine.  The cardstock is SU and the DP is from Bo Bunny's Isabella Collection.   Coloring medium is Copics.  I used fancy tags, circle and scalloped circles Nestibilities, SU circle punches, and CM punches for all the circles in the card.  The sentiment is a sticker from Elizabeth Crafts.  

Happy Sunday to everyone.  Hope your day is filled with sweet goodness and love.

Linda

Sassy Cafting Buddies

Jeni Tidwell

Kim Hecker Jan Temple

Saturday Kim invited us over to her house for a much needed crafting day.  We used to get together very often, talked almost daily and texted pics every time we created something.  Life has been steering our lives in other directions for the last few months, so when Kim planned this day I was ecstatic.   I was extremely in need of a GF fix.

I picked Jan and Jeni up and we headed over to Oak Pond and Kim was waiting with coffee and pastires.  She had our craft area all set up for us and we just sat right down and got busy.  That Kim even had Harry Potter on so we could listen to the magical music while we crafted.  (We are all serious Harry fans).

Great day and GREAT FRIENDS.  Lord I love being with these gals.  They put a big ole smile on my face.  Thanks to my daughter, Cami who had the good taste and intelligence to marry Bob who's brother Steve had to the intelligence to marry Jeni  who introduced me to Kim and Jan.

Thanks Kim!

Sharing this post with Sassy Cheryl's Show Me Thursdays.

Ralphie Meets Duck Dynasty

OK people, today I am going to share a mini tutorial.  I thought you might enjoy seeing how I make a card from beginning to end.  The subject of today's tutorial is this sweet little Max from Sassy Cheryl's.  I just think he is absolutely the cutest little thing.  I have several Max digis in my file and plan on having several more.  So here goes:

1.  Go to www.sassycherylsstamps.com and check out each of her tabs.  She is my first go to when I want cutesy-with-an-attitude digis.   I have to "feel" an image to be able to color it.  I am a sassy kinda girl so I REALLY get lost imagining what each of Cheryl's characters are up too.  This is called Quiet Moments.

2.  Decide how to make it fit a current challenge, sketch or specific occassion.  In this case I had already decided to use this digi this week so when I found out the challenge was orange, green and white (which I had just done last week) that determined my color scheme.  I just sat down and began coloring.

3.  Now I tend to lose myself when I color.  This was colored at 4:30 am when I couldn't sleep.  You know the how you get when you are sleep deprived.  So I am coloring this pretty little duck and she just seemed to be screaming, "you will shoot your eye out".  I started laughing and thought I would rename him Ralphie,  just like in the movie, "The Christmas Story" (one of my very favorites).  The night before we watched the TV show, "Duck Dynasty" and that was in my mind and my poor tired brain just entwined all my thoughts.  Next thing I knew, I had pulled out my hunting papers and .....

4.  Last  a very time consuming decision must be made.  How to embellish.  I now spend hours digging around and trying out all the different valuables in my stash to add just the perfect finishing touch.  This week it was simple.  Burlap, it goes with Duck Dynasty, doesn't it?  Actually I wanted a duck call, but didn't have one and couldn't figure out how to make one.  Besides, I was finally getting tired and I went to bed.

I hope you have enjoyed your little trip inside the mind of  a crazy sleep deprived artiste.  :)

Happy St Patrick's Day!

My Trip Up The Bunny Trail

Hello peeps here is a little Easter card this week.  I made this for Sketch Saturday.  It is a digi drawn by my ever-lovin, subber-talented friend of mine, Kimberly Hecker.  The digi is called "Reading Rabbits" and you can find them on her blog, Oak Pond Creations by clicking here.  

When Kim first showed me this sketch I knew I would own it. It brought back so many memories of my Grandpa.  I used to sit on his lap for hours listening to his bunny tales.  He even had a scar on his finger where the bunny rabbit bit him.  He would tell us how he would hide in the bushes trying to catch the Easter Bunny and that one time he did and the bunny bit him.  He was trying to catch the bunny for my brother and me.  He would take us on walks up the hill at my Aunt's house and we would search for the Easter Bunny.  He called it the "Bunny Trail".  Oh how we loved to go "up the bunny trail".  I loved that man dearly and believed every single story he told me, and he had many to tell believe me.  

So this is my tribute to his memory.  My own trip up the bunny trail one more time.  Thank you my special friend Kim.  I owe you big time.

Recipe:

Coloring Medium - Prisma and Faber Castel Colored Pencils, Gamasol and Blending Sticks

Ribbon - Stampin Up

Gold Stickers - Elizabeth Crafts

Cloud - Friskars Punch

Paper - Hobby Lobby, sorry I don't know the manufacturer; Cardstock DCWV

Sentiment - Artful Legacy who is no longer in business.

Challenges:

Sketch Saturday 

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

Make It Monday - Anything Goes

  

Flowers Flowers Everywhere

Those Sassy Gals over at Sassy Cheryl's are spring wanna bees this week.  They are soooooo tired of all the gray snowy, cold winter that they are yearning to see flowers.  When I saw Maddie in "Beauty in the Making" I though it would be perfect in a flower challenge.  When I looked at Maddie I started singing the old song by Tiny Tim, Tiptoe Through The Tuplips.  You know the one that goes, Tiptoe through the Tuplips,through the tulips, through the tulips, Just Tiptoe Through the Tulips with Me....  Teeehee now you will be singing it all day too.  :)

I didn't end up with tulips because daisys are my favorite flowers.  I just punched out some white paper that had been embossed with the Dotted Swiss embossing folder and used my Marvy Flower punches in three sizes,  The little white flowers are punched with EK Success punch.  The leaves are cut with a Stampin' Up embosslit, Beautiful Stems.  That beautiful butterfly is from Elizabeth Crafts.  I made it by only using the overlay.  The die set comes with a base, overlay and body.  This is the small butterfly.

Coloring medium is my brand spanking new Faber Castell pencils.  I just got them last night and I couldn't wait to color.  This is my first try with the pencils.  I had a lot of fun using them.  I have used Prisma's in the past, but evidently I dropped mine, because the lead kept breaking and I was sharpening the pencils shorter and shorter because of it.    I decided I was going to try a diffferent brand of pencils.  I knew Judy (jaydekay) and Cheryl, (Sassy Cheryl) used the FC pencils so I called upon their expertise   I do love them.  I only bought the 24 set, but along with the Prismas I already have, I have quite enough colors to make it work.  Thank you ladies for your patience with me this week.  You are the best!

Well I am off to bed.  My daughter, Cami, is coming from Charleston to celebrate, my Mom's 86th birthday. So big busy day tomorrow, not much crafting, but lots of fun for sure.  I believe Jeni  jeniflipflop.blogspot.com) will be joining us tomorrow too.  She and Cami are sister-in-laws and like to get together when Cami is in town.  I  have a vision of Starbucks dancing in my head.  MMMmmmmmm.

Happy Crafting,

Linda

Challenges:

Sassy Cheryl's - Flowers, Flowers Everywhere

Crafting with El's

Me,  Rayann, owner of Scrapbooks By The Sea, Els owner of Ellizabeth Crafts.

El's from Elizabeth Crafts came to Scrapbooks By The Sea to teach us how to use all her yummy products.  We used dies, glitter, embossed, colored with Copics, polished, played at Els' alcohol table (my lips are sealed Els).  We had soooooooooooooooo much fun playing with all of Elizabeth Crafts tools and products.

It was exciting to learn how to use a product right from the owner herself.  She made everything look so easy.  I am trying to narrow it down to one favorite product to tell you about, but I couldn't do it. I love 3 of them so much that they are all in my stash right now or will be very soon.  The Glimmer Sheetz are just heavenly to work with and the final results definitely have that WOW punch.  When I tried her Gllitter, I just fell in love.  I probably will never use another glitter again and it comes in so many colors too.  Then she has these stickers that you put on her 2 sided adhesive paper.  Well baby, you can hang it up right now with the beauty and ease of using them.

When I made the purple card above (sorry I photographed it horizontally when it is really a vertical card.) used all of those products.   The background was made by running assorted colors of Shimmer Sheetz through the Cuddlebug using a variety of embossing folders.  You cut them up into different size pieces and place them on the card base using adhesive to secure. The center floral was created by applying the black sticker to the double sided adhesive sheet.  We then sprinkled diamond glitter over the whole picture.  Shake of the excess and rub the remaining glitter deep into the paper and shine it with your finger.  Use your Copics to color the picture and then take black zig zag stickers and line all seams.  If you want to learn how to use these products click here.  Els has some tutorials and is in the process of making some more.

It was an exciting day for me.  I just think how it must feel to go to CHA and see all the vendors showcasing  their products.  When you follow their blogs or a regular basis, you feel like you already know them anyway.  I just think CHA would be an ultimate blast to attend.  Maybe one day....................

Happy crafting people!

Hugs Linda

Challenges:

Sassy Cheryl's Show Me Thursday
Make It Monday - Anything goes.

On Cloud Nine

I am a Facebook Follower of Tiddly Inks and Christy announced that they were having a sale.  My mouse just took on a life of it's own and popped me right over to the store.  Before I knew what was happening this little gal popped into my cart and found it's way to my home.  Well what's a gal to do when this happens?  Yep just color her up and enjoy every moment of doing so.

Her name is Wryn and she is on Cloud 9.  I like playing in the Sketch Saturday challenges, so I followed the new one they posted on Saturday.  My friend Lesley of Grenouille Greetings is on their Design Team and she always makes their sketches look gorgeous.  So here is my take on it.  I followed the sketch pretty close and this time everything fell easily into place. 

The paper is from Kaiser Craft, I love it and have been saving it for something special.  Wryn is special in my  so I opinion pulled out my violet and red violet Copics and started coloring. I used some of my Prisma pencils here and there for hi-lights.  Judy from Jaydekay uses pencils exclusively and I have been so inspired by her that I have been using them more and more.  I have enjoyed experimenting with them.

Today was my Mom's 86th Birthday.  She was certainly "full of herself'.  She had requested shrimp, so we make a shrimp dinner fit for a Queen for her.  She has been telling me that she doesn't like cake, so for her dessert we had pie.  She told my daughter that we had peanut butter and jelly with cake.  When we tried to get her to smile for a picture she just stared at us like we were crazy.  Finally I told her to say sh-- and she smiled for the camera.  I thought my granddaughter was going to loose it.  She laughed so hard and couldn't believe that it took profanity to get her Great Grandmother to smile.  We texted a picture of her not smiling to my daughter and she called her Grumpy Granny and my Mom just got this smug look of satisfaction on her face.  She still like to let us know she is no fool!!  Gotta Love that Lady!!  So now my daughter will be coming in next Saturday with a big ole homemade birthday cake for her.  Do you think we should serve peanut butter and jelly?  )

Have a wonderful week people.  Don't let life get into the way of crafting.  Be sure and find some me time for yourself!  Keeps that ole heart happy!

Hugs, Linda

Entering this in:

Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Sketch Saturday -Sketch 248  

Tis' The Luck of The Irish

Look at me, I am playing with some more Shimmer Sheetz from Elizabeth Crafts again.  This stuff is soooo much fun to use.  I taught  this to my Inky Digits Card Club a couple of weeks ago at Scrapbooks By The Sea.  The gals loved playing with it and this whole card was completed in our alotted 1.5 hours too.

Here's the deets:

Black Card stock for base
DP is from the Shamrock collection at Reminisce.
Lime green ribbon from my stash
Happy Birthday stickers from Elizabeth's Crafts
Center mat of Black Cardstock
Square of Peridot Gemstone Shimmer Sheetz from Elizabeth Crafts
Emboss Shimmer Sheetz with Herringbone Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug)
Sand the surface of the embossed Shimmer Sheetz
Rub Black Stazon Ink Pad accross the sanded surface.  (You must use Stazon for this part)
The flower was made by cutting 2 different DP from the Samrock Collection with Tim Holtz Flower Die, misting the petals, crunching them in your hands and then drying with Heat Gun.  I assembled all the layers and connected them with a pearl brad.  To highlight the petals, I distressed some of the edges with TH Black Soot Distress Ink and Diamond Stickles on some of the petals.  I just used a hit and miss fashion so as not to overdo it.

Fun and quick and you can't mess this one up.  Super easy with the proper directions lol.

Tuesday Els from Elizabeth Crafts is coming to our LSS and I will be attending both of her classes.  I am sooooo excited to meet her.  I will be sure and take lots of pictures and  share them on my blog with ya'll.

This Sunday is my Mom, my Grandson's and his Grandmother's (father's side) birthday.  They usually share their celebration, but this year my Mom is unable to attend.  So we will have a private little party here for her.  If she is feeling up to it, I may even show you a picture of my BEAUTIFUL mom too.

Lot's going on in my world.  Whatever is going on in yours this weekend, I pray it is absolutely divine dahlings.   Happy Crafting and take care.

Hugs, Linda

Entering this in:

MIM Challege - Anything Goes