Let There Be Snow at Phindy's Place

This week on the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog, we're supposed to do a sprinkling of snow. Well here in Mississippi, it's been quite damp and chilly the last two days, so snow isn't that far fetched an idea. There are only a few places I want to see snow, Colorado in February and on a card are two of them.

For what I hope is just my first challenge card, I had to use this Winter Cutie from the Phindy's Place store called Snowball Stash. This is one of the newest of the Winter Cuties and each and every one of them is a delight. I've colored him with Copics.

The paper was printed from a digital kit called Winter from Shery K Designs. The sentiment is a freebie from Little Footprints.

Hopefully I'll have time for another entry before Thursday afternoon, but I have some tablecloths to make first, and guess what? The fabric is blue with snowflakes. Now could I enter them in the challenge since after all it is about snow?

Anything Goes Again at Sassy Cheryl's

The DT at Sassy Cheryl's had so much fun and such great response to the Anything Goes Challenge last week that they repeated the challenge again this week on the Sassy Cheryl's Challenge Blog. Thank you very much ladies.

I seem to be in a Christmas frame of mind creativity wise. I just hope I can translate it to my house and SOON!  For my challenge card this week I had this adorable image is called Sassy Angel. Images of Sally and her pals, Lucy Lou, Polly and Noah can be found at the Sassy Cheryls Digis or colored images at the Sassy Cheryl's Illustrations. I've colored her with Copics. That hair cut is very reminiscent of one I had at the ripe old age of 5, but you would never have associated the term angelic with me.

The papers are from my scrap box, but I can tell you they're digital papers.

I'm happy to be a whole 24 hours ahead of the posting deadline.

SMT #52

This is the 52 week of Show Me Thursday over on Sassy Cheryl's Blog. For a celebration, this week's winner will win a $10 gift certificate at the Sassy Cheryl's Digi Store. This is about the simplest challenge out there. All you have to do is enter a picture of what you have going on in your life this week.

This has been a very busy week for me, and I didn't have time to take pictures of all I had going on. However, this Thanksgiving with neither of our children home to celebrate, our neighbors invited us over to share Thanksgiving with them and their children. This is a picture of the table I shared with my neighbor's grandchildren on Thursday. My neighbor is standing on the right and the other two adults are her two children along with 6 of their 7 children(5 of whom are under 5). The 7th grandchild is only 3 months old and was being fed in the back of the house. That's  my plate you see at the end of the table.

On Friday I went over to play photographer for my neighbors. We did shots of the entire family, individual families, all the grandchildren, just the boys and then we remembered we needed a shot of just the granddaughters(not good to save those to last). This is perhaps my favorite shot of the day. The two on the outside are, believe it or not, twins and are two. The one in the center is their cousin whose 3. The expression of Audrey's(one on the right) is priceless.

A Second Christmas Card for Phindy's Place

I did get a second card done for the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog, but only because I already had the card base made.

This image is another of the Winter Cuties from the Phindy's Place Store and is appropriately called Tasty Flakes. Even at almost 61(this Sunday), I love to catch snowflakes on my tongue. It's the kid in me, and I hope I never lose it. I've colored her with Copics. I actually owned at one time a down coat this exact color. I guess there's a lot of the kid still  in me.

The papers on the background of the card are digital from a kit called Advent by Katie Fairlie from Pickleberry Pop. The sentiment is from the $1 stamp bin at JoAnn's.

I'm so glad that I was able to get two cards in the challenge. What I can't figure out is why everyone isn't using a Phindy's image. The images are the best, and you get two entries when you use a Phindy's image. For me, that's a WIN WIN if I ever heard one.

Christmas Cards At Phindy's Place

This week it's a Christmas Card challenge on the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog. That's a safe and sure challenge for all of us, because you can always use a Christmas card or seventy or so.

For my image, I've used this adorable Winter Cutie called Shy Boy from the Phindy's Place Store. You really need to check out the Phindy Place Store because she's recently added some fabulous new images that will be perfect for Christmas or birthdays. I have actually had this image colored all week, but just haven't had time to get it into a card. Thank goodness I didn't have to make Thanksgiving dinner, because it gave me a few minutes today for some creativity.

I actually had an image colored and a card base put together. There was just one small problem. They didn't work together. On Tuesday, I went to Tupelo to spend the day with my sister hitting the craft stores and stocking up on embellishments and sale goodies. The papers I used for this card were from the DCWV Christmas Matstack that I found for 40% off at JoAnn's. Aren't they perfect with this image?

The sketch is from this week's Card Patterns challenge. Now let's see if I can convince myself to go color an image for a second entry for the challenge.

Show Me Thursday #51

I am obviously playing the last minute nosey around Show Me Thursday Challenge over at Sassy Cheryl's Blog. You know the one, where you post a picture or few of what you've got going on for the chance of winning a free image from the Sassy Cheryls Store.

I can honestly say that the reason I haven't posted isn't because I don't have anything going on, but the exact opposite. Trying to fit crafting time around all the activities of this week has proved almost impossible. I do however have some pictures to share with you. When we first built TazMania, we put a single track of track lighting over the desk and over my sewing area. It left some dark areas to me, so Sunday morning DH and I proceeded to add an additional track to each of them. It was not a fun experience, and I really wish I could have done it myself, but I needed an extra hand. Thankfully it's done and I'm loving all the extra light over my Black Cat Cougar on my tall table, as will my neighbor since I've also lit up her tables along the wall. Here are the pictures of the extra lighting.

Monday was a  full day of Weight Watchers with first having to lead a meeting and then having to attend a certification class. My DH says I had to get certified to work for free, and he's not far off. However, I'm  doing it to keep me on track rather than the money, and it at least pays my gas to go to a meeting.  I also think you have to practice what you preach.

My sister who lives 60 miles north of me is on vacation this week, and she likes crafting as much as me. So yesterday, I drove to Tupelo and spent the day with her, her daughter and her grandson. We hit Hobby Lobby, JoAnn's, Sam's and Walmart. We also ate a Newks, just so I could have 1/2 of a toasted Pimento and Cheese sandwich(it was worth every single WW point).  Since most of what I bought was from the Christmas decorations for small trees for embellies, and they were 50% off, I didn't get to REALLY make use of my 40% off coupons. Here's a picture of my stash from yesterday's shopping adventure(please be sure to notice the paper mess immediately to the right of my stash).

Now I'm got to get in cooking mode and start doing some prep work for the one dish I have to take to my neighbor's for T'giving and for the dishes I have to prepare for a Family Dinner for DH's family on Friday night.

May you all have a blessed day tomorrow whether you're celebrating Thanksgiving or not. I am so thankful each and every day for the friends I've made in the crafting world and want each of you to know you hold a special place in my heart.

Anything Goes in November for Tiddly Inks

I love that the whole month on the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog is Anything Goes. It has certainly made my life easier, especially for getting a card made for the challenge.

I had to use this free image from Tiddly Inks last week called Ice Bear. Once I saw him, I knew I had to use him in a card soon. What better than this week's Tiddly Inks Challenge. Be sure to check out all the wonderful images at the Tiddly Inks Store especially the Christmas images HERE. I've colored my bear with my Copics, and I didn't want him to look like the Coca Cola bear.

I wish I could tell the creators of the paper, but all I can tell you is that they came from my scrapbox. I let the paper be the sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate all comments.

Anything Goes When the Game is Stump the Boss

The Sassy Cheryls Challenge Blog is playing Stump the Boss this week with Sassy Cheryl. How you say, well this week Cheryl has to put a DT name to the cards created by the group. We'll know on Tuesday how she did, but since I know these girls to be as sneaky as Cheryl herself, I'm betting on the DT stumping her(I love you Cheryl, but I remember last year). At any rate since they're trying to stump her, the challenge this week for a free SC image in a random drawing is ANYTHING GOES!!!! That works for me!

For my card, I've chosen this image from the Sassy Cheryl's Digi Store called Going To See the Star. I imagine this Little Girl has heard the story of the Christ Child and the Star that led the Wisemen and is on a journey of her own. She's colored with Copics. I have always loved this image and though Cheryl has a ton of new images(some of which I own), I had to use this one.

The papers are from a digital kit from Pickleberry Pop by Designs from CRK. The Sketch I used is this week's Clean and Simple Sketch. Finally the sentiment, I simply typed in Word and printed it out.

Thank You for Being My Friend

It's my second and last entry in the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog's challenge to create a Thank You card or project. I wish I was going to have time for another entry, but it's been a week of doctor's appointments(just check ups) for my DH, and it's cut into my crafting time.

For my second entry, I'm again going with a Summer Cutie from the Phindy's Place Store. This image is called Spring Bouquet. She's colored with Copics and isn't she just the sweetest?

These digital papers are also from Raspberry Road Designs from a kit called Color Your World. This sentiment is actually a rubber stamp that I picked up in the dollar bins at WalMart just for this challenge. I used my MTC software to recreate the flowers in the background paper and then glass beads for the flower centers.

Showing Thanks at Phindy's Place

This week's challenge on the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog is to create a Thank You card or project. We can always use a Thank You card, especially at this time of the year.

For my first card I've used this adorable Phindy's Place image called Summer Blossom, and she's one of Phindy's Summer Cuties. You really need to check out the Phindy's Place store, because she's recently added some wonderful new images including the cutest little boy with a snowball and a Shopping Collaboration with Paulette of Create with TLC. My image is colored with my Copics.

The papers are digital that I printed. They're from the Garden Path Collection at Raspberry Road Designs. The sentiment is from an acrylic set  by Inkadinkadoo.

Show Me Thursday #50

Can you believe it's almost been a year since Sassy Cheryl started the Show Me Challenge over on her Sassy Cheryls Blog? All you have to do is post a pic or as many as you want sowing what you have going on in your life, and you're entered in a random drawing to win a free Sassy Cheryl image. Now if you don't know, Sassy Cheryl has been on a roll creating tons of new images, so winning a free one would be a very good thing.

All of a sudden we have folks cooking and my mouth has been watering looking at all the foods that are being prepared. Over the weekend, my niece and great nephew came down with her DH for the night. While her DH was hunting, she and Coleman came down to see me. He's 14 months old and could walk if he wanted to, but is totally not interested in walking.

Sometime between Thursday night and Saturday afternoon, I lost the flash card for my camera. As a result on Sunday afternoon, after cleaning my Copics I cleaned and reorganized my half of the table. If you're not sitting down, you might better. You're not going to believe these two pics. I even want you to know that this afternoon, after making a card I left it looking just like it does in these pics.

This morning I went to town and stopped at Wall's(a closeout store) where I found these ornament boxes for $.99 each. These will be stuffed with a little cash and given to the great nieces and nephews.

Rozanne Paxman, the CEO of Scrap Girls, has a blog called How Mom Did It. It's dedicated to sharing the things she learned from her Mother and her Grandmother. She also shared a tip on how to make your own laundry detergent. This is what I mixed up this afternoon.

Finally, last week I showed you pics of the turning leaves. Well, this is a picture that shows some of the leaves that have fallen in my front yard. The trees still have at least this many still on them. You'll have to wait to see pics of my DH's creative way of raking them, because we don't rake until they all fall off the trees.

Anything Goes at TIddly Inks Round Two

The DT on the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog have taken pity on us as we approach the holiday season and designated November as an Anything Goes With A Tiddly Inks Image Challenge Month. This works wonderfully well for me. I'm always needing to add cards to my OWH stash.

The image I have used for this challenge is Did You Hear with Lilli Claire and her little bird Friend. Christy  has recently added some new Christmas Images to the Tiddly Inks Store, so be sure to check them out.

I'd love to give credit where credit is due on the paper, but I have to say I just grabbed pieces out of my scrap box. The flowers were cut with my Cougar using the Make The Cut software. I love them both. The sentiment is from a dollar set I picked up at Michael's.

The good news is that I had straightened up in TM yesterday when looking for my flash card for my camera(didn't find it), and I left it looking the same when I finished this card. Could I be turning over a new leaf. Nawwwwww! I don't think so.

Emboss It At Sassy Cheryls

This week on the Sassy Cheryls Challenge Blog, Sassy Peggy is the hostess. She set a challenge of using embossing in your creation. Also for the remainder of November, all challenge entries will be looked at for the opportunity of some crafter to be chosen as a Guest Designer. Now how wonderful would that be?

For my card I used one of then new Sally images from the Sassy Cheryls store called Sally and Her Bluebird. You'll notice my bluebirds turned into redbirds. I love redbirds and snow. Sally and her friends are colored with Copics.

The background papers are digital papers from a kit called Winter by Shery K Designs. The large snowflake was a free SVG file from SVGCuts, and I cut it on my Black Cat Cougar using my MTC software. I love this machine. The sentiment is actually a Christmas ornament for a miniature Christmas tree that I purchased on sale at Hobby Lobby.  Both the large snowflake and the banner behind the image are embossed with the Cuttlebug embossing folder.

And My Final Entry for the Phindy's Place Anything Goes

This last card may be my favorite of the three I've done for this Phindy's Place Challenge this week.

This is a new image that Phindy has just added to the Phindy Place Store. It's called Winter Candle, and i'ts one of the Two Seven Oh images. When I came upon it in the store, while looking for another image, it just FELL into my cart. It was just in time for this challenge. Isn't this the most wonderful image?

The papers are from Summer Driggs digital kit called Old Fashioned Christmas. They were perfect for the card. I cut the holly leaves out and added the red rhinestones for the berries.

When I first saw this image, this verse from Matthew immediately came to mind. Feel free to grab it for your use.

Another Anything Goes With A Phindy's Image

Well when it's an Anything Goes with a Phindy's Image over on the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog, I'm going to do my dead level best to get as many entries in as I can.

I had this image picked last Friday along with the papers, just waiting for me to find the time to get my card made. This image is one of Phindy's Winter Cuties called Big Hill. She or He depending on how you color the image can be found HERE at the Phindy's Place Store. She's colored with Copics. I don't see my Grandson being caught outside in those colors.

The papers are digital and from the Christmas Days Kit from Shery K Designs. If you haven't checked her store out, you really should. She has great paper kits as well as SVG files. She's also wonderfully generous with freebies.

The sentiment is very similar to one I created last year, but for this year I decided to use winter as the theme rather than Christmas.

Well, hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to get my third card put together tomorrow. I have my image and sentiment ready to go.

It's the Anything Goes With a Phindy's Image

The first week of the month it's an Anything Goes as long as it's a Phindy's image on the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog. It's definitely one of my favorite challenges each month. I just can't figure out why there are tons of entries each week as Phindy's images are just so much fun to work with.

For my first card of the challenge, I'm chosen this Phindy Cutie called Belle of the Ball. She along with so many other cuties can be found at the Phindy's Place Store. I've colored her with Copics.

Are you sitting down? The papers are from a paper pack from My Mind's Eye called Party Time. It's a very appropriate choice don't you think? Thank you Linda, I'm loving this paper. It just makes me happy.

The sentiment and party hat are rubber stamps that I think I picked up from the $1 bin at Michael's. They worked.

Now I already have plans for my next two cards. There's a new image, I've got to use and have already bought. come back tomorrow for the next installment.

Tiddly Inks Anything Goes

With everyone getting busier than bees with the Holiday Season, the Tiddly Inks Challenge Blog has elected to do an Anything Goes with a Tiddly Inks Image for the month of November.

For this week's challenge, I've chosen this image from the Tiddly Inks store called Happy Birthday Girl. I would love a piece of that cake about now.

The papers are from the Charmin Kit from Shery K Designs, that I had leftover and hadn't used from the last challenge card I made. I really like these papers and they were a good match for the image. The Sketch is from this week's Card Pattern's Challenge.

In All Things Give Thanks

Sassy Pat chose the theme  of  Thanks for this week's challenge on the Sassy Cheryl's Challenge Blog. After all it is November and the month of Thanksgiving. When I was thinking about what I was going to do I remembered the first from I Thessalonians 5:18, "In all things, give thanks," and that was the direction I took with my card.

With that verse in mind, the image I HAD to use was this sweetie from Sassy Cheryls Digi Shop called Praying for Peace Girl. I thought she was most appropriate for the theme and for the verse. I've colored her and her friend with Copics. I even dressed up the inside of the car and added a sentiment.

The papers are from a digital kit called Charmin from Shery K Designs.  I thought they were most appropriate for the card.  I created the verse in Photoshop.

Several years ago, I had to create a bio for my 40th Class Reunion. In the bio, I included the following list. At nearly 61 years of age, these are a list of the 10 most important things I've learned.
 

Life Lessons Learned

1. God has the reins, quit trying to take them away.
2. In all things, give thanks.
3. Live every day like it’s your last and seek to make a positive difference and have no regrets.
4. Family is about heart, not blood.
5. Be yourself and like who you are, for that is the only path to happiness.
6. Be willing to give of yourself, for the return is a hundred fold.
7. Be tolerant of others. To them you may be different.
8. Be able to laugh at yourself. Taking yourself too seriously can take years off your life.
9. Be the best child, spouse, parent, friend you can be.
10. God has the reins, quit trying to take them away.

 Thanks for stopping by.

Show Me Thursday 49

I actually look forward to this post each week. Sassy Cheryl of Sassy Cheryl's Digitals generously puts up a free digi image and all you have to do is post a picture of what you have going on in your life over on the Sassy Cheryl Blog. It can be a picture of a card or project you're working on, the creative mess you've made in the creation, or even pictures of your uber organized space(this one you're never going to see from me).  All of this is just a disguised way of noseying around in other peoples lives and getting to know them better. I know that's I've discovered new ideas and made some new friends along the way.

This past week fall has hit in a major way in my part of the world. As most of you know I live in Mississippi in the Southern part of the United States. There are several reasons that it's a great place to live, but one of them is that even though we don't usually have very bad winters(little to NO snow), we do get all 4 seasons, and they're usually spectacular. After this past summer's drought and blistering heat, I feared our fall would lack the beautiful colors we usually have. Thankfully the leaves didn't all turn brown and fall off the trees in one day. With the first cool snap we actually started seeing some colors. So this morning I wanted to share my world with you.

This first picture I made this morning. This is the view from my office window. It's a gorgeous day here, and most days I can see fox squirrels and gray squirrels out playing chase.

This second picture is one of the views that I see each morning when I walk with my walking buddy. This is the view at our almost turning around spot. You can't really tell much, but I  promise the leaves, they are a changing.

This final picture is the canopy of trees  on the road to our camphouse. I've seen commercial shots that this can compare to.

I have to say Spring and Fall are probably my two favorite seasons, but I'm so glad that I get to see them all. What's your favorite season?

Now go out and make a pic of what's happening in your life and join us on SMT.

Sweet on Paper Piecing

I actually got my 3rd Paper Piecing challenge card for the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog finished and with over 15 hours to spare(on the making if not the blogging). That's way ahead of schedule for me.LOL

I have to say, I've really had fun with this challenge, and I could have kept on making cards. I'm loving the look of paper piecing and need to do it more often. Phindy just has so many images that are suitable for the challenge over at the Phindy's Place Store. You REALLY need to check them out. If you're not hooked on her images, after you go to the store, you WILL be. This sweet image is called Lolly Dolly and even the cat is paper pieced. Don't you love those few wisps of hair on Dolly? Both my girls were bald forever as was my granddaughter. MM on the other hand was born with lots of hair and didn't lose any of it.

These fabulous digital papers are from the Garden Path Collection from Raspberry Road Designs. They might have been free, but I'm not sure. Go check out the link, because there are a ton of free kits as well as sales and bargains. I had to make the suckers with some Q-tip sticks and some hard candy small tree ornaments. The swirls are from a free SVG file called Home Decor Stencils by Shery K Designs.

The sketch is this week's Sketch Challenge over on Mojo Monday, so I guess I'll be entering that challenge too.

Again I went to Photoshop to create the sentiment. Seemed to be the right message for the image.

Another Paper Piecing for Phindy's Place

I love that the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog allows for double entries  when you use a Phindy's Place image. Needless to say, I am going for the best chance I can at winning, so I'm sticking to Phindy's Place images. I can't for the life of me figure out why everyone isn't going with using Phindy Images just because they're so great, forget the double entry.

As you know this week's challenge is to do Paper Piecing. I sat down yesterday and found the papers I wanted to use for the three cards I plan on making for the challenge. For my second entry, I've used  the Phindy's Place image, Smooch. I must have Katie on my mind today, because this image reminds me of her two children, big sister and little brother. Again there is only minimal coloring with Copics.

These papers are also from a digital kit called April Showers from Just So Scappy Too. I had to use those little rubber ducks on the baby boy's pj's, and Big Sister needed a polka dot dress and this Big Sis just happens to like lavender.

Saturday Challenge has an Easel Card Challenge, and it was there that I saw a card that I CASEd. I'll also be entering my card in that challenge.

Paper Piecing at Phindy's Place

This week's challenge on the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog is Paper Piecing. I never think of paper piecing without thinking of Katie Boshart. I remember the cards she turned out doing paper piecing, cutting her stuff out while holding a wee baby.  I have a hard enough time cutting with both hands free and just holding the scissors and image. I do however love the look of paper piecing, so thanks DT.

For my first card for the challenge, I chose this image from the Phindy's Place Store called Unwrapped. The only thing that's colored is his hands, feet, head and belly. The rest is all paper pieced. I even had fun tearing up the wrapping paper for him to toss.

The papers are from a kit from Raspberry Road Designs called Big Boy Design. I decided that train paper was just too perfect for his pajamas.  The sketch is this week's Tuesday Morning Sketches.

The senitment was created in Photoshop, and you're welcome to it.