Buttons, Buttons Times 2

I told you I liked buttons, and I wasn't kidding. I'm so excited that I'm getting two cards done in one day and at the last minute for the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog button theme challenge.

I've had this sweet image from Phindy's Place Shop called Softball Girl, for quite some time. I've colored her with Copics. Now you'll notice she's not all tomboy. She's got on her girly girl pink t-shirt under her uniform.Ever since I purchased this image I've been looking for the right accessories. Needless to say that when I came across these buttons at WalMart, I HAD to have them. The papers are digital and again, once I found them I had to have them, too. They're from Sprouting Seeds Studio, and the kit is called Let's Play Baseball.

Now I'm off to get this card posted on the challenge and then I'm going to chillax for what's left of the evening.

Buttons, Buttons, Whose Got the Buttons

That would be me and any one else wanting to take part in the Phindy's Place Challenge for this week. I have a love affair going with buttons, that dates back to my earliest days of sewing. Today there are so many decorative buttons out there that are just perfect for card embellishments, and buttons are generally cheaper than scrapbooking embellishments.
Isn't this image THE MOST ADORABLE thing you've ever seen? I know if you've been to the beach, you've all seen a little girl that looks just like this one from the back. You know the one I'm talking about, the one so involved in having fun, that she's totally oblivious to the fact that she's about to lose her bottoms. Either that or she doesn't care.LOL This image is one that Phindy just recently released and is called "Summer Bare". Please go check her out at the Phindy's Place Shop. I'd give you a direct link, but I'd rather you have to look for her and find some other images along the way that you just HAVE TO HAVE. I've colored her with Copics and given her a touch of pink around the shoulders and derriere. When I was a teenager and had a much better figure, I had the cutest green with white polka dot two piece. I had brown spots all over my bottom from the sun tanning me through the white dots. Took me forever to figure out what was going on with those spots.

As you all know, I'm totally addicted to paper and my obsession with digital papers is worse than my addiction to real paper. This week I found a new source of paper, My Memories. They have some wonderful freebies out there. The blue cloud paper is from the My Memories website and is from a free kit called Celebrate Summer Extras from Jill Dzines. The other papers were also free, but came from a mega kit called Dog Days of Summer from Digital Divas Designs.

I found the flip flop buttons on sale at Hobby Lobby(they made me think of my blogging friend Jennifer Tidwell of Flip Flop Creations, and the polka dotted buttons, I just picked up somewhere along the way, just because I liked them.

I created the Word Art in Photoshop to carry on the flip flop theme. I'm posting both the flip flop underlay and the plain Word Art for any that want them. Just click on them and then save the picture to your files.
Thanks for stopping by. Now let's see if I can get another button card done, because I've got the best buttons to use for the image I have selected.

Show Us Your Scallops

This is the theme for this week's Sassy Cheryl Challenge Blog, and I have to say the DT did an amazing job with their inspirational projects.

I am, of course, running behind and getting my entry in at the last minute. I had this image already printed and on my table top, so decided to see what I could do with her. She's called "Babies First Steps Girl". In case you didn't know, Sassy Cheryl has divorced her digi images from her colored images and now has two stores. Her Digi Images can be found at Sassy Cheryl's Digis, and her colored images can be found at Sassy Cheryl's Illustrations. She's colored with Copics. I love the fact that children don't care about coordinating. It's all about favorites things and that's the way I've colored her.
The DP papers are from a digital paper kit called No - A Toddler's Creed by Reid-Safty from Computer Scrapbook Dot Com. The flowers are some I made a while back. The scalloped frame was cut with a Spellbinders die cut, as were the scalloped circles. The sentiment is from my stash.

Now let's go see if I can get a card done for another challenge that ends today. Oh and believe it or not, I have even cleaned off my desk from the mess I made making this card. Will wonders never cease?

Around About the 4th Shrimp Boil SMT

It's SMT post for the Sassy Cheryl Blog, so I'm going to bore you senseless with lots of pictures and words of what I've got going on.

Well this past week was a busy one for me, but not in the crafting department. Every year my DH's Brother and his wife along with my DH and myself host a Shrimp Boil for family and friends. We call it the Around About the 4th Shrimp Boil as we do it on a Saturday that is around the 4th and depending on when my BIL and SIL can get up from the coast. You guessed it, this year it was on the 9th. I am responsible for invitations(I'm still old fashioned enough that I don't send e-vites and there are just too many to call). I got those made and in the mail about the second week of June. I also buy all the veggies that go in with the shrimp and make the slaw and tea. Of course, none of that can be done much ahead of time. So I'm sharing pictures with you of the Saturday Event.

DH and I started the day off by taking his step-daughter's DH and son kayaking on Tibbee Creek, where our camphouses are. I forgot my new kayaking vest and had to go home to get it(camphouse is just over 3 miles from the house which makes it really convenient when I forget something that I need). The sun was a gorgeous orange as it was rising, but by the time I got my camera to take a picture it had gone behind a cloud. This is a picture of the lily pads that are growing. I've never paddled up close to them before, but they smell wonderful, and I love the way the water just rolls on top of the leaves. This was also the last relaxing moment I had on Saturday.

We waited until about 2:30 to set up the tables and chairs because of the chance of T'storms, although it was the lowest percent chance of rain we'd had all week. We had just gotten everything setup and decorated when in comes the first of two thunderstorms. We quickly put the tables up on the porches and decks and 15 minutes later, the sun came out. We set them up again. It was hot before the first thunderstorm and like a sauna after it moved through. This is a picture of the first set up in the yards.
For the second year, I've set up a table with OWH Any Hero cards asking for our guests to write for their supper. The reason this picture is so bad is because of the sauna like effects after the first thunderstorm. I 'm happy to say that one of my nieces made sure that most of the folks wrote at least one thank you for our servicemen. One of my many SIL's found Miss Liberty in someone's trash after a yard sale and rolled it home. She's a perfect accessory.

Folks milling around over at BIL's, waiting for the food and before the second thunderstorm came through.

This was of course the main course, but we also had a half a hog and grilled sausages along with the usual sides of potatoes, onions, mushrooms and corn on the cob cooked in crab boil, slaw and potato salad. There was also a table full of desserts furnished by our guests(I know how to throw a party and not do ALL the work.)

After the second thunderstorm, we just moved all the card tables up on the porches and ate. Here are pics of everyone enjoying the food and fellowship. The first is the porch at BIL's(usually set up for the older family and friends) and the second is the deck at our camphouse. This is only the second time in about 10 years that it has actually rained. The first time, BIL hadn't built his camphouse and our deck didn't have a roof on it. Needless to say, that DH added a roof to our deck before the next Shrimp Boil.

This event is all about family. I've never known a family like my husband's that is so family oriented. My DH is one of 14 children, 13 of whom are still living and all of whom were present Saturday night, along with a large number of their children and grandchildren. The following pictures are of some of the younger great generation.

This is my niece Carrie, with her son, Coleman(age 10 months). He's the first grandson of BIL hosting the event.
This is great nephew Corbin(age 6 months) enjoying his first Swoope Shrimp Boil. This is the second grandson of BIL hosting the event.

This is our great niece, Mary Ray(age 2 1/2), whose certainly enjoying the chocolate ice cream that her Great Uncle Brother brought for dessert.

The party was a huge success despite the showers. Everyone had a great time. Thanks for stopping by, and hope I haven't bored you to pieces.

Anything Goes

This week is the Phindy's Phriday Challenge on the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog. For the next several months, the first Friday of the month is going to be an Anything Goes as long as you use a Phindy's Place image. No problem there for me, I've got tons of images and am always buying more.LOL
For what I hope is the first of my challenge cards, I chose this image called "Ships at Sea". Isn't he delightful? He's one of the wonderful Summer Cuties that can be found at the Phindy's Place Shop. I'm not going to give you the direct link, because if you have to look, I'm sure you'll find an image or two or three that you just HAVE to HAVE. He is of course colored with Copics.

I have to tell you I found this wonderful paper over on the My Grafico site, and when I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for Ships at Sea. It's from Jazzy Patterns, and is appropriately enough called Sailing Away.

The sentiment is one I quickly worked up in Photoshop. When I was looking for a sentiment, I Googled sailing quotes. I found this quote "A sailor’s joys are as simple as a child’s" by Bernard Moitessier. It reminded me that children don't need fancy toys to experience joy. Please feel free to grab the senitment if you want it
.

Outside the Box

Here's the deal over on Sassy Cheryl's Challenge Blog this week - create a project in which you leave part of the image out of the box. Well that seemed easy enough. If you want to see some fantastic examples, just check out the DT's cards over on the Challenge Blog HERE. Since I'm running short of time for challenges(I'm working with my neighbor on creating some OWH Any Hero cards), I opted to do a two for one. My challenge card is also going to be entered in the Color Me Challenge on Sassy Cheryl's Blog.


The image is called "I Love You This Much Boy", and he's colored with copics. In this case it's pretty obvious he dressed himself, since coordinating clothes is obviously not happening. He reminds me of my grandson, MonkeyMoo and his mother, when she was a little girl. I have a school picture with her in an outfit that I can't believe her father let her leave home in EVER, much less on Picture day(I wasn't there at the time).

The papers are some I purchased from Create with TLC, and that I found in my stash of scraps(aren't you amazed that I remembered where they came from). The sketch is variation of a card that I saw made up in the Fall 2010 Paper Creations. The sentiment is something I typed up in Word.

Before I close, I want to remind you to check out and HELP SPREAD THE WORD about the Lungs 4 Life Fundraiser for Tripp Oldham. There is a fabulous image package and a raffle in which some fantastic prizes are going to be given away.

Show Me Thursday # 31

Well here it is only Friday, and I'm posting what's going on in my space. Mostly it's a mess. For anyone just happening in, it's Sassy Cheryl's Show Me Thursday challenge. If you post of picture of your work space or what's happening in your life to the Sassy Cheryl Blog, you're entered in a challenge to win a free Sassy Cheryl image, and that's all well and good. However the best part is that you get a chance to visit and see everyone spaces and what they're working on.

This week my neighbor kindly agreed to help me make some OWH Any Hero cards. I want to have a whole bunch of them ready for our Shrimp Boil next week. I make them write for their supper. We all need to let our troops know we appreciate them.

Here's a pic of my neighbor working on assembling the cards and the second picture is of me layering stars.


This last picture is the fruit of our labors. We're off to a start, but we've still got a ways to go.


Now come on and snap a picture of your workspace and get entered in the challenge. We really are interested in what you have going on.