MOJO102

I just love a new week full of new challenges. I find that with the MOJO MOnday challenges I get off to a great start with my stamping week. On today's card I used a cute Crafty Secrets stamp with some new Basic Grey design paper and one of my favorite Stampin' Up colors: cameo coral. I colored the image with copic markers and wheeled the card base with cameo coral ink with the rough wheel to add a little texture to that flat background. I owe a lot of friends thank you cards for some great birthday gifts, so think this will be one of them.

Color Throw Down #57

Positively pink was a retired color from Stampin' Up and I couldn't find a single sheet of it in my stamp room, so I went with a white card base and used the colors of the challenge: positively pink, certainly celery, and bashful blue to color in the image. I masked it and rolled over it with my rough texture wheel in celery. The sentiment was stamped in versafine black.

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #30

It is time for Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge (FTTC30)! It is the last Tuesday in the month so it is my honor to be the guest challenge host this month! A string of pearls always seem to be in every woman's collection of "must have" jewelry and often the only accessory needed to complete an outfit. I thought since pearls held such an honored place in our jewelry boxes, it would be great to let them be a part of today's challenge.

Whether you want to use pearlized papers, pearlx, pearl paints, halfbacked pearls, or actual pearl beads, whatever you choose to use, we would love to see what you create.

I used the lace and trim set to stamp a partial background with pink pirouette ink, I used white cardstock for the card base and used white and pink pirouette paper with my nestabilities for layers for the main image that is the sweetpeas by Flourishes. I used copic markers to color them, added halfbacked pearls around the image, and pink and white ribbons.

Be sure to check out the other Friends of Flourishes Blog Team Designers to see what they created for you this week: Betty, Kimberly, Silke, Cindy.

Thanks, Lynn!!!

Thanks, Lynn for awarding me the Kreative Blogger award. She's my sister I suppose she has to like my blog, right?? She's the one responsible also for this addiction I have. The best part about receiving it will be to award some of the other fine blogs that are out there from where I gain my inspiration. I'm so thrilled if you are a follower of my blog, and I hope I am sharing the love I have for stamping with you.

To accept the award I had to do a few things:

*Thank the person who nominated me for this award.

*Copy the logo and place it on my blog.

*Link the person who nominated me for this award.

*Name seven things about me that people might find interesting.

*Post links to the seven blogs that I nominate.

*Leave comments of all seven blogs letting them know I nominated them.

Seven things that people might find interesting about me:

1. I've been a Stampin' Up demonstrator for the past 8 years. The stamp store my sister and I frequented went out of business, and signing up with Stampin' Up kept the addiction going.

2. Most of my money is spent on stamps, papers, and ink!! Oh, and how can I forget all those paper punches and diecuts, and embossing folders??

3. I'm a retired kindergarten teacher, who now an assistant teacher's helper for the 4 year olds at my church two days a week. I just love the little ones.

4. I taught myself how to play guitar and enjoy leading music in a prison ministry I take part in. Okay, I guess I need a captive audience (I'm not that good)!!!LOL

5. I was recently crowned one of the Queens of the Royal Court over at Flourishes blog.

6. I love to do challenges. They always jumpstart my creative juices!!

7. There should be a warning on the door of my stamproom: ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Here are my nominations for this award:

1. Susan at One4JoyDaily

2.Ellie at Live Laugh Love

3.Harriet at Allycat Cards

4.Carol at Chocolate, Crafts, and Bears Oh, My!

5.Patricia at Stamping with Kokirose

6.Bev at Savor the Journey

7.Crystal's Crafty Creations

MOJOs all week

What a fun week it's been doing all the Verve Mojo challenges this week! And I got my new order in from Verve earlier in the week so I was able to finally do these with their stamps. I think if I'm going to take part in a company's challenges, I should own some of the product from that company. It seems only right. KWIM! I used some pink passion and dp scraps from a box I keep right at my feel while I work. There always seems to be something in it that coordinates. Here's what I managed to create. Thanks, Teresa for this fabulous sketch.

KSS Crew Challenge

With school soon starting, hopefully fall is just around the corner, although it takes until around November for it to feel like fall in South Texas. I did this card for the crew challenge going on over at Kitchen Sink . Finally found this Martha Stewart punch at Michael's last week. I used creamy caramel, soft suede, and chocolate chip to stamp the squirrel. The leafs are brads.

I've done a little overspending in my stamping budget this month (so is this anything new)??My Verve order came in today, and I couldn't think of a better way to spend my birthday than stamping the day away. It was a cakeless and no ice cream birthday as it was weigh in day at Weight Watchers!!!! But I have to tell you, stamping was a very good substitute!!!Here's my Verve trio!!! What do you think???

FTTC29

Finally getting my Flourish Timeless Tuesday Challenge completed. I had an interuption....it's my husband's birthday. I decided to make this my Christmas card for this week. The tree is from Flourishes. I cuttlebugged the red card base, and the design paper is from Basic Grey. The challenge was to use red, olive, black, and another neutural of your choice. Mine was white. I did use sahara sand ink to sponge around the oval. I love my nestabilities that made my perfect ovals.

Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #15

What an exciting week it has been with all the new stamps being release by various companies! This is a new one from Flourishes. The background paper is from the Junebug collection from Basic Grey. I thought it went well with the peach!! The sketch is this week's sketch challenge at Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge. Peaches are one of my favorite fruits of the summer! Of course, I used my copic markers to color the image! Hope you are enjoying the sweet life!!

This week's DSO card

I picked Susie watering her flowers for my Digital Stamp Oasis card this week. I think Susie lives here in Sugar Land, because

we've had so little rain, that we are forced to water our plants or let them die!!I used some Basic Grey dp for the background, and pink passion for the card base. The large oval nestabilities fit the image just right. Copic markers are my medium of coloring.

MOJO hits 100! Day 1

Wow, how exciting to have hit the number 100, and Julee is making it fun all week with more sketches. I used Basic Grey dp for mine today, and a set from Flourishes. I paper pieced my coffee cup!! The card base is taken with teal. I used two different nestabilities shapes for the main image. Congratulations, Julee, for hitting 100! I hope my new Verve sets come in before the week is over, so I can use some of them for these terrific challenges.

Stampin' Sisters in Christ

I was so excited to find over on Daily Dare this new challenge on Sundays: http://stampinsistersinchrist.blogspot.com/. Here's the card I made with a food item on it. I printed out the verse from Isaiah on my computer then punched it out. I'm trying out some of the new in colors and papers from Stampin' Up and the strawberries are from Flourishes. I colored the image with my Copic markers.

Copic Colour Challenge 26

I didn't have the exact colors of copics but I did have the olive one. I used R39, BG10, and BG18. I just adore my copics because the tip helps get color in even the smallest of spaces. This was a beautiful color combo.Flourishes LLC is my favorite company for wonderful images to stamp for coloring. Perfect for copics!!

Wow, was I ever surprised to find I had been selected in a place of honor on the Flourish Newsletter blog. I sent this to a friend and she emailed me that she can finally tell friends she is friends with Queen Elizabeth!! Flourishes is one of my favorite stamp companies because of the fabulous artwork on their stamp sets. Their florals created by Marcella Hawley are some of my favorites. I love the roses, tulips, lilacs, sweetpeas, violets, and strawberries just to name a few!! A new release is happening tomorrow and I can not wait to see the new images. Take a minute to check it out for yourself.

Color Throwdown #55

Here's my card for the Color Throwdown challenge for this week. You can find all the details of the challenge here. I am using a sheet of the new design paper offered by Stampin' Up. I diecut the melon mambo piece with my cuttlebug diecut. These are great bright colors so I thought this verse from Proverbs fit the bill. I hope to get up to Brenham this morning to check on my booth at the shop, and also go by and see my little grandson, Ethan. His cheerful look always puts joy in my heart.

Color Throwdown Challenge #55

Since these were such bright colors, I think this verse from Proverbs fits the bill! I am using some of the new design paper from Stampin' Up, and I sent the melon mambo through my cuttlebug diecut. You can find the details for the Color Throwdown Challenges here. I'm hoping to head to Brenham this morning to check out my booth at the shop. It also gives me a chance to see my little grandson, Ethan!

Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge 14

I really like the way this turned out. I started with the design paper to determine the colors for my card. The last element I decided upon was the image. That is kind of going backwards for me, but it really turned out nicely I think. The design papers are from Basic Grey and Stampin' Up. The image is from Stampin' Up . I colored the image with copic markers. My favorite of all coloring mediums.

Flourish Timeless Tuesday Challenge 28

For the Flourish Timeless Tuesday challenge, Silke requests scoring on the card. So, I added some diagonal scoring at the top left corner and the lower right hand corner. I stamped this image twice making it join in the middle. That seemed the perfect place for a bow!! Punched a few butterflies and added small gold domes for their bodies. This is my second card for this challenge. The one I did in the wee hours of the morning just didn't look so good this morning after a little sleep. KWIM?

This cute image is from Digital Stamp Oasis and I thought it would make a cute way to bring in a birthday!!! I used my SU spiral punch to make my tracks!! I added some red bling to be the flashing, warning lights. Aren't these images perfect for kid's birthdays?

Christmas stampin' all year

I used the spotlighting technique on this card. I have always loved this stamp which is a retired set from Stampin' Up. Vintage stamps are my favorites and this one was exceptional. Checking out the Daily Dare today I found the challenge Christmas Stampin' all Year. I'm getting an early start on my Christmas cards because I have a craft show planned for the fall, and it's time to get crackin'!

MOJO99

It's Monday, and time for the Mojo Monday Sketch challenge. It is one of my favorite ways to start the week stamping!! I've been making about one Christmas card a day, it seems lately. But I'll be glad I did when December gets here I'm sure. My card list seems to be expanding, and it's never too late to get started. Love this design paper from the dasher collection from Basic Grey. The card base is real red cs from SU. The sentiment is also Stampin' Up. Found these little candy canes in my box of embellishments and figured these might just do the trick to dress this up a little. The ribbon was the first thing I picked for this card, so everything else had to work around that ribbon. LOL

NoTimeToStamp Challenge---Friends

A card for a friend is always fun to make. I've wanted this stamp set from Stampin' Up for a long time just for this one stamp alone. I finally earned it with my monthly sales recently. Sharon for her weekly NoTimeToStamp Challenge this week asked for friend cards. Using a piece of some of my favorite Basic Gfey paper for the background, and placed it on an old olive card base. I'm having such fun coloring my white primas to be the colors and shades that I need for my dp. Then I don't have to buy 15 bottles of each color of prima either. There's my financial tip for the week on how to stretch your crafting dollars!!!LOL

LSC232

The Limited Supply Challenge on SCS today was so fun. Not only did we have to use food in the image, but we had to use colors that had food titles. I used elegant eggplant, old olive, and barely banana. I freehanded the sentiment.

Wacky Wednesday challenge

This is for the Wacky Wednesday challenge. I only have a few of their stamps and this one happens to be flowers. I cuttlebugged the background and colored the image with my copics.

FTTC27 and MMSC13

In the part of Texas where I live, summer seems to last 6 months out of the year. So this concept of eternal summer seems to fit for me. This card I made for two challenges today: Flourishes' Timeless Tuesday challenge #27 and Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge #13. I loved this paper from Basic Grey which I found on sale at Michael's a few weeks ago. I'm glad they are now handling these papers. This is a 5 1/2 by 5 1/2 square card. I love this size because it gives me plenty of room to work!! I used my nestabilities for the center shapes and my Stampin' Up hardware that I too often hoard instead of use. The little speckles I did with one of my itty bitty background stamps from Stampin' Up. Can't live without that little stamp. Nothing colors these Flourish florals like copics. I'm finally getting the hang of that 0 blender pen.

I just got to thinking today about how my blog just seems to be filled with floral cards. Oh, well, welcome to my paper garden. The thing I love about floral stamps is their timelessness, and they represent one of the creations of God that bring instant joy to most of us. So, pick a flower from my garden, and have a wonderful day!!!!

The Cuttlebug Spot challenge

I did a little bit of reverse embossing using one of my favorite folders for the challenge over on The Cuttlebug Spot. I am using up some of my old in colors today. This is tangerine tango and I inked the folder with the new in color Soft Suede! I covered the butterfly with Glossy Elements and then sprinkled on some glitter.

May God bless our teachers

I can't believe that time is just around the corner but school will soon be back in swing in just a few weeks. I decided to make a little "welcome, back!" card using this digital image from Digital Stamp Oasis. I colored over the message that was on the board, and added a new message with a white gel pen. I think that using plaid gave me a flash to the past to a new school dress my mother made me for one of those first day of school events, and I also had a Scottish plaid lunchbox that my grandfather handpainted my name on (one of his many talents was a sign painter). And I mean he put the whole full name on it which had to go diagonally from one corner to the other: Elizabeth Ann Austin. Just traveling down memory lane. As a retired public school teacher, what joy it is to not have to deal with those first day situations that I'm sure every kindergarten teacher across the country has to face. My greatest fear was always getting a kid on the wrong bus to go home. What a nightmare!!!God bless all you teachers who are already hard at work getting those classrooms ready. No one really knows how much of your time and your own money are tied up in that classroom. Hope you are blessed with a wonderful year!

MOJO Monday #98

It's the first MOJO Monday of the month, so here is mine.