Claudia's Candy

At Pretty Pressings  Claudia is offering some awesome Candy and you can hop on over and enter to win.

She wants to share a little love with those who visit her blogspot and she has picked some of her favorite products. Looks good huh? I would love to have some of those pro markers.
and thanks Claudia for the nice comments you give along the way.

So hop on over and give her some love this Day.

A Little Shabby Valentine

A Little Shabby Valentine, made for someone special on my list.

I tattered and distressed the cardboard packing that already had folds from its previous usefulness. I layered a heart shaped wire with a red button on top of a Spellbinders Gold Glitter Heart, added a Silver Glitter Heart with a Red sparkle heart.  Some torn edged sparkle red paper surronded by lace and a sequined heart. Some torn shear paper has LOVE stamped in red with a heart shape pin and some silver cord and a cute little vintage girl (from my Crafty Secrets purchase) a simple red bow, and a silver heart charm at the top.

It can stand alone as it has a fold for support

                                                                      The Inside

Challenges Entered
Crafty Cardmakers Challenge #39  "Hearts"
The Stamp Man Challenge #16      "Hearts"
Winter Wonderland  "To the One I Love"
Crazy 4 Challenges    "Hearts"
If the Shoe Fits FF#6 "Hearts, Glitter, Lace"
City Crafter Challenge Week #43 "All that Glitters" Silver and Gold
Ooh La La Challenge #73  "For Someone Special"
The Kraft Journal Challenge #5 "Love Theme"
Gingersnap Creations GC90 Spice supply Challenge "Charms"
Just Add Ink 55 "Just Add Love"
Stempin' for the Weekend "St. Valentines Day"
Stamp Something "Something for your Valentine"
Our Creative Corner "Cut it Out"
Creatalicious Challenge #18 "Ribbon and Love Theme"
Ink on My Fingers Sunday Stampers Week #141 "Love"

I might add that ALL of these Challenge Spots have some really great Inspiration to share with you. The Design Teams truly do some unique posting.

I really loved doing this. I love the Tattered and Shabbyness and of course Hearts are my favorite.
Hope you have a wonderful day. Thanks for stopping by my blogspot, I hope you are somewhat inspired and enjoy what you see.

Spring Inspiration-Winter Thaw--It is Really just a Dream

The Challenge at Welcome to Flourishes  is

Winter Thaw Challenge, how appropriate, it is totally what we need in Iowa. Nothing prettier than the little Crouses peeping thru the snow. The Challenge is to be inspired by this photo.

I used the Cuttlebug Embossing Folder on the card. A Spellbinders Mega Scalloped Oval, topped with an Embossed Mega Oval, Fancy Tags on top and bottom. I used Copics and Sakura Glaze Pens.
I cut out the Iris, added ribbon and sparkles.  I am hoping for a melt down so these precious spring flowers can start to bloom.

A few other Challenges that this might qualify for are:
Simon Says Stamp and Show  Embossing
Sweet Stampin Challenge        Spring Flowers
Phindy's Place Challenge #41  Embossing

Thanks for stopping by.  All 4 of the Challenge Blogs have some great inspiration by the Design Teams.  So hop on over, you'll enjoy what you see.

I thought our temps were pretty bad yesterday, well today it is a MINUS 15, but sounds like we are lucky in not also having snow that some have been pounded with.

A Little Bit Lovely

There are 3 Inspirational Pictures below and all 3 are just divine. They just speak to your heart.
So Enjoy and drop by for a visit to see all the Lovely's.

The Shabby Tea Room  Week #48  create a card or project using HEARTS and any additional inspiration from the photo -- colors of pink, green, brown and neutral, doilies, polka dots, flowers, lace, ribbons

                                                                  Looks Luscious


The Play Date Cafe Challenge #68

     Truly the Lovely Shabby Chic

Curtain Call Color Challenge ACT #68

                                                            Soft and Sweet Color


For my card I used the background stripe in browns, greens and pink from Fancy Pants Designs "Sweet Pea" , A Spellbinders Nestie, topped with a Pink Doily, Green Fibers, Tim Holtz Rosette Die, and his Pink Polka Dot Papers, a Sentiment, more lace, sparkle hearts, and stick pin heart with beads from my stash.

  

Of course these Challenges have some great inspiration from their Design Team, so hop on over and pick up a few new ideas and Enjoy.  Thanks for stopping by.

WOYWW---Short on time

Cannot believe it is Wednesday already.  Totally was not prepared for this. Had to leave quickly yesterday and never went back down to finish anything.  But that's how life is.

This is to the left of my work tables. Ohhhhhhhhh that picture of Robert Redford has been with me since the 70's...one cool dude..sometimes my inspiration!!! !!! !!!

Today this was the most organized area. Off to the very left edge I have a small cork board that I have cut out Spellbinders Dies tacked to so I can remember what I have and helps in putting a card together size, shape, etc.              sometimes.  Next week I will continue on down the line.

BUT this is the MESS today:

The little wire heart baskets are holding cut out flowers, different textures, ready to get their color. Oh and my most favorite "Somerset Studio"  ...Picked up several of their EVER SO AWESOME  CHUCK FULL OF IDEAS PUBLICATIONS....while visiting my son in Atlanta. He always takes me to Barnes and Nobel Book Store, as I can spend hours there.
I use to page thru Receipe Books, now we eat out...so they are on the back shelf and I have started to page thru hobby magazines.  I enjoy  the variety from "Somerset"  so much.

If you want more Snoop..head over to The Stamping Ground , there are a lot of great little places to visit. Who knows, you just might find something to help you with your desk organization. Julia has people from "THE WORLD OVER"...participate.
Well  I am off to another funeral...we have had 5 people pass on in 10 days most all are in their 90's, so a lot of family members have been returning home for a few days. So there is some good fellowship and memories being shared.
Thanks for stopping by...enjoy your day.  We have sunshine and below zero temps AGAIN.

Small and Delicate

My tag for Joans Gardens Tag #7 is small and quite feminine. In a hurry today, have doctor appts for my dad and 2 funerals this week. Have to get a better stock of Sympathy Cards to have on hand.

I used Fiskars Corner Rounder, DCWV Luxury Stack Paper, Offray's Accent Rose, Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage "Little Blessings"  Sentiment, some fiber and rhinestones. Have serveral birthdays coming up so can tuck it nicely with a little gift.
Thanks for stopping by.  If you are in an area where it is warm, look out and send some heat our way. It is frightfully cold. Like way below Zero.  Roads have been icy with the snow blowing all around.   I truly hate to go out.

Color Trends Challange

Embellish Magazine Challenge  Challenge: Use the Colors below with Hearts

Love this display of Color and Inspiration

My card today was clean and simple. I loved the papers and did not want to cover the design with layers so used two of the stems and added Felt Valentine Flowers. For the Pink Scalloped Hearts I used my Spellbinders die for the 2 Red, I free hand cut them and added a bow. Can easily be mailed.

Thanks for stopping by, has been a cold day here in Iowa..below zero and I am sooooooo ready for Spring.

A Happy Birthday Card

What a great day to be home..Temps here below zero...wind, drifting..Please Spring come early.
So glad I have blogging friends and a few challenges to work on.

My card today was made for Joans Gardens  Card Challenge #5 
 1. Use Coral/pink and Green for your colors
2. A Birthday Sentiment
3. Vintage Paper
4. Handmade or Punch flower
If you have time stop over to Joans Blog, there are some really beautiful cards that give a lot of inspirations. 

.

I made the flower from 1/2 of a zipper and added an old shank button center.
Spellbinders Pendant Die, Sizzix Die for the Happy Birthday sentiment. Layered some Vintage Paper and made this a quick and easy card.

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the week.

Claudia's Candy

There is some great "Candy" being offered at Claudia's Pretty Pressings

She wants to share a little love with those who visit her blogspot and she has picked some of her favorite products.  Looks good huh?    I would love to have some of that seam binding...
and thanks Claudia for the nice comments you give along the way.
So hop on over and give her some love. I think she has had some really bad winter weather.

Hoping  you have lots of Sunshine.

A Tag

My tag today was made with Tim Holtzs' Tattered Floral Die,  my flower cut from an old book I purchased for a dime so I could cut it up, some Distressed ink and  an old Earing for the center, the Sizzix Flourish Die, and papers from Salsa Celebration PaperZ which I won from Eclectic Paperie, Martha Stewarts corner punch and a little fiber for the top.

I will enter into the following Challenges:
Joans Gardens  "Tag " for Tuesday
Creative Belli    #110  " Jewelry"
Just Us Girls    JUGS69  "Make a 3D Flower"

Thanks for stopping by, trying to quick post this the electric is flickering..high winds and I truly don't want to lose power...Enjoy your day.

COLOR COMBO SWEETNESS

My card today was made for a friend to give to his wife. He wanted something pink and feminine. I used Tim Holtz's Paper Rosette, my Paper Rounder, Luxury Paper Stack by DCWV and items from my Little Treasure's Chest of Valentine leftovers.

I will enter this into the following Challenges:

Moxie Fab World   "Tuesday Triggers" Sweets for the Sweet"

Isn't it a Lovely Color Combo

Paper Sundaes #54 "Valentine"                                                                                                                 

Flourishes  "Timeless Tuesday"  "Valentine"
Alota Rubber Stamps  #52  "Valentine, with Red, White, Pink"
Really Reasonable Ribbons   #17  "Colors, Pink, Red, White"
Simon Says Stamp Challenge  "Love is in the Air"
Wild Orchid Challenge  #16  "Love"

Thanks for stopping by. Have a whole list of projects to get done, so I can have the weekend free.
Weather's calmed a bit...Sunshine, wind and cold -09  so need to bundle up.

The Lady's Old Valentines

As promised here are a few more of the Auction Valentines I aquired.

The last one here has the red honeycomb fold outs...Most of these are from the early 40's and 50's
Can tell by the paper and printing.  I have a few more from the late 50's and 60's, but my camera batteries are done. 

Thanks for stopping by...enjoy your time.
I notice my signature is taking a break again....sure gets a lot of time off.

WOYWW--

And now it is WOYWW..Whats On Your Work desk Wednesday...stop over to Julia's
http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ and play along or just have fun Peeping at the other entries


Here it is February..just got all my calenders changed, I am so happy January is gone.  We are having terrible winds, blizzard conditions, and warnings of NO travel, most roads are closed. So far we have no ice. East and South of here have much more serious weather problems.
Great day to spend working on Card Projects: 

The 3 little wire heart boxes contain  cut out flowers from grunge paper, and odd papers I had around.  Hope to get them distressed, crackled, and put together later.

Last week I showed you my Spellbinders storage rack. This is north of my 2 desks. A really old 8ft wooden table that actually has legs that fold.  My area is about 14 ft Long by 12 ft Wide.
It use to be the spare bedroom. I moved that to the small space I had for my 1 small table and sewing machine. Kids are only here 1 night 3x a year. So when I started Card Making and retired I decided it was time I had my own space.
 I use this table for paper cutting and all the work that a Big Shot can do. And my little tiny Pink Cuttlebug. Of course my stereo system and all my Alan Jackson music..
The 5 storage containers hold ribbon, lace, much misc.  1 has my Christmas items, and 1 has misc other holiday things.  The big spellbinders storage rack sits right in reach of this table.

This wall is left of the cutting table and displays my collection of game boards. So only have one wall to show you, and that may be awhile!!!!!!!  Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have SUNSHINE and some great weather...

UNIQUE OLD VALENTINES...

Sharing some Valentines I purchased from a Household Auction.  The 3 bottom ones are from Germany but no dates  The top middle has a date of 1924

The top Airplane in this picture has a date of 1924 Printed in Germany  It is very delicate, I plan to frame it.

The top left from the Carrington Co. Chicago, Il      top right a date of 1927
The 2 bottom ones remind me of Shirley Temple??? or if someone knows what image these are , leave a comment for me..

These are such cute cards for a gentleman...2 cute cars and the basketball player. The other 2 are again from the Carrington Co   Chicago, Il   dated 1934

Some of these have a little paper strip to fold out and make them stand.  All were the mans of this house. I will have more from the lady of this house, who was a school teacher all her life. So trying to group these by names maybe of local kids who were classmates.  My only regret....there were 2 boxes of these and I only was able to purchase one...I did not have her for a Kindergarten teacher but my sister and brother did and I don't have their class groupings in my box...it would have made a great keepsake for them.
The day of this auction, the man passed on but the special little lady still lives in assisted living and gets out and about quite often..always friendly and a hoot to visit with.

Hope you enjoyed..thanks for stopping by. Hoping to have more later in the week.  A really quiet day here. Tuesday a storm is again forcast, possible 10 inches and Wednesday wind...my husband just changed the channel...

Some Needed Prayers

I received a phone call Thursday from family of a man, I grew up with. After graduating from high school he came to live with us and help my dad farm. Spent many years as part of our family until he met his wife and left to get married.  So the news of him having Cancer of the liver, and esophagus, was a complete shock, (he never smoked and drank Very little) and having talked with him at Christmas no one would have ever known he was ill, not even himself. The doctors say 2 to 6 months..starts chemo Monday and after our conversation this AM , we are hoping for a small miracle. Many prayer chains have been started, he is very active in his church and community  so many people are very concerned.

My tag will be mailed in the morning. It went together quickly, the Sentiment has a deep meaning. 
The Tag itself was made from Tim Holtz Lost and Found paperstack. The sentiment from Heartwarming Vintage "Little Blessings" which I purchased at Crafty Secrets. The rest pretty much from my little treasure boxes of this and that.
I will enter it into the following Challenges:
Joans Gardens  Tag Challenge
Little Red Wagon #65 LACE
Totally Scrumptious #49 Colors of Brown/Pink/Green
Winter Wonderland  My Sentiments Exactly

Thanks for stopping by.   Enjoy your weekend..We will no doubt settle in, it is really snowing and roads are a mess. I can hardly see our neighbors. Can go to church in the morning and just maybe have breakfast out.

Color Challenge/ with Anything Goes

This is my third post for today. So if you are looking for something special just keep going beyond....


Just a super beautiful day here in Iowa.. My card is for the following Challenges

CR84FN Color Challenge    as above..isn't it beautiful    and
Lovely hAnglar Only Challegne #16  "Anything Goes"  
Stampavie and More  Challenge #126 "Love"

 I used the Cuttlebug Embossing folder on the Kraft, T Holtz Distressing Ink Dusty Concord and Antique Linen, my Sizzix 3-D Flower die to make the flowers, Martha Stewart's Leaf punch, added my cute little hAnglar stamp and added a heart to her dress, a bow and  LOVE senitment from Annie Schickel Collection.
Hop on over the challenges had some great inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by.

Aged to Perfection ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Sometimes it is hard to pick a title..but aged it is, to perfection questionable..but it was a fun card to make and I like how it turned out.  Layers and Shabby..

I used my Cuttlebut Embossing Folders on the heart and the card. Tim Holtz Paper and Distressing Inks, Vintage Photo, Antique Linen, the Flower I made from Felted Wool which I purchased from Wool Felt Central on my sidebar, Metal Key and Heart from Karen Foster Metals, Sentiment Cherish, from Making Memories, 2 brown hearts, salvaged packaging cardboard, some fibers around the flower (green) ,scrunched seam binding and lace trim from my fibers box.
I will enter this into the following Challenges:
Creative Belli Blog  Challenge #109 the letter "P"  for using Old and Forgotten Embellishments
mine would be  the Pink Button, the Old felted wool (formed the flower) Old Paper
Welcome to Flourishes Timeless Tuesday-FTTC102  some kind of Hardware..my metal things
Paper Sundaes  Challenge #53   Distressing
Wild Orchid      Challenge #15   Lets Get Sentimental
Wee Memories  Challenge #40  Free your Creativity

Thanks for stopping by.

Soft and Sweet Touches My Heart

This little card was so fun to make. I love the colors and the little Image just touches my heart.

I used my Cuttlebug Embossing Folder on the Card and lightly sanded it for the hi-lights.
Spellbinders die for the  Soft Aqua Key and Heart, layered the 2 paper dolies, the sentiment "CHERISH" is a lone left over in my treasure box and the "Love" is a metal embellishment from Annie Schickel Collections, added the adorable hAnglar/stAnglar image.
No doubt will be a card for one of the men in my life (husband, sons, grandsons,) but not sure which one yet.  So I didn't make it tooooooooooooo frilly, bows, flowers etc..
Challenges are:
Lovely hAnglar Only  Challenge #16  "Anything Goes"
Flourishes "Bring Back Beautiful" The Beauty of Vintage
Prima Palette-January  A beautiful array of color on my sidebar
Verve Stamps "Baby Love Diva Dare"
Charisma Cardz Challenge #4  :Valentine/Love"
Stampin Sisters in Christ  "Vintage"
The Sisterhood of Crafters "Anything Goes"

Thanks for stopping by, I wish you a great day, with sunshine and warm temps..