Splendid gifting from Just Us Girls!

Just in time for my sweet Mama's birthday, we're JUGIFYING gift bags!

Such a sweet {and GREEN!} way to embellish a thoughtful gift or yummy treat...

And I'M playing along.... me, a KNOWN felon. My crime - perpetual re-gifter:
of gift bags! - I'll move a bag back and forth, four maybe FIVE times -
BIG AS YOU PLEASE! And I'm not ashamed to admit it, either!

Well, now, maybe THIS way,
I'll get the good ju-ju, since I EMBELLISHED it, myself.

{Maybe my middle name should be TARGET!}

Or NOT! - heh heh! Although, this bag is created, colored and embellished
thinking of my sweet, outdoorsy, nature lover of a mom - I didn't customize
it to the point of her specific name.... That way SHE can re-gift it, if she wishes! Shhh!

{It's ALL good, babies!}

So, won't you, won't you, WON'T you... PLAY ALONG WITH US!

Not ONLY is this a fun {and possibly addicting} challenge premise,
but it might help send you off to your next PARTY with a crafty bang!
Sweet, madame Paper Daydream, Dana, is hostessing this wonderful,
useful and utterly, utterly GENIUS way to make the object of your
affection and thoughtfulness REALLY know how special he or she is!
We CAN'T wait to see what YOU come up with! For even MORE and
completely darling inspiration, check out the rest of our fine team
of "bag ladies!" Hee Hee - {We're good with that!}

Andrea

Dana
Kathryn
Kristin
Lisa

&
our wonderful guest designer for July...

Christina MacLaren

In the meantime, I sure hope your weekend is lining up, colorfully! {tee hee}

I'm SO happy you stopped by! I hope you're inspired to get those gift bags
embellished AND re-gifted! It's a good, good thing! ENJOY!

Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Quail {A Stamp In the Hand}; Sentiment {Wplus9Design Studio}
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Scallop Die - PTI
Labels Nine - Spellbinders™
Leaf Punch - Marvy
Transparency - Stampin' Up!
Ribbon - Stampin' Up!
Beaded Fringe Ribbon - ? {Doh!}

Holy SNOWFLAKES, I'm a JUGS girl!

.... At least, temporarily.... {!}

It is with TREMENDOUS delight, and a tad of "aw shucks", that I accepted the FABULOUS honor of Guest Designer-ship for the fun and FANTASTIC, challenge destination site, Just Us Girls! { Yipeeee and Yahooo! } I'm THRILLED to be playing with some of the MOST extremely lovely, fun and, hugely talented gals: the ladies of the J.U.G.S, during the month of December!

OH WHAT FUN! That's RIGHT! Check out this action-packed sketch provided by, Alicia, one of the bright stars of the JUGS' corral, a fellow HORSE-LOVER, and all-around sweet heart! I have to say, her sketch made my heart race with the "possibility", but gave my paper-lovin' heart reason to dig in deep, and and get my CRAFT ON... {That's code for "it was a BIT of a challenge!"}! Limitless card-craft potential: I hope you'll be inspired to let this great composition catapult you into some FABULOUS craft d-i-s-c-o-v-e-r-y!

In other words: PLAY WITH US! (Is it okay that I say "us?" - hee hee)

I got some PAPER-PIECING onnnnnnnnn, for the love-o-the-sport! Goodness, gracious, it felt good! Something about the impending holidays, far too much to do on the "To-DO" list of life, and nursing a sniffly child ALL WEEK LONG {Ack!}, that made my slice of heavenly craft time, today, light me up like a BRAND new Christmas Tree! Oh, Tannenbaum - it felt good to craft!

An entire FAMILY of snow-flaky folks, inspired by one of my favorite Christmas paper collections - EVERRRRRR! {I love COSMO CRICKET * I love COSMO CRICKET * I love COSMO CRICKET! - I REALLY, really, really do!} This was my answer to FABULOUS sketch #62... Check out what else is going on in CRAFT CENTRAL! The fine works of the JUGS team will certainly help you get your creative mojo in high gear!

Pam
Dana
Alicia
Andrea
Kathryn
Maria
Lisa
Kristin

Here's hoping you'll love playing with this sketch as much as I did! I, literally, cannot WAIT to see what the JUGS "regulars" kick down, and if you haven't shared your work with them before , I SURE HOPE YOU'LL dig out some time, this round!!! THANKS for stopping by!

Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Mirrored C/S - Bazzil
D/P - Cosmo Cricket
Punches - Marvy, Fiskars, Stampin' Up!
Ribbon - Michael's

Post fair {#1!} mania...

and some CHALLENGE fun!

Wahooooooooooooo! Howdy friends! So delighted to be dipping a toe back into Blog-land after the vortex of FAIR {and I don't mean that in a "so-so" kind of way...} excitement...! Thanks for all of the fun comments on my previous post! Those projects turned out to be a lot of fun AND the produce.... produced some RIBBONS!!! {But more on that later!}

My kitchen table is full of decaying produce creatures, scrapbook pages, decorated shoes, paintings, fimo art, mail art, textile art, a Christmas ornament, stale cookies... and all sorts of artifacts to celebrate the summer season, including a healthy pile-o-ribbons... But, friends, today I gave myself a chance to play somewhere WITHOUT cotton candy, carnival rides or hot dogs on sticks... SCRAPLAND {aka. my playland!} and I got some challenge on!

FIRST of all... add some c-o-l-o-r!!!!!! {MMMmmmmm, babies!} This was certainly my CUP-o-color palette, offered by the lovely and talented gals from Play Date Cafe....

Might of guessed I'd run with these little gems... and head WEST.... WESTERN THAT IS!

Plus, multi-fun combo possibility with this super fun sketch from Card Patterns....!

Can a girl get a "YEE HAW" !?!?!?! I sure hope so! THESE two challenges and my LACK of paper-crafting withdraw equaled a whole lotta' happy paper-play time for this old mare!!!



And, just 'cause I'm a little {heat stroke!} giddy... Here's a picture of my sweet BABY girl and her proud potato RECOGNITION! Best of Show, babies! {She was pleased as a pickle... or a potato... uh, you get the idea!!!}

Yeah, her mom was, too. {Hee Hee!}



Thanks, so VERY much for stopping by and let me share my challenge THRILL for the day and even, brag on my sweet one {aren't we mother-types predictable!}....

Have a GREAT rest of your day!


Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Cosmo Cricket
Stamps - Dawn Hauser for Penny Black & PSX
Cloud technique - ME!
Chipboard Stars - S/U!
Ribbon and Charm - S/U!
Border Punch - S/U!
Circle and Star punches - Marvy
Flocking Powder - Doodlebug

"Stay Golden, Pony Boy...."

What a wise and wonderful quote from the "Outsiders" movie from the early 1980's.... Ahhhhh. I love this saying. I must have heard it recently, because I find myself assuring my children with this line "you're golden" instead of "you're okay" or "that's fine".... Isn't it crazy how these little sound bites get stored in the old noggin... {I wonder what useful piece of information was lost to make room for that bit of trivia...} Anywhoo, THAT'S what pops into my head when I see the color swatch for the current color challenge by the always inspiring, and USUALLY pink-based, choices from Dawn McVey...

A gentle nudge and oh, can you feel the AUTUMN breeze! What a perfect slice of inspiration!

Not a difficult transition for me at all: I love fall! I mean, WHAT'S not to like! Today was the first TRULY fallish looking day here in Sonoma County and I can't believe the coincidence! I had this day to crank out my offering for Dawn's lil' challenge! THEN, I thought to myself: SELF! Combine this challenge with the current Card Patterns Sketch! I've missed them the last time or two so HERE GOES!


I just don't get tired of this darling deer from Stampin' Up!, so she (yeah, I'm pretty sure she's a she: at least for today!) had to take center stage, once again. Unfortunately, due to my use of these gorgeous colors I couldn't grab her from the prolific herd-o-deer I made WAY BACK, because I was using Very Vanilla as my background. Instead I stamped Creamy Caramel Craft ink on Creamy Caramel card stock and I was delighted! I had to, of course, highlight the eye and hooves with a Chocolate Chip marker... {I LOVES me the little touches!} Such a cute deer!

And here's how it ALL came together! FUN colors! Seriously, SUCH A GOOD TIME FOR ME playing with these materials and making happy use of some creative time today!


The only perplexing part of this card was a sentiment choice. Sometimes my brain just seizes up when I'm thinking of an appropriate sentiment {yeah, I KNOW, it's because all of the Movie SOUNDBITES hogging my hard drive! DOH!}... Anyway, my hunt for nice words was fruitful: celebrate today is from Stamin' Up!'s "Starring You." I just thought it really worked! Yeah.

The only thing better, would have been a stamp that said, "Stay GOLDEN!" {heh heh}

Hey, now! YOU stay golden, too!


Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Stampin' Up! *EXCEPT* woodgrain, background stamp, by Inkadinkadoo
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Markers - Stampin' Up!
Opaque Marker - Stampin' Up!
Leaf Punch - Marvy
Fourishes - Tim Holtz
Brown Glitter - Doodlebug
Raffia - My stash

Dawn McVey Made My Day!

...And pigs flew across the sky! REALLY! That's how GOOD it felt to get the nod from the all mighty goddess of pink and the Raspberry Suite Color Challenges, darling Dawn McVey! Wowee! I'm sittin' just a little bit taller in my saddle today, boys and girls! Yipee! I just had to share a thank you card I was compelled to make as a result of this WONDERFUL experience!

Beware of flying pigs and me checking off a dream from the mighty bucket list! Thanks, Dawn!

There they go! Hee Hee

Thanks for indulging me in my happy celebration! If you would like to visit, or perhaps re-visit the card that got me noticed by the Mighty McVey check it, friends! And don't miss all the BEAUTIFUL work by some of the other LUCKY GALS who got noticed by Dawn! In fact, check out the whole lot of them, if you have time! I don't know how she narrows it down: everyone's work is so amazing these days! Meanwhile, I should be back down to earth SOON: my kids are coming home from their road trip tomorrow!

I sure hope someone makes your day!

Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Pink Glitter Paper - ?
Vellum - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Stampin' Up!
Sentiment printed on computer - CBX Oh Goody!
Clearly Heavy Transparency - Hambly
Punch - (tiny maple leaf, cut to become wings for pigs!) Marvy

This AIN'T my first rodeo!

Well, it "ain't!" Tee Hee I'm no "spring chicken" myself! With that said, you might have noticed that I'm a sucker for a little bit of "country!" And I'm at it again! Armed with my new stamps from TJ Designs, Rodeo Sweethearts, I decided to tackle Dawn McVey's latest color challenge and tie it in with this week's CPS #121 sketch challenge... I always look at challenges based on "how WESTERN can I make that combo/composition look?" For your consideration, I'm at it again:

Behold ~ Dawn's delicious color combo!

Aren't these Rodeo Girl's just delightful! I'm SOOOO in love with these images! The western, the vintage, the possibility!!! I wasn't sure I could BEND these ideas to match Dawn's challenge, but then I peeked at what my mega crafty friend, Dana did for the challenge... I was good to go! Giddy up!

Here's the CPS sketch, but I tweeked it a bit by working my card from a horizontal perspective!








So, that's my card, Rodeo Sweethearts of Blogland! I hope you like AND if you do, YOU KNOW that I always love to hear a little somethin' about it! I ALWAYS appreciate your feedback and readership {if we can call it that!}.. Have a great day!

Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - TJ Designs; Stampin' Up! (Paisley background!)
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Chalks - Stampin' Up! (cowgirl's cheeks)
Paper ribbon - K & Co.
Small and Large Star Punches - Marvy