Four LITTLE words...

....direct, and to the point!

This was the PERFECT motto for me this afternoon. All I wanted from my day was to carve out a bit of time to make a card for the WONDERFUL, crafty, Just Us Girls Challenge. They are having a challenge theme... sort of... custom made.. FOR A GIRL LIKE ME! Yeeeeeee HAWWWWW!!!!

Get your WILD and WESTERN ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNN! And by all means, don't FENCE A CRAFTER IN....! {That's just NOT a smart thing to do ~ even if you are holding a lunge whip... Don't keep a CRAFTER from her craft!!!!} That's what I tried to tell "my day" anyhow. Needless to say, I'm burning the way-late night oil to get this little mare into the JUGS challenge before the DEADLINE!!! {I realize that I just went on and on about "no" fences... but a good deadline is still necessary, once in a while! DOH! ;o)} Anywhoo, any part of a healthy "theme challenge" needs some "sketch", so here's one I sure liked playin' with...




CRAZY Card Patterns ladies, dolling out some TERRIFIC inspiration, once again - It was PERFECT for my bit of WESTERN craft!!! I'll say, PILGRIM...! Giddy on up, giddy on OUT! It was a nice way to top off my day... I'm sounding punchy and silly, but at least I got to let my craft run FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

I'm DELIGHTED for the fun and THRILLED by both of these challenges - if you get a sec, and you haven't had a chance to partake... "GIT ER DONE!"

YEE HAW!!!!!

Supplies -

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Cosmo Cricket
Stamps - Inkadinkadoo {horse}; TJ Designs {barb whire}
Sentiment - Cosmo Cricket
Border Punch - Stampin' Up!
Metal Star Buttons - NASH BRIDGES { formerly... currently MY STASH!}
Circle Punch - Marvy
Dimensional Dots - Stampin' Up!

Season of the PSL!

That's PUMPKIN SPICE LATTE, friends! I'm not, officialy, endorsing Starbuck's, as I am soooo, incredibly loyal to my local coffee store/chain, but this time of year... there is a little coffee, cinnamony, nutmegish, vanilla treat that becomes a coveted and most treasured afternoon pick-me-up, when I've "been a good girl!" {Oh, I'm ALWAYS a good girl!} Sadly, I don't have a picture of my favorite caffeine slice of faux pumpkin joy... {because I drank it before I thought to take a photograph, sorry!} but trust me, when I saw the colors for this week's Color Throwdown I had an epiphany: PUMPKIN SPICE is comin' to town! (Today, I confirmed my suspicion as I enjoyed my first PSL of the season!)

Here's a card that's a salute to my feelings about my special coffee treat... My TRUE feelings....

These colors, by the fun and sassy Throwdown gals, are as follows:

Also, I thought I'd celebrate the use of these dynamic autumnal colors by incorporating these sketches from Caardvarks! The first sketch is what I used for my coffee lovin' owl card:

Sketch One~

Caardvarks is featuring a sketch challenge this round and there are THREE to play with! Here's number TWO:

Sketch #2~

And the card that incorporated this sketch! A nice WESTERNY Thank YOU!

Sketch #3~

And some more fun with the "Deer Friends" stamp set and some tree work, to give sketch #3 a turn!

Isn't this the CUTEST lil' bunny! I'm usually so powerless over that DEER.. but this time I let the bun-bun out to play! It was fun to just GO FOR IT! Tackling all three sketches with one color challenge! I know......: life on the edge with the "E"... {It's all the caffeine! Hee Hee} Hey, go an play with these sketches and fantastic colors and by all means... treat yourself to a PSL! Have fun!

Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - Stampin' Up! and M/M (orange polka dot strip on card #3)
Stamps - Stampin' Up!, My Cute Stamps, TJ Designs & O'Scrap
Ink - Stampin' Up!; Ranger (Alcohol Ink for Metal "Thank You" sentiment)
Ribbon - Stampin' Up!
Corner Rounder - Stampin' Up!
Embossing Folder - Cuttlebug (Argyle)
Metal - (Metal rivets and sentiment) Joanne's
Scallop Circle - Sizzix
Circle Cutter - Coluzzle

Thank you, Dawn McVey & Card Creations 7!

How have you been, lovely friends in blog-land! It's been far too long since I've sat down to talk to y'all! I hope your summer is not too hot, but lush and lovely and full of fun crafts and cool lemonade! I was inspired to get a card on my blog today to thank the lovely and talented, Dawn McVey, for picking me {randomly, but no less LUCKY!} as the winner of her Card Creations 7 magazine give away! It made my day for a whole host of reasons. In this day and age, good luck can really make the sun shine much more brightly! I loved basking in such lovely rays, so... {what does any red-blooded card maker gal do....?} I MADE DAWN A THANK YOU CARD!


I'm still enjoying my western style stamps from TJ Designs, but this was a "whatever goes" card so there are a few other stamps as well.... {anything to tell MY story!}



This little cowgirl is from the "Rodeo Sweethearts" collection and she's really a girl (I don't "KNOW" Dawn in real life.... but is it my imagination, or does this little gal look a little bit like you could picture Dawn as a little one?)! The cow-BOYS in the background are from the "Wild West" collection that is more "boy" oriented... I MASKED the main image with a good ol' POST IT note: goodness gracious, it worked just how I wanted it to! I stamped on both sides and lined up the image on my Stampin' Up! grid sheet! I was just pleased a punch with the "scene" that was created!

Since, I do consider myself "crafty", I decided to link this effort into a NEW TO ME challenge from "Cardpatterns!" They are featuring a sketch challenge this week and I had planned to give it a try after the recommendation from a dear friend, so "tumble my tumbleweeds..." I'm in! Here's the sketch!


It's a beauty, all right! Very fun and inspirational: take a gander at their site if you get a chance!



Meanwhile, I just wanted to show off this COOL {I can't believe I WON! Lottery tickets tonight, friends! I'll be buying 'em for shor'!} magazine! I soooooooooooo love a new "in real life" idea book that you can hold and love and take EVERYWHERE! I was SO ready to buy it as soon as I saw it, so I'm just amazed at my fabulous good fortune! I can't wait to oogle at every delicious and delightfully crafty creation! What a happy, happy day!

In the meantime, I might as well warn you to make way for a whole bunch more "westerny" out-put in the next few posts, as I am sooooo honored and excited to share with you that my stinky, stubborn but strangely wonderful 4.5 year old gelding, Wildcard, has been "started" by my most AMAZING, handy and magical horse trainer, Mr. Shannon Crawford! I KNOW that most of you don't know him, but if I have anything to do with it: you will! I plan to post some pictures from the event and continue to breathe in the inspiration from my "horsey" world into my crafty world! Stay tuned for that!

Thank you, again, dear Dawn! I know you give stuff away all the time, but I'm JUST super thrilled and I had to share! Can't wait to see what that crafty goddess does next! Yipee!



Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - TJ Designs; All Night Media; S/U!
Ink - Versafine (Black); Staz-On (Brown)
Watercolor Wonder Crayons (foreground & highlights)
Metal Heart-shaped paperclip and Ribbon - M/M
Thread - Gutermann
Word Window and Scallop Border Punch - S/u!

So, "th, the, tha, THAT'S ALL FOLKS!"
On behalf of all the fine folks
{and yep, that includes horses!}
at Rancho Durenberger..............
Have a fabulous day and THANK YOU,
as always, for stopping by!

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

Happy Father's Day, Spring Chicken!

This is one of those years my husband hits the jackpot for Father's Day, because it also lands on his birthday! Whoopee, for him... but challenging for me: he's tough to buy for and entertain on his b-day to begin with, which is rather funny! You see, he is about two months younger than I am, so between mid April and mid-June, my life if filled with remarks about me AGING and CRADLE ROBBING, etc... So I just have to wait it out until his big day: TODAY! THIS year, I had A LOT of fun making him a little card:

THAT'S RIGHT, just a sprinkling of sarcasm, 'cause he AIN'T one, any more! I've been pushing stamps and papers around for a few days, working on Father's Day and Birthday and even baby cards, but these hot colors, furnished by Kristina Werner and this weeks color challenge #55 got me REALLY digging in deep to the creative vault! I was determined to play with my NEW STAMPS that I recently purchased online from a yummy company called TweetyJill or TJ Designs! Most of you know that I'm a sucker for anything COUNTRY... & WESTERN... Yee HAW! So, when I attended a local crop recently, I couldn't wipe the drool off my stamp-lovin' chin when the "host" of the crop showed me HER recent discovery of this "Rodeo Sweethearts" stamp collection... Next stop: their website! I found MORE westerny stamps in the form of "Wild West" and "Poultry Party!" I've just been a stampin' fool, trying them all out and I was determined to include at least SOME of the images in my card for Kristina's most recent color challenge.... (Stay tuned for MORE work with these amazing stamps!)



I DID allow myself to graze on A LOT of different stamps as I got deep into this process... Sometimes I like to limit myself to a single set of stamps, but I also LOVE to dig down into the abyss of my stamp collection to allow the "story" to be properly explained by various stamps, regardless of who made them, how old or rare they are, etc. This was one of those cards. Note the chicken wire background stamp (hubba hubba!) which is long retired (DON'T ask me WHY!?! I'm just happy I got it before it went!)! The "Happy Birthday" sentiment is a groovy font that I ADORE... also long retired.. *sob* ANYWHOO, one of the reasons I "collect" to begin with, is so that when the time comes, I'll be ready! Tee Hee Once I got all inky... I just grabbed whatever stamp I needed and you know what: that ROCKS! I love letting my "inventory" get up and DANCE! This card was a ton of fun for that reason, and because I enjoyed twisting a birthday card and ignoring my usual impulse to throw in a cupcake, birthday candle, etc., I thought this would make an excellent offering for the Moxie Fab World "Gallery Idol 2009" contest that features birthday cards for this round! So, I'm off to link up with those crazy/fun gals as well! Wish me luck!




In the meantime, hope you had a fabulous weekend and a Happy Father's Day (my husband's BIRTHDAY! hee hee)! Enjoy!

Supplies:

C/S - Stampin' Up!
Stamps - Stampin' Up!; TweetyJill (Rooster, barbwire, shopping list); Provo Craft ("SPRING"); All Night Media (Woodgrain)

Scallop Edge Punch - Stampin' Up!
Star and "CHICKEN" die cuts - Sizzix/Stampin' Up!
Thread - Gutermann
Stamp n' Write Markers - Stampin' Up!