Balloons for the Birthday Girl

As noted in the previous post, my Mom's b-day is also this month. I had another stamp set in mind (TGF's Susie Surprise which also features a gal holding balloons) but with my stash still so dissheveled, I couldn't locate it, so I started flipping through my mountain of printed digis. And there she was: Balloon Girl from the Flapper Doodle coloring book. Yes! This image is just perfect for my Mom!  Even though I used the same collection for last year's birthday card, I couldn't resist my beloved (and sadly almost gone) Crate Paper "Pink Plum" papers. I colored up my Flapper with Copics which was a joy, and then flipped through my dies to find just the right one to save me from having to try to trim around the uber thin lines of this image. Wonky Squares was just meant to be, I think. For the front sentiment, I kept it simple with letter stickers from Glitz. Since Mom is learning to text :)  I stuck to just the two.

This card came together quickly and just in time for our little family celebration.

Since I still have time, I'm entering this one into the Paper Playtime Challenge #84: Punches + a Sentiment as well.

Thanks for taking a gander. This will probably be it for me for the next few weeks, but I look forward to seeing you again in October with fall cards and decor. And maybe even a mini album :o

Blessings & Hugs to You!

Who's Birthday Is It?

Greetings! Long time, no posts.  If you've been a blog friend for any length of time, you are awesome :) and you may have noticed that my posts seem to drop off around this time every year. I've gotta pay for all my paper (and stamps, embellishments, etc.) somehow, and autumn is busy season at the day job (which turns into a day and night job for about 3 weeks).
But fall, September in particular, is also busy because there are 2 very important birthdays in my family: Dad and Mom. 
Up first, I have Dad's card to share with you. He turned the big 65 (with no signs of retiring any time soon).  I can hardly believe it since he looks (and acts) so young still. If you met my Dad IRL you'd never believe he just turned 65. And that's where the inspo for my card came from: "Who's 65?!?"

I'm sorry to say that I haven't a clue where the adorable owl paper came from. I know it was gifted to me a year (or so) ago, and that I just love the colors! They coordinated wonderfully with the die cut shapes and Prima letter stickers from my kit stash. I loved the letters so much, I quickly ordered a few more sets in different colors. The texture on them is amazing and they are the perfect size for cards. The only drawback is that I had to make my own punctuation, but other than that, I love 'em!  I was thrilled to re-discover these woodgrain Thickers (I have an almost ridiculous hoard of Thickers), and thought they tied in nicely to my owl/woodland theme.

Then, because we share a strange sense of humor, on the inside of the card I stacked some pearls to mimic the owls eyes, and used them on the centers of my O's in "hoot".  My Dad got it right away.

I'm entering this into the Paper Playtime Challenge #84: Punches + a Sentiment. I just hope my die cuts and letter stickers are in keeping with the rules.

Thanks for looking. I'll be back soon with my Mom's bday card.  Until then, be blessed and enjoy the amazing autumn weather!

((hugs))

Going Grey...And Pink!

Hi, friends!  A new color combo for the "Going Grey..."series:  Grey + Pink! 

My parents are celebrating 43 years of marriage, and this is the card I made them to express my love and gratitude.  They really are the best parents and I cherish them. 

And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

Mark 10:8

I ***finally*** cracked into another Studio Calico kit (April Main Kit "City of Lights") for the papers, and  got brave enough to break in a mask and try out some Mr. Hueys.  Can I just say that I {heart} both?!? Oh, I just did! :)  But seriously, the Mr. Huey's are awesome and I love that even though I took a risk and heat set my mist a bit (so as to speed things and avoid smudges),  the mask cleaned up beautifully with a little water and light rubbing. (And you know I didn't get to it right away, so that's after heat and sitting for a few hours). Awesome! 

One more photo that better shows the misting/masking. I used both Mr. Huey Calico Shine and Mr. Huey Opaque White with the Ampersand Mask.  I had so much fun with it and it was one of the fastest cards I've ever put together.

The hearts are chipboard (old Inque Boutique 12x12 chipboard set that's been in my stash for ages), the letter stickers are from Authentique, the pearl and lace trim is by May Arts. The part that probably took me the longest - deciding on which American Crafts Thickers to use (in the end, the ampersand from the Amy Tangerine Goodness White set and numbers from the Heart set won out).

This is my entry for the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge #136 to use soft pastel colors.
Thanks for popping in to visit. I hope your day is blessed and happy. ((hugs))

Still Breaking for Spring...with Fresh Brewed Designs

Hello! It is a beautiful spring day here in Ohio, and I hope where you are as well. I will be back in a couple days with another installment of my "Going Grey..." series, but today the card I have to share is all about pretty pastels, which just screams spring (either that or ice cream) to me. I made this for a friend from church, whose birthday was yesterday (hanging head in shame), using this super cute, slightly mod Wonky Dot Cake from Fresh Brewed Designs. This is my 2nd entry for this month's Fresh Brewed Challenge #90 "Tie It Up". I colored the image with Copics and everything else is from my stash, including the "matches so perfectly it just about made my day" yummy satin ribbon.

I hope you'll join the lovely ladies at Fresh Brewed Designs for this challenge, and be sure to enter Heather's Birthday Blog Candy!

Have a wonderful weekend, and I pray you'll take the time to worship our Lord this Sunday. God bless you!

Spring Break

Taking a break from my "Going Grey..." series to celebrate Spring! I trust that you had a blessed weekend. We had a truly wonderful weekend, the highlight of which was yesterday. The church services were a blessing and encouragement, and it being the 2nd Sunday of the month, we observed the Lord's Supper, which was extra special on Resurrection Sunday. I also officially became a member at our new church, which the Lord led me to a few weeks ago. He has confirmed repeatedly that this is the place He would have us, and as we were talking with friends after last night's service, it was another blessing to hear my mom tell others how happy she is there and how much she is learning and growing in her understanding. Praise God!

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
Ecclesiastes 3:1

A new season in life with a new church, a new season in the earth, and the new life we have in Christ as born again believers, reconciled with the Father, because of Jesus's perfect sacrifice on the cross and His victory over death and sin when He rose on the third day. Amen and amen!

As Christians, we have so much to rejoice about, and we shouldn't keep it to ourselves.

I made this card using "Stella" from The Greeting Farm. I love me some digis, but some things are just easier/quicker/better in rubber, and for me, paper piecing is one thing I love rubber for. I raided my stash for the beautiful papers from Basic Grey's "Sultry" collection, and then raided my button and twine stashes for embellies.


I'm entering this in the Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #45 "Buttons and Bows", the Ribbon Carousel Challenge RCC47 "Spring Is in the Air", and the Fresh Brewed Challenge FBC90 "Tie It Up". (I hope to be back with another Fresh Brewed Challenge entry later this week!)

Have a blessed day!

Going Grey...And Yellow, Part Tres

Yes, yes. I've switched languages for counting. It's a nerdy thing. I couldn't resist the rhyme of "grey" and "tres". Please don't leave!

Here's the card:
I missed the deadline for entering, but I'm thankful for the inspiration from last week's challenge at the Play Date Cafe, which was to use the colors charcoal, ash, and butter. Sounds like grey and yellow to me! :) I like playing by the rules. I try to do it most of the time. ;) So, I really wanted to stick to the call for "butter" color. And wouldn't ya know I had it right in front of me! I hadn't yet put away the Cosmo Cricket "Ever After" papers from creating this card. I had bought the collection pack because of the grey and that hot & spicy red/orange. But in the midst, there are also these yummy light yellow papers. This is in extra blessing to me because I'm really, really trying to curb my spending and use my stash. I recently had a HUGE reality check when I sorted through the stash in preparation for a shop 'n swap (no money is exchanged, just bring what you're not using and take what you can use from what others bring). I ended up culling a 3" high stack of 12x12 and countless yards of ribbon, which I am happy to report are now making their home with some fine ladies from my church. When I think about the money wasted...ugh, it still makes my tummy turn. So now, I'm determined to be wiser. Setting out to make this card really showed me that I will survive and thrive using what I have, and it doesn't always have to be the "latest & greatest" of products that I use.

The image, called "Cute Lady" is one I've had for months from Back To Paper. It was the first image from Linda Tieu that I fell in love with, and I'm so glad to finally be using it. I had such fun coloring the hair! I love how she's drawn, with her head kind of forward, as if she's poking her head through a door to lovingly look in on someone and see if they are okay. Angles are good :)

I always pick my papers, then color, and after that is where I usually get stuck: figuring out the layout and deciding on embellies. But this time, my dear friend Heather had already come to my rescue, by sharing a list of challenge blogs with me a couple weeks ago! So, I went to the list and found the Ribbon Reel Challenge #23 to use ribbon and newsprint/book print, and the March Sketch For You to Try. Yay!!!!

The greeting/sentiment is simple. Hi. :) Two letters that say so much.

All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.
Titus 3:15

Hope you have a blessed & sunny day! (In my neck of the woods, we expect to hit 70 degrees!) Thanks for visiting.

Going Grey...and Yellow, Part Deux

Finally! Another installment of my "Going Grey..." series. I have had this image colored for weeks. Weeks, I tell ya! But I just needed the time/motivation which was kindly supplied by your friend and mine: Guilt! about being a week overdue on sending a thank you note. Oh, the shame. But have I mentioned busy season? I plead busy season. ;)


Soooo, this is the beloved Bee Tia by the ever awesome Some Odd Girl stamps. I {heart} her! She was a dream to color. I could do it over and over again. And I will. After busy season. :) Other than her innate fabulousness, I chose Bee Tia because the family this is going to started keeping their own bees last year. How cool is that?!? I know them through church, and they have been such a tremendous blessing to both me and my mom. Sooooo praising the Lord for them!


Okay. Back to Bee Tia. I trimmed her out and almost couldn't stand the wait to glitz up the fuzzies on her headband with Frosted Lace Stickles. (Learned the hard way that Stickles are the very last touch on a card.) I almost cried over discovering that I didn't have the right shade of grey ribbon (a problem I will remedy ASAP), and opted for this ethereal and oh so shimmery number from my stash.

And then there are the hexagons. Or "hexes" as I've taken to calling them. Yum! It took me hours to hunt down the Sizzix/Westminster Fibers dies. (Seriously, a trend this hot and no one else can make a punch or die? And Sizzix.com is the only place that carries them? For shame!) These dies are actually designed for quilters, but I am happy/grateful to say that they work beautifully on paper. I bought them in two sizes and used the 1" diameter (aka 3/4" sides) here. After an hour or two of hemming and hawing on exactly how to use my luscious little bits of Authentique Blissful papers, and devising how to run the patterns, voilà:


The alpha stickers are from October Afternoon's Farmhouse Collection, and came as part of a recent Studio Calico kit. I {heart} alpha stickers. A lot. I also love to be cheesily punny. So of course the inside of the card finishes the sentiment with "for BEE-ing so sweet." Hey, I warned you.

I'm entering this into the Stampin' Sisters in Christ Challenge #129 to use something with wings, inspired by this scripture verse:

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Psalm 91:4

May all your days be blessed with the sweet friendship. May you take refuge in the truth and love of the Lord.

Going Grey...and Spicy Red

Continuing on my grey theme, here's a card I made for our outgoing pastor's family. Of course it would make a whole lot more sense to you if I had snapped a photo of the inside where I put the sentiment taken from Isaiah 42:10, "Sing a new song unto the Lord". But by the time I thought of it, I'd already written in the card. Ugh. Oh, well.

Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
Isaiah 42:10

I finally cracked into my retired Ever After 12x12 collection kit by Cosmo Cricket. I picked it up some months ago on sale/clearance not so much because of the wedding theme, but because (yep, you guessed it) I loved the glorious greys! Like all my new loves/obsessions, I rabidly and rapidly collect and compile, and then hesitate to use. I think it's crafter's performance anxiety. So silly!

The yummy wide, striped ribbon is from Stampin' Up, and the image is from the Ippity set "Sing A New Song". I stamped the image in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, accented it with Copics (W00, W0, W3, W5, W7 and W9), trimmed it out and popped it up on foam tape.



I'm entering this into the CAS-aul Friday Challenge #40, which calls for us to use ribbon.

And the Ippity Linking Party and the Ippity Challenge to go CAS!

Thanks for stopping by. Stay tuned for more in my Going Grey... series (with a return to the grey + yellow combo) and some long overdue BLOG CANDY!

(((Hugs))) & Blessings!

Happy B-Day & Just In Time

Wow! It seems like forever since I've posted a card. :(

Well, it's the end of the 1st month of the year. :o And I'm make very little progress with my crafty resolutions of making a stockpile of cards, and organizing my craft-tastrophe. *sigh* However, I am super pleased that I got this card to a special little birthday girl (from my church) right on time! Yay! (Gotta give myself some small semblance of encouragement, eh?)


I'm using a new-to-me Fresh Brewed Designs digi called "Dotty Cupcake" and new washi tape to enter the FBD January Monthly Challenge. I plan to make several versions of this card to have on hand for those "Is it your birthday already?!?" occassions. :) I colored the cupcake image with Copics, trimmed it out, and clear embossed the dots for that shiny hard candy shell look, and then used Rock Candy Stickles on the frosting for a sugary effect.


And, since I managed to do a challenge, and it is still the 1st month, I'm adding to my 2012 crafty resolutions (which, I decided just now to name "Craft-o-lutions") that I will play at least one challenge each month. That should help with keeping the other Craft-o-lutions, I think. ;)

Thanks for visiting & have a blessed day! ((hugs))

Making Merry with TGF's 3rd Annual Customer Hop!

Welcome, friends! I hope you've been having fun so far, hopping along for the Christmas holiday! Since I know this hop is HUGE, I'll try to keep my post short & sweet.

For the hop, I chose to work in the HOLIDAY category with this Christmas card, pairing Angel Anya with papers & stickers from The Girls' Paperie "Tinsel & Twig" collection. (And I'm entering this into this month's Farm Fresh Challenge - Ah, it feels so good to use the stash!) I went a little wild with the paper piecing on this image, but I love the effect. Making the rosette was a bit more challenging than I expected, but I am hooked on this look.

On the inside, I kept it simple with some border stickers and a sentiment (also retro) from Stampin' Up!

Now for the real good stuff: PRIZES! In addition to the two Grand Prizes that will be drawn for the participant's creations, a random hopper will ALSO win the ENTIRE upcoming January Release! That's 6 sets in all- a HUGE prize...and the only way to win is by participating in the blog hop! So if you're just getting started, head on over to the TGF Blog, and be sure to visit everyone on the hop. Enjoy & have a very blessed Christmas! And remember, JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!

Another Belated Birthday Card

Okay, first off: How is it November already??? And how is it that it's been over 30 days since my last post??? Granted, busy season was in there somewhere. Along with its long hours and weekend work. No wonder now that things are back to normal in the office, I find myself obsessively thinking about cardmaking & scrapping. I did manage to keep my crafty muscles in shape (and BTW, those are seriously the only muscles that have gotten a work out lately - yikes!) by restarting and finishing a cross-stitch project (which I will share as soon as I get it framed), and restarting the next in the series (2 down, 2 to go..and are you picking up on the trend of not finishing things when I start them? Yeah, not good.). I think that between that crafty outlet and church (which is such a good anchor), I got through this busy season much more graciously than years past, since historically the equation has been: Stress + Lack of Sleep = Crankiness
But this time around was different/better, and it just goes to show (again) what the Holy Spirit can accomplish when you get out of the way. :) Really, when you start out trusting & obeying the Lord, then you just know everything is going to be okay, no matter what challenges/temptations/obstacles you face. So then, what's to worry about? Or get bent out of shape over? Not a thing. So awesome!

But back to the card... This is for a gal at church whose b-day was mid-October. *hanging head* I just kept forgetting to make the card! Had it in my head. Kept telling myself (always away from my craft area & supplies) that I needed to do it. But... Does this happen to you??? It happens to me too often.

One of my happy-little-mental-vacation-if-I-can't-craft-I'll-buy-things-to-craft-with-shopping-sprees was at Two Peas when they had all of their 6x6 paper pads on sale. I bought my 1st three Jillibean Soups, along with two 12x12 die-cut sheets. And I got over my "but I only have one of these" hoarding habits and went for it. The cupcake image is from The Greeting Farm's "Susie Surprise" set (retired) and I colored with Copics and added a bit of glitz to the candle with a touch of Stickles on the flame. The pattern paper & die-cuts are from the "Sweet & Sour Soup" collection.
I just loved the sentiment around the circle: Make every moment count. Very wise words.

Since I'm all about getting back in the swing of things/stepping it up a notch (just a tiny notch), I'm entering this into the following challenges:
Ribbon Carousel Challenge RCC27 "Anything Goes"

CAS-ual Fridays CFC 26

Thanks for visiting and have a very blessed day! I'll be back in a couple days to share that 1st finished cross-stitch I completed many, many moons ago...and a seasonal card. (((HUGS)))

Some Odd Girl Bride

I've been collecting Some Odd Girl images for several months now. Finally, I've created my first SOG card, and it couldn't be for a sweeter occassion: a bridal shower!

The shower is tonight at church and is extra special because both the bride & groom are church members and come from very involved families. A match truly made in heaven, PTL! The wedding colors are Black & White with a touch of Hot Pink! I just love to use the wedding colors in my gift wrap and cards, and had extra fun playing with it because our couple is a bit "modern" in their style (unusual, but perfectly fine in our church). The bonus is that this color scheme fits nicely with the Challenge at the Some Odd Girl Blog: white (or kraft) with two pops of color. So fun!

Our bride Sarah is a true beauty, with rich dark tresses and beautiful warm skin, so I did my best to color "Bride Mae" to look like her. (Feedback from my mom *without prompting* was, "Oh, it looks just like her!" Yes!) I paired her up with these gorgeous Echo Park papers from the "Be Mine" 12x12 collection. I kept the layout simple to let the color tell the story. The sentiment is computer generated (note to self: stock up on wedding & baby sentiments), and die cut with two little crystals for a touch of bling. What is hard to see in pictures but super yummy in person (IMHO) is the organza ribbon. I used a glossy cardstock base to give it a special feel.

Thanks for stopping by! I'll have another bridal shower card for you soon, since wedding bells are ringing again this year at the office. ((((HUGS))))

Tea Party Birthday

My sister recently had a milestone birthday. We won't mention numbers. The important thing to note is that I am younger! LOL!
My sis is a tea lover and one of the special things we try to do is go to our fave tea house once a month. Yummy! She also has the curliest naturally curly hair I've ever seen. I'm not kidding. Whenever we're out & about someone stops her to tell her how pretty her hair is and ask if it is naturally curly. She beams with pride when she answers sweetly, "Yes, it is. Thank you." [I giggle a bit extra knowing that it is right for her hair to be her glory. 1 Corinthians 11:15] So, needless to say that "HG Classy" from The Greeting Farm is just about the most perfect image for my sis.


She also loves shimmer and sparklies. So, while I'm bummed that I die-cute the sentiment a bit crooked, I am otherwise pleased with it. I colored it with YG91 (Putty) and then went over it with a generous slather of Shimmerz Candlelight. There's also a touch of sparkle on the hat flower, courtesy of a gold Spica pen. The pattern papers are from Basic Grey's Stella Ruby 6x6. I picked up the pearl accented lace from i{heart}papers - prrrrrrr.
This is my entry for today's Mystery Monday at the Farm Fresh Challenge Blog (taking inspiration from the case card's layout), and the Embellishment Challenge on CDAC.

Fresh, Fuchsia Flowers for Mom

Hello again! As promised, here is the card I made for my sweetie pie of a mom for Mother's Day. I love a theme, and I love my mom in pink, so I had to carry the color from her corsage and cake to the card.


The image is "Daisies" by Digi Drawn, who offered up this image for free(!) for the Sketch Challenge at Crafter's Digital Art Center. I took some liberties with the sketch, but the basics are there, I hope.
I'll have to get back to you on the greens, but the petal colors are: RV59, RV19, RV32, RV34, and RV0000. The pattern papers (including the pink matting layer) is from Basic Grey's Lemonade Collection (6x6) and the dew drops are Inky Antics.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a blessed & beautiful day! ((hugs))

Updated 5/19/2011 -
What a blessed surprise! Thanks to all the lovely ladies at CDAC.

TPS Birthday in a Hurry

Hi there!

So I think it is no secret that I totally *L♥VE* Tickled Pink Stamps. Kellie is one of my fave shop owners and her exclusive images are just to die for awesome! One of my (many) resolutions for 2011 is to use my TPS more! Another one of my resolutions is to have cards on hand ahead of time, but this card unfortunately doesn't reflect any progress in that arena. In my defense, this is actually a card my sister commissioned with less than 24 hours notice, so my guilt/shame factor is fairly low (except as it pertains to the lighting for these photos - blech).

Anywho, knowing the wonderfully sarcastic yet supremely kind and wonderful friend receiving this card, I knew right away that I wanted to use the "Tickled Pink Birthday Set". I know she'll get a kick out of the little skullies on the cake since she is less than thrilled with the number of candles on her cake. LOL! And to further amuse her, I added fangs to the larger skull image (from the "Let It Rock" set) to coordinate with the sentiment I created, which reads, "Another Birthday? That bites."


The layout is thanks to Sunday Sketch & Stamp (a new fave challenge site) and I'm entering this card for Challenge #45. The papers are from the delish and addictive "Be Mine" collection by Echo Park. (If you haven't snagged yourself a set, they are available at Simply Betty Stamps.)


Thanks for stopping by today! Oh, and if you are as in love with TPS as I am, be sure to hurry over to the Tickled Pink Stamps store because there is an amazing sale going on now! Happy shopping and (((HUGS))).

Operation Write Home: Be My Valentine

As the daughter of a veteran (Navy), the brave men and women serving our beloved country are near & dear to my heart. Politics and policy may change, but their courage and dedication are constant, and so is my gratitude. Operation Write Home is kicking off their Valentine's Day card drive, and I couldn't think of a better way to express my heartfelt appreciation than to participate in this hop (and of course, donate some cards). So, without further ado:

Welcome to:
OPERATION WRITE HOME'S
"BE MY VALENTINE" HOP!

I'm sure many of you are scratching your heads. It's one thing to be in mid-November, before Thanksgiving, and posting Christmas cards, but Valentine's?!?!? That's months away, right? Well, yes. But the deadline for donating your handcrafter Christmas cards to Operation Write Home has passed. And the deadline for Valentine's Day is January 7th, which will be here before we know it, especially with all of the Christmas and New Year's activities and excitement.

If I'm your first stop, please get started at OWH Stars and Stamps and you'll be on the right trail. If you are arriving from Lisa at Land of EnCRAFTment, then you are right on track! (And let me say a great big THANK YOU! for staying with us - I know the hop is big and quite a long journey!)

For my card I used the adorable Wild Sprout Stella from The Greeting Farm. She was so much fun to color, I can't wait to make more. I paired her with some fab Valentine papers that were given to me as a gift (sorry, I don't know the manufacturer), a crocheted heart (A Million Memories), a heart charm (LSS), some twine, and paper flowers. I used my oval classic & scallop nesties for her mat and Labels Four for the sentiment mat. The sentiment was created with Making Memories Boho Alphabet Stickers. The touches of distress inking are done in Tim Holtz Spun Sugar Distress Ink. The layout is today's Saturday Sketch at Club Anya, and was designed by the lovely Jen Shults.

As a special THANK YOU for joining us today (and as a reward for your stamina), I've got some blog candy to give away: For a chance to win, please leave a comment on this post, and be sure I have a way to contact you (either through your blog link or by leaving your email address). I will draw & announce a winner on Monday, Nov. 15th, when I will also be posting my Blog-A-Versary Blog Candy, which you will not want to miss!

Thank you. May God bless you & keep you. May God bless our heroes, and God Bless America!

Your next stop is Carole at Ramblings of a FibreJunky.

And don't forget, Valentine's Day cards are needed by January 7th. Visit Operation Write Home for more information. Happy crafting!

Chapter 14: Gettin' Sketchy In The Golden Afternoon...

"Little bread-and-butterflies kiss the tulips, and the sun is like a toy balloon. There are get up in the morning glories, in the golden afternoon. There are dizzy daffodils on the hillside, strings of violets are all in tune, Tiger lilies love the dandy lions, in the golden afternoon, the golden afternoon. There are dog and caterpillars and a copper centipede, where the lazy daisies love the very peaceful life they lead... "

Hello. We have a wonderful Sketch for you today designed by the lovely and mega-talented Jen Shults! Here's her awesome design:

Our sketch comes w/ just a small twist this week....
Ok, its HUGE!
ONE PLAYER will be chosen this week based on all of the entries (and we know it's going to be TOUGH!!!) to be our JUNE GUEST TEA PARTY MEMBER for Oh, Alice! That's right! The DT will be feverishly going through your creations to choose next month's Guest DT, so if you've been wanting to come and be our Guest at our totally TWISTED Tea Party, now is your chance!
Need some inspiration to get ya going? Check out the samples from our TOTALLY TWISTED Tea Party over at the Oh, Alice blog! :)

For my card, I used an image from Busy Beauties Boutique called "Friendship Blooms" from an Alice inspired series released in April. And *finally* broke out my Kioshi 6x6! I wanted the image and papers to shine, so I cut back a bit on the embellies, but I hope you can still see Jen's super fab sketch in there. (And sorry for the blurries toward the bottom right. I don't know what's up with that.)
We will leave this contest open until THURSDAY May 26th at 11:59 PM CST (please notice the earlier time limit this week just so we can have time to go over entries, contact the winner, and announce them by our next Challenge on the 28th!) to enter your creation. A preliminary note to all-since we know this is going to be a VERY hard decision, please do not be discouraged if your creation isn't chosen as we have plenty of opportunities coming up each month and have tons of fun up our sleeves! We are so thrilled that the blog is going strong and can't wait to see what's next for Oh, Alice!

Please don't forget to upload your creation using Mr. Linky and use keyword OAC14 if you use a public gallery, thanks! GOOD LUCK everyone!

Curiouser-ly yours,


Image(s): Busy Beauties Boutique - Friendship Blooms
Pattern Papers: Basic Grey - Kioshi
Cardstock: local source
Embellishments: light pink dew drops; Prima paper flowers
Colored with Copics
Layout by Jen Shults - OAC14

Chapter 8: You Can Learn A Lot of Things from the Flowers...

`Never mind!' Alice said in a soothing tone, and stooping down to the daisies, who were just beginning again, she whispered, `If you don't hold your tongues, I'll pick you!' There was silence in a moment, and several of the pink daisies turned white. `That's right!' said the Tiger-lily. `The daisies are worst of all. When one speaks, they all begin together, and it's enough to make one wither to hear the way they go on!' `How is it you can all talk so nicely?' Alice said, hoping to get it into a better temper by a compliment. `I've been in many gardens before, but none of the flowers could talk.'

Hello everyone! Despite some recent snow flurries here in NE Ohio, Spring is almost here and soon all of our floral friends will be coming out to play! At the Oh, Alice! Blog, we definitely agree with Alice that you can learn a lot of things from the flowers! This week's challenge? You got it! USE FLOWERS on your card or project!

For my card, I wanted something that would (hopefully) draw you in, just as Alice was drawn down the Rabbit Hole into Wonderland. ;) I chose this pattern paper because it is so rich in color and detail, but also has great depth - just as I imagine the Queen's garden. The stamp I used has been in my stash awhile, just waiting for the right card. I just love her flower rimmed eyes! I decided to make my "flower girl" a brunette because I learned recently that the real Alice wasn't the fair-haired girl we usually envision. And besides, brown is beautiful! (No bias there - LOL!)

We have ANOTHER generous prize to give away this week donated by STAMPOTIQUE!
ONE RANDOM WINNER will be chosen to WIN a $15 GC to the STAMPOTIQUE store, where you'll find some of the most fun & funky stamps (including a great goth line designed by Daniel Torrente & Jill Penney) and supplies! Be sure to link your creation on the Oh, Alice Blog using Mr. Linky by Friday, April 16th at 8pm CST, and use OAC8 as your keyword when uploading to a gallery.

Happy Stamping and Happy Spring!

Florally yours,


Image(s): Basic Grey
Pattern Papers: Basic Grey - Infuse
Cardstock: local source
Embellishments: Nesties; Sakura Gelly Roll Pen (Stardust)
Colored with Copics

Chapter 7: We're All M.A.D. Here...

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked."Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.""How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice."You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here..."

This week, we are gettin' our M.A.D. (Monochromatic And Distressed) with THE GREETING FARM!! Marie has generously offered her new line of Alice-inspired stamps, The Creepy Cakes to the DT and a FABULOUS prize of THREE FREE Creepy Cakes Digital Images OR ONE Rubber Single to ONE LUCKY WINNER! Thanks Marie!

We're also MAD about our APRIL TEA PARTY GUEST! Please join us in welcoming Kim Howard, a.k.a. BASEMENT STAMPER to our Twisted Tea party this month! She's been curiouser and curiouser to get started and we're happy to have her at our twisted little table :)

I was soooooo thrilled about this challenge theme!!! I've wanted to try my hand at a monochromatic card for a very long time, and of course, I love distressing! (My name is Catherine, and if I weren't a Christian, Tim Holtz would be my "god"!) Surprisingly, no Tim products were used to make this card! Say what?!? It's true! Much to my shame, I've misplaced my TH Distress Tool! I love that little gizmo like you wouldn't believe, so needless to say that distressing without it caused me quite a bit of distress and definitely increased the challenge of the challenge! (Did you follow all of that?!? LOL) Fret not. I now have a new relationship with my Cutterpede Scissors :) which I also used to distress the satin ribbon - something new and fun that popped into my head at 2:00 a.m. the other night. Gotta love midnight stamping - you tend to lose your inhibitions/fear when you're tired and working the wee hours. (And if this post is any indication, you also tend to lose your edit function and ramble incessantly! LOL) But I do want to share one more tidbit about this card. 1. This is my first purple card is ages! Purple can be a tricky color and I've shied away from it in the past. But I had to give it a shot because of this gorgeous paper, which I had actually bought when I was undecided about a previous challenge to use a caterpillar or butterfly. The added bonus is that this card totally reminds me of our beloved Mad-Hatter, Jessica (aka The Whimsical Butterfly), who was kind enough to invite me along on this wonderful adventure! (Love ya, Jess!)


I can't wait to see your Monochromatic And Distressed creation! You have until Friday, April 9th at 8pm CST to enter using Mr. Linky on the Oh, Alice Blog. The winner will be chosen and announced during next week's challenge! If you upload to a public gallery please use keyword OAC7.

Madly yours,


Image(s): The Greeting Farm - Freaky Flutter; Hero Arts Sentiment
Pattern Papers: Kaiser Kraft
Cardstock: local source
Embellishments: Sakura Gelly Roll Pen; Nesties; MFT and misc. buttons; American Crafts satin ribbon
Colored with Copics

CHAPTER 6: The Red Queen's FINE PRINT...

"The Red Queen shook her head, "You may call it 'nonsense' if you like," she said, "but I've heard nonsense, compared with which that would be as sensible as a dictionary!"

This week we're getting down to business and reading the "fine print" here in Wonderland.

We're also SO excited to be welcoming Digital Delights by Louby Loo as our sponsor this week! WOW! What a lucky group we are! Wendy from Digital Delights has not only graced the DT with some super fun Alice-inspired images to use, but is giving away a TEN DOLLAR GIFT CERTIFICATE to one lucky winner who will be randomly drawn from all the entries this week! THANKS Wendy!

This week's challenge is to create a card/project using some form of TEXT, such as text-printed pattern paper, old book pages, newspaper print, dictionary pages, etc. We just need to see SOME form of printed text on your card or project!

The images I chose to work with (thanks, Wendy!) are Teapot Pippin and the circular clock sentiment (notice the clock is backwards - what a great "Through the Looking Glass" touch!). Pippin immediately reminded me of Chapter VII of Alice In Wonderland (it's the Tea Party chapter, which ends with the Mad Hatter and March Hare trying to put a sleeping Dormouse into a tea pot), and I lucked out by finding an online version, that I reformatted to create my own text paper.

Now it's your turn! I can't wait to see you get TEXTY! :) To be entered in this week's prize drawing , link your creation to the Oh, Alice Blog by 10:00 PM CST on Friday, April 2nd! (Good grief, where did March go?!?!?!? *sigh* LOL) Please use keyword OAC6 if/when uploading to a public gallery.

Wonderful Weekend Hugs,


Image(s): Digital Delights by Louby Loo
Pattern Papers: Basic Grey - Sugar Rush (Jawbreaker)
Cardstock: local source, American Crafts texture (orange), Bazzill Texture (pink)
Embellishments: tea cup charm, PTI twine, lace, JudiKins Diamond Glaze

Ink(s): Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Ink (Antique Linen)
Colored with Copics
Layout: I'm starting to catalog my original sketches, but for sanity's sake, we'll call this one PAC1-10 (click to enlarge)