Awwww...!

Yesterday's post was so long, that I'll keep this one short to try to even it out.

Here's a cute little puppy dawg to make you go, "Awwww...!"

See!

Short 'n sweet.

Kinda like me.

The Fine Print: Stop laughing.  I can be short 'n sweet.  You know, compared to someone taller and more disgruntled than me. Doggy stamp by Penny Black "A Romantic Dog," die by Stampin' Up, designer paper, flowers, small brads and big fat funky brad from my stash.

A Week of Workdesks

It's time for that weekly blog hop I enjoy so much, What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday.  Rather than bore you with the usual shot of my tidy desk I thought I'd prove to you that I do use my desk and get stuff out.  I decided to take a picture each day when my desk was at its messiest, which is kind of hard to decide when that is.

Above is a shot from the evening of last Wednesday's WOYWW post.  You can see that I've pulled a few things out since the morning and made a few cards.  I had already started to tidy up when I remembered that I meant to photograph first.

This is from Thursday evening.  I was pulling things out for a play date at a friend's house the next day.  I also got out a pile of St. Patrick's stamps and ribbons to remind myself to make something with it.

Friday night has all sorts of things pulled out, cards I made at my play date, cards I made last week, images, photos of snow on Valentine's Day (ick), embossing folders, dies, and my big green directory.

Saturday. You can see the Just Cards magazine I had out to garner inspiration from.  Sorry I didn't take this photo at a good angle to see what all is on there, but it appears to be a lot of the same stuff.  In fact, I didn't pick up my desk Friday or Saturday night.  I paid for it Sunday morning when the cats proudly showed me their crafting handiwork made by tossing the stuff I have off the desk.

Sunday.  I didn't feel like creating anything so I dragged out a bunch of old cards to package up to give to a friend.  I picked up this mess and then made another one after I got in the mood to make some cards.  Then I picked up that mess.

This is from Monday night when I started to play with the St. Patrick's Day stuff.  You can see that I still have some of the same stuff out on my desk, only tidier along the edges--the embossing folders, the cards, the stamps. The card in progress didn't get finished before I called it a night.

And last of all, my desk from Tuesday night which is how it looked this morning since I didn't get anything out. You can see the hanging heart piece that I won from Cindy's February blog giveaway and the pieces of the St. Patrick's Day card I'm working on.  I just tossed it together so you can get an idea of what it will look like. 

The Fine Print: St. Patrick's day stamp by DeNami Designs. Yeah, that's all I got today.

Weird Phenomena

The queerest thing happened this past weekend.  The sun didn't get up in the morning and the sky growled at us.  Then this watery wet stuff fell from it.  It was completely odd and possibly unnatural. 

That kind of weather reminds me of how as teens our mother would tell us, "Don't forget your rubbers!" which would send my little brother into peels of laughter.  We live in Southern Arizona, we don't have wet weather gear, which is a shame because I'd looked darling in a pair pink polka dotted boots like these.

The Fine Print:  Stamps by Taylored Expressions and papers from them too although they just kitted it together.  They didn't make the paper. They just made the paper come to me. 

Mouse and Butterfly

I pulled out a lot of things this weekend.  Amongst it all I found some images a friend had sent me awhile ago and one was perfect for a couple of current challenges.

I discovered a new blog called the Animal Friends Challenge, which I'm excited about because an animal-focused stamp group was one of the first I joined on-line back in the day.  It brings back good memories.  Animal Friends ask that we use a mouse in our artwork. 

Mrs. A is hosting her second Butterfly Challenge. She is calling this one the three Bs.  We are to use a butterfly, a button, and a bow on our cards.  What do you know? I have them all on this card.

The Fine Print: Stamp by Penny Black "Water Lily Skiing."  Inverted pinking circle by Spellbinders. Designer paper, ribbon, and button from my stash.

Make Up Monday

Let's kiss and make up, shall we?  *kiss*kiss*  Yeah, no, we weren't even fighting.

When I make cards, I photograph them (if I remember) and put them in my computer in a general folder.  After I share them on my blog I move the photos into a themed folder for later inspiration.  Sometimes I forget to move them out of pending which is why you'll see them more than once on my blog.

Sometimes I never get around to posting them and then they just sit in the pending folder collecting virtual dust, waiting for a rainy day, which here in Southern Arizona we don't get too many of.  But since we had rain this past weekend and because my pending folder is way full, I've decided to share some of the random things I have hanging out in there. 

The Fine Print: All four of these cards were made from the Club Scrap Wisteria kit which I absolutely adored.  Most of the items used were from the kit but some of it came from my own stash.  I plan to make Make-up Monday a regular feature until the pending file gets under control.  It could be awhile as there are 25 Wisteria cards alone.

Inspired Butterfly

Sometimes when I am lacking in ideas I pull out a Just Cards magazine and leaf through it for inspiration.  I really like Just Cards because the style of card they feature are the kind I make so almost every page inspires me. 

I thought I'd have a go at copying this card from Diana Weber.  Her card is all white and embossed with tiny dots, the butterfly is a stamp, and her greeting is on a die cut that has been sponged and pop dotted.

I fussed and fiddled with my version of this card.  I wanted my embossed white panel to be mounted on colored cardstock.  I was to going to use a die and not a stamp for the butterfly.  My greeting would be entirely different.  I tried this and that and in the end I surprised myself by using kraft.

As you can see I ended up rejecting a white or an embossed piece entirely.  My butterfly is much, much larger and that changed the dynamic of the card and limited what I could do for a greeting.  While my card is different you can see where I got my idea from.  I am quite pleased with my results.  Here is a close up of the butterfly lying flat so you can see his detail better without catching all those shadows on it.

I am going to link this up with Di's Snippet Playground because there are snippets galore on this card.  Everything except the card base was made with snippets.  Although I must confess that I almost had to use an entire sheet of kraft to do the greeting, but luckily I double checked my snippet stash and found a piece to use.

The Fine Print: Butterfly and backing dies by Marianne, greeting by Penny Black, Label One Spellbinder die, designer paper snippet probably from Basic Gray, robin's egg pearls by A Muse Studio.  Yes, I know if only I had used a button and a bow I could join the butterfly challenge.  Maybe later!

House Mouse--Anything Goes

Yesterday I had a play date and I started making some oriental themed cards (which are really hard for me for some reason).  As a lark I included my fortune cookie eating House Mouse stamp and this card was born, which is perfect for the Anything Goes challenge over at House Mouse and Friends.

I once received a fortune from a cookie that told me I should consider a career in higher education. That's where I've worked for the last 25 years, so don't discount those fortunes so fast!



The Fine Print: "Happy Fortune" stamp by Stampabilities, designer paper by unknown, sequins by Karen Foster (I think).  The fortune you seek will be found in another cookie.