Happy Saturday!

Hello! It's Saturday! My favorite day of the week! Might be because it's the only full day off I have every week! I've been thinking lately, that I'm at the age now where I may want to add another day off soon! I'm getting too old to work this much! Yesterday in the flower department was crazy! Way too much heavy lifting...my back is sore today...and I was planning on planting lots of flowers later....we'll have to see how it goes. I'm off to go get those flowers now, and will post some pictures here, later today. In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy a fun, goofy picture of Murphy. He sleeps, upside down like this, everyday! I laugh each time I see it!! He is such a joy!



I'm hoping to get some cardmaking in too! The house cleaning and laundry are going to have to wait! Ha!

Have a wonderful Saturday! :)

I won! And a Card to Celebrate!

What a great day I had yesterday! Waking up to a Fab Five win, announced on the Hero Arts blog, was just the best! I literally jumped up and down for a bit, kind of started screaming, "I won! I won!" Then ran around the house, clapped my hands a couple of times and yelled, "Yes! I won! I'm so excited!" The funny thing is that no one else was home! Well, except for my cat, Murphy! And boy was he ever giving me some weird looks! I'm thinking very hard about what to buy. I really don't know if I need anymore stamps at the moment. I know...you think I'm crazy for saying that. But I really need to stock up on some supplies like pearls, paper, ink, Ultra Clean etc... We'll see.

So onto today's card. I was looking at blogs last night and stopped in to see what Lisa Spangler was up to. She always has the best tips, tricks and fun techniques! Her blog is so fun to visit! She shared the technique of using markers on a silhouette stamp and then spritzing it with a mix of Perfect Pearls and water, before stamping it onto white cardstock. I wanted to give it a try, so I used my Zig markers on the Hero Arts Garden Silhouette stamp. I love the way it turned out. I only wish you could see the shimmer of the perfect pearls! I also used the La Letter stamp on the four background panels and clear embossed. The sentiment was an easy choice....to celebrate my win! I could also use it for a birthday card.


There are 8 more days until vacation time! (7 of which I work!) Boy am I looking forward to it! At the same time, I am so blessed to have a job that I love! Working with flowers everyday is a joy! It'll be really nice, though, to have 9 days off!

I hope you have a wonderful day! Make some time for fun and laughter! :)

Sunflower Card and a Walk Around My Yard

Morning! I have a card to share today before showing you the photos from my yard. It uses the Hero Arts Three Sunflowers stamp. I really don't like how it turned out. The colors seem so weird together, but what the heck. We learn from these kinds of cards. For the main image I used Hero Hues Chalk Ink in Latte and Hero Arts Shadow Ink in Soft Apricot, then clear embossed. I added more color to the flowers with Copics. The background paper is from Basic Grey's Kioshi Paper Pad and I double stamped one of the flowers from the same image, using the apricot color and also Soft Sand Shadow Ink and added the butterfly. On the inside it says, "on Father's Day" I was planning to give this card to one of my brothers. (May have to redo it first!) He is a wonderful father to his two kids, and he loves gardening and flowers, just like our father did!



Okay, on with the pics! When I got home from work the other day, the weather was so gorgeous, I just had to spend some time outside! It is still spring here in Minnesota....my favorite time of the year! We've had quite a bit of rain, so everything is very green! I love seeing all the colors against the beautiful blue sky! Here are just a few things in my yard and gardens that I'm getting excited about.

First is my pansies and violas! Love these so much! The purple one has a soft velvety look! Not sure what the little white spots are, but I do have a neighbor doing lots of sanding lately...hmmm?






Next up is an all time fave! My peonies!! They are getting ready to just burst open! Some of the blooms end up being huge every year! Can't wait to share THOSE photos with you!




This next photo is of my chives in the vegetable garden. I don't know why, but I love the little flowers that this plant produces! They look fabulous when cut and added to a bouquet! My hubby loves to cook and adds the chives to many dishes!


And now for the answer to what my son found, hanging on the side of the house. It was this big beauty! His wings really were shut at first. I wanted to see the beauty of them, so I touched him softly, and he opened them a bit. I'm not sure what kind of moth it is, but believe me, it was very large! Its wing span was about 5 or 6 inches across!


I noticed after taking the first picture, that there were some more amazing markings, peeking out, on his bottom wings, so I gave him a gentle nudge and he fluttered down to the sidewalk, with wings spread out, to show me the rest of his beauty! Isn't he neat?!


And Lin, I'm sooo glad it wasn't a bat!!

Slow down sometime today, and find something beautiful to enjoy! :)

Image from Deborah and a Guessing Game

I first would like to thank everyone for the sweet comments yesterday! I so appreciate them! This blog business is taking up much of my time, but I sure am loving it! Thanks to all of you who make my day by commenting!

I won some goodies on Deborah's blog awhile back and wanted to use another one of the adorable, stamped images she sent! I love this sweet little girl and she is so fun to color with Copics! I thought I'd give her dress some polka dots, to go along with the ones on the Bo-Bunny paper, so I used the colorless blender to do that. I punched a few butterflies and added some pearls. I also placed two little gems on the flower pot. The sentiment is Hero Arts and it's called Handwritten Happy Birthday.


I took a walk around my yard last evening and decided to take some pictures. I will share those tomorrow as soon as I upload them. There is one in particular you may want to see. A couple of hints: My son found it, hanging on the side of the house, wings shut, very soft and fuzzy looking! (I got some good close-ups too!) Any guesses?

Still counting down to my vacation time. 9 more days! We're into the single digits...woo hoo!!

Do something a little extra special for someone today! Makes ya feel good! :)

Inspired by Godelieve!

I hope you've had a good start to your week. I saw a beautiful card made by Godelieve on her blog yesterday. I was so inspired by it, I just had to try a similar design. Here is what I came up with.



When I finished the card, I thought it looked a bit like something you'd send out for a Christmas card. Hmmm....maybe I'll save it until then. If you get a chance, you should go to Godelieve's blog! The card is gorgeous, and she used the most beautiful poppy for her main image! Thank you, Godelieve, for inspiring me with your stunning card!

We are having fabulous weather here finally! They say it'll be in the mid 70's with sunshine all week!! My kind of weather!

Hope your day is a happy one! :)

New TH Die Cuts, Used in Cuttlebug!

Happy Monday! I had some time to finally do a bit of creating last night. It feels like it's been awhile. I need a couple more birthday cards for the end of the month. I used the beautiful Hero Arts Hydrangea stamp for this one. I seem to always reach for it when I need something pretty! I actually stamped it using markers, then colored it in with Copics. I couldn't resist adding some Diamond Stickles. The die cuts on the side are the new ones, called Brackets, from Tim Holtz. I bought it hoping to use it in my Cuttlebug.....and it worked!! Below my card are some pictures to show how I did it, in case anyone is interested. I love that I can use these dies for the Sizzix, in the Cuttlebug!






No white spacer needed. Just use the B plate first.





Next, place your paper on top of the B plate.



Then place the Tim Holtz die on top of your paper, and the other B plate on top of that. Roll it right through and you've got a beautiful die cut! I cut mine shorter than the actual die, to fit my card. Love it!!




Make it a good day! And thanks to all who visit and leave comments! :)

Card from Jette!

I received this beautiful card from Jette, in Denmark, for Deborah's May CCC.





It is such a neat card with so many wonderful details! The flowers are gorgeous and I love the musical note paper! She added a pretty, red, lace strip, and the background stamping is so cool! Thank you so much, Jette! I love it!

If you haven't seen Jette's blog yet, you should head over for a visit! You can find it here http://jettesscrapblog.blogspot.com/ It's a beautiful blog! She not only makes pretty cards, she is an amazing scrapbooker! Her pages are gorgeous!!

I'm hoping to make a card or two, to share with you soon. (It was such a busy weekend!) Remember to smile lots and have a good start to the week! :)

Miniature Magnolia Tree

I don't have time to make a card today, (heading to work soon) so I thought I would share some pictures that I took, earlier this spring, as my Miniature Magnolia tree started to bloom.












Aren't they beautiful?! The neat thing about this tree is that the flowers all bloom BEFORE most of the leaves start to come out! So when they die and fall off, that is when you start to see the leaves! The tree gets covered with these beautiful blooms! I look forward to seeing this every year!

I am starting to count down the days until my 9-day vacation. 14 more to go! I am not traveling anywhere....just staying at home, making cards and working in the yard and garden! All things good for the soul!! I need that calmness in my life right now. Everything always seems to be fast paced and rushed lately. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am a person who has a ton of energy, all the time. It's true, but as I get older, I realize that maybe I need to relax and slow down, just a bit more!

Thanks for the visit! I love all your comments and greatly appreciate them! I hope you can find time to relax and enjoy your Sunday! :)