Been in Such a Funk

Hi ladies,

I've really been struggling lately, not only with creating cards but with trying to comment on other cards and blogs. It's as if my brain just won't let me do it. I think I may be on overload right now. Life sure can get out of hand sometimes, with way too many things going on at once. I usually handle times like this fairly well and I know eventually I'll catch up and things will calm down. So there are two things I want to let you know today. I am still looking at all the cards in the Flickr pool and visiting all of your blogs. I just need to back off a bit on the commenting so I can take some time for myself. I also want you to know that I'm trying to take the simple route when it comes to making cards for awhile. It seems to help me not stress about what I'm making and keeps it enjoyable, which is how it should be!

So I have two cards to show you today. They are both simple and quick. The first one uses a flower from the Hero Arts Real Flower set, embossed in yellow. The punched edge is EK's Daisy Chain.



For the second one, I stamped the Dandelion in white on a pink card base, layered some pretty pink and green, floral and striped patterned paper and placed a die cut over the layers. The die cut is stamped and clear embossed with the Graph Background. The butterfly is almost a year old. I colored it in, using a mix of liquid pearls and water. That's why it looks like two different colored pinks. The shimmer shows more on the left because of the angle of the flash when taking the picture.



I have one more thing to show you. It's a photo of my mom's hands. I love this picture. We were all given a copy of it yesterday when we were over at her house, going through all her things. When I look at this photo, I can see the years of hard work, experience and love in these hands. The ring you see on her left hand was also given to me. It feels so good to have something of hers close to me. I will treasure it for many years to come.



Thanks for stopping by today. I really do appreciate each and every visit! I'll be happy when the week winds down and I'm really looking forward to Saturday! Have a wonderful day everyone!

Real Quick Post

Hi all!

I'm in such a hurry this morning. Can't seem to get organized anymore! I just have a card to show you that is for Jenny's challenge over on the Wee Memories blog. It's all about sweets with ribbon. I wanted to use a cupcake stamp and didn't think I had one. I was digging through some old stuff and found a box of stamps from Stampin' Up! So I used the little cupcake from the set.



I colored in the images with markers and added Glossy Accents to the frosting. The large scalloped punch is EK's called Diamond Lace. I stamped and white embossed the Hero Arts Graph Background onto the blue cardbase and the ribbon is from Michael's.

Hope your week is going well! If anyone can find some extra time, could you send it my way!

August CCC

Here we are again, with another Monday. And my vacation is officially over as of 6:00 tonight, when I'll be back at work. It's always the worst day. Tons of things to catch up on! It'll be a week of digging through boxes to look for my fall decorations and switching over the flower department from Summer pinks and blues to Autumn yellows, oranges and browns. *sigh* Not my favorite thing, but it has to be done. I just hate saying goodbye to all my favorite colors!

So today I want to share two cards. One I received from Trinh and one I sent to Linda. Both for the August Card Chain Challenge that Deborah hosts every month. It's such a fun challenge, and if you haven't yet participated, you REALLY SHOULD! Believe me, you'll love it! Here is the card that Trinh sent to me. It is so beautiful!



Isn't it just the coolest?! I love the way she used the trees to show all four seasons and the sentiment is so perfect! She also sent me some beautiful digi images of several flowers and some dragonflies. So sweet! You should pop over and check out Trinh's photostream here. She has such a fun style and does some beautiful work! Thank you Trinh, I love the card and the images!

Now on to the card I made for Linda. I really struggled trying to come up with something, using Deborah's sketch. I ended up using only a portion of it, flipping it sideways and also using the theme of friendship.



I clear embossed the poppy image three times and colored them in using Nancy's technique, which she showed on the Hero Arts blog last week, coloring with water color pencils and blending with Copics. It was a fun way to color in the flowers. It took awhile to get it the way I wanted it to look, but I like the results.

Hope everyone has an easy Monday! Thanks for visiting! :)

Inspired by Nancy!

Hey there!

I just came inside from mowing the lawn. Wow, it is so hot outside! The sky is such a gorgeous blue and I did a whole lot of sweating, but the grass looks wonderful, and I really DO love to mow the lawn! I need to get back out there to pull all the ugly, old looking flowers out of their pots. They always look terrible by this time of year. I'm sad to see them go, but will soon be planting some mums and other fall plants.

Last week, my good friend and fellow hostess, Nancy, made a card for the Hero Arts blog and I just loved the way it turned out! It was the one that was embossed with black on kraft. You can see it here. So since that day, I have wanted to try it too. Here is my take on Nancy's amazing card.



I don't have black embossing powder so I stamped the La Lettre and Hydrangea with Jet Black Archival Ink and clear embossed. I cased Nancy's design almost exactly because I loved everything about her card! Thanks so much for inspiring me, Nancy, not only with your gorgeous cards but with your kind heart and lovely spirit! So glad to call you my friend!

Have a beautiful day everyone! I'm off to pull some flowers. . . . :)