Happy Friday! Woo-Hoo!!

Yippie! It's Friday. I just love when the weekend comes. Saturday is sleep in day and hubby gets up and cooks breakfast. He makes the most yummiest potatoes!! Love love love them!! But I can say that he is the messiest cook too! When he gets done in the kitchen it looks like a cyclone hit it!! But it is well worth the mess.

I've not got much to show you today. Just one lonely card. I'm working on a swap that is going on over at PCP and there are quite a few cards that I have to do for that. And of course I get going and add this to the card, and do that to it. And before you know it, it weighs a ton! But that's fine because it's Easter themed and I'm ready to make some spring cards.

So here we go!!

First I must say do not look at the stitching! I think that I have a bum machine. Pretty much ever since I got the machine it does what it wants to do. I've only used it for actual material a few times ~ and I did use a different needle. But each time I use it either the bobbin gobbs up the thread on the bottom or the needle thread breaks or the stitching spaces itself too close together then far apart then normal or this or that..... It is so irritating. Of course I had high hopes for this card and when the machine started acting up I pretty much did not care. Kinda sad, but I just gave up.....

The base card is Dark Green. I layered it with another piece of green that I ran thru the CB with the Swiss Dots folder then a scrap of Glorious Green that I had left from another project that I embossed gold clovers from MSX on and lastly a piece of DP (that does not have a name on it). I stitched all those together and adhered it to the card. I got out my Butterfly Swirls set and stamped the swirl with Glorious Green in on the CB piece. I stamped the little leprechaun from Whipper Snapper and colored him in with my watercolors, cut him out and used a pop dot to adhere to the card. Like I said, nothing fancy, my bubble was popped with the sewing machine incident.

I hope to get something done today to show you. If not because it's the weekend I will be back Monday. This weekend we are supposed to go to my SIL's - like we do each weekend - and I'm not sure what's up. They say it is supposed to snow. SNOW! It's almost March. Crazy Kentucky weather - if you don't like it wait 5 minutes and it will change, so they say.

Have a great day!
Hugs,

Joani

Here's something to take a gander at.....

I was at Walmart the other day and at the checkout there was the cutest little package of Ricola cough drops there. I don't know if it was a trial size or a purse size, it does not say. But it was the cutest little thing and I had to get it. No I'm not sick, or anyone in the house (knock on wood). And Yes, my mind is always thinking when I see things. No matter where I am I see things that I want to alter or create something with in some way.

So here is what I did......

I first started with a 4" x 12" piece of card stock. Preferably something a little sturdy, I used Tempting Turquoise. I scored it at 3", 3 1/2" and 8 1/2".

Measure down 3/4" and in on each side 1/2" and then you will cut a 3" hole out of the paper. Make sure that whatever you are inserting into the pouch the hole is cut to reflect that.

A little trick that I've done to "extend" your word window punch is to punch 2 of them out and tape them together and trace it on to the paper. Every time I try to punch it side by side I never get it right. So I trace them and use my Xacto (which I'm really good at using).

Go ahead, ask me how I know this.......

I used my TAC Butterfly Swirls set to decorate the pouch. I stamped the swirls in Tempting Turquoise. Once you've got the inside and outside stamped attach a small piece of velcro or a magnet ~ whatever you prefer, to keep the pouch closed.
To decorate the I stamped the sentiment "feel better" and "dear friend" with TAC's Feel Better set in Brilliant Blue. I punched the feel better sentiment out with my curly label punch and sponged some Brilliant Blue ink around the edges. I layered that on to a piece of Chocolate Chip then on to a piece of Ballet Blue. I paper pierced some holes in the Chocolate Chip panel and used my white gel pen for the dots on the Ballet Blue panel. I added some buttons, ribbon and a prima in the right corner. I stamped a butterfly from the Butterfly Swirls set and colored it with my watercolors then added some stickles for a little bling.

Oh!! And some of you mentioned that when you click on a picture it does not get bigger, I'm working on it. I will try to get this fixed soon!

I hope that you like this little pouch and it inspires you to create something!

Have a great day!!
Hugs,
Joani

Well, do you like it?

Do you like it? The new blog background and banner? I was up early this morning and thought that I'd make a change. I've had the dauber downs lately ~ for no reason, and I thought that a little change would brighten things up. So, do you like it? I want to make sure that it is ok on the eyes because if you don't like it then I need to change it. Your the ones reading here so I want to make sure that your all happy.

If you would, please leave me a comment and let me know!

Have a great day!
Hugs,
Joani

Top o' the mornin' to ya!

Good morning everyone! I hope today finds you well.

I got a little of my mojo back yesterday. Not much, but enough to make a couple cards. When I make cards I generally make at least 2, sometimes 4 unless I am making something special for someone - then it's just one - or if I'm in a swap then it's however many. I think that it is an OCD thing. I just cant make an odd amount of something. Yes, I know. Mrs. Monk honey. (He calls me that a lot!)

One things first! I'm not sure I mentioned it last week or not. My DD and I got into an argument last week. She had to prepare a speech for her floral class and she did not want to get up in front of the class and do it. I tried to tell her I understand, but we all had to do it. Well, it did not end well. She said she'll just take an "F" and she stormed upstairs. Then the next day she's down here asking me how this sounds and how that sounds. She did it!! The speech was to be anywhere from 4 to 6 minutes. She was just over 6 minutes and she received an A+! Well, the best part was her teacher kept her after class and told her that she wanted Danielle to speak at this FFA thing for horticulture in front of judges and Danielle said ok. Yes, I did remind her about the argument we had and she said she was nervous and excited too!

For her class she had the whole week to prepare, but for this they gave the topic and she had 20 minutes to prepare. Well she did it!! And I was as proud as can be!! To top it off she was chosen to go to regional's!! How cool is that! I told her she could do it, she just had to put her mind to it! So now I'm as proud as a peacock!!

Ok, enough ramblin' you came to see something creative!

I sat down to create something for St. Patrick's Day and this is all that came out. I've been looking for some paper and of course they don't have it in town. They are waiting for the items from CHA to arrive so I have to improvise!

The image is from Darcie's and I colored it in with my pencils and gamsol and sponged it with Glorious Green ink. The base card is Kiwi Kiss and I layered it with some Garden Green that I ran thru the CB with the textile folder. I then stamped some clovers from My Sentiments Exactly in gold ink and embossed them with Judikins detail gold powder. That is the best EP I've ever used. I layered that on to a piece of Glorious Green added the image with a photo corner and I was complete.

Another card I made was with some stamps that I love! They are from Ann-ticipations. I know that they are not St. Patrick's ~ but I love them and thought if I made them in green no one would know..... he he he.....I've had this silly stamp for years, it's from Ann-ticipations. It is an old Scandinavian saying and it tickled me the first time I read it.

The base card is Dark Green. I layered the card with Certainly Celery that I ran thru the CB with the Swiss Dots folder. I stamped the saying and undies on white paper. I also stamped the undies again on green polka dot paper and cut out and paper pieced it on to the white. I colored the ruffled and the frog in with my pencils and gamsol. I sponged the two layers with Green Galore ink and I was complete. It was a quick card, but it tickles me to read it!

I hope that's enough for today. I'm waiting for the Fed Ex guy and I think that I'll go stamp something!

Have a great day!
Hugs,

Joani

**Edited for Poem on Card:

May the light always find you on a dreary day, When you need to be home may you find your way. May you always have courage to take a chance, and never find frogs in your underpants.

OMGoodness!

You MUST go over to Elzybells and check out the blog candy they have. But not just for the blog candy ~ but look at all the cool new stamps they have. I am so in love with cupcakes!! I don't have too many cupcake stamps, I'm still collecting - but these are so adorable I think I need them all!!! Oh, tax refund..... Where are you????

Good Morning!!

Good Morning Everybody!


I hope today finds you all well. I am popping in to give you a peek at what I've been up to. I don't know but I've been a little out of sorts. I guess I've got the dauber downs. Yesterday I just did not feel like crafting. **GASP!** Did I say that? Yeah, I guess I did.

I don't know if it's the weird weather or what, but yesterday I sat down to create. I had all good intentions on doing it. I sat at the table and just looked around at my stuff and nothing came to me. I was just sitting there and no ideas popped into my head ~ nothing. So what I have is not all that creative. Maybe today something will spark my creativity.

I am in a sentiment swap over on my card group and I needed to make a card for that and I immediately thought of this stamp. This was one of my first stamps that I had purchased and it is from D.O.T.S. - that's what Close to My Heart was before it was CTMH. There is something about this stamp that just makes me smile.

I stamped the image in Real Red on to white cs and sponged some Real Red ink around the panel. I layered that on to a piece of Pink Pirouette that you can see I made a border with on my scor-pal. The base card is Real Red and I made the grid pattern with my scor-pal also and at each peak I used my white gel pen and added a dot to it. I took a piece of Blush Blossom paper and punched the scallop edge with my SU! border punch, added a length of ribbon and attached that to the card. I added the image panel and I was complete.

Nothing too terribly hard, just a simple sentiment card.

I'm in another swap for St. Patrick's Day and this is what came to me. I've always been one to send out cards for every holiday - I used to have a stamp for Ground Hog Day also - but I've slowed down over the years. But this is the first St. Patrick's card I've made this year.

The base card is a dark green cs I've had for a long time. I stamped the shamrock images from My Sentiments Exactly on to a piece of white cs and layered that on to a piece of green checkered paper and a piece of Glorious Green. Before laying it down on the card I added a length of white organdy ribbon. I love that ribbon because it does not bulk up a card too much when you mail it out. The leprechaun is from Whipper Snapper. I stamped him and colored him in with my watercolors. I punched it out with my Marvy oval punch and matted it on to a piece of Glorious Green cs and I was done! Not too complicated, thank goodness because I was not in a complicated mood.

Today I will try to create something worthy of stopping in on your blog hopping journey!

Have a great day!
Hugs,

Joani

Sorry I've been away

Good morning! I'm sorry that I've been away, but duty called this weekend. We went out to my SIL's to help out then I found a furry friend to bring home.

My BIL was over there and had his dog. Sequoia is a great dog. He is very well behaved and he is trained well. The dog can do just about anything but talk. So we brought him home and "babysat" him this weekend. I was needing that, I've really missed Ginger. I know, some will say she was a dog, get over it. But I just cant. And I think that part of it is because she died in my arms. But enough of the sad stuff, I thought I'd show you a picture of Danielle and Sequoia in the yard this weekend. It was snowing and they went out to play.

So he was one of the most loved dog's in the world this weekend. He got lot's of love, hugs and kisses!

You wanna see something I've done? Then keep reading!

I don't think that I showed you a card I made for a dear friend for her birthday. This is a suspension card. It's not the first one I've made, but it's the first large one I've made. I wanted to make a silly one for her, and I think that this qualifies as silly.

As you can see from the front it takes up most of the card. I used my coluzzle to cut out all the holes and borders I made for the holes. (Did you hear about coluzzle? I'm shocked, I heard they are going out of business!! Stock up everyone!!) The paper is from a paper pack that I have from Creating Keepsakes, I picked out a couple of pieces that matched for the front and inside and I used an image from my Diamonds Rubber Stamp CD - this one has the back and front images as you can see.

I used Old Olive as a base with some Close to Cocoa and Pumpkin Pie to accent it. I used dental floss to suspend the card and some primas & crystal brads to bling it up! I really hope that she likes it! If you'd like directions on how to do this just let me know and I'll put up an easy tutorial on how to make it. It really is easy!!

Wanna see something else? Ok.

I was in a swap over on PCP and it was for inchies and the theme was Valentine. Ok, I've never made inchies before so I thought I'd give it a try. It was a little hard to make your brain think this small. I'm used to making lots of layers, or bigger things. But once I got the idea it went so quick that I thought I could make those all night. It really did not take very long at all!!

I used my 1" and 3/4" square punches and my marvy ♥ punch. I then used my 3/4" square punch to punch out the square of adhesive to cover over the hearts and I added some beads and I was done! How easy is that? I'm waiting to get my envelope back and I will post the creations I've received.

I hope that this satisfies you for today. I've got a slow start this morning, but I will be back tomorrow to bring you some more inspiration!

Have a great day!
Hugs,

Joani

Good Morning - and Happy TGIF eve Ü

Good morning! I hope that the weather is treating you well, where ever you may be. This morning I woke up to some snow falling lightly. Then it stopped and the sun came out. Now it looks gloomy. So I don't know what will happen next.

I've been a little busy the past couple of days. I want to share with you what I've done. Remember those card trackers that I made up a while back? The ones with the months and you fill in the days? Well I finally made one for my SIL. Since she's been bit by the card making bug I thought that I'd make one for her.

She was on the phone the other day and mentioned someones birthday and she said "I better write that down" and I remembered that I wanted to make one of these for her and never got around to it ~ so I made the time.

The pages are 12" x 12" that you score at 4" turn the paper a 1/4 turn and score again at 6". You fold the 4" flap up and fold it in the middle at 6" and you've made your pocket. Really simple. You do this with 6 pieces of 12" x 12" paper and you have the pages of the book. Add a sheet of the printed monthly pages and it's good to use forever. I always write things in pencil so when I add or delete I don't have to use white out.

The stamps that I used for the inside pages were from TAC. They are from the Butterfly Swirls and Simply Devine sets. The paper used on the front of the organizer was from TAC's Amelia collection. I used various Primas, crystal brads, buttons & stickles to decorate it up with. I sure hope that she likes it.

Well - I'm off for today. I hope that I'll have time tomorrow morning to post ~ but Betty is stopping by early so I might not. But I'll be back, promise - with more to show you!

Have a great day!
Hugs,
Joani

How about a quickie?

I've been "pre-occupied" by web surfing today that I ran out of time. So instead of just saying I can't post anything for you today I am posting a quickie.

The card purse that I made the other day, well I made some quick note cards for it and I wanted to show you those.

The supplies I used for these were:

Cameo Coral, More Mustard, Orchid Opulence and some Eggplant cs.

I used the Parisian Summer DP from SU! (I think that might be my new favorite)

TAC I Remember When, Kid Praises and Everday Events stamp sets.

And I used my Marvy super, mega and giga scallop square punches. I've also doodled around some of the panels with my black gel pen.

This is what the purse looked like after I used some stickles on the chipboard pieces from American Crafts (that I got on sale from Big Lots for $1.00!!)

And this is what the purse looked like when I had it open with the notecards and envelopes inside.

Tomorrow I will show you what I made for my SIL.

Have a great day!
Hugs,

Joani

Um, who's anonymous?

Someone or shall I say "Anonymous" left a comment about the calendars.

I'm not sure who "Anonymous" is, or which calendars you may be referring to. Please send me an e-mail to let me know.

joanmcdonald@roadrunner.com

Hugs,
Joani

Lookie what I made....

I have to admit that I was kinda excited about making this. Julie over at Paper Pleasing Ideas came up with this and when I first saw it I thought it would be complicated, but it really isn't!

I printed out her tutorial because I do good with written direction. So I studied it and figured I could do it. But as I'm sitting there I got a little confused. I think that the way my printer printed it out was not right, pictures were in the wrong spot where the directions for something else was. So I thought that once I was done I'd make my own direction so when I refer back to make it again I'd understand it easier. My Mom just sat there giggling at me as I was talking to myself..... trust me, it does run in the family.....

But first I'd like to show you a picture of what my dear wonderful daughter did last night. We had just finished with dinner and she decided to play with Ricky's hair. Nana's is too short, mine is too grey (shhhhh I don't want anyone to know) so that left Ricky. Now I told him I was going to post this and he said "no you won't" -- well, he don't know me too well does he???

He was making silliest face!! And as she was turning on the camera he said "I said no" and she snapped it.... but you can see he was trying to hold back the laugh.... Sorry honey, it was so silly I had to share.....

So on to my version of the directions.

You will need a 12 x 12 piece of card stock. Cut your pieces out:

2 - 5" x 8 1/2" for the front and back purse

2 - 3/4" x 11" for the handles

1 - 1 1/2" x 6" for the "latch"

2- 4 1/2" x 7 1/2" for the pockets (not shown)

You will also need:

Adhesive (Tape or Glue)

1/8" Hole Punch

Corner Rounder

Word Window Punch

Scor-Pal (or another scoring tool)

Brads

and stamps or embellishments of your choice.

Take the 5" x 8 1/2" pieces and score them at 2 1/4" along the 8 1/2" side as shown. Take the 1 1/2" x 6" piece and score that at 1" and 3 1/4"

Take your corner rounder and round the corners farthest from the score marks of the latch piece. Take your word window punch and punch about 1/4" down in the center of the cs. This will be the "back" piece of the purse.

Now you will take your adhesive and attach the front and back together.

Once you've attached the front and back together take the latch piece and apply adhesive to the 1" scored section. You will attach that to the inside front of the purse.

So far it should look like this.

You will now take the 2 pieces that measure 3/4" x 11" and score each end in 1" and apply tape to those 1" sections. Only attach the back side (the side with the word window punch) for now.

Take your 1/8" hole punch and punch the holes to attach brads to it. This will help reinforce the handles. Once you have attached the back handle now flip it over and decorate the front of your purse as you wish. Once the front is decorated you can attach the front strap and remember to punch holes in the front also to attach brads to that handle also.

Almost done, promise!!

Now you need to make the pocket for the inside. Take your 4 1/2" x 7 1/2" cardstock and score each piece at 1/2" and 1 1/2" along 3 sides. Fold each section and cut out the corners as I've shown in the picture. You will attach adhesive to the 1/2" sections on all 3 sides to attach to your box at the bottom score line and you are done!

Now you are ready to fill it with your goodies! Today I will be making cards to fill the box with. Hope you enjoyed it! And if you can please give Julie credit for this, it's awesome!!

Have a great day!
Hugs,

Joani

Happy sun-shiney Monday!

Well, kinda. The sun's poking in and out from the clouds ~ but it's still a beautiful day for now.

Did you all have a great Valentine's day? Did you spend it with the one's that you love? I did.

Hubby wanted to take Mom and Danielle out to breakfast Saturday morning so we went to Cracker Barrel, it's our favorite place (sorry Joyce, I'm not rubbing it in). When I first got here it was just Ricky and I and we went there a LOT!! Now we go there for Mom's Day, Dad's Day - you know all the holidays. The after that we drove around town and just puttered. We did stop in a store and Danielle tried on Prom dresses. There was one that she found - actually the 2nd one that she tried on - that was pretty. Kinda grown up, but SHE is, but I persuaded her to wait. Prom is still a couple of months away and it was only the 2nd one she tried on. We'll have to go on a trip to the mall I guess.

Then that evening Ricky and I went to the movies. We went to see Paul Blart-Mall Cop. OMGoodness, it was funny!!! I just love Kevin James anyway, he makes me laugh all the time!! Then we were going to go out for dessert but decided to bring something home instead to Mom and Danielle - so we went to Dairy Queen.

Friday Ricky surprised me with a Many Kisses Elmo doll. I just love that little guy!! And this one was perfect for Valentines! It will sit next to my Chicken Dance Elmo. Hey, some day I will have grand kids and they can play with them (well, maybe not) Ü

Ok enough is enough. On to the cards.

I already showed the card I made for Ricky, but I made another also. I was cleaning out my desk the other day and found a CD that I purchased from Diamonds Rubber Stamps. They were going out of business and they put all their stamp images on CD and I got it for something like $10.00!! I have a few of the stamps, and I thought that this was too cool of a deal to pass up so I had bought it. Like everything else I just put it away and forgot about it.

Here is the image that I printed and made a card with.

I colored the image with my watercolors and markers and sponged Real Red ink around the edges then layered that on to a piece of Pixie Pink and Real Red cs. The base card is Pixie Pink and layered with DP's from Cloud 9 and Pink Pirouette. I added some ribbon to the card, some large eyelets and the hearts were cut out of scrap and sponged with Real Red ink to give them a little definition. I computer generated the sentiment. For the inside I took a piece of Pink Pirouette and a strip of the DP from Cloud 9 with the ribbon and attached it to the card. I had the computer generated sentiment and a heart that I cut out from scrap Real Red and I was complete.

I did find the CD on sale on EBay, and they have the 2nd CD that I did not know was out. It is a little more than what I paid for it, but I love it - It might be worth it. You can print out the images in any size you want. Definitely worth the $$ you'd save buying the all the actual stamps. I think that there is over 150 images on the CD I have, the 1st one.

I needed to make a card for a friend that I have not sent to in a long time and I just wanted her to know that she's special. So I made this card:Ok, I had to show you my Elmo Ü But here's the card up close:This stamp is JavaBella, I thought that it would make a cute card. The image panel is sponged with So Saffron and layered on to a piece of So Saffron cs and I colored it in with my watercolor crayons. The base card is a textured Eggplant that I've had forever!! The DP's that I used on this card are all from SU! called Parisian Summer. I punched the upper right and lower left corners with my Friskars corner punch. I think that she'll like it!

I'll be back in a little bit to show you a funny video that a friend sent to me. If your tired of hearing about "women drivers" you'll have to see this!!

Have a great day!
Hugs,

Joani

Another quickie

Good Friday Morning everyone!!

Ahhhh, the weekend is just hours away. Finally. I wanted this week to be over, I don't know why. I guess as my Mom would put it, I'm wishing my life away. Not really, just some of the boring tedious parts.

Well last night I had one of those strangle your teenager moments. I've been asking Danielle for the last month, month in a half, if I could make something for her friends for Valentines day. "Oh no Mom, my friends would not appreciate it" was what I got. I asked her many times because I thought I could wear her down Ü but nope! So last night I was at the store picking up a few things, I'm on my way home and I get a call. "Mom, where are you? Can you pick something up for so and so....." Grrrr!!! Good thing I was at a stop when she called or I probably would of ran into something. So of course I tell her that I was already in the car....... So like a fool, I went to Big Lots. Good thing for me they are right across the street from our house Ü

I found some candy there and came home and made some milk cartons for her. Now, I've done this a million times! I've gone to make a milk carton and I cut the window out of the wrong side. So this is an example of what NOT to do.....
I used DP from Cloud 9. I made the tag by hand with Pink Pirouette and Real Red cs. I used my scallop oval Marvy punch to cut the shape out for the window. I added a clip with ribbon to the top to keep it closed - also as an easy open so I did not have to tape it. I thought that they might like to keep it (even though I messed up-but like Danielle said "Mom, it's for a 16 year old~they don't care). I'm very picky about things. I've thrown things out and started all over again because of one little boo-boo.

So, just remember - this is what NOT to do.

I thought that you'd like the template - I can't remember if I shared it with you before or not.

If your having a hard time reading it - just click on the picture and it will bring it up larger for you.

Well I'm off. Got things to do, places to go, people to see. Ok, not really. But I've gotta run!!

Have a great day!
Hugs,

Joani

Super quick post today!

Howdy everyone!

Today is going to be a super quick post. I'm on the run!! Hopefully tomorrow I'll be back with more, but I'm not for sure ~ Betty's coming over for a play day!! Yippie!! I so look forward to those times. Just yesterday we were talking and something was said about something that we talked about once before, but never finished the conversation. Well, it's no wonder. When Betty stops by it's a jumble of everything. Paper flying, glue adhering, cookies disappearing Ü Those are fun times!!

I want to show you some ATC's that I've made for my Cards Made By Hand group that I'm run. We are having a caffeine ATC swap - I love those - and here's a peek at what I've made.

All paper used was Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel and Pretty in Pink. The ink was Close to Cocoa and Rose Romance.

This set was a TAC hostess set called "The Morning Buzz".

This set is an oldie but goodie from SU! called "Espresso Yourself". And the spoon does not have a vendor stamped on the wood.

This ATC opens like a card. I used the stamp from Embossing Arts because Chocolate is caffeine also. Try eating some before bed and you'll be up reading or stamping for sure!! The sentiment (both inside and out) does not have a vendor on it either ~ but it is hilarious!!

"Store your chocolate on top of the fridge, because calories are afraid of heights and they will jump out to protect themselves" ha ha ha... If that were only true, huh!

So that's all I have for today. I will try to post more tomorrow!!

Have a great day!!
Hugs,

Joani

Happy Hump Day everybody Ü

Here it is the middle of the week and the weekend's almost here. Anyone have plans for Valentine's day? I'm not sure what we will do. I told hubby to surprise me. We generally have a date night, but we haven't for months. With being busy with my SIL and her dogs, then our precious dog passing, the holidays, Mom's birthday, being lumberjacks..... The list goes on and on. So this Valentine's I am for sure doing something! To start it off I still needed to make cards! I've been thinking of making the cards to sell, making cards for friends and family ~ but I neglected to make my own family's cards!! So that's what I did yesterday.

This is my daughter's card. I looked in my stash of images that I've received and I found Ipodabella. Now I thought that this was perfect for Danielle. This so reminds me of her, without the phone of course, so that's why I did this one for her. And of course in pink!

The base card is Pink Pirouette layered with Pink Passion and Pixie Pink. The Pink Passion background was run thru the CB with the swirls folder and I sponged on some Pink Passion ink. I also layered on some DP from TAC's Catelynne collection (my most favorite of all of them!!). I colored the image in with pencils and gamsol and sponged some Pink Passion ink around that layer. I added some pink ribbon and a bow, and in the center of the bow I glued a pink heart that I found in my button stash Ü I also glued two red heart buttons at the top right of the card and some primas and a crystal brad at the lower right of the image panel. I stamped the lips from Whipper Snapper, colored it in with my Real Red marker and punched it out with my 3/4" circle punch. I layered that on to a scrap piece of DP from Catelynne punched with my 1" circle punch and layered that on to a clear flower from Making Memories.

I'm sure that she will like it - all that pink, she's got to!

Here's the card that I made for Mom. This was another RAK image that I had and thought that it was cute for Valentines. It is House Mouse Designs Chocolate Mouse. There was a time that I was addicted, I mean ADDICTED to House Mouse.

The base card is Real Red and I layered it with Chocolate Chip and some DP from Paper Salon's Smitten collection. The image was colored with my pencils and gamsol. I sponged Close to Cocoa around the edges and layered it on to a piece of Chocolate Chip and Real Red and placed it on the card with pop dots.

For the inside of the card I took a strip of the DP and a pink and brown ribbon and added that to a piece of white CS. I stamped the image from Whipper Snapper inside and colored it with my Chocolate Chip and Real Red markers.

And now for hubby's card.For Ricky's card I used some images that I stamped from Betty's Love You Much set. The base card is Real Red. I layered it with some Catelynne DP and Pink Pirouette cs. I used Real Red ink to sponge the layers. The 'love' panel I colored with markers and for the flower I used some flower sequins I've had for years with a heart brad. The center of the "O" I punched a heart out and glued it to the center and added some stickles for a pop! The heart I colored it in with pencils and outlined it with a Real Red marker, cut it out and added some Fruit Punch stickles to the petals on the flowers. The hugs and kisses panel I colored with pencils and markers and punched out with my scallop punch. I added some stickles to that also. There is a Pink Pirouette panel tucked behind the heart that was punched out with Betty's Martha Stewart punch, and I added a length of organdy ribbon.

Inside I layered with Pink Pirouette and white cs. I stamped the image and lips from Whipper Snapper in the lower right corner and colored those in with markers ~ I punched a pieces of scrap Real Red and Pink Pirouette with my scallop punch, 1 3/8" and 1 1/4" circle punches and the hearts with my heart punch.

Not too frilly I think. But that's ok too ~ because it's Valentines and those are supposed to be mushy. I used all RAK images because they are stamps that my family's not seen. I did not want to make Valentines with images that they've already seen, it would not seem as special.

I do have something else to show you today. It's a treat - so your going to have a super long post today!! It's the least I can do for not posting yesterday.

I can not take credit for these! These are made by a friend of mine and she e-mailed me pictures of what she has been up to. As you can see, a whole lot!!!

Now how stinkin' cute are these??? I don't know which one I like best, I like them ALL!!

If you are interested in these calendars let me know and I will hook you up with my friend Keersten. She does not have a blog - I've told her that she needs to! Maybe we can all persuade her, huh?

Well you all have a super great day!! And thanks for puttin' up with my blah blah blah!!

Hugs,
Joani