Through The Craft Room Door

I hope you enjoyed our blog hop! It was fun to get so many thoughtful comments and new followers! I really do appreciate each and every one! Thank you! And we have new subscribers to the TTCRD magazine, too! If you don't have a subscription yet, please consider getting one. It's a great magazine, loaded with wonderful ideas, tutorials, and free digis. And you get access to thg previous digis when you subscribe! The new issue is the holiday issue, and Colleen did a fabulous job with it. There is a video on the right that will give you a preview, so please check it out!

My first order of business today is to announce my winner of the blog hop! Drum roll, please. (Insert sound of your choice here.) And the winner is: Chris of My Inspirational Journey! Congratulations, you have won a $20 gift certificate to Oozak! All you have to do is email me and I will get that taken care of post-haste. Or not. Naw, I am just kidding. I will get it sent out to you ASAP! :^)  Oh, yeah, I guess you need my email address:  pengar70@cox.net. 

'K, now for a word from our sponsor! Squigglefly will provide the winner of this week's challenge with three images of your choice. Cool, huh? So be sure to rev up your engines and get your two entries in this week. Gotta love "anything goes", right?

My sister, Merrilyn, had a party Sunday for the family in town. Her two granddaughters from Minnesota, Melanie and Nicole, were visiting. I had apparently met them over 20 years ago, when they were little. I didn't remember that, but I have selective memory now, it appears. Anyway, Merrilyn was also dog-sitting for my brother's Pomeranian puppy, Elmo. He is knee-high to a grasshopper and came running over to see me--so excited! Too excited. He peed on my foot. Lovely. He really is a little cutie, though. Wags his tail almost constantly. Also has very sharp baby-teeth. Guess how I know that?

The party was a lot of fun; I enjoyed seeing the family that I see so seldom since we live out in the middle of nowhere. And I don't crawl out from under my rock very often to visit. Merrilyn fixed delicious turkey on the grill, scrumptious beef brisket, and yummy squash. Gary, my love, took a fruit salad and tomatillo salsa. (Remember, he is the cook in this family, although neither dish required any cooking--just chopping.)

My daughter and her family couldn't attend the party, as her older daughter, Kelsey, is sick and needed to go to urgent care. Found out that she has pneumonia in one lung, and I guess that really frightened her. But she got antibiotics, so I am sure she will be feeling much better in no time. Meanwhile, she has decided she doesn't want to go to The Deli for Thanksgiving dinner this year. She wants a home-cooked turkey dinner. Yeah, well, I guess they are going to stay home, then, and Angela will be fixing a turkey. Because the first turkey I fixed for Gary and I in 1970 was also the last turkey I fixed. Get my drift? I. do. not. do. turkey dinners. Angela, I hope your child changes her mind, or you are going to be very busy at the end of November! (Insert extremely evil grin here. And that's from me, not my evil twin!)

My older sister, Barbara, will be coming out today from Wisconsin. She hopes to finish healing from her knee surgery here. We expect to go to the Rubber Stamp Convention in Mesa on Saturday. I plan to buy some items for blog candy. I am almost to 100 followers, wow--thanks so much, and need to celebrate when I reach that milestone. That means that one of you can win some fun stuff from me in the near future. Of course, you have to be a follower to qualify! :^) So, be on the lookout for that.

Guess I should get back to today's card.

Since Squigglefly is our sponsor this week, I have used an image from that store. I chose Cheryl Alger's "A Cat and Her Witch", because I got a kick out of the witch's costume and the cat's expression. I printed both this image, and my sentiment from Create with TLC, on Make It Colour Blending Card. My DP is from the Doodlebug Design Haunted Manor collection. I paired it with Stampin' Up CS.

Per my modus operandi, I used lots of die cuts on this card. Can you tell? No? Well, then, are you blind? Oh, sorry, that wasn't nice. Must have been that darn twin again. If you see her, would you give her a piece of your mind. I'd do it myself, but I don't have any pieces to spare.

Did I digress again? I apologize profusely. Kinda like I sweat. So back to the dies: they are, in no particular order, (I love saying that; heaven only knows why), Magnolia Doohickey Lovely, Spellbinders Lacey Circle and Grand Oval, Poppystamps Walking Cat and Sitting Cat, Cheery Lynn Polynesian Sails Oval, Memory Box Twiggy Tree and Perky Pumpkin Face and Great Pumpkin.

I added a bit of black netting, some miscellaneous ribbon, miscellaneous buttons, and a SU mini clothespin. Gee, lots of junk on this card, huh. What was I thinking?

I colored my pumpkin die cut as well as the witch with Copics. I used: C1, C3, C5, C7, C10, V12, V15, V17, YG21, YG23, YG25, E000, E00, E11, YR12, YR14, YR16, YR18. I also accented the image with a white gel pen and a bit of Copic Spica on the buckles and the cat's eyes. Then I used Copics to dot around both my image and my sentiment. Am I through yet? I believe so.

OK, Peeps, it's up to you now. Can't wait to see what you come up with this week! Have a great one!

The Outlawz Greeting Card Challenge Pop It Up!

Hello, I am a bit rushed to get this post done, so I will not be able to chit-chat. I promise I will make it up to those of you who actually read my blog. Or not. (That's my evil twin again. She's such a stinker.)

As a reminder, for the month of October, The Outlawz Greeting Card Challenges have three fantastic sponsors:

 Jackson's Digital Expressions - $12 worth of digital stamps

           
 Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps - 3 digis of winner's choice

Paper Temptress - 20 sheets of Cryogen paper

At our challenge this week we are celebrating National Popcorn Popping Month, (I didn't know there was such a thing!), and we want everyone to "pop it up". That means to use popcorn images, pop up cards with raised images, or make a pop-up card. I decided to pop up my layers with foam adhesive.

I chose a wonderful Jackson Digital Expressions image, "Around the Tree". I think it is just the sweetest, and I printed it on Cryogen CS. Love this sentiment with it by Paulette at Create with TLC, and it is printed on Cryogen CS also. I picked DP from My Mind's Eye Winter Wonderland collection, distressed it with my Zutter Distrezz-It-All, and inked it with Stampin' Up ink. The CS used for the rest of the card is from Stampin' Up.

I had fun making die cut embellishments with the following dies:  Spellbinders Labels 4 and Grand Labels 4, Cheery Lynn Christmas Lights Swag, and Memory Box Frostyville Wreath and Snowflake Corner. I do love die cuts, in case you hadn't noticed!  I added some bling with MS Birthstone Gem Stickers. My image got colored with Copics: C00, C1, C3, G19, YG61, YG63, YG67, YG91, YG93, YG95, YG97, R46, BG05, BG07, BG09, BG10, BG11, BG13, YR21, Y11, Y15, Y21, E000, E00, E11, E50, E53, E55. I accented the image with white gel pen and added Glossy Accents to the tree decorations.

OK, I am throwing the ball, so to speak, over to you. Now run with it and show us some fun "popped" cards, OK? Looking forward to them!

Through The Craft Room Door Holiday Blog Hop

Hey, we are still hopping at TTCRD! If you haven't joined us yet, please do! There are prizes to be drawn. Get your comments in! Details are here.

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge: Not Just An Ordinary Card!

This week’s challenge is going to be so much fun!  We can’t wait to see what you create!

This week's challenge is a…

“Not Just An ORDINARY Card!”

For this weeks challenge you will create a card that is out of the ordinary and not traditional!  No FLAT cards allowed!  This week's card should pop-up, stand up, turn into a box, slide, twist, etc...!  Oh…and don’t forget to stamp!  After all, we don’t call this STAMPtacular for nothing! 

You will have from now until midnight (EST) November 3^rd, 2012 to complete this challenge and post a DIRECT LINK to your submission into our InLinkz in order to be entered into the drawing for this week's fabulous prize donated by:

BIRDIE BROWN

PRIZE:  Winner’s Choice of 3 Digis!  

Wow, I am just astonished at how many entries we have had this past week! I guess when you have no rules, it helps everyone be more creative--less restrictive, huh? Well, you certainly kept my fingers busy with commenting! They are now blistered and broken. Black and blue. Swollen and crooked. Oh, just kidding. They're fine, and I really did enjoy seeing so many wonderful creations. So keep 'em coming again this week, OK?

I am so excited! I got to do an entire laundry in just two days this week! Isn't that mahvelous, Dahlings! Hey, it really is--I know it sounds ridiculous, but we cannot wash clothes during the day here in the summer. The water is just too hot. So, my summer laundry routine is to put in one load each night, set the timer on the washer to 5:30 a.m., when our water is the coolest, and go to bed. It gets old after a while. That's why it was so much fun (?) to do all my loads over a two-day period. And, just fyi, I have 10 loads of clothes a week--for two people! That's because Gary wears at least two outfits every day, and I do four loads each week for just him. Then the two (sheets and towels) for the household, which leaves three loads for our joint clothing, and one load of my "hand-washables". Thank heavens I don't have to scrub them on a washboard. My fingers would be worn to the bones. That's a lovely thought--very Halloweeny, don't you think?

Ah, yes, Halloween is this week! All the neighborhood gremlins will be out begging for candy. And Gary says we are going out to dinner and not handing out treats. What? I don't think that's fair--oh, I am not worried about the kids. They will get enough candy to rot their teeth. No, I don't think it's fair to Donovan--you know, my dog who draws the stick figures. He gets so upset when the doorbell rings, and I know that the trick-or-treaters will ring it even if our light isn't on. So Don will fuss and bark and have a dog fit. And I won't be here to calm him down. What's a mother to do? If I figure that out before Halloween, I'll let you know. I would hate for the commotion to hamper my dog's creativity. Perish the thought!

I did not do another Halloween card for this challenge. I have one more to show you on Tuesday, but that's it. No, for this challenge I made an anniversary card for our daughter and SIL. Jon and Angela celebrated their 14th anniversary,  (I can't believe it's been that long!), on October 17. Of course, we gave them the card already, and they did like it. But I couldn't show it to you until today--well, you know how blogdom works, right?

Anyway, this was the perfect time to do a card out of the ordinary. So I did an easel card, which I thought the kids would get a kick out of, or some such thing. And they did. Or some such thing.

I had a cute little stamp to use: A Kiss for Chloe by Sarah Kay. I wanted to use my La-La Land Crafts Hot Air Balloon die, because I think it is so cute, so I found some DP that would work with it: Prima Romance Novel Collection. That even sounds right for an anniversary card, doesn't it? I combined the DP with card stock from Stampin' Up. I printed the image on Cryogen CS with Memento ink and then colored with my Copics: R20, R81, R83, R85, YR20, BG70, BG72, BG75, E000, E00, E11, E21, E25, E29, E31, E35, E37, E40, E41, E42, E43, E44.

You know, I know that you don't really give a hoot what colors I used. And that's OK. The only reason I put it in my blog posts is for my record. So I can remember what works with what papers, etc. So you have my permission--nay, my blessing--to just ignore that bit of my posts. (I am cackling now, like a right old witch. Must be something to do with this week.) Forgive me, I just had to digress for a moment.

Now, where was I? Somewhere on a little green planet in the Milky Way galaxy, far, far away.....

Oh, yeah, the image. Well, after I colored it, I gave it a spit-shine, howdy-do, and then Elmered it down. I what??????????????? OMG, I did not. (There goes my evil twin again. Dangnabbit. Stop that!)

OK, let's try that again: after I colored my image, I added a bit of white gel pen for accents. Then I popped it onto my card, which, as you can see--well, at least I hope you can see, otherwise, what is the point of showing this to you--oh, sorry, I am digressing again. And I am much too tired for that. I guess I should tell you what I popped the image on top of  on top of what I popped the image.

I began with the SU CS, (yeah, I know what that spells, and I doubt that Stampin' Up would be too happy about it, but since I don't work for them, I don't really care. So there.). I layered the following: my DP, tulle from my stash, die cuts from these dies: Memory Box Madeira Corner, Memory Box Distressed Tag, (stamped with the Memory Box Distressed Tag stamp), Memory Box Hot Air Balloon dies, the aforementioned La-La Land Hot Air Balloon, and Whimsy Postage Stamp, (stamped with a Whimsy Love Postage stamp). Also in the mix are two Tim Holtz Adage Tickets, a Tim Holtz Journaling Ticket, a Wild Orchid Crafts flower, and a couple of Queen & Company pearls.Well, you'd think that'd be enough for one card, but, nooooooo, somebody had to do an easel card and add a bunch of stuff to the bottom of it. So......

More SU CS, more DP, more Memory Box Madeira Corners, more Queen & Company pearls, another Whimsy Postage Stamp, more MB Hot Air Balloons, the word "happy" from the Memory Box Typewriter Lower Alpha die, a Magnolia/Doohickey Lace Tag, (from that die), some ribbon and laces from my stash, seam binding given to me by Jennifer Scull--hey, Kiddo!--and, a 14th anniversary image from Paulette at Create with TLC.

Yes, it's a bit over-the-top. Why do you ask? You should know me by now.

OK, Peeps, let's see what you got! Hit me with it. Well, not literally. Really. Some people. And their kids. (Who will be here in three short days, hounding us for candy. Poor Donovan.)

Through The Craft Room Door Holiday Blog Hop

Welcome to the TTCRD Holiday Blog Hop! Today's card is my contribution to the Hop. Oddly enough, I keep typing Hope instead of Hop. What is that about anyway?

I hope (yeah, yeah, I see now) that you are having fun at each stop on the hop. I know that some of us are doing tutorials and some are giving away prizes. I am giving away stick-figure digital images. Drawn by my dog. He's very talented. And I am just kidding, which I hope, (there's that word again), that you realized. If you didn't, I deeply apologize for my sense of humor...or not. 

Actually, I am giving away a gift certificate to Oozak.com. So be sure to leave a comment before you move to the next person on the hop. Speaking of which, you should have come here from Darlene's fabulous blog. Here is the blog order in case you are lost:

0.  TTCRD Blog Challenge

1.  Sandi Huggett

2.  Jo Ham

3.  Roxann Suits

4.  Anne Fenton

5.  Darlene Lyons

6.  Penny Mull (you are here)

7.  Jen LeeFlang

8.  Deonna Bemish

9.  Colleen Holmes
10. Danielle Linton

11. TTCRD Magazine

Before I move on and describe my card, I want to direct your attention to the TTCRD Holiday Issue video at the upper right of my blog. Be sure and watch it, so you can see samples of the content in the magazine. If you do not have a subscription yet, I recommend that you get one. You will get free digital images in each issue, and have access to the previous digis as well. And the magazine is packed with craft and gift ideas for the upcoming holidays. 

Okey dokey, as they say in Minnesota. Not that I would know anything about that--although I did spend almost 10 years of my life there, freezing my behind off in the winters. Brrrrrrrr.......oh, the memories. Sorry, I digress.

I chose a Christmas theme for  my card today. Mainly because I haven't started my Christmas cards yet, and you know, it is getting closer to that holiday! Time to get to gettin', if you know what I mean. And, if you don't, tough. Oooh, that was mean--sorry about that. I digress again. (Somebody must have spiked my iced tea with a bit of nasty today. Shame on her! She's evil, I tell ya, evil.) (BTW, did you know that if you spell evil backwards, you get "live"? That was pointed out to me when I was in high school, about a million years ago. Before there was dirt.) Still I digress. I am so sorry. She made me do it again. Well! Onward, peeps, onward...

I chose an image from the Fred She Said Emma the Caroling Angel digital series. I wish I could tell you why she doesn't have a halo, but I have no idea. I know that one exists. But my angel is without. I hope she didn't cry about it. I printed her on Cryogen CS; the rest of my card stock is from Stampin' Up. My DP is from My Mind's Eye All is Bright collection, which I chose because it had music printed on it--and my little angel has musical notes floating around her head. (Why, you ask? I have no clue. But if I figure that out, you will be the first to know.)

I have used a sketch to construct my card. I chose Sketch #230 from the Sketch Saturday Challenge:

Per usual, I changed a few things, but the main sketch is still fairly intact.

My sentiment comes from the Stampin' Up A Cardinal Christmas set. I printed that on SU card stock. My die cuts are from the following dies:  LaLa Land Crafts

Wings Set and Filigree Corner; MFT Double Scallop Border and Musical Notes; and Memory Box Treble Clef. I also used some lace and some cheesecloth from my stash. 

My image was colored with my Copics: R20, BG70, W0, W2, YR20, C00, E000, E00, E11, E31, E35, E81, E84. I accented her with a white gel pen and applied Stardust Stickles to her wings. Some SU ink was rubbed around the image and Queen & Company pearls were added to three corners. That's it, that's all she wrote. I have no idea who "she" is, but if I find that out, I will email you. Just don't hold your breath. 

Please do leave a comment, because one of you will win a gift certificate to Oozak. That's one website I love giving the business--I mean giving the business to. Rusty has great prices and excellent customer service! And do check back here because I will announce the winner, and will then need that person's email address.

The next hop stop is the talented Jen LeeFlang. Be sure to check out all the stops on our hop and have fun! Or else! (Or else what, I have no idea. But it sounds commanding, right? Right? Oh, whatev.)

Be sure to visit Number 11 at the end of the hop, and put your info into Inlinkz for a chance at the Grand Prize of a 1-year subscription to the magazine. Our hop runs through the 29th, so you have plenty of time to visit us all.

Have a great week!

TTCRD Holiday Issue and Blog Hop

Just a quick reminder for you that we are having a TTCRD Holiday Blog Hop tomorrow, with tutorials and prizes. Hope you come and play with us! Also, the new holiday issue of TTCRD is out and is chock-full of fun gift ideas and holiday crafts with tutorials. I think you will love it! :^) If you don't already have a subscription, you can order one here: Through The Craft Room Door.

Check out the videos to the right. See you tomorrow!

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge "No Rules!"

This week’s challenge is going to be so much fun!  We can’t wait to see what you create!

This week's challenge is a…

“NO RULES!”

For this weeks challenge you will create anything your heart desires!  Oh…and don’t forget to stamp!  After all, we don’t call this STAMPtacular for nothing! 

You will have from now until midnight (EST) October 27^th, 2012 to complete this challenge and post a DIRECT LINK to your submission into our InLinkz in order to be entered into the drawing for this week's fabulous prize donated by:

MarkerPro

PRIZE:  $15 Gift Certificate   

AND

BUGABOO

PRIZE:  Winner's Choice of 7 Digis   

This week I did not create a card. Gasp!!! I know! Can you believe it? I can't, and I was there!

I actually broke out the old Cricut machine! I haven't used it since last Christmas. I generally use it only for multiples of an item--you know, like stuff for Christmas cards. Anyway, I decided to do a small shopping bag after seeing this fun image on KennyK, called Xmas Shopping. So I cut out the shopping bag from my Tags, Bags, Boxes and More cartridge, using Stampin' Up CS.

I printed the image on Make It Crafty Blending Card and colored it with my Copics: YG000, G20, G99, W1, E000, E00, E11, E50, E53, E57, E59, E81, R20, R30, R32, R35, R37. Then I added Frosted Lace Stickles to the trim on her hat, jacket, and boots, and Copic Spica to her lips and earring. She begged me for some Glossy Accents for her eyes, so I added that, too. (She's a bit high-maintenance, you see.)

My DP came from the Authentique Festive collection. I added a cute Create with TLC sentiment, die cut with Spellbinders Labels 8 and inked with SU ink. My other die cuts came from:  Memory Box snowflakes, snowflake tree, classic and Colette ornament dies; and Whimsy holly & Berries die. A bit of cheesecloth and a bow from my stash, as well as three MS birthstone gem stickers finished my little bag.

I can't wait to see all the fun creations you come up with when there are no rules!

I decided to play some challenges with my creation, too:

CMC A Touch of Red Challenge
Digital Tuesday Warm & Fuzzy Challenge
Inky Impressions Anything But A Card Challenge
Oozak Die-Cuts Challenge
Penny's Paper-Crafty Girls, Girls, Girls Challenge
The Outlawz Twisted Thursday Bingo Challenge (die-cuts, designer paper, inks)

This is a brief post; sorry for those who wanted more. I will be back on Tuesday with the TTCRD Blog Hop, so be looking for that!

Through The Craft Room Door

The September-October issue of Through The Craft Room Door online magazine has 90+ pages of fun tutorials and loads of inspiration with over 19 FREE digis that are located in the "Subscribers Only Area"! You will also have access to all previous issues for this year with NO advertisements. The new Holiday issue is coming soon; it also has some wonderful tutorials, holiday ideas, and several new digis, making that well over 25 FREE images. The video to the right was created by Jo Ham and gives you a glimpse of what the magazine has to offer.

On to the new TTCRD Anything Goes Challenge #40. We have three wonderful sponsors this week:

Oozak - $10 Gift Certificate
SandiSamples - 4 digis
Paper Temptress Paper

I have used a SandiSamples image called Bewitching Babe for my card. She is more of a traditional type of witch--not the prettiest gal on the planet, especially with that lovely wart on her nose. But, if you only took the time to get to know her, you'd be surprised at how intelligent and hard-working she is. She spends most of each year mixing potions and lotions, selling them at her village corner kiosk. I have heard that she occasionally flies into the light pole next to the kiosk when going to work, as she is a bit near-sighted, and just refuses to wear glasses. (I think she may have a problem with cataracts, too, but she would never admit to that.)  Sandi seems to have caught her in mid-air here, on her way home from work. The word from the grapevine is that she drinks too many of her potions on Halloween. The next morning she is in no shape to go to work, so she has to stay home, "sleeping it off". I am planning on visiting her this year and doing an interview, before Halloween, so I hope to get the scoop on her extra-curricular activities. I'll let you know when I get that scheduled. In the meantime, here are the specifics of this card:

I printed the Babe on Make It Crafty Blending Card. I used three Create with TLC digis:  the postage stamp witch, the ticket witch, and the witch's brew sentiment--which were all printed on MIC BC. I used DP from My Mind's Eye Lost and Found Halloween collection, which I distressed with my Zutter-Distrezz-It-All. I then rubbed Old Paper Distress Ink on the edges of the DP. My card base is DCWV CS.

There were several dies used on this card: Memory Box Typewriter Lower Case Alphabet for the BOO, Spellbinders Classic Circle and Scalloped Circle for the image and cardboard frame, Spellbinders Postage Stamp for the sentiment, and Sizzix Stampin' Up Decorative Corner #3 for the cardboard corners. Distress Ink was also applied to each die cut.

I colored the image with Copics: C3, C5, C7, C9, V12, V15, V17, YR16, R20, E000, E00, E11, E41, E42, E43, E44.  I accented it a bit with a white gel pen. And then I added a SU mini-clothespin, and from my stash: some tulle, ribbon, and buttons. I thought I was happy with this card until I began my blog last night. Then I realized I should have balanced it a bit better, but I think I was too tired when I finished it to notice. Sorry about that. OK, that's it for the Babe.  

Looking forward to seeing your fun creations, whatever you decide to do. It's always Anything Goes, with a limit of 2 entries, and no back-linking. If you are interested in being considered for a Guest DT, please add the letters "GDT" after your name on your entry.

Have a great rest of the week!

The Outlawz Greeting Card Challenge Sarcastic Greetings

This week's challenge is to make something with a sarcastic greeting on it. This was extremely difficult for me, (clearing throat now), as I am totally unable to be sarcastic about anything. (OK, now I am running away before you throw things at me.)  

I hope you find this as much fun as I did. (I wish I could do a sarcastic card every week. Instead, I'll just have to be sarcastic on my blog posts.) And I can hardly wait to see the sarcasm you come up with for this challenge! As I mentioned last week, we have three fantastic sponsors for the month of October:

 Jackson's Digital Expressions - $12 worth of digital stamps

             
 Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps - 3 digis of winner's choice

Paper Temptress - 20 sheets of Cryogen paper

Before I get to my card, I thought I would give you a brief, (yeah, riiiight), restaurant review from Saturday night's meal. We met friends at La Hacienda, a wonderful Mexican restaurant at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess resort. If you are ever in the Valley of the Sun, I would definitely recommend this as a destination for dinner. The resort is absolutely beautiful, as is the restaurant. Lovely decor inside--it looks like they plucked a fancy hacienda out of Mexico and dropped it into Scottsdale. You can sit out on the spacious patio if you wish. We opted for inside, mostly because all the tables were reserved outside. Duh. The personnel at the restaurant are just what you would expect at a high-end resort--very friendly and extremely good at their jobs. Oddly enough, we were seated at the same table we had the last time we met John and Carol at La Hacienda. Bizarre, no? 

Anyway, I chose the Hacienda Margarita for my drink, and was so glad I did. It was great tequila, with triple sec and fresh lime, over rocks with salted rim. Slurp! (I held myself to one--the last time we were there I had two, and didn't feel especially well after dinner. Burp. Excuse me.)

We ordered the house guacamole with chips, because avocado is sooo good for you. (Their guacamole is made table-side, and has big chunks of avocado with lots of tomato, onion, and cilantro--fabulous!) We ignored the fact that the chips (house made and yummy) aren't exactly what the doctor ordered. But we split one order among the four of us, so the damage from the chips was minimal.

Gary and I shared a mahi mahi ceviche that had such a beautiful tang to it. The fish was tender and flavorful, and I could have eaten two orders by myself. But not if I wanted the next course, which for both Gary and I, was Camarones al Chipotle. Giant pan-roasted shrimp in a tequila-chile chipotle sauce, served on top of a black bean huarache (an oblong fried masa) with a frise salad. Oh, boy, was that fantabulous! Melt-in-your-mouth, sweet shrimp, great black bean sauce, interesting huarache, (which was very good, but too filling, so I didn't finish that part), and scrumptious salad. Have no idea what the dressing was, but it was also tangy, a bit salty, and went beautifully with the shrimp. And, of course, we shared a dessert--churros, with three dips: vanilla, caramel and chocolate. Each dip was served in a small, edible chocolate cup. And, yes, I did eat the cups, too. Why do you even bother to ask?

John and Carol shared a salad of mixed greens, pea shoots, cranberries, candied almonds, and goat cheese with a spicy balsamic vinaigrette  which they loved. Then Carol had the Mole Poblano--pan-roasted chicken breast and plantains served with a mole sauce, cilantro rice and sesame seeds. It was a bit spicy for her, but she loved the flavor. John had the seafood enchiladas, which he very much enjoyed eating--dungeness crab, pico de gallo, spinach, Oaxaca cheese, in a tomatillo corn sauce with red onion, cherry tomato and pea shoots. Then the two of them shared a bread pudding which was served in a chocolate-rimmed edible bowl. Yes, they loved that, too!

And a great time was had by all. Truly. We will be going back for a third visit at some point in time. I do have to mention, that although it is in the same valley as we are, it takes an hour to get there--by freeway. So it is not especially close. But sooo worth the drive! :^)  

Then I had to come home to finish a DT card for another challenge group. Stayed up until 3:30 a.m., finished the card, dropped into bed like a stone, and slept for about 5 hours. Jumped out of bed, photographed the card, uploaded it to the other blog challenge, and jumped, (lots of jumping, hey?), into the shower to get ready for the Cardinals game. Which. they. lost. In overtime. It was a very long drive home, (the stadium is an hour away by freeway--we don't live close to much except The Deli and some dairies). I did so much screaming and clapping I gave myself a headache. Methinks I should have stayed home and taken a nap instead. And then I could have caught up on all my commenting, which I am sorely behind on, and blogging. Instead, I am up until after midnight. The things we do to spend time with our spouses. On the bright side, I won one of my fantasy football games. The other is yet to be determined. Thank you so much for asking.  

Gosh, I almost forgot--I have to describe my card. Waaaah. I want to go to bed. I'm tired. (Tough, Penny. Get busy with the real reason for this post. OK, OK, you don't have to be so pushy.) Who is in here talking to me anyway? Oh, yeah, those voices in my head. Can't seem to shut them up. Scary.

Okey dokey. Without further ado:

I chose two Stamps by Judith for my card. There are no names on them, just numbers. The bear is H-227 and the sentiment is F-142. Judith has many sarcastic sentiment stamps--I love them, as you could probably guess. 

I brayered the background for the bear on Stampin' Up CS with Stampin' Up ink: Old Olive, Green Galore (retired), Not Quite Navy, and Bordering Blue (also retired). I used a couple of SU markers to make the shadow underneath the bear. (If you could only see all the typos I am making right now. I keep typing "beat" instead of "bear". Sigh...) As an aside, I also type Jugs or Jigs instead of Hugs on most of my comments. Another sigh.....

My foreground was created with a Memory Box Orchard Tree Frame die and S'U CS. I made the banner from Spellbinders Classic Rectangles (I need a banner die, obviously), and tied it together with Martha Stewart baker's twine. I used another Spellbinders die for my sentiment--Fancy Tags Two.

The image was stamped on Cryogen CS with Memento ink, and colored with Copics: G20, G94, G99, C0, C2, C4, C6, B02, B04, E33, E35, E39, E44, E47, E49. I accented the image a bit with a white gel pen. And hurray! That's the end of my post! And, if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell to you. Forgot to mention that this is also Ed's birthday card--I think he'll get a chuckle out of it. 

I also wanted to mention that I will be back again tomorrow. But my post will be much shorter, as I am sure you will appreciate that after all this. Congrats if you read the whole thing, but there is no prize. Sorry.

Do join in on the fun with this challenge! How often can you be sarcastic just for the fun of it? (For me, it's every day!) Pffffffft!

Later, peeps. Over and out.

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge BOO-tacular

This week’s challenge is going to be so much fun!  We can’t wait to see what you create!

This week's challenge is a…

“BOO-tacular!”

For this weeks challenge you will create a card or project that is a little on the creepy side!  You can interpret this any way you want! Oh…and don’t forget to stamp!  After all, we don’t call this STAMPtacular for nothing! 

You will have from now until midnight (EST) October 20^th, 2012 to complete this challenge and post a DIRECT LINK to your submission into our InLinkz in order to be entered into the drawing for this week's fabulous prize donated by:

MARIANNE DESIGN

PRIZE:  It’s a SURPRISE!   

Well, I wanted to get chatty today, but I am afraid I have no time for it as I write this. Sorry to disappoint those of you who read my blog for my witticisms, but I am on a deadline to finish a DT card. There are DT leaders, (who shall remain nameless), who are cracking the whip as I speak. Or write. So this is going to be brief. But I will make it up to you ASAP, I promise! :^)

Our challenge this week is BOO-tacular. I never made Halloween cards before this year, but I seem to be on a roll with them at the moment.

I chose a sketch to use from Crafting Life's Pieces #52 for this card. Per usual, I made a few changes, but really, really tried to stick to the basic design.

I chose an image from the darling Kraftin' Kimmie Halloween Lulu collection. I stamped her on Cryogen CS with Memento ink. My sentiment comes from Create with TLC, and I cut it out with a Spellbinders Twisted Metal Tags & Accents die. My witch ticket is also from Create with TLC; my other tickets were colored with Copics, cut out with my Whimsy ticket die, and stamped with a ticket stamp from the Whimsy Friendship Ticket sentiments. The "Halloween" was stamped from the Kraftin' Kimmie Halloween Lulu sentiments. The "boo" was cut with my Memory Box Typewriter Lower Case dies.

I used some other dies on this card: Spellbinders Scalloped Rectangle die and Classic Stars die; Memory Box Web and Spider dies; and MFT Double Scallop Border die.

My paper comes from My Mind's Eye Mischievous collection and Stampin' Up CS. I distressed the DP with my Zutter Distrezz-it-All. Other items of interest, (to me, anyway), are a Tim Holtz corked vial, (into which I added a little Copic black ink); some We R Memory Keepers baker's twine; a Stampin' Up mini-clothespin; and lace, cheesecloth, and ribbon from my stash.

The image was accented with a white gel pen, a silver Copic Spica pen, and some silver Stickles after it was colored with my Copics:  YR20, YR21, YR24, YR27, BV00, R20, E000, E00, E11, E31, E35, E40, E41, E43, E44, C1, C3, C5, C7. I also sponged some Distress Inks around the edges of the image.

That should do it. I am looking forward to seeing what you create for us!

And look for another posting tomorrow.

Lady Anne's Monday Anything Goes Challenge

Are you ready for some football? How about a food review instead? Mmmmm.

I mentioned yesterday that we went to Cork in Chandler Saturday night with friends. I also said that I didn't know what we ate, since I wrote the blog before we went. Does that make sense to you? If it does, you're just as screwy as I am. 

We met some friends at the restaurant at 6:00 p.m. and we didn't leave there until after 10:00. Yes, it was a nice leisurely dinner, and the restaurant was not overly busy, so they let us sit and visit. And laugh. Because you just gotta laugh if you are out with friends, right?

None of the portions are large at Cork. In fact, they like to call them "European portions". Now, I have never been to Europe--at least not it this lifetime--so I have no idea how much is eaten in one course over there. I am sure some of you could enlighten me. I do know that we have ridiculously large portions at some restaurants here in the States. Which I always try to finish, because that's the way I was brought up. You couldn't leave the dining table until you had finished your meal, or "cleaned your plate." We did not bring our daughter up that way. I think it's grossly unfair to make a child suffer through eating food that makes them gag. Like beets, for instance. Not that I know anything about gagging on beets food. 

Where was I? Lost in my own mind. Which can either be a really scary place or completely devoid of thought. Like now....

Oh, sorry. My bad again. Yeah, yeah, now I remember. The small portions at Cork. I rather like small portions, as I don't get uncomfortable while dining. I had the most scrumptious scallop ceviche, served with tomatoes, peppers, onion and plenty of acidity. It melted in my mouth. The tang and sweetness was a wonderful combination; it was the special appetizer of the night. Well worth the $50 it cost. Oh, for goodness sake, I am just kidding. It was only $45. Pfffffft. It was actually under $20, though by how much I neither know nor care. Gary had the Fois Gras Torchon, which he liked, but said it didn't compare to the fois gras we had at Kai. I am sure his cardiologist would not be especially happy that he was eating liver. Oh, well...I am his wife, not his mother, as he so often reminds me. So I just pretended that I didn't see him eat it. 

My main small course was Berkshire Pork Tenderloin. I love tenderloin, whether it is pork or beef, and this was just fabulous--tender morsels in a mustard Zinfandel sauce, with haricot verts, mushroom ragout, and creamy polenta. Again, melt in your mouth. Yummy, yummy for my tummy. It was definitely worth ordering. Gary, oddly enough, had the same dish, and loved it just as much. But the portions are really small. So when they came and asked if we wanted dessert, I said yes, but that I was not going to share with Gary. Good thing, too, because the portion was so small that it was gone in about four bites. He had the same dessert, which was Huckleberry Crumble. Like a moist piece of coffee cake with huckleberries, cinnamon, and brown sugar, topped with a tiny bit of vanilla bean ice cream. Oh, heaven. 

I believe Connie had seared yellowfin tuna with soy caramel, scallions, spicy mustard, and black sesame seeds. That was followed by char grilled elk strip loin, with fingerling potato and corn hash, grilled endive, and plum barbeque sauce. Then she had the huckleberry dessert, too. She loved all of her courses, as well.

Her hubby, Bob, had an organic green salad with St. Pete's blue cheese, spiced caramel popcorn, pear, and aged balsamic vinaigrette. He had the special of the evening which was black cod, but I cannot tell you what came with it. All I know is that he thought it was great. And he finished his meal with a trio of sorbets, which he loved as well.

So, all in all, it was a terrific evening, with good company, pleasant surroundings, and fabulous food. What more could a girl ask for? Or an old lady? Oh, did I forget to mention the wine? Big boo-boo. That definitely deserves mentioning. We had two bottles, over the course of four hours, of Cakebread Cabernet Sauvignon. One could drink this wine with just about anything, it was so delicious!   

BTW, I have to mention that the chef at Kai, our five-star restaurant in the valley, is leaving to work at District, which is the restaurant at the downtown Phoenix Sheraton. I cannot believe it. I really do love the District, but it doesn't begin to compare to Kai. What is he thinking? I'm wondering, perhaps, if aliens removed his brain.

Anyway, our challenge this week at Lady Anne's  is again Anything Goes. We have a new home for the challenge, but we are still the same old peeps. Oh, sorry, I am just speaking for myself. (Clearing throat at the awkward silence.)

I don't know why I chose my image, other than I wanted to make another Halloween card, and this image, Witchy Waitress, is just too cute. After all, it is another Saturated Canary image by Krista Smith. Need I say more?

I printed her on Cryogen CS. And I decided to pair her with this Create with TLC sentiment, which also gave me ideas for the design. I chose Carta Bella All Hallow's Eve design paper, which I distressed with my Zutter Distrezz-it-All. I combined this DP with Stampin' Up card stock. I used several die cuts from the following dies:  Memory Box Dancing Skeleton, Ghosts, and Branch; and Spellbinders Labels 10.

I have to mention here that I had to print out a photo of the skeleton die. It just comes in pieces. And I combined the pieces very poorly. I had the neck bone connected to the knee bone, and the shoulder bone connected to the ankle bone. Somehow that just didn't look right. But I managed to get it all sorted out, thanks to the photo. (I didn't really have it put together that badly, but I will admit I had leg bones and arm bones mixed up.)

I used some SU ribbon, cheesecloth, card board, black netting and lace in my design. My little waitress was colored with Copics: R20, R21, E000, E00, E11, E21, E23, E25, E29, E42, E43, E44, E53, E55, E57, E59, W0, W1, W3, W5, W7, W9. I accented the image with a white gel pen and added Glossy Accents to her eyes, beaker, and test tube. I do believe that's it for this edition.

I am going to enter this card into the following:

Hooked on Craft Halloween Challenge

Oozak Die Cuts Challenge

Papertake Weekly Anything Goes Challenge

Pixie Dust Studio Anything Goes Challenge

The Paper Shelter Distressing Challenge

Have a great rest of the week! That's an order. (Oh, not really.)

The Outlawz Greeting Card Challenge - Trick or Treat

This week the challenge is to show us a trick you use in card-making; e.g. a product or a tool you use to create something on your cards. Your shared trick is a treat for everyone. And I am so looking forward to seeing your tricks!

We have three great sponsors this month:

Jackson's Digital Expressions - $12 worth of digital stamps

               
 Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps - 3 digis of winner's choice

Paper Temptress - 20 sheets of Cryogen paper

My trick is using a brayer to create a background for my image. Michelle Zindorf taught a class on brayering a couple of years ago in Tucson. Two friends, (hey, Ellie and Ruth!), and I went down there to take the class. It was really fun, and I loved learning the technique. I must admit I don't use it very often, but when I do, I generally like the results. Too bad I covered up most of the brayering on this particular card. My bad. 

This post is going to be rather short, as I have two cards going live today. This doesn't happen often, but when it does, I have to short-change the actual blogging on at least one of them. 

I chose a fun MayzyArt image, Halloween Frankenstein, for this card. I printed him on Make It Colour Blending Card. As soon as I did, I realized I could use the card for my great-nephew, Tristan, for Halloween. I love when that happens. The rest of my card stock is from Stampin' Up.

I masked the moon with a circle I cut from a Spellbinders Classic Circle die. I then   brayered the sky with Stampin' Up (retired) Going Gray, Basic Gray, and Basic Black. The ground was brayered with Sahara Sand and Crumb Cake. I then stamped the trees, using black ink, with a rubber stamp by Innovative Stamp Creations, called Presence of Trees. 

I selected my designer paper from the Bazzill Basics Paper All Hallows Eve collection. That gave me the colors to use for coloring my image with my Copics: C1, C3, C5, C7, C9, BV00, BV13, BV17, YR24, YR27, YG61, YG63, E000, E00, E11, R20. I accented the image with a white gel pen and added Glossy Accents to his eyes and neck hardware. His teeth got a coating of clear Copic Spica. 

I got the head stones and sentiment from Create with TLC, and printed them on card stock. I fussy-cut the head stones and popped them on the brayered background. (I love the names on them.) I used a Spellbinders Labels 10 die to cut out the sentiment, and then distressed it with black ink. I added a bit of cheesecloth underneath the matted image, as well as some ribbon and a bow that I dyed with Copics ink refill.  I cut out several bats with my Memory Box bat die and popped them on my image as well. Last, I cut out six sprockets, from the Spellbinders Sprockets die set, and popped them to the side of the image.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my Trick or Treat card. Be sure to check out the tricks for the rest of our DT. And now, what have you got in store for us?

I am entering this card into the following:

Divas by Design Use Some Texture Challenge 
Inky Impressions Let's Hear for the Boys Challenge
Lady Anne's Friday Sentiment Halloween with Two Dies Challenge
Penny's Paper Crafty Die Cuts or Punches Challenge
The Corrosive Challenge Villains & Monsters 

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge DT!

Yep! (That's kind of a southwestern U.S. "yup" or "yes".) I am a proud, new member of the Design Team for the Stamptacular Sunday Challenge. I have been waiting to announce this until today, when my first card goes live. I am very thrilled and honored to be asked by Priscilla to be a member of her DT. Thank you, again, Priscilla!

For this week's challenge you will create a card or project using the above photo as your inspiration!  Let your creative mind wander, and I'm sure you'll come up with something STAMPtacular!  Oh…and don’t forget to stamp!  After all, we don’t call this STAMPtacular for nothing! 

You will have from now until midnight (EST) October 13^th, 2012 to complete this challenge and post a DIRECT LINK to your submission into our InLinkz in order to be entered into the drawing for this week's fabulous prize donated by:

WHOOPSI DAISY

PRIZE:  4 SHEETS of Digi Stamps

Before I get to the card I made for this first challenge, I need to mention a couple of things:

1. My sister, Barbara, is finally feeling better since her surgery. She has had quite the time with pain; she has fibromyalgia, so she is in continual pain to start with. Then add a knee replacement and it gets dicey. However, she is now off of her pain meds, so that must mean she is recovering well from her major surgery. Thank goodness! Love ya, Barbie!

2. Our other sister, Merrilyn, and our BIL, Ron, are presently in Hawaii on their 50th anniversary gift trip. Or is it an anniversary trip gift? No matter, they are currently on the island of Oahu, but will be going to the Big Island as well. Hope they are having the time of their lives! I do envy them--Hawaii is my favorite vacation spot. I am jealous, you guys!

3. We will not be going back to Hawaii next year, as Gary booked us into a 10-day stay at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas during our anniversary month, (May). Oh, yeah, I know, what a shame. Too bad we have to go to the Bahamas instead of, say, Death Valley, CA. What a pity. I can hear you sobbing for me from here. Thank you. Pffffft. Anyway, it will be 43 years. With the same man. Can you believe it? I almost can't. I want to know what happened to the years in between our wedding and now. I don't feel any older, (but I know I look it!), and I think it's grossly unfair that this time has sped by so quickly. So there.

4. We are going to granddaughter Kelsey's baptism this afternoon. She decided, at age 10, that she was ready for this occasion. Afterward we will go to Miele's for dinner, which is an Italian eatery that Kelsey loves. Italian food is her fav.

5. My Arizona Cardinals lost on Thursday night. They are no longer undefeated. Waaaah. And that's all I can say about that.

6. My Arizona Diamondbacks ended their season with a rip-roaring .500 record. Let's hope next year is much better, or those season tickets we bought may be chewed up and spit out.

I think that's enough catching up, don't you? Oh, last night we went out to dinner, but since I am writing this in advance, I don't know what I ate yet. So I cannot comment on how good or bad it was. I will try to remember to be the food critic on my next post. And, if you just understood this paragraph, pat yourself on the back. You deserve it.

Changing gears here: when I was creating the first card for my DTSSC, (I love acronyms, don't you?), I needed to make a card for my SIL's father, Phil. He was having quadruple by-pass surgery, (which was very successful, thank goodness), and I wanted to make something special for him.

I knew I could make a get-well card for Phil using the fall colors shown above. I started by picking my DP, Bo Bunny Forever Fall, with some coordinating Stampin' Up card stock. I then looked for a fun image and found one by Kenny K, called Naughty Nurse, which I printed on Make It Colour Blending Card. I chose my sentiment from among the plethora Paulette has at Create with TLC. I printed that on SU card stock and cut it, (and its mats), out with Spellbinders Classic Squares dies. I also chose two sentiments from the Stampin' Up Teeny Tiny Wishes set that I printed on two tickets. These tickets were produced from the Whimsy ticket stamp and ticket die. My cityscape was cut with the Memory Box Cityscape Nightline die. The tree was cut with the Memory Box Arboscello Tree die. I added ribbon from my stash.

My image was colored with Copics: BG0000, BV00, YR20, YR21, YR23, YR24, R20, YG21, YG23, YG25, E000, E00, E02, E07, E09, E11, E15, E18, E19, W2. I added Glossy Accents to her eyes and the syringe. I accented the image with a white gel pen. Finally, I used a clear Copic Spica to highlight her lips and necklace.

I am looking forward to all of you playing along with us at this week's Stamptacular Sunday Challenge! And here's wishing everyone everywhere a wonderful week.

Through the Craft Room Door

Before I get to my DT contribution to the TTCRD challenge blog, I have a confession to make.

It's nothing serious, but I did do something Sunday that upset Gary. Not terribly, mind you. But it did, nonetheless. You see, we went to the Arizona Cardinals/Miami Dolphins game. And I begged to leave before it was over. GASP! Yes, yes, I did. And I feel pretty badly about it. We were behind at the time we left, but only by one score. With about 7 minutes left in the game. But I was completely wrung out, having had little sleep Saturday night, and suffering through  a roller coaster ride for the first 3/4 of the game. I just couldn't bear to watch any more of it. So I pleaded with Gary to go home. And my ever-suffering, sweet hubby agreed. Even though he wanted to stay. I love that man.

So, we listened to the rest of the game in the car on the way home. And our team tied it up. Right before the end of the fourth quarter. And then, just like four times last year, we won in overtime. It was a flippin' miracle, I tell ya. A flippin' miracle! And Gary missed seeing it. Would anyone like to tell me how I can make that up to him? 'Cuz I cannot think of anything momentous enough to cover my faux pas. I. am. not. worthy.

OK, now that I got that off my chest--figuratively speaking, of course--I will get back to today's card.

As you know, our TTCRD challenges are always "anything goes". The DT members like to honor our sponsors by using their images during the week of the sponsorship. This week our sponsor, providing 5 digital images, is Bugaboo Digi Stamps. Ergo, I have used a Bugaboo image--Bobblehead hween witch. I think she is really elegant, don't you? No? Really? Well, I never.....

I printed her on MIC Blending Card. I chose a Create with TLC sentiment that I think fits my elegant, gorgeous, oh, all right, goofy-looking witch. I printed that on the same Bazzill CS that I used for the spiders. My card base and embossed panels are created from Stampin' Up CS. My designer paper, from My Mind's Eye Mischievous collection, gave me my color scheme. I decided to use a sketch from the current Willow Sketchie Challenge Quite Simply Favorite Things. I chose this sketch to use:

I decided to emboss the black panels on my card with a Stampin' Up Sizzix Textured Impressions Spider Web folder. Which led me to use my Memory Box spider dies. Then I cut my image out with a Spellbinders Classic Circles die. The last die I used is a Spellbinders Labels 10 for my sentiment. I added Stickles to the sentiment;  the spiders; and the stars, hat buckle, eyelids, and snaggletooth of my witch. I must say she really enjoyed the added bling--look at how happy she is!

After coloring my witch with Copics, (BG70, BG72, BG75, C3, C5, C7, R20, E000, E00, E07, E08, E09, E11, E35, E37, E39, E40, E42, E43, E59), I added a few accents with a white gel pen. And then I sponged SU ink around the image edges. And here she is in all her splendor:

We would love to have you enter your lovely creations in our always anything goes challenge at Through The Craft Room Door. Please remember that only two (2) entries are allowed per person per challenge, and no back-linking is allowed.

And, if you don't have a subscription to the ezine Through The Craft Room Door, please consider getting one. It is a wonderful magazine, filled with creative ideas, tutorials, and free images.

Wishing everyone everywhere a wonderful rest of the week.

The Outlawz Greetings Breast Cancer Awareness Challenge

I am finally posting my first card as a DT member for The Outlawz Greetings Challenge group. Cool beans, huh? Our theme this week is "Breast Cancer Awareness". And we are being sponsored this month by Jackson's Digital Expressions and Sweet N Sassy Stamps. I will be using an image for each of our sponsors a little later in the month.

For this week, I chose an image by McMahon Five Designs. I really liked the image, and had the perfect sentiment for it from Paulette at Create with TLC. I know I went crazy-overboard with all my embellishments, but I just couldn't stop myself. The night I finished the card, I went to bed thinking that I would start all over the next day with a new design for it. Then I got up in the morning and realized I didn't have time to do it over. So, it is what it is. And it is going to take me approximately eleventy-billion minutes to describe what I did. Sorry. My bad.

I used sketch #27 from the Friday Sketch Challenge to create this card:

I am not sure if the design is still recognizable in my card, but this is what I really did start out with. I printed my image on MIC blending card and my sentiment on a piece of transparency. I wanted to layer the sentiment over a pink tag that I got from Jennifer Scull last month. My card base is Bazzill CS, and all my die cuts were made from Stampin' Up CS. My designer paper is from the Bo Bunny Gabrielle collection.

The dies I used:  SU Sizzix Embosslits Beautiful Wings; Cheery Lynn Small and Medium Butterflies; Spellbinders Labels 5; La La Land Crafts Corner; Whimsy Ticket.

The tickets were made with stamps by Whimsy: Ticket Sentiments, Treasured Moments Tickets, and The Good Life Tickets. I really love making my own tickets with these sets. because you can personalize them.

My flowers are from several sources: Melissa Frances, Maya Road, Petaloo, and Wild Orchid Crafts. The pins are also by WOC. I used some miscellaneous ribbon to tie onto the tag and the little silver charm--which I also got from Jennifer Scull. I did add some cheesecloth from my stash to the card as well--just because I could.   And because I love it right now. (I wonder how long that fad is going to last? Hopefully as long as I enjoy it.)

As always, I colored my image with Copics: R20, R21, R22, R30, R32, R43, YG41, YG45. I did add some Copic Spica pen to the butterflies after coloring to give a little sheen, which you cannot see in the photo--sorry, my bad again. I also sponged some SU ink around the image edges.

I am also going to enter this into Jackson's Digital Expressions Pink or Breast Cancer Awareness Challenge at the very last second. 'Cuz that's the way I roll.

I am looking forward to seeing what you design for us at The Outlawz!

I want to give a shout-out to Ellie and Ruth. I really enjoyed having lunch with you gals on Thursday at The Deli--yum! It was so good to see both of you again. And don't work too hard getting ready for your craft show! ;^)

And I would like to apologize for not stopping by your blogs on Saturday and Sunday. I just got too busy; but I will start commenting again today. I will be back tomorrow with another post and card.