Seaside Card For Three Challenges

Today's card was created by inspiration from three different challenge blogs: 

Cardz 4 Guyz #368 - S is For ...

    (my card features the Seaside)

Darnell's Weekly I.D.E.A.S. Calendar (E for Embossing)

    (my card has a heat embossed lobster)

Retro Rubber's Challenge 250 "Under The Sea" #rrcb250

    (and the lobster lives under the sea!)

Here's my complete supply list:

• Stampin' Up! By The Tide Stamp Set (2016)
• Graphic 45 Patterned Paper "Sail Away"
• SU! Night of Navy Card Stock and Ink
• Speckletone True White Card Stock
• Sentiment from Papertrey Ink
• Versamark Ink
• Brutus Monroe Embossing Powder in Vanilla Ice Cream

This card is a perfect addition to the assortment of cards that I'm making for my mom's birthday next week. She requested get well cards, and I think having at least one masculine card will be great for her to have on hand.

Thanks to Darnell, everyone over at Retro Rubber, and the Cardz 4 Guys team for helping me make something new! Be sure to check out their blogs and play along!

And thanks so much for stopping by today!

Jeremiah 29:11 Greeting Card Printables

Who doesn't love the Bible verse in Jeremiah 29:11? It seems like everyone who is familiar with the verse clings to it, myself included. What I love is that it reminds us that God does have a plan for our lives. And it's a good plan. Sometimes it can really seem like that's not the case, but this verse reminds us otherwise.

When I sent these out to be printed at FedEx, I made two of them because that's how much room I had on the sheet of paper. I'm glad I did. I know that it will be really easy to mail these out and will probably want to make more.

To finish the cards off, I used some paper doilies from Stampin' Up!, then mounted the image on their Pear Pizzazz card stock and then on their Bubble Bath card stock. I added flat glitter dots that I believe I got from the Dollar Tree. 

These measure about 6.5 x 4.75, but you can make the design any size you want and of course make the cards any size you want also.

Here's the free digi. As always:

1. Snag it to your desktop or photos.
2. Put it in a Word or Pages Document.
3. Resize it to the size card you want to make.
4. Print it out, either at home or at a copy center. 

I hope you enjoy the freebie! Remember that all images are for personal use only, please! Thanks for stopping by my blog today and have a wonderful day!

Christmas (or Not) BINGO Challenge #12

It's been a while since I've been over at Christmas (or Not) BINGO Challenges and it's good to be back. As always with this challenge, you have to pick just one column going straight up and down and create a card (or other crafty items) with just that column. There's no across or diagonal allowed. 

The column I chose is "I" and the elements from that column are:

• Christmas
• Black/Gray
• No Stamping

I love making digital images and creating cards with them, so this was the perfect opportunity to do that with the "no stamping" spot. I did include a die cut element from white card stock and framed the image with Stampin' Up!'s Garden Green and mounted them all on SU! Real Red card stock.

Black and gray are unique elements on a Christmas card, but I love challenges like that. Plus black is one of my go-to colors to really make cards pop, so this was really fun. It's a super-easy image that I feel really captures the Christmas spirit in a fun way.

Feel free to use the image below in your own work if you want.  As always:

1. Snag it to your desktop or photos.
2. Put it in a Word or Pages Document.
3. Resize it to the size card you want to make.
4. Print it out, either at home or at a copy center. 

I hope you enjoy the freebie! You can make a card out of it like I did, or use in as a digital image to send to someone on Facebook or in an email. Remember that all images are for personal use only, please! Thanks for stopping by my blog today and have a wonderful day!

Irish Blessing Cross Stitch

Yesterday I managed to start and finish a beautiful, well known Irish Blessing. I've seen this on more complex charts, but I felt like stitching it in an easy format, so I created the chart myself at a site called stitchpoint.com. It's a wonderful place that makes it super easy to write any font and turn it into a cross stitch piece.

Here's my chart, but the cool thing is that you can make a chart out of any saying that you want. It took me just a little getting used to it, and some of the fonts are an upcharge, but the one I chose, which is called Monaco, was free, and it was just what I was looking for!

Feel free to use my chart if you'd like to stitch this:

One other bit of helpful information... When I stitch something using a dark thread on light fabric, I often can see the floss through the fabric. One thing I did to combat this is to spray paint my mounting board a dark color. It worked like a charm. The picture below shows the threads underneath...

Below is the board after I spray painted it. It didn't matter that the green paint was a different shade than the floss. It was close enough to hide the threads underneath...

And here's the same piece on the green background. You may notice that it's laying on my computer monitor, which is laying face-up on my desk. Basically I'm using it as a lightbox because I'm too cheap to buy one right now! But notice how you can no longer see the threads underneath.

A Green & White Challenge Card

I picked up this tiny vase at an antique store. Ironically it's made in
Portugal, not Ireland.

Well this is a first for me! I have four different challenges that I'm entering this card in. I guess St. Patrick's Day has set off a spark of green and white challenges, and I love them all. I've already made my St. Patrick's Day cards, but my Mom requested some Get Well cards for her birthday coming up later on this month. Green is just such a happy color and even well after St. Pat's day it can be a great reminder of spring, summer, and of course my very favorite one, Kermit the Frog!

Here are the wonderful links that's I'm entering this card in:

• Colorful Options 
• Color Hues Challenge
• Simply Clean & Simple Stamping
• Try A Sketch on Tuesday

Here's my supply list:

• Stampin' Up! Granny Apple Green Card Stock
• White Card Stock
• SU! Very Vintage Stamp Set
• SU! Garden Green Ink
• Copic Marker YG11
• Soft Enamel Dots from Dollar Tree
• Sentiment from Papertrey Ink

Be sure to stop over at any of these fun challenges and play along! Thanks for stopping by today!

Cardz 4 Guyz Challenge #367

We all need Guy Cards, and that's one of the reasons I love to play over at Cardz 4 Guyz. This round their challenge is to use men's clothing on your card. That can be a tough one, but after looking through my stamps I realized that I had several that would qualify. I chose this set that I have only used a couple of times and that was for girl cards. It has a sentiment with it that I just love. It says "Put On Your Big Girl Boots." I left that off, but just added a simple Happy Birthday that came with the set.

Here's my complete supply list:

• Close To My Heart "Life In Boots" Stamp Set
• Copics E19, E19, E26, E34 and E35
• Stampin' Up! Soft Suede Ink
• Misc. Patterned Papers

It was fun to make this one for sure. It's all ready to go in a kraft envelope that some guy out there will love. 

If you're up for the challenge, be sure to stop over at Cardz 4 Guyz and play along!

Inspired by Darnell's Letter "I"

Well this is a fun surprise! I went over to NBUS to get some inspiration that would help me dig out some of those "Never Before Used Schtuff" items. While looking at the cards that were entered there, I spotted one, which was Darnell's, which I thought was so pretty. 

I followed it to her blog and was so taken because she talks about getting in a slump with stamping. I could relate, especially today. So many times I feel like that's where I'm at. Some days I think, I'm done with stamping. I'm donating everything to the Salvation Army. Then the next day I'm making cards and loving it. I think I'm crazy. That was until I read the post on her personal blog HERE.

One thing Darnell does is to create an acronym of the word IDEAS and create a corresponding card using the technique of the week. This week it was 'ink.' 

So that's how this card started out. I was inspired to use an old technique using Saran Wrap and ink and water to create a background. It was designed to look like the sky. Then I stamped some fun strawberries on the front and added the sentiment "Just For You" in the corner.

Here's my complete supply list:

• White Card Stock
• Stampin' Up! Boho Blue Card Stock and Ink
• Water
• Saran Wrap
• SU! Sweet Strawberry Stamp Set
• Sun (purchased from eBay)
• SU! Poppy Parade Ink
• SU! Real Red Ink
• SU! Garden Green Ink
• Copic Markers

I'm so excited to know that Darnell has created a place on her blog where we can enter the cards we make using her IDEAS guide. It's such a fun was to get creative. And I'm especially glad that I'm not the only one who gets in a funk and feels like I can't possible make another card!

So if you need some inspiration, be sure to hop over each Monday and play along!

Here are a few more pictures of this technique:

Love Those Pretty Papers Rainbow Challenge

This month over at Love Those Pretty Papers Challenge they have an optional theme of rainbows. I love rainbows because their colors are so much fun to work with. However I only had one specific patterned paper with actual rainbows on it, and I don't know who made it. It's lightweight and one-sided, so it probably came from a big box store. I tried Googling it and didn't see it, but wow, the rainbow patterned papers that I did see made me want to shop!

When I stamped the image I tried to match the rainbows on the paper. I felt like I did okay up until the smallest one. It's a little too dark. I believe Stampin' Up! has a new turquoise of some kind. I'll have to look into that.

One last thing to note, this card is large. I have some clear envelopes that I want to use up, and they hold a card that's 7.5" x 5.25 which is the size this card is. I had to make it that big to get all the rainbows on it. It's still mailable with a non-machineable stamp.

Here's my complete supply list:

• Stampin' Up! Rainbow of Happiness
• Misc. Rainbow Patterned Paper
• SU! Black & White Patterned Paper
• Black Card Stock
• White Card Stock
• SU! Polished Pink Ink
• SU! Pineapple Punch Ink
• SU! Pear Pizzazz Ink
• SU! Island Indigo Ink
• Memento Black Ink
• Sentiment from My Sentiments Exactly!

It was so fun making this card and I really appreciate Darlene and Diane over at for encouraging me to create this cutie. Be sure to check out their wonderful blog and play along!

Two St. Patrick's Day Cross Stitch Freebies

Here are two fun, easy to stitch and free patterns that I found on Pinterest. (I always do a reverse Google Image Search to make sure that what I'm stitching isn't stolen and published illegally, and these two make the cut!)

The larger one is a free pattern from Not Forgotten Farm. She has so many wonderful patterns on her site as well as on Etsy. I changed the colors just a bit to make it a little brighter, but I didn't want to go too bright. 

The second pattern is another freebie from Pinker n Punkin called Erin Ewe. Melisa has an amazing website and there are even a couple more free St. Patrick's Day patterns on just that link. (Note: this pattern would have fit perfectly in the square frame if I hadn't accidently added an extra green row above the black belt. It was too much to rip it out, but now I wished I had done so. Still, it's cute!)

One thing that I try to do when I'm making a two or three pieces that I want to display together is that I use some of the same color flosses in each. Here are some of the similar colors that I used in both pieces.

Both frames came from Amazon, which makes it really easy to get these guys framed and on a shelf!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

4 Easy Easter Cards

Today's cards were super-easy to make using a paper pad set called Springtime Travel from The Paper Boutique. I did embellish the prints with Stickles, a Stampin' Up! stamp and the sentiments are from Pink & Main.

Here's a picture of the front of the paper pack. I really love this one and will get a lot more use out of it too.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

St. Patrick's Day Printables

Because I like to send cards out through The Angel Card Project, I always like to have some on hand for those less celebrated holidays. St. Patrick's Day is one of them.

I did see some amazing clover stamps over at Simon Says Stamp, and really wanted to get them, but with the dies they're $50.00. This year money is a little bit tighter, so I decided to create some printables for St. Pat's Day.

I've already sent one out to a special needs man named Patrick who loves to get dressed up on the 17th! I know he'll like getting this. And the ACP is going to create a post in which people can request St. Patrick's Day cards, so I'll be sure to send out the other two this year.

Mine were made by having them printed at FedEx, but you can certainly print them at home too. I then mounted the images on patterned paper and then on green card stock.

Here are the free digis. As always:

1. Snag it to your desktop or photos.
2. Put it in a Word or Pages Document.
3. Resize it to the size card you want to make.
4. Print it out, either at home or at a copy center. 

I hope you enjoy these freebies! Print them out or share them online. Remember that all images are for personal use only, please! Thanks for stopping by my blog today and have a wonderful day!

Happy 11th Birthday to Time Out Challenges!

Over at Time Out Challenges they're celebrating their 11th birthday. Yay! And for this challenge they're having us CASE guest designer Donna Mikasa. Her beautiful card really inspired me. What I copied from it was her use of patterned paper and an embossing folder in equal parts on the card. I don't think I have ever used both of those in a card together. That's why challenges are just so much fun! 

I was also inspired by her use of brightly patterned paper. I tried to copy that using a piece of "stray" paper that I found in my stash. I then tried to pull out the colors from that the best I could and what I got is this bright mix of colors that I normally wouldn't put together. Even though it's a bit colorful, I think the card is cute and I'm pretty sure someone will like receiving it soon!

Here's my complete supply list:

• Lawn Fawn Ballet Slippers Card Stock
• Stampin' Up! Crushed Curry Card Stock
• SU! Coastal Cabana Card Stock
• SU! Rose Red Card Stock
• Misc. Patterned Paper
• My Favorite Things Die Cut
• Doodle Bug Enamel Dots

I'm so grateful to everyone over at  Time Out Challenges for always having such inspiring challenges. And a very happy birthday to them too!

Thanks for stopping by today, and be sure to pop over and see all the other great cards-and to wish them a happy birthday!

Colossians 3:2 Cross Stitch Finish

Today I finished a project I started about a month ago. The stitching was easy, but it took me a while to "frame" it. The cool thing is that I did it for less than $5.00.

To start with, the pattern was purchased HERE ON ETSY. The colors I chose are different because I didn't have time to go to the store to get the called-for colors. These go better with my house anyway, but I've since decided to give this to a friend for Christmas next year. My first gift is complete!

I started with plain, off-white, aida cloth. After finishing the pattern, I ironed it with Mary Ellen's Best Press. It's a wonderful product that really gets the wrinkles out, even if your work has been in a hoop for some time.

Then I mounted it on a mat board using hot glue. Next I bought a piece of wood with some string on it from Dollar Tree. I pulled the string out, cut and stained the wood and assembled it after it dried. 

The ribbon is a collection of three peach/orange colors I had in my stash. If I had to buy ribbon, I would have probably chosen a larger ribbon for a dramatic effect, but I think this works well too.

Here are a few pictures of the process:

Here's the board I bought from Dollar Tree. The wood is quite hard for it being so inexpensive. There was enough leftover for another small project too.

I measured carefully and marked it with a pencil.

This was the hard part-sawing! I used a hacksaw, but I know the blade could have been sharper. Going to Home Depot wasn't part of my plan. I was able to cut through the plank however. More blades are on order at Walmart!

Staining was the last step. I used some stain that I had on hand. It only took about a tablespoon to cover this plank. I'm glad that I save little things like that. After I stained it, I wiped it down with a paper towel to keep it from being too dark and clumpy. 

I'm really happy with the finished product. It's so easy to just order a picture frame online, but this was an unusual size and I didn't want to spend too much on it. Making the frame this was was easy enough and saved some money too.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Word Art Wednesday Weeks 687 & 688

Over at Word Art Wednesday this time around they have a beautiful scripture that's perfect not only for Valentine's Day but absolutely any day of the year. It speaks of God's love for us, and who doesn't want to be reminded of that!

I did a digital take on this card and love the finished piece. I think the design doesn't take away from the scripture, which is the most important thing. Feel free to grab the freebie below and use it to make an encouraging card for someone.

I just used red card stock, an embossing folder from Darice, and Stampin' Up!'s Soft Suede card stock.

And be sure to visit Word Art Wednesday every two weeks for encouraging scriptures and thoughts, and as always a fun, "anything goes" challenge.

Here's the free digi. As always:

1. Snag it to your desktop or photos.
2. Put it in a Word or Pages Document.
3. Resize it to the size card you want to make.
4. Print it out, either at home or at a copy center. 

I hope you enjoy the freebie! Remember that all images are for personal use only, please! Thanks for stopping by my blog today and have a wonderful day!

NBUS Birthday Cards

These cards started out because, while digging around my patterned paper box, I left the pink scraps of paper on my craft desk. I thought they looked good together and had enough to make two cards. From there, I pulled out a stamp set that I bought a while back at a Nursing Home sale. I thought I had used it but to my surprise the stamps were still attached to the red rubber background so I couldn’t have used them. Perfect for a NBUS project! 

Here’s my complete supply list:

• Stampin’ Up! Oh So Eclectic Stamp Set
• Unknown Patterned Papers
• Memento Angel Pink Ink
  
• Papertrey Lovely Lady Ink
• Yellow Copic Marker
• SU! Lemon Lolly Ink and Card Stock
• Clear Rhinestones from Michael’s

It’s funny, I think I only paid about a dollar for this set, and I’m glad that was all because I’m not really that crazy about it. It feels a little too… eclectic for me. I should have painted attention to its name! I’ll try it a few more times, but then pass it on. But for now, it’s good to have made an NBUS card with it!

Card For Patterned Paper Challenges

Today's card is made for two challenges. First, over at Shopping Our Stash, their weekly challenge is called Thrice As Nice in which you have to use three patterned papers on one card. And when I'm using patterned papers, the Love Those Pretty Papers Challenge Blog comes to mind, so I entered it over there as well.  Their optional theme is red. I love working with red, but I honestly don't have any red patterned papers (except dots and gingham). Thanks to their challenge I'm putting those on a list and the next time I buy paper I'm going to keep an eye out for some reds. Lastly, I'm entering it over at the Word Power Challenge Blog where a word must be the highlight of your card.

This card was made using supplies that I had on hand. The paper at the top of the card and the middle of the card is unknown. I only had a few scraps of that and the brand had already been cut off. They are the reversed of each other.  The green patterned dots, green card stock and pink letters are made from Stampin' Up! papers. The die cut "Hello" is from  Pink & Main. The green die cut is made from Sizzix.

There's no stamping on this card, and I was going to put a word like "friend" below the Hello but truthfully I find it easier to send a card that just says Hello. 

Both design teams did an amazing job and it's worth it to head over just for some inspiration. And if you'd like to join in the fun there's plenty of time left to play along!

Two Challenges for the Guys

Today's card is made for two challenges: Freshly Made Sketches #673 and Cardz 4 Guyz #365 which their theme this time is Clean and Simple.

This card, at 7.5" by 5.25" is a little bigger than usual. I did that for two reasons. First, I have these big, clear envelopes that I need to use up, and this size card fits perfect in them. Second, I knew the shoes would take up some room and I wanted to be sure to make the card look clean and simple.

Here's my complete supply list: 

• Stampin' Up! Dapper Dan Stamp Set
• True White Speckletone Card Stock
• SU! Baked Brown Sugar Ink & Card Stock
• SU! Soft Suede Ink & Card Stock
• My Sentiments Exactly Happy Birthday Words
• Darice Embossing Folder
• Sizzix Circle Dies

I'm glad to have made this card because I always like to have guy cards on hand. Both challenges are so fun, so if you get a change stop over and check them out. Thanks for stopping by today!

One Last Valentine!

Happy Valentine's Day! I made one last card for two challenges: Retro Rubber's Sketch Challenge #248 (#rrcb248) and Love Those Pretty Papers February Challenge.  And, as suggested by Darlene, I'll also enter this over at Double D Challenges as their theme this time is Hearts. Perfect!

Do you ever feel that cards make themselves instead of turning out the way you planned? That's kind of what happened here. Over at LTPP, the optional theme was red. And that's what I started out making in my mind. But I guess after grabbing the Valentine's Day papers that I had, and choosing the hearts because they had the stripes in them that mimicked the stripes on Retro Rubber's sketch, I got a card that's more orange and pink. I'm glad red was just an option!

Here's my complete supply list:

• Sizzix Super Scallop Tag Die
  
• SU! Pumpkin Pie Card Stock
• Heart Paper from Simple Stories
• Love Paper from American Crafts
• Stampin' Up! Heart Happiness Stamps (from 2018)
• Stampin' Up! Sure Do Love You Stamp Set (from 2018 also)
• Memento Tangelo Ink
• Memento Lady Bug Ink
• SU! Poppy Parade Ink
• SU! Polished Pink Ink
• SU! Pool Party Ink
• Generic Pink Ribbon
• Generic Rhinestones

One last note: I discovered that parts of these 2 sets are interchangeable. I've used these sets for years and never noticed. Although I didn't use them together on this card it's nice to know!

I hope everyone has a very happy Valentine's Day. For hubby it's a work day and we're just going to watch a RomCom called Me Before You in the evening after picking up some of our favorite takeout food. Nice and relaxing! 

Cozy Corner to Corner Lap Blanket

Corner-to-corner (sometimes called C2C)  crochet stitches are my favorite to make because they are so so easy. I’m always looking for projects that I can make while I’m watching TV with hubby in the evening or chatting on the phone with a friend, and this design is perfect for that. It’s great for beginners too.

I learned this stitch from a YouTuber named Mikey. His corner-to-corner video can be sound HERE. He originally published it over 11 years ago and that video alone has over 1.4 million views. Apparently I’m not the only one who lives this stitch!

This piece was supposed to go to a nursing home, but hubby kept commenting on how much he liked it that I didn’t have the heart to give it to someone else. The colors are perfect for our house too. Gray is the popular interior color now, but I have always loved browns and I don’t plan on changing. However we did buy some gray chairs from Facebook Marketplace and since they were a great bargain, I’m putting up with some gray mixed in too. This blanket blends the two colors so well.

My finished piece is 27" by 36" and is perfect for covering you legs. I think it’s pretty close to what they call a wheelchair blanket size.  It's finished with a shell stitch around the edges. To make the shell stitch work with this blanket, make sure that you have an even number of little blocks on each side, as each shell stitch takes up 2 blocks.

The Ancient Spanish Monastery, Circa 1133

Just across the state from me lies a an almost 900-year-old monastery. It wasn’t built on the current site, as  only the Native Americans were here at that time. But I had the pleasure of being able to walk where monks walked centuries ago, and it all started with William Randolph Hearst.

In 1925 he acquired the monastery and had it dismantled and shipped to the United States. He then fell into financially hard times and the bricks were sold. They ended up sitting in a warehouse in Brooklyn, NY until they were discovered and sent to an auction. They changed hands once again after that and were finally reassembled in South Florida. 

They also have a large museum featuring knights in armor, old weapons, ancient Bibles and hymnals, church art and even a Spanish hearse. One thing about this museum is that I think most guys would find it interesting too.

The place is so beautiful that tourists wearing everyday clothes are free to walk about and take pictures, but if you show up in anything from a maternity dress to a prom dress or wedding gown the fee to take pictures is $395.00. And when we were there, we saw at least two instances where people did pay that and had their professional photographers with them.

The photo on the right is just about half of the museum, and there’s a little alcove in the back where you can buy some gifts. I purchased some jam made by monks in Massachusetts. My mom liked it so much that I bought her an assortment of their jams for Christmas. There are many small religious gifts there too, which I loved. 

Three of the helmets worn in the Middle Ages.

This isn't the bigger church that was originally built on the grounds, but
a smaller chapel that was part of what was brought over from Spain. (Does anyone else
thing this looks oddly like a skull?!)

Candles and Holy Water are available too. I lit a candle in memory of my grandmother.

The monastery not only cares for humans but furry friends as well.

The picture on the left shows the added portions of the church from Spain. On the right, hubby and I are

in the yellow section.

While this is an incredible tourist attraction, it if first and foremost a church. They have services there every Sunday and are available in both English and Spanish. Either way, if you are ever in this area, I can't say enough about what a wonderful experience it is to be able to visit here.

And lastly a side note, one of our places to go to eat in the Miami is called La Carreta. It features delicious authentic Cuban food and the vibe is always friendly, casual and pleasantly noisy!

We highly recommend the Ropa Vieja!