SOTC--Fall Swap Card

This is a card that I made for our monthly SOTC—Sisterhood of the Traveling Cards--Swap on SCS. Fay was our hostess for August.  Here is her challenge:  For the month of August we're going to have a FALL theme. Please make a card inspired by the Fall colors of brown, gold, orange, red, etc. and or Autumn images/themes. Whatever you love about Fall and are inspired by.

I love when the leaves change colors in the fall—we can see a woods from our deck.  With all of the hot weather and lack of rain, I am not sure what the colors will be like this year.

Image/Sentiment—Inkadinkadoo Fall Colors

Cardstock—Gina K Ivory, Pumpkin Spice, Fresh Asparagus,  Chocolate Brown; Imaginisce Patterned Paper

Ink—Versamark

Accessories—Black Embossing Powder; Quickutz Leaves Embossing Folder; Orange leaf brad and Orange Round Brads; Brown Ribbon; Copic Markers

I have entered this card in the following challenges:
Delightful Sketches--Fall Days
Ruby's Rainbow--No Image, Just Words
Perfect Sentiment

Calendar Girl Olympics

It is the 28^th, so I am here to welcome you to another round with the Calendar Girls!

Who are the Calendar Girls? We are a group of bloggers who want to have a place where friendships blossom, creativity abounds, and encouragement prevails! In keeping with that dream, this blog group has been created so we will have a place to interact and enjoy being fellow bloggers. 

This month Debbie posted our August Theme--Calendar Girls Olympics!

Since the Summer Olympics are now going on, I decided the theme for this month would be our very own Calendar Girls Olympic challenge. There are two parts to this month’s theme:

1. The colors of the rings on the Olympic flag are: blue, yellow, black, green and red. Your card must have at least one embellishment and it must be in one of those colors.

2. Please make a card based on one of the Olympic events. The events in this summer’s Olympics are: Archery, Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Diving, Equestrian, Fencing, Soccer, Gymnastics, Handball, Judo, Rowing, Sailing, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Track and Field, Trampoline, Volleyball, Water Polo, Weightlifting, and Wrestling.

And lastly, when posting to your blog, please let us know what your card represents about the Olympics.

I love the Olympics and was glued to the TV every night and most of the time during the day too! I have the opening and closing ceremony DVR’d (but I have to admit I have not watched either of them all the way through yet). Being a former coach as well as a High School Athletic Director, sports are a passion of mine. So, I really had to pare down my ideas and limit the sport I wanted to highlight. But, then true to form for me, I found a Whipper Snapper stamp that had a few of the sports from the Olympics and inked it up! I then used Baker’s Twine in the five colors of the Olympic Rings tied on the bottom!

Here is a picture of the inside of my card. I used a Soccer Ball Brad in honor of the gold medal by the USA Women’s soccer team!

Image/Sentiment—Whipper Snapper Sports Balls

Cardstock—Gina K White; Stampin’Up Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard and Chocolate Chip; Crate Paper School Spirit Collection--Pep Rally Designer Paper

Ink—Memento Black

Accessories—Copic Markers; Baker’s Twine (red, yellow, green, blue, black); Basketball, Tennis Ball, Volleyball and Soccer Ball Brads; Deckled Rectangle Nestie

Please check out the blogs of all of the Calendar Girls—there are 10 of us, so it might take you a bit. I am sure you will enjoy all of the Olympic creations. All of the blogs are listed on my left sidebar. Thanks for joining us!!!!!!!

Get Well Soon

Here is the second of the two swap cards that I made for Kathleen’s Swap on SCS.  We all need both get well and sympathy cards—so this was a good swap to join

Image/Sentiment—Stampin’ Up Elements of Style/Thoughts & Prayers

Cardstock—Gina K White; SU Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait, Old Olive, In Color Patterns DSP

Ink—SU Poppy Parade

Accessories—SU Markers; Poppy Brads; Poppy Stitched Ribbon

Sharing in Your Sorrow Card

Here is the one of the two swap cards that I made for Kathleen’s Swap on SCS.  We all need both get well and sympathy cards—so this was a good swap to join.

Image/Sentiment—Stampin’ Up Thoughts & Prayers

Cardstock—Gina K White; SU Lucky Limeade, Pool Party, Everyday Enchantment DSP

Ink—SU Early Espresso

Accessories—SU Oval Punches and Markers; Brown Brads; Green Ribbon

Pedaling Past

Here is the second of the two swap cards that I made for Samantha’s Anything with Wheels Swap she posted on SCS.  We have quite a few bikes in our garage and are taking a 500 mile bike trip in September around part of Lake Michigan.  My main role will be the sag-wagon for the other three riders, but I am taking my bike and will spend some time on it.

Image/Sentiment—Stampin’ Up Pedaling Past

Cardstock—Gina K White, Pumpkin Pie, Fresh Asparagus, Kraft; Little Yellow Bicyle Traveler Little Bicycle Patterned Paper

Ink—SU Crumb Cake and Night of Navy

Accessories—Cuttlebug Diamond Plate Embossing Folder; SU Punches; Kraft Brads; Green Button with Twine

Congrats Baby Card

Here is the one of the two swap cards that I made for Samantha’s Anything with Wheels Swap she posted on SCS.  I love making baby cards and this stamp set is one of my favorite Stampin’ Up sets to use.

Image/Sentiment—Stampin’ Up Baby Bundle

Cardstock—Gina K White; Stampin’ Up Bashful Blue; Francis Meyers Patterned Paper

Ink—SU Bashful Blue; Memento Black

Accessories—Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder; SU Oval Punches, Bashful Blue Satin Ribbon, White Brads; Copic Markers

Dueling Darlings ~ Are You Game?

It is the 15^th of the month and that means another Dueling Darlings challenge.  Our hostess this month for the Divas is Kelly.  The theme that Jeanette, the hostess for the Dazzlers and Kelly—who both happen to be the inspiration for this wonderful group of ladies in the first place-- came up with is “Are You Game””!

In celebration of National Scrabble Week, let’s use the theme “are you game”?  Kelly sent a cute Whipper Snapper stamp—Pair of Aces!  What a sweet image.  She also sent a whole slew of items to use on the card and challenged us to use two of the papers, one button, one ribbon, one bling and the wooden “card suit” charm.  I think I met the challenge!  I made a 6x6 card as I wanted to make sure everything fit and try to not make it look too busy……………………………

Here is the inside of my card:

Image/Sentiment—Whipper Snapper Pair of Aces

Ink—Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper—Stampin’ Up Riding Hood Red, Basic Black; Graphic 45-All Decked Out and Glitz in Town-Yours Truly Chevron patterned papers

Accessories—Copic Markers; SU Tab Punch, Apothecary Accents die, Paper Piercing Pack; PTI Yellow ribbon with Offray Black over the top; Nesties Curved Rectangles; Kaisercraft Rhinestones and Flourishes die cut wood piece playing card; Buttons; Spica Glitter Pen on her shoes and on floating hearts

Please be sure to stop in to see what all of the Divas as well the Dazzlers have created this month.  All of the blogs are on the left sidebar of my blog.  I am sure you will enjoy all of the creations for our Game! Thanks for joining us!!!!!!

Imagine the Possibilities

Here is the second of the two swap cards that I made for Linda’s recent Butterflies Everywhere Swap she posted on SCS. 

Image/Sentiment—Stampin’ Up Butterfly Prints and Word Play

Cardstock—Gina K White; Stampin’ Up Regal Rose, Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight;  Heidi Grace Flowers in a Row Patterned Paper

Ink—SU Regal Rose and Early Espresso

Accessories—SU Butterfly Punch, Elegant Lines Embossing Folder, Yellow Flower Button; Brown Brads; Tri-color Twine

Unidentified Swap-Happiness House Mouse

This is the card for the 3^rd round an Unidentified Image swap on SCS.  It is a group of ladies who are a part of a bi-monthly swap where we all use the same image, sent to us by the hostess.  The unidentified part is that we to not discuss the image at all until the day they are to be posted--today!  The images for this round were provided Janet.  She will swap the cards and include the next image that Terry, our next hostess, provides in our return envie.  And then we get to do it all again!!!!

I have a few House Mouse stamps, but not this one.  Isn’t it cute!  I think the soft pink colors are a perfect accessory for the image!  I am not sure if you can see it, but I used a clear glitter pen on the little guy’s ears and face!  I also like the multi-color baker's twine as it has pink, green and brown in it.

Image/Sentiment—House Mouse Take Time to Smell the Flowers/SU Warm Words

Cardstock— Stampin’ Up Blushing Bride, Early Espresso, Pear Pizzazz;  Blushing Bride Designer Series Paper

Ink—SU Blushing Bride; Memento Black

Accessories—SU Blushing Bride Satin Pleated Ribbon; Pink Brad; Pink Mini Buttons w/tri-colored bakers twine; Oval Punches; Copic Markers; Spica Glitter Pen

Go in the Direction of Your Dreams

Here is one of the two swap cards that I made for Linda’s recent Butterflies Everywhere Swap she posted on SCS.  I am excited to be a part of this second annual swap in honor of her son Jared.

Image/Sentiment—Stampin’ Up Word Play

Cardstock—Cryogen White; Stampin’ Up Certainly Celery, Crumb Cake, Peach Parfait;  SEI Morning Meadow Flutter By Patterned Paper

Ink—SU Certainly Celery

Accessories—SU Top Note, Beautiful Wings Embosslit; Peach Parfait Grosgrain Ribbon and Brads

Crafty Gals-August Challenge-Animal Birthday!

It is the 5^th of the month, so I am back with another challenge of the Crafty Gals!  We are a group of bloggers who have monthly challenges, caring comments & fun chit chat on SCS—our favorite stamping site to visit.

This month, the challenge was posted by Carolina.  Here are the details of her challenge:

"Animal Birthdays"

Two of my son's are having birthdays this next months. Since we didn't do any b-day cards I challenge you all to do one using an animal character and four shapes of any sort somewhere in the card plus colors red and blue. Is this too much to ask? Good luck.

I love to make birthday cards and I also have a few animal stamps.  OK—so that was the easy part………..  Red and Blue-not a problem; cardstock and patterned paper-check!  4 shapes?  Really?  Here we go…..1—circle for the image (does a scallop circle count as another?)  2—Tag for the sentiment.  3—Star brads in the top corner.  4—Square brads in the bottom corner.  And—for extra credit—a rectangle and triangle pennants on the inside. Does a bone count as a shape?  I met the Challenge!

Image/Sentiment—Craft Lounge-Pat the Bad Dog/Sentiment-Stampin’ Up Short and Sweet

Cardstock—Gina K White; Stampin’ Up Riding Hood Red, Baja Breeze and So Saffron; My Mind’s Eye Hip Hooray Boy Party

Ink—SU Riding Hood Red and Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories—Circle, Circle Scallops, Large Tag and Pennant Punches; Square, Star and Bone Brads;  Copic Markers; Gelly Roll blue glitter pen (on scallops) and blue ribbon

Please check out the blogs of all of the Crafty Gals.   All of the blogs are listed on my left sidebar and I hope you will enjoy all of our Animal Birthday creations. Thanks for joining us!

Calendar Girls ~ Christmas in July

It is the 28^th, so I am here to welcome you to another round with the Calendar Girls!

Who are the Calendar Girls? We are a group of bloggers who want to have a place where friendships blossom, creativity abounds, and encouragement prevails! In keeping with that dream, this blog group has been created so we will have a place to interact and enjoy being fellow bloggers.

This month Carol posted our July Theme ---Since it is my turn to pick a theme for this month...I am going to once again try and get a head start on the holiday season by asking each of you to post a "Christmas in July" card. I love Christmas and have tons of holiday sets and it is a shame that I don't get to use them all year long....so am going to ask you to break out the Christmas tunes and make a Christmas card... Also, I would love to know if you have any very special Christmas traditions OR a special Christmas memory from years past.... A big thank you to Michelle for helping me out last month...I do appreciate it....

I love Christmas and I too would love to get a jump on making cards this year. I used a Penny Black stamp that I bought last year, but had not used it. And, in honor of our hostess Carol—I used a glitter pen to add some sparkle to the stocking and ornaments!

Here is a picture of the inside, with an additional sentiment by Verve

As far as a Christmas memory, I do remember heading to church on Christmas Eve and my mom, dad and I were in the car.  My dad “forgot” something in the house and came out a few minutes later.  When we got home, it seemed there were now presents under the tree that were not there before.  Hummmm………

Image/Sentiment—Penny Black Winter Glitter/Sentiments Great Impressions (no name listed) and Verve Christmas Blessings

Cardstock—Gina K Red Hot and White; PTI Berry Sorbet; Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses Designer Paper

Ink—Memento Black; Stampin’ Up Real Red

Accessories—Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses Brad;  Copic Markers; Jelly Roll Stardust Clear Pen; SU Punch

Please check out the blogs of all of the Calendar Girls—there are 10 of us, so it might take you a bit.   I am sure you will enjoy all of the Christmas creations and holiday stories. All of the blogs are listed on my left sidebar. Thanks for joining us!!!!!!!

I also have entered this card in the following challenges:
Sweet Stampin'--Christmas in July
Pixie Dust Studio--Christmas in July
ABC Christmas Challenge

Lovely as a Tree

Here is the second card for recent Trees, Branches and Leaves swap that Taryn hosted. 

This is my all time favorite stamp set and I was so sure it would be retired this year.  I will be so sad when it goes, but I know I will continue to use it over and over!

Image/Sentiment—Stampin’ Up Lovely as a Tree/Petite Pairs

Cardstock—SU Early Espresso, Always Artichoke, Daffodil Delight; The Paper Loft Scattered Pine Mountain Scrub Oak Valley Patterned Paper

Ink—SU Early Espresso

Accessories—Espresso Brads and Quilted Satin Ribbon; SU Punches

Mystery Image ~ Pony Parade

This card is for a Mystery Swap on SCS.  A group of us are doing a bi-monthly swap where we all use the same mystery image, sent to us by the hostess.  This swap was created by Forest Ranger—Jeanette.  These images were sent to us by Kate, who will swap the cards and send us the next image, provided by Samantha!  I can't wait to get the swap cards back to see how everyone else used the same image.  And then we get to do it all again!!!!

 The image the Kate sent was a bit of a challenge for me, so I looked up how some creations in the gallery on SCS.  I found a couple of ideas that were birthday cards with the balloons and almost all of the cards had glitter added for sparkle on the pony.   Some of my added elements were using a Spica clear pen on the pony’s mane and tail as well a white gel pen on the balloons.  There is also a cupcake brad on the patterned paper in the inside.

I think this card turned out very cute—and I hope Kate as well as the others in the swap like it also. 

Image/Sentiment—Stampin’ Up Pony Party/ Create a Cupcake Sentiment

Cardstock— SU Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirquette, Patterns Love DSP

Ink—Memento Tuxedo Black; SU Riding Hood Red

Accessories—Copic Markers; Circle and Petite Scallops Nesties; Punches; Pink Ribbon; Pink Brads; White Gel Pen; Twine; Spica Clear Glitter Pen; Cupcake Brad

I have entered this card in the following challenges:
Top Tip Tuesday---It's all about Circles
Cupcake Craftroom--Layers
Love to Create--3 of Something
Let's Ink it up--All Girl
The Squirrel and the Fox--Kids or Babies

Dueling Darlings ~ Get Your Grill On!

It is the 15^th of the month and that means another Dueling Darlings challenge.  Our hostess this month for the Divas is Tami.  The theme that Darlene, the hostess for the Dazzlers and Tami came up with is Grilling!

I love this image and I am going to admit that I do not have this stamp (and all of the Darling’s are gasping at this time…..What? Barb does not have this Whipper Snapper stamp?) All of the things Tami sent were so fun and I had a blast coloring him up.  When I cut out the image with my labels die, I thought it looked odd with the “bubble” on the top and bottom.  So, I trimmed off the bottom and made it flat.  I needed to do that also to the two layers of cardstock that I also cut with my die.  I think it looks pretty good!

Here is the inside of my card—it is time for a party!

I love to grill—summer, winter—any season. Last weekend was our annual 4^th of July party and I worked the grill with 3 dozen Brats, Italians and Hot Dogs!  We were also asked to share a favorite recipe for a cookout.  My recipe is below and though it is not a grillin’ recipe, it is made every year for the cookout!  I love it—Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole.

Image/Sentiment—Whipper Snapper Grill Sergeant/Inside Kolette Hall

Ink—Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper—SU Cherry Cobbler; Gina K In the Navy, Little Boy Blue; We R Memory Keepers and My Mind’s Eye patterned papers

Accessories—Copic Markers; SU White Ribbon and Offray Red over the top; Quickutz Frame Label 2 Dies; Darcie Rhinestones; White Gel Pen (on shoes)

Please be sure to stop in to see what all of the Divas as well the Dazzlers have created this month.  All of the blogs are on the left sidebar of my blog.  I am sure you will enjoy all of the grilling creations.  Thanks for joining us!!!!!!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
Craft Punked--Summertime
The Stamp Man Challenges.-Summer colours
Wags-n-whiskers-Red/White/Blue
Sweet Stampin-Colors of your Country's Flag

Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole

1 (2 pound) package frozen hash brown potatoes, thawed

1/2 cup melted butter

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup

1 (8 ounce) container sour cream

1/2 cup chopped onions

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups crushed cornflakes cereal

1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

In a large bowl, combine hash browns and 1/2 cup melted butter—set aside.

In a second bowl, blend the cream of chicken soup, sour cream, chopped onion, cheddar cheese, salt and pepper. Mix in with the potatoes and place the mixture in a 3 quart casserole dish or 9 x 13 cake pan.

Drizzle the final 1/4 cup melted butter over the mixture and sprinkle the corn flakes over the top of the butter.

Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes

I do hope you try this recipe--it is sooooooooooooooo good!