Catered Crop: BFFs Make Life Sweeter

It's time for a new challenge at Catered Crop: Best Friends Forever!

Yes’m, old friends is always best,
’less you can catch a new one that’s fit to make 
an old one out of.
~ Sarah Orne Jewett



My blog friend, Bev at Happy Dance, recently did a great card with the Sweet Tooth set from Clear and Simple Stamps.  The set went right on my wishlist and I couldn't believe my luck when CSS had a huge sale!  So, here's my use of the fun candy in the set along with a shout-out to all of my friends who make life sweeter!



Everybody needs friendship cards - so be sure to play along!  Linda always curates an inspiration board on Pinterest - then next Sunday, the cards from the design team will be displayed on the Catered Crop blog.  

I am also using the current sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch.

• Stamps: Clean and Simple Stamps Sweet Tooth
• Paper: white
• Ink: Memento black and Copics
• Accessories: Clean and Simple Stamps Sweet Tooth dies, Pretty Pink Posh sequins from Summer Embellishment Kit, Papertrey Ink Stitched Pinked Edge Label die, Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder, Hemptique 10-lb black twine

Curtain Call Reminder: Birthday Bash

This is my second post today.

Just a reminder that there are still a few days left to play along with the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Birthday Bash!  You have until July 10th at 8 a.m. Central time to be inspired and play along with this fun and simple graphic.  There are a number of new cards by the design team over at Curtain Call today!

The design team got to play with Top Dog Dies.  I had ordered before I saw the challenge graphic and I got these sweet birds on a branch.  I've been scratching my head wondering what I could do with the birds based on the graphic.  I finally decided to go with the ultimate "birthday" and then focus on the white with a few colorful circles.


I hope you are inspired to play along.  Remember...you don't have to use a Top Dog die - but the LEAD of the challenge will win some Top Dog dies!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Tiny Tags II
• Paper: Simon Says Fog and Smoke (and there's actually a layer of Slate behind the bird die cut)
• Ink: Versamark with white embossing posder
• Accessories: Top Dog Dies Birds and Nest die, Cherish Doilies and Tag Set (the stitched part is not part of the Top Dog die), Mini Tags die, misc enamel dots and sequins

I'm Late to the Party (As Usual!)

Imagine my horror when I sat down yesterday and caught up on almost a week's worth of blogs to discover that the wonderful Darnell had a birthday.  This is compounded by the fact that Darnell had personally asked me for my birth date and had actually sent a card.  She's like that.  Besides running a popular and side-splittingly funny blog, she always gives warm welcomes to any new followers and she remembers birthdays! She is not someone whose birthday I should have missed.

Darnell is also the creator of the acronym NBUS - Never-Before-Used Schtuff.  She makes a public effort to use all of those supplies that are purchased and then often put away without ever being used and challenges us to do the same. She recently held a NBUS challenge on her blog and wrapped it up by proclaiming that after commenting on and being inspired by the 281 entries, she has lots of new NBUS stuff in her own personal pile (now named Mt. NBUS!).  Of course, I had to raid my NBUS stash for her card.

Happy Belated Birthday Darnell!


The NBUS on this card is just the tag die and the hint of zig-zag border die.  Both are the first two dies created by Pretty Pink Posh.  The tag is nice with its stitching and the center "window" is a second die so you could cut a solid tag too.  (The sequins and ribbon are also from Pretty Pink Posh.  The die and sentiment are from Simon Says. The sun and cloud are Lil' Inkers.)
I ended up making two birthday cards because I wanted to show you that those center rectangles are a die on its own and cute little stitched rectangles!

So the little rectangles are from the Pretty Pink Posh tag.  The sentiment is from Simon Says.  The bigger dies are Mama Elephant.)
I made the first shaker card because of the Simon Says Shake It challenge.
The layout on the second card comes from Iwona's current Sketchbook Saturday.

Happy Belated Birthday Darnell!!! 

Merry Monday: White-on-White

 I have gotten very bad at getting ahead on Christmas.  I was way ahead last year and it made that last month so much easier.  I have to remember that feeling and get moving again this year.  This week's Merry Monday kicked me into gear because I love white-on-white Christmas cards.


FYI - I gave up trying to get a good picture of this one.  I have trouble with white cards.  I have trouble with glitter.  I didn't stand a chance of getting a great picture of this, so I gave up fairly early!
Here's a close-up.  I was trying to get a more dimensional look by layering two of the tree die cuts.  You can see that some trees are behind the top layer - but it's really too subtle to be really effective.

• Stamps: Mama Elephant Merry Greetings
• Paper: white
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: My Favorite Things Tree Lines die, Memory Box Star of Wonder die, Heat-n-Stick powder, Martha Stewart Fine Crystal Glitter, Pretty Pink Posh 4 mm Sparkling Clear sequins, Lawn Fawn twine

Let's Celebrate the 4th with Reverse Confetti

Happy 4th of July to my American friends!

I hope you are able to celebrate with parades and picnics and fireworks!

I'm playing along with the current sketch at Reverse Confetti.

And with the colors at colourq. (I love that they are patriotic yet rustic.)

• Stamps: Reverse Confetti Beautiful Banners
• Paper: Stampin' Up Sahara Sand, Ruby Red, Marine Mist, Not Quite Navy
• Ink: Stampin' Up Not Quite Navy
• Accessories: Reverse Confetti Oh My Stars Confetti Cuts, Stampin' Up embossing folder, Heat 'n Stick Powder, Martha Stewart Fine Crystal Glitter

Sometimes...Life Stinks!

Life really does stink for my 14-year old right now.  He injured his knee a week ago.  This is a kid who plays competitive lacrosse and has hidden injuries from us just so he can play - but this injury is different.  We got him to his regular doctor last week who told him to stay off it and keep it up, so my active guy has unhappily been sitting in a lounge chair in front of the TV for a week.  The doctor also referred him to a pediatric orthopedist and we finally got in yesterday.  My poor guy cried with every bump during the car ride there, then the doctor bent and moved and manipulated his knee.  A very bad day for Erik.  After all of that, it's actually probably good news (but might end up being bad news), the doctor just couldn't tell for sure because of the swelling and stiffness.  So Erik is facing a month of physical therapy (PT, otherwise known as "pain and torture".)

With all of that, you will likely see some cards of encouragement on my blog - although I actually have a decent stash of this type of card.  This first one seems like a good start.


I started out assuming I would have a creature and a word bubble to play along with the current sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch.  I found the skunk with the perfect sentiment so didn't need the word bubble.  I thought the rain clouds and a few raindrops seemed like an appropriate substitute.

• Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Stinkin' Cute, Lots of Dots (for the three little dots after "sometimes")
• Paper: Simon Says Stamp Island Blue
• Ink: Simon Says Stamp Island Blue, Memento Black, Copics
• Accessories: Simon Says Stamp Cloud Bank die, Pretty Pink Posh 4 mm sparkling clear sequins

Curtain Call: Birthday Bash with Top Dog

It's time for a new challenge at the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge - Birthday Bash!

Wow!  What couldn't you do with this festive graphic of the colorful circles??!!

The design team has had fun playing with Top Dog Dies for this challenge.  They have everything from wafer thin dies to the big steel-rule dies that can cut chipboard, etc. for a variety of fun projects!  The LEAD of this challenge will receive some Top Dog Dies of their choice!

I was inspired by the happy circles in the graphic - although I didn't use quite so many of them - just a few smiling circles!

The doily is from the Cherish doily set which also includes a smaller doily and two cute tags.  All the other die cuts come from the Camera Finishers set.  The set includes the smiley, the filmstrip, the arrow and eight other dies!  (The stamps are Paper Smooches Party Posse.)
There is quite a variety of cards over on the Curtain Call blog - be sure to check it all out.  Here are all of the designers you will see!

Birthday Bash Designers

Amber Kroening

Amy Kolling

Amy Tsuruta

Gayatri Murali

Kim Singdahlsen

Laurie Willison

Lisa Henke

Marisa Ritzen

Maureen Plut

Monika Davis

Sheri Gilson

Sarah Gough

Stacey Schafer

Tenia Nelson

Tracey McNeely

Then stop by the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Birthday Bash and play along with us!