Thank you...everywhere!

As I said, I'm going to try to focus on thank you cards for a bit after the May and June rush, but before I even get to the rush I needed one more. For this one I used the sketch from Unscripted Sketches and I'll put it up on the ABC Challenge also since T is for Thank you. I think I could enter the ABC Challenge 10 times and still need more of them.
Here's my fun little spring thank you for whoever in the world I need it for.

Once again the image is from Stamping Bella. I swear I do have other stamps. It seems they just fit my mood of late. The sentiments are actually one stamp inked up individually.

Rough day??

This is the second post today. Wow! That's the first time I've had to say that. Anyway, have you ever noticed how much a compliment can really make someones day? Especially when they're having a bad day or just don't feel like themselves. Sending a card is such an easy way to give someone a pick me up and yet, I seem to forget or run out of time during the day to get it done. A few challenges this week got me to thinking outside of my obligatory card box. You know the box with all the birthdays, thank yous, anniversaries, etc. that you have to send cards for. Thinking all this brought together the following card:

The image is from Stamping Bella. We've all had "those" days. The sentiment was put together with a font set from Just Right Stampers. It says, "even on your roughest day" and the inside says, "you are beautiful."
The sketch came from Sweet Sketch Wednesday. The color came from Raise the Bar where the challenge was to use your favorite color. I love purple, but hardly ever use it. I am quite happy with it's application here. Thanks to Paperplay Challenges I didn't use any patterned paper though I did emboss the strip along the botton and highlight it with sponged ink. It will also go up on Magical Crafts. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you will think of someone special today.

April Showers...

For the most part we haven't seen April showers this year. That probably means we'll have a really wet May, which works for me since we'll be gone for most of the month. We have been enjoying flowers though. The tulips are looking exceptionally good this year with their bright cheery colors and they are everywhere. Despite having wonderful weather and skipping the rain, I am choosing to honor the typical April Showers with Truly Scrumptious. Generally, our spring is nothing but rain so Spring has sprung with some flowers too over at S2G Challenges.

Here's my card.

The image is from Stamping Bella.
Enjoy the rain (or sunshine)!

A froggie thank you

Am I the only one who never seems to have enough Thank you cards on hand? I seem to run out of them as soon as I make them. I'm always running behind on thank yous. Maybe it's because of the cute kiddos. Since this revelation I've decided to focus on thank you cards for awhile. Of course, that will only work after I get through May and June and the many days they hold.

Here's a cute little thank you my son needs to send to thank someone for sending him The Princess and the Frog.



I used the sketch from papertake weekly. I CASED Mercy's card over at Crazy 4 challenges. It's also going up on Aly's Sunday Challenge.

I can't say for sure where the stamp images came from except the polka dot set from PTI. Hope you like.

Happy Birthday, Honey!

This week the Creative Card Crew challenge was all about Birthdays. Well, we always need birthday cards so why not? Except then I started thinking about the kind of birthday card and realized hubby's birthday is only weeks away. Oh dear, haven't even thought about thinking about what to get him. And then I came across Tuesday Taggers challenge to use balloons and cake. Perfect! Hubby loves it when I use balloons on his card. Eventually I looked at Becky's blog and found this idea.

With this inspiration.

Don't the lanterns look like balloons? To me they do and so this was born.

Add some glitter and all is good. He'll love it. The cake stamp is from Stampin Up and the sentiment is from Stampendous.

Happy Mother's Day

The Happily Ever Challenged challenge this month is one everyone should try their hand at. A Mother's Day card without using pink, mauve, laveder, or purple AND without using flowers. When I first read it I was sure it was doable. The colors were not much of a problem, but it's only natural to reach for flowers for Mother's Day and so the challenge was a little more challenging than first thought. I sat down to scour the stamp index and "found" my Huggabuggs from Stamping Bella. Then I realized my boys were going to be sending a Mother's Day card to Ms. Debbie, aka Grandma. Well, of course, the boys wouldn't use pink or purple and to them mauve and lavender are just pink and purple. And so, it all came out wonderfully AND I got the card done in plenty of time to send across the seas. So, here is my (and my boys) offering.



The background is done with Background Basics: Diamonds from PTI. The sentiment is something I picked up along the way somewhere. Thanks for looking.

Be Happy!

This card brings together a few challenges to make some happiness. First the sketch is from the OCC Sketch blog which is just a happy sketch. The then color came from The ABC challenge blog, R is for red. More happiness! The dots came from Stamptacular Sunday Challenge which brought a new level of cheeriness (is that a word?) to the project. And finally the sentiment as the focal point, or perhaps centered in the focal point came from Pile it on. Everything came together in a wonderful state of happiness. It just makes me smile.

The stamped sentiment is from Stamping Bella. Don't you just love the thought? And if you think about it, it's true. Just in case you can't really tell, the red paper on the bottom has open white spots on it. I hope you like it. It's off to a friend who recently sent me a note reminding me how much she likes getting cards from me. She spread happiness; so I'm sending some back!

JUGS27 - Here's to you

Here I am, amazed that yet another week has gone by. It seems someone pushed the fast forward button on my life lately. I guess kiddos will do that to you without even trying. Yet, I managed to squeeze in some time to participate in the JUGS challenge again this week. Two weeks in a row!! Yea! This week was the week of the sketch, which generally I don't feel to confident about. This one worked for me once I was reminded of these drink stamps from Art Gone Wild. It's actually a cube stamp. Anyway, I saw the sketch and then flipped through my stamp index and there it was - clear as a bell.



The lime stamp is from Stamps by Judith and the paper is once again from the scrap bin. Can you tell I'm trying to use up all the scraps? The little paper umbrella was picked up somewhere along the way and was actually in the kids stash of project stuff.

This card will be going to my friend in the desert for her birthday this summer. Something of a virtual drink to celebrate her. Hope you like.

Anyone for Anya...

The Anyone for Anya challenge blog has stretched it's wings to include the CC Designs line of stamps. Well, who can resist that? Not me, especially since I love this little guy and hadn't had a chance to ink him up. The wait is over. I didn't get too fancy, really plain actually, but this card is for a friend who was recently deployed and sometimes flatter is better when heading that way.



Inside the card says, "A true friend is you friend." That she is and always will be. Thanks for looking!

Mommy, please...

I finally got some crafty time and was looking forward to getting my hands dirty putting together something for the JUGS template challenge. Well, little did I know my time was not really going to be mine. Minutes after walking into the art room I heard little steps coming up the stairs. Of course, I did. And then it was, "Mommy can we please make my box?"

"My box," was in reference to the new box we had to make to replace the one he left by the bathroom sink. Apparently he didn't understand paper and water don't mix. Well, what is a mommy to do? Make his box. Luckily I already had them cut out. So instead of making something fabulous I made a new box with young one. In the process my little guy learned about heat embossing which he was very excited about.

Here are our boxes. Both used the Time for Takeout template from PTI. It's a great one for him because the handle is built into the template.



Mine is very simple because, well, one has to work fast with minimal supplies when helping a little one. The stamp is from PTI. Note the embossed heart on his box too.

Thanks for looking!