Tiddbits from Dawn

Where in the World?

Some of you may be asking where in the world have I been. I really took an unintentional extended blogging break. I even had cards made to post but no time to get them posted. They're Valentine cards but I thought I'd share them today anyway and then I'll share a little about my week last week.

This first card was the card I made for my mother. It was fun to make and could be used for other occasions besides Valentines Day. A quick water color background panel was made by inking up a clear block and spritzing it with some water and stamping onto watercolor paper. That was a great place for a die cut heart from the Bloomin' Hearts Thinlits in Blushing Bride Card Stock.

Next up are a couple of cards I make using some downloads I cut with my Silhouette. The first one is perfect for our teenage computer whiz friend, Will. He would like to build his own computer some day.

The next one was for our 2 year old grand daughter, Lucy, who loves doughnuts. I found a cute cut file for a doughnut in the Silhouette Design Store too. I used the Labeler Alphabet for the sentiment and sprinkles I found in Party With Cake. The extra hearts came from Perpetual Birthday Calendar.

Next is Greer's, our nine year old grand daughter's card. She wears purple glasses!

Okay, that wraps up my Valentines cards for 2017! I felt like I made Valentines forever. I pulled one out of my stash of cards I had made a year or two ago for my husband. He didn't notice!

As for my whereabouts, I'll keep it short and sweet. I want to say I did have a good time but it was interesting too. We went up to NC to keep two of our grandchildren for a week while our son and daughter-in-law went to a conference. We drove up on a Thursday. We took our dog along with us at our son's invitation. They have three dogs, a cat and 14 chickens themselves. One of their dogs is a 3 month old puppy, cute as she can be, but inside for another month and not house broken. Our dog, Oscar, did not like the puppy and their two big outdoor dogs did not like Oscar. Every time we took Oscar outside we had to kennel the dogs. Friday went along fine but Saturday my husband woke up and his "cold" had escalated to the point where he was weak and felt like he should go to Urgent Treatment. The flu, his shot had failed him! We had to isolate him and that left me to tend to the menagerie and the kids! I went through a whole roll of paper towels on Saturday alone with the puppy! The kids were good and we managed to get out of the house and do a few things. My husband was able to join us for a Valentine Day pancake dinner! We all made it through the week and I just felt bad (and so did he) that Poppie couldn't join in with some of the fun!

Yesterday, we had Cards & Coffee here and then I started stripping wallpaper from my new craft room. That gives me a month before our next Cards & Coffee to make some good progress on it. Have a great day! - Dawn

 

 

 

The Stamp Review Crew: Sunshine Sayings

The Stamp Review Crew is back on our regularly scheduled hop this week and we're sharing projects made with Sunshine Sayings. Just in case you haven't hopped along with us before, we're a group of International Stampin' Up! Demonstrators who hop on the first & third Monday of each month. What makes us different is that we all use the same stamp set to showcase things that you can make too! In case you get lost along the way please click on the banner above where you'll be directed to The Stamp Review Crew blog and you'll find more information and a full list of hoppers for this week. You can easily get back on track there.

You may have started here on my blog or you may have come from Holly Krautkremer's blog Rubber Redneck. Holly always has a fun project to share. I'm sure you've already been inspired there!

I have two cards to share with you on this hop. Of course, I'm busy working on my Valentine cards so one of them is for Valentine Day!

To start this card the heart from the coordinating Thinlits, Sunshine Wishes, was die cut from some Thick White card stock. The negative space was used as a mask over the Real Red card stock so the "LOVE" from Sunshine Says could be repeatedly stamped inside the negative with Versa Mark Ink. All the words on front of the card were embossed with White Embossing Powder. Finally the die cut heart was added back to the negative space before. And it was as simple as that.

Inside the card I did add a Valentine sentiment from Sealed with Love and two hearts made with the leaf image from Sunshine Sayings.

I needed a couple of birthday cards for next week so I decided to use Sunshine Sayings and make one!

I used the same technique that I used last week for this card but I used the flower and leaf image from Sunshine Sayings for the background. Daffodil Delight seems the perfect color bring out all the sunshine needed to carry the birthday greeting!

And inside this card...

Well, you're ready to hop along now to My Sandbox, Nikki Spencer's blog. I can't wait to see what inspiration we find there because she always has something inspiring! 

 

The Stamp Review Crew: SAB Free For All

Don't you love the banner Tanya created for The Stamp Review Crew hop this week? Free stuff is fun!! That's why this is a special hop this week, we're celebrating all the free Sale-A-Bration (SAB) items you can earn for each $50 in product that you purchase. What to choose from the SAB brochure is a hard decision! This isn't our normal hopping week or the normal way we do things. For our regular hops, the first & third Monday of each month, we all use the same stamp set to showcase ideas for using it. Today is different in that you'll find everyone using whatever Sale-A-Bration item(s) that they choose to use. I hope you have fun hopping along with us and I know you're going to find a bunch of inspiration for using those SAB products yourself. I know I will! If you get lost along the way just click the link or banner above to go The Stamp Review Crew site and you'll find a full list of hoppers and there are a lot of us this week! Have fun!!

If you didn't start hopping with me you may have come from Yapha Mason's blog, Stamps & Scraps with Yapha. Fun stuff going on over there!

My card for this week is created using Hey, Chick. I have seen so many cute, cute uses for this set already. I combined a couple of the chickens and the egg image with the Sunburst Thinlit Die and the Labeler Alphabet stamp set, which I use a ton, to create my card today. Take a look...

Those two chickens have got it goin' on! They look like they are dancing to me. They do go together though! I used the new Watercolor Pencils, which have gone on backorder already they're so popular, to color this pair. I am really enjoying the way they color too. This is a 3 1/2" x 5" notecard size card and it's pretty straight-forward as to how it went together. The sentiment was stamped in Chocolate Chip ink and each word was trimmed out individually. A full Sunburst was cut out on the Big Shot and attached to the card front. Then all the edges were trimmed off so it would be in just the right position to add the chickens underneath the sun.

I think the real fun is inside the card. When I saw the note die in the Love Notes Framelits Dies it looked like a piece of toast to me! See what you think. Remember this is the inside of the card above to complete the sentiment.

Did anybody else see toast? Those little eggs were perfect to put on top. When I was little, and still today, when I don't feel well I want an egg on toast. I loved to watch my mother make it for me especially as she cracked the 5 minute egg on top of the toast and scooped out the cooked egg from its shell. That's what this reminded me of and I may be the one who's cracked! Anyway, I'm sending this card off to my mother and hope she gets my sentiment!

You're ready to hop along to see what Betty Traciak has created on her blog, Kitty Stamp. I know you'll find more inspiration there! I wonder what Sale-A-Bration goodies she's used!

Thinking Hearts

Hearts are what this little raccoon has on his mind today.

I'm trying to get a head start on my Valentine cards. Are you? When I saw this week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches I decided to use it to create another one using it. I don't know why but I started looking through the Designer Series Paper Stack, A Little Foxy, and low and behold there was this sheet of cute gray hearts. Yippee! That little raccoon is so cute and so easy to stamp with the Foxy Friends stamp set. I used Smoky Slate and Basic Gray inks to stamp him. Adding Real Red card stock and ink was the perfect addition for a Valentine card.

Inside the card I added a miniature panel and a sentiment using Layered Alphabet and Sunshine Sayings.

 

Here's the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches that started this card.

I have to tell you a funny story about another raccoon card I made. I wrote each of my daughter's three boys a thank you note for some birthday gifts they made me. Each of them had a different animal from Foxy Friends. I sent Will, the youngest who's 5, the one with the raccoon on it. I went up a couple of weeks after sending the cards to babysit and noticed that the older two boys had their cards on display. So I asked Will where his card was and the other two boys quickly volunteered the information that Will didn't like his card and tried to give it away to a friend. He said he doesn't like raccoons. I'm tempted to send him this one for Valentine's! :) But I won't!!

It's the weekend! I'm taking a class at a quilt store tomorrow on how to use the many rulers that are out there since I first learned to quilt 35 years ago. It's kind of a "try it before you buy it" type class so I'll see how that goes! I hope you have something fun planned this weekend. - Dawn

If you've ever considered becoming a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator now is the time. Take a look below and if you would like more information click the image or email me using the button on the sidebar.

Sending Love

Yesterday morning was Cards & Coffee. I have such a good group of women who come to Cards & Coffee and it's different each month depending on who can come. No matter who is here we always have fun. I do try to keep it simple for the most part so we can keep to our hour time frame. I pre-cut, including dies, as much as I am able and even tie bows ahead of time because I know that will bring smiles. :) This card was the first one we made yesterday. It took a little time but everyone went home happy with it.

The tiny envelopes in the Sealed with Love stamp set are just too cute and that's where this card began. There are so many things that are included in the die cut and stamps that can be put in the envelopes. I chose this little love note which pulls out from the envelope. Another little message is stamped inside. The envelope and notes are easily cut out with the Love Notes Framelit Dies. A touch of Pink Pirouette was added to the mix in addition to the Real Red and Whisper White. The red and white are colors found in the Sending Love Designer Series Paper Stack. If you haven't seen this paper stack you should take a look at it. Every print in it is adorable. The one here has "love" written in many languages. The Layered Circles Framelits was the perfect place to perch the envelopes so they'd be the star of the card. Once all the elements were made I tried adding them to a plain Thick Whisper White card stock base but it needed something else. As usual, I turned to an embossing folder to complete the look. It was the Happy Heart Embossing Folder! Now I have two Valentine cards down and many more to go!

Inside the card are just a couple more stamped images...

I've got a long "to do" starting out 2017 and we're already half way through January. I'm in the process of getting ready to move my craft room and there's lots to do there. I picked up paint samples yesterday just so I could look at them in the different light in the room before making a choice. I have a ways to go before paint goes on. I'm moving my room because I've started sewing a good bit again along with card making and I don't have enough wiggle room in my small room for both things. Before I can do anything, I have to pack up the room into which I'm moving and that's what I hope to work on today. Fingers crossed! I hope you have a fun day and maybe squeezing in some card making! - Dawn

 

The Stamp Review Crew: Playful Pals Edition

January 16th already, half way through the first month of 2017 and time for another hop with the Stamp Review Crew.  As the banner says, we're all using Playful Pals on this hop to give you some inspiration for a set that first joined us in the 2016 Occasions Catalog. Just in case you haven't hopped with us before I'll fill you in a bit but you can find more information about us and a full list of this week's hoppers by clicking the banner above. We're a group of International Stampin' Up! Demonstrators who hop on the first and third Monday of each month. What's different about us is that we all use the same stamp set to bring you lots of ideas for using it. 

If you didn't start right here on my blog then maybe you came from My Papercraft Journey, Kelly Kent's blog. Kelly's way on the other side of the world from me in Australia and she always has awesome ideas to share!

I went a little wild today, appropriate for animals though isn't it? There are so many fantastic things people have come up with using Playful Pals and their coordinating Thinlits Dies, Playful Pyramids. I did use a couple of the animals parts thinlits but I didn't create any pyramids. 

Getting a head start on some cards for the next month, I started with a Valentine card for one of the grand boys! I'll probably be making one or two more of this one. I used the Labeler Alphabet to make the greeting. The row of sweet little hearts is from Sending Love, in the Occasions catalog.

I'm just going to show you the inside of this card to finish off the pun. This little sentiment is also found in Sending Love.

I also need another baby card this month and it's another baby card for a girl. A pink bunny will work!

Flirty Flamingo, Sweet Sugarplum, some embossed Polka Dots, a bow and done! The sentiment is from Suite Sayings.

Our youngest grandchild turns two at the end of the month. Now I can cross her card off the list!

She has a new dog at her house and our daughter says Lucy "mothers" him constantly. To go along with her card, she's getting her own stuffed puppy that she can mother all she wants!

Finally, I couldn't stop, one more card celebrating our nearby National Football Champions, the Clemson Tigers.

It doesn't hurt that our three children and their spouses are all Clemson Alum!

You're ready to hop along to Tanya Boser's blog, Tinkerin-in-ink. Tanya's the brains behind this hop and she always amazes me with her great cards! Can't wait to see what she has for us this week…now let's get going!

 

Going Global for FMS 223

This is an unusual Saturday post for me. I managed to squeeze in a card for Freshly Made Sketches this week and this was the time I could get it posted. I used Going Global stamp set and Going Places Designer Series Paper to create my entry.

When I saw the sketch I thought of arrows for the diagonal pieces. I went to my Silhouette and found an arrow image to quickly cut out. They're crossed behind the globe and the banner goes right across it. The banner die in the Large Number Dies coordinates with the banner stamp. I always like it when that works out!

Inside the compass was stamped off one time before stamping it on Very Vanilla card stock so that the sentiment would show up on top of it!

And the sketch that started this card.

The Stamp Review is hopping again Monday. Be sure to stop back and join us! It's a fun hop this week and you don't want to miss it. Have a great weekend. - Dawn

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A Cat With Heart for PP 281

I saw The Paper Players challenge this week, use a cat or dog  on your card, and counted myself out. Then, I remembered the retired set Cool Kid. It has a cat and a dog. I had another idea for the dog but needed a Valentine for a cat lover and I came up with this idea...

Who can resist that cute cat with a stack of hearts? I had the help of the heart punch from the Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack, the Hearts Border Punch and the Heart Confetti Punch to make that stack of hearts. As long as I had retired product out I got out the Good Greetings set for the sentiment too. I love this font! I may pull this set out again to make the idea I had using the dog image from this set too!

Inside, is another retired sentiment from Just Sayin'. Some stamps I can't give up, just sayin'!

And the challenge that started it all….

I hope your weekend and your Valentine's Day is filled with love! See you back Monday for another Stamp Review Crew Blog Hop. - Dawn

Dressed for Love

I'm so glad the Snow Place Stamp Set and the coordinating Snow Friends Framelits did not retire with the Holiday Catalog. I think are a lot of ways to use these guys all year long. In fact, I used it for our two oldest grandsons' Valentine cards.

This little penguin is all spiffed up in his Real Red Glimmer Paper bow tie. The piece of Designer Series Paper, from Everyday Chic, with the all-over "x" print seemed like just the right piece go along with that sentiment from Bloomin' Love. Besides the sparkly balloons this penguin also taking hugs & kisses to our grandsons…and maybe a little something else too. :)

The inside is just like the inside of the last two days' cards….

I'm heading to the gym early this morning. It's way too cold and windy for a walk. Unfortunately, I have too much to do today to try get one in this afternoon. Stay warm! - Dawn

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Valentine Bear

I knew I had to have the Bear Hugs Bundle when I saw it. We call one of our grandsons Grey Bear! This has been my first opportunity to use it. It was perfect to create a Valentine card for three of our grandsons. Grey is not one who will be getting the bear this time though.

He is definitely carrying his Valentine message in both hands! He's taking his Valentine greetings to our three wildest grandsons…those with a lot of personality, if you're following me. :) He's standing in some grass cut with a Lawn Fawn grass edgelit. The sun and clouds are Wplus9 dies. They both add something special to this background!

Inside the card is the same as yesterday's card for Will since I did all the insides of the grandkids cards alike!

This bear is going to come in handy for some more events. Can't wait to use him again! Now I've got to get to the Post Office and get some of these Valentine cards in the mail. See you tomorrow! - Dawn

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