What's on My Kitchen Counter

Today is the terribly exciting Dude Time Doodles New Release Blog Hop. There are some great new images available, and the Design Team is showcasing the images with their wonderful creations. My Patriotic card was made with Minute Man Marty. He symbolizes how much of a contribution the average Joe (or Marty in this case - LOL) has made in every group's (countries, peoples, individuals, etc.) quest for rights. I could see him used on a card with comments like "Give me a drum roll please...," "American Band" (with some words from the song), "Dance to your own beat." Fun!!! Hopefully, you came here from Ruth's wonderful blog and now you should finish off back at Dude Time Doodles just click here . If you didn't come from Ruth's blog, be sure to jump on the hop and visit everyone as you won't want to miss the fun. Leave comments at each stop on the hop as one of us is giving away a prize but we aren't telling which one it is....

This week's Fresh Brewed Designs Challenge is to make a card with Red, Yellow and Teal (FBC #101). I used a great image I won by commenting on Fresh Brewed DT member Sheryl's blog . Papers, twine, and button from SU!, and I computer generated the sentiment. Today was a day when I needed a little more coffee - hope you were luckier!!!! Hugz!

So what constitutes Eerie Elegance? The Haunted Design House Challenge (HDH138) this week is to make something that falls into the category of Eerie Elegance. So strange how creatiions seem to create themselves sometimes... Of course, I reread The Murders at the Rue Morgue before I started this card so I was thinking of night scenes, mystery, intelligent quirky men, and dangerous animals (Poe was such a genious). The image is from the net, and I just used a little part of it in order to focus on the clocktower. The frame is from a Sizzix die, my papers are from SU! and Hobby Lobby, and the flower arangement is made with a Die-Namics Rolled Rose die plus some pieces of blackery (as opposed to greenery - LOL) punched with a MS Branch Punch (my very fav punch in the world). I think I am going to add something inside like "...but we can pretend it does with a little botox and a good hairdresser." Hugz!!!!

It's Inspiration Week at Dude Time Doodles and this is the inspiration photo. The challenge is to make something related to a Wedding or Anniversary using this photo to inspire you. When I first learned about Dude Time Doodles, two images really grabbed my attention. One was a great fishing lure ( click here ) and the other was a wonderful ice bucket filled with bottles and cans( click here ). I have so many avid fishermen in my family that I could have used either image in this challenge. In the end, I went with the ice bucket! I printed out the image twice and used one as my base panel which I cut out and backed in black using Spellbinders fancy oval dies. I then fussy cut the bucket and celebratory items and colored them with Copics. I then covered the whole bucket with Tim Holtz Rock Candy Distress Stickles so it would like it had a layer of ice. I liked that look so I put some Diamond and Crystal Stickles on the ice to make it look more realistic. My papers are f

The new challenge at Can You Digi It? blog is Where is the Color? The inspirational photos are black and white with a hint of color, and they are very inspiring. I chose the LilyPink Designs Emma and Edward at Sea image which is available in the store. I printed the image once on Grey paper from Mark's Finest Papers and then again on Whisper White from SU!. I fussy cut the sails and the people so that I could lightly sponge them and add texture to the sails (I rolled the stylus on the back of the paper in little circles). I did add a touch of color with Red Stickles on the heart at the top of the sail. Since there was only a little sparkle on the heart, I added some Crystal Stickles to Emma's Shirt and some Rock Candy Distress Stickles to the fish (you can get the Rock Candy Stickles in the CYDI? store here ). I made the fluffy clouds and sea foam with a snow writer. My sentiment was a freebie off the Tiddly Inks Blog and the little fishie is part of a Fresh Brewed D

I love to case my friends! Last night, I was looking at this wonderful card by Marisa on her blog, Rosemary Reflections (you need to check out her blog as it is full of the cleanest, crispest, most colorful things). I love Marisa's CAS style, and the way she loves to play with colors. I didn't quite capture her crispness - I should have used white instead of speckled white and I should have embossed my sentiment. Next time Marisa!!!! At least I finally got up the guts to try since CAS is not easy for me! I loved the sketch and color challenges Marisa used: ColorQ and Freshly Made Sketches so I may try to play in them when I am not specifically casing someone. My sentiment is from Verve (Marisa loves Verve), my cs is all SU!, and the dp is from my stash (I think it might be My Minds Eye). The flower is from Doodlebug Designs (I layered it, scrunched it, and glittered it up) - I won it a year or so back on the Midnight Madness Challenge. Hugz to all (and special hugz to

WARNING - This post is just a bunch of pictures posted by an outrageously proud Mom! It may be a bit like watching Aunt Jane and Uncle Bill's vacation pictures from the last 10 years!!! We discovered the best photographer! Lauri Ann Photography hasn't been in business long, but this girl has talent! Of course, her subject was very special, and I admit I am biased on this suject!!! Here are a few of my favorites (the long dress is a dress Allie ordered an on on-line sale that they wouldn't take it back).

Happy Birthday to the Octopode Factory Blog - one year of amazing creations with the very amazing Octopode images! Of course, the challenge is all about Birthdays. I made some cute little purses for a friend at work who love, love, loves purses. She also loves Alabama Football and the color red. I am going to fill them with chocolate kisses - I know she will love them. I found the purse template at Brittney's Budget Crafts . The Keep Calm and Carry On circle is from The Octopode Factory - it was a free gift by Lily a few weeks ago, and I love it! Papers are from SU! and Hobby Lobby. This card is for the Dilly Beans Challenge this week which is about Sugar. It is also for the Fresh Brewed Designs Blog challenge (Anything Goes - FBD100 ). I saw the coolest picture on Pinterest (actually it was pinned or repinned by my friend Carol - thanks Carol) - you can see it here . I found it last night and it seemed to work perfectly with the Dilly Beans Challenge; plus I needed a really

A color challenge with one of my fav color combinations! The Haunted Design House challenge this week (HDH137) is to make something with purple, lime green, teal, and black. Oh, I had 5,000 card ideas in my head because I love, love, love these colors together. I even thought of having some slime come out of the Johnny on the Spot image from this week's Dude Time Doodles freebie image - I still may try that! In the end, I decided to go with a flower arrangement. My card base is from my very last sheet of Taken with Teal from SU! (sniff, sniff), and I layered it with some other SU! cardstock papers. The dp is from My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy stack and my scrap pile of unknown origins. The ribbon is from SU! but is retired. To make the flower arrangement, I started with a sheet of Whisper White from SU! and sponged on sections of various SU! inks (Elegant Eggplant, Orchid Opulence, Gable Green, Taken with Teal, and Tempting Turquoise - some of these pads a 6 years old!).

This week's Dude Time Doodles Challenge is the Freebie/Guest Designer challenge. If you like freebies and would like to be a guest designer for Dude Time Doodles, you need to try out this challenge. The images are soooo fun and this design team is super fun to work with. I won the May challenge, and I highly recommend entering. This month's image is a toilet or loo or whatever you want to call it. Visit Dude Time Doodles for the details and grab the image. If you do nothing else, go to the blog and check out what the Design Team came up with - it is some pretty creative stuff! Who knew that a toilet could be used to make so many different cards! I went with some political humor (the second card I have ever made that had a political current running through it). My Mother loves political humor (especially when it matches up with her current way of thinking) and so does her cousin George; so this card will be going to George who will totally flip over it. I used some SU!

This week's Octopode Challenge is Girls Just Want to Have Fun (TOFF#51) and the Southern Girls Challenge is Things With Wings (#46) so I combined them in this card. Most people would probably go with butterflies and party scenes, but I decided to do a tribute to Ray Bradbury since I am a sci-fi fan. I love this quote from Ray - it means different things to different people. To me it means you should not be afraid to try new things just because you don't already know everything about them, and that you should always being trying new things and ideas or you will get stagnant and then not want to try anything new. I also like to think it applies to situations where you have no choice but to try something new - like when you lose a job or a relationship falls apart or you find out you have diabetes or seizures or your hurt your knee; you are then thrown off the cliff but you should start building your wings immediately! My images are from the following: Jolee from Octopod

TOFF#50 from the Octopode Factory calls for a Black and White Creation and the Delicious Doodles Challenge #20 calls for Diamonds (Diamonds are Forever - for the Diamond Jubilee) so I merged them into this sparkly black and white sympathy card. The image is from Delicious Doodles (my fav image from them). I printed two copies of the digi and then cut out the wolf and popped it up for more depth. I typed in the words using a white font. This is the latin translation of the Quote, "The Heart that truly loves never forgets" which is attributed to a chinese proverb, Thomas Moore, and Heart (I went with Heart having really liked them when I was younger). The words are: pectus pectoris ut verum diligo nunquam alieno which sounds really cool to me. - kind of calming. I used half a bottle of Diamon Stickles by Ranger on this card - on the wolves' breath, the trees, and all around the black panels (mainly to hide a little boo boo). I missed the challenge deadline for Del

I am so excited that I won last month's Dude Time Doodles Guest Designer Challenge, and I get to play with the way cool Dude Time Doodles Images and the awesome Design Team for the whole month of June! The first challenge this month is all about Boys and Their Toys . I absolutely love this Under Carriage Craig image because a lot of men in my life still get under cars and get all dirty! I made this one as a thank-you card for my neighbor who watched over our cows while we were out of town the last few weeks. He loves to work on cars and he even said the other day that you can never have too many tools. The image comes with a toolbox in the lower left corner so I cropped out the rest of the image and blew up the toolbox so I could add my typed sentiment to it. I also printed another copy of the image out and cut out just the pants, the grill, and the lights. I am not the best at coloring so I like to add some ink to the edges of my images with a bit of a sponge. I can onl

The new Can You Digi It? Challenge is called Button It Up. I needed to make a birthday card for my youngest daughter Allie. She will be 17 today. She loves the beach so I decided to go with a beach theme and use the ReviDevi Sail Away With Us Lighthouse . I also used a few other items from the Can You Digi It? store including a button from the My Minds Eye Miss Caroline Dolled Up pins and buttons set and the My Favorite Things Die-namics Mini Rolled Roses die . These rolled roses were so fun to make after I watched this video tutorial - before the tutorial they were not so much fun - LOL! After you get the hang of them, you can make them super quickly. Other supplies used: Netting from a Babybel Cheese Package A little crab sent by a friend SU! cardstock Hobby Lobby designer papers Copic Markers SU! Kraft Ink (for sponging on the edges) Dig out your buttons and come play in the Can You Digi It? Challenge - you could win a $10 store certificate and the store has some am

This cute card is for the Tiddly Inks "Flower Power #87" and the Haunted Design House "Truebie or not to Truebie (HDH136)" Challenges. The Haunted Design House Challenge is to be inspired by Trueblood which starts its 5th Season soon. I don't have the channel Trueblood is on, but my children gave me Season One for Christmas last year and I have read most of Charlaine Harris' novels which inspired the show (they are sooo fun - seriously, they are more comical than scary). I have been thinking about purchasing this cute Batty image from Tiddly Inks so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get her - isn't she adorable? I did another layer of the bat and popped him up so it would look more like he is flying. The sentiment was a free one available at Tiddly Inks, and I used it because I thought it looked like something Sookie and her friends would think or say. The red border on the left is made with a MFT Die-namics border die - looks kind of

This week's Haunted Design House Challenge (HDH135) is called Distressed Mistress or Pass the Distressing. The goal is to distress your creation. I chose the LilyPink Designs Bingo Dress Form and Wings from Can You Digi It? and I distressed my image by cutting it on the edges, using a stylus to cup so the wings curled, and I also sponged on some SU! Kraft Ink for color distressing. I added an extra layer of wings for more wing volume. All my cardstock is SU! and all the dp is from Hobby Lobby's Everyday Kraft Stack. I ink distressed all the papers. I love the little banner buttons and the button I used on the free space of the bingo dress form - they are all from My Minds Eye (available at Can You Digi It?). I used the ultra fun sketch from Fresh Brewed Designs Blog Challenge . I have felt pretty distressed lately, but after crafting this morning, I am feeling a bit more relaxed. Hope you are all having a great day! Hugz!!! Other supplies used: SU! Bakers Twine