What's on My Kitchen Counter

Today, I stayed in my jammies and made a few cards - fun, fun, fun. I made this card for the following challenges: SCS - FS295 (click here to see Vicki's card that I cased) SCS - Twisted Sisters (to use Fall Leaves) Fresh Brewed - Apple Tree Photo Inspiratin Pattie's Creations - #53 Anything Goes Digistamp4joy - All The Leaves are Brown (but I have green ones too) My image is called Pork-o from Loopy4digis and it is available at Can You Digi It? and the green strip of paper is from Green Goddess Creations and is available at CYDI? too. This card is for the Haunted Design House Challenge #152 Chain Me Up, Chain Me Down challenge. I had to wait for time to make this one as I had to work a bunch of overtime this week. Marley is from Mo's Digital, and I had to use it for this interesting challenge. My bg paper is digi paper from Green Goddess Creations -I just changed the color and blurred the skulls.

Shakespearean greeting inspired by Much Ado About Nothing (I have a a book of Shakespeare's plays so I am counting this as from a book). I only had 30 minutes to do this card so I could get into the Octopode Challenge which ends before I get home today and is all about BOOKS (which I love, love, love so I couldn't miss this challenge). Love Shakespeare and this Octopode image is sooo great. I used some Delightfully Destressing Butterfly Bliss papers available at Can You Digi It?. Hugs and hope you have a wonderful day!

It's time for the Dude Time Doodles September Blog Hop, and there are some awesome new images. If you are participating in the blog hop, you should have come here from Dawn (wasn't her card wonderful?). If not, hop on and just continue on in a circle. Be sure to leave comments everywhere because the blog hop prize is selected from the mystery DT member. I love wolves and warewolves so I am thrilled to showcase the new image Wifred Wolfenstein. Now it is time to visit Anne and see the fun card she has designed. Hugz!

Can You Digi It?'s new challenge is Indian Summer and here is the inspiration board: I love the colors of Indian Summer and Fall, and this year I am going to really celebrate them because this past Summer in Alabama was tough. I am praying for nice cool weather and a really cold Winter (at least cold enough and long enough to kill the bugs who are my evil nemesises). I used Green Goddess Creations' Walk on the Wild Side paper pack and Zva Crystals which are both available in the CYDI? store. I changed the background colors on the papers in MS Word so that they would go with the theme. The leaves are cut out with Spellbinder Leaf Dies and the little branches were made with the Martha Stewart Branch Punch. Before I close this post, I wanted to thank everyone who comments on my blog. You are all so wonderful and you make me feel so much more connected in the world of crafting and blogging. I appreciate your time because I know how valuable it is! I promised to give awa...

Yesterday, I got to spend some lovely quality time with my oldest daughter, Crystal. She needed a baby shower card for a boy with chevrons on it (I got my chevrons from Can You Digi It? and they are part of a beatiful set by Michelle). I love the Featured Stamper challenge at SCS so we picked this lovely card by Jackie to case. She also wanted to enter a few more challenges (she thinks they really fun), so I checked out Pile-it-on which always has a cool theme and links to other great themes. This week, the Pile-it-on theme is felt or fabric so we added some burlap just like Jackie did on her card. We used my old reliable House Mouse baby with pacifer image so we are entering this in the House Mouse challenge which is Autumn (we figured the woodsy background would help us qualify there). Finally, we found a cute challenge called Just Keep Creating that has an Anything Goes Theme and we love the name! It was so nice to have this quality time with Crystal - it seems that once...

I worked a bunch overtime this week - even on Saturday, so I was thrilled to be able to sit down and craft this morning! There are only a few more hours left on the Squigglefly Challenge #37-SFC3712-Halloween so I had to seriously hurry on this one. I love Lynne Stansbery images because you can always make a quick and beautiful card without spending a ton of time on it. This image is called Come and get it. I added a sentiment and did some scoring with my ScorePal and it was done. Isn't that puppy sweet? Kind of reminds me of a child looking up at a cookie or candy jar. Hope you have a wonderful day! Hugz!

This week at Dude Time Doodles it is a fun inspirational challenge: I used Mitch Magistrate for my card. I needed a birthday card for a friend at work, and I know he will love this image. I love sentiments and often use them to add humor and fun to my cards. This week we are sponsored by TLC Creations and the challenge winner will receive a $10 certificate. I just discovered TLC Creations, and their stuff is AMAZING! They have any kind of sentiment you could think of - funny, sweet, touching, inspiring, current, vintage, etc. Here is a card I just made with their Leaves of Fall Sentiment set: Hope you will join us in our Add a Sentiment challenge (remember your creation should be for a Dude). Hugz!

Welcome to September's Fresh Brewed Designs Blog Hop ! This is Fresh Brewed Design's Biggest Blog Hop of the year. They have invited several guests to join in on the fun, and I get to be one of them (actually, I invited myself- LOL)! If you are just arriving here, then you need to start at the beginning and go to the Freshly Brewed Challenge Blog. If you are getting here from Marji's blog then you are right on track! The Hop this month includes ANY AND ALL previously released FBD rubber stamps! You will see a variety of stamps from 2010 - 2012 all done up pretty from many talented crafters. The card I created for you features the FBD Rubber Stamp Baby Bump . I used papers from my scrap bin so I am not sure who made them but my card base is SU! and I am pretty sure the dp on the flower is some retired dp from SU! It is double sided and I love how it looks on my crumpled flower - sponging the underside of the scallops would give the same look. I colored my imag...

This week's Haunted Design House Challenge (HDH#150) is "Oh My Gourd!" I love that title!!! The challenge requires a pumpkin or gourd inspired creation. It is suppose to be scary or dark and mine is only scary if you think about it. A pumpkin with leopard skin or tiger skin would be pretty scary wouldn't it? What would cause this type of thing other than mutant genes/cells/body structure - and what is scarier than that? Anyway, I made these pumpkins using my SU! Oval punch and some Green Goddess Walk on the Wild Side digi papers (from Can You Digi It?) - I love these papers! My leaves were made using a Spellbinders leaf die. Hugz to all and watch out for wild pumpkins!

This is Freebie/Guest Designer Week at Dude Time Doodles . The free image is the wonderfully fun Wanda Witch I have used on this card. The image is a freebie to those who want to enter the challenge. The challenge winner gets to be a Guest Designer at Dude Time for the month of October which means they get to hang out with the incrediably fun Dude and Dudettes and make Dude cards with the super fun Dude Time Doodles images. Hope to see you join us! Hugz to all!

Note: I have also posted a Breast Cancer Awareness card today too - be sure and check it out as well - it is very much related to the Inner Phoenix in many women). The newest Can You Digi It? Challenge is a bit different. Instead of a picture collage to inspire us, Michelle has us looking deep within ourselves to find inspiration. You need to go to the CYDI? blog and see her beautiful Phoenix inspiration and read her story. Luckily, I have risen up from several tragedies in my life. My first draft of this included ALL the gory details, but I realized this isn't about every one knowing the details - this is about successfully rising above the details. It is about getting up from the punches and moving on down the road of life - hopefully a bit stronger and wiser. I thought about all those punches when I was creating this card. They hurt, but I was still able to get back up and eventually continue down the road. Some days I just lay on that road and cry, some days I have ...

I have two posts today so please check them both out. This one is all about Breast Cancer Awareness and my brave friend Dawn. Dawn is one of my team mates at Dude Time Doodles, and she is doing the most amazing thing. Her Mom is battling breast cancer and loosing her hair from the chemo treatments. One way Dawn is showing her support is to shave her hair! She is also using this opportunity to raise awareness of the cause and to raise money to help find a cure. I think this is totally amazing! Dawn is also doing her own card challenge to go along with this big event. Her challenge began on Sept 4th, but there are updates on 9/11, 9/18, 9/25 with the challenge ending on 9/29. I am happy Dawn let me be a "Guest Designer" in today's update. There are a lot of sponsors and prizes for her challenge, and you can find all the details on her blog, Dawn's Crafting . The charity Dawn and her mom have chosen is Breakthrough Breast Cancer . You can read Dawn's story...

This card was a case of PegMac71 at SCS who was named Queen For the Day this week. I was inspired by her lovely Enjoy the Season Cards . I kept her Tea theme, but changed up the sketch a tiny bit and added a few more layers. I am also entering this in the Pile It On (patterned paper) and the My Heart Pieces (layers) challenges. The image is from Pattie's Creations. I love this darling Pattie's Creations Pattieboop and Allie Waiting For Santa image. I am entering this in the Pattie's Creations Challenge #52 - Embossing . The other Day my friend Sue Worthington and I decided to buy exactly the same image at exactly the same time. We agreed to buy this darling Mo Manning image. The plan also includes doing a card and loading it before Monday at noon. I was inspired by the Featured Stamper at Splitcoast Stampers this week Angela R . I am entering this card in the Mo's Challenge DP2 #151 (Anything Goes) and the Creative Card Crew Challenge #18 (Christmas) . H...

Well, Betty Edwards is not really on my Kitchen Counter (wouldn't that be fun though?), but one of her new images for Can You Digi It? is in the place of honor because today is the day Betty becomes the newest Can You Digi It? artist. Isn't Rudolph sooo cute? Betty's other images are wonderful too. All the ones I have seen have this fun retro feel to them and look like they would be work well colored or not due to her cool shading. Check out the official Betty Edwards annoucement on the Can You Digi It? blog and see her newest images in the CYDI? store .

This week's Dude Time Doodles Challenge is to make something with at least two shades of blue. I love this Zane Zombie image from Dude Time Doodles. He could be colored a bunch of colors, but I thought blue would be a great color. The image can be ordered with a lot of cool Zombie sentiments, but I typed mine up since I forgot to get the sentiments (shame on me). Thanks to Walking Dead, Zombies are sooo in right now. Hope to see you in the challenge! Hugz!

The Haunted Design House Challenge(HDH149) is "Bare Bones" which means you can't use any kind of embellishment that sticks up. So no ribbon, pearls, gems, flowers, googly eyes, pins, etc. For some reason this kind of challenge scares me! I was thinking of skipping the challenge, but I decided to the plunge and use my new Simply Betty Rio and Frosty image . I love snowpeople (I think it comes from living somewhere where snow is an oddity), so when I saw this image I had to buy it. I put off my purchase until I finished a few more coloring classes. I can't wait until the end of the class and then I will feel a bit better (actually I think it will take another few courses to do that, but at least I am moving forward). Thankfully, Simply Betty shows us how the images can look colored so I at least knew where to put the shadows. LOL! Hugz and Happy Labor Day (wish it was frosty too).

I made this card for the Squigglefly SFS3412 Falling Into Fall challenge and I got my inspiration from the SCS Featured Stamper Carolina Little . I love this Lynne Stansbery image - hard to find a cuter image! In fact, I love it soooo much that I used it to make a birthday card for my sweet DD Crystal who will be turning 22 this week (so hard to believe). She loves this image too (reminds her of a dog who stole her heart). Since the image is of a boy, I tried to "girl up" the card with some flowers. I know she will love it. That girl grabbed my heart before she was born, but I used her birthdate on the card. I am entering this one in the Dilly Beans Challenge this week which is Black, White and one other color (mine is kraft). Hugz!

Warning - I took a long nap this morning and spent the rest of the day crafting - the result is a longer than normal post. My youngest daughter Allie even came and helped me make a card! What a fun day! Allie's boyfriend, Will, plays for Birmingham Southern College so we made him a card today with his team colors. Dude Time Doodles is sponsoring Tabitha's Designs Challenge #2 - Men's Sports Cards so of course I wanted to play! I love this fun football image - Ted Tightend . I used an old toothbrush to splatter the yellow and black ink. Allie thought that was very interesting! I used Jen's Deconstructed Sketch #67 to make my card so I am entering it in that challenge as well. I made Allie's favorite pasta salad too - I forgot to take a picture, but I am going to share the recipe. That Pasta Stuff (Allie's Name for this dish) 1/2 box of Bow Tie Pasta (cooked and drained) 1/2 bag of Elbow Macaroni (cooked and drained) 1/5 cup of Wickles Relish (sw...