What's on My Kitchen Counter

Holley's Group is doing the Squigglefly challenge this week and the theme is piercing or piecing . I had to play as usual. I normally would have done piecing, but I really wanted to do some more Christmas cards and this year I am really drawn to this gorgeous Antique Ornament #2 by Lynne Stansbery. There are at least 5 ornaments in Lynne's collection. Did you know that Squigglefly has hundreds and hundred's of Christmas images? I knew there were a lot but I looked this weekend and I can't believe how many there are. I have at least 20 on my wish list now that I am about to go into a Christmas card blitz. I pierced my paper all the way around in a messy stitch to look like I sewed it. It is also the last day to enter the Sassy Cheryl Best Friends challenge , and I try to never miss that challenge! Here is my entry: You can get this cute Max image at either Sassy Cheryl's Store or the Squigglefly store, and it is precious! My sentiment is from SU! Hope yo...

The new House Mouse & Friends Monday Challenge is Heat Embossing . I love heat embossing! It makes your image pop and adds fun texture. I heat embossed the petals on my flower using My Minds Eye Lost and Found Paper (SU! and The Paper Studio are my other papers) and popped them up. I used SU! black ep, and my sentiment is from SU! as well. I lost my nephew Jamie this week - he was only 36. He was one of the strongest people I have ever met. He battled to come back from a severe spinal injury several years ago and he hardly ever complained. We could all learn something from the wonderful example he set for us all. It was a beautiful funeral - so many people, unbelievably wonderful and uplifting music, a wonderful message, and much love. So many House Mouse images seem to scream comfort and love. My card is going to my SIL and BIL - they will need many prayers and support in the coming days (weeks, months, and years). I have heard that losing a child is one of the most diffic...

The latest Pattie's Creation Challenge (PCDC72) is a RECIPE! Use at least 3 of an embellishment from the following list: *Buttons *Charms *Flowers *Gems/Pearls *Glitter *Ribbon *Sentiment I used the very cute Holiday Reindeer image from Pattie's Creations but I changed it from a holiday reindeer to a baby shower reindeer. So grab your embellishments and an image and play along with us for the next two weeks. Pattie gives away two prizes - one to someone using a Patty's Creations image and one to a winner from the other entrants. Hugz!

Today starts the newest Squigglefly Challenge (SFC2913), and it is a color challenge: Pretty Pink or Baby Blue . I decided to try both colors. The images I used are You Have My Heart from Diana Garrison and Maddie and her Lady Bug from Cheryl Grant Alger. I used some miniature stamps from my Kittie Kit on the pink card, the blue flowers are MFT rolled roses, the leaves are from Spellbinder, and the pink flowers are from the MS Hydrangea punch. Come join in the fun at Squigglefly - there are always great prizes, super people, and free Squigglefly images if you don't have one. Hugz!

This week's Sassy Cheryl challenge is "Outdoor Fun and Games." I used this great Sassy Cheryl image which is only $1 in the store right now. I also used a cool card shape called the Layered Window Frame - HERE is the tutorial if you want to check it out. I made this card for a friend at work who just lost her Grandmother. For my inspiration, I used THIS card by Sabrina (Cook22 on SCS). Sabrina is one of the Queens being revisited on the Queen for the Day challenge at SCS. This card is my case of Sue (coffeestamper on SCS) who is also one of the Queens being revisited on . Sue loves caffeine so I couldn't resist doing a coffee card. HERE is Sue's card I cased. Can you tell I woke up at 5:00 this morning? My friend Jill shared THIS great video this week and I am passing it on - you need to watch it and if you have seen it, you need to watch it again. It cracks me up every time I think about it! HUGZ!!!

The Paper Pretties challenge this week is to focus on a sentiment (PWC267). This is my first Paper Pretties image and sentiment, and I love it! I love it so much that I used it again on my card for the Mixed Media (MIX25) and Featured Stamper (FS337) challenges at SCS. Click HERE to see the card I cased (Heather - housebuiltofcards - is the Featured Stamper this week. HUGZ!!!!

I made this for the new Squigglefly Challenge SFC2813 which is Emboss Me - add something embossed to your creation. I used a embossing folder and my image is from Pam Lehto called Cup with Cherry . Pam is designing a different cup for each month and this is the new July cup. This is our team's week off, but once again the challenge is just too fun not to jump in on. Embossing is such a great way to add interest to your card so grab your favorite embossing tool and Squigglefly image and join us. Hugz!

It's time for the new House Mouse & Friends Challenge (HMFMC#149) and this time it is "Add Some Sparkle" - how fun is that! I added sparkle to my little bees' wings ( Busy Bees by Bonita Jones ) and to the wings that the sweet little Happy Hoppers are wearing. Isn't this image darling? It works perfectly with my new SU! honeycomb ef. Grab your fav House Mouse Image (includes Gruffie and Happy Hopper images too), add some sparkle, and come join us! There are always GREAT prizes and lots of fun. Hugz - Nancy

This week's Sassy Cheryl Challenge is Hats On (SCS#174) - this was easy as so many of Cheryl's images have hats. There is one more day of the challenge if you are interested. This week at Splitcoast Stampers, the Queen For the Day Challenge has all the past Queens with screen names A-B. So many of my favorite people are on that list so I have decided to do as many cases as I can. I also decided to do them all as Christmas cards to start building up my stash of those. Kathy (101Airborne) - you can see her card I cased HERE and here is my card: Brenda (Benzi) - you can see her card HERE and here is my version: Anne Ryan - click HERE to see her card and here is mine: Audrey Ann - HERE is her card and here is mine: I am so happy - I got 5 Christmas cards done! Yay! It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas... Hugz!!!!

Thank you for joining us for the Squigglefly 'Shy Bears' Blog Hop. This hop is dedicated to Melissa Chettle and her son Justin. Melissa was a friend of Squigglefly Design Team member Charlene, and she died very unexpectedly at the end of June - she was only 43 years young! At the end of April, Melissa asked Charlene to make her a bunch of Shy Bears cards - any image, any theme, any colors . . . just Shy Bears because she loved them all! (In case you're not familiar with them, Shy Bears are a creation of Lynne Stansbery, a fabulous artist at Squigglefly. There is a whole section in the store, with so many fun images!) Sadly, Melissa didn't get the chance to see the cards that Charlene made. Charlene wanted to do a special blog-hop and dedicate it to Melissa. The Squigglefly DT wanted to support Charlene as we all love Charlene and we all love Shy Bears. Charlene has listed more info about Melissa on her personal post HERE . Please visit all the blogs and be sure t...

Today starts a new Pattie's Creations challenge and the theme is Monochromatic . I love Monochromatic and typically gravitate to browns for some reason - this time was no exception. I used the Chocolate Cookie Jar image by Pattie. I printed out the image, colored it, and cut it out. Then I swiped it with Versamark and used glossy glass ep (two coats) to get the glass look. Pattie gives great prizes and this is wonderful challenge theme, so come join us. I am entering this card in the Paper Pretties Wednesday Challenge which is also Monochromatic (PWC266). May your day be filled with chocolate! Hugz!

Squigglefly's New Challenge (SFC2713) is all about Thank-you cards . We all need more of those! This one is going to a special friend who never fails to encourage me in my artistic endeavors - Holly. Holly is our fearless leader at Squigglefly. She is sweet, sweet, sweet and both design teams have gotten together to make Thank-you cards to send to her! Thanks for all you do Holly! I used a new Squigglefly image by Diana Garrison called You Have My Heart . I was in a die cut/punch mood as you can tell. I used Tim Holtz dies, SU! Embosslet Heart and Butterfly dies, a Sizzix Corner die, and a MS branch punch. We would love to see your Thank-you Card Creations and here about who you want to thank, so come play cards with us! The prize is always wonderful at Squigglefly, but you need to use one of the zillions of Squigglefly images, backgrouds, and sentiments to be eligible (there are plenty of free ones at the store). Hugz!

Isn't this new Beautiful Mermaid image by Fawn Palmer pretty? I did the Featured Stamper challenge at Splitcoast Stampers this morning where danni5199 is the Featured Stamper. I purposely selected a card with some serious hair - THIS is the one I selected. What image can have more hair than Rapunzel? When I got this new Squigglefly image, I printed it out and then wondered how I was going to color that hair. So today I tackled it and while I can see 20 things I can do better next time, I really like how my card came out (especially the flower arrangement which was actually inspired by THIS card done by my sweet friend Carol whose blog is called Chocolate Crafts and Bears, Oh My). Inside my card says: You are my Nemo - it is one of the sentiments that come with the image. Hoping you are tackling something you are afraid of today - either with inspiration from another or inspiration from God (the best inspirer of all). Hugz!

Maddie and Max are hanging out on my kitchen counter this morning providing good company to each other and me. I plan to send them over to a friend of mine who needs a LOT of encouragement and isn't feeling very well. I used one of the newest Sassy Cheryl images called Good Company and I am entering this in the Red, White and Blue challenge at Sassy Cheryl's (#173). Inside is a fun little thing I learned from my sweet friend Sue Worthington. Sue put a little tissue box on THIS card and I absolutely love the idea. Seems to add even more comfort to a card. My dies are from IO , Magnolia , and MFT , and my papers are from SU!, Hobby Lobby, and Doodlebug . Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Hugz.

It is all about Purple in the newest Squigglefly challenge . It is our team's week off, but as usual I could not resist playing. I used a newer image by Pamela Lehto called Trumpet Vine Arch . I have had this image a few weeks, but had to think about how to use it best. I loved how Linda used it HERE , but I didn't want to copy here pretty card. I finally decided it would be great frame for some scripture or encouraging words, and I really like how it came out (my sentiment is from SU!). When I finished my panel, I decided to add some of my new Impression Obsession dies to mimic the image (fence and leaves). Hope you can find some time to join the challenge too. Remember if you don't have a Squigglefly image, they have thousands of images from a large number of great artists and they have a large free section as well. Hope you are having a wonderful Monday! Hugz!

A few weeks ago, I entered the House Mouse and Friends Father's Day/Male challenge and I won a giant prize! Not only did I win a $25 gift certificate to House Mouse Designs, I get to be a Guest Designer for July and August. How fun is that? This is my first card as a GDT member. The new House Mouse and Friends challenge is "Let's Eat!" (anything to do with food). I had to improvise on this one as I didn't have a food related HM image that I wanted to use (guess what I am getting with my HM Designs gift certificate - LOL). I do have this totally fun little HM image, and I combined him with a Cheryl Alger Fourth of July Pie image (available at Squigglefly). The little bubbles are from Creative Memories - not sure what I was thinking when I added them as I wouldn't want bubbles around MY pie, but they do add a little bit more fun don't they? I gave this card to my Brother-in-law for his birthday and he loved it! He may now be the newest House Mouse f...