What's on My Kitchen Counter

It's time for the New Release Blog Hop at Dude Time Doodles ! I am thrilled to show off Elmer Elf - just one of the four new images. I love them all and plan to make Christmas cards with every single one of them. Be sure and pick them up soon in the store if you like them because all the Dude Time Doodles Images will be retiring in the next few weeks - sniff, sniff! If you came to my blog from Sharon's amazing blog you can continue on to Mags who has another wonderful creation to show you. Dude Time Doodles blog hops are easy as you can hop on at any point and just continue around. Be sure and leave comments because one of the DT members is the mystery host/hostess and one of the commenters on their blog will win free images from the store. Hugz!!

Sparkle, Sparkle, Sparkle is the theme at Paper Cupcakes/There's Magic in the Air . I used the lovely Angel image and added sparkle everywhere even though you can't tell from this picture. I should have redone the picture, but I gave the card to my boss when she was ordained as an Evangelist last week. She loved it. There is sparkle on the halo, the wings, and the raised parts of the embossing on my panels. Hugz to all!

I am so excited to be able to play in the Octopode Challenge this week. The theme is "words." I couldn't resist digging out Capt'n Jack. I googled Pirate and Christmas and found this fun little saying - not exactly sure what it means, but the person I am sending it to will love it because she loves anything with this Capt'n Jack image on it. I am also entering this in this week's Dilly Beans challenge which is Anything Goes. Ho, Ho, Ho and a Bottle of Rum (for the Eggnog right? - isn't that what a Pirate would say at Christmas?) Hugz!

I had planned to have all my Christmas cards done by Thanksgiving so now I am in a full blown panic - LOL. I made 6 of these cards so I am feeling a bit better. I put lots of glitter on this so it would qualify for the F4A144 challenge on SCS which is GLITTER! I love this Rubber Stampede image - makes me smile everytime I see it. Hugz!

Today's Inspirational Challenge at SCS has participants visiting GelaSkins to get inspiration from one of their wonderful works of art. I selected this great work from Namami Cowdroy for my inspiration. I used the SCS#412 for my layout. My image is from Whimsy Stamps - I just flipped the image so that it would look like two cozy fish. The current Whimsy Stamps challenge (#53) is to use traditional Christmas Colors and I am entering this card in that challenge. Another Christmas card down - 29 more to go!

Can You Digi It? is having a 25% off Thanksgiving sale starting today and ending on November 30th. EVERYTHING is on sale so you need to stop by the store and check it out.

At Dude Time Doodles , the challenge this week is Happy Holidays. This is a great challenge theme for me because I have a bunch more Christmas cards to make. The prize for this week's challenge is a $50 certificate to Its Cheaper than Therapy.com (OM - you have got to check this place out if you love die cuts and Sizzix - which I do). I used Lure 2 on my card. This image is soooooo cool and it is only 49 cents. You can use it so many ways and it works great for a fisherman. I showed it to my Bunco group last night, and they all flipped over it! Can't you visualize how fun it would be with hearts on the little hook instead of snow for Valentines? I am in a CAS mood lately (must be due to the fact that I still need a zillion Christmas cards. I am entering this card in the Addicted To CAS challenge #1 (ATCAS#1). If you don't know about this new challenge blog, you need to check it out. Their first challenge has the code word SNOW. The guest designers are some cr...

Today starts the newest Can You Digi It? Challenge and it is "Clean and Simple." I use to run when someone said CAS, but now I love it. It is a challenge for me though as I love me some layers and paper and embellishments. CAS is super easy when you have a great image and some awesome paper which I just happened to have. I used one of the Christmas Ornaments out of the LilyPink Christmas Baubles set and layered it on top of some of my favorite Walk on the Wild Side Digi Paper from Green Goddess Creations. To make the circles pop a bit, I colored them with a light Copic Marker and then I covered the outline of one of the circles with some Zva Crystals out of the Crystal Wheel which is still unbelivably priced at $3.50 for a ton of crystals in various colors. I still have a bunch of Christmas cards to finish up so I totally love this challenge! I need a few birthday cards as well so I may make this a CAS weekend coming up. If you are celebrating Thanksgiving, I ...

At Dude Time Doodles , it is Guest Designer/Freebie time! These pilgrims are the free images available. Aren't they fun? If you want to enter the challenge, you can get them free so you can create something fun with them right before Thanksgiving. Kenny is debating doing Fried Turkey for Thanksgiving because he says cooking oil prices have risen this year. I told him that when people wait all year for Fried Turkey, he should not be a cheapskate. He smiled so I think we will still get it this year! Yay! Hugz to you all!

Paper Cupcakes is letting me be a guest designer for November and December - fun, fun, fun! The company has some super fun images so this should be a fun 2 months. The newest Paper Cupcakes/There's Magic in the Air challenge is to use this fun Snowmen with Tree image AND to include at least one snowflake on your creation. This cute image is free for short time on the There's Magic in the Air blog so head over there quick, grab it, create something magical, and enter it in the challenge. What a super free image, and you may win a free image if you win the challenge. If you are too late for the free image, there will be a link to the store so you can purchase it and still play in the challenge. Here is my card: I used some rusty metal stars from Hobby Lobby instead of snowflakes but stars and snowflakes are very close cousins don't you think? I love the image so much that I made a tag too: Hope to see you in the challenge! Hugz!

At Dude Time Doodles , the challenge this week is Fall Colors. I had to think a long time about what great image to use. I finally settled on the Who Brought the Broccoli image. I needed to make some lunch for a friend who just had surgery so I made some Broccoli Cheddar Soup and decorated it with this totally fun image. Here is the container and loaf of bread. Here is a closer picture of the top. This Broccoli Cheddar Cheese Soup gives Panera Bread's soup a good run for its money. Here is the recipe: 2 16 oz packages of frozen chopped broccoli 2 10.75 oz cans of cheddar cheese soup 2 12 cans of evaporated milk 1/4 cup of finely chopped onions 1/2 tsp solt 1/4 tsp pepper 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese bacon bits Combine all the ingredients except the shredded cheese and bacon bits in a slower cooker, cover, and cook on low for 8-10 hours. About 30 minutes before done, add the shredded cheddar. Garnish with bacon bits when served. Serve with really good bre...

The current challenge at Can You Digi It? is to use our Favorite Critter. My favorite critter changes constantly - last week it was one of my cows and then it was a cute dog from a picture someone sent me at work - usually is is an adorable dog. My favorite critter image right now is this adorable Kiniart image from Can You Digi It? called Westie Santa Moon . I love how the Moon looks like Santa and the Westie looks so expectantly at Santa - just precious. I am entering this in the following challenges: Pile It On #45 - Make It Sparkle Sweet Stampin Challenge - All that Glitters O LLCB - Christmas Crafts and Me #106 - Bling It Up Christmas Stampin All Year Long - Anything Goes ClearlyiStamps - Critters So grab your favorite critter image and join us in the Favorite Critter Challenge at Can You Digi It? If you need a new critter image there are a bunch of them including this adorable Westie image I used in the Can You Digi It? store . You should also check out the o...

This week's Teapot Tuesday challenge on SCS MMTPT223 is all about making an outdoors card for a very wonderful destination - to let Charlene's (Crystaldolphins on SCS and a former Dudette on Dude Time Doodles) Dad know that others are thinking of him while he goes through a really tough time. One of the suggestions was to use deer so I instantly thought of this wonderful deer image fron Delicious Doodles. I used the Sweet Sketch Wednesday Sketch #178 and I am entering the following challenges: Teapot Tuesday - Outdoors Card Delicious Doodles - Embossing Sweet Sketch Wednesday Sketch #138 - Sketch All Sorts Challenge - For Men Only Hugz to all and special hugz to Charlene and her parents!

I am crazy about Cupcakes so the Paper Cupcake Images are perfect for me (except when I see them they make me want real cupcakes - LOL). I just love this Christmas Cupcake image . I had fun popping up the layers on the candy on this one, and I used a fun ribbon that came on a package I received lately. My papers are from The Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby) and come from a Christmas stack (my mother and I both purchased a stack yesterday). Only 50 more Christmas cards to go!!! I am entering this in the Paper Crafting Journey Ribbon or Twine Challenge . Hugz!

My fellow Punchkateer, Audrey (aka AudreyAnn) was selected as Queen for the Day on the QFTD challenge at SCS so I had to case her. I looked and looked through her cards and it just became overwhelming as she has 8 kajillion great cards. I finally just closed my eyes and picked one (click HERE to see it). I love all her colors and the card shape, but for some reason I just went with simple and white). Audrey is one of the most talented paper crafters out there and she is sooo sweet. I could go back and pick 100 cards to case, but I would not be able to do them justice. I am thrilled that she was able to inspire others this week by allowing us to case her past work. Special hugz to you Audrey! My image is a digi from A Creative Need (available at Can You Digi It?). Yesterday, I was able to make several cards AND take a nap - what a wonderful day! This is one of the cards I was able to make. I am hoping you all had a productive weekend. HUGZ!!!

At There's Magic In the Air with Paper Cupcakes , Shirley thought it would be good for people to celebrate Pink at least one more time with a "Pretty in Pink" Challenge. Extra points are given if your card is obviously for someone who has battled or is battling Breast Cancer or represents Cancer Awareness. I started out along those lines, but as my card progressed, it became a card for my friend Carol who just had a serious and very new kind of back surgery which is allowing her to stand up straight again! We are so excited because she hasn't been able to stand straight in over a year. Actually the card changed again after I made it because as I loaded it, I realized it needed something else so now it has a heart shaped pearl in the middle of the paper pierced heart (don't you love the new SU! paper piercing template? - wish you could see it better). I used the new Spoonfull of Sugar image available at Paper Cupcakes. I am entering this in the There's M...