Just Dandy

Special Aunt

Evening everyone! I've got lots to get done so it's gonna be a quickie post for tonight. I'm kind of glad all my shows are over....24, American Idol & Survivor. Now I have so much more time to get things accomplished in the evening after the kiddos have gone to bed. Just me, my stamps & my Ipod!

A friend of Moms recently asked me to make a special card for her Aunt and that's what I'm going to share tonight. This past weekend I went and did a little shopping and came across a pad of patterned paper from Me & My Big Ideas. I'm not normally drawn to their products but I loved the colors and patterns in the Destination Paradise paper pack so much I couldn't resist buying it.

 

Melon Berry was the perfect match for the flowers in the paper. I used Melon Berry grosgrain for my tag and then attached one of the crochet flowers in pink. ***(For those who are interested I will be listing more crochet flowers in my Etsy shop as soon as I'm finished with this post)*** 

 

I used a combination of Women of Life, Men of Life & Heartfelt Basics for the greeting! The butterfly was punched out of Hibiscus Burst cardstock and I used Polka Dot Basics for the small dots on it.

So thats it for tonight! Gotta get to work....have a good one and thanks so much for visiting!

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Stamps: Women of Life, Men of Life, Heartfelt Basics, Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink)

Cardstock: Melon Berry, white, Hibiscus Burst (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: True Black, Fresh Snow (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories: Melon Berry ribbon (Papertrey Ink), butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), pearl

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge - Week 7

Hi all! Hope you enjoyed your day. I thought I'd pop on and share this weeks Raspberry Suite color challenge with you before I called it a night. Aren't this weeks colors great? Then again, aren't they always great!? Dawn does such a fantastic job when it comes to color combos and this week she has totally inspired me when it comes to decorating. I'm thinking that these 3 colors would work perfectly in my dream studio. Celery walls with raspberry and artichoke accents. I can see it  now...more on all that later!

 

So for this weeks challenge I used Spring Moss, Raspberry Fizz and Ripe Avacado. I used Bird Watching and Bird Watching Additions and love the bright cheerfulness it brings. The striped background on the Raspberry Fizz cardstock is from Background Basics: Retro. I colored my pearls with a Copic marker so they would coordinate nicely with the color scheme I had going on.

Have a great night everyone!!

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Stamps: Bird Watching, Bird Watching Additions, Background Basics: Retro (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Ripe Avacado, Raspberry Fizz (Papertrey Ink)

Cardstock: Spring Moss, Raspberry Fizz, Ripe Avacado (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories: ribbon, button (Papertrey Ink), pearls

CFH & more crochet flowers

Good morning everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your Memorial day weekend. We had a nice one here....did a little grilling and just enjoyed the long weekend. I don't think the kids were too thrilled to go back to school this morning. Not much longer and they will be out for summer...where does the time go anyway?!

I thoroughly enjoyed the Cards For Heroes blog hop this weekend. Did you all get the chance to hop around? It felt so great to be able to give our soldiers just a little something to let them know I certainly haven't forgotten them. And the comments left about your heroes...AMAZING! I loved reading every single one of them. There are heroes all around us....teachers, moms and dads, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, service men and women, best friends, daycare providers. Thank you for sharing them all with me! 

I know I've been promising you all the tutorial on the flowers and I'm sorry but I still don't have one. YIKES! I've kept you waiting long enough and remembered that Niki posted where she saw a flower tutorial so I'm just going to link you up to the Little Birdie Secrets post. My Mom creates hers pretty much the same but uses size 3 crochet thread instead of yarn. It's all a matter of taste...that's just what she likes working with. Believe it or not, I've been trying to teach myself how to make these (with A LOT of help from Mom) but haven't quite got it down yet. I'm hoping that with a little practice I will be able to pick it up.

Some have asked if you could buy the flowers from her. She has been working her little butt off trying to make them so you all can purchase them. I did list a set of them on my Etsy site last night, which sold already (thank you) but she's working on more to list. And we've been buying colors to work with the Papertrey Ink colors.

 

These Papertrey colors above Dark Chocolate, Plum Pudding and Lemon Tart match the flowers PERFECTLY!! Couldnt' ask for a better match. So we'll be listing lots of these as well as some newer colors soon. I know if you all are Papertrey fanatics like I am that I am in Heaven knowing that these flowers will match the PTI colors I use daily!! Does this interest any of you? Are there certain colors you would like to see? Mom said she'd gladly take requests! :)

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping in!

The winner is...

Here are your random numbers:

46

Beautiful card!
My hero is my Dad. He served our nation during the Korean conflict. Even 
though he never was deployed to Korea, he served his nation well. He 
flies the Stars & Stripes with pride!
 
 
Congratulations, Judy! Be sure to send me an e-mail with your mailing
info and I will get the Bird Watching Additions set in the mail to you!!

**Cards For Heroes** Memorial Day Blog Hop

*****CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED*****

Welcome! When I heard that Cards For Heroes would be holding their very first blog hop I was so excited to join in and participate. This great organization has started something so great for our troops. What a small, yet big way of giving back to those who serve and sacrifice to keep our nation safe and let them know that they are never forgotten. My husband served in the army for 15 years before he was injured in Iraq and could no longer serve. I am so very proud of him as well as all of our servicemen and women!!

 

Here is the card I created for the hop. I used the Bird Watching Additions set along with Floral Frenzy...both from Papertrey Ink.

 

Take some time today to sit and hop around and enjoy all the creativity on every participants blog. And take a few moments to remember all of those who are unable to be home with their loved ones this Memorial Day weekend....whether they are stateside, deployed or have given the ultimate sacrifice, they will NEVER be forgotten!!

Next on the blog hop list is a super talented lady... Chris. You can see her entry right HERE! If you haven't started the hop from the very beginning be sure to click HERE first so you can view each and every entry. You won't want to miss any of them!!

In honor of the occasion I thought I would have a little giveaway. Just leave me a comment here and tell me about a hero in your life. Comments will be closed at 12PM EST on Monday, May 25th and I will chose a winner who will receive their own copy of Bird Watching Additions!!

Thanks so much for visiting and thanks to the wonderful team at Cards For Heroes for all they do!!

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Stamps: Floral Frenzy, Bird Watching Additions (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink)

Cardstock: Pure Poppy, White, Kraft (Papertrey Ink)

Patterned Paper: Chloe's Closet (Making Memories)

Accessories: Oval Nestabilities, Dark Chocolate ribbon, vintage button (Papertrey Ink), pearls

Flowers, CFH, JIA & more

Good Friday morning everyone! It's been a busy, hectic, crazy week here and I am definitely looking forward to the weekend. No major plans for us...just grilling and relaxing! Ahhhh...just the way I like it! The weather has been gorgeous here the past few days. High of 94 yesterday...it was SO hot and very unusual for Maine to get these temps in May. I went on a field trip with Kacey & her class yesterday and we spent most of the trip outside. You could tell the heat got to the kids because on the trip down they were loud and being normal 11-12 year old 'kids' and on the trip back to school they weren't so much. We were all pooped!! Needless to say, I slept like a baby last night!!

So onto todays post! It's going to be filled with lots of 'this and thats'! I've been so scatterbrained lately and have been wanting to post about all of these things but haven't had the chance (or I've completely forgot) so I'm going to do it all in one post. Just wanted to warn you all....it may get lengthy!

First up lets start with these.....

 

I have gotten numerous comments and e-mails asking about these cute little crocheted flowers. I PROMISE you, I have been working with my Mom to create a video tutorial so you all can see how she makes these. I thought it would be a cinch to create one but we're finding it's a little more difficult than we thought. One way or another I will have something up and running by the end of the weekend.

Some of you have also shown interest in buying some from her so what I'm going to do is add a few sets to my Etsy shop so you could purchase them if you'd like. I'll have those listed by the end of the weekend as well. Sound good?

 

Have you heard about the Cards For Heroes Memorial Day Blog Hop that's happening this weekend? I am so excited about this event and am honored to participate in it. Anyone else participating?

For those who are not participating but would like to 'Hop' around here is a little info from the CFH blog....

"Hopper" instructions:

1. You're a "hopper" if you're planning on viewing all or part of the blogs—and we highly recommend setting aside some time for it!
2. On Saturday, noon Pacific time, a giant button will appear on this page—linking to the first blog, and that blog will link to the next...and so on!
3. Hop from one blog to the next, and leave a comment when you feel inspired by the card, the patriotism, or anything at all! Prizes will be awarded to someone randomly from comments left, so you'll want to get yourself entered lots!
4. Some blogs will have their own prizes (sometimes called RAKs) for those who comment on that post—keep your eyes peeled for those!
5. If you get lost—if one blogger misposts a link or something happens—come back to this post. We'll have all the blogs listed right here with links so you can pick right up where you left off!
6. We'll have a special treat for those who last through all the blogs!

They have over 100 participants which is sure to bring a ton of inspiration to us all! I'm looking forward to setting aside a few hours just so I can hop around and see all the creativity!!

 

Now onto the family stuff....

 

Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis....I would really love to hear from others who suffer from this or who have a little one who does. We did find out that Brody does infact have this. He goes from more blood work today to check his levels and then we'll go from there. Certainly not the news we were hoping for! He's still an active little bugger which is wonderful but I do worry about the future for him. All we can do is hope for the best and pray that he doesn't get any worse!

 

Insulin pumps...it has come time for me to make my pump decision. I'm sooo excited about this whole process. I've narrowed it down to 3 and again, would love to hear from anyone who has one of them and how they feel about it.....

• MiniMed Paradigm
• OmniPod
• Animas One Touch Ping

I'm leaning toward the Animas One Touch Ping but haven't 100% made up my mind yet. Big decision and I don't want to get it wrong.

 

And lastly...our house! Or what is soon to be our house! It doesn't look like much now but we've waited a long, LONG time for this so I'm excited just to see the foundation in! Lots of work still to be done but in the end it will be worth it!!

Phew...you are a trooper if you hung with me for this long! This is just some of the craziness in our lives right now...there is so much more but I don't want to scare you all away. Now you know what I  mean when I say I'm scatterbrained! LOL!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!!

((HUGS))

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge - Week 6

I missed all the fun last week with Dawn McVey's color challenge but sure didn't want to miss this weeks. Looks like I made it just in time. The colors she chose for this week I absolutely adore!! You certainly can't go wrong with Berry Sorbet and Aqua Mist together. I'm always reaching for those colors when creating.

  

 

This card was created using my newest Papertrey Ink set...Bird Watching. I used one of the birdhouse stamps and colored it in using my Copics. I also used that decorative image to create the pattern on my Berry Sorbet cardstock. I've really been into making tags lately...don't have a clue why but I can't seem to stop so I did the same for this card.

 

So another short and sweet post....gotta get the kiddos from school! Seems like I'm all rush, rush lately. Can't wait to just chilll!

Have a good one all!!

Mother

It is an absolutely sun shiny day here today! Light breeze...high in the mid 60's! Couldn't ask for better. Things are plugging along quite nicely on our house. The septic is in and the foundation is complete. We've been spending most of our time over there watching them pull everything together and telling them what we need done. Today they are putting the drive way in and leveling everything off and we should have the well in by the end of the week. It's amazing to see what we started with and watch it progress into our 'HOME'. I've been taking pictures left and right...I'll share those soon!

 

I created this card for my Mom for Mothers Day using Papertrey Ink's Mother set. I love making cards for my Mom and she loves receiving them so this is the perfect set for me. I used Melon Berry, New Leaf and Dark Chocolate for my color combo. I started by stamping dots from Polka Dot Basics with New Leaf ink on one side of my card and then added a strip of Melon Berry cardstock along the side. I created a tag with white cardstock and did a little stitching along the border. I stamped 'Mother' using Dark Chocolate ink and 'Happy Mothers Day' using Melon Berry. The lace and flower were both white and I used my Copics to color them both in. The lace was colored with R05 and the flower with YG17. The rhinestones were also colored in using R05.

 

I hope you all have a wonderful day and the sun is shining brightly wherever you are!!

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Stamps: Mother, Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: New Leaf, Melon Berry, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink)

Cardstock: New Leaf, Melon Berry, white (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories: Copics, lace, flower (American Crafts), rhinestones

Birthday Magic

Happy Monday everyone! I had a bit of free time this weekend and sat and played around with my Copics. Boy, they intimidated me at first and they still do a little but I'm getting the hang of it. It's actually pretty relaxing to sit and focus on coloring, staying in the lines and getting the perfect blend!

 

This birthday set is on of my favorites from Rubber Soul....Birthday Magic. I have had it for quite some time but never inked it up before this weekend. The coloring is still not perfect but darn it, I'm proud that it looks decent enough to share.

 

The cake was colored in using:

• RV13 - Tender Pink
• RV14 - Begonia Pink
• BG11 - Moon White
• BG13- Mint Green
• N1 - Neutral Gray No. 1
• N3 - Neutral Gray No. 3

After I had colored in the frosting I went back with the darker pink and made polka dots. I added another of my Mom's flowers. That pink matched Hibiscus Burst perfectly!

Have a great day!

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Stamps: Birthday Magic (Rubber Soul), Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: True Black, Fresh Snow (Papertrey Ink)

Cardstock: Aqua Mist, Hibiscus Burst, white (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories: Copics, brad (Making Memories), Fresh Snow ribbon (Papertrey Ink), pearls

Bird Watching - New Arrival

Papertrey Ink has done it again! Was the release amazing or what?!! I get just as excited as the rest of you waiting to see what Nichole and the other designers have created! I think that is just one of the best things about Papertrey....we all have such unique, different styles and we are able to fill everyones taste each month! Makes everyone happy, happy, happy!!

Here is one more card for you using one of my newest sets, Bird Watching.  

 

A sweet baby card! I used Cosmo Cricket Honey Pie patterned paper and mixed it up with Summer Sunrise cardstock and ink.

 

I gave my little birds a lift using dimensional adhesive and placed them on a circle Nestability.

 What do you all think now that you've seen the sets in full? Is this a set you could see yourself using? I'd love to hear what you think!

And also wanted to mention.....I've heard from quite a few of you with interest in the crocheted flowers. My Mom is going to help me get something together....a tutorial of some sort and I'll get that posted within the next few days!!

Thanks for popping in today!! Have a great one!