Time Out: Thinking of You

Happy Thursday my friends...It's time for another challenge over at Time Out!  We have a gorgeous inspiration photo...I went for the beautiful medallion as my inspiration...and didn't go rustic at all, so many choices for you!

Our sponsor is Altenew who has so many gorgeous stamps, dies, inks, etc for you to choose from!

Hope you can play along with us!  And please pop over to the challenge blog and check out our gorgeous guest designer, Rahmat, work.

Time Out: Thinking of You

https://fi.pinterest.com/pin/381680137160498281/

Valentine's is fast approaching and I love these colors for a non-traditional valentine.  Will you come play along with us over at Time Out?  You can see how I was inspired and made this quick and easy card from some patterned paper I have. 

 

The winner of our Time Out Challenge will get a $15 gift certificate from our fabulous sponsor Stamplorations!

I'm looking forward to seeing how you were inspired!

Thinking of You

Happy Monday my friends.  We had an awesome weekend...several graduation parties celebrating kids heading off to college in the fall, a baseball game, time at the pool and several hours creating yesterday morning.  My perfect kind of weekend. So that means I have lots of cards to share with you this week!

First up to share this week is actually a card I made last week but didn't get a chance to post.  Perfect to play along with the current challenge over at CASology.  My dear friend Jen sent me these gorgeous stamps. Thank you so much Jen! I appreciate you!

Curtain Call: Thinking of You

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend and were spoiled if you celebrated Mother's Day yesterday. We had a gorgeous 80 degree day and started the day with a bike ride and finished it with a cookout our house. We had a dual celebration as it was also Ryan's 20th birthday. Hard to believe he is past the teenage years. Time does seem to be flying by!

But that's not what you're here for...it's time for a new challenge over at Curtain Call! Look at the gorgeous inspiration photo below. I love flowers and woodgrain...so this card came together quickly! I hope you are inspired too and come by and play along. When you stop by, be sure toswelcome our newest Guest Designer, Sonja Kerkhoffs, The Art of Stamping.  Her cards are absolutely beautiful!

Now, it's your turn!  To enter the challenge, simply follow these instructions:

1.  Create a new Anything Goes paper project (card, scrapbook page, 3D item)...with the option of drawing inspiration from the challenge graphic.
2.  Post your project to your blog or public gallery that directly mentions and links to this challenge here at the Curtain Call. You must also copy and paste the inspiration graphic into your post.
3. Feel free to combine our challenge with a maximum of five other challenges.
4.  Complete the Inlinkz section below using the direct link to your project before the deadline on May 25th at 8:00 AM CDT.
5. Prizes, when applicable, will be awarded to randomly selected challenge participants. The LEAD of each challenge will be invited as a Guest Designer for the next challenge.

The LEAD, Show Stoppers and Prize Winner will be chosen by the crew and announced on May 31st at 8:00 AM CDT.

Please pop on over to check out the inspiration by the design team and play along at Curtain Call!  

Always Thinking of You

Having the week off between Christmas and New Year's meant lots of time to create which makes me oh so happy!  My mum was asking for a card set for one of her very dear friends so I set about making cards to include in her card set. And of course, I'm always looking for challenges to play along with too so in came the current Inkspirational challenge.  Instead of going for the New Year's or celebration theme from the inspiration photo I chose to be inspired by the colors. Love the combination of gold, black and white.  Thinking of you cards are also always handy to have too.  

Time Out: Cast Your Cares

We're back with another challenge at Time Out.  We have a fun inspiration quote to inspire you!

'May All your weeds be wild flowers'

My card was colored in from a fabulous TPC stamp that was shared with me during my stamping away weekend in February.  I loved how the Zig markers made this sentiment pop.  This was sent to a dear friend whose mother is battling brain cancer. Such a beautiful Psalm for such a terrible disease.

Be sure to pop on over to the Time Out Blog to check out how our design team was inspired.   And we're very lucky to have the fabulous Clearly Besotted Stamps sponsoring our challenge...so a lucky winner will win a gift certificate...and we have a great guest designer, Julia!  Be sure to stop over to check it all out.

Curtain Call: Thinking of You

It's time for a new Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge! The birdhouses in our inspiration photo are absolutely adorable.  I picked up on the pinks and reds and all the fun florals. I almost went with some tone on tone vellum stripes to pick up the wallpaper but instead went with an embossed square die cute.  I love a good floral card!

Make sure you visit each of the designers' blogs for more inspiration!

 Designers

Amy Kolling

Betty Wright

Kim Singdahlsen
Laurie Willison

Leigh Penner
Lisa Henke

Lori Tecler
Lynn Mangan
Marisa Ritzen
Maureen Plut

Melody Rupple
Monika Davis
Sheri Gilson

Silke Ledlow 
Stacey Schafer
Tara Godfrey

Follow us!

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge Facebook Page

Curtain Call Pinterest Boards

Stop by the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge:  Birdhouse for the challenge details and to play along with us!

Time Out: Thinking of You

We're back with another challenge at Time Out.  We have a fun home sweet home inspiration photo below for you and we're super happy to be sponsored by Happy Little Stampers-prize for winner $15 gift voucher.  We have two guest designers for this challenge:  Kylie, the owner and designer of Happy Little Stampers, will join us as our special guest designer and Elisabeth will be our guest designer too! I have no doubt you'll be inspired.

For my card, you can tell I went with a super CAS interpretation of the inspiration photo...pulling off the yellows, pinks and blues for my floral pattern.

Be sure to pop on over to the Time Out Blog to check out how our design team was inspired.

Thinking of You

On my crafty weekend, it was so awesome to use stamps of all the other crafty ladies. This gorgeous bloom was one that I had fun inking up and coloring with my Zig markers. My Zigs were a definite must bring to the crafty weekend and they got a work out!  Love having some extra thinking of you and sympathy cards in my stash.  

Love and Thinking of You

Happy Wednesday my friends. I'm heading home this evening from a productive week visiting my companies Dallas location. I'll be happy to see all my guys at home tonight.  Here's hoping for uneventful travel!  

But...I do have two cards to share that I made over the weekend. Not for any particular challenge. These actually started as cards for the PaperTrey Ink blog hop but went a completely different direction.  I had die cut a punch of the shapes and started a rainbow of colors for the love you card. Then I had left overs and decided to make a floral card in my favorite floral colors of orange and yellow. Isn't it fun when you set out to make one card and then make something completely different?  I love the creative process!

Time Out: Thinking of You

We're back with another challenge at Time Out....and we have an absolutely gorgeous card for you to CASE from the very talented Marika. I absolutely loved her card below.  You can see how I was inspired following along very closely with the layout of her card, the tough of thread, sentiment placement...you get it :)

Be sure to pop on over to the Time Out blog to take a closer look at Marika's card as well as the design team cards. We'd love for you to play along with us!

Thinking of You

 

I'm in love with my new Zig markers...you're going to be seeing them quite often for a while over here so I hope you don't get tired of them!  Of course, the orange and yellows are my favorite colors (yes...no surprise there either).  Thankful that I watched some of the videos over on Catherine Pooler's blog so I knew what kind of paper to order to use them on.  The UPS and US Postal Service have been enjoying all the deliveries to my door, but I'm not sure my wallet is!

Anyways...enough chit chat!  Here's my card for the current CAS-ual Fridays challenge of embossing...I took the simple route and embossed by sentiment.  Happy Monday...this is a short four day week for me as I take off Friday to get ready to leave on vacation on Saturday.  Can't wait!

Thinking of You

When I saw the inspiration photo over at Just Us Girls, I knew I had to play along.  I already had this photo pinned in my Pinterest board as I loved the combination of navy and pink. As always, love, love, love floral cards so I went to my newest flowers from Reverse Confetti to play along with this week's challenge.

In other news, Jonathon has successfully built his first computer. He is thrilled.  As he said, "I did a lot of research and I loved it."  The smile on his face is all I need to see.  Can't wait to see what he does next!

Thinking of You {and Homecoming Pics}

Hello there and happy Monday. I traveling for work this week and then finish the week in Washington DC for a family wedding, but I have lots to share on the blog this week.  First up is a card for CAS(E) this Sketch.  I immediately thought of leaves when I saw the sketch.  Love that my camera captured the bright, vibrant colors of the inks.

I also wanted to share pictures of Ryan from his homecoming dance this week. He and his friend, Alyssa, had a great time at the dance.  Here are a few pre-dance pictures.  First up, love that they brought their sunglasses. They are laughing in this picture...Alyssa was trying to figure out what to do with her hands because she didn't have any pockets.

A few serious ones together.  I think they both looking stunning.

And there whole group of friends...24 of them headed out for dinner together.  A good looking crew.

Ryan and his great friend, Maddie. The eye roll cracks me up.  The next picture he has a huge smile on his face.

Ryan/Alyssa with two other couples.  The three guys have formed a band together.

Here's the same crew again...the guy band is called G3nerations and the girls are Destruction. Love these kids.

Time Out Reminder: Thinking of You

Virginia is the master of color.  Her cards are always vibrant and cheerful so when I decided to make another card inspired by her for the Time Out Challenge, I wanted to pull out the gorgeous pops of color.  I tried to mimic the patterned paper by stamping flowers in the main paper colors.  The two shades of blue look better in real life, but I'm very happy with the end result.

I hope you get to play along with us a Time Out... There's so much to be inspired by Virginia's card below.  I'm also entering this over at the current CAS-ual Fridays Challenge (3s - 3 flowers, 3 leaves, 3 colors).

Fusion: Thinking of You

Happy Thursday my friends, it's time for another Fusion Challenge. Doesn't that gorgeous inspiraton make you think of all the gorgeous blooms popping up this time of year as well as a gorgeous centerpiece for weddings?  My wedding bouqet was an assortment of soft pastel roses so I love this inspiration photo. For my card below, you can see I was inspired by the flowers and the sketch.  Avery Elle stamps have been all over blog land for quite some time and I took the plunge and bought my first set.  I love the fonts and can never seem to have enough floral stamps so this set was simply perfect for me!

I hope you get the chance to play along with us this week!  I look forward to being inspired by your gorgeous creations.

 

PROCEDURES:
1. Play with just the sketch challenge.
2. Play with just the inspiration photo challenge.
3. Or you can create FUSION by combining BOTH challenges into one card.
4. Use the challenge graphic and link back to Fusion in your post.
5. Please read the other considerations on the Our Rules Page before playing along.

Cherish It.

It's Tuesday night as I type this post and I have about 10 minutes before I need to run out to pick up Jonathon.  He's trying out for the middle school play...I'll keep you posted on how he does. I'm simply proud that he has the confidence to want to do it!

But...that's not the point of my post.  I've been running around a lot lately, work, kids, work, kids, and oh yeah...me and Pat too.  Through it all, I've been trying to remind myself to cherish "it".  Each day that "it" may be something different.  A kiss on Marcel and Collin's cheeks when they are still sleeping in the morning and I'm heading out to work. A quick cuddle on the couch with Pat.  A walk with a dear friend.  Running late for a carpool.  A text from Ryan.  Time watching my kids in a school concert or perform for show choir. Eye contact and a sweet smile from Jonathon.  Solving a problem at work.  A good laugh with my mum.  No matter what "it" is I'm trying to cherish "it". A lot of the rushing isn't going away. Life with four boys, a fabulous hubby and work will likely always be a rush, but I'm trying to listen to that voice in my head that says, "cherish it".  I know soon I'm going to blink and Ryan will be in college and before I know it...all of them will be out of the house.  And I have hopes for their future that they are blessed enough to be as happy as my parents were and as happy as we are.  So...I'm trying not to rush...trying to cherish it and be oh so thankful that I have a lot of "it" to cherish.  This is my gentle reminder to you, my blogging friends, whatever in your life is causing you to rush.  Make sure you stop, cherish it, and don't forget the I love yous and thank yous for those in your life that your cherish.

And...I'm sharing a card made last night for the current Clean & Simple class.  Love how Julie Ebersole taught us to emboss the outside and have a label on the inside.  I had fun creating a little scene with Verve stamps.

PS Our first Time Out Challenge has several days left to play!  Be sure to pop on over!

Thinking of You

Having been away this week on work, I was itching to sneak away to my craft room for a few minutes last night.  I was thinking about the MUSE challenge and the fabulous inspiration card (shown below).  So...about 8:30 I went (well maybe ran) downstairs to make a card.  I decided to use purple for the inspiration color and I loved the thicker twine on the inspiration card as well.  So off I went in search of purple patterned papers.  I really don't have very many!  But...it all worked out and I'm pleased with the end result.  This card will be popped in the mail today to someone who is very, very dear to me!

And in a bit, I'll be off to the last normal show choir competition of the year before show choir nationals the first weekend of April.  Pat will be getting Marcel and Jonathon to baseball practice...I hope that means that the spring weather is arriving. 

Guess what else is happening around our house?  Ryan has his temporary license and asks to drive often.  He's doing well, but did ask me last night when he was driving home from his friend's house what the big gasp was that I gave?  I may or may not have been concerned about his driving!  

Have a great Saturday my friends!

 

Thinking of You

Hello, hello...I'm at work and the boys are back to school after their winter break.  I love the holidays, but I also love routine...and school helps with that routine! 

Now that the holidays are over, ut's time for me to catch up on my stash of every day cards.  I took the Retro Sketch card and kept it extra CAS.  What do you think ?  Too CAS or just right?

 

Little League All Stars & Stretch Your Stamps: Day 5

This past week has been a super busy yet very exciting week for us!  Ryan was in his final Little League All Star Tournament and Pat was his head coach along with Doug, his normal assistant and Steve, a great friend and rival from our another Loveland team.  This team consistent of boys from four teams in the 13/14 year old league.  And man oh man did these boys play hard!  They lost their first game, won five straight to make it to the tournament championship and lost in the championship, but they had a blast...and all the families of the boys did too!  So hats off to these boys for a job well done!  This is the furthest a team from our community has ever made it in the All Star tournament.  We are swelling with pride!  And here's Ryan's tweet from last night to his teammates, "I'm going to miss this.  This was the last game my dad will coach me in."  Oh Ryan, your dad will miss this too!  But he's here for you ready to keep on coaching you in the game of life. 

Now...onto a couple of cards!  Yesterday, I went out of order (yes unbelievable for a Type A person like me that needs to go in order) and posted cards inspired by Day 6. Today...I'm back with Day 5 which is to stretch how you used your sentiment stamps.  My first card is this one using the fabulous Inspired by Audrey set from The Craft's Meow.  This set has the Thinking of You sentiment separated from the other sentiment, "know that you are never alone.  I am here for you."  Love the ability to ink it up in different colors.  And...this could also go in the day four gallery for using geometric stamps.  I used the medallion from this set to create a grid and then added the small flower stamp in blue.  I'm still in love with this set!

My second card using sentiments in a completely different way. I love to stamp the sentiment and then stamp off to stretch the colors of my ink pads.  This is going off to a friend who has some very exciting news that she'll be sharing soon!  It uses The Craft's Meow Dads and Grads set. I'll also be entering this in the Moxie Fab's Stamp It Congrats Challenge!

I hope you enjoy both these cards!  Have a fabulous Monday!