A Sweet Gift from Kathie

About three weeks ago I received a sweet gift from Kathie, one of our DT at SSW!  My boys were wondering who I knew from New Zealand and what I was receiving!  Well, inside was this gorgeous card, note pad and lovely shaker box!  Did you notice how all of Kathie's creations coordinate with the note pad?  Take note of all the layering, trim, flowers, stick pin, lace, glossy accents, pearls and liquid pearls.  I was just blown away with all the detail.  The inside of Kathie's card is just as beautiful!

Inside the note card for the shaker box, it reads:

This is a very magic gift,
it's just for you from me.
The reason it's so special
Is the magic you cannot see?
When ever you feel lost or lonely
or even say and down,
You only have to shake this litte
box to know I'm around.

Just hold this magic gift and
shake it near your heart
You must never open it so that
we won't ever part.
Please keep the lid down tightly
so the magic will always last and
you can hear its magic sound of
good things from the past.


Thank you so much, Kathie!  This really means a lot to mean.  Arlana, Nancy and I always say that we feel like the Sweet Sketch Wednesday DT is part of our extended family.  And now you all know why! 

It was so fun to actually receive and hold one of Kathie'z Kardz as the quality is just unbelieveable.
Thanks again, Kathie!  Such a thoughtful jesture!

Mums in Basket

Sweet Sketch 171-103

Sweet Sketch Wednesday

Sponsor:  Pattie's Creations

What a delight to create with this lovely image from

Pattie's Creations called Mums in Basket.    I first chose to do a little photo-shopping 

and changed the black ink lines to chocolate brown to 

add an earthy tone to my card.

Arlana's sketch is quick and easy....one from the past.  I love those!

Here is a little about Pattie's Creations!  Pattie's Creations is our sponsor this week and I know you will adore Pattie's images!

I am an Internet Technology Professional and an Artist. I always dreamed of being an artist, but I found out quickly that I needed another field to support my family so I pursued a Degree in Information Technology. I love to use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Fireworks to enhance my work.

I created a character called Pattieboop and her cat named Allie. I have had so much fun coming up with different images so I also created a site to sell them. You can go to my store to find out more about Pattieboop & Allie. I know you will just love them when you see them.

My store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/pattiescreations

Pattieboop is an 11 year old girl who is very opinionated. She was created by me, Pattie Gomez on September 7, 2009. Pattieboop is an average 11 year old and she loves dressing up. She is very petite in nature but stands tall because her mother always told her that “If you stand tall you will one day become someone important”. Pattieboop always remembers her mother’s words and makes sure she is noticed.
Pattieboop has a favorite pet named Allie. Allie is a slender black cat and loves playing and spending time with Pattieboop. Allie spends most of her days napping and her nights are spent getting in to mischief…

Be sure to grab the sketch for this week and play along!  You will have a chance to win the grand prize at Sweet Sketch Wednesday.  Pattie's Creations is offering 3 digis from her shop.  How fun!  Remember to follow all of the rules!

Happy Crafting!

A Thankful Heart

Sweet Sketch 165-58

Sweet Sketch Wednesday 

Sponsor:  A Day For Daisies

It's been a  year since I saw this beauty on ADFD.  She is called
A Thankful Heart and you can find her here.  I cannot tell you how excited I have been to finally color her up!  In July I found a Tim Holtz embossing folder at Michael's called Rays and knew that I wanted to use this element with A Thankful Heart.   I also used this Quickut's maple leaf die, added a little acorn that was in my stash from Arlana.  The Nestabilites I used were Picot Edge Circles, Standard Circles Large and Deckled Edge Classic Ovals Large.  What would we do if we didn't have our trusty little SU ovals especially for our sentiments?

A Day for Daisies is our incredible sponsor this week at Sweet Sketch Wednesday.  If you are new to Tammy's images, you will be blown away with her creativity and wonder.  Her style is so unique and not anything like any other artist.  Enjoy your look around her site!  

We would love to have you play along with us at SSW this week!
If you are our lucky Grand Prize Winner you could
  win a $12 Gift Certificate
 to spend at A Day for Daisies. 
Grab Arlana's Sketch below and have some fun!

A DAY FOR DAISIES provides themed categories of over 1000 fun and whimsical digital images, including fairy tales and magical mermaids, cutie kids, vintage illustrations, sentiments and lovely designs for all occasions!

Here is ADFD banner:

http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo34/snappystamper/adfd_banner_694x

Website: www.adayfordaisies.com

Direct Store Link: http://adayfordaisies.com/stamps Join The Club

Link: http://adayfordaisies.com/statement

Subscribe to News Letter Link:http://adayfordaisies.com/subscribe

Blog: http://adayfordaisies.blogspot.com

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/adayfordaisies

Face Book: http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Day-For-Daisies/142905905744876?ref=ts

Be sure to grab this sketch and play along at SSW!

An Oval inside a circle!!!!

Now this sketch is a sketch from the past so I wanted to show you the card I made using Sketch 58.

This image is from Digi Stamp Characters

These are various cards I have made in the past using A Day For Daisies images!

Enjoy!
Hugs, Judi

Little Ballerina

Sweet Sketch 162-34

Sweet Sketch Wednesday

Sponsor:  Pattie's Creations Digital Stamps

  

Isn't she just the sweetest Little Ballerina?  You can find her at Pattie's Creations.  Pattie's Creations is our sponsor this week at Sweet Sketch Wednesday.  I was so thrilled to have Pattie sponsor us.  Her images are just so delightful.  Be sure to stop by SSW and see the other images that our DT have created with.  You will just adore all of them.  But it doesn't end there so be sure to stop by Pattie's shop and see all the rest of her images! 

Here is little bit about Pattie Gomez: 

I am an Internet Technology Professional and an Artist. I always dreamed of being an artist, but I found out quickly that I needed another field to support my family so I pursued a Degree in Information Technology. I love to use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Fireworks to enhance my work.

I created a character called Pattieboop and her cat named Allie. I have had so much fun coming up with different images so I also created a site to sell them. You can go to my store to find out more about Pattieboop & Allie. I know you will just love them when you see them.

My store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/pattiescreations

Pattieboop is an 11 year old girl who is very opinionated. She was created by me, Pattie Gomez on September 7, 2009. Pattieboop is an average 11 year old and she loves dressing up. She is very petite in nature but stands tall because her mother always told her that “If you stand tall you will one day become someone important”. Pattieboop always remembers her mother’s words and makes sure she is noticed.
Pattieboop has a favorite pet named Allie. Allie is a slender black cat and loves playing and spending time with Pattieboop. Allie spends most of her days napping and her nights are spent getting in to mischief…

Pattie also has a blog at:

http://pattiescreations.blogspot.com

 You will enjoy looking around  her blog!

This is one of Arlana's sketches from the past....one of my most favorite. 

Hope you enjoy creating with it. 

Grab this sketch and be sure to look around Pattie's Creations. 

I would love to see what you can do with one of her images and Arlana's sketch. 

If you play along this week at SSW, you will have a chance

 to win 3 of Pattie's Creations images

if you are our lucky Grand Prize Winner! 

Go ahead...you can do it.  What can you lose??????

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week!!!

Hugs, Judi

Weaving Loom

How many crafters out there in blogville remember

learning to weave on a simple weaving loom like this and making hot pads? 

This was the craft hit of the week for my 7 year old grand daughter along with the Princess Cake that we made last week.  I was totally amazed at how quickly she learned.  I knew the weaving part would be easy for her but I assumed I would be finishing the egde on each of the hot pads.  No...after the first hot pad she had it down to a science even though she is a lefty.  She made 9 hot pads in all and plans to make more on her next sleepover at Grandma's.  Her little brother was totally occupied by an old train set that I pulled out of the attic. 

9 Hot pads in about four hours!!!!
Her summery little bandana is from Girl Scouts!

She also made a snowman out of play dough and

put together her little necklace from Joann's dollar bins. 

Love those dollar bin items!!!

Happy Fourth of July!

Enjoy your week!

Judi

Red Orchid Cactus Bloom

 What a spectacular event to watch a

Red Orchid Cactus bloom!

Yesterday my Red Orchid Cactus bloom started to open up.  I thought it was going to take a few more days to open but I had the oppportunity last night to watch it open during a 90 minute watch!  Below are the photos.  The bloom  measurers 8 inches in diameter. 

 Wow!  This is what it looks like this morning!!!!

Enjoy your weekend!

Judi

Princess Castle

Just wanted to share with you my very first attempt at a detailed fancy cake.  My sister, Nancy is the cake decorator in the family.  You have probably seen some of her cakes on her blog at mulberrystation.blogspot.com.

A few years ago she posted her version of this cake and I knew that I wanted to attempt to make it for my grand daughter.  Well, now I have two grand daughters so I may be trying my hand at it a few more times. 

I am watching my two oldest grandchildren this week while their mother is providing some extra TLC to their newest little one.  My grandchildren always love to work on projects at Grandma's house so I thought this cake woud be a fun project.  They loved it.  My grand daughter loved putting on the little flowers and lining them up around the lazy susan.   I have a lot to learn in the cake decorating arena!  But I had a good time...just wished I had had Nancy or Arlana by my side to give immediate instruction.  But since they weren't close by mostly Nancy but even Arlana received a few phone calls about the procedure.  The proper consistency of the frosting is a very important detail...one that I need to work on. 

Anyway, this is a Wilton Castle Cake Set in case you are interested in purchasing your own kit.

You probably can't tell from my photo...but this is a huge cake made with four cake mixes.  We will be inviting a few people over to eat it.

Enjoy!

Origami Necktie and Shirt Card

Today I have been busy getting ready for our Father's Day festivities and two birthday celebrations in our family.  But as I visiting with Nancy today she directed me to this wonderful turtorial on Paper Craft Planet.....a quick and easy Father's Day card!!!  So I ended up making 12 of them.  I made three for the father's in our family and 9 for my primary children to give to their fathers. These are the two version that I made.  The green shirt is made with cardstock...which I would not recommend.  It took lots of scoring and just took much longer to put together.  The other papers are all lightweight typing or craft papers....definitely much easier to fold.  This project took less than an hour to choose the papers and to make all 12 card.  The shirt is made from an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of paper and the tie is a 4X4 square.   There is room on the inside of the shirt or on the back to leave a message!

There are several tutorials on Paper Craft Planet.  At the end of this tutorial you will see other versions.  The first version is without sleeves.  I chose one of the version at the end of this tutorial.

Click HERE to view the tutorial  UPDATE:  CLICK HERE

Happy Father's Day!  If you forgot to get a card you can make this one in less than 5 minutes!  Enjoy!


Hugs!  Judi

Beach Baby

Sweet Sketch 157

Sweet Sketch Wednesday

Sponsor:  Saturated Canary Digis

My creation today is from Saturated Canary Digis.  This image is called Beach Baby.  Isn't she so adorable?  I love the big eyes that Krista uses for her images.  This week at Sweet Sketch Wednesday, Saturated Canary Digis is our sponsor. 

Krista, the owner, is offering two free digis

from her shop if you are the lucky grand prize winner at SSW. 

 So be sure to play along this week at Sweet Sketch Wednesday.

This image reminds me of our adventures as a family at Cannon Beach, Oregon.  In fact the little shell is from our beach combing moments on the beach

I punched the star fish from a MS punch.  The Sand paper is from JoAnn's and is called "Sand."  I decided to use the Cuttlebug Swirls embossing folder to give some wave texture but the swirls disappeared when I put the image in place.  I also used the Deckle Nestablilities and then a ribbon from Joann's.  I accented the bucket with glossy accents and added stickles to the star fish and shells.

For a year now I have loved using orange and teal together.  My friend's daughter used these colors for her wedding and it was gorgeous!

Be sure to stop by Krista's store.  You will not be disappointed. 

http://saturated-canary.myshopify.com/collections/all

http://www.saturatedcanary.blogspot.com

http://www.saturatedcanarychallenge.blogspot.com/

My name is Krista Smith. I am the artist behind the Etsy shop, Saturated Canary Digis. I began working in the stamping world about a year ago when I was hired to create rubber designs for the sweet Scottish company, Sugar Nellie. They launched my artwork under the name 'Simply Sassy.' I moved into the digital world just this past month (it's been a super busy month, indeed!). And-- I love it!! There is a little more freedom here, as I can create anything that pops into my head:)! I am so humbled by the artistic talent of the girls coloring in my designs-- it is truly an inspiration! Likewise, I am so thankful for the friendships I've made in this wonderful and lovely crafty community! It's been a true delight! I'd love for you to stop by my challenge/inspiration blog, Saturated Canary Challenge and join in the fun...And, while you're there, click over to my personal blog (Saturated Canary) and introduce yourself! I am a bit eclectic and touch on everything from family (I've got me a great one!) to fashion (obsessed!)...Please say 'hi!'...I'd love to be friends!:)

This is the sketch you will be using for this
week's challenge at SSW!

Have a great week creating something special!

Mary, Mary

Sweet Sketch Wednesday

Sweet Sketch 155

Sponsor:  A Day For Daisies

If you love this image like I did, you can find it here.  It is called "Mary." Tammy is the owner and creator of all the lovely images at  A Day for Daisies.     This week if you play along at Sweet Sketch Wednesday you will have the opportunity to win a

$12 gift certificate

to use at

A Day for Daisies.

Thank you, Tammy, for sponsoring us at Sweet Sketch Wednesday!

I loved adding these beautiful flowers from Michael's and my sister, Nancy, must have had the same idea.  I though Arlana was going to use them too... She choose the other Mary image.  I suppose you can tell we are sisters.  I am always amazed at how often we will chose the same image but we usually collaborate and choose something different.

Well, take a moment and grab Arlana's sketch below and find a sweet image at

 A Day for Daisies and let us see what you can create!    Be sure to stop by

 Sweet Sketch Wednesday to check out all the rules.

A DAY FOR DAISIES provides themed categories of over 1000 fun and whimsical digital images, including fairy tales and magical mermaids, cutie kids, vintage illustrations, sentiments and lovely designs for all occasions!

Here is ADFD banner:

http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo34/snappystamper/adfd_banner_694x

Website: www.adayfordaisies.com

Direct Store Link: http://adayfordaisies.com/stamps Join The Club

Link: http://adayfordaisies.com/statement

Subscribe to News Letter Link: http://adayfordaisies.com/subscribe

Blog: http://adayfordaisies.blogspot.com

Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/adayfordaisies

Face Book: http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Day-For-Daisies/142905905744876?ref=ts

Below are previous cards I have made using A Day for Daisies images.
Hope you enjoy!

Have a fabulous week creating something wonderful!

Hugs,

Judi

What You Eat Standing Up...Doesn't Count!

Sweet Sketch Wednesday

Sweet Sketch 153-96

Sponsor:  Deidre Mosher Designs

I am so thrilled and delighted to have Deidre Mosher Designs as our sponsor this week at SSW!  Some of you may recognize some of the images on her site as it was formerly known as Shirley's 2 Girls. 

 Here is a little bit about Deidre.  What a fun colorful lady!  You will enjoy looking around her blog.

Deidre Mosher Bio Wildy Whimsical and Seriously Sassy Art is definitely a trademark of Deidre Mosher.

I have been in the business of art for over 25+ years. Starting out as a fashion illustrator, moving into Art Direction, where I did everything from print to TV...and eventually I found my way back to illustration. My art is just plain fun and my love of color is clearly evident in the designs I create. I'm currently licensed with a variety of companies...my designs are used on craft products, greeting cards/paper products, kitchenware, business products and such.
I am first and foremost an...Illustrator and Designer. I am inspired by seriously sassy & bold colors, but also love the 'wow factor' of classic black and white designs. I'm crazy for stripes and dots, and they are a repeated theme in my work.
As an Illustrator, I work in many mediums and styles, ranging from the line art to pastels...having fun adapting them to the latest project. I am inspired by some my favorite artists ...Matisse's use of bold color, Klimt's knowledge of figures and lavish attention to detail, and Gauguin's wild approach to his subjects. They are all so 'awe inspiring'! I'm happiest when I am in my studio and starting a new project...making a mess, experimenting...and even throwing paint.
Any day in the studio is a great day!
I usually get an idea when I least expect it...so when the 'light bulb' goes off...I sketch and sketch and sketch...(hence the reason I buy tracing paper in bulk). I always begin with a pencil and paper, and it evolves from there. My favorite part of the process?? EVERYTHING...from beginning to end.

CHECK OUT MY Web site... deidremosher.com
Blog... http://deidresuemosher.blogspot.com/

Shop...http://www.etsy.com/shop/DeidreMosherDesigns

.

Be sure to grab Arlana's sketch below,  take a look around Deidre's site and chose a fun image and let us see what you have created.  You will have a chance to win a $10 Gift Certificate to use at

Deidre Mosher Designs.

These are two of my past card's using Deidre's images. 

 Hope you enjoy them!

Thanks for stopping by!
Judi