Cute Daisy Jumps Rope

I've got to get this post finished. I promised myself a good snack once I complete this (hee, hee, gotta bribe myself). I've been working on this all morning but it feels so good to have the time again to play! My son went back to college (miss him but I was tired of feeding him that's for sure) and my hubby is helping a buddy do some work. Hurray! House all to myself!
Funny how I had the whole summer to work on projects, but I seem to be more creative and motivated now that school has started up again and I'm back at work. I know a big part of that is that crafting is my after work and weekend treat, so it's more special now that I am limited in time.
But part of having limited time is cramming a whole lot into a little time slot! So, to be frugal with my time and participate in some of my favorite challenges, I combined some of them with this project. Digital Tuesday's challenge this week was "Hop To It". Something had to hop or jump. This little cutie from Cute Daisy May was just perrr-fect! And to meet the challenge over at the Cute Daisy May Challenge blog, I had to use blue and green, so I dressed my little girl in blue jeans and a green jacket and mixed in some of my retired SU Baja Breeze DSP and Green Tea DSP. So far, so good! Next up was the Dare U2 DigiStamp Challenge which was as easy as 1,2,3: 1 ribbon, 2 patterned papers, and 3 flowers. I pulled this velvety ribbon out of a scrap jar so I'm not sure anymore where it came from, but I thought it gave it an old-fashioned charm. To continue the old-fashioned look, I sponged the edges of just about everything on here. I gave my prima flowers a little shimmer, too, with some candlelight shimmerz. Then, I added in the Making Memories Wedding brads.
That does it! I think I've earned a tasty treat and then I'll see what else I can cook up (in the craft room, that is).
Project Recipe
Paper: SU Baja Breeze CS (retired), SU Baja Breeze DSP (retired), SU Green Tea DSP (retired), SU Old Olive CS, SU Chocolate Chip CS, GinaK White Pure Luxury CS
Stamps: Cute Daisy May Digital Stamp (freebie!)
Accessories: SU 5-Petal flower punch, Carl Craft flower punch, Prima flowers, Making Memories Wedding brads, Candle Light Shimmerz, PTI Chai Distressing Ink, ribbon (unknown), cuttlebug, Spellbinders Oval Nestabilities, copic markers

Cookie in a Box

Last school year I gave each of the staff members a cake in a can on their birthdays. This year I decided to make a cookie in a box (a mini pizza box to be exact). There are lots of tutorials out there for this box and probably Splitcoast is the best place to find the tutorial and examples. Inside my pizza box is a scrumptious, large Coffee House Cookie. I found the recipe on Lauren Meader's blog. I made sure I taste tested them before giving them to anyone (wink)!
The image on the top of the box is a Cute Daisy May (Sheet 51). I used the Cute Daisy May Challenge for the week on this project. The challenge was to make words (sentiment) the focal point. Those Daisy May's are so cute, it's kinda hard for anything else to share the spotlight, though. At best, I may have given the sentiment equal billing with the image which is colored with copics.
I barely got this project in under the deadline for the challenge but I was really busy yesterday assembling a little gift for the first day of school for all the staff. I'll post those later so you can see what I was up to. This is going to be a busy week as we get the kiddies tomorrow and school gets into full swing. Hope your week zippy!
Project Recipe
Paper: DCWV Nana's Kitchen Stack, SU Pretty in Pink, PTI Lemon Tart CS, GinaK White Pure Luxury CS
Stamps: Cute Daisy May Sheet 51, SU Sincere Salutations (sentiment)
Accessories: copics, cuttlebug, Spellbinders Oval Nestabilities dies, Imaginisce Ring Around the Rosies pink flowers, Prima yellow flowers, Basic Grey glazed brad, buttons and twine, Martha Stewart butterfly punch

Watering the Flowers

After 10 months of drought, I definitely know how valuable this little watering can is! This is a sweet little digital image from Cute Daisy May. The challenge this week on the Cute Daisy May Challenge Blog is "Floral Fantasy". Be sure to check out that challenge blog link. The design team did some cards that are over-the-top-drop-dead-gorgeous. There's a beautiful umbrella full of Flower Soft Flowers--scrumptious. And Michele Spera has some beautiful papers and flowers and rhinestones. Oh my! Just go look at all of them! They are really spectacular!
Now, back to my modest creation. Since my image doesn't have a lot of flowers, I punched out flowers with several different flower punches. I created a "vine" to join them with some green floss. I used some glittery cardstock from my DCWV Spring Glitter Mat Stack to add just a touch of shimmer here and there on the flowers. The layout for the card is the Splitcoast Card Sketch Challenge # 241. Now, I'm off to water some of my real plants before the heat kills them! Don't know who it'll get first though--me or the plants! Stay cool folks!
Project Recipe
Paper: SU Pink Piroutte CS (retired), SU Sweet Nothings DSP (retired), SU Ridinghood Red CS (retired), DCWV Spring Glitter Mat Stack, GinaK White Pure Luxury CS
Stamps: Cute Daisy May Sheet 51
Accessories: Martha Stewart Cosmo punch, Paper Studio flower punches, Imaginesce button brad, Paper Studio red and pink rhinestone brads, cuttlebug, Spellbinders Classic Circles nestabilities dies, copic markers

Another Year with My Best Friend

Steve and I are celebrating our 17th anniversary today! Since we both had been married before and both had children we were raising from those previous marriages, we never had those "honeymoon" years, but we're certainly enjoying them now. The boys have all grown and moved off and we are enjoying being empty-nesters even though we do miss the guys.
Steve and I are each other's best friend even though we enjoy very few of the same things. He's got fishing buddies, drinking buddies, football buddies, and three sons to hang out with. I've got my mom and sister, several wonderful ladies I work with, and some fabulous crafting friends. But at the end of the day, there's no one I'd rather hang with than my hubby!
So when I saw that the Cute Daisy May Challenge for this week was "friends", I knew it would be perfect for my anniversary card for my husband. I usually buy him a photo card with a picture of two young kids (a boy and a girl) playing together, often in grown up clothes (you know the ones I'm talking about). So when I saw this image at Cute Daisy May, I had to grab it. Also, see that dark blue ribbon that matches my dark (SU Brilliant Blue) cardstock? I certainly didn't have any ribbon that color. I took some sheer white ribbon that I had on hand, and, you guessed it, colored it with a matching copic marker--Cool!

Then, because I've been dying to use my new Stampin'Up Movers and Shapers dies, I created a window for my image. I have to tell you, that I just love this effect. I'm going to have to create more of these windows. I didn't want to make this too frilly and have a bunch of embellishments that dh wouldn't appreciate, so after cutting out my window and creating a mat with a matching heart punch, I embossed the front with one of the new cuttlebug embossing folders. LOVE IT! I love that you can "peek" at the image and that there's a dark contrasting mat all in the shape of a heart which is just perfect for my one true love!

When he opens the card, he can see the full image. That's us in the picture. Yes, once upon a time, he had blondish hair and mine is still dark brown (thanks to my hair stylist and her magic potions). But isn't this image just so sweet! And the PTI sentiment is so perfect for this card. What a fun card to make! I hope he likes it, too! He is often amused by my crafting but I can tell that he's also kinda impressed that I do this stuff! Gotta love a man who encourages paper crafting!
Project Recipe
Paper: SU Bashful Blue CS, SU Brilliant Blue CS, Ginak White Pure Luxury CS
Stamps: Cute Daisy May Sheet 51, SU Best Yet (sentiment), PTI Heart Prints (sentiment)
Ribbon: White sheer colored with blue copic (unknown source)
Accessories: cuttlebug, cuttlebug embossing folder, copic markers, SU Movers and Shapers dies (heart and scallop oval), EK Success lrg heart punch, SU scalloped oval punch

Call Me

The challenge this week at Cute Daisy May Challenge Blog was to use hot colors. Hate to say it but down here in sunny South Texas we've had triple digit temperatures for weeks and no significant rainfall for moooonths, so our HOT summer colors this year are brown and darker brown! But that would be too much of a downer for this gorgeous image from Cute Daisy May Digital Stamps.
So I went for something brighter and cheerier. I combined the new SU Razzleberry Lemonade paper with some SU Pink Passion and Pumpkin Pie CS. Like the temperatures here, this card is "sizzling"! I used SU's new Movers and Shaper dies and the new SU modern label punch for my sentiment. The new Movers and Shapers Dies create perfect mats for several SU punches...I love that!
I'm off now to water my plants. Maybe if I do, I'll get some pretty flowers in these bright colors to grow.
Project Recipe
Paper: (all paper by SU unless noted) Razzleberry Lemonade, Pumpkin Pie, Pink Passion, GinaK White Pure Luxury CS
Stamps: Cute Daisy May Digi Stamps Sheet 12, CC Designs SugarPlum Sentiment set
Accessories: Making Memories Blossoms and Buttons, Cuttlebug, Spellbinders Oval Nestabilities, SU Movers and Shapers die, SU Modern Label punch, large brad (Joann's clearance), small star brads (unknown), copic markers