Hello!

Well, here it is Saturday, and if you are anything like me, you are probably recovering from eating too much on Thanksgiving! I'm glad you stopped by to see the newest Diva sketch. This is the last one designed by Ruthie, Diva SC164. Here it is, and you can see the list of those participating this week here.

I really liked this sketch, although I guess you can say I did a variation of the theme! Here is my card. I just love this sweet little girl in the Gift Givers stamp set, and this is the first time I've inked her up. (sigh)
As you can see, I substituted a circle for the oval. I also eliminated two of the horizontal lines since I thought the rosette was quite large and I didn't want too much going on.

Stamps: Gift Givers
Paper: Early Espresso, Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Frostwood Lodge DSP
Ink: Black Staz-on, watercoloring with aquapainter and ink pads
Accessories: Northern Flurry embossing folder, scallop punch, circles #2 die, Big Shot, Simply Scored, cherry Cobbler quilted ribbon, 2 way glue pen, dazzling diamonds

It's really hard to see in the photo, but the snowflakes and snow in the main image are very sparkly!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and may our thankfulness for our blessings last throughout the year!

Blessings,
Barbara

Shabby Christmas Lodge

Well, here it is Saturday again and time for another sketch at the UDI blog. You can find a list of all of the participants here. This week we have another sketch by Ruthie. Here is the sketch, DivaSC163:



And here is my interpretation. I'll be back with the details later. I combined the diva sketch challenge with Inkspirations colour challenge #96.



I'm sorry I missed last week's sketch. I was vending all day Friday and Saturday, and then again Wednesday night at craft shows. I'll try to post some of those pictures next week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,
Barbara

Top Dog!

Well, I finally had time to stamp today! This is the first of the sketches that Ruthie will be doing for the month of November, and I really like this sketch! You can see the list of participants in this week's sketch here. Here it is, DIVASC161.

When I saw it, I immediately had an idea. I had seen a really cute card by Monika Davis, which inspired me to buy the set "Not So Seriously." (page 55, IB&C, #123087, $25.95) And here's what I did with it. I combined DIVASC161 with color challenge PPA118, and here's my card.


Recipe:
Stamps: Not So Seriously
Paper: Whisper White, Soft Suede, Early Espresso
Inks: Soft Suede, Early Espresso, River Rock, Black Staz-on
Accessories: Soft Suede 1 1/4" striped grosgrain ribbon, neutrals brads, word window punch, Modern Label punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch, circle punch, stripes embossing folder

I need to stop working at night because I hate using a flash for my photography! I would much rather have natural daylight to take my photos. You can hardly see the striped embossing in the background. Sad...

Oh, I saw the greatest idea today for the word window punch, and now I don't remember where I saw it! The "top dog" greeting was too long for the word window punch, so I measured the length I needed, folded a piece of card stock in half and used the window punch on the folded card stock to get the longer length. I did the same thing with the modern label punch. If you look closely, you may see the fold in the papers. If you have any questions, I can take a photo later to show you. Just give me a holler!

Thanks for stopping by today! If you have time to leave a comment, I really appreciate them! It let's me know that people are actually stopping by.

Blessings to you and yours,
Barbara

Life Gets in the Way

It's been a topsy-turvy week here on the East coast! One week ago today we had a freak snowstorm that dumped a lot of heavy snow, bringing down power lines and lots of trees. My street is three blocks long, and when the builder developed this area 25 years ago, he lined the street with Bradford pear trees. It was a beautiful sight in the spring, when they were white with blossoms, as well as late fall, when they turned a beautiful cranberry red. Sadly, fourteen trees came down in the storm. Our road was impassable for 24 hours, until people could get out with chain saws. So many people were without heat and electric, and some still are. My in-laws came to stay with us for 36 hours until they got their power back. Needless to say, there was nothing like a "normal" schedule at my house.

I had a class last night, and while I was scrambling with last minute preparations, I realized I had not prepared my sketch card. Me bad! :-(

Check back later today if you have time. Meanwhile, you can find the list of participants over at the Diva blog.

See you later!

Blessings,
Barbara

Babushka Dolls

Happy Saturday, and welcome to another Diva Sketch Challenge, DSC159. If you are interested in seeing who is participating in the challenge this week, you can find the list of names over at the Utah Diva Blog. This is the last week of sketches by Elizabeth, and I have really enjoyed her sketches! Here is sketch number 159. If you stopped by last Saturday, you know I jumped the gun and did DSC160 last week. Yikes! So I hope you are not totally confused. This week's sketch is DSC160, but because I did that a week early, I am using the sketch from last Saturday.




Earlier this week I was blog surfing and I came across the most adorable Babushka dolls, created by Deb Fearns. I fell in love with them, and I couldn't wait to make one. Here is a sneak peak at the inside of my card

Deb had the punches listed on her blog. The dolls required the Owl Builder punch, the extra large oval punch, and the 1" circle punch. Isn't this just the cutest?! On my card I stamped "friend to friend,"so I thought it was quite appropriate to have one little friend on the front of the card as well as one on the inside. What do you think? There isn't any stamping on the card other than the greeting. The doll's eyes and cheeks are both from the owl punch, as well as the bow at her neck, which is two hearts. For her lips I used the tiny heart from the pinking hearts border.


Recipe follows
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Cheerful Treat DSP, Concord Crush, Pink Pirouette, Melon Mambo, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Concord Crush
Punches: Owl builder, Extra-Large Oval, 1" circle

I can hardly believe we are at the end of October, and we are expecting some snow later today. We didn't have a great fall this year. There was not much color, and we still have lots of trees loaded with leaves. This could potentially be a very bad storm. Maybe we'll be lucky and we won't get much.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a delightful weekend!

Blessings,
Barbara

It was a dark and dreary night...

I often say, "If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done." So here it is, the last minute, and my card for the Utah Diva Saturday Sketch Challenge, DSC160, is done. And I just realized that I used the sketch for next week, October 29! My apologies to the rest of the team. You can see the correct sketch here, as well as the list of those who are participating this week. I'm too tired to start another card now, so what you see is what you get! I will try to get back to this and do the correct sketch.

So here is next week's sketch:



And here is my card:



Recipe:

Stamps: House of Haunts, Spooky Bingo Bits
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Cajun Craze, Frightful Sight DSP
Ink: Basic Black, Basic Gray, Old Olive, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Stampin' sponge, Lucky Limeade designer printed brads

Well, it's getting late and I'm going to call it a night. I hope to be back later today with another card. We'll see!

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,
Barbara

Beautiful Season

Happy Saturday, and welcome to another Diva Sketch Challenge, DSC158. If you are interested in seeing who is participating in the challenge this week, you can find the list of names over at the Utah Diva Blog. This is the third week of sketches by Elizabeth, and I really am enjoying her sketches! Here is sketch number 158.



I thought I would rotate the sketch, but I ran into a problem when I finished the main image. I couldn't fit it on the card if I had it horizontal, so I tipped it back to a vertical image, so it did alter things slightly. Also, I substituted ribbon for the scalloped edge that Elizabeth showed in her sketch. Even though I changed it, I think I have captured the main idea.


I was determined to use products that I bought but had not yet used, and I succeeded! I inked Beautiful Season and my letterpress plate for the first time and also opened the spool of quilted satin ribbon. (Too often I order things but fail to use them, falling back on my favorites!) Here are the supplies.

Stamps: Beautiful Season
Paper: Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, watercolor paper
Ink: Always Artichoke, Riding Hood Red, Soft Suede, Versamark, Black Staz-On
Accessories: Watercolor wonder pen, Fancy Fan Letterpress Plate, Early Espresso 3/8" quilted satin ribbon

I inked the Letterpress Plate with Versamark ink before I put it through the Big Shot. I think it made such an elegant background. The main image was stamped with Black Staz-On and then water colored with my ink pads and a watercolor wonder pen.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Blessings,
Barbara

P.S. I had a wonderful visit with my family in Michigan, and we had a great time at Mabel's birthday party! And we found out this week that Mabel will be welcoming a little brother in late February. That will be grandchild number seven. We are all very excited!