Cornish Heritage Farms Summer Fling Blog Hop Week #4

Welcome to Week #4 of Cornish Heritage Farms' 12 Weeks of Summer Fling Blog Hop!  Can you believe we're already on Week 4?  Eeeeek, the summer is flying by!  This week we are featuring Tom Allen's Friendly Kritters line. 

If you're hoppin', then you've probably just come from CHF's Be Creative Blog, and you know all about this gig.  Your next stop is Tracy's blog.

If you've come here all on your own, let me fill you in with the basics, 'cuz there's candy to be won:  Hop along to each participating blog.  Leave a comment (BTW, you don't have to comment on EVERY blog, but if you do the whole hop - 5 stops in all - you'll have that many more chances to win!).  Simple as that.  What's in it for you?  The chance to win one of two gift certificates, that's what.... to use on anything you want in the CHF store!  First prize is a $25 gift certificate, and second prize is a $10 gift certificate.  All comments must be made before this Thursday, July 1st, midnight EST. That's some seriously great candy for just leaving a comment.  I'm just saying...... :)

If you've already got a Friendly Kritters stamp or two and are feeling creative, you might want to make a little something and post to the special CHF gallery - that will get you in the running for the Design Team's Favorite prize, which is a rubber stamp/stamp set of your choice (up to $16.99).

Anyhow, on to my project.  I didn't have any Friendly Kritters stamps until a couple weeks ago, when I couldn't resist getting this sweet Honey Bees image.  I've owned the Sweet Bee set from the Rummage Bin line ever since it came out, and this little Kritter stamp was just calling to me to complete the whole honey bee theme.

I decided to make a little "Honey Do List" paper pad using scrap printer paper - you know, those pages that print out with only a line or two on them (say, after you've printed out a copy of your online receipt for something, or an email).  I've been collecting all of that, and instead of tossing it in the recycle bin, I cut in all into quarters (4 1/4 x 5 1/2) to use for my lists.  I made a cover from a 10 inch by 6 inch piece of patterned paper (you could also use cardstock, or a combo of the two to make it a little sturdier).  In my case, I used Basic Grey's Kioshi line of papers.  I scored it at 4 3/4 and 5 1/4 inches to make room for the paper.  I used a little Distress Ink in Peeled Paint along the edges, then stamped the lace border from the Sweet Bees set along the edge using Dusty Concord.

For my front cover, I stamped the Honey Bees image in Memento's Tuxedo Black ink, colored it with Copics, die cut it with Nestabilities' Classic Scalloped Circles Small, and inked the edges using Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass.  I used the next bigger die to cut a mat for the image, and inked the edges in Peeled Paint.  I stamped the "Honey Do List" image from the Sweet Bees collection onto another piece of paper, edge punched it, and colored with Copics. For the flower accent, I glued together two different Prima flowers.  For the center, I stamped the Honey Bees image again, and colored just one tiny bee.  I stuck a little "rain dot" (Cloud 9 Design) on top of him, cut him out, and affixed him to the center of my flower.  I think he looks cute down in there!

For the inside, I simply took my quartered scrap printer paper and affixed it to the list cover with two binder clips.  Easy peasy. (I turned the paper around so that the blank sides were facing up.  You can see a little bit of the printed side showing through.)

That's it.  A quick little recycle job that makes shopping lists and "to-do" lists just a little cheerier. 

One last little card, this one using the Mother Hen image that my fellow DT Kristine sent to me (Thanks, Kristine!!).  Deets in the Gallery.  Happy Hoppin' and Good Luck!

Gingersnap and Tag Tuesday All In One

Well, I'm doing it again.... always feel a little guilty, but I've combined two challenges today.  The first is at Gingersnap Creations, where the color challenge is Shades of Blue, and the second is the Tag Tuesday challenge at Kard Krazy, where Louise has challenged us to use Postage on our tags.  Luckily I had blue postage, LOL!!

This card uses lots of little bits that I had in my image stash - the hydrangea is stamped on blue mulberry paper, the butterfly is embossed on vellum and colored with Copics on the reverse, and the music is spritzed with blue Glimmer Mists.  That's some old postage I've used - 37 cents! - that I've been hoarding 'cuz I liked the flower images.  There's some old K and Company paper ribbon across the top.

Hope you can join in these two fun challenges!  And don't forget about the blog hops... Cornish Heritage Farms' Summer Fling and Gingersnap Creations Mad Hatter Day - click on the images in my sidebar on the right for more info.  There's still time to win fabulous candy! 

New Babies!

Fur babies, that is!! Yes, a few of you guessed correctly.... we have two new kitty additions.  We spent the entire day Saturday driving between two cities' animal shelters, trying to adopt two kittens.  This is not as simple as back in the day..... they do a background check, verify your residence (home owner or renter?), take down the name of the vet you intend to use, and give you a quiz (!).  And, they would not let me take anything home without my husband's approval.  He was in Alcatraz that day (as a tourist, silly!!), a continent away in San Francisco.  Luckily he got the message and gave his okay.

We got them home and had a little panic.... the male (the orange one) kept biting my son... hard!  He (my son) was in tears, since that was what he thought of as "his" cat.  I talked with my mom and my husband, and I decided that I would return him the next day (the cat, not the husband).  The shelter was open on Sunday, so I called.  And called.  And called.  For whatever reason, no one picked up, and it did not roll to their answering machine.  (My husband, ever the conspiracy theorist, says they probably use caller ID and make sure no recent adopters can get through, in case they have simple "adopter's remorse".)  I didn't want to just show up with him, but he continued to bite and claw and terrorize the other kitten.  We decided to wait until Monday.  In the mean time, I did some research on the web about this behavior.

Now, I've had cats before.  "Training a cat" is a laughable phrase.  I mean seriously - my two tortie girls may have trained ME, but I never trained them to do a thing, as much as I tried.  But I found a method to stop kittens from biting, and you know what?  It worked.  (Just a matter of giving a loud shout when he bites, then pausing and not playing with him for a couple of seconds.  Repeat as necessary.)  Within a couple of tries, he was really starting to get it.  So I had to think.... things happen for a reason.  He is now an absolute sweetheart.

So, here is Marney.....

He has big floppy ears (well, for a cat.... he looks like a little Yoda most of the time), he likes to talk all the while he, um... uses the litter box, and he is the biggest snuggler you'd ever want to meet.  He likes to play hard, but his sister is setting limits for him.  He and my son are figuring out how to play together, then have a good snuggle.

This little girl is Smokey.....

She is a princess - very delicate, pretty, sweet..... but growls her little ears off at her rambunctious brother.  She was quite timid at first, but is learning to play like a tomboy.  She purrs so loudly you'd think she was a lion, and she does it with the slightest little pat to the head.  I was told she was rescued from a storm drain and bottle fed until she could hold her own at the shelter.  My daughter and I are in great debate over her name.... she (the cat, not my daughter) is black and gray.  My daughter likes "Smokey", but I like "Stormy."  (My daughter doesn't like Stormy because it's the name of our NHL team's mascot, which is a hog, LOL!).  I have a feeling my daughter will prevail. :)

I forgot how busy kittens keep you, and how everything on every surface (and I mean everything) that isn't nailed down ends up on the floor.  Ahhhhh, babies!

One last pic:

BTW, if you are looking for the CHF Week #3 Blog Hop, please see my previous post.  The hop is ongoing through Thursday, so you still have time to get in on a chance for some wonderful prizes.  Happy Crafting!

Cornish Heritage Farms Summer Fling Hop Week #3

Hello, everyone! I'm back hopping this week with the Cornish Heritage Farms 12 Weeks of Summer Fling!  It's Week #3 of the hop, which means that we're featuring the All Things Considered (ATC) line.  If you've just come from the Be Creative blog, then you know all about it.  If you haven't, you might want to start hopping over there.  The basics: hop along, comment as you go, and you'll have a chance to win some fabulous prizes! Yeah!  Create a card and put it in the gallery, and you'll have another chance to win.  And don't forget... 25% off all ATC sets through this Thursday, June 24.

Your next stop on the hop is Joanne's blog.

For my card, I used the Botanical Bliss set for my focal point, my sentiment, and a little additional stamping on the background paper (which is from 7 Gypsies).  I stamped the poppy on some vintage text, colored it with Copics, and distress inked around the edges.  I mounted it on some cardstock and popped it up, so that I could attach my tiny little sentiment with a Tim Holtz mini paper clip.  The lacy border (a punch from Martha Stewart) was punched from the blank part of the vintage text page - gives it a very warm, vintage feeling that only time can create.  I added a little hemp cord and a vintage mother of pearl button, too.

Sorry I've been a bit of a bad blogger.  Our schedule has been wicked hectic, with my husband out of town for a week.  He's back now, and we have two new tiny additions to the family..... they have been taking a lot of our time, since we didn't know if one would work out for us or not.  I'll post pictures when I get a chance (just to keep you guessing for a while)! :)  Have a wonderful Monday!

Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Fairies

Hello everyone, it's time for another Random Redhead Challenge at Gingersnap Creations, and this time it's Fairies!  I've been playing with fairy stamps a lot lately, so I wanted to use one I hadn't inked up in a while.  This little fairy just looked like she was posing for one of those old-time family portrait shots, with her new doll and her best dress, so I decided to go uber-vintage with her.  I stamped her on muslin, frayed the edges, and sewed her onto some distressed paper from Basic Grey's Capella line. I layered that on top of some vintage sheet music.  I used some old mother of pearl buttons and a dogwood blossom (with a Flower Soft center) to continue the vintage cream color palette. The sentiment is stamped on a bit of distressed twine.  Both the fairy and the sentiment are from Oxford Impressions' Fairy Sweets plate.

So if you'd like to take part in a really fun challenge and get some inspiration at the same time, head on over to Gingersnap Creations.  This challenge runs through July 18, so you've got plenty of time to dabble in fairy art of any kind - vintage, ethereal, sweet, cute, artsy-fartsy, edgy - the choice is up to you! :)