Valentine Bear

Good afternoon and Happy Saturday. Today's card has a DeeDee's Digi that came from my time as a Design Team Member at DeeDee's. She has closed her shop and is now doing other things, so I've linked to her new blog. DeeDee designed such cool images, cute, easy to use; this image is one I found printed out in my stash box, and it went along to Florida at Christmas time. Got colored when I was enjoying the sunshine & dolphins playing.

- Digi Bear colored with Copics, die cut with a S/B pinking circle; black mat cut with a larger pinking circle from the same set. DI Worn Lipstick sponged around the outside edges.

- Cheery Lynn Italian doily cut from red c/s, and Elizabeth Craft Heart Background cut from red c/s that had more pink tones in it. (Recollection card pack of Valentine colors).

- Behind the heart background, old dictionary page was torn, sponged with DI Picked Raspberry with Festive Berries at the corners and edges to deepen the color. Crinkled up the old page, then sponged a
layer of Festive Berries over all of it, with the deeper color hitting on the wrinkled parts. The boo-boo here is that the torn piece had to be applied in a landscape fashion, because I don't tear very well! The cut out hearts need to be vertical; so the script is sideways!!! Oh well. I had already done all the sponging, wrinkling, etc, when I realized this would be the result.

- Hero Arts Valentine word die cut from black cardstock.

Thanks for joining me this afternoon, and ya'll have a great weekend! Be back later to share a card for our Christmas Card Club.Tha's all folks! Hugs

DeeDee's Digis - Birdie's Snow Day

Good afternoon, and as you read this, we are hopefully on the way to Florida to spend the holidays with our DD & SIL. This is a scheduled post, but once we've arrived, get the laptop hooked up, I'll try to catch up with visiting.  Our area of Upstate South Carolina got a bit brisker weather-wise on Saturday, even though it was sunny. The wind was screeching round the house corners and the mild temps dropped sharply on Friday night. So it will be lovely to be in the warm climate of Sunny Florida (we hope!)

Here's the card for today:

DeeDee's Digi Birdie's Snow Day and when I saw this cute digi, I knew it would come to Mama! Bet you can guess why. Used the pre-colored image, added a few touches of shading, die cut with a S/B classic Circle,  some 'snow' (Stickles with SnS Twinkling Clouds. Fussy cut a 2nd Birdie to pop up over the main image, as well as the perch.  Added a bit of dimension.

- Blue twig paper from a $2.50 6x6 pack found at A C Moore (one of our local box stores). This was left from the earlier card shown here. The curved pieces (Snippets!) were left from that card, so just popped these top & bottom over the twig paper, and liked the effect.

- Snowflakes were snippets from the same project..so that's a bit of debris cleaned off the desk!

- Sentiment is from the same digi set and die cut with a S/B ribbon tag die. Easy Peasy!

Don't forget about the DeeDee's Digi shop closing, and lose out on the 75% off the designs! There's lots of occasions designs to browse through, and this is a wonderful time to get some of them. Expect you are busy with last minute Christmas chores, so I hope you can take a few moments during the day - to remember what the holiday really is all about. Thanks for popping it. Big hugs & Happy Sunday

DeeDee's Here Comes Christmas

Good Morning...Happy Saturday, and on the count-down to the big Day. We are scurrying around with last minute tasks, so that we can be ready to leave in the early am tomorrow. Before we get to the card, let me give a big Welcome Shoutout to a new follower: Gerrina of Gerrina's Creatieve Wereld. Thanks so much for becoming a a new friend, and I hope all who visit here, might take a few moments to pop over to say Hey to Gerrina and enjoy her blog.

Finished up a few cards last night, so doing some scheduled posts along with today's share:

DeeDee's Digi Here Comes Christmas. DeeDee's Digis will be closing as of December 31, so you might want to hasten over there and pick up some really adorable digis at fantastic prices. (75% off!).
If you're like me, you're always sorry when you miss a good buy.

This cute digi was precolored, but I used some of the Pentel Slicci metallic pens on the horse reins & harness, the trim on the penguin's hat and basically that's all that was done to this cutie. Die cut with a S/B die (forget which one but if you want to know, I can supply the name). Added some Stickles Star Dust around on the snow, then sprinkled that while wet, with Sparkle n Sprinkle's Twinkling Cloud which is my favorite 'snow'.

die cut 2 sizes of Snowflakes from American Craft glitter paper. Forgot to use the Sizzix Precision Plate for cutting intricate dies. This paper had a sort of 'plastic backing' on it, so even though many passes were done with the Big Shot, the scissors still had to be used on some of the bits.

MFT curved die for the white bottom area, and the snowflake paper at the top is from a $2.50 6x6 pack that I got recently. Oh yeah, I needed more paper.

Do be sure to check out DeeDee's Digis to see the Anything But Christmas Challenge that is currently going on. And don't forget to check on this wonderful sale.

 

Thanks for joining me today. Big Merry Christmas Hugs.

DeeDee's Digis - Autumn Harvest Basket

Hello, Happy Sunday. Hope the weekend has been nice for you so far. Today's scheduled post is another DeeDee's Digi card...so very easy to do cards with these cute images. This one has some mixed media 'schtuff' on it;  just shows that these well designed digis can work in so many versatile ways.

In case you've not had time to check this out, there's a super sale over at DeeDee's....if you like these designs, NOW is a good time to build your collection.

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn Harvest digi set (now just 69cents!) fussy cut the precolored digi, just a tiny bit of copic shading, some stylus shaping. Ready to pop on a card.

 

- Used a THoltz Harlequin stencil with Viva Décor paste that has some gritty bits in it, (and not really easy to spread either, but not so thick as that glitter paste I used recently). Let that dry overnight.

 

- Blue background piece from a created background - think this was done with smooshing reinkers, Tsukineko paint, and had been cut with a S/B frame die. Didn't work for the project intended, so cut in half to use here.

 

- corrugated cardboard had been on the table, got oversprays, hmmm...looked ok when combined here (at least _I_ thought it did!). Just tried placing elements to see how things looked. Decided to cut some stitched small leaves, colored with copics, tucked under the digi basket...and done! A rather neutral card, but I think the blue background & the bright leaves perked it up a bit. Before the cold & snuffles arrived, had been trying to use up some bits of stuff.

 

The sentiment is from the same package chipboard used on yesterday's card. Colored with copics.

 

Thanks for stopping in this afternoon, and Big Hugs back to you. (I've been trying to be very careful to stay away from Mr. so he doesn't get contaminated. At first I wasn't sure if this stuff was some of my allergy problems, or just a cold. So far, it's just been a cold, and stayed in my head. So I'm very thankful for that).



DeeDee's Digis - Stitchy Fall

Good evening! First - help me give a big welcome to Amanda of Flutterbies and Heffalumps. Amanda has a new blog (which I found via another blog friend), so please pop over to welcome Amanda to this wonderful community of friends that we enjoy. You're in for a nice treat.

Also, check out the Cards by Friends tab, to enjoy 2 lovely card received this week. Did they ever brighten our day. I've been fighting a cold all last week, so not feeling like being on the computer much. Doing better this evening, but will probably get behind in commenting again, so will say Sorry up front! These cards were a happy spot on days that I felt miserable! So thanks to both sweet & talented ladies.

This evening the card has a DeeDee's Digi image, called Stitchy Fall. (pssst....there is a TERRIFIC sale going on at DeeDee's just now. If you want some fantastically cute images at a super price, do go check it out!). Not only are the designs cute as can be, there's pre-colored, line art - so you can choose your own colors, sentiments, and many sets include digi papers. This set had it all, but I chose to just use some of the precolored images, resized to fit what I wanted, and easy-peasy card. What is so nice about these cute sets, is you can combine images from sets, picking & choosing just what YOU want to use, how you want to use the elements.

OK..printed the pumpkin twice, cut out one, did a little shading and shaping with a stylus after fussy cutting. Bottom layer was cut with a S/B classic circle, edge sponging done while in the die. Leaf & acorn sized accordingly, with a little additional shading added with copics, fussy cut, some glossy accents added to the buttons on all the images, which makes each button look very 3D I think. Glued the fussy pumpkin over the circle punkin,... done.

- Background created with brusho-s (a brown - would you b'lieve brown can look like this?). Wet the paper, sprinkled the brusho crystals, let it spread around. The sprinkled some very scant amounts of the crystals & used a pipette filled with water to move around. This was something I'd seen done in a youtube - works great to fill in spaces where more color or pattern is desired.

The blue swirly piece at the top is another created background - forget how I did this one - but decided to use the leftover shapes - fit together to add a little pop of color behind the leaf & acorn. (snippet!). Still have some swirly pieces that will show up on other cards.

- sentiment was cut from a thin piece of chipboard that came from a package - used a ?Taylored Expression? set of dies. Wasn't sure how well this would cut since the media was thick-ish, so added the Sizzix Precision Plate to the sandwich. Did a few passes, checked. Cut ok for the most part, but helped just a tiny bit with Cutterbee scissors that have a fine point to get into tiny places. Used copic markers to try to get to the same shade of the blue snippety piece. Not exact match, but worked ok.

Easy card, and much fun to make. Ooops, forgot to say that after the background piece had dried overnight, used a Sheena Douglas Chevron EF to emboss.

My next posts will be scheduled posts. Thanks for coming by to visit, and big hugs & blessings to you.

DeeDee's Digis - Raggedy Fall

Hello and welcome. It's been a bit dreary in our Upstate South Carolina for several days, but it's a quiet Sunday afternoon and we can have a little chat, right?

Wanted to share the link to a new follower that I welcomed earlier, but didn't have the proper link, so let's say Hi again to Henriette van Mierlo of Card Creations....made by Me. Hope you will find a few minutes to surf in to enjoy Henriette's cool and clean style of cards and let her know I sent you over to say hello.

Also will be adding a wonderfully crafted card to the Cards by Friends secion;  DH received this one from an extremely talented cardmaker. Anne channels Tim Holtz better than anyone I know, and DH always loves to see what Anne shares at Halloween (both of them love the holiday!). To our surprise, this week's mail brought an amazing work of art, and he was just delighted, as this is the first card HE's ever received from one of my blog friends. Well, it was really for the both of us, but I told him, it could be his!! So do be sure to check out the Cards by Friends tab, and enjoy this treasure with us.

Now, on with today's card:

- DeeDee's DIgi Raggedy Fall very simply & quickly printed out, absolutely nothing else done, except die cut with a S/B Oval Bliss die. No shading at all, just a light touch with a dauber of DI Fossilized Amber around the very edge of the die (only because the ink & a dauber were already out!) DI Antique Linen very lightly sponged inside the oval while the image was still in the die. Got a little smear at the bottom edge...a boo boo necessitated cover up..hence the addition of some other fall objects. But...until the little oopsy, this was still looking pret-tee good.

- Impression Obsession leaf dies, apple bucket cut from white snippet, colored with copics, WoS added for some apple gleam. S/B Pumpkin (from years ago, not sure if this die is still available), also copic colored. Covered up the oopsy very nicely, yes? Life & lemons, lemonade - that sort of thing!

- MB Leaf border cut from previously created spray background. Actually this was a mop-up from where some colors & different inks were being tested. Thought the border would cut solidly, but it's 4 individual leaves - which worked out nicely. Can't find a picture of this die to link - it's probably a couple years old.

- Background created using Silk & Viva Décor Inca gold products, greens & golds...spritz with water and smoosh. Lots of fun doing this, when one doesn't feel like doing something else. It's therapeutic and something pretty results - whatever products are used. (but be careful not to create 'mud' - I try to keep the puddles of different colors from 'touching', then swipe the cardstock. Glossy paper will yield different looks, as will sopping up the puddles with some cling wrap and dabbing it on the cardstock in a twisting motion). Fun!

DeeDee's has a new winter themed Digi of the Month Challenge going on, open until November 29 Pacific Time. The set is just adorable & fun, and the challenge is a progressive one. (look here for the very easy rules). So DO check it out.

Now, everyone knows I'm for all things cardinals. Thought you'd enjoy seeing the bedspread that goes on, for the holiday season. This year it went on a bit earlier..just because....

The story behind this years-ago purchase: There's a restaurant chain in parts of the USA called Cracker Barrel. It's a place we like to stop for lunch when we're traveling, as the food is consistently good, pretty much the same in all the different areas, reasonably priced and usually very tasty. The decorative scheme is old-fashioned, with lots of displays hanging on the walls to enjoy as one eats..plus some shopping. Had been eyeing this set in our local C/B, but didn't want to pay full price for something 'seasonal'. I've always loved any star quilt pattern, and if it's got cardinals embroidered, well, it's dang nigh irrestible to me. So I was exercising a lot of discipline to wait for a sale.  Fast forward some time--. On a trip to New England, we stopped in a Virginia C/Barrel, and the bedspread was marked 40% off, as was the throw. Decided to get them...but no pillow shams were available. On the way back home, stopped at C/B in another state, found 2 'regular sized' matching shams. We have a king sized bed, so with just standard shams, it needs 3 to look right. Some time later, after an early morning doctor's appointment, we were having breakfast in the local C/B (which is always delicious!), was browsing among the quilt display - and of course the hostess asked if I was looking for something specific. Explained about the previous purchases..etc -  and she got on the computer, found one in another store, about an hour north of us...Had it shipped to the local eatery, with no additional shipping charges. Also got it for the 40% off! Is that good customer service or what?!!! I said "it was meant that I have this set!". We always laugh about this when the birds go on the bed!!! (Incidently, that year for Christmas, DD got us a set of red bird patterned flannel sheets, but it's not been cold enough to break out the flannels yet).

We have a busy week ahead, so look for some scheduled posts later on. Also remember: there is an HLS November Tag challenge in progress, as well as a

12 Tags of Christmas over at Stamping with Loll. Hope you can find time to look in at each of these fun places, and enjoy some awesome Holiday Tag inspiration. Remember, you'll be needing tags for those Christmas packages!!! Might win a fab prize too!!

Thanks for joining me this afternoon. Big hugs & blessings too.

DeeDee's Digis - Rustic Leaves

Good afternoon, and Happy Monday. Back again with another card using DeeDee's Digis - the Rustic Leaves set. This one proved to be so very easy to use with a created background and a Memory Box border die.

Before sharing the card, let me first extend a warm welcome to a lovely new follower:

Caz S (Bunny) of Bunnys Bits n Bobs

 

Thanks so much for  becoming a follower here, and I hope you'll enjoy what you see! Also encourage my readers to pop over to say a big hello to Bunny, and check out her blog. Always so nice to meet a new friend.

 

Now on to the card:

printed the precolored leaves and used a S/B square die that fit the motifs to cut out. Used a dark blue Copic marker to go round the edges, as there was not room on the card front to add a skinny mat behind these squares.

- Memory Box Contempo Circle border (sorry, can't find this one to provide a link) - die cut from some Reflections Blue C/s. This die cuts off the edges, and there's a scalloped edge waste - which I decided to fit back over the 'holes' to create a defined border above the leaf squares after I saw that it looked better this way.

- background created using Tsukineko All Purpose Champayne Mist and some wadded cling wrap - daubed around on the card stock, leaving lots of clear spaces. Then put out some small dabs of Silk acrylic paint in a dark fall green and some orange. Spritzed all the paint with water to make puddles, then swiped some 140# w/b paper through the puddles, repeating until all the puddles were used (with just a few blobs, 4 backgrounds were created...as the ink is used, more water sprayed and of course the backgrounds get lighter). It's really quite a pretty look. This background was embossed with a leaf motif folder (Paper Studio A2 Leaves).

- Lawn Fawn Stitched Leaves - smaller leaves) were cut from a snippet of another created background which had been done earlier. Sentiment is from the Falling Leaves digi set and printed on the computer, die cut with a S/B label and sponged lightly with Shabby Shutters DI. Once I decided what I wanted to do with these pretty fall leaves, this card came together very easily.

Don't forget to check out the fall & winter digis that you can find over at DeeDee's Digis, as well as some pretty Christmas sets.

Thanks for joining me today, and I hope your week is off to a good start. This will be another busy one for us, but at least the weekend gave us a little breather. Hope the weather is nice where you are. Come again when you have time! Big hugs.

DeeDee's Digi of the Month Pumpkin Patch

Hi, and welcome....This post features DeeDee's October Digi of the Month. Therea few days left for you to join in the  October Digi of the Month challenge. There's lots of entries already, and for  those who haven't given the  Digi of the Month challenges a try yet, why not? It is so easy to join in, and for making and sharing just one project means you get a whole new digi set to play with for FREE! :-) .

If you participated in last month's challenge, you should have already received this set in your email. (If you participated but didn't receive the set, please contact  deedeesdigis@gmail.com -- sometimes things do go wrong with email). If you did not participate in last month's challenge, you can still purchase this set for just $1.25 this month HERE in the shop.
 So here's my entry:

- the pre-colored digi was printed and die cut with a S/B Labels 15. Used copics to shade the background sky, and add a little dimension on various portions of the digi. Ranger Distress Inks sponged on the edges to add a little color as well.

- Frantic Stamper scarecrow die cut from a snippet of white, colored with copics and pens.

- Impression Obsession bird house die - white snippet - colored with copics. WoS added to certain areas to add some sparkle.

Martha Stewart grass punch cut the grassy border from another snippet left from spraying over some white embossing swirls. Some tan dp with leafy designs was embossed with a C/Bug Oak EF, and the sentiment is part of the DeeDee's Pumpkin Patch set. Hand trimmed and edged with DI Frayed Burlap. Added some vintage buttons from my stash - these are flea market finds & gifts from friends when cleaning out behind sewing members of the family. Some of the buttons in my collection came from my Mom, and were from her Mother.

Hope you enjoy this fall card, and do be sure to check in on the DeeDee's Digi of the Month October Challenge.

Also check out the Cards by Friends tab and see some new cards that we've been blessed to receive recently. Thanks for joining me here, and hope you're all set for a wonderful week. Big hugs.

DeeDee's Digis - Summer Basket

Happy Afternoon. Hope your long holiday weekend was a fun one, and even though it's the last 'official' holiday of our summer here in the USA, I wanted to share this cute summer picnic basket that has been floating around on the messy desk for a while. So here goes:

- DeeDee's Digis Seasonal Baskets - precolored image was shaded a bit with copics and some WoS for some shine (which never seems to show up in the photo, but it's there!). Fussy cut the printed digi, and placed it atop a 'quilt' of snippety bits. I wanted a red & white quilt for the basket to rest upon in the grass (this is my image of a picnic, sans ants). Strips were cut 1/4" wide, sookwang applied to c/stock, and the strips placed in a pattern which reminds me of a quilt (Thanks again, Carol). This is the kind of thing one can do while halfway watching a tv detective show. Bring out the old Fiskars cutter, get the snippets box, then glue 'em down.  Then how to site the basket...well, of course it needs some grass, right?

- Impression Obsession grass dies, 3 different ones to get some variation in the height of the grass, and also several different colors of snippets green. There's about 5 layers here, so once again, I've made a card that will be bundlesome to mail.

- Sizzix sentiment die from a set, 2 layers - more snippets. The hardest part of this card was placing the quilt strips evenly (which I didn't in some places, but I like it anyway).

This Seasonal Baskets digi set has got several motifs and sentiments, and you can bet I'll be using some of the other seasons. I love baskets (can you say Clutter? and we have them all over our house). So hope you'll check this very reasonably priced set out, along with the newest Fall Release, and the Set of the Month is absolutely adorable.( Leaf Your Cares Behind for $1.25).

Since there's a ton of snippets on this late summer card, I'm taking this picnic over to Parsnip & the Playground Elves at the Snippets Playground Week 193. Won't you join me?

A picture of the finished driveway project. Turned out nicely, even though we had 3 cracks show up 2 days after project completion. The crew came back, cut out those places and repaired it. The bare patches in the grass is where the cement trucks parked 2nd time around. The grass will grow back. Now we just need the concrete to cure & blend the old & new 'colors', so Mr. won't have to stain it, as he is proposing to do. I think the winter weather will stain it just fine. Be cheaper too!

I'm off to get a haircut, possibly lunch out with the Mr. and when we get home, do some scheduled posts. Been working on finishing some things, and we've been getting late evening thunderstorms. Usually power down computers then, so trying to get a head start on some things.

Thanks - as always for stopping to visit. It's porch swing time again...love to have you visit. Hugs.

DeeDee's Classic Truck - Thinking of You

Good evening, and I'm back with a Thinking of You card for one of our neighbors who just had some serious back surgery. Mr. and he are car/truck enthusiasts, so my mission was to have a truck on it. Had a cute classic car set from DeeDee's, so that was my first thought.  Then it took me a while to think of just how to present it...can't just plop a picture of a truck on a card! I knew it couldn't be 'frilly' - so should I do sponged hills with a highway, some trees? What? So had to wait for inspiration to strike.

Before sharing the card, though, let me introduce some new followers that I think you would enjoy meeting too. Their blogs are wonderful!

Shirl of Creations by Shirl and Sharyn of My Crafty Place

 

Ladies, thanks for becoming new followers. Hope you'll have time to pop in to see their beautiful cards, and tell them I sent you! It's such a great feeling when I visit a blog, to see other friends there as well, plus get to scroll through some inspiring cards.

 

Now, on to the Classic Truck. 

 

 

 

- Sized and printed the truck, added coloring with red copics to the pre-colored red truck. Some white gel pen on the highlights, silver spica pen on the tires, Sakura silver star pen on  hubcaps and running board. Glossy Accents on windows and other trims like the mirror, handle, gas cap and bumper.

 

- pierced shape behind the truck was a snippet leftover from another project. The white spots showing along the piercing are not visible IRL, guess it's picking up the silver background, as I didn't notice until I saw the photo. :-)

 

- Butterfly tree had been done weeks ago with a white snippet, and decided to leave it off that project...so it's just been traveling around in the desk debris. Think I used WoS pens to color the butterflies and trees, but don't honestly remember now. The truck needed something more on the card, and I thought this would work.

 

- The 'road' was also a leftover snippet from a previous card, that had been sprayed, embossed with a brass stencil,then stenciled with color, and had some other stuff done to it. Didn't use the whole piece, so thought 'hmm...would that work for a road to ground the truck?'. Yep, it would. Then found the black shape and decided to place it behind the truck...why? I dunno. Seemed to work there to my eyes! :-)

 

- Ditto for the filigree corner. The sentiment (which I just noticed needs the 'eye' back over the 'i') was 3 layers from a black snippet. This was Bazzill, a bit thicker than the usual GP I layer 3 deep for some dimension. I think it is just a mite too thick to look as crisp as it should, but too late this time. Will try to remember that for next time. Used clear WoS, then added some glossy accents.

 

- What I really like with the truck, is the silvery embossed background, from an old C/Bug EF. When I was trying to pull all of this together, I remembered having this folder. It's always reminded me of the heavy embossed metal design on a truck's toolbox or in the bed of some trucks. The silver is a textured snippet and used some Hero Arts Wet Cement ink over the folder before running through the B.Shot.

 

Thought the Mr. might disapprove of the butterfly tree & the corner bit, but he just said "It looks good. He'll like it". So I'm home free. I find I do not work well with a specific request to accomplish..particularly for a guy. I do better with feminine things.

 

Since I have so many snippets on this one, I wonder if Parsnip of Pixie's Snippets Playground would approve? It's Week 191 and there's some FAN-tastic cards already on display, and a marvelous couple of dies for prizes. So c'mon and let's play!

 

Thanks for joining me this evening. Hope to be back tomorrow with August's Rudolph Day Card.

Big Hugs.

 



A Beachy State of Mind - DeeDee's Digis

Hooray, It's Friday! Welcome, pull up a chair, and let's chat about the weekend. We're pretty much ready for it here at our house - hope you are too. A bit cooler for the past few days, but still very muggy & humid. Local kids are back at school - which I expect their parents are thankful for that!

Today's card is a cute DeeDee's Digi which has some really fun summer (or end of summer!) images to use. While you're at the site, do check out the Path of Positivity theme , that DeeDee's Challenges is sponsoring this month. How would  _you_ interpret the idea of  'positive'?

Ok, on to the card:

- DeeDee's Beachy State of Mind digi set; selected several of the digi designs, inserted into a Word document, printed out. Hmmm..pretty easy, as these can be resized to whatever scale you desire. Added some Glossy Accents to the umbrella after die cutting with S/B Decorative Labels 8. Set aside to dry.

Printed out the beach bag, flip-flops, resized both of those to fit in with the beach scene I envisioned, fussy cut.  Added a little shading on the flip-flops, then dabbed some glossy accents to the sandals, sunglass lens, and to the water bottle top -  with just a tiny drop on the screw of the beach chair frame.

- Impresson Obsession Mini Shell set dies from a white snippet. Colored with copics, then added some Liquid Pearl Opal for the sheen of shells, shaped just lightly with a stylus. Adhered with some glossy accents.

- shaded the edge of the Label 8 die cut with some DI Tumbled Glass. Covered a white card base with some blue DP that sort of looks like waves - distressed around the edges of this paper with some DI Faded Jeans to add more contrast to the die shape. This rather defeated my idea of having the 'waves' show on the patterned paper background.

Once the main scene had been glued to the card, decided to add the ocean blue, creating a horizon line between the water & sky. Some white gel pen for waves.

- Hello die was a freebie from an order, 3 white snippet layers, colored with copic blues, added some WoS for shine, then Glossy Accents. Easy Peasy. Reminds me of Florida beach days. Hope you'll pop over to DeeDee's and check out the new releases for August.

Ya'll have a great afternoon. Thanks for popping by, and big hugs coming your way.

DeeDee's Pet Sympathy

Hello and welcome. Hope that so far your week has been good, but if not, then I hope it will improve as we draw closer to the weekend.

Some exciting things are going on over at Happy Little Stampers. Kylie is announcing the First Release of some very versatile new stamps. The sets are being premiered over at the HLS Blog.  When you leave here today, why not pop over, check out the very simple rules for the contest, and see these new stamps. They are the kind of images we can all use in our stash for occasions, and it would be so fun to participate and perhaps win these new stamps! (I have a couple of sets on the way to my door, just FYI). Kylie ships internationally. Keep in mind that the Australian currency is a bit different from other countries. I paid for my sets via Paypal, and was delightfully surprised (and pleased!) when I saw how much less than I expected...the final price would be.

Now putting on my DeeDee's Hat: Today's card is a Sympathy card - but made for the loss of a pet. DD had to have her oldest greyhound put down in late June, just before she came up for my birthday. It was very hard to let go, and I didn't want to send a card immediately. Hopefully, the loss has had a chance to ease just a bit, so a card seemed timely. Found this easy-to-use DeeDee's Digi- and knew it would work for what I wanted. For a change, I didn't use a precolored image from the set, but the line art.

 

 

- Heart & paws digi was colored with Copics, a gold pen on the heart, a warm gray in the center. WoS was added over the gold.The sentiment is from the DeeDee's Digi set, and was simply hand cut.

 

- Lil Inker Rainbow & Clouds to die cut the rainbow from white snippet, then colored with Copics. Two coats of WoS created some pretty glimmer.

 

- an old wooden Japanese scene was partially inked to stamp just the bridge; colored with copics. This little scene was diecut with a MBox Cross Stitched Framed Borders.

 

- Impression Obsession Dog Set (DIE 170-R) for the 2 dogs...neither of which looks like a greyhound unfortunately. Various Copics from the E family colored white snippets to resemble Ossie. The standing dog is 3 layers to create dimension. Debated on adding grounding to each dog, but decided against that just because of the theme of the Rainbow Bridge.

 

- Background was created with airbrushing copics in light blue violet, violet (from the red/pink RV family) Blues (B family). Then going back to streak this surface with light shades from the YR & Y families of Copic to add some light, sunshine in the sky.

 

On the inside will go a copy of the poem "Meet at the Rainbow Bridge".  I think any of us who have lost a beloved pet, understand the comfort of knowing that our friends are waiting for us at this Bridge.

 

In the meantime, ya'll have a wonderful Wednesday & thanks for taking time to visit. Big Hugs.

DeeDee's Digis to Celebrate July 4th

Good evening, and to all my American friends, HAPPY JULY 4th!  Apologies for not having this card up last evening, but the downstairs printer would not connect to the Wi-Fi and print. We had a thunderstorm yesterday, so don't know if that affected anything. This morning, I checked plugs, all the other stuff you troubleshoot, then later in the afternoon, booted up, tried again...Voila, I'm connected to the Wi-Fi. Began to wonder if there is a limit on how many electronics we can connect to the network, with the 2 new Smart phones in mind.

You need a fast card? You wanna think DeeDee's Digis? Well, I certainly did. This is the first year, since I've been involved in this stamping/card making hobby, that no 4th of July cards were made & sent. However, DeeDee's Digis to the rescue with this really patriotic set...American Teddies. Absolutely nothing was done aside from printing the image, finding a die to cut the elements, hunting up some papers, and Done! I wanted to at least get a post up to commemorate the day that is so special for the United States of America.  So here goes:

 

 

- MFT Xstitched rectangle die to cut Betsy Ross Bear and the sentiment. (Psst...there's another cute bear in the set, along with some nice patriotic sentiments)

 

- MFT Stitched Fishtail banners

 

- patriotic colors of sequins and some BoBunny from an old 6x6 pack (perhaps last year's?) and some really VOS from the Paper Studio.

 

It doesn't get any easier (or faster!) to make a card than this. If you're ever in a situation where you need a cute image, that basically makes the card all by itself, do check out DeeDee's Digis. The prices are so very reasonable, super fast downloads and there's a really cute set available for July Set of the Month. If you participated in last month's challenge, you should have already received this set in your email. (If you participated but didn't receive the set, please contact DeeDee at deedeesdigis@gmail.com -- sometimes things do go wrong with email). If you did not participate in last month's challenge, you can still purchase this set for just $1.25 this month at the shop. You can find it HERE.

 

Hope you'll have a few moments to check out the Cards by Friends tab, and see the lovely cards sent by some very sweet friends for my birthday. Also, I'd like to thank all those who were kind enough to take time to leave so many good wishes for my day. Of course, my very best loved present was our DD coming up for a few days. We had lovely visit, just enjoyed having some precious time together.

 

Also be sure to check out the new HLS Christmas Challenge  which has its very first appearance today and is open for the month of July. There's some DT cards to inspire you, and remember, the countdown to Christmas is closer than you may think.

 

Thanks for joining me this afternoon. I hope if you celebrate our country's Birthday, you have a happy, safe and most enjoyable day. Big hugs. 

DeeDee's Digis - Christmas Cardinal

Hello and welcome. Hope things are going just fine at your house, and everyone is feeling tip-top. It's been a bit cooler here today, after a nice little rain late yesterday afternoon. Think the temp is low 90-s instead of the high 90-s, but what seems to be making the difference, is the lower humidity. It's been a quiet Sunday here. Getting a few small house chores done.

Today's card is a cute DeeDee's Digi (Christmas Cardinal). I'm sure it will be no surprise to reiterate that I love cardinals, and this one was extremely easy to use...just as it printed out. The only thing added to the image was black spica pen around his black bib & under his feathers, to darken the print just a smidgeon. A little white gel pen on the branches...easy does it.

- green brusho background, using Lime, Emerald and Leaf greens. Sprayed the mixed media c/s with a gold spray lightly before dropping the brusho crystals over the surface. The spray wasn't quite wet enough for the crystals to spread nicely, so just spritzed a bit of plain water & watched the magic happen.

After drying the piece, die cut the oval aperture with an MFT xStitch die (stitching is on the cut out oval, which will get used later). There is a set of dies that have double stitching - can't remember what company. That would have been nice on this one as edge trimming. I'm trying to put a little moratorium on my die purchases. We'll see how long I last. :-}

- Inked up a Sheena Douglas branches EF with Memento Northern Pine ink (and boy did that get inky all over my fingers too). Then embossed. Liked the slightly mottled look of the inky background, but the brusho colors still show quite well.

- Impression Obsession twig branch cut from white snippet, colored with several of the Copic G dark greens. MBox pine cone branch cut from another snippet, colored with greens. Snipped the greenery apart, and placed strategically. Pine cones were colored with various Copic E browns, and dotted with some white gel pen, then tucked in among the pine branches.

- Sentiment is part of the digi set, and when it was printed, added a red line box around it, & cut out with scissors.

The Diver Dan June Challenge over at DeeDee's Digis still has a few days left this month. This is a cute set (I have it, but haven't used it yet.). So you still have time to get this summertime fun set and play along. It's priced at $1.25, a bargain for sure. Do check it out if you have time.

While I've been missing MoJo, I've been doing a bit more organizing of dies, stamps, etc. Have found more duplicates - so if some new followers' faces show up, I will be doing some candy. It's been a while since I saw some new faces - but also I've been lax in posting every day too. So hopefully that's gonna change!

In the meantime, take care, come again when you can, and big hugs.

DeeDee's Digis - Life's a Beach

Hello. Sorry for being MIA once again. We've been doing some house type chores, had some family visiting, and just generally doing other Life things besides blogs & making cards. (and remember my Missing MoJo? well, it's still hiding - makes it easier to just concentrate on other things, ya know?).

This cute DeeDee's digi had been printed for a while, and finally I took a couple of evenings to finish up this card with it. Once I got in gear, the card didn't take long to put together.

First,  let me share something wonderful that is happening. Happy Little Stampers is starting a new Christmas Challenge next month. (along with the existing Sketch Challenge, there will also be a CAS Challenge.) I am excited to have been asked to be part of the Christmas Challenge DT which will be coming in July. So please take some time to check out these challenges, enjoy the DT's inspiration cards for each - and perhaps take time to join in.

Now on to the card:

 

 

DeeDee's Life's a Beach pre-colored digi was die cut with an MFT stitched circle. Shaded with some Hero Arts Pool while still in the die, using a finger dauber. S/B scalloped circle was cut from a white snippet and colored with Memento Daffodil and a round Ranger sponge tool.  WoS pink used on Miss Piggy's bathing suit, and extra WoS to color the flower bow, and the waves around her yellow float.

 

- Various small dies cut all the embellishments from more white snippets which were colored with copics. Used some stickles on the turtle & sea horses. Used Opal Liquid Pearls on the shells, and spread it with my finger to get a bit of gloss to the shells. Sailboat hull had some glossy accents spread to make the hull glisten.

 

After all was added, then I wondered if it was 'too over the top'. ....Nah, Miss Piggy would enjoy watching all these things if she were floating on the waves at the beach!!!

 

The background is a Brusho piece, embossed with a Darice waves folder. This was made earlier, and looked a lot like water to me, and after embossing, thought it was perfect for this card.

 

There's some really cute sentiments included with this fun digi set, but for this one, the sentiment will go inside.

 

The current DeeDee's June Challenge is featuring another warm weather set which you can find HERE .  It's called Diver Daniel, and is just so cute.

If you participated in last month's challenge, you should have already received this set in your email. (If you participated but didn't receive the set, please contact deedeesdigis@gmail.com -- sometimes things do go wrong with email). If you did not participate in last month's challenge, you can still purchase this set for just $1.25 this month at the shop. 

Thanks for joining me this evening. It's been over 100F for the past 2 days here in our part of Upstate South Carolina. So if we're not running errands, we try to do 'inside' stuff, or do the 'outside stuff' very late in the evening. So keep cool where you may be, and come again, when you have time to chat. Blessings & Hugs.

 

DeeDee's Digis - Daniel's Sweetheart

Hi...

Back with a very quickly made card using a sweet DeeDee's Digi image. What I really like about these digi images, besides the fact that all of them are so doggoned cute, is that you can be as simple or elaborate as you chose, using them in your cards. I'm a slow card maker, so when I can put something together, fairly quickly, then I'm a happy card maker. And I don't want it to look like I did it quickly either.

 

 

- DeeDee's Digi Daniel's Sweetheart precolored image, but I did a bit of shading using copics & multi-liner pens. The set comes with some nice sentiments, but just now birthday cards are needed at my house. A niece & I share a birthday, so I think this one's going to Julie. She's really a "bear" person, but I think she'll like Ducks too.

 

Die cut with a SWilson Canadian Collection - Vancouver(CED6205), the largest open die. Shaded with Memento Summer Sky & and a Hero Arts xxxxxx.

 

Traced outer part of the SW die & fussy cut to create a scant mat from a white snippet. Decided that the mat needed color. Spritzed mat with water, sprayed some Lindy's Stampgang Starburst spray (Water Poppy Teal) and while still wet, sprinkled some Brusho Ultra Marine watercolor crystals onto the mat. I must say that the prettiest part of the marbling was - of course - right in the center. Usually die cut the portion underneath away, and use for another time. So there's a lovely piece to use on another project.

 

- Scored lines around all 4 edges of the white card base.

 

- Impression Obsession sentiment die cut from white snippet, colored with Copic B45 - layering to get the shade of blue needed. Added 2 blue rhinestones over the i's.

 

Can't get any easier than that! And fun to do as well. Hope you will like it.

Thanks for your visit, check out these great digi-s, where there is a Show us Bright and Colorful  challenge going on just now. Blessings.

 

Linking to The Snippets Playground Week 178 & 179. C'mon along & say Hello to my little buddy Parsnip. He's very friendly.

DeeDee's Digis - Grown with Love #2

Hi - it's Monday once more. When I was working, I always dreaded having Monday come around -- even when I liked the job that I had at the time. Just something about having to get up early, go to work. Much nicer to have the day to sleep in if you want, make your own choices as to what you will do that day. Plus, you don't have to put up with office politics. Yay!

Here's the 2nd card made with the DeeDee's Grown with Love set. The background DP came from the set Chance of Showers.  Just FYI, there are some great sets for the Upcoming Father's Day as well. An added bonus of these DeeDee's sets is the ability to combine elements from the different sets that fit in with whatever it might be that you are currently working on. Resizing the designs is another feature that I enjoy, along with the precolored images if I don't have time to color the line art that is with all the sets. Some of the sets have digi papers, some do not. All of the sets have appropriate sentiments too. Nice to have available, to use whenever you might need it.

 

 

- Bouquet die cut with MFT Stitched Circle die. Background colored with Copics, and added WoS to the heart and flowers.

 

- Gloves, garden tools and sack were fussy cut and adhered to the collage. The sack was shaded a bit with copics on the front side. Corners were curled a bit, so added some heavy brown copic shades on the back side, knowing that it would bleed through the front and give a 'used look' to the bag.

 

- Photo doesn't show it well, but the dp was embossed with a PTI Cover Plate: Stitched Die. It gives a very faint impression. Since the dp was thinner paper, a piece of normal card stock was placed behind so that the die would not cut through the paper.

 

- Card base is a pale yellow. This will go to a SIL who loves to garden. She is happiest when she is outside working in her flowers.

 

- Misti helped to place the sentiment which is from a very old Inkadinkadoo clear set - Personal Impressions.

 

It is  the middle of the month so if you haven't made up your card for DeeDee's  Digi of the Month Challenge now is the time to start getting serious! You have 2 weeks left since the challenge will run to May 31st.

This month "Dad's Day Off" is featured. (available here for Non-EU residents or here for EU residents).

 

Here's another joke that arrived in our email last week. I laughed, so I hope you will too.

 

*****************************************************************************

A woman was at her hairdresser's getting her hair styled for a trip to Rome

She mentioned the trip to the  hairdresser, who responded:  " Rome? Why would anyone want to

go there? It's crowded and dirty. You're crazy to go to Rome. So,how are you getting there?"

"We're taking Continental," was the reply. "We got a great rate!"

"Continental?" exclaimed the hairdresser. "That's a terrible airline. Their planes are old, their flight
attendants are ugly, and they're always late. So, where are you staying in Rome?"

"We'll be at this exclusive little place over on Rome's Tiber River called Teste."

"Don't go any further. I know that place. Everybody thinks it’s going to be something special and
exclusive, but it's really a dump."

"We're going to go to see the Vatican and maybe get to see the Pope."

"That's rich," laughed the hairdresser. "You and a million other people trying to see him.
He'll look the size of an ant. Boy, good luck on this lousy trip of yours. You're going to need it."

A month later, the woman again came in for a hair do.

The hairdresser asked her about her trip to Rome.

"It was wonderful," explained the woman, "not only were we on time in one of Continental's brand new planes, but it was overbooked, and they bumped us up to first class. The food and wine were wonderful, and I had a handsome 28-year-old steward who waited on me hand and foot.. And the hotel was great! They'd just finished a $5million remodeling job, and now it's a jewel, the finest hotel in the city. They, too, were overbooked, so they apologized and gave us their owner's suite at no extra charge!"

"Well," muttered the hairdresser, "that's all well and good, but I know you didn't get to see the Pope."

"Actually, we were quite lucky, because as we toured the Vatican, a Swiss Guard tapped me on the shoulder, and explained that the Pope likes to meet some of the visitors, and if I'd be so kind as to step into his private room and wait, the Pope would personally greet me. Sure enough, five minutes later, the Pope walked through the door and shook my hand! I knelt down and he spoke a few words to me.."

"Oh, really! What'd he say??!!!"

He said, "Who screwed up your hair?!!"

************************************************************************************************************************

LOL! Come again when you have time, and have a great day. Hugs & Thanks for visitin'.

 

DeeDee's Digi-s Grown with Love

Happy Sunday afternoon. It's been a lovely sunny day in our area, and a fairly quiet weekend. Got a few house chores done yesterday while DH was off to a local carshow, where he got sunburned. I _told_ him to be sure to use sunblock...Oh well!

Today's card has been in the making for a bit; just had to sit Self down to put it together. The DeeDee's Digi set is Grown with Love and is bound to be useful for those gardeners that are on your card list. Most of the images in this set were fussy cut. I had enough to make 2 cards, and here's the one shared this afternoon. Hope you like it.

 

- Seed packet and flower pots dumped on the grass are from the set. Actually the seed packet looks a bit too large for the wheel barrow, but wanted the face of it to show well.

- IO Die165-H for the wheelbarrow, cut from a white snippet and colored to be cheery using Copics.

- MB flower pots from white snippet and tucked in the wheel barrow.

- MB simple hummingbird die was cut from a snippet of Dylusions sprayed paper. His bill was colored with the Staedtler fine line pens, and then used the black to free hand some feathers.

- IO Die156-H birdhouse - white snippet colored with Copics. The red heart was colored red, then added some WoS & added back in the opening. The elements are not proportional, but I like all of 'em on here anyway. I think it's a Happy card.

- Grass was done with various Copic greens, just flicking the blade strokes.

- Background was a previously done Dylusions background piece that I thought would look ok, as it had greens, blues & yellows - just like a summer day.

- Misti used to stamp the Inky Antics sentiment, from Magnificent Men. I think this might be DH's Dad's day card, if I don't manage to get another one done before the day. He really IS my hero - Most of the time anyway!

Since I do have quite a few Snippety bits on this one, and since there is a new week (177) at the Snippets Playground), I think I shall just zip over the pond to say Hello to little Parsnip. Won't you join us?

Also do yourself a favor and check out the wonderful digis that are available, both to International and USA shoppers at DeeDee's Digis. There is still time to enter the monthly challenge that ends May 31. Remember, you have until May 31 to share your own creation made with this set and link it up to the challenge post in order to receive next month's featured set for FREE.

Another one from the Rogues' Gallery! Can't you see they are having a good time?

And I'll close with a joke...hope it gives you a little smile. Come again when you can. God Bless

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The Power of Believing in One's Friends   A contestant, Sally, on 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' had reached the  final plateau. If she answered the next question correctly, she would win $1,000,000. If she answered incorrectly, she would pocket only the $25,000 milestone money. And as she suspected it would be, the million-dollar question was no pushover. It was, 'Which of the following species of birds does not build  its own nest but instead lays its eggs in the nests of other birds? Is it: A) the condor B) the buzzard C) the cuckoo D) the vulture    The woman was on the spot. She did not know the answer. She had used up her 50/50 Lifeline and her Ask the Audience Lifeline. All that remained was  her Phone-a-Friend Lifeline. She hoped she would not have to use it because her friend was, well, blonde. But she had no alternative. She called her friend and gave her the question and the four choices. The blonde responded unhesitatingly:  'That's easy. The answer is C: the cuckoo.' The contestant had to make a decision and make it fast. She considered  employing a reverse strategy and giving Meredith any answer except the one that her friend had given her. And considering her friend was a blonde that would seem to be the logical thing to do. But her friend had responded  with such confidence, such certitude, that the contestant could not help but be convinced. 'I need an answer,' said Meredith. Crossing her fingers, the contestant said, 'C: The cuckoo.' 'Is that your final answer?' 'Yes, that is my final answer.' And Meredith replied, 'That answer is.... Absolutely correct! You are now a millionaire!' Three days later, the contestant hosted a party for her family and friends,  including the blonde who had helped her win the million dollars. 'Joni, I just do not know how to thank you,' said the contestant. 'How did you happen to know the right answer?' 'Oh, come on,' said the blonde... 'Everybody knows that cuckoos don't build nests. They live in clocks.' Sally fainted...........................