A Rainy Start for the SOTC

Today's post features my card for January's Sisterhood of the Travling Cards. Our hostess was Maryann (mastuff) and her theme was New Year's Day wake-up weather.

I really thought I'd be making a snow-themed card; after all, we were in the midst of a snowier-than-normal December. But alas, we woke up to rain. Not very pretty, but it did give me a chance to use one of my fav digis, HG Rain Rain from The Greeting Farm. She's colored with Copics and snazzed up just a little with pearl "buttons" on her coat and hat.

Even though she's all smiles, I didn't want the card to feel like a "downer", so I chose some floral papers in K and Co.'s Amy Butler Lotus Faded China collection. The colors represented what I saw looking out the window that day: dark gray clouds, peeks of blue sky now and then, and the yellowish-green of last-year's needles on the neighbor's white pine trees.

We might have started the year warmer than normal, but the rest of January and early February gave us our typical snowy, windy, cold weather. Even though Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow and the forecast calls for temps in the 50s this week, we're certainly not out of the woods yet. Remember March 1993?? But I am oh-so ready to ditch my winter wool coat and break out the spring clothes!

Thanks for visitng today! Have a great day!

Apple Of My Eye!

I'm glad I finally decided to post my December SOTC card today because it's a whopping 5 degrees here at the moment, and this card reminds me of summer!

(click images to enlarge)

Our lovely hostess Donna (SCS=cricutqueen) challenged us to use our favorite color or color combo. You know I adore pink, but I've been dying to use the retired SU Farm Fresh set I recently scored and couldn't see pink working with it. So I decided to use another fav combo of mine, citrusy greens and tropical blues!

The cute Apple Of My Eye image is simply colored with Copics and matted onto a Sizzix tag that I sponged with SU Craft White, tied with coordinating ribbon, and finished with a crisp white button tied with DMC floss. The faux quilt background squares are from the yummy K&Co. Que Sera Sera collection, some of which I dry embossed with various Cuttlebug EFs for texture. A few Dew Drops in the corners finish the card. I hope the Sisters who receive one feel the summery vibe!

The arctic temps outside make this the perfect weekend for stamping today and cheering my PITTSBURGH STEELERS tomorrow in the AFC Championship game as they continue to climb the Stairway To Seven! ;-)

Thanks for visiting! Have a wonderful day!

It's Snowing in the Sisterhood!

(click image to enlarge)

Snow, snow, and oh yeah, snow, was pretty much the theme issued by Debbie (SCS=Meredithangelmom), our hostess for November over in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Cards. I knew right away that I would use the super-cute "Love You This Much" set from Sweet 'n Sassy, which was a gift from a dear stampin' friend (thanks, sweetie!).

I tossed around several color combos before choosing the ever-popular red, light blue, and white. It always looks so good for snow people, don't you think?! No fancy layout, so I just jazzed things up with some fun pompom trim and glittered accents. Here's a close-up so you can see the sparkle and the shimmery background DP, although the color in the photo is a little off.

(click image to enlarge)

Technically, we're supposed to make standard-size cards, but the scalloped panel looked *so* much better on a 5-1/4" square, so I included square envies for the gals as well. I really like the way these turned out, so I made a couple extra for myself!

We've had snow showers in my neck of the woods for several days now. Nothing major, just a few inches here and there, but it's really adding to the holiday mood for me! I'm always hoping we have a white Christmas, and the long-range forecase is looking pretty good for that! YAY!

I'm glad you stopped by for a visit, and I'll hope you'll let me know you were here! Have a wonderful day! Let it snow!

Twisted Sisters!

You know, over in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Cards (SOTC), the monthly swap themes are all over the place. Some months they're all butterflies and warm fuzzies, while other months....

Sister Karen was at the wheel in September and, well, when she's driving, you'd better strap in and hold on for the ride! I love her sense of humor, her wit, and her slightly satirical take on life. Thankfully, she kept true to herself with a "twisted sister" kind of theme: Create a card that you would give to a really good friend showing how much they mean to you, but with an unexpected twist. So here's my twisted take on it!

OUTSIDE


INSIDE

GOTCHA!! Ah-ha-ha-ha! As soon as I saw this free image over on the Crafty Secrets blog, I knew I had to use it! I immediately thought, If I had lived back in Victorian times, that would most definitely be me in the throes of a hot flash! But I cannot even begin to imagine (nor do I want to!) wearing all of those layers, in the summer, without running water - or deodorant! YIKES! {{{shudder}}}

I do want to call attention to this gorgeous satin ribbon I used. It is so beautiful in real life, and it came tied around a special gift that The Girl and The Man gave me for my birthday 2 years ago, a beautiful Coach purse. I have the pretty PINK box perched high on a shelf in my craft room, holding all the precious cards I've received from my SOTC gals, and I was keeping the ribbon just because it's so pretty, but I thought it would be *perfect* for this card, so there it is!

OH JOY FOR FOUR-DAY WEEKENDS! My office is closed today in observance of Veteran's Day, so I decided to burn a vacation day tomorrow for a mini-vacay at home. I'm hoping to get lots of (much overdue) housework done and to spend some time getting my fingers inky, too!


Before I leave on this Veterans Day, I want to say a special *THANKS, DADDY* for serving our country during World War II. The median age of World War II veterans in the United States is 86, so if you know any, please take a minute to shake their hand and thank them, before it's too late.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

It's Christmas in August!

I think all of us over in The Sisterhood knew it was coming; we just weren't sure when. But Sister Carol took care of that mystery when she issued her hostess theme to be Christmas in August! I was excited because Christmas is one of my Top Three holidays, and thinking "cold" was a good distraction from the sweltering heat. (Can you guess my other two favs?)

I knew I wouldn't be using the traditional red-n-green combo, and these papers from My Mind's Eye were just what I had in mind. I finally got around to cling-mounting the stamps I won from Copic Creations, and it was a no-brainer to use Winter Susan by Elisabeth Bell for SCACD.

It was a little nerve wracking trying to color her detailed Nordic-style hat and to add the white dots, but I only ruined two, and I think the white dots made all the difference. I was completely stumped for a layout, and finally decided to wrap the polka-dot panel as a present with some sparkly-edged ribbon, then added a punched sentiment tag. And there you have my Christmas in August card!

Wow, the kiddos are already heading back to school, and that means it's time to start thinking about my cookie baking list. I like to bake lots and lots of cookies, to the protests of The Man who thinks it's too much work:
"Why don't you just buy them?" he says.
"What? I can't buy them!" I gasp. "I'm the only one who inherited the baking gene!"

*sheesh* Silly, silly man! He does have my best interests at heart, as I'm often up until 2 AM baking. But it's worth it, because it reminds me of helping Mum when I was little, and it's really satisfying when someone says they're *almost* as good as hers. Hey, I'm happy with *almost* - hers were cookie nirvana!

This year, I'm going to try making pizzelles. If I start practicing now, I should have the technique perfected by mid-December. Maybe.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

DETAILS
Image: Elisabeth Bell Winter Susan
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock: Stampin Up, Georgia Pacific
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye Bohemia "Bliss" collection
Copics: 0,BG10,BG72,BG78,C2,E000,E00,E35,E40,E57,R29,W3,Y26
Accents: white pen (Sakura), tag punch (SU), ribbon (Michael's)