Painted White...

I thought you would enjoy a little diversion today. I've been looking in on this blog for awhile now and this young woman Alice W. has one of the most amazing blogs Thoughts from Alice W and a beautiful online shop called Painted White. Take a moment and pop on over for a visual feast - you will love it. Not only that, but she is featuring a giveaway this week - think Crabtree and Evelyn, beautiful pompadours, and altered bottles with lavender and pearls.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.

It's Monday again.....

Mondays come around fast don't they??? I hope you all had a peaceful and relazing weekend. I went shopping on Sunday for card stock. Last week I stopped by our lss now mind you, I stop by there probably a couple of times a week and had been there earlier in the week) well, there was a sign on the door "We are closed", apologizing for the abruptness of the departure, and the next day the moving van was there loading up. I did get in touch with one of the employees and was told it was due to economics. It's so sad for them and all of us up here, because now the closest place to drive for supplies is about 40 minutes away depending on traffic and weather conditions - no more running to the store for a bit of this or that. So anyway that's how I spent my Sunday - stocking up. It was good though - Michael's still had their card stock that is normally .59 on sale 4/1.00 - I bought a ton.

Enough complaining. I thought maybe you would like to see something different from what I've been posting lately - sorry about that, but it's what my shop in town wants and get this - she told me I actually have a following now, that comes in asking for my cards, etc. and wants to know when I'm bringing more. That's a good thing, but I kind of get stuck in that particular vein. My card today is one I love and did several months back, but never posted to my blog. The image is from Crafty Secrets and the poem is one of my favorites. I had to fiddle with it a bit to get it to print where I wanted it on my dp - the ribbon is from Costco. I hope you enjoy seeing something different, and I will try to get back into more of the challenges so I have something interesting. Take care, and have a wonderful Monday.

It's Pink Saturday again...

and a Happy Pink Saturday to all of you today. Thank you to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for putting this together. It's a wonderful way to meet many talented women and men, visit their beautiful blogs and just spend some time enjoying life. I've never really thought of myself as a "pink" person, but have found that I really am - who knew?? My first item was handmade and given to me by my daughter last Mother's Day - I just love it - the colors are so soft and pretty, I love birds and the bling. Thank you Sara.





And then, there's this pink candle with roses pressed into it sitting in a vintage bowl with pink flowers. My mother had a candle and bowl like this when I was a child and I had it for a long time - have no idea what eventually happened to it, but I had to replace it with something similar as it reminds me of her. I keep it in the dining room for easy access when our electricity goes out during winter storms - it's very comforting.



And aren't these just the cutest chicks ever??? I found them at Michael's and just had to have them. They're just so pink!! Love them!



My last items are new additions to my Etsy shop




Have a wonderful "Pink" weekend.

Easter Greetings

Good Happy Thursday - I can't believe it's Thursday already. I have a busy day today - as usual - but before I get too involved I wanted to share another Vintage themed Easter card with you. I love the image on this one, the sweet bunnies in the meadow watching over the cute little colored Easter eggs - there's nothing like vintage images in my mind. They are just so reminiscent of a gentler time - I was definitely born in the wrong era.



Nothing unusual with this one, very simple and straightforward. Have a happy day, and try to spend some time doing what's close to your heart - it will bring you much joy.

Take Care,


P. S. This is available in my Etsy shop

Easter Chick

Good Morning Sunshines - yes, even though we still have snow, spring is definitely on it's way. I looked at my crocus again yesterday and now there's more and at this time of year, even though we got almost 2 feet of snow over the weekend, it's melting away quickly.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you so much that drop by and make such sweet comments. They are truly appreciated and so inspiring for me and I love hearing from you.



Now, isn't this just one of the sweetest Easter chicks you've ever seen, the espression on her face and that Easter bonnet - I love it - and of course it's from Penny Black. She has some of the cutest images. Anyway, like the last card, this shows in fact that I do actually have a whimsical side, it just doesn't come out that often - but I just can't resist cute sometimes. She's colored with Primas and koh-i-noors and accented with Stardust Stickles (you can't see the sparkly in the pic, but it's there) and pearls. I used a satin ribbon for the bow and accented it with stacked buttons, and tiny paper flowers. The sentiment is from Crafty Secrets Easter Joy set - I hope I got that name correct. For anyone interested she is available in my Etsy shop. I know most of you make your own beautiful cards and tags, but just in case someone else is looking that doesn't.

Thanks for stopping by - have a happy spring day, and again thanks so much for your sweet comments.

Happy Monday!! Today is busy busy, but wanted to share another Easter card with you. I love this paper by Sandy Lion - the top one is Spring Stripes, the bottom one is Easter Eggs and I know you cannot see it well in the pic, but this paper is just beautiful. These little chicks are from a single image stamp by Impression Obsession, Alesa Baker called Fuzzy Chick stamped 3 times in Timber Brown StazOn and then colored with Prisma Color Pencils and blended. I then added stickles to their little tail feathers and a sheer pale polka dot aqua ribbon.



This card is available in my Etsy shop if anyone is interested.

Have a great day!

It's Snowing

The first day of Spring was yesterday and we greeted it with a snow storm. This morning we have about a half foot of snow and it's still coming down. I love it!! It's so quiet and beautiful - that is until the snow plow comes, but I can enjoy it for now. I thought spring was so far away, but I went outside the other day, and look what I saw....



Yes, the first few Crocus of Spring peeking up from the mud and the muck and pine needles from winter. There are still a lot more to come, but right now, they're all covered under several inches of snow. Thing about snow this time of year - it leaves as quickly as it comes. As soon as it stops snowing and the sun comes out it's gone. So, I enjoy it while I can.

*******Edit - We now have about a 1-1/2' of snow and still more coming******

I have something for you today - I think you're going to like it. I was blog hopping this morning to some of the blogs I subscribe to and found a little treat. With things the way they are today in our world and so many individuals and families facing really hard times, and even if we're not in that place, we all still have our moments don't we? Sometimes we can get so involved in our own disappointments, illness, day to day stresses - we forget that we have things in our lives that we can be thankful for, and when we are reminded of these things they can bring us much joy even in the midst of troubles. Holly and Heather(Ez)over at Kindred are giving away a download of beautiful thankful lists that you can print out and write down things throughout the day that you find you are thankful for - and make a very good point - if we're making a conscious effort to find those things and write them down, we will be reminded of just how much we do have to be thankful for. Please check out their blog I think you will find it quite delightful.

I do have a card for you today - just another simple vintage inspired Easter card I have put together for the shop in town and it's also in my Etsy, ShopHandmade, and Artfire shops. If you haven't checked out these online shops before, there are a lot of talented people and wonderful products you might like to see.



Have a wonderful and peaceful Sunday and try to spend at least sometime today doing what YOU love.

Happy Pink Saturday

Happy Pink Saturday everyone - sorry to be late posting, but I seemed to have some computer issues this morning - but looks like it might be o.k. now - we'll see. They certainly have a mind of their own sometimes. I did go to several of your blogs this morning, but was unable to get to your comment sections - again, I think this was my issue - anyway they were all beautiful and I'm sorry I was unable to leave you a comment - I'll try again soon.

This first photo is of a beautiful rose that took me 3 years to get to bloom after we moved into our current home, but was certainly worth the wait. I just love it. I'm not sure what it is - I think maybe a Peace rose.



This second photo is of a mat I made for one of my kitties. I really like it, but of my 3 kitties, only one likes it as well. I've been thinking of making more, each one a little different and putting them in my Etsy shop. What do you think? First we have the front and then the back. They measure approximately 16 x 23, are filled with 100% cotton batting, and have embroidery and beadwork. I've washed it several times and it comes out nice each time without losing any beads or embroidery.





Next are featured 2 Easter cards and a set of tags presently in my Etsy shop





A big thank you to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for putting together Pink Saturday, I'm sure it's a lot of work, and she does an amazing job. Click on the pink lady to the left of my screen and check out some of the most talented men and women and some of the most beautiful blogs. It is time well spent and then maybe you would like to join in yourself.

Take Care, and have a wonderful weekend

Just a Card In Spring's Array

Happy Wednesday. I hope you are all having a wonderful week - I've been busy overhauling my blog. I added a new background more in keeping with my banner, and I also added music. Let me know what you think.

My card today is one I made for both my Etsy shop and also for the shop here in town. Easter is not too far away now and everyone seems to be gearing up for it. For the most part I use vintage images as they are so sweet and nostalgic of a gentler time. I love this one in particular for the sweet bird and soft colors. The background was stamped with one of my favorite flourish stamps from the Crafty Secrets Mini Memories set, the image is accented with glitter, and then a creme satin bow.

Have a wonderful day, and try to take some time out to spend doing what YOU love.

Take Care,
Dru

An Irish Blessng to Everyone...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! The card I'm sharing today is one of the cards I made for the shop in town, and my Etsy shop. Love these papers, and the Irish Blessing sentiment is from Art Impressions. The rhinestone shamrock was picked up at a JoAnn's last year sometime.

Take Care and have a wonderful day - I'm off to my day jobs.

House Mouse and SCS Blogger Group 2 Challenges

Happy Sunday everyone. Hope you are enjoying your weekend. This card is for the House Mouse Monday Blog challenge. We have until this evening to post it, so of course I'm waiting til the last minute - almost. Do you ever put a card together and then look at it and think "I really like this, but I think maybe it just needs a little bit more", and then you do it and you hate it. Well, that's what happened here. I thought the mouse prints were a good idea - NOT!! But, it's too late, I'm not going to do the whole thing over - I just really really hope I have learned my lesson from this - but somehow I doubt it. Anyway, this card is actually for 2 challenges - the HM challenge - something masculine and also our SCS Blogger Group challenge to use chocolate. So, I made the pie chocolate cream with old chocolate labels dp (it's a few years old and I have no idea where I got it) and that beautiful chocolate colored and swirled dp - then added square metal brads and no ribbon. I figured this would make a good card for my husband's birthday or our anniversary - something.

Have a wonderful and happy Sunday. Spend some time doing what YOU love and tell someone - anyone - that you love them - it's good for the soul

Take Care

Happy Pink Saturday

Have you signed up to play Pink Saturday?? If not, click on the button on the top left, take a look, and see if it's something you're interested in. I find it such a nice refreshing change from my everyday, and don't get me wrong - I enjoy what I do, but this is just so enjoyable and as I said before - a change in the routine. These bloggers have some amazingly beautiful blogs, really an inspiration. Even if you don't want to play along, you'll love just spending some time to look through them.

My pinks this week include a beautiful and sweet platter I picked up at the local thrift store - have I ever told you how much I love thrift stores - well I do, and this in my mind is a treasure. I added this wonderful shell with a soft pink pearl inside, and pink flat back marbles. No real stories to tell here, just mostly foraging in the thrift store - oh... I haven't been in a couple of weeks, think it's time to go again. Have a wonderful weekend. Please try to spend a little time doing what YOU love.

Take Care

Thank You

I'm sure most if not all of you are familiar with Flourishes. They have the most amazing products. I don't have a lot, but what I do have I truly love. They are having a release party tonight on Splitcoast in their forum from 8-10 Central time to release some truly lovely stamp sets. If you haven't seen any of them just follow this link to the Flourishes Newsletter for the details. And, not only are they releasing new stamp sets, they are now carrying papers by Jenni Bowlin - if you like vitage - you'll love these - thank goodness for PayPal and/or ATM cards.

So the card I've done today is for their challenge - Getting Sentimental! The challenge is to use one of their sentiments as the focal point, and so I have used the Thank You sentiment and also the Background Script from the Thank You set. When a paper is beautiful to me, I try to cover as little of it as possible and still hopefully make it interesting. I stamped the Script in a light pink on the background, attempting to make it subtle so as to not take away from the paper itself. In my attempt to not cover much of the paper, sometimes I lack interest, so I decided to try a MS open butterfly punch, and added stickles, a pearl, and 2 rhinestones along with my ribbon treatment, then I decided on a paper pierce look in the top left corner - it's not really paper pierced - I used my tracing wheel to run the lines, but I do like the effect. I had a hard time getting a good photograph of it, still not completely satisfied, but after at least a dozen pics, I decided that it was good enough.

Have a lovely Friday and stop by the Flourishes Forum at Splitcoast tonight 8-10 Central time.

Pink Saturday

***First let me apologize - I had this (I thought) set up to post at around 2:30 this morning - but it didn't happen. Good thing I checked - sorry I'm late***

Happy Saturday,and it's my first Saturday to play along with Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly. Click the button on the top left of the screen and take a look - I needed something besides "work" all the time and this just sounded like fun - now if only I can continue to allow it to be fun and not end up making it "work" *grin*

Anyway, this is a box of pink ribbons I have in my studio and it just makes me happy to look at it - it's just so girly and I'm really not - but I love it. Have a wonderful weekend, and try to spend at least a little time doing what YOU love.

Choncho and Cujo

Happy Tuesday everyone. The other day I mentioned our little buddy Cujo. Cujo is a 7 mo. old bulldog that lives next door with his mom and dad. However, he has become part of our family as well, and anytime he get out of the door, he heads to our house to visit. Now, I never really thought much about bulldogs, actually thought they were just kind of ugly - but this little guy is just so darn cute and funny, that even though in reality he is homely - he's just adorable. He get along great with our dogs, loves to sleep with my husband and is pretty good with the cats, although they take to the high places when they hear him come in. He can be quite the "bullie" as they are so affectionaly nicknamed. Oh, and then there's his big older brother Choncho - he's really a pretty bullie and quite the character - spelled drama queen.

I hope you enjoy the pics - i know the one from Halloween is old, but it gives you a good look at his face while he's awake - most of the pics I take of him while awake show him with glowing blue eyes from the flash and I don't seem to be able to do better.

Take Care and have a great day.

It's Your Day

Yep, another post. I haven't done any challenges recently and I really wanted to get back to them. The House Mouse Monday Blog Challenge this week was to make a Mother's Day card. Thank to Jennifer at Just Coffee Please for sending me this image I was able to take part. Anyway, the challenge ends at 8 p.m. this evening, so thus the 2 posts.

The DP is Flowers for Mother from Karen Foster, the butterfly punch is from Martha Stewart to which I added rhinestones. The sentiment is from Mini Messages by Impression Obsesion, the button and flowers are from my stash, and the ribbon is from Michael's. I accented the butterfly and bubbles with stickles, and for the coloring I used Prismas, Crayola, and Koh-I-Noor pencils with baby oil to blend.

If you like House Mouse these challenges are great fun. Stop by and take a look.

Have a great evening.

Birthday Card for Justin

Good Morning, and Happy Sunday. What a nice quiet day it is here. My husband is still sleeping with our sleepover guest Cujo - a 7 mo. baby bulldog, and is he ever cute!! I'll post pics of him later. You're gonna love his mug! It's overcast, and gathering wind off and on. We're suppose to be headed for several days of rain and snow, but of course this is the mountains and they have a mind of their own so we'll just have to wait and see

Anyway, my nephew's birthday was a few weeks ago - I know, I'm always late and I try to convince all the kids how cool it is to have 2 birthdays, because it's not likely that at my age I'm going to change all that much. Justin loves snowboarding and I just had to use this Fluffles - I love Fluffles. Nothing really hard about this, really straightforward. I used Blue Fun Circles by K & Co., accented with stickles and added zig zag stitching, a punched snowflake by EK Success, and a button. Really, the image is what makes this card. The sentiment is from one of those $1. packages at Michael's. And as a side note - the coloring of the image IRL is much closer to the colors of the cardstock. The way this photographed it doesn't really look very coordinated, but it is - oh well, happy day.

The other really fun thing I want to pass onto all of you visiting is Pink Saturday. Have you heard of it? Well, if not, hop on over and take a look. It's just a fun thing to do. Each week you post something "Pink" for a Saturday post. If you head on over to the site, you'll get all instruction. It does not have to be something handmade, it can be anything just as long as it's pink. I thought it sounded like great fun and something besides always doing handmade. Take a look and see what you think.

I hope you're having a wonderful Sunday. Try to spend at least a little time doing what you love. Take care.