Blog Group Challenge...

Finally!! This challenge was given to us by Paula and we were to cut out, punch, or tear paper, glue it to a base, and run it through an embossing folder. I'm really pleased with my background, it was done more as a collage. Generally I struggle with collage, but this time it came together for me, and I really liked it. However...that was all that I liked. Because I like the background so well, I did not want to cover it, thus the problem. I need to learn to think ahead so that I don't put items on the collage in areas that need to be covered. I finished it once, let it sit for a few days because I wasn't happy with it, and then tore it apart and did it all again. I'm o.k. with it now, but I think I'll make another one and try to get it right - at least "right to my way of thinking" - lol. The sentiment is from K & Co., the pearls from Ellen Hutson, LLC, the ribbon is from Michaels. This was a fun challenge, and I love the technique.

Happy Tuesday, and have a good evening.

A Mother's Day Party

Are you interested in learning some gift wrap, ribbon, and flower making tips? I know I'm always looking for new inspiration. Gabriella Delworth is well known in the art world, has an amazing blog and is offering an online 2-day class April 25th and 26th. You can visit her blog HERE for more details, and a lot of eye candy.

Happy Sunday!!!

Happy Pink Saturday!!

It's Pink Saturday again thanks to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound She has put this so very pleasant day together with so many beautiful blogs and talented men and women. It's such a nice diversion from the rest of the week.



My "Mystery Box" as Gillian from Bumblebee Cottage named it last week is coming along - slowly, but surely. I'm only showing the outside today and it is not yet finished. I have worked on the inside as well, but I'm not ready to show you as I need just the right item to finish the inside top - maybe by next week - I have to shop out of town as we do not have a big selection here - I need a Home Depot!! I'm having such fun puttering with this, and the best part is yet to come - probably in a couple of weeks.

For the top I pinked the edges of some music themed DP, mixed soft pink acrylic paint with gesso and radomly stroked the combination over the paper, then sprinkled it with DecoArt Glamour Dust, and glued it down with Modge Podge. The next layer is from Seneca Ponds Mother's Day Book Digi kit. I tinted the buttons with a Zig Marker and sewed them to a piece of vintage lace from my stash, then applied rhinestones underneath. They were also tinted with the same marker.

And of course another Mother's Day card - this one I just love the sentiment stamp from Flourishes "Mother" set. I used Ranger's Distressed Gold Stickles around the image, ribbon from Michael's, and the pearls are from Ellen Hutson, LLC - the color is Champagne. Just a simple little card and for anyone interested it is in my Etsy Shop.



I hope all of you are having a lovely and relaxing weekend. Try to spend at least some time doing what you love. Take Care....

Springtime.....

We're getting there, I have mini hyacinths and some dafodills now and the dappled willow is budding out - it weathered the winter beautifully - I'm so glad. Between our short growing season and really cold winters, a lot of things don't really do well. You really have to learn what lives and what doesn't. I'm finally learning what roses to plant, because believe me a lot of them do not do well. Anyway - the point of this babbling is the House Mouse Challenge this week. The challenge is Springtime. I thought these cute little rabbits dressed as bees were ideal and I love yellow and black together. Not my vintage look - yay!! I love breaking out of that mode sometimes, just for a change.

I'm always looking for different and hopefully unique embellishments and I fiddled with this one awhile even though I've made them before. If you don't know how to do the ribbon rosette - it's really easy -just hand sew a running stitch along one side and then pull until it forms a circle. Tack it off and glue your embellishment on top. The ribbon is from Michael's or JoAnne's not sure which, the button is one of my own I colored with a Sharpie and then tied it with black crochet thread. The sentiment is an older Penny Black stamp. I used Prismas and baby oil to color and added Stardust Stickles to the wings.

I'm looking forward to the weekend, are you??

It's almost Friday...

...and I have another Mother's Day card. This one came out a little different (which is a good thing)I do so many for the shop in town it seems I sometimes get in a design rut due to having to do so many so quickly. Between last Thursday and Friday I made 11 cards - all different and yet somewhat alike. Of course I love the vintage images and that's what the ladies in town like as well so this card features another one - I believe it also is from The Vintage Workshop, and then I attempted a cluster of flowers, rhinestone flourishes, etc. with the ribbon. The background is stamped with a flourish stamp from the Crafty Secrets set "Mini Memories". I use this one a lot.

Another welcome to all our new blog group D.I.V.A.S This is a great group of talented women. The links to their blogs are in my sidebar to the left, take a few minutes to visit. You're sure to enjoy yourself.

I promise to post something other than vintage mother's day cards really soon. I'm working on the House Mouse, Crafty Secrets, and our Blog Group challenges. I'm also working on my "Mystery Box", and will be posting my progress on Saturdays. Have a good one, take care, and try to spend at least a little time today doing what you love.

Another Card for Mom...

This is another image from The Vintage Workshop. If you like vintage images as I do, this is a great place to find them. And, she has great sales also. This particular one has a pretty poem called.....

Mother Mine

A Mother's heart holds
many charms,
And love is ever
in her arms
And in her eyes, a
faith divine;
And home is you,
O mother mine!

Such a sweet old tyme sentiment. For some reason the colors took me awhile to all come together, but in the end I really like it. I used mocha and the palest pind card stock from bazzil, and the DP is Tan Floral Tapestry from Paper Pizzaz. The pearls are from Ellen Hutson, LLC - see link in sidebar. The ribbon is from Michael's.

Take care friends and spend some time today with those you love.



P.S. If anyone is interested, this too is in my Etsy shop.

A Little Something for Mother's Day

Happy Tuesday everyone!! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. My card today is one I have made for the shop here in town and also my Etsy shop. The sweet image on this card is from The Vintage Workshop. The DP is from Melissa Francis from Emma's Paperie - I absolutely love her papers, the cardstock is from Michaels, including the pretty sage green, the crochet trim is some I found several years back, the ribbon is from Michael's and the pearls are from Ellen Hutson, LLC. Stickles is used for the glitter.

Take care and try to spend some time today doing what YOU love.

Happy Pink Saturday!!

It's Pink Saturday again. I have to tell you that I am really enjoying this little weekly diversion - it takes me completely out of work mode - even though some of my posts are work related. There's just something about focusing on pink!! Beverly at How Sweet the Sound so graciously takes the time to put this all together for us. Click on the Pink Saturday button to the left, take a look at her blog and the others on the list for today as well. Truly you will find some of the most beautiful and inspiring blogs and so many talented men and women. You will love spending time with them. Thank you Beverly.



Now you may be wondering what my photo has to do with Pink Saturday...... well, this is just the first part. I have been wanting to put something like this together for awhile now, and then I saw one on someone else's blog and I'm sorry, I cannot remember where, but it gave me the push I needed and the hunt was on! I live in a small resort town and for years we've only had one thrift store. Recently a couple more have opened and while my daughter was here for Easter, we made a trip over there to see what they had. I had gone through the entire store and there was one room left and there it was as you see it in the above photo. This next photo was taken of the inside - you can see the lining in the bottom is gone, and the lining in the top is not all that great and in the end may be completely removed. Interestingly enough, as I was looking at this lining and the mirror and all, I pulled it away slightly from the top and underneath was $2.00 slightly glued to the top - so all in all, I paid absolutely nothing for it - Now that's my kind of deal!!



This next photo is after I cleaned it up and painted it a beautiful shade of very pale pink - and I love it!! I can't promise I'll have something to share every week with this project, but I will be sharing it regularly enough to show you some progress. Stay tuned - I think you're gonna like it!



I know, I know, I have really talked a lot today - sorry, so for my last items to show you, I have 2 cards I have put together for Mother's Day. One of them is on the next post down as I posted it earlier as part of a challenge. I have put them in my Etsy shop if anyone is interested in purchasing them. The link is on my sidebar. Have a wonderful, happy Pink Saturday and a peaceful, relaxing weekend. Take care friends.

Design D.I.V.A.S and Crafty Secrets Challenge

Morning all. My cards today are for two challenges: The first card shown is for our Splitcoast Stampers Blog Group - The Design D.I.V.A.S Challenge to use something old and something new. My old is my vintage lace, my new is pretty much everything else. The second one is for the Crafty Secrets Challenge CSSC64 - Fit to be Tied - to use different types/colors of ribbon or trim. I was thinking about the blog challenge, then the Crafty Secrets challenge was posted this morning and I looked at the Mother's Day card I have been working on for the shop here in town and my online shops and realized I had a card for both of these challenges. Well, sort of - I did have to whip up another card and do a little tweaking, but it's all good, because now I have two cards all ready to go.

The baby card is for Crafty Secrets Challenge CSSC64 - Fit to be tied. The image is from their Joys of Life Booklet. The image for the Design D.I.V.A.S challenge is from The Vintage Workshop, the sheer ribbon on both is from Michael's, the pom pom trim is from the Craft Market, and the lace is from my stash. I cut 2 cream felt hearts and embellished the one for Crafty Secrets with a button I colored with my markers along with a pearl, for the Design D.I.V.A.S I used only pearls. Chunky Glitter from Michaels was used to accent the images which were then mounted on zig zagged felt. Card stock is Bazzill and the DP is Tan Floral Tapestry from Paper Pizazz also from the Craft Market. The Craft Market is a somewhat local (40 minutes away) craft store. I hope I haven't left anything out.

Take care, have a wonderful day, and try to spend at least a little time today doing what YOU love.

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

I hope everyone is enjoying your Easter. Take Care - Dru

Happy Pink Saturday

Thank you to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for putting Pink Saturday together and taking care of it every week. If you are interested in taking part or even just viewing all or some of the blogs involved in this click here. It is time well spent and I think you will truly enjoy yourself. You will meet a lot of talented artisans and view some really beautiful photography and items - all pink!

My first item is this wonderful teacup found several years back in a thrift store - one of my most favorite places to shop.

Next I have 3 Keepsake Baby Tags that I have put together for our holiday shop here in town - Lake Tahoe Holidays, and I have also put them into my Etsy shop.



Short post today - my daughter, son-in-law and 4 grandchildren are here for the Easter holiday and we're off to do many things. I wish you all a Happy Easter and a wonderful, peaceful, and restorative weekend. Please try to find some time to spend doing what YOU love.

Take Care,

Happy Birthday Jesse

My post today is a Birthday card for my Grandson Jesse. I made a card very similar to this a few weeks back for my nephew's birthday, but I changed it up a bit to make a second card. The image is Fluffles, and I added dots of stickles for snowflakes. The card stock is bazzill and the DP is Blue Fun Circles by K & Co. I used an EK Success punch for the snowflake and then covered ith with Stickles also, a little sewing and a hemp tied button, and it's done - goes together quickly. Happy Birthday Jesse!!!

Have a good evening.

Precious Babies

Aren't these just the sweetest, and the poor darlings have lost their mommies. I ran onto this on Mimi's blog Our Family Attic and just couldn't imagine not spending at least some of my so-called down time helping with this. Sometimes at the end of the day my muse just wants to veg and the creative mojo is not there, however it's hard for me to just sit and watch T.V. and these babies need these little "nests" made for them, either crocheted or knitted so they can stay warm and snuggly until they are old enough to fend for themselves. You can find the details and patterns here at Bev's Country Cottage.
I'm going to call my local Wildlife Center to see if they are in need also.

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend, take care and try to spend at least some of your time doing what you love.

Happy Pink Saturday!!

My post for today is a sweet vintage baby dress - how many of you remember these. I love them and dressed my daughter in them as often as possible - and they were vintage back then - so now they're really vintage. Many of them were totally handmade including the tucking and always out of the most soft cotton lawn and voile. You don't see many anymore, but I happened to find this in a thrift or antique store sometime back. Anytime I find something like this I have to buy it - I just hate to see such workmanship and love tossed aside. I made many of my children's clothes growing up, so I have an idea of how much work went into these little dresses. I know I have others but I'm sure they're packed away with many other items of my children's childhood. The pink flower is hand embroidered, you can still see the blue ink from the pattern underneath, and for some reason the dress was never completed. This one is machine sewn not hand sewn but still has the appeal of gentler times gone by. And, I had to add those little pink Easter chicks again also.

Have a wonderful Pink Saturday everyone, I will get to as many of you as possible. I love visiting and having visitors. Take care.



P.S. Pop on over to Beverly's and check out Pink Saturday - thank you Beverly for putting this together for all of us.

Bags and Boxes....

That's the name of this week's House Mouse Challenge and it's hosted or sponsered by the Cutting Cafe. The challenge is to make a bag or box with HM being the focal point. I make my own boxes, etc. quite often - but thought I would give this a try and so I actually bought like 3 I think, simply because they were a little different from what I have done. Pop over and see what you think - they also have digital images or stamps if you will - pretty cool actually!

So, as I said before I'm somewhat limited on my HM stamps although thank you to Sara and Jennifer, because of them I have a few more to pick from. I was going through my images and pulled out a couple then went searching for just the right paper. As I'm going through my papers I run across one I've had for awhile Tuscany Garden by BoBunny, and I don't know if it's still available. Anyway as I come across this paper, I realize I have an image of one of the mice sleeping in a sunflower and here are sunflowers all over this paper - perfect!! So, here it is - I used a combination of watercolor pencils and prismacolor pencils - I know - weird, but it all worked. For the center of the flower I used Cinnamon Stickles.

Here's a side shot


Now I just have to figure out what to fill it with and who to give it to - this style actually comes with printable small candy labels, hmmmm....

Happy Friday!!

SCS Blogger Group 2 Challenge

Happy Thursday - again I have to ask myself where is this week going? Always goes too fast. I want to say "Welcome" to the new members of our blogger group, and I promise to get you on my list soon, hopefully by this evening. My post today is for my SCS Blogger Group 2 Challenge to use a quote or verse. I decided on a gift tag and the sentiment is from PaperTrey's Quilter Sampler Sentiments, all paper is from Bazzill, the cut-out is from a vintage image.



I even have another one from an older SCS challenge that's never been posted to my blog - I love the sentiment on this one - it's from Stamp Oasis.



Have a wonderful day and try to take at least some time today to do what YOU love - it feeds the soul and spirit.