Hope Soars - HYCCT1430

Jen Timko one of my partners in crime at Freshly Made Sketches is hosting one of the Hope You Can Cling To challenges at Splitcoast today.  Jen is a past Artisan, current Dirty Girl and a pilot!  So it is only fitting that her challenge today is Hope Soars. Hope you head over to Splitcoast and join in......there are prizes :)



Are you playing along with us? If not, you're missing out on

the chance to lift the spirits of women battling breast cancer 

and also on more than $5000 in prizes from your favorite 

crafty companies. So what are you waiting for? Get to 

stamping!



Click here or on the links in the first paragraph for the 

challenge thread......keyword HYCCT1430


                               

Halloween Fun......FMS160

Looks like these witches just dropped their brooms and ran off to celebrate Halloween!  Such fun images in this Stampin' Up! set called Tee-Hee-Hee. We are looking forward to Halloween night and expect about 100 trick or treaters. Miss Emma will be here in her pirate costume to help us hand out Halloween treats.  But after seeing her play with her stuffed animals this week I am thinking next year she should be Dr. Emma Lin, DVM!

That wonderful Rita Wright designed a stylin' sketch for us this week at Freshly Made Sketches!

Many Merry Stars......CTS97

Not quite sure what is sweeter.......Stampin' Up!'s new snowflake star set called Many Merry Stars or that delightful sketch from CAS(E) this sketch!  

                                                  

Real Life........FMS159

Lost Lagoon paired with silver looks wonderful on a Christmas card. The overall effect is serene and peaceful so I thought about writing a serene and peaceful post.  But then I thought perhaps you would like to know what is really happening as I type......

My daughter and her husband are on business trips.  My son and his girlfriend flew off on an adventure and my husband is managing everyone's affairs for the week.  That leaves me house sitting at my daughter's in charge of a toddler, three poodles and one maltese. Someone always needs food, a drink or a trip outside! (Walking four dogs and a two year old should be an Olympic sport!)  So as I type poodles are wrestling on the bed while the "sleeping" two year old yells "Puppy! Puppy!" from her crib across the hall. And thanks to the baby monitors "Puppy!  Puppy!" echos loud and clear in every room!  Meanwhile the maltese (the only dog who actually lives here) is barking and guarding the toddler's room from invading poodles. Somewhere in the house Super Grover sings every few minutes but I can't find where he is hiding or why he is singing.  My phone is dinging with text messages from my daughter checking up on Emma and my son checking on the poodles. But still I type..........






That fabulous Jen Mitchell has a sweet simple sketch for us this week at Freshly Made Sketches! Enjoy!


                                                  

B/W and Shades of Gray.......PPA224

Ahhhh the good old days when typewriters clacked and photos and TV shows were black and white. In homage to those days I kept my colors mostly b/w and gray. (My rows of typed letters are done in Smokey Slate, Basic Gray and Black.)  Just a hint of Crushed Curry is a sign of things to come.......the NBC peacock is on the horizon! Who knew my cards could have such deep meanings?

I still do love black and white photos.  My mother had some special photo pencils that she used to add a bit of color to certain photos - a blush of pinks to cheeks, a kiss of red to the lips or a touch of Crushed Curry to the edge of a dress...........


      Pals Paper Arts has a great sketch for you to try this week! 


                                              

Arrrgh.........FMS158

A sweet simple Halloween card for you today using the tree from Nuts About You - minus a few leaves since it is fall!  The pumpkins from Fall Fest are looking mighty happy about the upcoming Halloween celebration.  Someone I know is getting excited about Halloween as well.  Miss Emma is going as a pirate - she just loves to say Arrrrrgh.........

There's not a parrot in sight around here so Baxter is filling in as her trusty sidekick..........I bet if he could he would be saying Arrrrrghhhhh.......

The amazing - and new Dirty Girl at SCS - Jen Timko has a great sketch for us this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Hope you play along!

                                            

Southern Hospitality - SU! Style - FMS157

There is nothing like Southern Hospitality! That dynamic duo of Brian King and Pam Morris organized a World Card Making Day event in Atlanta - and what an event it was! About 45 Stampin' Up! demos gathered for a weekend of fun, friendship, swapping, crafting and training.  It was like a miniature convention - complete with an appearance by Donna Griffith from SU!'s home office!

Pam Morris, Donna Griffith, Brian King

And in true SU! tradition there were prizes galore!  Here I am winning my first prize from Pam - a Frightful Wreath kit and DSP.....oh it was a very good day for prizes if your name was Linda! Who is that photo bomber anyway????

Brian and Pam truly thought of everything - games, projects, demonstrations, contests and Krispy Kremes..........what more could you ask for?  

                                     Our table hard at work on a Halloween project.

Watching Tom Sawyer Brian King demonstrate a whitewashing technique.

I'll be sending some feathery thank you cards to my amazing friends in Georgia who organized this wonderful event!  

That sweet Texas gal Amy O'Neil has a lone star on her wonderful sketch this week!  Feel free to use any shape and play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches!

Keep It Simple Challenge is hosting a challenge of "3" this week so I am entering my design there as well.  KIS!50

Birthday Elements - PPA222, PP215

Point and Click is labeled as a Project Life stamp set but it is full of fun elements that are great to use on cards as well!  I combined a few of those images with the sentiment from Amazing Birthday on this birthday card to create a fun graphic design.  

Birthday Girl Emma was sporting a fun graphic design as well as she celebrated #2~!




                       Pals Paper Arts has a sweet color challenge this week!  Hope you join us!

                                            


                          I based my design on this fun sketch at The Paper Players this week.


                                                        

And so it begins......FMS156.....

Let the Christmas card making begin!  The new two tone twine makes a wonderfully floppy bow for my wreath........a wreath which I actually stamped at Convention in July. I carried it home carefully in an envelope and set it on my desk to await the perfect sketch.  That sketch showed up this week at Freshly Made Sketches thanks to Narelle......and so it begins.....




Narelle designed a delightful sketch for us this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Hope you play along!