The Smartest Audience in the World....

Which, of course, is you! However, no one noticed that I was in such a hurry on my last card that the inside had a butterfly on the front, and a dragonfly on the inside flap!!! Lol....DD noticed it right off! I feel pretty silly! Oh, well.... gotta laugh - it is really funny!

Today's card is for a challenge over at Heart Hugs Designs. We were to go to Bacon Square Farm's site on Etsy, and pick out something to design a card after. I picked this:

I cut 9 strips of CS about 1/8" wide, distressed the edges, hoping they'd look like the pipes in the above photo. I think they look more like siding : -) Anyway, it was something I liked, and here is what I made...

Supplies: DCWV CS, Verve's Abundant Blessings Stamps, Colorbox Chalk Ink; Charcoal, Flower Soft; Spring, Marvy Scalloped Circle Punch. I colored the edges of the punched circle with a black Tombow marker, and adhered it over the cut out center with a pop up dot.

Hopefully, you have been blessed with a beautiful and relaxing weekend. Ours has been nice. DD has had to work all weekend, as did DH, but he and I did manage to go to the movies last night. We saw Angels and Demons. Funny.... we thought that the Angels and Demons book was better than the DaVinci Code book, but the DaVinci Code movie is better than the Angels and Demons movie!

Cardinal's lost....bah...

Peace out one and all!

Patti J.

Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. ~Abraham Lincoln

Flutterby....

Hello! Hope your day has been productive and happy. I am glad that mine is at the 'time for ME' point!

I made this card for Stamp Challenges. I just came in and did a little blog hopping and found them for the first time and got excited about trying a challenge with them! All stamps are from Little Paper Shop, which I won a few weeks ago on an Our Creative Corner challenge! The papers are all from 3 Bugs In a Rug. I used my favorite ink - Colorbox Chalk, Chestnut roan for all stamping and distressing. Also used was a Martha Stewart edge punch for the little strip in the center, and some flat pearls. Hope it brings a smile to your evening - I liked the way it

turned out!

The little flap lifts up on the front, and the card also opens like a regular greeting card!

Have a wonderful night! I'm off to Engler Park to walk my 100 steps while DD walks her 10000!!!

Patti J.

~Wishing without work is like fishing without bait!

A Little Birdie Told Me...

You are all special! I appreciate every one of you!

DS is back from his vacation in Hawaii, the Cardinal's won and are now in 1st place, DD and DH are safe and sound, and today was a pretty decent day at work. I actually have some energy left over, so I think I'm going to do a little creating, and then work on our monthly reports for a couple of hours. Hopefully, UE will keep our power up and running so I can be on the computer!

I hope you enjoy this card. I made it for the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge, and I'm pretty happy with it. I flipped the card upside down, and side to side. I just happened to have a buckle punch, and decided to use it. I just love the DP - it's by The Scrapbook Wizard, and I picked it up the last time I was at O'Dear's. Cute DP and a great sketch just makes it so easy to figure out what to make! The Stamps are the cutest little set by Hero Arts. My friend Shirley gave me this set in one of her many 'goodie' packages she sends my way! (She's the best!) I am beginning to get the hang of clear stamps, and I'm really diggin' them. I love how you can see exactly where you want to place your image!



Speaking of cute stamps, OMG, have you seen the newest sets at Gina K. Designs? I'm lovin' the sports set that Melanie designed! (Bet you can't guess that it includes baseball stuff???)

I just finished this card for the first ever Polkadoodles Challenge! Hope you like it!

Well, I guess I need to get to my workspace and crank out another challenge - today IS Wednesday, after all, and a couple of these are due on Thursday!

Have a great night!

Patti J.
~The best exercise for the heart is reaching down and lifting someone else up.

Rerun...

Tee hee... I am re-running a favorite silly card of mine that I made the end of April. A friend called me today and asked me if I would post it again.

Ironically, when I started looking at this week's challenges, I found that there is one at Three Clovers Designs, using black, white, and one other color. This little card is just too much fun not to use again! All stamps and papers are TAC. Hope she makes you smile! Caryl P. named her Lola, and I liked that, so Lola, she is!!!

Lola says, "If you've got it, flaunt it"!

I am working on several challenges to get out this week - see you tomorrow!

Patti J.

~Is your life a mission, or an intermission???

Sigh....

Sigh...a beautiful (even if it DID rain!) three day weekend has to end... It's been a great weekend. We've had absolutely nothing on the agenda's except visiting with out of town family, and a trip to the graveyards. We took a liesurely drive today to the latter, and took in the devastation from the recent storms. It's amazing - looks like a war zone. It will take the city of Fredericktown, Mo., months and months to clean up the trees, roof debris, glass debris, etc. Very sobering day... even the cemetaries were not exempt. Hundred year old trees were splintered like they were toothpicks, or entire root balls lifted out of the ground... Mother Nature sure was angry about something! Our DD took lots of photo's - I will try to borrow her card and post some photo's soon... in the meantime, she has a couple of photo's up on her blog - you may need to open them to see the hugeness of what's there.

Tonight's post is a quick patriotic card that I've done for a swap. It's a TAC stamps only swap, and I had to sort of use a bit of this and a bit of that set! I used stamps from the Fleur Birdies, All Seasons, Sprigs, and Trendy Greetings sets. I actually used the flower 'burst' from the Fleur Birdies set for the background on the red CS. I simply Versa Marked it on for a bit of color on color.

Enjoy - Yikes! It's unbelievable how quickly July 4th is approaching!

Also, my good blogging buddy, Pat, sent me a nice award this week. I know that part of the award is that I need to forward it on. I am so grateful to all of you for giving me inspiration, and positive feedback. I just cannot choose who to share it with. So! If you like it, just grab it, and post it, and enjoy! Pat said that I got it for all of my nice comments, and because I have 'attitude'! Tee hee - she knows me all too well!!!

I'm off to another project - working on baby shower table decorations and favors! Have a great night, and hopefully, I'll see you at some of the challenges this week!

Patti J.
~Life is short - open your presents early!

Thanks Caryl!

I have to take a blog moment to thank Caryl P. She commented that I had been an inspiration to her on the baby cards earlier this week. Well, in my original blog, I had mentioned seeing a similar card and layout on SCS a while back, and could not remember whose gallery or card it was from. I sketched out the layout "just in case" I would ever have a need for it!

Well, Thanks to Caryl, I have my mystery solved! I saw the original 'boat card' on Mary's Blog! She has an absolutely fabulous blog, and you should all go check out her gorgeous works! Mary, if you are by chance reading this, thanks for YOUR inspiration!

Caryl, thanks again - I always love giving credit where credit is due, and you helped me do that tonight! I actually hesitated posting the baby cards because I could not remember where I had seen the idea. You rock!

Patti J.

True Beauty

I love watching butterflies hovering over our butterfly bush. They are so graceful and quiet!

When I was a lucky winner of some blog candy a while back on Melisa's blog, I got to pick a stamp set of my choice. There was no question in my mind - I wanted this butterfly set! It' a set from The Angel Company, and it is named "True Beauty".

My first use of it has been for a monthly swap that I am lucky enough to participate in. I've made 11 of these this week!

I hope that your Saturday is going well, and that you like these butterflies as much as I do! Have a great LONG weekend! Aside from some housework, some visiting with family in from Appleton, Wisconsin, and some cemetary visits, our weekend should be nice and relaxing.

Patti J.
~It's admirable for a man to take his son fishing, but there is a special place in heaven for the father who takes his daughter shopping!

Chldren are a Gift from God...

Don't you just adore working on baby stuff? I can't help but smile when I'm playing with pink or blue papers!

I know I've been MIA for several days. I've been working on some invitations for a baby shower mid-June. Their theme is Bon Voyage, and consists of blue, brown, white, and tan. It features planes, boats, and cars. I couldn't find a stamp that worked with any of their theme items, so I cut up some patterned papers and made my own boats! I had seen a similar layout on SCS eons ago, and sketched it out, and was actually able to find it when I needed it! Lol! Hope the new momma and grandma will like them! (The photo's are terrible - the beautiful soft colors look yellowed...so sorry!)

(The punched ovals say that the baby's favorite colors are blue, brown, tan, and white...

Have a great night - I'm off to watch the end of American Idol, and finish a swap!

Thanks for stopping by!


Patti J.
~The simplest toy is one which even the youngest child can operate...it's called a grandparent!

Happy Friday!

It's been a very busy week. We've had more storms, not as severe as last week, but fairly intense.

There was a retirement tea held on Wednesday, at our central office, for the 'classified' staff retiring this year. It was a nice time, and I got to see some folks that I haven't seen for a while. Of course, just in general, the end of the school year is always a frantic time, but knowing that this is my LAST end of school year, makes it really frantic. I don't want to walk away and leave a mess for the next person to come in to!

Anyway, not trying to make excuses, just wanted to let you know that I'm still here. Am working on several projects, but don't have any of them complete yet! I think I'll post an 'old' item, that only a few of you original readers have seen! These are a few scraplings that I played with a while back! My "class"y ladies loved making these in class!!!

Have a great day!

Patti J.

~I'd rather have Lockheed deliver the mail than ride around in a plane built by the post office.

Power!

We can do laundry, we can flush, we can SEE!!!! Yippee - Happy Mother's Day to me! DD weeded the flowerbeds today while DH repaired the roof. All in all it was a quiet day, but a good one. My family is very good to me - I am blessed, indeed!

I hope that you all had a wonderful day, and hope to be back tomorrow!

Patti J.
The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet.

Still Quiet...

It's still dark and quiet here in Mo.  We have no electricity, just stealing a few seconds of generator time before we go back to cooling the fridge...

Hope you are all well!

Good night and God Bless...

Patti J.

Happy Mom's Day to all, and JB, if you are reading, I will call you tomorrow if I can.  Thanks SO much for my beautiful gift.  You outdid yourself, and I love you!!! 

Short post...

This will be a short post.  No cards today - no electricity!  The storms have come through hard and fast today, and we've been without power since before lunch.  We have tree damage, roof shingles in the yard, etc., but compared to some, we are very lucky.

DD filmed a short video and posted it on her blog along with a few photos of trees, etc in the yard.  Feel free to go check it out!  Hope you are all safe, and sound, and hopefully, I'll be back online tomorrow (have borrowed s bit of generator juice to send this!)

Hugs!  Patti J.

This sketch...

This sketch was pretty tough! The examples mostly had photograps in the main boxes, and definitely showed two boxes side by side.

Well, since I don't have occasion to shoot a lot of photo's of kids or fun things anymore, I decided to just use an image. I used a stamp from TAC's new set "Playful Parenthesis". I stamped it with black ink on white cs and then with white ink on black cs. I cut each down the middle and adhered half black and half white together. I thought this would differentiate that there were two photo blocks. The fabulous papers are from Gina K's downloadable papers. The pattern is "Jersey Shore". I hope that you like it! The photo is not very good - it's dark and dreary, and rainy this a.m.!

Have a great day - off to work I go! (I think I'm down to 39 work days today before retirement!)

Patti J.

~The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet.J. Robert Oppenheimer

Hello...

Hello! This is a card that I made for the Mojo Monday 84 Challenge. The challenge was to use this sketch, and that you could flip, rotate, etc. Well, being the troublemaker that I am, I flipped it totally upside down and worked from the sketch from the back side of the page! Here is what I came up with:

The DP is this great glittered two sided paper from Best Creation, Inc. Isn't it beautiful??? The stamp is from a cute set "Fluffy Friends" by TAC. I did the coloring with Tombow markers and Glaze Gelly Roll pens. I guess that fun wins over pretty with me this week! lol!

Have a great Sunday!

Patti J.

~Life is good!