Man's Best Friend

I {{{heart}}} my doggie ... she is a little bitty ol' toy poodle named Daisy (four years old). She is the sweetest, snuggliest doggie I have ever had.

As I was the challenge hostess for todays Free for All challenge on SCS (F4A17), I decided to do something as an ode to my fur baby ... the challenge is to make a card that reflects one of your bestest non-human friends. Dogs, cats, birds, fish, reptiles, bunnies ... any ol' thing will do.

What I really need me is a CUTE toy poodle stamp (not one that looks like a frou-frou dog!)! I settled for a little Scotty dog instead for this one ...

Stamps: Dogs by Inkadinkado
Paper: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Night and Day dsp, Pattern Pack III dsp
Ink: Basic Black, Riding Hood Red, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Circle Cutter, Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, black/white gingham ribbon, 1 1/4" and 1" circle punches, linen thread, black brad, dimensionals, sewing machine

Time for Another Butterfly . . .

I bought "Sense of Time" a while ago, then forgot I had it!! I'm so glad I pulled it out and inked it up . . . the large clock image is FABulous and will be used a lot at my house!!

This makes butterfly #89 (can you believe it??!!??)! More information on my whole "Follow the Butterflies" challenge can be found in the sidebar to the right of this post . . . :)

I TOTALLY "cased" the butterfly I did for this card from my good friend, Heidi. I kept trying to decide how to adapt her butterfly in making this card, but just decided to bag that and copy it outright!! She ROCKS!! Here's a link to her lovely butterfly creation:

Heidi's Butterfly

This card was also done for SC227 - the original sketch had an oval where I placed the butterfly, but I just did a quick substitution (creative liscence?). I really like this color combo, too . . . must use it again!

Stamps: Sense of Time, Occasions (butterfly - Inkadinkado)
Paper: Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Rose Red
Ink: Old Olive, Rose Red, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Martha Steward Lattice Border Punch, olive polka dot organza ribbon, sponge, pop-up glue dots, Stickles (on butterfly)

Cutesy vs. Elegant

Ya ever notice how sometimes when you set out to create something fabulous that it turns out in a TOTALLY different direction that you had envisioned?? It happens to me ALL the time!! Take this card, for example . . .

I made this for LSC206. The challenge was that the only stamp you could use was a sentiment . . . just one . . . and no other stamps. I've done that LOTS of times, so I figured, "No problemo!" My good friend, Linda Duke, came up with this lovely layered dahlia when she was previewing these Spellbinders dies for their Pre-CHA Blog Frenzy. It was AMAZING looking, and I knew I was going to have to try it. Here is Linda's fantastic creation:

Quilted Dahlia

I knew that, in addition to making a challenge-dahlia card, that I also wanted to complete another butterfly card for my "Follow the Butterflies" challenge - which makes this card #76. (See the link on the sidebar to the right for more info about that!) My dilemma was that, every time I pulled out some patterned paper, it was in the same color combo as other butterfly cards that I had just very recently done. So . . . I pulled out this old SU Cutie Pie dsp and set to work.

I had envisioned a really elegant, classy card. Instead, I came up with extremely "cutesy" . . . I'm not quite sure WHAT I was expecting, since the paper IS called Cutie Pie!! Anyway, once I completed this one, I KNEW I was going to HAVE to do another one in a more elegant vein so that I could satisfy myself!!

Stamps: Spring Blossoms by Inkadinkado
Paper: So Saffron, Rose Red, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Cutie Pie dsp
Ink: Bashful Blue, Rose Red, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Spellbinders Dahlia (S4191), Floral Fantasy and Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folders, white polka dot organza (May Arts), dimensionals

Hence, this second card. A shot at redeeming myself, sort of. Not that the other card is BAD or anything (at least I HOPE not!), it's just that I had a totally different plan when I started. So this is my second attempt, and I felt MUCH better after doing it!

Stamps: Warm Words
Paper: Mellow Moss, Shimmery White, Very Vanilla
Ink: Mellow Moss
Accessories: Spellbinders Dahlia (S4191) and Ribbon Tags Trio (S3-150), Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder, moss organza ribbon, pearl sticker, dimensionals

I'm also doing a little housekeeping around here. I just recently decided to add labels to my blog post and add a label list on the sidebar, as that is how I often look for things on OTHER people's blogs. I've only done back through the first of the year, so it's going to take me a while to get them all done . . . thanks for being patient with me!!