Santa's Down Time

Good morning.  I've got my toes in the water, a** in the sand. Not a worry in the world, cold beer in my hand, life is good today.  Life is good today.  Gotta love Zac Brown.  Even though I'm not at the beach and I don't drink, Santa needs a break too.

This card really makes me want to be at the beach.  I love sound of the waves crashing on the sand, the smell of the salt water and watching all the people.  I think Santa enjoys it too from the look of things.  This image is Diane's Digital Designs and is printed on Neenah card stock.  I used colored pencils and chalk to make this image come to life.  I used an old sketch from my sketch book to design the card with a beach paper from my stash.  It's so old I don't even remember who designed it.  I cut a couple of the elements out of the DP and used them for embellishments.  The sentiment is from my stash and I think it's a Studio G.

Thanks for stopping in today.  I hope y'all enjoyed this brief glimpse into what Santa does in the off season. Have a great day and God bless.

Challenges:
V's Sweet Ideas--#13 Summer Fun
Fab n Funky--#179 Christmas in July
Chocolate Coffee Cards--#43 Life's a Beach

Made in America

Hello there friends.  Thanks for stopping in to see what I have been up to.  Today I have a card for y'all that uses the #2 image in the Progressive Challenge over at Sassy Studio Designs Paper Craft Planet site.  If you remember, the first image was Army Honey.  The second one is Air Force Honey.  Now that I have completed my card with her, I can request Sailor Honey.  

To begin, I printed off the image on Neenah card stock and used colored pencils and a Gold Metallic Gel Pen.  I trimmed down the image and matted it onto a panel of Gold Glittery card stock and then a Blue panel.  Both of these are from DCWV.  I followed this weeks MFT Sketch # 132 to design it.  The DP's are from Colorbok's Americana pad.  The card base is SU Red Riding Hood.  I used a scrap piece of blue and gold star DP and my new Hexagon Fiskars punch to make the little elements on the gold panel.   I stamped the sentiment (Cloud 9) onto Neenah card stock with Memento Lady Bug and inked the edges with Bahama Blue.

So, that finishes up my card for today.  I haven't been too many challenges lately.  I'm trying to catch up and get ahead of my DT cards because we are going on vacation next week.  If you don't see me alot next week, then you know why.  

I hope y'all have a great day and God bless!

Challenges:
Sassy Studio--Progressive Freebie
My Favorite Things--Sketch #132
Chocolate Coffee Cards--4th of July

Happy 4th of July

Good morning.  I hope y'all had a great night's rest.  With Independence day just a few days away, many of the challenge blogs and my DTs have a 4th of July theme.   237 years ago  group of men got together to establish the Declaration of Independence for this amazing country we live in.  "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."  are probably some of the most famous words ever uttered in our country.  Many of our ancestors came to America because of those words.  They wanted better lives for their families and a chance to make one.  Many people have given up their lives for these words.  We, here in America, not only need to celebrate our freedom on Thursday, but every day.  We need to remember why we celebrate the 4th of July and not just enjoy the fireworks, parades and picnics.  We need to pray for those who don't know what life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is all about.

Here are some quirky facts about the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence:

5 of the signers were captured by the British and tortured as traitors.

12 had their homes ransacked and burned down.

2 lost their sons in the Revolutionary War and another 2 had their sons captured.

9 of the 56 fought and lost their lives in the Revolutionary War.

24 were lawyers, 11 were merchants and all knew that by signing this document, they were placing their lives and the lives of their families in jeopardy.

Carter Braxton, of Virginia, lost everything he had and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was forced to move his family constantly and keep his family in hiding.  He served in Congress with no pay and died a pauper.

Thomas Nelson, Jr. had his home taken over by British General Cornwallis and died penniless.

Francis Lewis had his wife jailed for treason and she died shortly after.

These were not ruffians.  They were soft spoken men of means who believed in the document they risked their lives to sign.  Standing tall and unwavering, these men pledged , "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honour."

Now that you have had your history lesson for this morning..:) I have a card for you.  This morning's card is for the Digi Darla challenge for this week: Stars and Stripes--Red and White (Canada) or Red, White and Blue (USA).

I used two of Digi Darla's images to make this card..Your Cheerleader and July Fourth with three stars.  Both can be found in the shop.

To begin this card, I made a standard card base from Gina K's Heavy base weight White card stock.  I used a combination of Recollections and card stock and DCWV All Year Stack for the background.  I added two die cuts that my friend, Jan, sent to me.  The images are printed on Neenah card stock and colored with BIC Markers and Sakura Glitter Pens.  I cut out the cheerleader and popped her up after adding the sentiment.  Adding a few Queen and Co gems finished off this celebration card.

Thank you so much for staying around to listen to my ramblings this morning.  As you go through your week, remember to be thankful for the big things as well as the little things that living in America allows us to have and do.  God bless America and God bless y'all.

Challenges:
Chocolate, Coffee, Cards--#42 4th of July
Simply Create Too--#40 Use the colors in your country's flag.
Tuesday Throwdown--#154  4th of July
Shopping Our Stash--#108  4th of July

Two Cards

Good Evening friends.  I have a couple of cards for you tonight.  I am not feeling very well, coming down with a cold, so I am going to post both cards here tonight.

The first card I have for you spotlights one of Kenny K's images.  I love them.  I am having so much fun with his images.

To begin this card, I printed out the image on GinaK Heavy Base weight White card stock.  I colored it with my new Chromatix pens and BIC markers.  I trimmed down the image and matted it on a Chocolate Chip panel (SU).  I made the card base from a Light Blue card stock from Colorbok.  The background DP is from DCWV My Guy pack.  I cut a panel of Cardmakers freebie DP and matted that onto the same Light Blue card stock.  I added a piece of striped Olive Green ribbon around the panel before adding it to the card.  I used buttons as the embellishments for this card.  The sentiment uses a shaped bubble from Digital Stamps 4 Joy and I added the sentiment from TCP.


Challenges:
Kenny K's Krafty Krew--Layer it Up 
Coffee, Chocolate and Cards--Buttons and Bows
Tuesday Throwdown--#136 You are on my mind
Penny's Challenges--#116 Use Your Favorite Colors
Divas by Design--Anything Goes


The next card uses a Sassy Studio image.  I decided to make her reminiscent of the 80's.  I was an 80's child..had the three foot high hair, ripped jeans, leg warmers..the whole bit.  I miss those days.

I began by printing off the image on Gina K Heavy Base Weight card stock.  I used my BIC markers to color this image.

I cut out the image and used pop dots to add her to a small strip of white card stock (GP).  I made the card base from SU Pretty in Pink.  I added a back ground DP from DCWV All Girl.  The striped panel is from the same collection.  I added a strip of Blue card stock from Colorbok across the card towards the bottom.  The sentiment is printed out from my word processor program and matted on a piece of Orange (Recollections) card stock.  The flowers that adorn the card are all paper flowers from my stash.  The flower centers are gems from Queen and Co.

Challenges:
Challenges 4 Everybody--#14 Anything Goes
ABC Challenges--#18 Sketch Challenge

Thank you for stopping in to see my creations.  I appreciate it so much.  I hope to see you back soon.  God bless.