The Dueling Darlings Duke Out Father's Day!

Well, it's not actually a fight, but it is the time for our monthly Duel!  The Dueling Darlings are a group of friends on Split Coast Stampers who are divided into two teams: The Divas & The Dazzlers.  Each month a hostess from each team sends her team mates a kit and we all  create a card from the kit and post by the 15th.  (yes, I'm a day late, and very sorry about it too)


April is our hostess this month for the Dazzlers and sent us a fantastic kit which included:


Krafty Dots by Recollections
Out of Print/Storyteller by Basic Grey
Go Fish/Mini Fish by Carolyn Holt Designs 
Burlap and pearls by Recollections Ribbon
Bakers twine and several types of ribbons
A mini clothespin from SU! (I just love it)
Images from Favorite Occasions by JustRite and the Totally Tool set from SU! 


All that I can say is "Wow!"  What a versatile and creative kit.  I had trouble knowing which direction to take.  But I have to confess that I am hoarding the Go Fish/Mini Fish paper for my daughter's birthday card later this month (thank you April!).  She is quite the fisherman and loves to fish!  


Anyway, here is my card front:

The background stamp is one that I've had for a while and haven't used yet.  It's from River City Rubber Works (copyright 2000) and is called "Dad Sayings" (what else, right?)

The award ribbon is colored dark green and then I used gold Stickles to accent it and the stars, although I must admit that the idea was better in my mind than it turned out on the image.


Here's the inside of the card:

Here I used the burlap and one of the tool images and more of the Krafty Dots paper to add some interest to the inside.  I really like the burlap, it's my first time working with it and I have to commend April for adding it to the kit!  It's perfect for a masculine card!


My Dad lives about 4,000 miles away and I have already sent him his Father's Day card.  So I may just keep this card for his birthday in November.  Or, maybe I'll send it to him next week as a surprise.


A big THANK YOU to April for her generous and fun kit!  Be sure to visit their blogs and view the cards made by the Divas and the other Dazzlers (links are in my side bar).  You will be glad that you did!

Mother's Day Cards (at last!)

Yes, I know that I'm very tardy with this!  Thankfully my wonderful mother is very understanding.  (or at least she lets me off the hook gracefully, and isn't that what we as mothers try to do for our children?)

Anyway, the stamping room/home office painting and wallpapering project is almost completed, and I was able to get in there this weekend and begin to put things back.  First order of business was to clear off the counter top and get back to my ideas for Mother's Day cards.  (my MIL's card went out on schedule and was not late - whew!)

Here's one that took me a couple of attempts to get it right:

This is my first time making an easel card.  I wanted to showcase the pretty 6x6 panel.

I started this card before we tore the room apart, thinking that I knew exactly how to get the desired result.  Uh...not so much LOL!

Then we decided to paint & wallpaper, tore the room apart, packed everything up & moved it all about the house, thinking that it would only take a week to finish the room.  Uh...not so much.


A few months ago I bought this template from The Crafters Workshop.  I knew the minute that I saw it that it was destined to be Mom's Mother's Day card.  Guess I should have started it way back then.

Anyway, I sponged on various colors of SU inks, then with the template on, misted with Stardust Finishing Spray by A Muse. (love that stuff!)

Then removed the template and sponged the background grass & sky.

Here are two close ups but I'm not sure that the shimmer shows up well. The bottom panel for the easel has the die cuts popped up and the sentiment (SU) and butterfly are shimmered also.

The CS for the easel is softly colored with greens, lavender and magenta, sort of splashed & daubed on it.  It's a pretty paper from SEI "Couture" collection.

The next card that I wanted to try is from a stamp set by Fiskars called Asian Inspired and is a set of 12 clear stamps.  The over sized background stamp of blossoms (cherry?) really inspired me!

CS and chalks are by SU (Brilliant Blue & Pink Passion). (Yes, I used pink.  It's not a card for me remember?)  The panel is stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink and chalked.  The lantern and symbol were stamped with Brilliant Blue and clear EP was used to give them some shine.  The inside panel was corner punched (Martha Stewart) and the floral cutouts were stamped, embossed, cut out & mounted as accents.  They are all from the Fiskars stamp set.

Well, my editor is demanding my attention right now...gotta keep the boss happy! Thanks for stopping by!

Dueling Darlings May Post

It's the 15th of the month, and the Dueling Darlings are at it again!  This month's hostess for the Dazzlers is Paola and she sent us some sweet goodies to work with.

4 swatches of pretty DP, two pieces of ribbon, two checkered butterflies, various beads, buttons and a ribbon slider.  And the cutest image from Stampin Up: Serene Spring.

Here's my side-step card.  I really seem to like making this type of card.  It gives me so many ways to incorporate the various pieces in the kit.  The main image is colored with Prismas and Derwent Color Soft pencils.


The butterfly has been painted with Diamond Stickles to give it a little bling.  The flowers and little lady bug have been painted with Crystal Effects to give them some shine.



The shiny beads have been added to the checkered butterfly and the flowers on the DP were also painted with Crystal Effects, adding a bead to the center of one.  The butterfly wings are folded out for dimension.

Paola included that pretty daisy with the pearl center, which I added right beside the sentiment, which I hand cut on the edges.

We were asked to post our favorite thing about the month of May.  I would have to say that May always means starting my container gardens for our deck.  Flowers and herbs mostly.  We also set up the hummingbird feeders, little fountains, some soft lights, and another bird feeder or two.

It really feels like the summer season is starting when the deck is set up.  We love it out there and spend as much time enjoying it as the weather and mosquitos allow!  Summer is short up here, so we all have to make the most of the time we're given.

That's it for me for this month's duel!  Be sure to use the links on my side bar to visit the Divas and the Dazzlers and admire their creations for this round.  Thank you Paola, for giving us such a great kit.  Thanks for visiting!
Darlene

A Word From the Editor in Chief

Bijou here.  I usually give my female pet free reign over posting here.  However, as I am ultimately responsible for the content of this blog, I feel the time has come for me to step in and set the record straight.

Last week, The Female and The Male decided to do something strange.  They refer to it as "making the craft / office room".  The Female has a sizable desk in the other room, so I am curious about why she needs another for an "office".  She should know that she already has a job.  Her sole purpose is to take care of and entertain me and Lou.  I mean really, what good are pets anyway if they can't do those simple things???  But I digress...

Counter & cupboards slid out from the wall.

They set about dismantling and moving a great number of things in this room.  Including sliding a perfectly good countertop system into the center of the room!  Then they rolled up the nice soft rug to expose the slippery wooden floors (don't they know that it's hard for us to walk on such slippery surfaces?  These pets are not very intelligent, but I love them)


Then The Male did a very strange thing.  He went and got the spray bottle that The Female uses to mist us.  He sprayed the wall and got it wet.  (I was watching carefully in case he was just faking me out and was really going to spray me!)  Then he wet down this stuff called "wallpaper" and - you'll never believe this - PUT IT ON THE WALL.  Who ever heard of such a thing.  They should have just let me chew it up and give it a few good rips on the edges.  It looks far too straight for my taste.

See that slippery floor?  The white stuff is the
"Wallpaper" that I was telling you about.

Here's a close up of the "Wallpaper"
that The Female is so excited about.
Hmpf is all I have to say.

I chose to supervise from on top of a shelving unit, perched safely on top of a box up there where I was hard to reach, but had a great view.






They repeated this over and over, eventually stopping to (finally) make dinner.  Here's what the room has looked like since Sunday.  These pets sure take a long time to finish things.  Not like us respectable parrots.  If we are going to do something, we get it done!

You can see the edge of the shelving unit that I chose for my supervisory duties.  This room used to be the nest for The Female's oldest hatchling, another female.  I wasn't allowed in there because she had too many necklaces and earrings and other goodies that the hatchling wouldn't share.  But sometimes I was sneaky and got in there anyway.  It was loads of fun.


Here's a picture of something called a "Stamp Pad Holder" that The Female's Father made for her.  She claims that it is very valuable to her and won't let me chew on the edges of the wood.

The holes in the side are too small for me to crawl into, so I don't really get the point.  She puts these things called "reinkers" into them.  I like to roll those "reinkers" around and it's especially fun when they roll off the desk.  That really gets her attention!


So, now you know what's REALLY been going on around here.  It's not excuse for The Female to be slacking on her writing duties.  Rest assured, I am taking her lapse very seriously and she will be reprimanded.  I don't take my Editor's responsibilities lightly, and if she can't step up to the job, well, I'll just have to find someone that will.  <Sigh>  A parrot's work is never done.

Angel Cards Set 2 of 3

Yesterday I posted the first set of cards for Paola's Angel Card Swap.  Here is the second set that I made for her:

 The stained glass image is one from a set of three in a retired SU set.  It's stamped with Memento onto clear vellum, then the reverse side was colored with SU markers.

CS is from SU: Pale Plum and Perfect Plum.  The darker CS was embossed and then misted with A Muse's Shimmer Mist to give it a pretty shimmer (love that stuff!)

Nesties Label die was used to cut out the vellum image and the window on the darker plum CS.  Deckle scissors were used to trim the corners, then it was all mounted onto the lighter plum CS, using pale violet half pearls for accents.

It's my first time trying the stained glass technique and it was fun. If you haven't tried it before, give it a whirl, you'll be glad that you did!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Angel Cards Set 1 of 3

Now don't faint!  Yes, I am actually posting to my bitty blog again this week!

My sweet friend Paola is hosting an angel card swap over on Split Coast, and I did something that I've never done before.  I took three - count them - three spots!  Oh my.  But, in my defense, I have so many angel stamps that have been waiting patiently for their turn at ink.

So I thought that I'd share pictures of the three sets that are on their way across the continent from me to Paola.

I apologize in advance for the photos of this card - I used shimmery black cardstock, DP that had copper accents, and then shimmery copper cardstock to black emboss the angels.  It is very striking IRL, but waaaay beyond my ability to photograph without glare.  The photos have been doctored quite a bit with my software at-hand, but this is the best that I could produce.

I have no idea who made the stamp, it was an eBay find many years ago and has absolutely no markings on it.  The inside of the card has this wonderful DP made by DCWV from "The Natural" stack.  Lovely, thick black paper with a copper grid and constellations in copper.

The angels and sentiment are embossed onto DCWV's Shimmer stack, a copper paper.  This card is a real departure from my usual style, so I hope that others enjoy them.

Thanks for stopping by & I hope to post Set #2 tomorrow.  Have a great day!

Dueling Darlings April Challenge - At Last!

Well, it certainly has taken me a while, but here is my April 15th card for the Dueling Darlings group on SCS.  This month's kit was amazing!  Terry sent us our kit and I was so excited when it came! (Then life got in the way and I am late posting, but not because I didn't LOVE her kit!)

The stamps Terry used were from SU's "On the Fly".  I just love this set and can't believe that I don't own it, ha ha!  She was very generous with her kit, including many swatches of DP, ribbon, brads, metal rings & dots, etc. So many great items to work with, how fun!

The base CS is black glimmer from American Crafts, and I used some of the striped DP that Terry included in the kit to frame the image.  The image is colored with Prismas and Derwent's Colour Soft pencils.

The fish is colored with Prismas and accented with Stardust Stickles painted on with a paint brush.  I was going for the fish scale affect, but my photographs don't show it too well.

The ribbon is attached through dark brass eyelets and twisted a couple of times (although it's a little off center in the photo)














Here's a close up of the fish which was cut out and popped out from the base of the card to give it some dimension.

  

Lastly, we were to tell of a special man in our life.  I am fortunate to have had many.  My mother is one of 7 children, only one of which was a brother.  He was my Godfather.  Several of his friends from High School married his sisters.  So I grew up in a family where all of my uncles and aunts had a long history together, and, for the most part, really enjoyed each other!

Special men in my life include my father, my Godfather, several uncles, my younger brother, my husband and my sons. Each are very different, but each contributes to who I am today.  I grew up camping, fishing, climbing trees, making forts, and fixing cars in my Dad's auto shop.  It was great, and taught me a wealth of things that keep me strong today. Every success that has come my way can be traced back to what I learned from my Dad and my uncles. I owe them a lot!

Thank you Terry for such a great kit and my apologies for being so tardy!