Football Season begins...

Just a couple more cards I made while my gang wached the Bronco's play a pre season game. This first one uses all CTMH product, except for the sparkles.

Brads, paper and ribbon are CTMH but the flower is a random stamp that I had.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Marie with a :-)

CPS 131

I have so many "favorite" paper packs from CTMH... and Floral Tapestry is certainly on the ever growing list. I combined the Floral Tapestry paper with a cute Basic Grey die cut to make this quick and easy card. I used the CPS 131 Sketch for the design.

August Stamp of the Month; Unscripted 21

I don't know what has taken me so long to use my August SOTM - I LOVE the cake stamp!

I played with these cute CTMH Jungle stamps when I was visiting my sister and knew that I wanted them myself...so after a home gathering last week, I ordered them. I challenged myself with this card to use no sparkles, flowers or the CTMH distressor that I am so addicted to. I was hoping for a more masculine look but I think it might be a little too "cutesy." Anyway, once again I used the Unscripted Sketch .

Apart from the sparkles, all products on both cards are Close To My Heart.

Not this time...

I had just told fellow blogger
Jamie (whose work I GREATLY admire) that I can make cards pretty quickly. Not this time! The sketch from this week's
Mojo Monday about had me over the edge. I spent close to two hours trying to come up with something to no avail. After much hair pullling, I decided to give it up and let it be. Scallops and I just don't seem to work well together. I had planned on creating a layout while Scott was at class tonight (it's a four hour class plus drive time...thought I could at least get started on something...) but after this, I've given up for the night.
Thanks for stopping by.
Marie with a :-)

CPS 129...and yet another gate fold card.

My daughters talked me into purchasing this Party Hoppers wooden stamp by Stampabilities several months ago, but they still haven't used it. I stamped it and then cut out the individual partiers to create a card using today's CPS Sketch .

Aren't these guys adorable? I went "old school" with chalks and paper tearing :-) .

I keep trying to get rid of the pile of paper scraps that I have on one of my tables, but no matter how many pieces I use - like for this card - the pile seems to grow overnight.

Thanks for taking time to peek at my work...I appreciate you!

Quick Unscripted Post, card from friend

the day started out well, beginning with coffee and muffins with a dear friend, then a trip to Hobby Lobby with my daughters, where I found the craft cards my
sister Samantha has been looking forward to receiving (no HL in her neck of the woods!). But when I came home to work on the Unscripted Sketches, I discovered my laptop isn't working. My favorite geek (AKA Kyle) was home to help troubleshoot but even he is having a difficult time figuring out what is wrong. So I'm "borrowing" my daughter's laptop for this post and praying I'll have my own working again soon.
I know that I've mentioned a few times how much I love the
Unscripted Sketches challenges - one of the many reasons is that it doesn't stifle your creativity. You can use their sketch but then add your own interpretation. Check them out! Here's my take on this week's sketch:
I used all Close To My Heart products for this, including the new Twitterpated paper. I wasn't so keen on it when I first saw this paper, but after using it, I love it!

I used scraps to make a second card since I was loving the paper so much...

And finally, I was blessed by this really pretty card today...made by my precious friend Donna Petrie Isn't it adorable? She's so creative and she's the one who really got me started with the paper crafts. Maybe she'll have a blog of her own sometime soon...she's got a great sense of humor too and I know others would love her craft work as well as her life insights.

Hugs,

Marie with a :-)

Cute Card Thursday (I cheated...and there's worse...)

I haven't participated in the Cute Card Thursday challenge for quite some time.I had a few free minutes to check out the challenge.. when I saw it was a beach theme, however, I cheated and I grabbed this card that had been sitting on my stamping station for quite some time. Since the CCT was done, Iwent on to create a few more gate cards. My really awful confession, though, is this...I actually combined Close To My Heart products with Stampin' Up products...with Archiver's products. Gasp. Oh the shame.
As always, you can click on the pictures to view the flaws, er details.

Happy Friday to you!

Marie with a :-)

Trying not to be jealous...

Of Jenny's blog. She's a great writer, photographer and paper crafter. I love how she has the photos and such set up on her blog. Definitely worth taking a peek.

CPS 128

Wow, I might be the first to post to the CPS sketch...I don't think that has every happened! And I'm soooo tired I shouldn't even attempt it, but here goes. I LOVE the Close To My Heart Expedition paper and used it to make this card for my handsome husband. I wish the photo was better. Sigh. Can't wait to get my replacement camera. You can click on the image to get a better viewing.

Thanks for stopping by.

Marie with a :-)

Unscripted 18 using more pieces of scrap paper

Just got back from Heavenfest and the music put me in a creative mood...since I can't sing and I can't dance (wish I had my stepmom's rhythm!) I resorted to card making. Truth be told, I was looking forward to completing the Unscripted Sketch 18 For those who commented on the Heavenfest...I'll have you know that what should have been a 40 minute drive took 3 and a half hours...with cars moving at a snail's pace in the HOT Colorado sun. (I heard that there were well over 20 thousand people there!) But Phil Wickham and a lemon lime snowcone made it all worthwhile!
Hugs,
Marie

No sketches...just using up scraps.

Samantha would be so proud of me. Not only have I kept my craft room organized all day, I used up some scraps to make two cards:

I waited in line to be one of the first 50 at Archiver's today and received an 8 x 8 paperback with diecuts for free in additon to a box of 10 pretty ribbons. While there I used my 30 percent off coupon to get this bird and house diecut...it was their very last one! I didn't bother staying for any make and takes because it was soooo crowded and I had to be home in time for our living room furniture to be delivered. I love the furniture - it's so comfy...but it's almost too big for our living room.
Tomorrow is heavenfest...80 Christian bands will be there performing on 8 different stages between noon and midnight. My whole gang is going so it should be lots of fun.
Wishing you a fabulous weekend,
Marie with a :-)

Blog Awards

I am really exhausted (I sooooo hate shopping...though I often love the results of shopping. Tonight my husband and I shopped for some new furniture and it completely wore me out.) I have to be up early so I won't complete the blog award "rules" tonight but did want to say that I have felt very honored and privileged to receive two awards from Lisa . There are some folks that you meet in the blogosphere that you just know if you lived near each other you would be the best of friends. Lisa is one of those people. Thanks, Lisa! I will post the awards along with my picks in the very near future...for now it's bedtime for me.

Creemees in lieu of crafting...and Mojo 98

For the past week, I have been priviliged enough to spend my days with family and friends in the beautiful green mountains of Vermont. I didn't spend much time crafting...so I had to come up with another "daily" I opted for the creemee...nothing speaks of summer like a creemee in Vermont. I probably gained five pounds, but it was worth it!
Today was pretty fast paced despite my plans to totally veg. After weeks of research, Scott bought a 2008 Suburu Outback with less than 18,000 miles on it. Yay! I also had a meeting to attend, company that visited, some shopping, lots of laundry and a game of Scrabble with Josh, who came for a short visit tonight. After he left, I headed for the craft room to check out the Mojo 98 sketch. I forgot that the first sketch of the month is always a contest or I might have spent a little more time on my card. Anyway, it's good to be back in my craft room (even if it is complete chaos in comparison to my uber-organized sister's craft area!) The creemee I am eating is a SMALL...the choices go on to medium, large and HOSS (we usually got our creemees at a place called Hoss's). I can only imagine what that looked like!

I lost my new camera right before coming home...so my pictures aren't turning out as well. The colors are much more vibrant than they appear.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope to get caught up on everyone's blogs tomorrow. Marie with a :-)