Meet my nephew Lane

I was able to spend a little quality time with our newest addition to the family, my little nephew Lane. He is the sweetest little thing! I've become obsessed with taking pictures of him, lol..he's such a cute little model!

BG Lemonade card..and some exciting news for me!

First for the exciting news part...today my little sister will be delivering her first baby, Lane..and that means I'll be an Auntie for the first time on my side of the family!! I'm so excited ~ I can't wait to see his little face!! We haven't had a baby in my family in years (it took her long enough!). My sons are a little sad because they have been the only grandchildren, and that means that now they are gonna have a little competition, lol! So, I'll be heading to NC to anxiously await his arrival...

now for the card part, I made this card with some leftovers from the BG Lemonade collection..I'm loving the bright summery colors and I wish I had dug this out earlier in the summer to make up some cards..because..sigh..now I have to start on Christmas cards, lol! But I LOVE Fall and holiday season..don't care much for the cold winter..but I do love Christmas!

Finally, a card...lol!

So my life has been a bit crazy lately...but I've managed to find a little time to create. I received the BG Lemonade collection some time ago, and it was begging to be cut up..haha! I love the colors in this collection and the little pink ladybugs are just so cute, and naturally I HAD to use the ladybug Tilda colored up with some prismacolors and Gamsol.

5 years shaved off my life

This weekend we had a terrible scare with my 6 yr. old. He was bitten by a copperhead snake during my sisters baby shower. It was the scarriest moment of my life driving to the hospital as fast as I could wondering what was going to happen next. I've lived my whole life thinking that if you were bitten by a rattle or copperhead you were as good as dead.Its crazy being in the medical field, all that knowledge goes out the window when its your own child..the only thing you remember how to do is scream and cry and hand them over to someone more calm. I am so very thankful for the ER crew, the flight crew and the nurses and surgeon at TC Thompsons. We are very blessed to have such a big support group with family and friends praying for him. 2 days have made such a tremendous difference and today was the turning point. The swelling went from his ankle to mid thigh, and today the swelling has started to go down. We are so thankful!

ROP Fall challenge

Fall is just around the corner...where oh where did the summer go? The boys are back in school and vacation time is officially over..now its back to crafting..woohooo! Over at Roses on Paper Challenge Blog theres a fall color challenge going on, to use brown, burnt orange, and deep red. I sooo love the fall! Its by far my favorite season, so I was very eager to dig out my Fancy Pants Fall kit and start coloring. I've used the Paris Tilda, available at ROP, and colored her with prismacolor pencils to match the FP papers. Hope you like :0)

Its tri-fold mania...hee hee

Really I am in FL hopefully enjoying the beautiful beach and watching the boys build sandcastles. But I posted these before I left so that you'll have something to look at until I get back, lol! 2 more tri-fold shutter cards with the same designer papers as the previous ones (I just have to use every last scrap of paper!)..but with a little different embellishing. Again the tutorial for making these can be found HERE at this awesome Craftiblog! Hope you are having a great week! hugs,T

Tilda with tulips

This is one of my favorite Tilda stamps..and the Alota table with tulip stamp just went perfect with it!

Another tri-fold shutter card..

OK..these tri-fold cards can be a little addicting once you get the hang of it! Yet another Gorjuss girl, this time decked out in greens and blues from Fancy Pants. hugs,T

Gated card

This Tilda is from the Magnolia Butterfly collection, I thought she would look cute all blinged out in Shimmerz paints. I have used a gatefold card with stitching and some cutie K&Co. cardstock border stickers that look like pom pom trim. Love 'em! hugs,T

Tri-fold shutter card

Wow..I have been a busy little bee this Summer and haven't posted in ages. Wanted to show you a new card I just learned to make..I know, it looks a bit overwhelming with all the cuts and scores..but actually its very easy and fun to design. You can find the tutorial HERE on the Craftiblog.For this card I have used MME designer papers and the adorable Gorjuss girl from set 1. I'll be making lots of these tri-fold cards now that I know how easy they are..and a great way to use up little scraps of papers! hugs,T

While I was away.....

Ahhh.....Summer is in full spring and we have been playing hard the last few weeks. I haven't posted any creations because we have been so very busy. We went to Myrtle Beach, SC with some friends of ours a few weeks ago and had a blast. Our kids had so much fun playing together, and it was wonderful that they entertained themselves to give Mom a break!!


I took so many pictures, it will be a job trying to get all the pages finished...but beach photos are my absolute fav!! Here are a couple of my favorite ones:




Last week we took the boys camping with my parents and siblings to celebrate the 4th! My Dad picked a spot WAY back in the mountains near Joyce Kilmer Forest. My Dad had the camper and the rest of us tent camped...it was definitely an experience all in itself! We camped right beside a river and the boys had a blast playing in the water and collecting their "treasures".



We even had our own little mini fireworks show and marshmallow roast!



The Smokey Mountains are absolutely stunning, if you have never been then you need to definately put it on your list of places to go. I am so very lucky to live so close.

ROP and Just Magnolia

I've combined two challenges this week. Over at ROP challenge blog the challenge is to use flowers..my favorite flowers are tulips..and I had just the images for it. I love this Tilda holding tulips! She's sitting on a table with a vase of tulips from Alota, goes so well together! The second part of the challenge is to combine the card with another challenge. I chose Just Magnolia. The challenge over at Just Magnolia this week is paper piecing. I have paper pieced Tilda's dress with some yummy MME glitter papers. I love this Out&About collection!! Hope you like it too... hugs,T

Line's blogaversary candy

Go wish Line a Happy Birthday and Happy Blogaversary..she is offering up some scrumptious blog candy! Line's blog

Sugarbowl sketch challenge by Lia

This week over at the Sugarbowl its a sketch challenge by Lia, with the color option of using blue and green..which happens to be two of my favorite colors..woohooo! I used a Gorjuss Girl from collection 1 for this card..she is just darling!

Synthetic handmade flower tutorial

Hi girls..I wanted to share with you a flower I made following a tutorial by
Caz I love these flowers and they are very simple to make. I took a trip to my local craft store and picked up a few different colors of synthetic materials.
Materials you will need:
Synthetic fabrics in desired colors
tea light and lighter
beads
needle and thread

I love the glitzy appearance of the blue so I used it for this flower. I also picked up some netting to layer it with. First you want to cut different sizes of circles from your material, the largest being the largest layer of your flower. With your tealight lit..hold the circle about 2 inches from the flame and turn it so the edges get a little crisp..the fabric will begin to shrink up a bit...this is a good thing, lol! When you sear the entire edge you will hold the flower so that the flame is beneath it..not too close though..this will shrink up the flower and turn in the edges. Easy, peasy...now do this same thing for all your layers. After you have finished the searing process..start layering your flower. I cut circles of netting to layer between..I liked the end result..but its also very beautiful without it. When you have layered your flower, add a couple stitches to the middle to keep it in shape. Woohooo...its done, you can now add beads, or a button or any little decorative doodad to the middle. The beads look awesome, but i used these little silver micros instead because they were handy. Now wouldn't it look lovely on your card? If you try this yourself, please let me know so I can go take a peek at your creation.

Shabby Chic Tilda..all decked out for summer...

My friend Heidi sent me this paper and embellishments and i thought they were soo cute! While I should have used my ladybug Tilda..I already had this one all colored up to match. But I saved a few snippets for Ladybug Tilda so that she wouldn't get her feelings hurt, lol! This one will be going out tomorrow for one of the June rain participants over at Magnolia~licious group. Hope you like ;0) hugs,T

Just Magnolia sketch challenge by Rach...

Ya gotta love a sketch challenge! That is the part I find most difficult about designing a card..coming up with the sketch. This week over at Just Magnolia Rach has an awesome sketch for you to try. Here is my take on the sketch. hugs,T

Belles and Whistles Guest Design Team call...

Woohooo...Summer has some very exciting news over at Roses on Paper! If you haven't heard the exciting news..Elisabeth Bell will be designing stamps exclusive to ROP...we are all very excited about it!! So a new division of ROP will be premiering soon... Belle's and Whistles! Summer is looking for a few Guest Designers to join the team for a 2 month term.

If you are interested in applying for a Guest DT spot on the new Belles 'n Whistles team, the following are the requirements:

~you must have a blog yourself
~you must be a follower of the ROP challenge blog
~you must participate or have participated in at least one of the bi-monthly challenges on the ROP challenge blog

If you have not yet participated in a ROP challenge, do not fret…there's still plenty of time! Guest DT members will be selected the first week of July though the 2 month term will begin at or around August 1st.

Now..head on over to
ROP challenge blog to apply.

Now for my card. This weeks challenge is to use pink, green and yellow. What a wonderful spring combination..love it! I have designed this card using some of the older BG paper ...love the muted pinks and greens! I have used flowersoft in the basket, i was lucky to have the "sweet pea" that matched my colors. I am also using this card as my GDT entry. Good luck to all who apply!! hugs,T

Playing in the dirt...

I've been playing in the dirt most of the day today...and having a blast planting new flowers and transplanting old ones. I love this time of year when its not TOO hot to play outside and enjoy gardening..although I'm not much of a gardener, lol! My lillies have started to blossom and they are stunning! Plus I had a late bloomer Calla lilly that popped out this week and surprised me..I have to take a pic before its gone. My Haustas are popping out all over the place as well as Canna lillies, can't wait for those to start blooming! Hope everyone is having a great weekend..go play in the yard! hugs,T