CASEing Cheryl (FS195)

The Featured Stamper this week is cherylquilts. Cheryl has a wonderful gallery. I chose this card to CASE. I changed the stamps and colors, and I didn't use a background stamp, but instead, I used an embossed layer. My crimper is in this craft room somewhere, but I can't find it!! That's why I didn't crimp the horizontal strip. Thanks for stopping by!!!

CASEing Hilda (QFTD33)

The Queen For The Day is Broom! Hilda is one of our loyal teapotters, too. In fact, she's one of the wonderful people who sent me a card for being an Alzheimer's care giver along with chipping in to help me pay for respite care. I chose to CASE this card. It was a TLC card (Technique Lovers Challenge), but I didn't do the technique. Instead, I used the French Filigree background stamp in Wild Wasabi. I also changed the colors. My base card is Naturals White, and the mat and butterflies are Yoyo Yellow (retired). I used a Crushed Curry polka dot ribbon (retired) and the new Basic Pearls for the heads on the butterflies. The butterflies were die cut using the Beautiful Wings Embosslit. Thanks again for stopping by!!

Simple Thank You (CCEE1043, TSC1029)

I've been so busy trying to upload all the cards I received recently from the Teapotters that I haven't had time to make any cards myself. To add to the time consuming task up uploading a lot of cards, I had connection problems that really caused frustration. I got my new RAK album done on SCS, but I'm still working on the post for my blog. I'll get it done by tonight, I hope.

On to the business at hand. This card is for the CCEE Stampers Challenge which was hosted by my friend, Shirley, this month. This week, she challenged us to make CAS cards (Clean and Simple). Some Real Red DSP from the Brights Patterns Pack, a sentiment and a bow make this a very simple card.

This is also for the Twisted Sistah's challenge which was hosted by Brat Cards this week. Terri challenged us to make a card with something torn on it and something shiny, glittery or sparkly. I tore the white panel and embossed the sentiment with Red Tinsel EP. I also added a couple of red rhinestones for more bling. Everything except the EP and rhinestones came from Stampin' Up! Thanks for stopping by!!

Teapotter's Surprise!!!

Oh my gosh!! It was like pulling teeth to get all these photos uploaded. I've been having connection issues. It took three days, but they're all here now. It took another week or so to catch up on all the typing!!!

Back in September, Mothermark's Teapot Tuesday Challenge was to use anything we wanted to make our cards pretty. That challenge was sort of linked to a card drive that Cammie (Carolyn King) has every year to honor Alzheimer's care givers. For our challenge cards, we could send them to the facility Cammie suggested, we could send them to someone we knew who was a care giver, or we could send them to the Arbors Memory Care facility in Sparks, Nevada, which is where I take my mom for respite care because she has Alzheimer's Dementia. Anyway, Cindy (Mothermark) collected 39 cards from the tea potters and sent them to ME because I'm a care giver!!!

This photo (above) shows the box of cards, the goodies Cindy added (package of bling, two stamps, a butterfly punch and snowflake socks) PLUS a cashier's check for over $400!!! They took up a collection to send me some money to provide some respite care!! I'll be able to take my mom to the Arbors for five days and have enough to pay for what the Alzheimer's Assn. doesn't pay out of their grant. I'm going to save it for April when my son has Spring Break. I'll even have enough left over so we can stay in a hotel for a day or so!!!

This card is the first one I opened because Cindy said "Open this first." Cindy explained what all the cards were for and about the check and extra goodies. Isn't this a masterpiece?!!! I wish you could see these cards in real life. They are all so lovely. Cindy outdid herself with this one though!!

This one is from Phyllis Long (SparklePlenty1000). She has a blog with a weekly sketch challenge. That's where I got the "Remarkables" award. She always makes such beautiful cards!! This one has glitter, pearls, punched borders and cut out and popped up flowers!! Wow!! She wrote two Bible verses inside for me to look up. What a sweet lady!!

This one is from LilLuvsStampin. Charlene always makes awesome cards. I wonder if Cindy sent her this Tea Time set for running one of the challenges while Cindy was away. It's an awesome card and had a sweet note inside!!

I knew as soon as I saw this card that it was from my friend patsmethers. She makes the most beautiful corsages on her cards! I have met Pat and spent a day in Grass Valley, CA, with her. She and another SCS Stamper will be going there next May, so I will drive up there and see them both. I've only met a couple of the tea potters in real life. That's what makes all these cards and the donation even more amazing! Most of these wonderful people have never even met me!!! Online friends really can be like family!!!

This one was made by irishgreensue. I know her name is Sue, but I like to call her Greenie! We've gotten to know each other through emails. She's the one that's coming out west in May, so I will get to meet her in person then. She did the polished stone technique on this beauty and used Dazzling Diamonds on the flowers and "Dreams". My photography just doesn't do any of these cards justice!

This one was made by Schirmcat. She made this one for me to send to whomever I wish. I wish you could see the dimension with the layers on the flower. It's really lovely!

This card is from Schirmcat, too. This little card she made for me. She had a sweet note inside and told me about the extra card for me to send. That card is shown above this one. I just love this little card! There was some fussy cutting done here with that basket and the flowers!

This one is from Mutnik. Cathy is so talented! She should start her own stamp company because she draws most of her own images!! Isn't this awesome?!!!

This is from mnfroggie. Looks like Trina is another Stampin' Up! person. That's definitely SU! paper, ribbon, stamps and border punch!! It all came together for a lovely card!!

ConnieJo9 created this awesome beauty. She stamped, colored, embossed and added bling! I love it! I'm going to CASE this one!!

#1volunteer sent this one. Mary uses SU! products, too. I wonder how many of the tea potters are demos. I have this set, so I can CASE this one, too. I love how she did the butterfly with the ribbon around it!!

Broom made this one. Hilda is so talented and so sweet. She wrote such a sweet note. Don't you just love all the fussy cutting she did on this one?!!!

Triasimite is such a cute screen name! Bev is a very talented stamper, too. I liked what she did with that border punch so much that I went and bought one for me!!! LOL! Yes, addicted to punches!! Don't you just love that bunny image, too!!!

cookiebaker is definitely one of God's children. Her note to me was kind of like a prayer; it was so touching. I love this simple layout and how she used the border punch. It looks like she used Baja Breeze and Chocolate Chip; so pretty!

cmsuto made this beautiful autumn card. Carla is another very talented stamper. I love this layout and her use of the papers!! Look at those tiny buttons; they match!!

Celisa is such a kind person! She made this awesome card for me with a nice note inside. Later, when our TPT challenge was a black and white card or card base, she made a card, printed a picture of the teapot, printed out Cindy's story, bought flowers and actually went to visit the recipient in the assisted care facility!! Now, that's thoughtfulness, kindness and Godliness!!!

This one is from Garden Diva. Tina did such a beautiful job coloring and adding glitter to this pretty tea cup. My friends even commented on how beautiful this card is!

wannabcre8ive is one of my best friends online. Shirley is the leader of the Twisted Sistahs. We call her the bus driver. I should have known that she would be involved in this and make such and awesome card for me!

Clyndago made this one. Lynda used a card base that has writing around the edges. It says, "Life is a bowl of cherries, Live Laugh Love." I love all the distressing and the great embellishments. It's kind of patriotic, vintage and girly all rolled into one awesome card!

hskelly made this lovely card. Harriet even matched the little pearls to the ribbon!! How did she know that, after lavender roses, my favorite flower is the sunflower!! Great layout, too!!

tracim made this one. Traci used SU! products for her card, too. Here's another case where I have the stamp set but never came up with anything so nice as this to do with it!!

101Airborne is the one who made this beauty. Kathy even typed up a letter telling me how they all came to making cards for me and that she's keeping my mom and me in her prayers. What a sweetheart! This card can be masculine OR feminine; I like that!!!

Catgondek made this card in yellow hues. How cheerful! I like the way she used that punch without going from end to end. That's kind of neat!! She wants me to reuse this card, but I don't know if I can part with it!!

Lisa Lara sent me this cute Halloween card. Oh, those jack-o-lanterns are so funny! She put them on the envelope too! Simple but effective, and I just love it!!

Cammie made this one. Carolyn King is her name, and she really started this whole thing. She has a blog and does an annual card drive for Alzheimer's care givers. She was featured in two paper craft magazines this year! She does the card drive because her grandmother had Alzheimer's and really appreciates what the care givers have to do. She gave an address of a facility in Pennsylvania where people could send cards and suggested that you send cards to other care givers as well. Cindy posted the address where I take my mom for respite care, but I didn't expect all the tea partiers to send ME cards too!!!

Here's another one with SU! products. It's from pidgesmom. I like how Lorraine stamped, colored and embossed the main image. She also used three different SU! ribbons on this!

Isn't this just gorgeous?!!! flowergal36 made it. Dawn used some shiny textured card stock for the base and machine stitched the green layer! I love the big image and how beautifully she colored it. She did more stitching on the panel beneath the main image panel. Gosh, this is beautiful!!

Maxell made this one in blues. Bev and I must have started on SCS around the same time I think. She does such beautiful work. She sent a sweet note and she mentioned that her brother-in-law has Alzheimer's Dementia, too.

Vickydee made this cheerful card. It looks like Vicki did some clear embossing. You can't see it, but those flowers and even the polka dots are shiny. Her father just passed away in August. He had Parkenson's Disease as well as Alzheimer's.

APandi made this one in pink, ivory and browns. It looks so delicate. Marilynn did some fussy cutting on that flower and the birdie as well as the pretty butterfly! I love all the SPARKLE!!!

Francie G made this big square card. Fran used clear embossing on those flowers. They shine so pretty! I love the paper under the popped up panel, too. There's lots of texture and dimension here!!

jojot made this beautiful Asian card. It looks like Joanne embossed a metal sheet for this one. I have the silhouette stamp, but I don't have that bamboo. This card is just gorgeous in real life! I love Asian cards!!!

cook22 made this one. Sabrina is in Ireland!!! Yes, this one came from a long ways away!!! It looks like the flourish is actually made of wood and she put glitter all around the edges of the flower petals. It's a beauty for sure and it came from so far away!!

I Love Rubber is the screen name of the lady who made this beautiful card. Elizabeth included and lovely letter telling me about her grandmother when she was alive and living in an assisted care facility. Her mother is 86 now, and she plans on having her move in with her when that time comes. The background is embossed in silver and there's lots of glitter and bling here.

philsmom made this flower pot slider card. I've made these too, but mine never turned out a beautiful as this!! Fran used lots more flowers, and the centers of each one is a rhinestone brad. There's even a pretty dragonfly on this!!

Foxy67 sent me this adorable Halloween card. Pat made that pumpkin look pretty artsy!! I love the color combo on this one, too. In Pat's note, she mentioned that she just lost a friend to cancer and was with her every day at the end. She knows how stressful a care giver's life can be.

knurse sent this tropical delight. Who would have thought that embossed black textured card stock could look so awesome?!! Sheri did!! I love those colorful flowers!! Sheri also included a sweet note.

Yo Sam sent this one. Shelly is another talented stamper. I wish I knew where she got that cute snail image!! It's so adorable, and her coloring is just awesome!! I like the background paper too!!This card from Joan Ervin came after all the others. It seems it got lost in the shuffle somehow. After seeing all the other cards posted to my 'RAKs from Teapotters" Album on SCS, she contacted Cindy (Mothermark) about it. Cindy found it and got it into the mail right away. It included an envelope with cash too!!! I love the crocheted flower with the button center and that beautiful paper! Everything is so well coordinated!

Well, it took me from October 26th to November 6th to complete this post!!! I do so appreciate all 39 of the cards, all the notes and letters, the money everyone chipped in for payment of respite care, but most of all, I appreciate all the love and kindness from my online friends, most of whom I've never met in person!!!

Speedy Recovery (MMTPT117)

This is for Mothermark's Teapot Tuesday Challenge which had a NASCAR theme. I think that the yellow and blue colors are going to be Dale Earnhardt Jr's colors in 2011. It looks like he's going to be using his father's number "3" as well. I die cut the number using a Sizzix alphabet set, drew my own checkered flag, downloaded a race car coloring page, colored the car with water color pencils, heat embossed with clear embossing powder and then popped it up, and I punched the gears out with an SU! punch. The sentiment on the banner was handwritten. Thanks for stopping by!!

Checks n' Chicken (CAS90)

Today's Clean and Simple Challenge was called "Gingham and Checks", so I used this checkered paper that was sent to me by my friend Sue (aka Coffeestamper). She also sent me the stamped chicken and sentiment. I think they are from a retired Stampin' Up set, too. The base card is So Saffron, and all I had to do was color the beak and feet with a Pumpkin Pie Marker and then cut it out. Easy Peasy!! Thanks for stopping by!

CASEing Lynette (FS194, CCEE1042)

Yesterday, I spent most of the day putting together a package for a friend of mine in Washington. She used to be in my club and come to all of my stamp camps. She even came over many times and helped me cut out everything for my events. She misses making cards with us and she wanted me to send her some "kits" to make our Stamp Camp or club cards. I sent her everything she needs to make four of the last Stamp Camp cards plus one of the projects we'll be doing for the next club. I hope she likes it!

Today, I'm back at it. This card is for the Featured Stamper Challenge. Our Featured Stamper this week is LinniePoo. Lynette has a clean style which I like. I chose to CASE her "Simple Thank You" card. I changed the stamps, colors and didn't punch or score; instead, I used a ruffled ribbon I got from patsmethers just in time for the CCEE Stampers Challenge which was to use ruffles on our cards. My stamps are from Happiness Shared and Watercolor Trio. Everything here, except the ribbon, is from Stampin' Up! Thanks for stopping by!!

Happiness Shared (SC303)

This is my Sketch Challenge card. It looks like I'm going to be two days late with everything except for the Twisted Sistahs challenge. Maybe I'll do the CCEE Stampers challenge tomorrow along with the Queen for the Day. Then I'll be pretty much caught up with the challenges that I do. Of course, there are MANY others. I was looking through my stack of "My Mind's Eye" designer papers and decided to use a sheet on my sketch card. This is the first time I've used the "Happiness Shared" set. I love it! It's in the current Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog. The sentiment came from the "Water Color Trio" set. I colored the flower with Water Color Pencils and blended with baby oil on a Blender Pen. I also sponged the image panel and sentiment panel with Close To Cocoa (retired). I just added the Very Vanilla Taffeta Ribbon, and there you go! Thanks for stopping by! I hope to be up to getting creative and posting cards tomorrow. I have two Stamp Camps today plus my back is in spasms. I'm better than yesterday though!

Nemo Founs (MMTPT116)

This is for Mothermark's Teapot Tuesday Challenge. You should go here and read the whole story. The tea potters were to bring all the Disney characters to the tea party this week. It seems the Donald Duck was acting more like Donald Trump and fired everyone. We need to get them all back to Disney World. We actually went to Disney World during the summer and I planned on scrap booking quite a bit. I bought this Cut & Emboss Nemo for my scrap book pages. It came in handy for this challenge.

I'm suffering from muscle spasms in my back, so I haven't been able to do much. This card should have been uploaded on Tuesday. Well, it's here now. I'll try to get to yesterday's sketch if I feel better later. Thanks for stopping by.

Fall Colors (TSC1022)

This is for this week's Twisted Sistah's Challenge which was presented by Marleygo. I'm very early because I will be away a lot the next couple of days and I have Stamp Camp on Friday. Lesley challenged us to use fall colors on a card. I saw these sunflowers on Kim Score's blog. They were on a jar or candle jar. She used a stamp for the faces, but I just drew mine. I felt that the sunflowers were perfect for my fall themed card. The DSP is Autumn Vines (retired). The flowers were made with the five petal punch and 1" circle punch and the Bird & Branch Punch (wing) for the leaves. I also used a Martha Stewart Flower Border Punch which is the only non-Stampin' Up! item used here. Thanks for stopping by!!

2010 October Stamp Camp

The first of our five projects is this card with what I call a Modern Santa. I saw it on SCS. Someone did a card for an Inspiration Challenge and her inspiration was a black tray with this type of Santa on it. I wish I could remember who it was that made that card. Anyway, it's just a red triangle with strips for the bottom, face and hat band. The Ornament and Curly Label punches were used to make the beard. The Spiral Punch was used for the feet and the Punch Pack flower was used for the top of the hat. I also used the "Merry" Embosslit for the sentiment panel and "Teeny Tiny Wishes" for the stamped "Christmas". I used the Northern Flurry EF for the background. It's a fun little card.

ETA: I found it!! Kim Score highlighted it on her blog today!!! The card is by gregzgurl.

Project #2 is simple, yet effective. The "Christ is Born" was embossed with Silver Embossing Powder, the flower was stamped with Riding Hood Red and cut out, and the sentiment panel is a banner of sorts. It's sponged with Crushed Concord and pearls were added to the flower center.

Project #3 is a re-do of my card I did last weekend. See this post. I changed the papers and the layout a bit. I like it better with these colors, too.

Project #4 is the same as the card I did for last week's sketch. I made bows for everyone to just attach with glue dots though. See this post for more details.

Project #5 is actually going to be with a darker color for the embossed layer. When I made my samples, I just used whatever scraps I had lying around. The Santa was stamped twice, colored once and cut out. It was popped up on the other stamped image and the snowballs have Dazzling Diamonds. Everything used on these cards came from Stampin' Up! Thanks for stopping by!!!