Spandex or Sprints???

Well the Friday challenge at notimetostamp is cabin fever, so I'm guessing that means we are all anxious for spring.Well spring turns to summer very quickly and that means showing your body off in that horrible thing called a bathing suit. Now in order to get ready to do that you have to make a solid choice of what you want....fab or flab??? I vote for a full cover up spandex body suit to put under the bathing suit, then you go from wrinkles to smooth. Now it's not easy getting into those type get-ups and it usually takes up most of the afternoon's sun, but if you can manage, you've gotten at least a half hour of exercise and you're ready to show it all off. This is an Art Impressions stamp done totally plain with colored pencils.
Poor dear has a bit of a red face with that work-out...guess she hasn't heard about the spandex cover up yet. Even Oprah brags about having one...who would have guessed?
Happy weekend crafters. I'm going to the Lenten fish fry at the church to see if I can angle ( that's fish talk) a real smoothie to take the hubba hubba guy off my heels.

Timeless Tuesday...Vellum

Well today is Timeless Tuesday @Flourishes and we are asked to use vellum. Well me and vellum are not the best of friends so I had to struggle with this but pushed myself to join in. I stamped my vellum with the rose image and heat set it and then did my coloring on the backside( the paper's backside, not mine). Added my leaf-like flouish thing a ma jig and the thank you along with some bling. I then decided to just quit this project and call it a day. As I said...me and vellum are not best friends and I'm sure it shows.Rose is from Stampin Up, thank you is Flourishes, and leafy is from Pretty Poppies.You should check out this new line of paper and stamps at Mike's called Pretty Poppies as it is dirt cheap and really quite nice.

Ellie's work

Well I received this adorable little card from my Ellie Boo and wanted to share it with you all. She is becoming a regular to this site and I am so happy to see her work getting better all the time. She loves to color and so do I. Thanks Miss Elizabeth Grace for your beautiful card. I love you darlin!

Lighthouses in Michigan

This is one of many lighthouses in my state of Michigan. We took DD and family here a few years back and had a wonderful time just browsing around in the sea grass with the kids. This is a stamp from Hardware Stampin ( never heard of them...borrowed stamp from friend) and the little expression is from Stampin Up. Simple black ink
Versa Fine black onynx on white, matted on light navy blue matt and my circle Nesties for the phrase. This was a sketch layout I found somewhere over the pond and can't remember where. Easy way to start the week.

Black Ink Friday

Well the challenge over at notimetostamp is to use black ink on your card.Grabbed my Versa Fine black onynx ink and went to work.My cardstock is slate blue with a black mat behind my white main piece. I just got a few new Stampin Up sets and decided to try a couple of stamps out. I love this filigree type stamp for my background design and once again Stampin Up came up with a beautiful sentiment...The Happiest business in the world is that of making Friends. I sure like it better then ..there's no business like show business. And making friends is a wonderful pass time. Want to be my freind?? Oh, but you already are aren't you???
UPDATE ON THE "OLD DUDE" AT DOLLAR GENERAL. Well the old dude is out of his neck brace and into ....are you ready for this??? A pair of WHITE patent leather loafers.
He is also back to his hubba hubba mode. Help, save this poor old lady, who can't run as fast as she needs to.When I want to attract a nice old man, no luck and here is this old coot trying to flirt with me... why am I so darn good looking!
Good golly it's the weekend again so you know what that means don't you? Well don't just sit home moping, go out and have some fun. See you next week.

Timeless Tuesday Challenge ...Flowers

Well today's challenge at Flourishes Timeless Tuesday is to use flowers. I chose the parrot tulip (not the polly want a cracker kind but the one) from the Thank you set by Flourishes. What an easy image to use as it speaks to you and I don't mean like a parrot but instead like a beautiful sound of spring. I used navy blue cardstock along with Denium colored ink and did a bit of layering and added a bit of bling. The phrase is part of a new set from Stampin Up and boy what a wonderful piece of advise to follow...you only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. I hope you all heed that advise and seize the day each and every day. So, go out there and have a great time today by putting a smile on your face and on the face of everyone you meet, in other words...have a wonderful day!

My sweet Valentine

My darling granddaughter Ellie made and sent this sweet Valentine. She's going to put us all to shame one of these days as she is raring to go when it comes to stamping and she's only 5. Sweet darling, we have a case of love going on here. Not to be outdone, her brother Cal wrote me a sweet Valentine letter. Well heck he's almost 12 and guys don't send mushy cards...just letters. Love those two.

Friday Challenge ...monogram useage

Well happy Friday the 13th. is Jason lurking in the shadows?? Yikes, I'm scared. Just kidding I'm like Maxine...trying to make bad luck for as many people as I can. Who me? Not really, just kidding again. This card is super simple because all I needed to do was cut a few of the Nesties, use my Just Rite monogram letter P for me and then find some Valentine type paper, punch out a wee little heart, use a little glitzy and voila ( that's French ) I'm pretty much done. My phrase is from AIP-VIP and I never heard of them but it's an oldie stamp. Well tomorrow is the big day for you lovers out there and remember my words of advise, nice quiet dinner, hold hands, tell each other you love them and a little kissing won't hurt. My heart is full with memories to keep me smiling. Happy Valentine's Day.

Children's Hospital of Michigan...home of the Valentine donations

I took pictures of the cart full of the cards but it really didn't do justice to the over 5000 cards that were taken to the hospital.The final count was 5682 and the last of the donors were Jennifer Stinnett and M. Leach. Thank you all for an outstanding job...well done by some mighty fine crafters.
Relaxing area for parents to wait.

The wall is example of the bright and cheery atmosphere the hospital gives to the public. It's a wonderful place with caring people.

This area is for the kids to go for doing crafts or relaxing etc.
This is a picture of two of the staff that are in the area of where the Valentines will be used. On the right is Deanna who is in charge of the area, she is a child life specialist.

Skyline of Detroit area looking out from the hospital

Timeless Tuesday...button

The Timeless Tuesday challenge at Flourishes is to use a button on your card. Well I found these adorable buttons at my buddy Mike's and I've been itching to use them so here's a great excuse to tear open the packet. My punch and thank you stamp are Stampin Up the flourishes on the background of my pink cardstock is from a set from Pretty Poppies. Stamped in black Versa fine ink, a punch here, a stamp there, a button on top, a bit of black and white polka dotted ribbon and you are good to go.
It's really foggy here this morning or maybe my glasses need cleaning, but hope you are ready for a good day. See you in a few days. Oh yes, if you check my comments on our winner you will see a wonderful thank you from Dan the PR Man over at Children's Hospital...he sees how wonderful the stamping community is and wanted to say a big Thank You to you all.

And The Winner Is....

Well the winner of my blog candy for our Valentine quest of 1000 is....drum roll....bells and whistles....Velta Wesson.
The package is wrapped and ready to go, so let me hear from you so I can get it addressed and in the mail.
I want everyone to know that the goal was easily reached very quickly and then the cards just kept coming and coming. As of today I have received over 5000 cards. Needless to say this was a success beyond success. How do I thank you all for participating? Well, I have to say I just can't thank you all enough for showing your love and support to these wonderful children. When the cards are all delivered I will take pictures of Children's Hospital of Michigan to show you this fantastic place for sick children. Many of you asked me to take pictures of the kids but that is not permitted and I totally understand that and hope you all do too. The staff has made this a safe and private place for the children and families so we must honor that. So to all of you I say Thank You and God Bless You for your generousity of your time and talents to this most rewarding project. I love you all for your help and hope that down the line I can call on you again and you will jump in and help. Thanks from the bottom of my heart, Pat

The Negative

Well the old song from the 40's said to Acccentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negitive and latch on to the affirmative and don't mess with Mr. In Between. I know you are too young to remember that but I do, because I'm ancient. The Friday challenge is to accent the negative or something like that and this stamp from Stamp It is one of the only one's I have to do that with. I just stamped with Versa black on the white and then layered on silver foil. The foil is so mirrored that it picked up the bright pink of my housecoat. It's one of those... stay in your housecoat all day, days. The weekend is upon us again so have a good one. We are supposed to get a warm up in the weather so that will be nice. I was getting tired of those below zero stuff.
Have fun and keep your fingers inky.

days.

Crazy mixed up love

Well I have a love for black and white and if you throw in a mix of red well that's what I call...Perfect! This card is done on red cardstock ( but I think you can see that ) using the wonderful Versa-Fine black ink to stamp Spring Ephemerals from Flouishes. I chose both the bleeding hearts and the forget-me-not flowers. My love is a stamp from Hero Arts. Busy yet I think I'm liking it. Added some poofy hearts with a black glitz stone and all you get is love...ya ya ya ya. Do you know that song? I think it really is, all you need is love but hey you know what I mean.
Maxine had this to say about yesterday's ground hog day, " I don't care how many weeks of winter are left...I just don't want that groundhog doing his business on my lawn." I guess I have to agree. Happy Hump Day.