HOT! HUMID! STICKY! STAY INDOORS!

Thought I'd stave off the sticky miserable heat with some garden pictures. The big floppy white beauties to the left are called garden phlox "David." They are almost as tall as I am and hold themselves quite upright without support. Just beautiful. Then the empty space off the deck where St. Francis now resides (we call him Frank) was where the old pond was. It's been filled in and mulched and probably in the fall I'll plant some other things there. I left one big pennisetum clump there. The other photos obviously are of the pond and the lillies blooming and those guys circling like crazy think I am going to feed them.....NOT!!! Little swimming piggly wigglies is what they are! Anyway, if it's hot where you are stay cool and enjoy!

I've Got That Halloween Kind of Feeling!

I love how this card turned out. I saw it in the current issue of Paper Crafts magazine on p.46. It's by Mary Anderson. It's an interesting technique. For the image panel, you start out with Whisper White and sponge all over with More Mustard Then brayer lightly with Pumpkin Pie. Adhere a circle of cardstock for the moon, then brayer again heavily this time with Pumpkin Pie. Stamp your images and sponge the edges with Bravo Burgundy and ink edge with Choc Chip. I added two strips of ribbon and some sparkle gems on the side. When I get tired of hot summer weather, I start thinking of fall and this is what happens!

Look what I won!!!

Look at the lovely prize package I won from Plum Tree Antiques. http://plumtreeantiques.blogspot.com/ Be sure you go and visit and check out her lovely photos. She has contests going on all the time and I won one of the summer song contests by guessing the most songs with the word "America" in the title.

New Fancy Favor Die

Using the new SU Halloween paper, Cast A Spell, (big on skeletons this year!), I made this little Trick or Treat bag with the Sizzix Fancy Favor die. It's a nice size bag 3 tall not counting the handle, 3 wide and 2.25 deep. I attached a handle with brads and used a strip of Pumpkin Pie ribbon around it and the sentiment is from the new hostess set, Holiday Best, stamped with Basic Black. This die has so many applications. I love the fancy edge and I think this will be a form of gift packaging I will turn to over and over.

Summer Garden Pics

Some gorgeous water lillies opened in the pond this morning. That pinky red color is just so beautiful. Pictures don't do it justice. In an old blue enamel pot I have sweet potato vine and marigolds. The yellow mounded thing is malampodium and of course the purple is Supertunias. The last picture is of our screened deck which is opposite the pond. I spend lots of time there in the summer enjoying the results of all our hard work. I just wanted to share it with you.

Christmas Medallion

Just another quickie card using the Medallion stamp. This has a sort of old vintage-y feel with very little work. You could distress it more to enhance that look. The DP is from Basic Grey's Wassail from last year and I used Handsome Hunter ink on the medallion and the sentiment which is from the new stamp set from SU called Holiday Best. It's a special Hostess Only set. If you would be interested in a catalog workshop or a home workshop you could earn that set FREE!!! I then used a little christmas ribbon from Mike's to dress it up a little. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday everyone!

Medallion

I wasn't going to buy this new SU stamp called Medallion. It's a huge background stamp. But it kept calling to me from the catalog page. Then I began to review all the things that could be done with it and all the possibilities and I caved. This was a quick card, made possible by this wonderful stamp. I stamped a piece of Cottage Wall DP using the Medallion with Rich Razzleberry.....it's my new favorite ink color in case you haven't guessed. I added a strip of RR ribbon and then stamped a sentiment from our new Herb Expressions set and cut it and a background out with my Labels Four Nestabilities. Popped it up on dimensionals and that was it. Elegant, useful for lots of occasions, and easy peasy! That's my kind of card.

We have a winner!!!

Jennifer from West Monroe, Louisianna...YOU ARE THE WINNER! Please contact me via email to give me your complete address. Thanks to everyone who helped me reach this goal. WOW, 20,000 hits! I'm ecstatic!

To celebrate I made another card. Another of those large 5 x7 ones. I used SU's new DP Cottage Wall for the background and cut a Nestabilities Class Frame. Then on the center cut out I used an image by Paper Artsy for Inkadinkadoo. It's kind of a "dreamy image" and I sponged on Rich Razzleberry, Orchid Opulence and Old Olive inks, then stamped. I dressed the frame up a little with Liquid Pearls, then added Rich Razzleberry ribbon and a little frou frou from K&Co. Hope you like it!

Blog Candy and a Halloween Card

Yes, dear readers, I'm still alive. A little weary but still walking around. For those of you who have been so kind to inquire, John is doing very well postoperatively. He is using just one crutch to get around and can do everything for himself. This coming week we go to see the surgeon for a follow up and start out patient PT.

At any moment, this afternoon, I'll be drawing for my 20,000 mark blog candy which can be seen if you scroll down. Hurry and get in on it if you can!

The card I have for you today is a large one, 5 x 7. I picked these matching cream card and envelopes up at a yard sale for a song. It's been fun to work on a large space. I used some old Making Memories DP for the background and two SU sets for the images. The sentiment is from House of Haunts from last year and the skull and spider are from From the Crypt which are available in our new catalog. A little Pumpkin Pie ribbon and cs to make the images pop and you're done. Oh, and I used Black Detail embossing powder to heat emboss the images. I used two different sets of Nesties on this one, the Long Rectangles and the Labels One. Check back today for the winner of the blog candy!

Last Chance on My Blog Candy!!!

Scroll down below until you come to my blog candy post. We only need 50 more hits and I will be choosing a winner. I wish it was you. Leave a comment and win two wonderful Stampin' Up! stamp sets. Don't lose out!

More Blog Candy---SUPER!

http://priscillastyles.blogspot.com/2009/07/this-blog-candy-post-will-stay-at-top.html#comment-form Be sure to check out this link for a fantastic blog candy giveaway.

And don't forget to sign up my my own blog candy (scroll down below to see). Just another 100 hits and the prize will go!

Thanks for the blog award!

I received a very nice award from Barbara at http://whimcees.blogspot.com/. I am to pass this award on to fifteen other bloggers whose blog I like and here's my list. Check them out if you don't already, they are some wonderful artists! My nominations for the One Lovely Blog Award are:

Dawn at http://the-feathered-nest.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html
Becca at http://www.amazingpapergrace.com/
Jan Marie, Sharon and Nancy at http://www.flourishesnewsletter.blogspot.com/
Michelle at http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Becky at http://www.inkingidaho.blogspot.com/
Kathy at http://inspiredtostamp.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html
Joanne at http://joanne-mainlyflowers.blogspot.com/
Lauren at http://laurenm.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Leslie at http://leslierich.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
Sandy at http://www.sandimaciver.com/
Sandy at http://scenesbysandy.blogspot.com/
Joyce at http://scrapforjoy.blogspot.com/
Tim at http://www.timholtz.typepad.com/
Karen at http://karenskreativekreations.blogspot.com/
Ree at http://thepioneerwoman.com/

These are just some of my favorites. Check them out!

Blog Candy

Make sure you scroll down to check out and comment on the blog candy to celebrate 20,000 hits on my blog!

Pond Pics

Just a few pics of the pond as the plant life is maturing. The lillies are truly spectacular. The peach/ruby lilly is a daylilly that's in the ground.

Happy Fourth!

Happy fourth of July to everybody! Remember that our freedom comes at a price and our men and women of the armed forces pay for it everyday. This is a Whisper White and Real Red cardstock. The starry paper....not sure. The image of the window is Window Dressing from SU and the bunting and flag are from Patriotism on Parade by Flourishes. I cut the flag out and popped it up on dimensionals. A little red ribbon and we're ready for those fireworks! Enjoy your day!

Blog Candy for a Big Milestone!!!

I'm coming up on a big milestone......20,000 hits on my blog. I can hardly believe it. For my readers, I have two stamp sets for blog candy. The one on the left is Make It Count which was used once (I think one stamp used once). The other is Polka Dot Punches from this past SAB catalog. This has never been used or even mounted. But it is pre-cut! Both sets of course are from Stampin' Up! Here's the rules: I can only send to a US post at this time. I appreciate all who visit from all over the world but can only do US postage. Leave a comment on this post. If you have a blog, I would appreciate a plug on your blog linking it to mine. When I reach the big number, 20,000, I will draw a name from the comments. Please leave a way for me to contact you. Otherwise, I will end up drawing a different name if you do not get back to me. Good luck everyone and thanks for making this possible.

Welcome Home Hubby!

John came home yesterday. Wahoo, no more running back and forth to the hospital. A nurse and a physical therapist saw him today. There is some concern about infection on the left knee but he's on antibiotics to hopefully prevent anything major. He's doing very well, can go up and down the stairs on one crutch! Thanks to everyone who prayed for us and expressed their best wishes. We appreciate it!

More Copics

OK I have to get more colors in Copics because even after two cards, you can get tired of using the same colors. I had just wanted to use them first before making a big financial commitment to them. This is from SU Harvest Home. I used the Copics on the orange and green but the blender pen with inks from the pad on the rest. Just some scraps of card stock and a Fiskar's leaf punch and the Nestabilites Labels One for the layers. Off to the hospital now!