Happy Birthday, Darnell!

Today is the birthday of someone famous in the crafty parts of blogland for her wit, humor and genuine kindness. Who could be so well rounded, you ask?! It's the one and only Darnell Knauss!  Seriously, if you haven't visited her blog before, you must put it on your summer bucket list.  Period.  Ardyth over at MASKerade is having a birthday linky party for this special occasion, so you'll have to play along if you didn't already know the big secret!

Given her wonderful sense of humor, I thought Darnell might appreciate a little humor on her birthday card...

The inside says, "Happy 29th birthday.  Again!"  I'd never guess Darnell is anything more than 29!  She's got plenty of mischief in her eyes and a wit that doesn't quit!  If I'm half as lively when I'm 29 (again), I'll be tickled pink!  Thank you, Darnell, for giving us something to laugh about on a regular basis!  Laughter is, after all, the best medicine!

Have a very Happy Birthday...and many, many more!

Penguin Love

It's a bright, blue sky, sunshine filled day here and I'm feeling recharged!  Two days in a row of damp, grey, chilly days did not provide much motivation for me and I'm happy to have some oomph back!

For some reason, I have valentines on my mind!  Yikes!  We haven't even journeyed through the end-of-the-year holidays yet and I'm already fast forwarding to February!  Maybe it's because I came across a whole stash of penguins and other arctic creatures in my stamp stash earlier in the week?  Winter has to be fun with cute critters like this, right?!

Stamps:  The Stamps of Life

I'll probably hide this in DH's luggage on his next business trip rather than save it for Valentine's Day.  I love doing little things like that!  While I don't mind a little extra quiet time in the evenings while he's away, I don't really enjoy his absence.  The house is too quiet after the kids are in bed and it always feels like something is missing.

I hope you're having a good week!  I'm busily finishing up baby shower invites.  I tweaked the original design a bit and will share once they are in the mail!  For now, I need to stamp, cut, glue and address envelopes!  My goal is to have them in the mail by tomorrow!

Enjoy your Thursday!

A Trip to the Zoo

Who doesn't love a trip to the zoo?  I love to take our kids to the zoo when given the opportunity!  There's just something so fun about strolling the grounds, watching the animals.  Of course, we usually have to stop and get a sweet treat too.

This week at CASology, the cue word is ZOO and I had fun looking through my animal stamps.  I finally settled on penguins.

I stamped a trio, then the sentiment and, finally, drew a frame.  For interest, I added a small aqua colored gemstone to the center penguin's eye.  So simple!

The rest of the CASology design team and this week's guest designer, Donna, have created some adorable cards this week, so be sure and visit their blogs and leave them some blog love!

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Jen Wills

Melissa Chipperfield
Rosemary Dennis
Tracey McNeely  

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Bird-day Wishes

It's Wednesday and that means I get to share a card using a 2 Cute Rubber Stamps image!  I chose to use this cute birthday penguin for today's post.  I had fun using girly colors this time around.  I do like pink and orange together!  I played along with Tuesday Morning Sketches challenge for the first time too (see sketch at the end of this post)!

Supplies:
Stamps - 2 Cute Rubber Stamps (Happy Birthday Penguin)
Paper - SU Regal Rose, Pumpkin Pie cardstocks, Copic Blending Card, Basic Grey DP (Sweet Threads)
Ink - SU Basic Black (sponging around sentiment)
Accessories - pink gemstone flourishes, Nestabilities (circle, scalloped circle), SU word window punch, SU Pumpkin Pie marker, SU scalloped border punch, fun flock 
Coloring - Copic markers

Post It Penguin

It's been much too long since I've posted something other than a card creation!  I do enjoy making things other than cards, but find I don't have the mental focus I need to measure and figure out templates when I am listening to Radio Station 3BOYZ during the day.  This fall I now have 1.5 hours, Monday through Friday, of pure quiet to focus, so I'm excited!  I'm starting simple, but here is a little Post It Note holder I made using 2 Cute Rubber Stamps' latest stamp release:

Supplies:
Stamps - 2 Cute Rubber Stamps (digital)
Ink - SU Basic Black (sponging around main image panel)
Paper - SU textured Real Red CS, SU Basic Black CS, Copic Blending Card
Accessories - black gemstones, black ribbon (the Paper Studio), SU Sticky Strip
Coloring - Copic markers

The main panel (red) is a 3.5 inch x 7.5 inch piece of cardstock.  See here for a detailed drawing that will help you with scoring (courtesy of tmarie on SCS).