Just Us Girls #307 Photo Week!

Hello there!  I have been unintentionally absent for far too long! My apologies, but I won't offer excuses!  I'm back today with Chris' Just Us Girls challenge #307.  She has a super photo to challenge and inspire us this week!  You can see her post and the photo HERE!  AND, there is tons on DT inspiration, too!

So, here is how I was inspired!  I think this is the funniest (and, yes, the truest!) stamp I have seen in a long time!  I adore it with it's accompanying sentiment!  My friend, Luanne, gave me a round tag she had made using it.  I will get a photo of her tag to post soon. I came home from Luanne's and ordered these stamps (ebay, HERE and HERE) immediately! 

The image is stamped on watercolor paper and colored with the wonderful clean color real brush zig pens and a little water with a paintbrush. I used the 'sun' spellbinders die.  the rest of the dies are from MFT.
Thanks for visiting. It was so fun to create something again.  Now I want to create 8 more of these for teacher friends!  Wonder if I'll get that accomplished!  First up today, though, is to finish the closet I started yesterday.  It looks like it threw up its contents all over the floor. better get crackin'!  Have a great weekend and try to find time to join in the challenge! You have until Thursday at 9 pm ET!
(You could win a chance to be our Oct. Guest DT member!)
Cheryl

JUGS #305 TREND WEEK!

Hi all!  Welcome to my little blog! The Just Us team has a new challenge for you this week!  The trend is to use vellum on your card or project.  You have it, I know you do! BUT, do you use it very often?  I know I don't! What are we afraid of, anyway? That we'll ruin it? So what, we can just cut another piece!  So, get it out and start crafting with us!  The DT over on the BLOG has some great inspiration for you! Don't miss it! 

My Favorite Things had a release this week. I was inspired by some of the new cards to get out this older set of MFT dies -LJD Scribble Flowers and get to work!  I started with a white card base.  Heavy white PTI card stock is my favorite. I made a top fold card.  Then there is my layer of vellum, cut just slightly smaller than the card front.  The card cover is a PTI die-diagonal stripes.  that is all adhered together with little dots of glue.

I cut my flowers, scribbles and leaves from the same white card stock. Putting the scribbles aside so I wouldn't get them inky I went to work with my Tim Holtz round sponge applicators.  I sponged on Pool Party and then Lost Lagoon in the center.  The leaves have a few different greens, I just couldn't seem to get what I wanted.  I used PTI Simply Chartreuse and Ripe Avocado mostly.  I used my Clean Color Real brush Zig pen to free hand the veins-not perfect, and next time I think I'll try something else, but it worked for now.
Pretty simple card, really, but I like how it came out.
Thanks for visiting! I sure hope you'll visit our blog and then join in the challenge.  Chics of the week chosen in August have a chance to be out guest DT member in October!  You can enter up to 3 cards too!
gHave a great day and weekend!  Cheryl

Just Us Girls #304 WORD WEEK

Hello! It's Saturday again and that means the Just Us Girls (JUGS) team has a new challenge for you! Maria has the word challenge this week and she has challenged us with the word AUTUMN!  A fun challenge, if you ask me! I love all things Autumn (well, except for going back to work!). The smells, the colors, the decorations, the leaves falling, the apples, the wine! All of it!

So, I got into that box that hold my beloved autumn stamps and pulled out this beauty. I think she's seen ink, but I'm not sure I've ever gotten around to coloring her.  I put off the cleaning I'd planned to do today and colored her up with my Zig Real Brush Clean Color Pens (or something like that-it's a mouthful!) Watercoloring made easy!  She is a stamp from Whipper Snapper Designs called 

Happy Scarecrow. Since it was my first time to color her I stayed pretty true to how she was colored on the WSD website.  I like pink and orange together anyway!

My card base is white, then there is a layer of pumpkin pie, cut with an MFT Blueprints die and sponged with Cajun Craze. then a layer of PTI dp (Berry Sorbet) also cut from an MFT die and finally to image which was stamped on water color paper and cut with an MFT cross stitch rectangle after the water coloring.  I mounted the focal image on the dotted dp and then cute the same size rectangle from craft foam so that panel could be raised without sagging.  After adhering those together, I wrapped my orange twine around twice and tied before using Scor-tape to stick that panel to the pumpkin pie.  Everything is very securely stuck together.  This card opens in the traditional book way which has become unusual for me.  I make so many top fold cards now.

So, thanks for coming by to look.  We sure hope you'll take up the challenge this week and join in. You have until Thursday, August 6 at 9:00 pm to link your card up to our main site.  And take a look at all the DT inspiration over there too!!  Here's the link: Just Us Girls Blog