Fabric Purse

Here is the cute little mini pruse that Kimberly gave me at our last Demo luncheon. She made it using adhesive sheets and SU fabric isn't it the cutest ever! I love it and think I might be doing some fun things using SU fabris in the coming months too! I will show oyu her delightful Make-n-Take in the next day or so too! Have a great Monday!

~Donna

DEMO LUNCHEON

Every six or eight weeks I host a luncheon for demonstrators in the area to come and enjoy some chat and share a swap. They do not belong to my upline, downline or sideline they are just fun and inspiring demos who like to meet up with other demos. Yesterday I had such a day and met a brand new friend. I love sending out the call for demos to meet at my home because it has brought me together with gals as far away as 1 1/2 hrs by car. WOOOHOOO! I have gals emailing me to join our luncheon from all over Massachusetts and as far away as New Hampshire. I am sending out the call again for anyone who wants to join this awesome loving sharing fun group for our June Luncheon too! So don't be shy do what Kimberly did and just email me if you want to come!

Today I have two of some of the shoebox swaps that we did yesterday. One was created by SAM, she has no blog but I am working on getting her to do one (wink for all of those who I have FORCED to create a blog you know who you are). So, because she hasn't got one I am posting her design here. She had us emboss in clear powder over some stamped images and then sponged around the embossing. Easy Peasy fun and WOW!

The next card was done by Jeanne Neilsen and she DOES have a blog so I hope you will visit her. She lives an hour away from me and I love when she comes to visit because she is fun nd sweet and full of good stories. This card was fun and easy and her design can be used with any punch to give a fun and fancy 3D effect to your cards!!!! Thanks Jeanne!

Lastly, I have a sweeeeeeet fabric idea to share with you but I need to get Kimberly to create a blog before I steal her design and post it here. She need to get a blog because she make phenomenal 3D items and has been a demo for 14 years. HELLO she is a wealth of good inspiration and needs to get herself out there. So come on Kimberly take the challenge and make your blog. I am so excited to show you off!!!!!!

Thanks to all the gals who join me for Demo Luncheon and heres hoping you will join us too!!!! Have a great weekend everyone!

~Donna

MORNING CHAT CHALLENGE

Good morning everyone! Well I am making this card for the MORNING CHAT CHALLENGE which is for the color GREEN this time around. So I am really hoping some of you will play along with the Morning Chat Group and show us your talent too! You have until March 17th the day of the green to submit your entries. As always you can come chat any morning the chat room is open. Just check it out over on my sidebar. We have lots of fun in there and would love to see you! Enjoy your day and happy Stampin'!
This card was done using my favorite of all times hostess stamp set called Garden Silhoettes that retired many years ago. I used the Owl Punch to make the heart petals. Make a wish and Dream!

~Donna

It's A Beautiful Morning!

Hey everyone...can you hear me singing!!!

Well it is a beautiful morning and the clocks have been changed for the new season and spring is right around the corner and here is a card for you!

Thanks for hangin' in there with me during the past quiet spell. You know this happenes to all of us from time to time and even when I hate it I realize it is a creative lull and a process that you need to go through. It is not always easy but in the end the OLD you emerges!

I will say I am a little bit surprised at the turn my mojo has taken. YIKES I do not recognize the last two cards but hey what can I tell you. The one today is for a special cyber friend who is going through a rough patch and like me her mojo fell to the wayside. I challenged her this morning to create a card fro me and I would create one for her. I went to my stamp room and started with a piece of DSP (you know i hate playing with that stuff) and then a card was born. I kind of like it even thought it is different for me. The thing I thought was the most spirit lifting was the heart. It came about because when I made the card I felt it needed something else. I had a piece of scrap baja breeze on the bench and when I lifted it to the card i like the color combo. I had bought the Fashionable Hearts Embosslit die before I left for vacation and Valentines Day was over by the time I returned. Thus I hadn't opened them, well I decided to try it today on this card and liked it...then re read the sentiment and saw just how apropos the little heart was for this card. SO MUCH FUN!!!! Well have a great week everyone see you back here soon...and come on in this morning for a fun chat....over there on my side bar! CYA!!!!

~Donna

I Promised You

Good morning everyone. I promised you pictures from vacation and I thought you don't want to see me hanging around the ship so I am posting these instead for you to get a bit of a sense of how extraordinarilly HUGE this ship is. First of all it is 1/4 of a mile long. These pictures are of the very back of the ship. The ship is open in the middle straight up to the sky and is just amazingly beautiful. Oh did I mention I get to go back in December? Yup I won another cruise while I was onboard!!!! A trip for two so let me know if oyu are available!!!! LOL!!! Anyway these pictures show the Aqua Theater and they were taken in the afternoon while rehersals were going on. You can see one of the divers if you look carefully way up top. I loved the inside balcony rooms too, these were situated all along the inside of the open area. The deck pictured here is called the boardwalk and felt just like well a boardwalk of course. This baby also had a beautiful park called Central Park with fabulous restaurants and a wine bar. The first picture show our wake as we cruise the Caribbean. I loved that oyu could get rigth up close to the very edge of this ship. Have a great weekend and Ill see you soon!

~Donna

Life has stolen my MOJO

Hey everyone, I have to apologize for not posting of late but sometimes life just gets in the way and you feel like you are in quick sand being trapped and unable to move. Well, that is sort of where I have been. I got back from vacation (I'll post some pics tomorrow) and life threw me a curve ball that kind of made me fall into a tailspin. BEFORE you send me an email let me tell you I am fine and just sharing this with you because I thought you may be wondering what planet I escaped to. Anyhow, my mojo has been effected by the events too. Sort of. I have actually used all the creativity in my soul and I wrote a book this week. I know! I am not even a writer but it just came out of me, LOL! Today, it feels like spring here, quite apropos for my new journey I'd say and I went down to my stamp room to try, yes TRY to create something and this is what emerged. Not the best but significant to me just the same. I really like how the frayed end of the twine mimics the flourish in the "R" in remember! Hope you do too. Sometimes, life is tied up in knots and we just need to remember what it is that we need to be doing, and then get on to doing it. Have a great day and have fun Stampin' See you tomorrow with some vaca pictures. Hugs!!!!

~Donna

MONDAY MORNING Hello!

Good morning MONDAY! How is everyone today happy and healthy I pray! Well, here is a little strange story for you...Let me know if anything like this happens to you okay!

I wrote this Sunday after I browsed some of my favorite web sites. After all I have been on vacation for three weeks and I needed to really check them out. But before I get to why I wrote this, let me explain.

Several times during my life, well actually more time than just several I have had the experience of thinking of something that intrigued me. This happens while I drift off to sleep, or while I day dream during the day. Usually it is I think about in the realm of interior decorating and includes most often a collection of something or a new "idea" for decorating. Then, within a day of thinking about it I will pick up a magazine and see that very idea showcased in a magazine. Now, you may think that subconsciously I had seen the idea somewhere, but as far as I know that has never been the case. This particular phenomenon has happened throughout my adult life.

Now, fast forward to last night. I lay in bed drifting off to sleep when I suddenly thought of stamping. As my mind drifted from projects I have ideas for, to possible projects that are new to me, to new techniques and products, I thought "how about a card making designs out of my finger prints"! Pretty far fetched right? Way out of the ordinary for me anyway, as I have not seen anything like that before......well that is until I opened Lynn Pratt's blog this morning and scrolled down over the few past weeks and ZONK a heart made from fingerprints. Really? WOWZA, weird.......(insert Twilight Zone Music) ! FUN!!!!!! Can I say great minds think alike LOL!!!!!

Have a great day everyone and get thinking!!!!!

~Donna

MORNING CHAT CHALLENGE

OOPS my brain has not caught up with the fact that I am home from vacation and I almost forgot to post the MORNING CHAT CHALLENGE. This time the challenge is to create a card using Rich Razzleberry, Pear Pizzaz, Marina Mist, Baja Breeze and a neutral of oyur choice...I hope you will play along too! You can enter your card here!

~Donna

Bleached Rose

I am back from vacation but lost my camera, so I got one of my old cameras to take a picture....... I miss the one I left on the Oasis of the Sea, so if anyone finds it in a Stampin' Up! camera case will you bring it back home to me!!!! Anyway here is a card I made using the bleaching technique......love the pale subtle colors it creates on Sahara Sand. It feels good to be stamping again! Happy weekend!

~Donna

Giving Thanks!

OH MY WORD! Hi everyone! I just returned from a super long and LOVED vacation to Disney and the Caribbean, and I am mush......a good kind of relaxed nothing in the brain mush. I learned several things during this hiatus. One I MISSED STAMPIN! Then I realized just how hectic our lives are, and why we have wrinkles, and stress, and aches and all sorts of things. While I was away I deliberately stayed disconnected. From newspapers, television and yes my beloved internet and blog. I have to say it changed my life for a moment. I am in a bit of a quandry now though, do I keep the feeling of disconnection or relish it and move back to real life? While I was away I learned my UPLINE who was a huge inspiration for me to grow my business has deactivated. "TEARS" and although I am very active in stamping, and blogging, and activities for other demos, I miss and need the person who will play with me and let me be the one who is pampered, and taught in real life new things in stamping! I am one who dislikes change in routine and so it is upsetting to be an orphan and although I get great rewards in other areas of stamping, I truly miss the sound of laughter from a mentor. I thought about it for a bit on my vacation, but am really thinking about it now. Yes I am feeling a bit down.
HOWEVER, take a peek at this picture, and let me tell you about it!
I started the computer up this morning for the first time since I returned and checked some emails. I gingerly began getting back into the swing of browsing again. Not with a lot of excitement I might add, because I really have found I like being a little disconnected. That being said I have a few gals in my downline that I needed to reply to, and then I decided to catch up with my girl's and MAN from the "MORNING CHAT ROOM". As I opoened the page to the first blog I found this. I was intreigued and just had to BLOW it up to see it more closely! Oh my word! These are the sweet, pretty, happy tootsies of my Morning Chat group. One of those clever peeps organized and created this super fun picture JUST FOR ME! If that doesn't make someone feel special I don't know what would! Can you believe they did this, I can't wait to see how in the Chat Room this morning! I think it has something to do with MDS though LOL!

Girls, I am so over the top excited and humbled. You have put a smile on my face that hurts! I don't even have words that can tell you how special this gift is! I surely don't feel down now and I cannot wait to MEET you all at convention in July or better yet sooner in an undisclosed location! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! See you in the chat room!

PICTURE PERFECT SUNRISE

Hey Stampers! Well, today we leave Kissimmee to head down to Ft Lauderdale where we will meet our daughter and her husband and two children. It has been a lovely 11 days here in Disney Country! Tomorrow, we head out to sea!!! I am so excited but it also means less internet options. So, rememeber the challenge for MORNING CHAT with a SPRING THEME and enter your sample before this Sunday! You can read about the challenge and get the link to submit yours in the post below this! In the meantime, here is a picture of what sent us on our way at day break this morning! One balloon rising up over the horizon just as the sun was about to come up, FOLLOWED by dozens more. It was glorious IRL!!!! I wish you were here! See you soon!
~Donna

MORNING CHAT CHALLENGE SPRING!

Hey everyone here is another chance for you to play along with the

MORNING CHAT CHALLENGE

For this particular challenege the theme is SPRING! The card above is done with my

Flip Flop Template because I am on vacation and either bare foot or wearing flip flops. I won't be back for awhile and have limited internet availability so I am happy I can post this TODAY!!!!! Here the template is done on a folded piece of Basic Black card stock and then I used Certainly Celery DSP for the strap template and adorned it with a Grosgrain Very Vanilla flower bud. Let's see what you have in mind and then go to the link above MORNING CHAT CHALLENGE to share your beautiful card! I have left this challenge open for a longer time because I am away and it will give more of you a chance to participate.

~Donna

Hi from Kissimmee

Well, I am sitting at the pool waiting for the day to begin and thought I would pop in to say hello.This is the vacation resort we stay in each year. It is very well maintained and you can get 2-3 bed condos, 3 bed townhomes, or 4-8 bed homes. This year we have rented a 6 bedroom home situated around this island. It is so peaceful and clean even with 2000 homes! We are just around the corner from Animal Kingdom and can see the fireworks at night!!!! Today is gloomy and gray our first "bad" day but it is 72 and who cares when you have a heated pool and hot tub to relax in. Mayb e I'll stop by the chat room this morning over there on my side bar. I wish you were here!!!!!!

~Donna

Spring color note box set

I am on vacation and unable to stamp :( so I was perusing some old cards and came across a set that I have always loved. This one was uses my note card box/dispenser to make a nice card set. It is clean and crisp with a beautiful color combination celebrating the warm climate I am in this week. I hope this will inspire you to create a pretty set using a spring pallet of colors. For the Morning Chat Challenge (see the link on the upper tool bar) we will be doing a spring card so why not take a look and decide to join us~see you soon! Hi chat room gals...I miss you!

~Donna

MORNING CHAT CHALLENGE #6

Another Morning Chat Challenge is at hand and it is all about HEARTS! The card above is another sample of my Doily Cut Out heart. Here you can see the difference between a PUNCHED heart from the doily die, and a SELECTIVE CUT heart from the doily die. One is made by punching out a piece of the already cut doily and the other is cut from a select area of the doily in a solid piece of card stock. Shown in the Black Heart is the punched version, and the second is a selective cut heart, shown on the glitter paper. Both are fun! So let's see what everyone else does for their Heart card. Just click the MORNING CHAT LINK in this post , and if you have time today why not play along. Rememeber the Chat Room ----> over there on my side bar is there for everyone to join in!!! Enjoy!!!!

~Donna

Embossed Envelopes and Hearts

This card is done for a sketch at Freshly Made

I Used a clean design with selective embossing to accentuate the sketch elements in the hearts and square layer behind the heart. I even embossed the envie! So fun! Enjoy!

~Donna

More Selective embossing with Polka Dots

Today's card is done for a lot of different challenges. I chose Blushing Bride, Very Vanilla and Sahara Sand because they remind me of the beach I will be on for Valentine's Day during vacation for Hand Stamped Sentiment challenge. I also made the heart card for my own challenge at Morning Chat, and used my favorite embellishment ribbon and selective embossing for My Time To Craft. The sketch is from City Crafters and lastly I stamped the envelope (which I rarely do) to let the gals over at Tuesday Taggers know it is in the mail. Whew that is a lot of challenges! Enjoy!

~Donna

SELECTIVE ACCENTS

I have two cards for you today that show how I have selectively used the Big Shot and shims to either cut or emboss certain areas of my cards. The first card uses the sketch from MojoMonday . I turned the sketch around and embossed the squares with the Finial Press Embossing Folder. I used accents of rhinestones to give it some sparkle for the challenge at Shabby Tea Room, the Clean and Simple design with a hint of color behind the Tag is perfect for

Paper Players this week. The second card uses a sketch over at SC and an aperture for CUT IT OUT on "Less is More". Of course both cards show how to use NEW Embossing and Cutting techniques for the SUO Challenge! I cut out a partial area using the Paper Doily Die and then used my Simply scored Tool to emboss tuxedo stripes, I also stamped a sentiment on Satin Very Vanilla Ribbon too. I hope you'll try playing with your embossing folders and the NEW Paper Doily Die to create different looks for your creations! Enjoy! You can see another card using selective embossing here with a video!

~Donna

Remember

I clicked on Create with Connie and Mary and used their color inspiration for this card. I love Peach Parfait and Calypso Coral together and they are perfect for the soft sponging effect here. My quartz technique used here on the curved border also brings a bit of life to the card, like that of the movement in water, to an otherwise somber card. Enjoy!
~Donna

Challenges and a Doily Heart

Ok so I finally got the video uploaded last night on how to make a doily heart. Enjoy it! For this card I used Poppy Parade, Old Olive and Crumb Cake for the Color Throwdown challenge and the sketch is from Freshly Made. Of course I had to try another doily heart too! Come on by and chat this morning, just look over on my side bar for the time the chat room opens! If the clock says 10:00 then we are there!!!! I hope you will be too! Have a great day!

~Donna

DOILY HEART

I want to thank the Designers at Hand Stamped Sentiments (card here) and Paper Players (card here) for choosing my cards this week as their picks. I am honored and grateful! ~thank you!

Now for today's card I tried and tried to get my Doily Embosslit to work and try as I might I could not. BUT! I did get to add some heavy duty shims and figured that I could at least use it for a shape in the center of my cards. SO here is what happened, purely by accident I might add. DON'T YOU just love when those accidents happen for the GOOD! Me too! Anyway....after making a boo boo I realized you can cut out ANY shape in the center of your card just by adding shims in that shape, similar to the raised embossed leaf I did in November! Have a go at it and enjoy the fun!~Donna

Pin It

CHALLENGES and home made whatevers!

I am getting a video togehter for the triple cut Top Note Die in my post below this, but in the meantime here are two cards, one for the sketch over at Stamping411 and the other for LeAnne's color scheme over at Paper Players . For these cards I have used water color paper to create a more luxurious embossed frame for the bottons and designed my own DSP as a backdrop for the butterflies. I have also undone the stitching on the pleated ribbon to make a soft smooth bow! ~Enjoy!

~Donna

Challenges and NieNie'sBlog Banner

Hey there friends! For today's card I did something I had wanted to do since January 1st when I saw the new monthly BLOG BANNER on my favorite heroines blog the NieNie Dialogues! I love looking at Stephanie Nielson's blog everyday, and I thoroughly enjoy looking at her new banner each month. This month the chilly cold blues and grays of her banner mesmerized me, and I knew I would make a card with that color scheme at some point. What I did not know, was that I would make a card for Stephanie that looked like her banner! SEE! Inspiration is everywhere. This card is my interpretation of her banner using Stampin' Up! stamp sets. You will see my take on her famous signature silhouettes, her special hot beverage cup, her typewriter, and even the view out her window . I enjoyed doing a triple cut Top Note background, embossed and sponged to match her's too. I hope you will find other details that tickle you when you check it out up close. This card fits in a standard business envie too. Enjoy! Now let's get on with some challenges!
Stamptacular Sunday wants TEXTURE and I think I did it by golly! This card has layers, and fabric, and rhinestones and embossing for the feel of "real"! I also used the theme monochromatic blue for the Crazy4Challenges site. Laura Lynn from my Morning Chat sent me a beautiful assortment of samples from the SU fabric selection and I decided to use one of those for the Fabric Challenge over at Stampin Royalty and lastly, snowflakes adorn the edges just like Stephanie's Blog Banner for the Creative Belli Challenge! Enjoy!
~Donna

EXPLOSION BOX

This time the challenge at MORNING CHAT is to make an EXPLOSION BOX. I cannot wait to see what everyone has done! Just link your project here and add ButternutSageDesigns to your post to submit your creation! We announce a new challenge every other MOnday right in the chat room!
Here is the box I made for a birthday surprise. It sort of pops open like the old fun toys in a tube that we used to have! The sides are done with multiple panels inside and out to make them heavy, allowing the box sides to drop more dramatically, causing the butterfies to FLY!!!!! The inside is a little unexpected in color too, with a feel of a fairy garden. It is awesome in real life. I also used Tin Foil as a layer to add some shine and Shimmer Paints to add glimmer to the butterflies. I am please with how it turned out and love the butterfly bow too! Enjoy and come play! ~Donna

BABY RUFFLES CHALLENGES

Today I have a baby card for an adoptive couple that fits the challenges at several sites. First it has RUFFLEs for the Hand Stamped Sentiment challenge. I used the Labels Collection Die to create a large border and added stitched ribbon under it to create the pleated ruffles! That makes the card look a little vintage too for the challenge at Shabby Tea Room! Next I made DSP to show a layered look of stamped images for Just Us Girls! The couple will feel all the love and kisses they will receive from friends and all who love them on the adoption of their new baby girl for My Time To Craft. Enjoy!~Donna

CHALLENGES and Invite!

I made today's card for two challenges! The first one is for colorQ with Daffodil Delight, River Rock, Soft Suede and Soft Sky. I used Pool Party because I no longer have Soft Sky and Pool Party is very similar. The other challenge is the Sketch Challenge over at Freshly Made. I usually like to do challenges with themes and colors because I do not like to be restricted by a sketch. My style makes me happier when I can kind of work on a card as I go, but I like to be challenged and decided to go for it. As you can see from the finished card it was difficult! I hope you will take a peek at these sites and try a challenge too. SPEAKING OF CHALLENGES join us this on MORNING CHAT and our challenge for an EXPLOSION BOX. We'd love to see what you create, and chat with you too. Shhhhhhh- don't tell anyone but the distinguished and famous Mary Fish dropped in on Wednesday, so you never know who might be chatting with us! So come on now and stop in when we are open. You can see the clock and what time we are there over on my side bar!!!!!! ~Donna

Love is Music to my Heart

I love using different stamp sets to tell a story. For this card I used the horn sans the flowers to trumpet a song of love and the swirl from Season Of Joy is used all year long! I played with the new Hearts Collection Framelits and my Movers and Shapers heart die to create a nice layered heart in the middle. Mask your horn image before stamping the musical notes and have fun! This card is perfect for the back to black challenges on City Crafters. ~Enjoy

~Donna

Bleached Blossoms

This year I am starting a NEW techniques club for my customers. We will make a 8 1/2" x 11" page to fit into a three ring binder with instructions, sample and a finished card for them to begin to collect a whole notebook of great ideas to have at their fingertips. This technique is called the Bleaching Technique and makes a beautiful vintage card when used with flower stamps. Here is the card and sample for page ONE! ~Enjoy!

~Donna

LOVE is in the AIR

I have valentines on the brain today, so I made a card with popped up heart for my hubby this year. It is perfect for the Paper Players Challenge "LOVE". The large gusset edge allows the card to fold neatly to be tucked into a Box Envie that you see for sale all over the net! PERFECT shipping alternative to all your BIG cards I might add! Anyway the Simply Scored tool and grid paper made this card a fun project to make for an unexpected WOAH!!!!!! I used sticky strip ON THE GRID paper where I wanted my scored lines to fold and the cs stayed in place until I added the heart. Then I removed the 3D part from the grid paper and glued it to the card. Easy Peasy! Enjoy!

~Donna

BOW TIE RIBBON and CHALLENGES

Todays card is done in Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy and Very Vanilla for the color challenge over at Pals Paper Arts....and I used the sketch turned for the sketch challenge at Stamping411.

I am having some fun playing with a BOW TIE RIBBON and I think it is perfect for all ribbon lovers to use on a MASCULINE CARD! ENJOY!!!!
~Donna