Blog Hop for Janelle

This is a special blog hop for an incredible woman named Janelle, who is battling cancer.  You can see Janelle's blog HERE.  I've never met Janelle in person, but I say she is incredible because of her faith.  Even before her cancer diagnosis, she displayed her strong faith in her blog posts.  Since the diagnosis she has continued to share her faith and struggles in an honest and touching way.

Laurie and Dana have organized this blog hop to honor Janelle and give her a lift.  Please check out all the cards linked up on Laurie's blog for this special hop.  The link will be open for a couple of days if you want to create a card for Janelle.

Here's mine:

I'm also submitting this for CAS-ual Fridays The Bold & the Beautiful challenge -- to use black with pastels.

All supplies from Papertrey Ink unless stated.

Stamps:   Mat Stack 5 collection, Mat Stack 2 collection, Boxes, Bags & Tags, Beautiful Blessings, BG Basics Tin Types
Paper:   Black, White, Spring Moss, Pink Patterns pp
Ink:   Spring Moss, Black, Soft Rose (memories)
Other:  Mat Stack 5 die, Spring Moss button, rhinestones

Liebster Blog Award

My blogging friend LeAnn awarded me the Liebster Blog award so I'm passing it on.  I wanted to take a minute to thank LeAnn for thinking of me.  I had the pleasure of hanging out with her at CHA in Chicago a few summers ago.  While we were shopping in the PTI booth I must have commented on wanting a certain stamp set, but I didn't buy it.  Soon afterwards a package arrived in the mail from LeAnn and it was that very stamp set!  She overheard me in the booth and sent it to me as a special gift.  What a sweetheart!

Liebster' is German for 'dearest'.  The award is a 'share-the-love' arrangement, given to inspirational bloggers with less than 200 followers. 

Here's the to-do list of any Liebster award recipient:

Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
Reveal your five blogger picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog
Copy and paste the award on your blog (see above)
Hope that those you award forward it to their favorite bloggers. 


Here are the bloggers I'm choosing to give this award to.  Each of these ladies is part of my blog group called The Paper Dolls.  Susan and Joyce are new to the group, but I "know" them from the PTI forum.  I can say that every one of these women are extremely kind-hearted, thoughtful and very creative.  Truly!  From their commenting on blogs to their interactions on the forum.  What a great bunch of ladies and a great collection of inspirational blogs.


Michelle: Michelle's Crafting Corner
Lee Anne:  My Happy Place
Joyce:  Cards-by-the-Sea
Susan:  Mad Sky Designs
Renee:  It's a Patchwork Life





Hope you've had a wonderful weekend!

Birthday Time

I'm so glad to be playing along with the latest CAS-ual Fridays challenge -- CFC44. 

CFC44:  It's as Easy as 1-2-3  Create a Clean And Simple project using 
1. A Pattern
2.  An Image
3.  A Sentiment

I made this birthday card for my niece using scraps that have been laying around on my desk for too long.  Even the ribbon was leftover from another project.

Have a wonderful weekend!




All supplies from Papertrey Ink unless stated.

Stamps:  Tiny Treats Birthday
Paper:  white, black, Beautiful Blooms pp
Ink:  Berry Sorbet, Black
Other:  Mat Stack 5 die, Berry Sorbet stitched ribbon, corner rounder, Copic markers, Apron Lace punch (fiskars), 1 1/2" circle punch, white gel pen

Catching Up

Hi all!  Long time no talk huh?  Things have been non-stop busy around here so I had to take a break from card making & blogging.  You know, I don't like to hurry (hence the blog name) or be rushed, so something had to give.  I promise to get back to posting cards soon.

I recently returned from Hawaii.  I made a quick trip there for my grandfather's funeral.  It was certainly bittersweet.  The best part was spending precious time with all my extended family that I have not seen in years.  It's too bad that it usually takes a funeral for families to really gather around and spend quality time together.  I did manage to grab a quick breakfast with Nadine on my last morning there, but I forgot to get a picture of us together.

Once my plane landed back here I hit the ground running with the work and the girls' activities.  This weekend my oldest daughter had a show choir competition in Ohio so I got to meet up with Lynn, her husband and adorable son Collin.

Her son Ryan is also in a middle school show choir.  It was great to see him perform.  Their group was amazing!  Their show was my favorite performance of the day.  Here are Ryan and my daughter at the end of the day.  After I took this photo, my daughter's friends kept asking her who that cute boy was and how she knew him:)

Here's a group shot of our show choir.  They did such a great job this weekend -- Grand Champions!

For Your Inspiration #26

Hello everyone!  I'm finally back with a card.  It's been too long.

We have a new inspiration photo for you at For Your Inspiration.  It's just gorgeous!  I hope you'll join us for this challenge.  Here's the photo:

Here's my take on it:

I went a pretty literal route with this.  I tried to be "artsy" by double stamping the branches of the tree after stamping off once.  It's not my favorite look:)

Please be sure to visit the rest of the FYI Design Team to see their beautiful cards inspired by this photo.  Links are on my sidebar.





All supplies from Papertrey Ink unless stated.

Stamps: Oak Branch (Stampscapes 203G), Mat Stack 5 Collection (sentiment)
Paper:   white, black, green scraps
Ink:  Sepia (memories), Fired Brick distress (Ranger), black
Other:  Picket Fence die, grass border punch (fiskars)