I Love Poetry

I love poetry. Oh to have a way with words -- like Wordsworth :)

My dad was a writer - short stories, a few longer ones, but mostly poetry. When I was in 8th grade, I had to have an operation on my arm and he wrote me a beautiful poem called "Little Bird."
It is one of the few things I have memorized! What was really special about it was that we didn't have computers in those days, and although he could have typed it, he hand wrote my copy, which I still have. The first part (it's many lines long) goes like this:

"Little bird with wounded wing
Although you cannot fly, you still can sing
Safe in God's care, and therefore bring
Joy despite this illness-thing."

He instilled in me a love for poetry at a young age, and had stories to tell of many poets whom he knew. Robert Frost was one of those, and probably because of the stories and conversations he had with Frost and then with me, Frost is my favorite poet (although I have others that are close - including one that lives right in my town!).

I loved this Wordsworth quote - and as I get older, I say a lot more often "...to be young was heaven!"

The heart is grungeboard that I covered with Raspberry VersaColor ink, followed by Encore Metallic Gold, and then embossed with Ocean Spark embossing powder.

I hope you have a blissful day!

Challenges for this card:
Friendship's Garden - Love + 3 embellishments 
Little Darlings Challenges - Favorite Embellishments
Penny's Paper-Crafty - anything goes
Celebrate the Occasion - Valentine's Day
Crazy Amigo Challenge - Hearts
Creative Craft Challenges - Valentines
Sweet Stamps - Roses

Paper: Kraft, Madeline DP by Prima

Ink: VersaColor Raspberry, Encore Metallic Gold

Accessories: Wild Orchid flowers, Tim Holtz Grungeboard, Sparkle N Sprinkle Ocean Spark Embossing Powder, French Market hand dyed crinkled seam binding, K & C. journaling tag, Colorbok Emotion Velum Quotes

Puppy Love

I love this sweet little image from There She Goes. It is part of a darling set called - you guessed it - Puppy Love. It has SO many images that are so adorable! This is the valentine I made for my daughter. I am traveling to visit her this weekend (she is in college over 700 miles away) and am taking it with me, along with some other belated valentine gifts. She is a Theatre major and her acting debut as a college student is this weekend, so I am excited to go and see her play! We have two dogs that she misses a lot, so I thought this was a perfect card for her.

I will have some fun things to show you while I am gone, so be sure to come for a visit!  Today is my last day as a current Dirty Dozen Design Team member. Tomorrow will make six months - and time to turn the reins (and reign!) over to a new Dirty Girl -- you will LOVE what they have made, so be sure to check out the Splitcoast Fan Club tomorrow! If you are not a member, you NEED to be!!

Have a GREAT night!

Challenges for this card:
Can You Digi It - Puppy Love
Clear It Out! - Valentine's/Love Twist Use your pink/red scraps 
Crafty Sentiments - Love
Creative Craft Challenges - Valentines

Stamps: Puppy Love by There She Goes

Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, Pink Pirouette, Radiant DP by Crafty Secrets

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers

Accessories: sewing machine, silver half pearls (Mark Richards), Large Circle & Scalloped Circle dies (Spellbinders), button, Baker's Twine & White Diamond Satin Ribbon (Really Reasonable Ribbon), border punch (EK Success)

February Really Reasonable Ribbon Blog Hop!

Welcome to the February Blog Hop with Really Reasonable Ribbon! If you arrived here from True's blog, you are in the right place! If you just happened along, be sure to start at the beginning at the RRR Blog (I am the third stop, so you don't have far back to go!) so you don't miss out on the awesome projects, fun news, and a prize from Really Reasonable Ribbon!

This month we are showcasing the fun greens and whites in the February Monthly Ribbon Club Kit. If you really love ribbon and would like to have a wonderful assortment of ribbons sent to you automatically each month, just join the Really Reasonable Ribbon Club! Monthly ribbon club assortments are selected and pre-packed to reflect a specific theme, color, or holiday season. The assortments vary from month to month, but an average assortment has 5-8 different ribbon styles and consists of 10-15 yards of ribbon.  You will love it!

Here is what I made this month:

My images are from a new digi store/site I just discovered this weekend! Check out all the wonderful, fun and whimsical designs at Dearie Dolls Digi Stamps and tell Mary Ellen that Judy sent you!

I used one of the cute floral satin ribbons from the assortment and made a rolled flower to go with my design. I added a bow using Green Apple Baker's Twine.


Bonnie will be giving away a February Ribbon Monthly Club kit to a random commenter so please make sure and comment on all of the girls' projects to increase your chances of winning! 

Now off to BONNIE'S brand new blog, where you can see that not only is she an amazing businesswoman and our fearless leader, but she is an amazing designer as well!

Thanks for stopping by today!
If you are in a find-a-deal mood, check out my GARAGE SALE.

Stampin' Sisterhood Challenge #10 at Rubbernecker Stamps!

See my For Sale post with pictures HERE.

If you are looking for a way to get some fun new images, how about joining this week's challenge at Rubbernecker Stamps? We had a fun photo to inspire us:

I loved the striped pattern on the heart, and decided to use that for the basis of my card. Pink is my favorite color, so I kept with that color scheme, even for  my horse and grass!

I used Horse and Horsin' Around for my images. I happen to love Valentine's Day (one of my favorite holidays) and it's always fun to use non-Valentine specific stamps to make something new for that holiday!

I hope you will join our challenge! You might win some awesome Rubbernecker Stamps if you play along!

Check out the Stampin' Sisterhood blog HERE to see what it's all about!

Other challenges for this card:

Divas by Design - love

CRAFT - colour combo

Craft us Crazy - anything goes

DYSU - anything goes

Always something Creative - love/romance

Fresh Brewed - love

Joanna Sheen - love is in the air

Cardmadfairy's Digi Day - hearts

Fairy Tale - love, love, love

Delicious Doodles - all loved up

Addicted to Stamps - valentine/love

OSAAT - with love

Cupcake Crafts - red and pink

Victorine Originals - love/valentine

Lexi's Creations - love

Pixie Cottage - red

My Mum's Craft Shop - it must be love

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G Photos

Yes, there are AMAZING photos at the SCS Inspiration Challenge today! I am Guest Hostessing a second week while Stephanie was on vacation, and I chose a site called Better Photo. It's kind of like Pinterest - as you can get lost for hours looking at incredible photos from around our world, by people that know how to take them! I hope you will play along!

I chose a group of colorful beach chairs for my inspiration, and used the color order for my hearts. Wishing I was on this beach -- as it's -8 right now, with a wind chill of -23. Brrrr!


Other challenges for this card: 
Card Crafters Circle – Valentine 
Card Makin' Mamas - Valentine  
Crafty Catz - Valentine  
Delicious Doodles – All Loved Up 
Fairy Tale - Love, Love, Love 
Totally Papercrafts – Rainbow
 

Stamps: A Little Lovin by Paper Smooches

Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Pink Passion, Summer Sun, Tempting Turquoise, Ballet Blue, PTI White

Ink: Palette Noir Black

Accessories: Spellbinders Classic Heart die cuts, Cuttlebug embossing folder