Happy Birthday for a Grandson!

We are so proud of the first grandchild to go to college. Christian is going in to his 2nd year at Kennesaw State College in Atlanta and has managed to grab an RA (Resident Adviser) position. Being a guy, I kept this card simple but used 2 Montana bird feathers to help with the saying.

Inside says Happy Birthday of course. I am submitting this card for the Speedy Fox and Friends Challenge 224 for Mark's Finest Papers. I love working on the Challenges as they give me wonderful ideas for cards. Thanks MFP!

Color Challenge #34

I made this card for a friend who had surgery last week. I was surprised at how difficult it was to line the stripes up. I will submit this card for this week's color challenge with Mark's Finest Papers http://mfpspeedytv.ning.com/. The color's are brown, rose and beige.

I love my Cuttlebug butterfly set that cuts and embosses. The butterfly and card stock is from my home-made paper supply.

 

Simple Salutations Challenge #109

Mark's Finest Papers has so many good challenges! I am inspired by them each week. Follow along at http://mfpspeedytv.ning.com/page/simple-salutations-challenge-109. This one is called Simple Salutations and the requirement is to use an oriental looking paper for the background. I love the MFP tiger and used it here after adding some color.
The cardstock is pink to match the pink flowers and I also cut a pink background from my pink supply to back the caption and tiger.

I'm dreaming of the beach!

Since we arrived at Yellowstone, we have experienced one day without rain. Two of those days have been rain 24 hrs a day. Wow. This is the desert and this is unusual for this area in this time of year. However, it is a good thing because we are not hearing about fires like we had last year.

So, to that end, I decided to participate in Mark's Finest Papers Challenge called "Sketch With a Twist" or SWAT. (http://mfpspeedytv.ning.com/page/sketch-with-a-twist-challenge-110)

The beach is what I thought of today so I used a sand dollar from MFP and created the beach and other accompaniments. I'm thinking warm, sunny skies...not rainy and in the 50's for a real summer scene :)

Color challenge #33

I'm so happy to be volunteering while we stay at the beautiful Overlook cabins in Yellowstone for a second year! We are unpacked and I am able to start participating in challenges once again.

I will say that blue, lime green and red was a challenge for me. I even thought about skipping this week but, well, it is called a challenge, right? Once again, the cardstock is my own homemade paper and it is lime green but isn't showing up that well.This Challenge is sponsored by Mark's Finest Papers (http://mfpspeedytv.ning.com/page/color-challenge-33---7-31-14).

I have a new set of stamps called Fresh Fruit by Fiskars. Watermelon is a real treat for me so that is what I chose. I will send this card to the instructor of a course I was fortunate enough to take through Yellowstone Association, Inc.


Suzie Garner did a wonderful job teaching the experienced and inexperienced (that's me!) students many tricks and tips on pen and ink drawing and watercolor. Not in the classroom setting but outdoors on the trail. I am posting my card first and then have added a few pictures of us watching Suzie. For this card I created a plate for the watermelon to sit on and painted the border of the plate with watercolor. Too fun!

Thank you Prof. Suzie for all the lessons crammed into such a short time!

Here we are hiking 1/2 mile to Lost Lake close to Roosevelt junction. There were 15 total in the course.

We spread all over the area. Each person chose what caught their eye to attempt to recreate on paper.










Here is Prof. Suzie Garner's drawings of 2 sites in the area. Below is the area she was looking at for the bottom picture.










Hopefully, I will feel confident enough to include more drawings as I practice on my card fronts. Suzie gave me that inspiration and again to her I say Thank You!