I made this Shabby Chic card for the Hero Arts Blog Friendship and Valentine's Challenge challenge:

CG119 Flourish Background
CG125 Friend Definition
AF147 Soft Blossom Ink Pad

The 3d flower is a Silhouette die cut that gets rolled up to form the flower. Mine came out kind of wonky, so I asked hubby to try one and it was much better. Thanks, Stephen. Love you. My Mom gave me the leaves. Thanks, Mom. Love you, too.

Thanks for looking! Comments are appreciated!

Hugs,
dustypenny (aka Joy)

One more quick post. I can't believe how fast tonight went!

I made this Butterfly card for the Hero Arts Blog Friendship and Valentine's Challenge challenge and the Caardvarks Red Heart challenge. The famous Hero Arts heart winged butterfly stamp is also available as a Silhouette die cut - so cool! I handstitched the black border.



CG119 Flourish Background
CG125 Friend Definition
K5153 Heart Flourish
Silhouette butterfly_heart_winged_C20091115193057_23067

I also made a set of ATCs for the Amore-themed swap at Wishful Thinking. The background is a Tim Holtz stamp and the couple is another Silhouette die cut.



And I saved my favorite picture with Dusty for last:



Thanks for looking! Comments are appreciated!

Hugs,
dustypenny (aka Joy)

This lovely card from Nancy in CA arrived in my mailbox today for Deborah's January Card Chain Challenge!

There is so much I love about this card: the vintage girl image, the white Hero Arts CG146 Flowing Flowers And Leaves stamped image on kraft (on the outside and the inside plus the envelope), the luxurious brown embossed velvet, the shiny Hero Arts collage flower, the buttons.

And if all that was not enough, the delicate pink heart border (on the outside and the inside) and the white lace add so much to the card. Thanks so much, Nancy!



Here is the card I sent to Judy, which arrived in AL today:



CG119 Flourish Background
CG125 Friend Definition


Thanks for looking! Comments are appreciated!

Hugs,
dustypenny (aka Joy)

Hooray, it is finally the weekend! Are you as glad as I am? Whew.

A few days ago I promised to tell you where I had been... well, I was busy making all the cards below at my first ever scrapbook / stamp retreat! I sure hope my Hero Arts Flickr friends are sitting down, because someone very near and dear to our hearts was there as a guest, too! Are you guessing? More on that in a moment...

Here are some of the cards I made while I was gone; I will try to add more details later but there is currently a line for this computer. Many of these cards will be going to the Cards for Kids Card Drive (a possible clue?). I sure hope you will send in some cards as well. I heard there is a need for more boy cards, so please keep that in mind.







Ok, I guess that is enough suspense. It was the lovely, talented, and generous Jennifer McGuire! She was busy making projects for the Craft & Hobby Association show. During the weekend Jennifer told some funny (odd?) stories from her former life as an engineer. I also met other sweet and talented ladies there including Jana and Sandi. Jana posted a few pictures on one of her blogs here (if you look closely you can see the back of my head -- lovely), here, and here (my favorite, but I wasn't there in time for that!).

Fun weekend. I packed WAY too much stuff and I don't think I will ever outgrow feeling like a shy (reserved?) little kid in social situations, but I am so glad I went. I was also very glad to come home to my hubby and two kitties on Sunday. :)

In other news, I was the lucky winner of Anne's Horder's Challenge! Anne is sending me a perfectly distressed ATC and generously donating $25 in my name to Doctors Without Borders, USA to benefit Haiti. Thanks so much, Anne!

Thanks for looking! Comments are appreciated!

Hugs,
dustypenny (aka Joy)

P.S. Have a wonderful weekend!

I hope to blog lots of cards later this week and tell you where I've been the last few days. But first, here is a set of ATCs I made for the Hero Arts Blog Friendship and Valentine's Challenge and for the It's Raining Men ATC Swap on ATCsforAll:



Here is a close-up:



CG125 Friend Definition
CL276 ClearDesign: So Sweet
Vintage Photo courtesy of Lynn (Thanks, Lynn!)

And, of course, here is Dusty checking my work:



Thanks for looking! Comments are appreciated!

Hugs,
dustypenny (aka Joy)