Runs with CUTE Scissors!

I feel like a kid in a candy store today because this week has been all about cute and adorable. Oh, how I have enjoyed the incredible inspiration by the designers this week. I love florals. I love elegant. I love classic. But most of all, I love cute and adorable. And when Penny Black’s new release is titled Bring on the Happy, you know there will be cute and adorable.

The best part? Everyone’s left the stamps and dies behind for me to play with today. Cats, dogs, forest critters, Mimi, cupcakes, birthday cakes, and sweet fairies are all here. Everything I need to make cute and adorable cards.

Can you hear the Charlie Brown theme song playing? This little pup is the definition of “happy dance”. The Man’s Best Friend transparent set has a kennel full of cute and adorable doggie images. I colored this one with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol, then fussy cut his cute self and mounted him on the circle. Can you tell I had fun with the designer paper from the Beau Jardin designer paper pad?

I created this sweet scene using the Woodland Friends and Sprigs transparent sets. The background consists of the Petals diecut over designer paper. I love adding texture to backgrounds with the Petals die. The images are colored with Copic markers.

Once again, I’ve used the Petals die to create a background for this adorable cutie and her snail pal. (I say when you have a good idea, use it!) Her dress and shoes are paper pieced to match the card base. These images are from the Missing You transparent set, which has even more sweet fairy images.

I have a story to tell (surprise!). Whenever I hear the word “cute” I am reminded of the time several co-workers and I met after work on a Friday evening for refreshments and the celebration of TGIF. The discussion, of course, turned to work and someone mentioned the name of a female co-worker not present. We had several co-workers with that same name so someone asked which “Barb” is that. Helpful me, I said, “Oh, she’s the cute Barb”. And instead of leaving it at that, I added, “I have always wanted to be cute”.

For some reason, a young man in the group found it necessary to call out, “Judy, you are twenty years past cute”!

Now this may seem like a very rude remark but actually he was flattering me. At that point, I was at least thirty years past cute!

Of course, as soon as he said it, the young man was embarrassed and apologized. I didn’t mind at all as he was our “go to” IT person and this gave me leverage. We agreed that I wouldn’t repeat this story at work if he promised my IT requests would go to the top of his In Basket.   I feel free to tell this story now as we have both retired from the work world and the statute of limitations has run out on what happens at after work gatherings when refreshments are being served.

This smiley guy reminds me of Cooper and his love for his doggie bed. Once again, the image, colored with Prismacolor pencils, is from Man’s Best Friend placed in the frame from the Polaroid die set.

Penny Black has coordinated designer paper and stamped images in the Bring on the Happy release. So easy to make a quick card using the sentiments and images in the Come Rain or Shine transparent set when paired with the matching paper.

Here’s cute and adorable Mimi celebrating a birthday. I’ve used the By the Numbers die and designer paper from Beau Jardin to create the background. Don’t you love how the numbers are decorated with pretty roses? This transparent set Happy Days includes more Mimi’s for more cute and adorable stamping.

I think we finally got it right when we ordered this bed from Santa for Cooper this past Christmas. It is our third try to get it right . Our first doggie bed purchase was actually more suitable for a small kitten (I know that because I found it in the cat section at the big box store). The photo we had of Cooper before adopting him made him appear tiny, so everything I bought before we brought him home was small; dishes, collar, leash and bed.

We were surprised (and delighted) when we went to bring him home to see he was not tiny, but a medium sized 20 lb. dog.

Of course, we replaced the dishes, collar and leash as well as the tiny bed. I ordered a relatively expensive “dog-a-pedic” mattress-type dog bed for him and he never liked it. The only time he slept on it was when we left him with his dog sitting family when we traveled.

So I wrote Santa a letter requesting a new dog bed for Cooper. And Santa got it right. Cooper happily snoozes in his bed during the day and sleeps soundly in it at night. He prefers to have his bed located at the end of the hallway leading to the bedrooms which allows him to survey his entire kingdom. Most of all, it is a clear view into the kitchen where the real love of his life resides: food.

Now that we’ve changed to Daylight Savings Time Cooper’s inner clock correctly coincides with his meal times. Poor little guy; before the time change he would show up at his food dish an hour early for every meal.

I hope you noticed I didn’t mention or whine about the weather this time. All the cute and adorable art swept away my recent negative attitude.

Speaking of negative … it’s time to put away the stamps, dies, paper and of course, the scissors. Thank you Penny Black for leaving things where I could find them. I hope you can see how much I enjoyed this week’s theme of cute and adorable.

Thanks for sharing your time with me. I may not be cute but I recognize it when I see it. And this Bring on the Happy release has enough cute and adorable to satisfy anyone’s craving. I would love to see your cute and adorable cards in the Penny Circle Flickr gallery. And thank you for your wonderful comments: they make my day!

Shop for today’s featured Penny Black supplies:

• Stamps: 30-120 Man’s Best Friend, 30-106 Word Express, 30-278 Woodland Friends, 30-284 Sprigs, 30-279 Missing You, 30-236 Come Rain or Shine, 30-277 Happy Days
• Creative Dies: 51-042 Petals, 51-052 Texting, 51-093 Heartfelt, 51-037 Polaroid, 51-125 Deco Frame, 51-054 By the Numbers
• Designer Papers: 80-011 Beau Jardin, 80-009 Painted Blooms
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