Creative Break

If you have read my blog long enough you know that I love several things. One of them being a great deal and another is recycling. I got a GREAT deal on a new pair of jeans and took the tags off with the idea to do something with them.

I must be in a creative funk because the card I made is pretty cruddy. I really had such high hopes. After trying and trying I came up with this.

I am really not happy with it at all. But I decided to post it so you can see why I need a creative break. I realized that right now my house is in such disarray that I can't possible focus on anything else. I have a lot of spring cleaning to do in my craft area as well as other areas of my home. Every time I come down to clean my craft area I end up sitting and trying to create. Well, today I need to stick to the task. So, I am most likely going to be MIA this week. Hope you understand. If I am able I will post a Mojo Monday card sometime this week. Don't forget to check it out and try to play along. It is" layerville" this week. I have some great papers I want to play with but my mind can't seem to stop thinking about cleaning. Tee hee...that's a first. I hope to come out from under the clutter revived and full of ideas. Have a great week!

Wishing My Husband A Very Happy Birthday!

I am posting this late because I didn't want my hubby to see his gift before actually GETTING it:)
We have a very busy day of running around and then we are going out to dinner. My husband really hates birthdays ,but I never let him forget that it is a VERY important day. All you have to do is look around at the people who were created because you were born and the lives you have shared in to realize how important your birthday really is. We always have at least a small celebration. I'm excited to give him his gift. I love it so, I hope he does too. It is a photo box that I got on clearance. It was all white so I altered it with some paper and chipboard. Here are pictures of all four sides. The pictures really stink....sorry. I am looking into building my own photo box. I'm hoping that helps.

I used a denim designer paper by The Paper Studio and modge podged it on. Then I covered a variety of chipboard letters with cranberry cardstock and stamped them with the Linen background stamp and versamark. These were modge podged also. The white letter are THICKERS stickers. The heart is from Hundred Hearts (verve) and is stamped in RHR ink onto the cranberry cardstock. I wrote "are" with my white uniball pen and then stamped again with versamark and clear embossed. This was adhere to thin chipboard for more stability. The words "silly and goofy" are stamped with Rough Edges Alphabet (retired) and white craft ink. I then traced it with the uniball pen to deepen the white.

All the pictures inside are various shots of all of us at the Fire Dept. One is a picture from long ago when my husband had me put on a uniform at an Explorer' Event. I always joke that he gave me an initiation into the life of a fireman when we were dating. He had me get in full gear, walk up and down stairs, carry hose and crawl on the ground. For all you people that think being a fireman is "easy" this is one drill that will give you a little better perspective. I guess I passed the initiation:) Here we are 15 years later.

The top opens up and we put candy inside from each of us. There is also an Ipod in there. Now maybe he will stop putting his music on mine. Somewhat self-serving, but it is what it is. We do NOT have the same taste in music so I always joke about his awful music. Then he secretly sticks it on my Ipod and I don't find out until we are FAR from my computer with no way to change it. I'm hoping this will now "cure" that. Knowing him, he'll probably still do it to pick on me. O, I'm outta here. Things to do!

I hope you have a great Monday!

I Was Cooking....

....and that is what gave me the idea to find out what spice I am. Have you ever done this? I have seen people do it for drinks amongst other things so that's where I got the idea. Here are my results:

What Spice Are You?

You Are Cilantro

The bad news is that there are some people who can't stand you. The good news is that most people love you more than anything else in the world. You are distinct, unusual, fresh, and very controversial. And you wouldn't have it any other way.

Now, I don't know how "true" this describes me but Cilantro is my favorite spice. I LOVE IT!. I love rubbing it all over my hands and smelling it all day. I like to toss it in my salad and sometimes just nibble on it. YUMMO!

So, that's a little tidbit about me. I promise I will be back on Monday with some craft related things:) Want to find out what you are in the meantime? Go HERE

Grandma's Hands

I don't have anything to show today in the way of a card or crafty item. I few weeks ago I posted the funny story of my husband and his comment about my hands. Yesterday, I talked a little bit about my Grandma. I remembered that I had saved this "story" that my brother sent to me in an email. It's a pretty great story in my opinion and I really wanted to share it.
I hope you have a great weekend. See you on Monday!

Grandma's Hands

JUST LOOK AT THE PICTURE A GOOD WHILE, AND THEN READ THE REST. IT WILL TOUCH YOU.







GRANDMA'S HANDS

Grandma, some ninety plus years, sat feebly on the patio bench.
She didn't move, just sat with her head down staring at her hands.

When I sat down beside her she didn't acknowledge my presence and the
Longer I sat I wondered if she was OK.

Finally, not really wanting to disturb her but wanting to check on her
At the same time, I asked her if she was OK. She raised her head and
Looked at me and smiled. "Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking," she
Said in a clear voice strong.

"I didn't mean to disturb you, grandma, but you were just sitting here

Staring at your hands and I wanted to make sure you were OK," I
Explained to her.

"Have you ever looked at your hands," she asked. "I mean really
Looked at your hands?"

I slowly opened my hands and stared down at them. I turned them
Over, palms up and then palms down. No, I guess I had never really looked at
My hands as I tried to figure out the point she was making.

Grandma smiled and related this story:

"Stop and think for a moment about the hands you have, how they have
Served you well throughout your years. These hands, though wrinkled
Shriveled and weak have been the tools I have used all my life to
Reach out and grab and embrace life.

"They braced and caught my fall when as a toddler I crashed upon the
Floor.

They put food in my mouth and clothes on my back. As a child, my
Mother taught me to fold them in prayer. They tied my shoes and pulled
On my boots. They held my husband and wiped my tears when he went off
To war.

"They have been dirty, scraped and raw, swollen and bent. They were
Uneasy and clumsy when I tried to hold my newborn son. Decorated
With my wedding band they showed the world that I was married and loved someone special.

They wrote my letters to him and trembled and shook when I
Buried my parents and spouse.

"They have held my children and grandchildren, consoled neighbors, and
Shook in fists of anger when I didn't understand.

They have covered my face, combed my hair, and washed and cleansed the
Rest of my body. They have been sticky and wet, bent and broken, dried,
And raw. And to this day when not much of anything else of me works
Real well these hands hold me up, lay me down, and again continue to
Fold in prayer.

"These hands are the mark of where I've been and the ruggedness of life.

But more importantly it will be these hands that God will reach out
And take when he leads me home. And with my hands He will lift me to
His side and there I will use these hands to touch the face of
Christ."

I will never look at my hands the same again. But I remember God
Reached out and took my grandma's hands and led her home.

When my hands are hurt or sore or when I stroke the face of my
Children and husband I think of grandma. I know she has been stroked and
Caressed and held by the hands of God.

I, too, want to touch the face of God and feel His hands upon my
Face.

When you receive this, say a prayer for the person who sent it to
You, and watch God's answer to prayer work in your life. Let's continue
Praying for one another.

Lily of the Valley

Just a very quick post today. I have to get ready to sell Girl Scout cookies tonight. I wanted to
participate in the last Viva La Verve Challenge for this month so I can get in the running for some free Verve stamps. You still have until next week to play if you like.

When I saw this set in the catalog I knew I had to have it. Lilly of the Valley is one of my most favorite flowers. It reminds me of when I was a little girl at my grandma's. Grandma Harvey was a special person in my life. More so because she wasn't even my "real" grandma. That was only in the sense of genetics though. She taught me many lessons that I still carry with me and always will. She was a true inspiration. Someone who had so little and gave sooo much. She is one person that I miss terribly in my life. So whenever I see this flower I always see her waiting for me on her "lily of the valley-lined" porch. I can see her waving and smell the beautiful fragrance of these tiny, delicate flowers. They always make me smile.

I used Cert. Celery for my base. It was stamped with the same ink using the retired Stitches background stamp. I ran a DCWV Text piece of cardstock (grayish color0 through my Birds and Swirls embossing folder and cuttlebug. I then sanded the raised areas. The yellow cardstock is also text. DCWV. I stamped in basic brown onto watercolor paper the lily from the new set Easter Beauty. I then used my SU Pure Color Pencils, Prismacolor Pencils and mineral oil to color the image. This technique is know somewhat as Magic Gamsol. I didn't want to use Mineral spirits so I just used baby oil. I also used some blending stumps. This was my first try at this and I think I need to practice. I used ribbon from the Salebration brochure and some Lush Kaiser pearls that I got from Taylor's store. Just an FYI...."lush" means GREEN. I did not know that. I never thought I would use them and wouldn't cha know, they are the first thing to get used. Never say never! I used my sizzlits tags from yesterday and cut out an acetate tag that I then embellished with the white tin "celebrate" tag I had laying around and more "lush" pearls. The acetate tag also got run through my cuttlebug. It's hard to see. That was the twist for this weeks challenge....use acetate. Here is a close up of the tag.

Gotta get going. Off to SELL, SELL, SELL. Which is better than what I have been doing which is EAT, EAT, EAT!
Darn Thin Mints! They may be thin but I sure won't be if I don't get them out of my house soon.

Have a great day!

Almost No Stamping Thank You

I made a set of 3 1/2" square thank you cards for some of the mom's that helped with parties this year. They have almost NO stamping. I got to play with some new Sizzix dies and my cuttlebug. Here is a link to how to use many different dies in a cuttlebug. A tip that I have used it to add paper shims one at a time if I seem to be having trouble with cutting. ALWAYS start with the thinness "sandwich" of materials when running things through the cuttlebug so as not to break it.

I haven't participated in a Kwerner color inspiration for a few weeks. I was happy to do that today. I needed a color combo. Here are the tiny cards I came up with. I think they are sooo cute!


My card base is a folded 3 1/2 X 7" piece of Whisper White that is completely covered by a 3 1/2 X 3 1/2" piece of More Mustard. I love that color and I love MUSTARD. Give me mustard with a side of hot dog please:) My daughter HATES mustard. When she was little she used to say in her squeaky voice, "I not like MONstard". So cute. Moving on....I used some DP from an old level one hostess package from SU. This was stitched onto the more mustard . I used several die cuts to created the flower, leaf and tag. They are as follows: Flower Daisies #2, Little Leaves, Lots of Tags. You can find them in the die cutting section on SU's website here. I used a clearanced paper that resembles ruby red for the flowers. The center is a scrap of More Mustard that was punched with my 1/2" circle punch and then run through the cuttlebug with an embossing folder ( Bubbles, I believe). This is all adhered together with 2 way glue and mounted on the card with dimensionals. The leaf was cut out of Kiwi Kiss cardstock as well as the tag. I then also cut out the tags again in white and layered them They are tied with the Riding Hood Red Taffetta ribbon and mounted with dimensionals. The sentiment is from an old Salebration set called Noteworthy and is stamped in Basic Black. While these cards were a bit more time consuming than I originally thought, they came together pretty quickly.

Speaking of Salebration...you still have time to take part in this great Stampin Up "sale". Spend $50 and receive a free stamp set, ribbon or paper from the Salebration brochure. You can email me directly if you would like to place an order. Check the side of my blog for my email.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Giving "U" A Shellac-ing

No, I'm not yelling at anyone. Well, not at the moment anyway*wink*. Just using a little of one of my favorite products to give some shine to "U". It's Crystal Effects and I love this stuff! It is a multipurpose wonder. I have actually used it to glue the head of my craft hammer onto the wood handle after someone in one of my classes tried "setting" an eyelet. Yep, it's true. It is THAT fabulous and she was THAT mad. So here is my card for Mojo Monday Sketch:

See how shiny that "u" is? We're talking "put on your shades" . I also used the Crystal Effects on the balloons for some dimension and shine. Here is a better view of that:


My card inspiration came from this scrap of DP I found. Sorry, I have no idea who it's made by. I used Brilliant blue for the base. Next I adhered the DP. Finally, I layered Certainly Celery onto Brilliant blue for the strip at the top and bottom. The circles on the Cert. Celery are from the set A Good Egg (SU) and are stamped with versamark ink. I then stamped the balloons from Tag Time (retired) twice in Basic Black and colored with Brilliant Blue and Cert Celery markers. I used baja Breeze ink and my Blender pen to color the balloons as well. I then cut out the second set and mounted them on top of the others with dimensionals. I highlighted some of the stripes, dots and triangles with Crystal Effects. (BTW, if you click on any of my pictures on my blog they will enlarge for a closer view). The celebrate banner was made using the set All About U ( retired) and Bold Brights brads. It bows in the center a bit. The "U" is from some chipboard letters I got at Target' s Dollar Spot. I just traced the shape onto Brilliant Blue cardstock, cut out, adhered and covered in CE. This was then added to a 1 1/4" punched circle of Baja Breeze.

I have one more card to show for my WIGW creation. I got my Verve Stamps in the mail yesterday. I'm going to TOOT Julee's horn a bit. Her shipping is SOOOO fast! I ordered my set on Friday and it shipped out that day! Thanks Julee! She is also gearing up for a new release in March and has a bunch of stuff on sale. Go check it out here.

It was really hard to choose which free set I wanted but I narrowed it down to Beautiful You. I love sentiments and quotes. The Verve fonts are beautiful. I am always so surprised by how well they accept the ink. Here is what I made. It was inspired by Julee and this designer paper by My Mind's Eye.The base is a brown textured cardstock from Hobby Lobby. It is layered with Baja Breeze and then Botanical Swirls DP from MME. I stamped the flower from Beautiful You using SU chalk ink. I stamped it directly onto an extra piece of the DP and then cut it out and layered it onto the card. I used Crystal Stickles to highlight the centers and points on the flower. In my picture it is still wet:( I then stamped the sentiment in Close to Cocoa on the same DP and used my oval Nestabilities to cut it out. It is layered with Baja Breeze CS and my scalloped oval Nesties. I used the Horizontal slot punch on each side of the oval and laced Ivory organdy ribbon through. I then tied Ivory taffetta and organdy with a strip of gold cording around this in a knot.

Here is my tip for getting a perfectly aligned slot for any ribbon. Make a template. Here is a quick look at how to do that.


Using scrap paper, cut out the same shape as what you will be punching. I used Vellum Cardstock so that I could see through it, but you can just use simple copy paper if you like.








Next, fold your template in half and punch. Folding it in half makes sure that the area punched is symmetrical . No lopsided holes:) The great thing about a template? Well, when you mess up you can start over without ruining your entire project. After doing this the first time, I didn't like how far in I punched so I did it again:)






Here is the finished template. Now place this over the piece you want to punch. Turn your punch upside down as in the above picture. Line up the holes and Presto! Hope that helps to take the guess work out of doing any symmetrical punching.





Have a great day and Happy Stamping!

Sweet Friend and Prayer Request

Good Morning! I would like to start off the week by asking you to say a prayer for our friends' little girl, Brianna. She underwent surgery last week to correct a cleft palate and has since had some complications. Brianna's was born with some complications and has had several surgeries in her very short life of under 2. Her parents are special friends of ours from Michigan. I know they are very worried and have asked us to say this special prayer just for Brianna. I, in turn, am asking all my blogging friends to say this prayer as well. Thank you!

Please pray this daily:

Father, I am lifting Brianna B. to You this morning as she is experiencing some complications and set-backs. I want to pray for her health and strength—for the clearing up of her lungs and ability to breathe and for her strength and comfort as well. She faces so many more challenges than other children and it is our privilege to pray for this dear sweet little girl who has captured the hearts of all who encounter her. Please bring your healing touch on her body. Please guide the medical staff that cares for her. Please give her parents a strong and growing faith in you that enables them to have hope and trust You completely for Your care.

We know Lord, that there are other challenges she will face—and that she has faced so many already in her short life. Be with her, and help her through the ones that she is facing right now. God, bless this family, I pray in the name of our Lord and Savior—Jesus Christ. Amen

Here is my card for this weeks OCC challenge. I altered the sketch a bit. It's another monochromatic card! I may be changing my ways. I used White for my card base. It is covered with a DCVW robin#3 textured cardstock. The turquoise DP is from an old SU simply scrappin kit. This was paper pierced and then I punched the bottom with my scalloped edge punch. I added tiny flower rhinestones that are from a nail kit my daughter had. SHHHH, don't tell! Here is a close up:

I used white taffetta ribbon around the DP. I tied a bow seperately. Then I took a small section and wrapped it over the bow and the long piece and adhered them together. Is that clear? That way it looks like the "perfect" bow. I'm such a cheater:) The butterfly is from an old hostess set called Cause for Celebration. I inked it with versamark first and then Taken with Teal. This was then embossed with Iridescent Ice EP. It is adhered with dimensionals on the top only to make it look like it is flying off the paper. The dry embossed circle is from a cuttlebug scrap that didn't work out on another project. The flower is from the same package that I used yesterday by The Paper Studio. I again added 2 way glue and dazzling diamonds to the inner most flower. Those are Filigree and Rhinestone brads from SU in the center. The sentiment on the bottom is from Inkadinkado and is stamped in Taken with Teal. Real stitching around the edges gives the finishing touches.

Thanks for stopping by today. Don't forget to go check out the Mojo Monday sketch (left side of my blog). I still have to correct mine from last week.

Have a good one!

Happy Heart Day!

I hope you all are having a super Valentine's Day! We started our day off with heart shaped pancakes. I love making pancake "art" . When my daughter was littler she liked me to make "Little Mermaid pancakes". Do you know how hard that is? So heart shaped pancakes are pretty easy in comparison. Not much going on here today other than basketball and just hanging out. After our crazy week I am ready for "chillin'".

The card above was for my husband this morning. I really struggle with masculine cards. I hope this isn't too girly. I got to use a sketch by Beate John's. She started back up with some sketch challenges. I'm excited because she is moving to my neck of the woods soon. That would be pretty great to bump into her at a craft store or something. Anyways, I have lots to share. I need to quick yapping and get to the task at hand.

The card is Choc chip, Riding Hood Red and Pumpkin pie cardstock. I used the largest SU sizzix scalloped circle for the half circles. The pumpkin scallop was run through the cuttlebug and then sponged with choc chip ink. I stamped on the RHR scallop first in versamark and then in RHR ink with a stamp from Verve's Hearts Afire set. I also used Verve's Hundred Hearts set for the sentiment stamped on Vanilla cardstock in RHR ink. The heart is from SU's set called Always and was stamped onto glossy cardstock in Choc Chip craft ink and then clear embossed. I sponged it with RHR and Pumpkin pie ink. Then cut it out and popped in on with dimensionals. The Choc Chip cardstock was stamped with the same ink using another stamp out of the set Always. All this is then layered on top of a base of vanilla. I stamped the inside as well with a heart from Hearts Afire. I love both of these sets.

I also wanted to show what we ended up giving all the teachers for Valentine's Day. I love this project because I was able to make 13 of these for under $5. SOOOO CHEAP. That's me in a nutshell, BTW. We started out with this:



Do you know what these are? They are those gift card tins. I got 3 to a pack for 19 CENTS! How cool is that? I love those kinds of bargains. What's even better is that I used them up in only a few weeks. No hoarding or anything. Patting myself on the back now:)




We ended up making them the chocolate lipgloss I made in this post. And for your information the recipe for the kool aid lipgloss provided on that same post doesn't work. Don't try that one, ok?

And here is the finished project:



It looks so much better in real life. Still the lighting issue. Anyways, the paper is by My Mind's Eye. I just traced and cut out and then adhered with bead glue. I used that to adhere the ribbon around the edges. I punched a hole in the edge and tied a piece of ribbon to help with sliding the top open. They seemed to stick a little bit so, I hope this helps. The sentiment is Choc Chip craft and clear EP and is from Hundred Hearts. I know I use this combo a lot. I love chocolate! Even in ink I guess. The heart was stamped with Rose red ink. I actually stamped it twice to create such a deep, rich look. Then I stamped again over the top with Versamark. That's the really great benefit to clear acrylic. No stamp a ma jig. I'm lazy too, BTW. After stamping again with versamark I covered it with Iridescent Ice EP. If you don't own Iridescent Ice Ep you have no idea what you missing...seriously. You really should buy some. It's soooo sparkly!

I had my kids tell each teacher that it was FAT FREE Chocolate lipgloss. My sister used to be a teacher and she always told me that teacher's don't want chocolate. So, I figure this was a safe way to give it. Calorie FREE:)

I'm running out of time so I will share more tomorrow.

HUGS AND KISSES!

Gold Cross and the MOJO'S Gone

I guess I used all on my mojo on that one card for the Mojo Monday Challenge. I REALLY struggled with this card. This is from a sketch for the Viva la Verve Friday Challenge. I had this idea and then it just fizzled out. BLAH! And things went downhill from there. I adhered my Large eyelets too tight and they punkered ( is that a word?) the suede paper. BTW, suede paper is just as hard to keep clean as real suede. I got water marks on it from cleaning my stamp too close. I promised I would post today so that is why I am putting it up. I try to keep my promises no matter what the cost. Even humiliation. No, it's not that bad. It's just not what I had envisioned.

I am just going to give a simple recipe. I have to get into town for a dr. appt. I guess I am getting really old because I have TWO dr appts. today. Sorry to be such a downer. Hopefully the sunshine will bring back some spark of creativity in me later.
Happy blessings to you!

stamps: Jeremiah, Hearts Afire (verve), French Script
Ink: Gold Encore, Close to Cocoa, Choc. Chip
Paper: Choc. Chip, Close to Cocoa, Vanilla, Vanilla Suede
Other: Cuttlebug, sponges, Large pewter brads, Pretties kit, Crop A Dile, Gold Paint Pen, bead glue

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

That is me screaming as I jump up and down because.....I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! Julee picked my card as one of the winners for this month's MOJO sketch. You can see it and all the other fabulous entries HERE!

I have been working on Valentine party stuff all day and trying to squeeze in some kind of WIGW card. All of this in between checking the Mojo website. I'm so stinkin' excited that I probably won't be able to post anything until tomorrow now. So, do you want to see what I get to choose from? Go check out the fabulous stamps at VERVE. I am really in love with them and so happy that I will get some more. Woohoo! Ok, heading off to celebrate in my stamp room now. I will really post something tomorrow. It's a crazy week here that just got even crazier. Yippee!
Have a GREAT DAY!:)

Yes I know it's Valentine's Day

I know that it isn't Halloween. But I had this idea for my kids' valentines when I saw that skull in Just Jawing fr0m SU and couldn't get it out of my head. I'm sure some parent will think I'm evil or some such thing, but I think my idea is cute and I'm stickin' to it! ESPECIALLY, after cutting out almost 50 skulls. Ok, ok, my mom helped. Still here is what they look like. BTW, my kids like them and that's what counts. They were responsible for doing the glitter. We have glitter EVERYWHERE now. I think my son would have played in it all night.
I used Pink Pirouette for the girls and Real Red for the boys. The glitter is just some that I had leftover from other projects. I stamped the sculls onto Whisper White in Basic black and mounted them with dimensionals. Each cardstock square is 3 1/2X 3 1/2 and is stamped with the stars for the set Just Jawing with the same color ink. The word "Valentine" is from Verve's set called Sweet Valentine. I just colored the word with my basic black marker and stamped. So easy! Here is what the back looks like:

I can't remember what font I used on my computer, but the "no bones about it" is just printed out and then I stamped the "you rock!" in Real Red. The white cardstock is from Walmart. It doesn't stamp as well at all, but my computer will not print on SU cardstock. Bummer. Can anyone tell me if the printer you use prints on SU cardstock and if so what brand is it. I really need one that does that. I was so bummed to find out my spits it out like it's liver or something. So, any help in that department would be sooo appreciated. So tonight we will start addressing these babies. Can't wait to cross that off my ever increasing list of Things To Do.

I also wanted to show you a picture of my hubby and I before our little soiree. It was so fun. The food was fabulous. They had the most AMAZING Creme Brulee. MY GOODNESS. The art was interesting and somewhat strange in some of the rooms. The committee also hired a comedian this year which made the night that much better if you ask me. Of course I think everything is funny. I was cracking myself up yesterday remembering funny little things with my mom. Anyway, back to the dinner. My husband had to help present the award for Fireman of the Year. It was so great because this guy had NO idea. That's the best...to honor someone and have them be thoroughly surprised and humbled. So the even funnier thing is that the fireman's axe that they present as part of the plaque did not come in time. So, my husband had to put a replacement one on the award from his own department. Imagine how embarrassing to have to go back up to him and ask for it back. But what cracked me up was watching my husband leave the building in his black trench coat with this GINORMOUS axe in his hand, trying to hide it as we made our way to the car. Not every night you see someone walking through a parking lot with an axe. Well, maybe in downtown Dayton you do. Ok, before anyone emails me about that remark, I'm just kidding! So here is our picture at home. My home isn't so great for indoor pictures. They took a professional one too. I'm too lazy to upload that one though.

Thanks for stopping by today. See you tomorrow!

Challenging Day!

Fun challenges that is:) This card is for 2 challenges today. First up is Mojo Monday. What! Yes, I know I already did one earlier in the week. But, I wasn't very happy with it. So, here is the one I am entering to be judged. This one is for a challenge listed over at Nichole Heady's blog too. She is having some AMAZING giveaways in honor of Papertrey's 2 year Anniversary.
We were to use the PTI colors Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Ocean Tides and Ripe Avocado or some kind of similar colors. Because I don't have any of their paper YET I choose to use Real Red (then had to change it to Rose Romance), Old Olive, So Saffron and Baja Breeze.

I used the set Upsy Daisy and colored with Real Red and Old Olive markers. Tip: My image came out a bit blotchy so I took a blender pen and a bit of red ink to fill and smooth out the blotchiness. I then decided to cover it with a Martha Stewart glue pen and dazzling diamonds. This made the flowers look more pink. That's why I had to change colors. The main image in stamp on Whisper white and mounted onto so saffron. This was punched with the scallop edge punch and tied with white taffetta ribbon. I added half pearls from Hobby Lobby to each scallop. The card base is baja breeze and was stamped in the same ink with Fine Lace retired BG stamp. I colored the "thanks a bunch" stamp from the level 2 hostess set called A Little Somethin' using so saffron, real red, old olive and my "fake" baja breeze markers. I highlighted areas with glue and dazzling diamonds. I also added two tiny yellow rhinestones to the flowers. You can see that better in this close up picture I hope. I drew a line of glue around the outer edge once I punched the image out with my 1 3/4 circle and then added dazzling diamonds again. Lots of sparkle!
The butterfly in the top right corner of the flowers is from a retired set called Essence of Love. I stamped in Versamark first and then baja breeze and embossed with Iridescent Ice EP. LOVE THAT STUFF! Then cut it out and bent to give the impression of flight. Adhere with a few dots of glue. The last thing is that strip of Rose Romance cardstock and strip of scalloped white. I embossed the Rose with what I think is the Birds and Swirls embossing folder and my cuttlebug. Used my scallop edge punch again on the white and there you have it!

Today we will hopefully be finishing up my kids' Valentines. They get to get in on the glitter action. Tonight my hubby and I have a HOT DATE! WOOHOO! We are going to what is kind of a Fireman's Ball. So we will be dressed all fancy, get to look at some amazing art at Dayton's Art Institute, eat amazing food and drink. I'm so excited. We may take a picture before we leave. However, wouldn't you know that I woke up this morning with a monster zit on my uppper lip! That happened on my wedding day too. I'm thinking maybe I can try to make it look like a Cindy Crawford mole. That'd be kinda sexy (click,click). No sense trying to hide it because it's THERE. Oh well. Atleast it isn't like a third eye or right on the end of my nose. Maybe I can cover it with my pointer finger all night and people with think I am very deep in thought...hmmmm. Any other creative ideas? A fan perhaps, fake mustache maybe? Come on help me out here. We'll have fun anyways. It is just nice to spend some time alone with my husband.
I hope your weekend is great. I hope to post one more thing later but if not I'll see you tomorrow.
Nikki

Papertrey It's in the Bag

Here is my entry for a contest being offered on Nichole's blog HERE. This is for a chance to win a great tote AND $100 Gift Card for Papertrey. This is the second company I have been intrigued by as far as acrylic stamps. The really cool thing for me is that they are based out of Cincinnati, Ohio. That's about an hour from me. I dig that kind of stuff. Keep an eye out for tons of contests as they are counting down to a new release on the 15th. Why, oh why, must all these challenges fall at the same time I need to be working on Valentine projects?! UGH! So here is my entry.
All I can say is I'm glad it's not judged. I really rushed with this. My coloring is blek and I wish I had thought to color the word "happy" orange. That would have been nice. Oh, well.

This is just your basic bagalope. Oh, should have taken a picture from the side. That would have been nice too. Geesh! Anyways, I used an orange glassine type envelope that I got at our local Marco's Paper store. They are very big and I got a bunch for $1:) I covered them with this DP from Me and My Big Ideas. Then I stamped the sentiment in Chocolate Chip onto SU's textured white. I used my oval nestabilities for the layering. That flower stamp is from Meijer's and was 86 cents. It stamped very nicely BTW. It's done in CC craft and clear embossed. I colored with rose red and only orange markers. I added a little bling to the center. The strip at the top was stamped with the retired Stitched BG stamp in CC ink as well. I then faux stitched with my Mat Pack and white uniball pen. My orange satin ribbon is from Walmart. Thanks for looking. Hope you have a chance to play today. Check out Nicholes next color challenge for a chance to win some paper. I hope to do that too!

Quick Post

I just have a really quick post this morning and then I will hopefully be back later in the day to post a project. I wanted to let everyone know I have put some things up on ebay. You can see them HERE. Just in case anyone was interested. I'm cleaning house:) Thanks for looking!

Rushed Week

I lost a day somewhere this week. If you find it give it back, ok? Really I am a day behind. So, imagine my panic when I realized yesterday that my project deadline for the Verve Kid at Heart January Project Parade was due by 8pm today. EEK! I literally had to take the picture with the project still wet. But here it is:
This is the top view of the oragami box project on Splitcoast a few weeks back. All the details on how to make it are here.


This is a picture of the inside and next is a picture of it closed. I know my pictures aren't so great this morning. I'm working on better pictures.

This is a gift for my daughter for Valentine's Day. I am still working on the one for my son. I will be back later to give details as I need to get my kids to school. So stay tuned!

Here are the deets: I used some old SU paper from a Simply Scrapping kit for the oragami box. I then adhered DP from the Paper Studio to some lightweight chipboard. This can be problematic I think so I am working on an alternative way. The frame chipboard is from SU and I painted it white first, then rubbed a Sage Versamagic ink on it. I then coated it with Stardust Stickles. The inside is stamped in RHR with a verse from Hundred Hearts (Verve) and a heart from the same set in Barely banana. The heart inside was stamped first onto scrap paper and then onto the Vanilla cardstock. This is known as stamping off. The flower in the upper left is from SU's Pretties kit and was rubbed with Barely Banana chalk to color it. The flowers on the bottom are from Target dollar spot and the centers are SU brads Soft Subtles. These were both glued with Crystal Effects.

The inside uses a Red cardstock from DCVW, Cert. Celery and Vanilla. I stamped the hearts onto Barely banana using versamark. I then clear embossed and used Iridescent Ice Ep while the clear EP was still tacky. They are cut out and a small section of dimensionals is added to the right corner of the heart only.

The whole thing closes with Ribbon from SU. I think it is So Saffron or Barely Banana. Sorry, no time to look. I feel like I am constantly rushed this week. So please excuse my posts.
Not sure that it will get any better in the next week. Ok, I'm off to run errands.
Thanks for hanging in there with me today!

True Pink Friend

This card I have today if for the Mojo Monday Sketch. It will also have to qualify for my Work it Girl Wednesday card too. I am working on my kids' valentine cards. So, "fun" stamping is limited right now. Also, please note that I have added a new feature on the left of my blog. It is a feature provided my Scrapitude. Basically, it is a color wheel for all SU colors. You put in a color you want to use and it gives you an array of coordinating color options. You can also just choose the "surprise me" option and all the thinking is done for you. So enjoy that. One more thing. My mom pointed out that me saying my husband tolerated my rubber addiction was not really appropriate for my blog. It totally escaped me how that could be interpreted. If you stamp, then you know that means rubber stamp addiction. So, I have corrected it and wanted to apologize if I offended anyone. It was truly an "open mouth, insert foot" mistake. The first of many I'm sure knowing me:( So, Oops! So sorry!

Here are the details to the card. Card base is Kraft with a layer of Pink Pirouette and then some DP from Paper studio. The strip of pink in the center is the scrap I had left from Daisy D. I scallop edge punched that. It has a ribbon from Michael's Mix and Match. The sentiment is stamped in Choc. Chip ink onto Vanilla cardstock and is from Hundred Hearts set by Verve. I layered this onto Pink Pirouette and scallop punched. I just added dots with my Choc Chip marker. The flower was brushed with crystal effects and dipped in Dazzling Diamonds to mimic the heart button that I got at Hobby Lobby. It is a Dress It Up button. Vintage Brads finish this panel off and then it is adhered with dimensionals.

That's all for today. A 2 hour delay for school this am and a Dr. Appt this afternoon make for a VERY short day.

Have a good one!