A Challenge Two-fer!

Two 'fer" the price of one, that is. I combined Beate's Sketch with kwerner's color challenge! And even tho I would not ever think to put all of these colors together on one project, I am very happy with the result! Not to mention how super excited I am about this new stamp set, Fresh Cuts! Its a sneak peek for the new catalog, coming in August! Demonstrators got to order the set and coordinating note cards in May and YOU can order it in June! (I know, I know, Beate used the same set...!) So for this card, I used Not Quite Navy for the base. I have a chunk of Bashful Blue card stock across the middle, where I stamped the leafy image in Old Olive ink and the greeting with Not Quite Navy ink. Then some Old Olive 3/8 inch grosgrain ribbon running across the center of it all. Over the ribbon is a piece of Whisper White card stock which I stamped in So Saffron ink and sponged the edges in it too. I matted it on a piece of Old Olive card stock. And here's another sample using this awesome set! Its just so pretty, so elegant and SO easy to use! What's not to love?! Plus, if you come to my workshop on June 6th, you'll get to play with this set and the new cards! AND if you host a $400 workshop during the month of June you get them both for FREE. On this card I was using the Splitcoaststampers color challenge for this week. This combo is not a challenge for me, I love these colors together! Oh but I added the Rose Red...that was not part of the original plan. I have a Sage Shadow base, a mat of Chocolate Chip card stock beneath the Very Vanilla piece. I have my lovely Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon going across the center here. I stamped the leafy stamp in Sage Shadow and the words in Chocolate Chip. I love this font too! Then I stamped the little flower with Rose Red ink and cut them out. They're up on Dimensionals. This card is similar to the first, but lacking the top rectangle. But I like both cards! Hooray for new stamps!

A Stamp Simply card!

Yep, I thought I'd go simple today. haha! Of course I'm kidding. Don't I end most of my project summaries with "super simple!" YES I DO! But this particular inspiration is actually TITLED "Stamp Simply". So I am.

This was supposed to be "Black & White & 1" other color. My favorite POP color is red so that's what I picked! And here it is!

Whisper White card base, Basic Black rectangle topped with Whisper White rectangle. Whisper White grosgrain ribbon topped with Real Red heart! Can't be more simple than that. Not to mention fast! Love it, love it!

How things go...

I don't know how it is in your house, but around here the office has always been the 'catch-all' room. Anything that doesn't have a home? put it in the office! Anything confiscated from kids? put it in the office! Anything that needs sorted thru or filed? put it in the office! That means, that in the reorganizing of the office, I'm sort of piling things up in other rooms. This is not a good cycle! So yesterday I utilized the tiny bookshelf that WAS in here holding stamp stuff and now its in our living room holding kids books. That meant there was more room on the main bookcase for um, the books we got for Christmas... Now they're not piled in our bedroom anymore! That worked nicely! I'm not sure if I'm making progress or just making more work, but I am in the middle of several projects along those lines. The other big thing keeping me busy is this:

My mom is involved in this foreign exchange group and one of the things they do together in their first week is a scrapbook page. Last year she and I worked on them together but this year she is just soooo busy I decided to take it on myself. So I am prepping 125 of these pages and 125 of another design. Prepping means I do all the stamping, cutting, punching and stick all the pieces in a sheet protector. The kids will assemble them however they want, but my samples will be displayed as a guide. I'm not exactly sure when I have to have this done, but really soon! So this is taking up my time too.

For anyone interested, this page is done with a Real Red base, a strip of Whisper White for the title. Circles are punched from Whisper White and Brilliant Blue. I also used the Small Star punch on some of them. I have the retired Letterpress ABC set for the title (stamped in Brilliant Blue), the retired Land That I Love for the Statue of Liberty (stamped in Sage Shadow), and the Red stars come from In The Stars from the mini catalog. I used the Classic Stars Jumbo Wheel across the bottom, and about half the pages have that in Red ink and the other half have Brilliant Blue ink. That's the only difference. Then three Silver Brads and a strip of Real Red striped grosgrain ribbon. Very simple page, easy to alter and plenty of room to use whatever photos strike them.

Another Mojo Monday!

Woohoo! This was a fun card to make! It comes from Julee's Mojo Monday sketch. I thought a patterned background would be fun for the card front piece and a dotty print could be cute and not over-powering. What goes with dots? Baby themes! This one turned into a boy card. A Bashful Blue base, the dotty print from the Cutie Pie designer paper, a So Saffron rectangle, a Certainly Celery 1 3/8 inch circle, a square of Whisper White matted on Bashful Blue with a Bashful Blue elephant and a Celery greeting. I also added coordinating Brads to each layer and a piece of White Grosgrain ribbon across the center.

By the way, Burt loved his card. He thought it was a really neat and unique design. I love it when I impress him with my stamp art!

Be Inspired Challenge #15!

After a nice, long Memorial Day weekend I was very happy to be back to stamping! Which means I was also excited to play with Beate's inspiration piece! I needed a nice, masculine card since its also my husband's birthday. (Love you Honey! We got to go on a date too! A nice quiet lunch to ourselves and a very late movie- Prince Caspian!) Anyway...the card...I took the masculine-looking colors and created something TOTALLY different for me! Wow!

I started by playing with this tool:

Anyone know what it is? I sure don't! Something from Making Memories, obviously. My friend was cleaning out her craft room and has never had any luck using this so she gave it to me to try. Not having any idea how its supposed to work, it was kind of a pain! But! I have a circle cutter now! I thought I'd go with these oval cards I saw here ...but that didn't quite work. I got a huge circle from my Blue Bayou card stock! So, I cut the circle in half...(ish...) and got this. I mounted it on a piece of More Mustard card stock. I added a rectangle of Soft Sky thinking for the greeting and the writing...but then it would show oddly... So I stamped this on the inside:

and wrote my own message on the inside of the Bayou half circle! Then I added the Close to Cocoa tab from my super cool Round Tab Punch, and attached it with Silver Brads. The front of the Bayou piece I stamped weirdly with the bottom of one of the Boho Background stamps. The "love you" on the Cocoa comes from the stamp set Sweet Thing. All the ink is Basic Black. Happy Birthday Burt!

A Sketch Challenge!

Here is my take on Jen's Saturday Sketch. (I did it Saturday but thought I'd spread my posts around!) This one was a lot of fun for me and I used some more designer paper! hooray! (that means room for more you know...!)

I used a Certainly Celery card stock base, then Cutie Pie paper for the bottom strip and top corner. The circles are flowers from the Pick A Petal set, and I stamped them in So Saffron ink. I stuck Rose Red buttons in the center and touched the edges of the circles in the Rose Red ink. The greeting comes from Time Well Spent and I stamped that in Celery and colored the flowers with my So Saffron marker. I also mounted the greeting onto Rose Red card stock. So there you have it! Have a fabulous Memorial Day!

Springtime!

...from a couple years ago! But that's ok because I got one more page done! I just love these pictures of my girly. I did the page for her book when the pictures were taken, but just got the page for my book done this weekend, so here it is.
Lauren used this old Sarah designer paper recently and I remembered I've hoarded it! I thought it would work really well with these photos! So that was my starting point. The colors in the paper are Certainly Celery, Whisper White, So Saffron and some darkish blue...I went with the retired Buckaroo Blue. My title is stamped in Buckaroo Blue with the Taffy Alphabet. I added three Celery brads and then two ribbons- Celery from the Fairy Tale ribbon originals set, and then White grosgrain layered on top of that! Fun and springy!
Then, remember this page I just did for my son? I figured out my journaling and wanted to share! You may have noticed I finally got to change up my music! The first track listed is one of my favorite songs- When You Come Back Down by Nickelcreek. I got the Nickelcreek self titled CD for my son's first Christmas. The first time I heard this song I immediately thought of the relationship between a parent and child. I'm not convinced that's the perspective the song is coming from, but it works!!! I used to look for the perfect picture so I could put the words to this song on a page for his book but never quite found it. Well, this CD is my "its been a bad day and I need to relax" music and its been living in my car for the last few weeks. (Turns out my boy has a new favorite song on this CD too!) But having done this page, I thought the song fit. I just typed it up and added it to his page. Its night so I can't get a good shot without a bad glare on the photo, so here is the way I added the lyrics, (sorry its dark!) and a close up of the way I emphasized certain lines. If you are a mother, you'll understand.

Weekend Sketch #49

Did I tell you I love this stamp set? And get check out how perfectly it works with Beate's sketch! Yeay!

So, I did another Chocolate Chip base but this time its cut to a square. 4 1/4 x 4 1/2 to be exact! Then a card front using Groovy Guava. I stamped the flowers and greeting in Ruby Red. I stamped the medallion image in Chocolate Chip ink on Ruby Red card stock and punched it with my Scallop punch. I stuck a silver brad in the center of that and 4 brads in the corners. Then I have a strip of Chocolate Chip Taffeta ribbon! I love how this one turned out!

New Stamps!

I know, I know, "old hat" stamps to many of you, but I really wanted these as soon as I saw them in the catalog and there's always too many other things I NEED so these keep sitting on the back burner. I always have them on my list to "get next month" and it never happens. Well I got it! My very own Boho Backgrounds set! Hooray for me! And yes, I love them as much as I thought I would. This is what I did last night -

Super simple, as usual. Chocolate Chip base, Pumpkin Pie front. I couldn't come up with any colors that were what I wanted besides shades of green and that would be too Halloween-y for me, so this is all I used! Chocolate Chip ink and Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon! Ta-da!

This one I think is vaguely inspired by this card. I loved what she had done with the set (making me want it more!) and when I sat down to stamp this is what I had in my head to create. Since I knew she'd done something similar, I thought I'd better give her a nod! LOL! I just did two panels of black ink on white card stock, matted with black card stock. Then my lovely red striped grosgrain ribbon was added for a touch of POP. Love it!

Teacher Gift- Completed!

Here is the gift for my son's teacher. (Now that she has it!) I've already shown the frame and the card, but here it is together! The other night I had to track down a gift sack. It was ridiculously huge, but it was all I could find last-minute! I stamped it to match the gifts! (almost- used Pumpkin Pie ink instead of Summer Sun, the yellow didn't show up on the brown bag) I don't know if I've ever done a themed gift unless it was a wedding shower... Anyway, this was a lot of fun for me! The rolled up scroll is a thing about teachers. I printed it off onto some patterned paper that I definitely hoard...I've had a stack of it for probably 6 years now! But I rolled this up neatly and tied it with Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon, which also matches! haha! Anyway, for anyone curious, here is the thing about teachers. It was posted on the demo chat area of the Stampin' Up! website by Jaynell Giliberti. I thought it was great for our first school teacher, maybe you know someone you could share it with.

GOD CREATED TEACHERS On the 6th day, God created men and women. On the 7th day, God rested. Not so much to recuperate, but rather to prepare for the work to do on the next day. For it was on that day-the 8th day-that God created the first teacher. This teacher, though taken from among men and women, had several significant modifications. In general, God made the teacher more durable than other men and women. The teacher was made to arise at a very early hour and to go to bed very late - with no rest in between. The teacher had to be able to withstand being in a classroom, for many hours, with energetic and very impressionable children. The teacher had to be available for any unforeseen needs children may need, when away from home. Yes, God made the teacher TOUGH, but GENTLE too. The teacher was equipped with soft hands to wipe away the tears of the neglected and lonely students and provide them with God’s encouragement. To be available for children going through emotional changes in their lives, as they grow older and mature. The teacher was also equipped with organization and firm discipline to keep children in order. God poured a generous amount of PATIENCE into the teacher. Patience when a student asks to repeat the directions, the teacher has just repeated for someone else. Patience when one-half of the class fails the test. Patience when the student’s textbooks or homework was left at home or unfinished for the next days’ lessons. The patience for a teacher to give that extra help to the students with special needs. God gave the teacher a HEART slightly bigger than the average human heart. For the teachers’ heart had to be big enough to love the kid who needs someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on. And to love the kid who runs out of the classroom at the end of the day without so much as a 'good-bye', let alone a 'thank you'. And lastly, God gave the teacher an abundant supply of HOPE. For God knew that the teacher would always be hoping. Hoping that the kids would someday learn how to read and spell, hoping each child will mature and lead a productive life, and hoping for deliverance. When God finished creating the teacher, he stepped back and admired the work of his hands. And God saw that the teacher was good. Very good! And God smiled, for when he looked at the teacher, he saw into the future. He knew that the future is in the hands of the teachers.

Mom Tag!

Ok, this was way too funny! I came up here to stamp since today I got a darling new stamp set I've been itching to get for MONTHS now. But what did I do? Check everyone's blogs! I tell ya...! So, I'm going down my lists and I come to my upline, Kari Lyn's blog. I thought her post started out funny, how she saw her name at the end of a tag and was shocked, and I enjoyed reading her responses to the tag. Anyway, just exactly like she said, MY name was one she tagged! WHAT?! ME?! Um...ok! So, after figuring out it IS me...here's my Tag! 1.Typically, what time do you wake up? 7:30am 2. On a good night, what time are your kids in bed? Both of them?? Not til at least 9:30. 3. How long have you been a mommy? More than 5yrs 4. How old were you when you became a mom? Not 23 5. What is your favorite kids T.V show? I miss Wiggles. And I really loved Mr Rogers. I even donated to the local PBS when they were asking for interest or removing his show! 6. What is your least favorite kids T.V. show? This is a LONG list! But we'll start with Teletubbies. 7. What is your favorite chore? Laundry. I do not mind sorting, washing, drying or folding. Hanging is a different story... 8. What is your favorite meal to cook? Stuffed Baked Potatoes, usually served with some kind of meat and always veggies. 9. What meal do you cook most often? Cheese Crisps. (open quesadillas) 10. What is your kids favorite meal? S does not like repetition in meals, H would live off corn dogs and grapes if we let him. 11. What is your favorite thing your husband does with your kids? Boys Days Out! And bedtime with S! 12. What are 5 things that make you smile when you’re being a mom? Random hugs and kisses, when they sing, H's stories, S doing my makeup for me, 'moochy kisses and how they both randomly say "I'm so glad you're here Mom." 13. If you could take your kids anywhere, where would it be? An ocean beach 14. When was the last time you went out without your kids? I don't remember. ...My birthday/valentine date? So mid-March. 15. What is your favorite pastime/activity to do with your kids? I like to read to them and we sing together a lot. 16. Name one thing you said you would never say as a mother? "Well, that's what happens when you don't obey." 17. Name something you do, that your own mom did? Sing church songs as lullabies. 18. What is your favorite quality your mom has? She loves children. 19. What is your favorite kids book? I don't know, but One Fish Two Fish always comes to mind. We have a LOT of books! 20. What is your favorite advice for new moms? Have fun with them! 21. What is your most heartbreaking moment as a mom? Any time they suffer. In any way. If they're scared or sick or dealing with allergies that make their eyes water..... You just ache for them, and you can't help. 22. What is your most joyful moment being a mom? When they are trying so hard to do good. 23. When was the last time you told one of your kids you loved them? Tonight. 24. When was the last time you were told? Tonight. I tag Yvette, RaeAnne, Melissa & Melia!

Super Simple!

Hands down, the fastest page ever. These were the spring pictures done at school and they just arrived. I had to scrap it immediately! This page is for his book. I love my retired Primary Colors Simply Scrappin' kit and just realized I've used it for all school-related pages this year! Hmm...!

I actually used a sheet of 8x11 Chocolate Chip for the base, to work with the photo. On the left side I have the textured Wild Wasabi that comes with the kit and on the right side I have the textured Brocade Blue. I added the thin brocade strip that looks a bit like ribbon, even tho at a closer look its lined paper. Then two stars in either corner. I'm going to add journaling in the blue space, but I haven't decided if I'm going to add a rectangle of white (or vanilla) to do so, or just journal right on the blue. Either way, the page is simple and perfect for him!

My New Desk!

Several people are asking about my new office. But I'm not done! Its a big old project and I have my kids and everything else! LOL! However! This part is done! So here is my old messy cluttered desk.....

....and my lovely, tidy new desk! Isn't it great?! A work space and a typing space and a shelf and its soo nice!

So there's my post for today. I'm hoping to get some more projects done later today for something fun tomorrow. But there's that much!

Inspiration Station!

No, not me, sorry. But all three of these come from other people's sketches and/or inspiration posts! (thanks guys!-LOL!) This first one comes from Lauren's color challenge. And you had to use a circle! So I did! I used Night of Navy for the base of the card and stamped everything in Night of Navy ink...because it was already out! I have a Whisper White card front and I actually cut out the frog and dragonflies. Wow...there's a reason I never do that! The frog is on Old Olive card stock and the dragonflies are Barely Banana. The big circle is of Cool Caribbean card stock and then a smaller one of White. And some Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon goes across the top. Oh and I colored the eyes with my white gel pen.

This one is my take on Jen's Saturday Sketch To Try. Its a White card base with a rectangle of Chocolate Chip on one side, the yellow side of some Petals and Paisley paper on the bottom half of the other side and the matching Celery striped Prints paper on the top half. This card coordinates with my frame gift found here. So I used the very same inks for the flower and dragged...drug? the one side of the White focal piece across my Chocolate Chip ink pad to get that hint of brown along the edge. Then I added three Vanilla buttons. I think it coordinates well with the gift and was easy to make. This is from Julee's Mojo Monday sketch. I have a Close to Cocoa base, then my panels are Pretty in Pink and Barely Banana. I stamped the tiny flower from Priceless on those panels using the inks that match. Oh...and I guess it doesn't quite match the sketch...hmm... Anyway, I tied that layer with Pink gingham ribbon. Then for the top layer, I have a Cocoa mat beneath the White. I stamped the image from the For A Friend set in Pretty in Pink and colored the little flowers Banana. I dragged the white square in the Banana ink on all sides again, and tied more pink ribbon with a Clear round button around that one! I got a LOT done today! Good for me! haha! Hope you can say the same!

Weekend Sketch #48

'Tis the graduation season! This year we had two graduates and my mom needed a card for my cousin. For 'my' cards I used Beate's weekend sketch. The third card is different. I tried hard to use the school colors, but I wasn't 100% successful. ;) Anyway, here ya go! (Every single stamp I used today is retired! Sheesh!)

This one has a Brilliant Blue base, a Whisper White front, a square of Going Gray and a square of Whisper White. I embossed this image from Framed Greetings with Silver embossing powder and my Versamark pad. I stamped the congrats in Brilliant Blue. This one I had a harder time with because I didn't want a big white front...or a white card. So I got creative with the big rectangle in the sketch! I tore a rectangle-ish piece of scratch paper, then instead of sponging around it, I just smooshed my Real Red Stampin' Spot right onto the paper, around the scratch piece. So there you have it! I embossed the tossed hat from Event Full with the same powder/versamark, on Basic Black card stock. I have another rectangle of Going Gray layered with Whisper White and I stamped the greeting from Warmest Regards in Real Red. This final card uses a very old set - Great Graduation! I embossed the girl image on Going Gray card stock with the silver powder and then colored her with markers. I overlapped that onto the Taken with Teal card stock (a color I never use!) and stamped the diploma with Teal on Teal for a nice subtle touch. I put the three silver brads thru both those pieces. Then I put it all on a Whisper White card base and stamped the congrats in Teal as well.

Three more cards, ready to go!

Color Inspiration #9

Another much-mentioned spot for inspiration is on kwernerdesign. I'm really liking this idea of people setting the "rules" for a stamp project, so here is my little creation based on this challenge.

I thought with the Turquoise in there it had a tropical-feel. Maybe its just chaos, I don't know...! But it was fun to try something new!

All the colors you see here (except the white) were required. That was kind of hard for me to use so many colors! I have Old Olive for the base, a mat of Real Red and then stamped my flowers in Tempting Turquoise, So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie. Oh and leaves in Old Olive. I tied this fabulous Real Red striped grosgrain ribbon around the bottom of the image and stamped my greeting in Real Red too. That's it!

A Gift!

Here is one of the projects I've been working on. Oddly, it took about an entire day to settle on a color for the flowers! Then I had to get an opinion on the ribbons... I put waaay too much effort into this one! But I am happy with how it turned out, so I guess that's what matters!

I bought this small black frame that actually ended up too big for my original idea, maybe that's why it took so long to figure out what to do! Anyway, I stamped the flowers on Whisper White card stock with Summer Sun blossoms and Certainly Celery stems, and used Chocolate Chip for the center. That way they can be Black-Eyed Susan or Sunflowers, depending on the recipients preference. I matted that onto Chocolate Chip card stock and layered the whole thing on some Celery Prints Paper. Then I added three bits of ribbon to the side of the frame. That's trickier than I thought because you have to bend the ribbon around the inside of the frame to allow for the glass and everything to go back in! Not so much fun...and maybe there's an easier way to do it...hmm....! But I used some old Stampin' Up! yellow, I think it was called Maize grosgrain, and then Black Gingham ribbon, just knotted on the side.

Here's a close-up:

So it works! I'm going to make a coordinating card to go with it, and I'm debating something else like maybe a stamped candle...I don't know. Something cute tho! haha!

Be Inspired Challenge #13

Today Beate posted her Inspiration challenge. I was thinking of doing something with lines...and whatever it was I wanted, I do not have. So I went with my cute favorite- Daisy Crazy!

The picture she gave us did look more like Soft Sky but I used Sage Shadow instead, and the Chocolate Chip color too. I picked Sage for the card base, and I have a strip of Chocolate Chip going across the middle. That has some old Stampin' Up! ribbon on one end and three Pretty in Pink brads on the other. For the focal point I used the trio of daisies. The stems are Sage Shadow and the flowers are Pretty in Pink. I matted this on Chocolate Chip and pierced the corners. The entire Thank You greeting seemed too big and it wasn't til I went a head and inked up just the Thanks and stamped it when I realized a really cute idea for the greeting...alas...this is what I get! :)

I wish the picture was brighter, but adding light in my editing program made the green really funky and not pretty. But there you have it!

A Mojo Monday!

I tried this sketch today. I've seen lots of people blog about Julee's Mojo Monday and I was really looking for an idea to get me going today! This seems pretty different for me, but maybe it isn't.

I started by choosing a patterned paper, which I picked from the long-retired Spring Showers package. I used a So Saffron card base then matted both rectangles on Basic Black card stock. (the lines in the paper are actually Chocolate Chip, I believe, but black worked better for me) I tied the bigger rectangle with Black grosgrain ribbon. The second rectangle I stamped the greeting from Polka Dots & Paisley in Basic Black ink, then the flower from Priceless in So Saffron ink. I planned on using buttons but they were too big for my card pieces, so I used three brads from my Hodgepodge Hardware kit. Oh and I paper-pierced around the three open edges of my card. So what do you think?

I managed to get a couple other things done today too, that I'll be posting soon. It was nice to have a rainy day and just stamp this afternoon while I let Hunter play computer games. But tomorrow we are getting out!

Weekend Sketch #47

I was very excited to play with this sketch from Beate! Its 11pm and I am tired, but I had to create today! So, card first, stories in a minute!

I was a little thrown by the oval. I don't have any cutting system and no pre-cut ovals...so I used a very old super cheap corner rounder that didn't work too well! But hey, it got the gist of the oval....except that I just notices mine is turned the wrong way... hmm... O well! I really like the card so its ok! ha ha!

So I have my Close to Cocoa base, a mat of Whisper White, then a piece of brown flower print from the Berry Bliss pkg and a pink flower print from the Hostess Level 1 Prints Paper. I tied that whole rectangle with some White grosgrain ribbon. I gotta say, just that far was absolutely lovely! I could have left it just like that! But not for the sketch! Plus it did need some kind of greeting....and stamps!! So I used my For A Friend thank you flower. I colored it with my Watercolor Wonder crayons and even used the Pretty in Pink crayon on the edges to give it a hint of pink. Subtle, but nice. I matted it on Close to Cocoa also, and put it up on Dimensionals. Purty sweet!

My office is coming along nicely. Burt and I were up insanely late last night taking the old desk apart and assembling the new one. (This is the third big piece of furniture we've had to assemble in our marriage and we always start about 11pm! I think I may not assemble any more furniture! ha ha!) Anyway, I tried to start organizing things today but at the moment I'm to that point where its like the night after you moved into a new place...you know what you need is around here somewhere, but where?! Sienna didn't take a nap today, so I didn't get very much done. Lots and lots of work to do tomorrow. When its all done it will be fabulous. I can't wait! I love my new desk and I'm really excited about everything else. Just gotta keep going!