Get Whale Soon!

If Blogger will allow me to post pictures sometime today, you'll get to see my Whale card for Jen's Saturday Sketch to Try. Otherwise you'll just have to use your imagination! ha ha! I started by picking the patterned paper for the bigger square. I used this print from the Cutie Pie package. Beate once did a green whale with this stamp so I thought I'd choose him to go with the blue 'bubbles' and the green in the paper! The green in the paper is actually Certainly Celery, but I had wide Old Olive ribbon, so I matted both squares on Old Olive to tie that color in. I think Celery and Olive complement each other anyway. And since I had Olive ribbon stripeys, I used a card base of Bashful Blue, and then have Bashful brads to match that! I stamped the greeting in Old Olive ink, and colored the whale with my Watercolor wonder Crayons and Blender Pens. And there you have it! It worked!!!

Scrapping Fast!

So, my parents have hosted an exchange student for the past school year. We have been making a scrapbook for her to take home, highlighting the BIG events and doing the journaling for her so that, ya know, in 13 years when she pulls out her book she has a clue what she's talking about! (13 years ago ((what?!)) I was in Germany for about a month and I have no guesses what most of my pictures are of!) Now its crunch-time and we are literally just pumping out the pages as fast as we can to get it done in time. However, I have done two things in particular this past week or so that I am proud of! ha ha! Always good to share our accomplishments...
Look how pretty this girl turned out! I stamped her on Very Vanilla card stock and colored her with Watercolor Pencils and Blender Pens AND used markers too! Then I swiped all the torn edges in Creamy Caramel ink! I love it! ...and here's the entire page if you were interested. Not too impressive, but I just love that girl! Now this mountain...! Its retired but it still gets plenty of love around here! This particular site they stopped at is a multi-colored mountain. Hmm..... So! I used markers to do a top of More Mustard, then Close to Cocoa, then Chocolate Chip, and then the trees are in Garden Green! COOOOL! That was one of those moments where you step back and realize how smart you are sometimes! And then you laugh....because its very late at night and the Skittles are getting to you... And here's a shot of the rest of the super simple, rather plain page! ha ha! Now go do something impressive!

Taffy!

Its a late post, but at least its something! I helped my mom make these adorable bags of taffy! The abc set is retired and the little treat stamp is too, but I thought they were cute enough to share! (and an excellent way to use some of that bright Green Galore card stock! LOL!) Did you get a treat today?

More Catch-Up Sketches!

First this one from Lauren's blog, nearly a week ago! I'm not going to even point out all the issues, I'll just say this was my third try and this is as good as it gets! Apparently I DO shut down at night and my stamping just doesn't work out when its too late! Darnit... LOL! I do like the card, just wish it turned out a bit nicer. I cut it down to a 4x4 to make it more manageable and the base is Always Artichoke. I used Rose Red Prints designer paper for the bottom stripes as well as the back square. That is actually from the same sheet too- love that double sided-ness! Then I topped it with a Very Vanilla square. I stamped the dragonfly from Bugs & Kisses and I colored him with my Rose Red and Always Artichoke markers. Then I used one line from Boho Backgrounds for the greeting at the top. My row of buttons all match! Then, I saw this color challenge on Jen's blog and I had to try it. I picked the retired Cranberry Crisp for the dark red shade, and Soft Sky, (which is about to retire!) for the sky blue color. Love it, love it! I used my Daisy Crazy set and scattered little daisies with Versamark ink on the Soft Sky base. I have the wide Old Olive grosgrain ribbon topped with the fabulous Cranberry Crisp stitched grosgrain ribbon going down the side of the card. A tip? I use two mini glue dots to hold the ribbon in place on the front and then scotch tape on the back or the inside to hold the ends of ribbon down. No complaints yet! Anyway, the flowers are stamped with Old Olive and Cranberry inks, right on the Soft Sky card stock. I swiped the edges of that piece in Olive ink and matted it onto Cranberry card stock, and pierced down the side of that. This one turned out much better than the first. Guess which one I made first? LOL!

Weekend Sketch #53

Beate is taking the summer off so here is her last Weekend Sketch for a while. I thought I'd use it for a card I need for my nephew who earned his Eagle Scout award. Therefore my card is SUPER simple! I may play with this sketch again tho one of these days...! Anyway, for today's card, I have a base of Real Red and a layer of Whisper White. I stamped the eagle from the long retired Land That I Love set, in Chocolate Chip ink. I have some scattered Real Red stars (that are hard to see) on the top section. I left off the ribbon, and stamped the word from the (also long retired) Business Boosters set! I used the two biggest circle punches for that little accent. Then I took a hint from the OCC Buttons & Brads challenge HERE and added one silver brad and one Brilliant Blue button to add just a touch of personality.

A funny flashback

So, ya know, I've been cleaning out my office...for like...a month. Actually, probably longer than that. But I really am cleaning it out! Going thru all the boxes and the piles and the heaps and trying to find a new home for every single thing. I am a hoarder. I always believe that in thirty years I will regret having tossed that. Or this. And that is a problem! So in my cleaning, I came across some little gifts Hunter 'made' at church.

This first one absolutely melts my heart. I just want to scoop him up and love him forever! Obviously this was a Christmas gift, the year he was 2. And obviously he didn't do anything to make this other than look adorable for the picture. hee hee! But this is a little treasure that will NOT be thrown away. It needs a home...in a scrapbook or something!

Then here is a Mother's Day card, also from church. I thought it was so sweet of them to take pics of the kids to make the cards with. Plus it was like my first actual Mother's Day gift so that was also very sweet.

And then you open it......

And the real boy shines thru......

HA HA! Can you believe it?! Can you believe he posed that way for a picture for a present for his mom?! And can you believe his teachers USED IT?! ha ha! That cracks me up, still to this day. Every time I see that I just laugh. Such a sweet gift, from a sweet boy on the front, grinning from ear to ear that he had a CARD to give his mommy....and BAM! Blahhh!!! What?! ha ha! Hope you laughed today!

Yellows 'n' Greens!

I got to stamp! hooray!!! I played with a few challenges last night. I started with Jen's Saturday Sketch to Try and LOVE what I came up with! Isn't that the best?!

I used a Barely Banana card base, and stamped the vines from Fresh Cuts along the bottom, with Mellow Moss ink. I have a square of Mellow Moss card stock for the top corner, and the words are stamped in Always Artichoke ink. The main image is stamped in Moss ink on Whisper White card stock. Then I added six Banana brads. Purty cool!

For my second card, I used kwerner's latest color challenge (that I missed the deadline for, again!) and this sketch Julie has on her blog. So I have my Sahara Sand base, cut to a 4x4 card. I have a stripey layer from the So Saffron Prints paper and that is topped with Wild Wasabi double stitched ribbon. The focal point is a flower from Polka Dots & Paisley stamped with Saffron and Wasabi inks, matted on Wasabi card stock. Then I stamped the first line of the greeting in Wasabi ink! (All of the Wild Wasabi products and this stamp set are retiring!)

So there are my yellow 'n' green challenge cards! Enjoy!

Stamped Candles

Things have been really busy around here, so stamping and blogging has been moved to the "to-do-later" list. But here are two candles I made to sell at a booth I had yesterday. The first one uses an old stamp set called Garden Collage. I just stamped the whole thing in Close to Cocoa ink and colored the bird with the Bashful Blue marker.

This second one uses Pretty Amazing. I love that set! I stamped the leafy image in Mellow Moss ink and the butterfly in Cameo Coral ink. I like doing these candles because they are fast and easy and always look so nice.

I missed several sketches and challenges so hopefully tomorrow I'll get some time to stamp!

Inspiration Everywhere!

First, Beate found inspiration in a cake! This is a gorgeous cake! I wanted to do something with the tiny flowers, but I don't really have any that worked... So I turned to my newest set, Fresh Cuts and thought I could make the big stamp work for the flowery vines, with different colors. Um....it worked....but not how I envisioned...! This one is my third attempt to color it, and I liked how soft this try ended up, so here we go! I actually used Always Artichoke ink (and Rose Red and So Saffron) but the Artichoke looked a lot closer to Mellow Moss, so that's what its mounted on. The card is Soft Sky, and I tied a little Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon on the side, and stamped the words in Mellow Moss.

This one is a lot brighter! I found this in a round-about-way on Carole's blog for their TCP Tuesday challenge. I decided it would stretch my creativity! LOL! And for this card I used lots of retiring products to entice you as well! The card is Yoyo Yellow, which I really don't use very often, I think just for birthday cards! I used a piece of the soon to be retired Hostess Prints Pack in Wild Wasabi, then the top is just Whisper White. I used the soon retiring Time Well Spent set with Yoyo Yellow and Wild Wasabi inks. I tied the fast-retiring Wasabi double-stitched ribbon around the top and then tried my hand at a totally new bow idea (for me, anyway!). I used a tiny bit of very old yellow ribbon to tie the center. Oh, and I got the words from the retiring Its Your Birthday set. Don't forget to place your order soon if you want these things! Have a Happy Wednesday!

Mojo Monday #42

Today I went with a patriotic theme for Julee's Mojo Monday sketch. I sat down to make a card I need and ended up with this...which will go to someone else entirely...hmm! This set is also very old, but I have it here to work on some scrapbooking.

Julee mentioned you could do color blocking or ribbon for the stripes and I liked both ideas! I have a Brilliant Blue card, a card front of Whisper White and then the chunks are Real Red card stock. I wrapped some retired silver cord around the stripe-y side and then tied tiny knots around three of the strings. I inked up the flag from Land That I Love and stamped it on Whisper White, and matted that onto more Brilliant Blue card stock. Then I added three silver brads and popped the image all up onto dimensionals. I haven't thought of a greeting yet, and maybe I won't put one on at all. But there ya go!

Two Sketches

Got some stamping done! First I have my card for Beate's sketch. I used a retiring set AND what I expect is retiring designer paper, since it has Purely Pomegranate in it. So, I have a Pretty in Pink base with a front from Berry Bliss paper. I have a rectangle of Close to Cocoa with Pink brads, and a rectangle of Pretty in Pink card stock with Cocoa buttons! Then the main image comes from Sweet Thing and is stamped in Pretty in Pink, matted on Cocoa and edged in Pink.

The second card comes from Jen's Saturday Sketch. The colors come from kwerner's color challenge #11, even tho I missed her deadline. I used Old Olive for the base, with a Whisper White card front. The side rectangles are So Saffron and Going Gray. On the Saffron card stock I stamped the mushroom in Saffron ink. I added some Old Olive wide ribbon across the bottom there, and I cut the end much different than I normally do! LOL! For the center panel I matted it on Rose Red and stamped the words in Rose Red, and added some Saffron daisies. Then for the circle image I cut out this little squatty frog, who I colored with Blender Pens and Watercolor Wonder Crayons. I'm happily surprised with how this turned out! If you like these sets, call me soon!

Retiring Stamps!!!

Yes, Stampin' Up! has announced the Retiring Stamps list!

• If you aren't on my email list, you can click HERE to see the list. These sets will ONLY be available until August 10th, so hurry and place your orders!

• From today, til June 30, if you buy three retiring sets, I'll buy you one of your choice of solid 8x11 card stock!

• The retiring accessories list will be released on Saturday. That will include ALL of the In-Colors products: inks, card stocks, ribbons, and any kits or sets (Ribbon Originals, Designer Paper, etc) that include the In-Colors.

• Here is a fabulous set that is retiring. This is a card my mom made using The Snowflake Spot. I'll be focusing on retiring sets for the next little while to help you see how much you want them! LOL!!!

EDITED! Retiring accessories list will not be published until JULy 21st!!! Sorry for the confusion!

Late Sketch Card

I am finally getting around to Lauren's Saturday sketch. I've had a few ideas but went with another birthday card for a friend. Its bright and pretty and I got it done quickly! Can't beat that!

(The stamps come from the long-retired-but-much-loved Daisy Crazy set.) I used Gable Green for the base, as well as the ink for the stems. I have a layer of Pixie Pink, then the flowers are stamped in Orchid Opulence, and so I used the same card stock to mat the image. I have a little White Grosgrain ribbon going across the bottom and for the circle I used one of these ribbon slides from the Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware from the Occasions Mini. And that's it!

Be Inspired Challenge #17

Yep, its another black & white card! This one comes from a flowered pillow Beate used for her inspiration challenge. I took this one pretty literally (tho not as literal as some) and have a black card with white flowery-ness! (of course that's a word! LOL!)

I used my Fresh Cuts set again, and stamped the big image in Basic Black ink. It would appear I need a refill...! I left an edge around it for the "mat". I used Whisper White craft ink for the leafy image going across the top. I tied Whisper White grosgrain ribbon across the top half and then used my Eastern Elegance rub-ons for the greeting! Now I have a very nice birthday card! Yeay!

A Mojo Monday!

Here's my card for Julee's Mojo Monday! its not totally, exactly the sketch, but its pretty close.

I used the White Naturals card stock, instead of Whisper White this time, and that is my base. Then a card front of Basic Black. On that is a layer of Pretty in Pink stamped with my words from Sweet Thing, and the heart is stamped in Black ink on the same Naturals card stock. I added some Pretty in Pink ribbon from an old Ribbon Originals set called Flirty, and three Pink brads.

Stamp Challenges

I DID get to stamp! Hooray! So here are some challenge cards! This first one comes from Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge #19, found here. I don't have any cupcake stamps, but I have had this scallop punch thing done for a while. It fit the sketch so I used that! I have a Pretty in Pink card base, a card front cut from the Berry Bliss paper, a strip of Pretty in Pink card stock across the middle. On that I tied some Chocolate Chip taffeta ribbon, stamped the words from Fresh Cuts, and added the circle, which is a Close to Cocoa scallop punch, with the little dots punched out of the 'petals', then topped width a chipboard circle which I covered in the Sprinkles Chunky Glitter from the Occasions mini. I also added four Pink Brads to the corners of the card. Its simple but I like it. This second card comes from Jen's Saturday Sketch, and I'm showing my card on a Monday, which seems to be the norm for me... what is it about weekends?! LOL! For this one, I started with the bottom half of the card! I stamped the flower stamp from Boho Backgrounds in Summer Sun ink, on Very Vanilla card stock. Then what...? I mounted it onto Cameo Coral card stock, and added the wide Old Olive grosgrain ribbon. Then I stamped the butterfly from Time Well Spent in Basic Black and colored her with my Pastels and Blender Pens. I stamped the words from my Simply Sent kit in Summer Sun and sponged the edges of that piece with Coral ink. It looks a little weirdly done but oh well. I mounted that onto Old Olive card stock and added the Summer Sun arch piece, which looks a little bit like a setting sun!

Weekend Sketch #51

Hooray! I finally got a little stamping done today! It was a long day but I think it ended up good. Anyway, this sketch is another of Beate's challenges and I got another Father's Day card done! I'm not done with that topic yet, but I have a week, right? So! I have a More Mustard base, a thick strip of Kraft card stock, and a strip of Very Vanilla grosgrain ribbon. The main image is stamped in basic Black ink on Very Vanilla card stock, matted on Not Quite Navy card stock. I colored it with my Watercolor Wonder Crayons and Blender Pens. Then I've stamped the greeting in Not Quite Navy and added three brads from my Hodgepodge Hardware kit. I know the recipient will love it!

Workshop Projects

Here are two cards made at my workshop this evening. First, we broke into the new Fresh Cuts note cards. Literally- I cut the pkg open while talking about it! It was fun! We made very different cards but they were so cute! So for mine, I punched out the die-cut petals, stamped the Wild Wasabi foliage along the side, stamped the big stamp with Groovy Guava ink on an angle, added a 3 1/2 x 3 /12 square of Wild Wasabi card stock to the inside front cover, and added some Wasabi double-stitched ribbon on the side. Cute, fun and super fast! This card is almost exactly the same as another workshop project, but I used different colors and left off the ribbon. I have a Chocolate Chip base, and the bottom half of the card is colored in Pretty In Pink Prints paper from the hostess pack. The focal point is Chocolate Chip ink layered on Pretty in Pink card stock, layered on Regal Rose card stock. This shows the chalkboard technique, which is sooo cool to show off! (I used the two pink shades of chalk) And finally I added a pink Square Fire Rhinestone brad! Anyway, it was lots of fun tonight! If you were interested in placing an order I am now keeping it open until Wednesday evening. There is a catalog link on the side or you can call me to see an actual catalog.

Tagged again!

Melissa tagged me twice this week! So here are both of them lumped together! So the first...

3 Joys: Watching my kids discover something new; Spending fun time together as a family; Creating something that makes someone else happy. (joy is a strong word, to me)

3 Fears: Anything happening to my children; Anything happening to my husband; and along with Melissa- not doing good enough as a mother.

3 Current Obsessions/Collections: Stamping/Scrapbooking obviously; Books (collecting, not so much reading anymore, unless its a children's book); Pictures and photography (taking pictures, editing them, printing them...hoping to scrap them!).

3 Surprising Facts About Me: Typo's and spelling errors make me absolutely crazy (even tho if you get an actual message from me it will be full of them!); I have never recovered from my pregnancy aversion to chicken and yes, I will still get sick if I eat it; I am not allergic to any animal.

Annnd the second tag:

5 Things on my To-Do List: Finish the pages for the foreign exchange kids; Hem the cutoffs for Hunter; Clean up and organize my bedroom; Make doc appts; Clean the dang bathrooms.

5 jobs I have had: Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, Camp Business Manager, Children's Sampler, Lion House banquet server, Kirt's Drive Inn (which should not have the second 'n'!)

5 places I have lived: Mesa AZ, Phoenix AZ, Page AZ, Ogden UT and Cedar City UT. (but I'm not in any of those places today!)

5 favorite snacks: Peanut butter granola bars; Wheatables (with Laughing Cow cheese!); Kettlecorn; Craisins; Little Debbie SAYS Snack Cakes so it must qualify!

5 things you may not know about me: (Can I first just say that this is hard?! Not much about me surprises ME!) I love attending plays. I love soundtracks from plays. One of the coolest things Burt and I have done is see Lion King on Broadway in California; I think the world's schedule should have days run from about 10am-2am; I do not like peanut butter in my ice cream, not even Bunny Tracks; I am total and complete klutz! I trip over nothing, walls move right in front of me and I regularly hit my head on the dryer door; I do NOT like to make phone calls. There are possibly 10 people on the planet I can comfortably just pick up the phone and call.

5 things I would do as a billionaire: Pay off ALL debt; Pay off my family's debt; what the heck, pay off friends bills too!; Send Burt to school to fill his days with something he's interested in; Stop stressing about money!

5 things I love: My family (yes, all 700 of them); The Church; Christmas; My birthday; Daisies!

Now! I tag Yvette, RaeAnne, Marcy, Melia and Karyn! Go nuts girls!

Be Inspired #16

Its bright, but I like it! I wasn't sure I would, since the colors were not quite what I had in my head (you have to use what you own, not what you haven't bought yet!) but it turned out alright!

its loosely based on Beate's inspiration piece. How'd you like that?! LOL! I did the grid on the main image because of the shelves, and I picked River Rock for the walls, Soft Sky for the blue and the Pumpkin Pie and Rose Red from the flowers on the shelves. I sponged some Pumpkin ink on the edges of the flower piece and I have this River Rock double stitched ribbon. The flower comes from Heartfelt Thanks and the greeting is from Fresh Cuts.