Some scrapping!

I am determined to get some scrapbooking done every single month...time's almost up for February! I started this layout last night and finished it up this morning! Pretty simple, but hey, got 'em done! Altho I have to say, I'm not convinced the title should be one word.... Supplies: Stamps: Taffy ABC Ink: Tangerine Tango Paper: Perfect Plum, Mellow Moss & Whisper White card stocks, Autumn Vine DP Now one of these days I'm going to have to sit down and do some journaling!!!

Back with a double!

That's right, I think things are moving back to normal and I'm getting back to stamping! Whew! It has been SUCH a crazy couple of weeks! Does this tell you anything?

If you're a scouter, or your husband is, or your boys are, then it might! (If not, just know its a big deal. Annual dinner, awards and presentation event.) I have been busy with dozens of other things, AND the Blue & Gold Banquet. Like my poster? lol! I think I offered to make the poster, but I won't do that again! hee hee! But it's stamped, so it belongs here, right?

Just kidding. What I really came to share was this: Its my card using Julee's Mojo 74 sketch AND I think works very well for the newest Cinema Challenge, which was The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Haven't seen it myself, but they said go vintage, plus I think the quote (which is a little hard to see) works great for the movie. "Happiness is a Journey not a Destination"

I really like to emboss this train, but I wanted it brown, not black... I tried my hand at an old trick I've never actually used- ink the stamp good in Versamark, then whatever color you want, then use clear embossing powder, and voila! a shiny, brown train image! Then I stamped the words in Versamark all over the front of the card. Its pale, but adds a nice touch. This card is definitely going to my brother.

Supplies:Stamps: Happiness is a Journey Ink: Versamark, Chocolate Chip Paper: Creamy Caramel, Very Vanilla, Close to Cocoa Accessories: Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Clear Buttons, retired chocolate ribbon, Mini Glue Dots

Cinema Saturdays!

Two of 'em, in fact! First, the current one! LOL!

The movie of the week was Emma, which I borrowed from the library a few months back. (the Gwyneth Paltrow one) I thought it was great! Its funny and light and quite enjoyable. And I'm a sucker for Jane Austen and sooo much 18th century in my movies anyway... haha!

Emma has the best of intentions in helping her friends, even if she 'misses', every time. She thinks she's very sweet, which is a lot of the humor of the movie. When I started browsing my supplies for something to capture Emma, I thought of something sweet, pale pink and airy. This is not exactly it... lol, but it does have a sweetness to it and uses pale colors... And this fabulous flowery paper has always seemed to have that 18th century feel, tho I'm not sure why.

I like the card a lot, but I'm not convinced its totally Emma. Oh well! The card also uses the OCC sketch this week, by Laurie Schmidlin, which was a lot more fun than it looked at first. It intimidated me! haha! Oh, and along with Emma they wanted dots so I have a few, plus the circles in the sketch.

Supplies:

Stamps: Embrace Life, Fresh Cuts Ink: Black, Perfect Plum, Apricot Appeal Paper: Apricot Appeal, Pale Plum & White card stock Parisian Summer DP (retired) Accessories: 1 3/8 inch circle punch, Fiskars Zingz

This card is late but also inspired by the Cinema Challenges. Can you guess which one? My husband couldn't, based on my card, darnit. hee hee! Oh well, it worked for me!

It is Princess Bride, of course, one of my all-time favorites! As soon as I saw which movie, I wanted something pale blue, like Buttercup's princess dress, and swirly.......yeah I couldn't think of anything. Today while organizing my ridiculously-hoarded designer papers I came across this blue sheet and immediately realized that's what I wanted to use! But I also wanted a simple feel because she's a farm girl after all. So I picked some colors from the cd cover art I have (my hints to my husband were that "Its a movie we have on VHS and DVD. And the cd. And the book!")

The card only has two flaws- I really wanted a bow there, and now you all know why I don't do bows, and I scorched my paper while heat embossing!!! ACK!!! So sad.... I've never done *that* before.........

Supplies:

Stamps: Upsy Daisy

Ink: Versamark

Paper: Certainly Celery card stock, Bashful Blue Prints Paper (retired)

Accessories: So Saffron Poly-twill ribbon, White Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, misc white ribbon

Workshop!

So yesterday I had my workshops! I really enjoy doing workshops.....we should do that more often, girls! Lucky me, I have another on Saturday! Yeay!

Anyway, here was the make & take. I was actually kinda proud of this one. Simple but pretty. hee hee! I'm also very happy with the colors. Very calming.

Supplies: Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes Ink: Bashful Blue, Close to Cocoa Paper: Bashful Blue, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White Accessories: Celery Grosgrain Ribbon, Silver Hodgepodge Hardware, Scallop Edge Punch

Also, I got some more stamping done tonight, so there will be more to see tomorrow! YEAY!

High Fashion!

Yeah, remember I said I made four cards? I've only posted three. But it was a busy weekend so I'm only getting this last one up now.... The sketch came from PaperCraft Planet. It required trimming off the one side and embellishing or stamping on the "inside" edge. That's a little hard to show in photos, so there's a few...! :) My embellishment of choice was some fun, chic ribbon Eve sent me when I participated in her challenge. And this picture hopefully shows how sparkly the dress is!

Also, I again used the idea of swiping color across the words I wanted emphasized. Easy little detail.

Supplies:

Stamps: Humor In High Heels

Ink: Black

Paper: basic Black, Pink Pirouette & White card stocks

Accessories: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Blender Pen, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, 2 way Glue Pen, ribbon

Recipe Challenge!

Well this was different for me...! The Whiff Of Joy weekly Challenge was a recipe: Three patterned papers, two flowers and one button or brad. For someone who just started putting patterned paper on cards in the last year, THREE is a challenge for me! *wink* And I don't really have flowers... But I came up with this card:

Supplies: Stamps: Willow with Cookies (WOJ) Ink: Black Paper: Chocolate Chip, Taken with Teal & White card stocks, Loves Me DP (retired) Accessories: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Blender Pen, EE Button (retired), cherry blossom punch

Originally I saw this paper and thought how well it would work with this little boy, but flowers really didn't fit. I thought about circles as a replacement, so I have a scallop circle and a little blue circle... Don't know if it counts, but the card is bright and cute! I've already used the circley paper on water scrapbook pages, but I also loved how the DP that mats the whole card looks like bathroom tile! Perfect! Supplies:

Stamps: Oakley in Tub (WOJ) Ink: Black, Yoyo Yellow Paper: Yoyo Yellow & white card stock, Martha Stewart Playful Blue DP Accessories: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Blender Pen, Scallop Circle Punch, 1/2 inch circle punch, Subtles Brads And, if you love these Whiff of Joy stamps, head over to Katharina's blog, and play along with this challenge to win more! The new release are soooo cute!!! And all this blog candy is very exciting! LOL!

Embrace Favorites!

Yesterday I got the school valentines all completed, and made FOUR other cards besides! YEAY! I'm going to spread them out tho so you're not overwhelmed today! LOL!

Now here is a card I am very happy with. The OCC Challenge was to make a card around your favorite accessory. I LOVE this ribbon. I loved it as soon as I saw it! But, I got it and its so wide and thick I hardly know what to do with it. I cannot tie bows (ever seen one on my blog??) and its so big for knots... what to do, what to do...?? But this sketch of Julee's (Mojo #73) lent itself quite well to this particular ribbon! Yeay! Two in one! I just love how the soft shade of the ribbon looks with the rich Eggplant!

Supplies: Stamps: Embrace Life

Ink: Black, So Saffron, Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant Paper: Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, white card stocks Accessories: So Saffron Poly-twill ribbon, Blender Pen, Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware (retired)

Feb Stamp News & Valentines!

Ok, this is newsletter is late getting out, but my whole family has been sick and I had to reschedule things and make it all work! But here's what's going on:

Events! I am hosting a workshop at my house on Tuesday, Feb 17th. You can come to the 10 Am or the 6:30 pm demo. I’ll be showing very similar projects at each, and selling off the last of the retired stamp sets (been selling these for a year or so…) and all past Idea Books will be $2 each! Then my friend Mindy is hosting at her house on Saturday, Feb 21st, at 11 AM. (Let me know if you want her address!)

Stampin’ Up! Specials! SALE-A-BRATION! This is the best time of year to host, the best time of year to order and the best time to sign up for this fun business adventure! Just look: Customers: Receive a free Sale-A-Bration product for every $50 purchase!

Hostesses: Receive a free Sale-A-Bration product with a $300 or more workshop, in addition to the normal hostess benefits! Recruits: Choose any retail stamp set (a value up to $47.95) from the current catalog when signing up during the promotion. Plus, get 15% off the regular $199 price of the Starter Kit--that's $335 worth of products for only $169!

Clubs! My Stampers 10 club is about half full, so let me know soon if you’re interested! It’ll run from March-December and is always fun to be a part of. This year will be the best yet! Accessories Clubs are not yet full, contact me for more information. I’d really like that order to be done Feb 17.

Feel free to call me with any questions or to sign up for any of the above!

And finally, here is how the Valentines for my son's class turned out. We stuck these tootsie pops in a small hole I punched on the fold and used scotch tape on the blank side of the inside of the card. Wanna know something funny about the lollipops? The bag says cherry flavored and the ingredients only include strawberry powder....... hee hee!

Short & Sweet

I needed to make a thank you note for a sweet friend who brought us dinner, just because she knew we were all sick. It was a total surprise and I appreciated it so much. Plus, it was tasty! So I whipped up this cute little card for her... Supplies: Stamps: Lexicon of Love (retired) Ink: Chocolate Chip, So Saffron Paper: So Saffron, Chocolate Chip & White Card stock, Spring Showers DP (retired) Accessories: Chocolate Grosgrain Ribbon

Dinner!

Ok, I am not really a soup kind of person. For YEARS I only liked tomato soup, and only as long as I had grilled cheese sitting next to it. And it wasn't for poor options because if I'm gonna eat a soup (or a stew) its gotta be my mom's. I can actually make a pretty good stew myself, I just don't like it. Well, back up, I *did* like alphabet soup and chicken & stars kind of stuff when I was very little... Anyway, about eight years ago I found I like chili (which is darn close to a soup/stew!) And my MIL does a great cheesy potato soup... so my tastes are expanding. But, in the last month I made the potato soup, my friend brought over a very tasty minestrone kind of soup and then last night I made this:

Ohhh dreamy! Its Chicken Tortilla Soup, courtesy the grocery store samples!!! I've seen tortilla soup recipes before and thought they looked incredibly gross. I only picked this sample up because my daughter loves samples and is usually a very good eater and will taste whatever they have to offer...til that day. Sooo I had to eat it, since I took it! And oh my word it was goood! They had recipes sitting there so I grabbed one and have been waiting to make it! So, here's their recipe, plus the changes I made....

Chicken Tortilla Soup

• 1 can chicken with rice soup
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1 cup salsa
• 1 cup canned pinto beans, rinsed
• 1 cup canned black beans, rinsed
• 1 cup frozen or canned corn
• 1 cup diced cooked chicken
• 1 tsp ground cumin

crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheese and sour cream

In large saucepan combine the first 8 ingredients. Cook over med-high heat for 5-7 mins. Serve with tortilla chips. Yield 5 servings.

Yeah, ok, I used a pot. First of all, I used pints of our own left over turkey stock. My husband had frozen it in pint jars, and two full pints had about a cup of turkey bites as well. So, I omitted the water and the chicken. I also cooked a half a cup of my own white rice (because we have a TON) instead of using the rice soup. I put in the full can of each bean, but only a cup of salsa and a cup of corn. Then, since we'd bought a nice big stack of corn tortillas for enchiladas, only they fell apart and are useless for enchiladas, I fried up my own chips. To serve, we sprinkled on the shredded cheese, a dollop of sour cream and then crumbled up a chip over the bowl. YUUUUUM!!!!!!!!! I had two helpings last night and two tonight. My kids were not fans, but too bad, we are adding this to our "regulars" list! LOL!

Summer?

Yep, bring on summer! Or at least spring! (I know, I know, I wanted autumn...but I'm done with winter now! I've had enough thanks...)

After the family all being sick (at least one of us every day for ten days now!) I took some time to stamp. So there. LOL!

This card more or less follows a sketch from Lauren. After I find the one closest to my drawing, I'll see how old it is... haha! (I have a scratch paper half full of sketches I'm *going* to get around to playing with and the name of the person or blog who posted it. Its a little confusing at this point...)

Supplies: Stamps: Unknown Sarah Kay Image, Canvas (retired) Ink: Black, Creamy Caramel Paper: Creamy Caramel, Barely Banana & white card stocks Accessories: Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Blender Pens, Mat Pack, EE Buttons (retired), Retired grosgrain ribbons Oh wow! Bonus! Its this weeks' sketch! Haha! Just barely a week late! Go me! Well anyway, enjoy my summery card. Maybe it'll hold off the storms......haha! Don't I wish?

OCC Challenge

Here is my card, just a tad late, for the OCC Challenge. (ok, I made it this Saturday, but I haven't had a chance to do anything with a sick family, and now me.) It was a great sketch and I thought a weirdly-lot about it. *wink* But I am very happy with how my card came out! It'd be great for an anniversary card but more likely used one of those days when I just want to stick a card in my husband's briefcase! (my anniversary is 8m away...!) Supplies: Stamps: Priceless, Melinda Blowing Kisses (WoJ), Lying Matthew (WoJ) Ink: Basic Black Craft, Versamark Paper: Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink, White card stocks Accessories: White Taffeta Ribbon, Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Blender Pen, heart clip