What a WEEK!

Let's see....husband's birthday, school pool party and field day, evening band practices, the last week of school and a five day migraine....yep, some days I don't manage to post! Despite the fact that I have been working on this layout since Tuesday...But! Today was the last day of the school year and even tho my summer calendar looks packed, I am going to relax, because we made it! PHEW! hahaha...

Tonight I have a double scrapbook layout. Since MDS is retiring in just a few short days, the MDS Monday Blog is also coming to an end. I think this has been my very favorite challenge blog and I have tried to play every week (even tho that doesn't always work out...see above, haha!). Sad, sad, sad! I missed last week, so I combined this week and last week's challenges to make these pages from last December!

The first page uses the sketch from last week, and the second just goes with it. This week's challenge was to use our favorite downloads. Hands down, my favorite and most used kit is the Lemonade Stand content disk, which was only available during a Sale-A-Bration season. I use it all the time, there are elements from it on most of my digi projects. This time the three different DP, the snowflakes and swirl "stamps" and the title all come from the Lemonade Stand disk.

Supplies:
MDS: Lemonade Stand content disk (DP, snowflakes, swirl, "I {heart} THIS"; Punches, Free form line

The photos document an "adventure" we had last December. I think the journaling is worth a glance, and since it's very tiny, here you go:

What a fun {long} night this was! We picked up dinner at Jimmy Johns, picked up Dad at work, then hopped on the Frontrunner! We picked up Grandpa --- & Grandma --- at a stop near them, and headed to Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square! We listened to a choir sing in the Assembly Hall, and saw some lights at the City Creek Center. Then we took Trax to Aunt --- house and visited her a while.
On our walk from Trax to Aunt ---, --- noticed a man in a wheelchair trying to get out of the laundromat, but unable to get the door to open properly. He ran up to help, but Grandpa had to fix it. Grandpa and Dad ended up helping the man home, and we were so glad --- noticed him so that he was able to get home safe, instead of freezing to death that night. It was quite a thing.
After our visit, we went back on Trax, back on Frontrunner...and somehow missed our connection to go south after the Murray Station! We were going to have to sit and wait for over an hour, in the very cold, late night! Grandpa took the kids over to the hospital because at least it was warm and somewhere to be, but Dad realized we could just go north and then come back south to stay warm, haha! So we did! We went back downtown and came back south after that! Ours is the most south stop, and then we found an ice and snow covered truck! We didn't get home til 1:20 AM! The kids were so wiped out they went to school nearly an hour later than usual! 

End of the Teacher Gifts!

I promise, haha! This is absolutely the most effort I've ever put into teacher gifts, and it is the most gifts I've done at once, so maybe that's why...I could never teach a classroom full of children, no matter the age, and I want these wonderful teachers to know they are appreciated!
Anyway, on with the stamping!

Last week I posted that I needed to use up my Paper Pumpkin kits and get those boxes out of my closet, haha... That day I had 13 boxes (because my newest kit arrived!) and now I have 7! Yeay!! I realized the note cards from the April 2015 kit were perfect for teachers! I always include a little thank you note from me, and this was just the right size- and great for both men and women! So here are the notes I made for them. The women got the little envelope that came in the kit, the men didn't, haha.... You can see more of that kit HERE and the refill is available to subscribers HERE.

Supplies: April 2015 Paper Pumpkin Kit

In case you wondered how it all turned out- the four women got the gift bags from the latest kit, (available to subscribers HERE) and they're super cute! Then, in that closet that had to be tackled, I found two little brown sacks that had "thank you" printed right on them! I have no idea where these came from but I needed sacks for two men and these could not be more perfect!

Supplies: May 2015 Paper Pumpkin Kit

One thank you gift was delivered this morning, four will be delivered this afternoon, and the last one goes out Friday morning!

Retiring & Retired...

On the note of teacher gifts, I had to make an additional card. Apparently my son was not a big fan of the "masculine" thank you cards I had in my stash, and couldn't pick one for his PE teacher... I mentioned (against my better judgement, ha!) that I do have a basketball stamp and he was very excited about that, which meant I had to put this card together, haha!
The basketball stamp is long retired, so it made sense that I added some now-retiring products to the card! I also used the previous Freshly Made Sketch, even tho I missed linking up in time, haha...

Supplies:
Stamps: Slam Dunk (retired)
Ink: Memento Black, Pumpkin Pie
Paper: Pumpkin Pie & Whisper White card stocks, Sweet Taffy DP
Accessries: 1 3/8" circle punch, Stacked with Love Washi Tape, Dimensionals

What is retiring from today's project?

• Sweet Taffy DP
• Stacked with Love Washi Tape 

May 2015 Paper Pumpkin!

Happy Memorial Day to you!

My latest Paper Pumpkin kit arrived last week, so I took a little time today to play with it! ALL of it! Remember, I don't want another box just taking up space...! haha!
To be honest, when I first saw the kit, I thought "meh...." I even considered giving it away - except that I liked the stamp set! Really, it was that I wasn't excited about making gift sacks, even cute ones. I just didn't wanna... Til I realized how handy and timely this was! Inspiration struck and I went to town!

First, this is how the kit is designed, with four gift sacks and six cards. Cute, happy and fun! And really easy too! Can't beat that!!

I keep gift sacks that we are given and I rarely buy them new, haha, so having four new (and quite small) gift sacks really just did not appeal to me.
However.
*grin
This is the last week of the school year and that means teacher thank you gifts!!! Yes, please!! And with a child in junior high, that means several teachers need a gift this year! Usually I just stamp brown paper lunch sacks, but now that I have this kit, the four female teachers are getting these sacks! Balloons and "celebrate" totally apply to the end of school! (yellow tissue paper will be added when I have the stuff to go inside them) And what do you think of my alteration?? Fun, huh?

 And just because I can, I mixed up the card design a bit too!

 (check out the inside detail! I almost never do that either! haha...)

I even kept aside a few supplies to put together a scrapbook page another day.
And there you have it- my May Paper Pumpkin kit! Almost completely used up in one shot, for a bunch of different projects! YEAY!

*Like I said, I have done gift sacks as teacher gifts most years. What goes inside? I let my kid choose a candy for each teacher, then I stick in a package of microwave popcorn and 3-5 stamped cards with envelopes, plus a handwritten thank you from my child and one from myself. I have my kids choose from my thank you stash, unless they want to stamp their own. And the gifted cards are also selected from my stash.

And don't forget this part:

Right now new Paper Pumpkin subscribers can skip to the fun for less! Get 50% off your first two months of Paper Pumpkin when you sign up by June 10. Go to PaperPumpkin.com and use promo code: SAVE50. 

After your first two months, keep the creativity coming for just $19.95 USD/$24.95 CAD + tax per month (shipping included). Each month a fully designed project kit will arrive at your door with stamps, ink, and paper—everything cut and ready to go. 

It’s commitment-free! You can suspend your membership at any time. So, go on, sign up for Paper Pumpkin. You’ll love it—we guarantee it!

(For new subscribers only, not valid on prepaid subscriptions. Discount applied to one kit per month for the first two months of a new subscription. Offer ends June 10, 2015 at 11:50 pm (MT).)

Sign up by clicking the Paper Pumpkin button on my sidebar, by June 10 with promo code SAVE50!

Paper Pumpkin Kind of Day

One thing I really need to get done before school is out, is to tackle my craft closet/pantry again. haha... It's remarkable how quickly it gets cluttered, and I need to determine which retiring products I'm going to sell, and and and...
Well, in that closet, I have a rather huge stack of Paper Pumpkin kits that I need to use up and then consolidate! The whole point was that the Stampin' Spots and monthly stamp sets don't take up very much space....but they do if you have them still separated by kit! haha! So the other day I determined to start by completely using up the kits! This is the work station I set up, all ready to watch a movie and play! hee hee! Love that about Paper Pumpkin- everything is in the box!

I only got to one kit, but that was great! I had made the first three cards when it arrived. This time I tried to use it up. And here's what I made...!

and this is what I still have left in this kit!
(and then I consolidated a few and emptied two boxes completely, haha)

Did you know this kit is still available? That means if you didn't get it when it came to my house, you still can! All you have to do is be a Paper Pumpkin subscriber, and you can order any past kits and/or refills that are still available! (View them all HERE) As a subscriber you can choose to skip a month and if you wanted, you could order a past kit instead of the new one!

Guess what else? Have you seen this yet?

Right now new Paper Pumpkin subscribers can skip to the fun for less! Get 50% off your first two months of Paper Pumpkin when you sign up by June 10. Go to PaperPumpkin.com and use promo code: SAVE50. 

After your first two months, keep the creativity coming for just $19.95 USD/$24.95 CAD + tax per month (shipping included). Each month a fully designed project kit will arrive at your door with stamps, ink, and paper—everything cut and ready to go. 

It’s commitment-free! You can suspend your membership at any time. So, go on, sign up for Paper Pumpkin. You’ll love it—we guarantee it!

(For new subscribers only, not valid on prepaid subscriptions. Discount applied to one kit per month for the first two months of a new subscription. Offer ends June 10, 2015 at 11:50 pm (MT).)

A Summer Tree

Yesterday's rainy card was perfect for the weather we've had the last few weeks...it just keeps raining! We really, really need the water so that makes it okay, haha! But summer is coming, and this card seems to capture it nicely for me!
I used the latest sketch from the Clean & Simple blog and once again featured my brand new stamp set and colors!

Supplies:
Stamps: Sprinkles of Life
Ink: Cucumber Crush, Watermelon Wonder, Delightful Dijon
Paper: Cucumber Crush, Pear Pizazz, Whisper White, Tip Top Taupe card stock
Accessories: Tree Builder Punch, Dimensionals

So here's my tip for punching out the wood of the tree... Cut a strip of card stock just wide enough for the tree, stamp it, slide it into the back of the punch (always punch upside down so you can see what you're doing!) and voila- there you go!

Sure, you get a few bonus punch outs, but you can just save them in an empty button container and use them some other time!

Pretty nifty, isn't it? I am definitely loving my new toys! In the above card, I could have punched out flowers, but I opted to stamp them today. Maybe another time...! This has SO many possibilities!!
Have you gotten your copy of the new catalog yet? What do you plan to order first? Just over a week til the new catalog is official!! *squeeeeeal!

New Toys!!!

Yep, that's right- today I am featuring fun new things, never before seen on this blog! haha! Demonstrators get to order a few supplies before the new catalog is officially released (wanna join now??) and my order came last Monday evening. Yesterday was the first time I finally got to play with my stuff!!! Yeah it was pretty much killing me, haha! I decided to start by using one new stamp set, and one sketch, to make two completely different cards!

Have you ever noticed that Stampin' Up! has a stamp set in every catalog designed to collect donations to go towards the Ronald McDonald House Charities? That means that every time you or I buy that set, $3 goes to the charity! I absolutely love that fact! And this year, I really, truly love the stamp set! Bonus- it coordinates with a brand new punch too! (of course I got that too!)

Anyway, here's what you came to see! Two different interpretations of the stack of cups in the current Retro Sketch!

I love these rain clouds and I love the little phrase. I added some Dazzling Details to a few of the rain drops and to a couple lines on the clouds themselves. The punch is a Builder Punch, which means there are lots of little bits you can punch out, but the front of it is the cloud (or frosting, or ice cream!) image, so there's no waste if you only want, say, the cloud!

Supplies:
Stamps: Sprinkles of Life
Ink: Memento Black
Paper: Soft Sky, Lost Lagoon & Smoky Slate card stocks
Accessories: Silver 1/8" Ribbon, Tree Builder Punch, Hexagon Punch (flag), Dimensionals

And here is a very sweet little birthday card, or really, any time you need a good-luck-ish card! This card also features two of the new In Colors, and a brand new ribbon!

Supplies:
Stamps: Sprinkles of Life, Gorgeous Grunge
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Mint Macaron, Watermelon Wonder, Crumb Cake, Versamark, Soft Suede
Paper: Blushing Bride, Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip & Mint Macaron card stock
Accessories: Mint Macaron Dotted Lace Trim, Dimensionals

What do you think? I have lots more ideas for this stamp set! And I'm loving the new In Colors too, so be sure and come back to see what else I've got!

Picnic!

Today I have a digi-page for you!
Last summer we went on our first just-us family vacation and I really haven't gotten very much of it scrapped yet. I noticed that I needed to scrap four photos of this particular stop, and there was a challenge to use a four-photo sketch HERE so that worked out perfectly! I kept to two colors for this layout and I used three new-to-me downloads. I really like the photos with this sketch! What do you think?

Supplies:
MDS: Back To School Ensemble (stars, sketchy lines over top rectangle punch), Everybody's Business DP (circle, arrow print),  Scallop Dots ribbon, Punches
Font: Cinnamon Cake

What is retiring from today's project?

• MDS

Graduation Season!

Happy Monday to you! My weekend was a bit of a whirlwind! Friday and Saturday and half of Sunday was packed! Two more weeks of school and then can I relax? Um...not if I glance at my June calendar...wow...I hope we have some outright lazy summer days on the way because I could really use a little of that...! haha......

I did get a little crafting done Saturday and first of all, I must apologize for the photos...I have no idea how they'll turn out with the actual blog post but they're okay for now so here's hoping! I was at my mom's and used my phone camera, on a very rainy day...I was lucky I got what I did!

My mom needed two graduation cards to mail out this week, so I threw these together, using basically the same supplies. My mom's craft room is where our stamp supplies go to live when they retire. (ha! We always intend to use them but we never seem to have enough time to do the things we want...see above! *grin) So yes, there is a retired stamp image on these, but most of what I used on the cards are current (even if about-to-retire, ahem!)

This first card uses the third May sketch from Viva La Verve. I used the almost-gone In Colors, and the stack of In Color DP. At my mom's, I only had the markers so edging the panel and circle was a little trickier but I like the extra ink on there!

And this card uses the current Freshly Made Sketch, and a little bling.

Supplies:
Stamps: Feel Goods, (Grad cap is from Framed Greetings - long retired)
Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Crisp Cantaloupe, Coastal Cabana, Memento Black, Strawbery Slush
Paper: Whisper White card stocks, 2013-2015 In Color DP
Accessories: Sequins (from the Holiday Mini), 1 1/4" circle punch, Dimensionals, Glue Dots

What is retiring from today's projects?

• 2013-2015 In Color DP
• Coastal Cabana Ink
• Strawberry Slush Ink
• Crisp Canteloupe Ink
• Baked Brown Sugar Ink

Sunshine!

And now we switch gears as I start making cards with current products to fill up my board! haha! When I saw this week's Nacho Average Challenge, I knew exactly what large sentiment I had on hand to use, and then I realized I also had the perfect companion set! The card is super simple but I am really happy with how it turned out!
Now all I have to do is decide if this is going to be an end-of-year teacher thank you, or if it will be on my board after all! haha!

Supplies:
Stamps: Kinda Eclectic, Feel Goods
Ink: Memento Black*, Daffodil Delight
Paper: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight
Accessories: Itty Bitty Butterfly punch, Dimensionals

*Did you notice the Basic Black ink pad is retiring? It has color issues....my mom's has been purple'y for ages, even after using the refills... The new catalog only has Memento Black ink, which I have been loving! Such a great, consistent shade of black!

And with that, I'm off! I hope you have a great weekend!

Messy boy, Messy page!

Hello again! Today I have the last page from my scrappy night I mentioned yesterday. This one needed it's own post, haha!

These pictures are from when my son was 5. I was in the house, packing all four of us for a weekend trip with my parents and family, planning to leave as soon as my husband got home from work. My friend was out back keeping an eye on our kids. She came to the door, with him, totally mortified at what my son had done... He was BLUE. He had colored all over himself with chalk and rubbed it in reeeally well. His hair, cheeks, nose, forehead, chin, arms, hands, feet and clothes were covered! And the dust reminded me of Pig-Pen from Peanuts! It was absolutely one of those times when I had to laugh to keep from crying! And before I made him get in the tub I took these pics, hahaha...
My very favorite part? Click on the pic to make it bigger and check out my daughter's face- she cannot believe he did that either! hahahaaa!! And yes, he's showing off the bottoms of his feet which were also totally blue...
I used THIS sketch, and tipped it sideways for this page. And since the photos are messy, I felt getting the whole page good and grunged up was a good way to coordinate them!

Supplies:
Stamps: Skinny Mini ABC, Gorgeous Grunge, Work of Art
Ink: Tempting Turquoise, Coastal Cabana, Soft Sky
Paper: Soft Sky, Very Vanilla, Tempting Turquoise & Pumpkin Pie card stocks, Sweet Taffy DP
Accessories: Big Shot, Stars Framelits

What have your kids done that made you laugh and cry at the same time? Have you scrapped any of those moments? This is not this child's first page like this...............! KIDS! hahaha....

What is retiring from today's project?

• Skinny Mini ABC
• Coastal Cabana ink
• Sweet Taffy DP

A Scrappy Night!

Confession: I have three shoe boxes full of photos, specifically printed for scrapbooking...collecting dust.
Something about the shoemakers children going barefoot comes to mind here.... haha!

Last week I decided to spend one of our tv evenings paper scrapping, instead of digi scrapping, which is a common thing around here. I dragged all my supplies out and chose my son's box of pictures. I realized I have a bunch of photos that need 8x11 pages, which is how I started scrapping for him. I switched him to 12x12 books in 2010....if that tells you anything. Yikes! I cranked out four pages that night, but today I'm just going to show three.
Again, this is a great way for me to feature retiring products- and time is almost up! Check the updated list HERE and hurry and place your order!

First up, I finally did this page of him with his 1st grade teacher, on the last day of school that year. Yes, I know that was ages ago....! I found the layout on Pinterest and used colors he still likes. And I thought this phrase from Adventure Awaits worked well for a school-ish photo!

Supplies:
Stamps: Adventure Awaits
Ink: Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral (marker)
Paper: Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral card stocks
Accessories: Epic Day Washi Tape, Retro Fresh Washi Tape, In Color Sequins

Next, I made this layout of our "beach" which is really just a sandy wall of a small, local reservoir. In August I did the layout for my daughter's books of the same thing, and I only just pulled that up to link it, and had to laugh at how similar the supply list is! I guess if it isn't broken, don't fix it!
...that's two cliche's in one day...weird....

Supplies:
Stamps: The Open Sea, Skinny Mini ABC
Ink: Night of Navy, Crumb Cake
Paper: Whisper White & Coastal Cabana card stock, Maritime DP
Accessories: Wide Oval Punch, Dimensionals

So that's it for today, come back tomorrow to see the last page!

What is retiring from today's projects?

• Adventure Awaits
• Skinny Mini ABC
• Coastal Cabana ink
• Coastal Cabana card stock
• Maritime DP
• Epic Day Washi Tape
• Retro Fresh Washi Tape
• In Color Sequins

Mother's Day 2015!

Well, here's a new record for me- I made this page Sunday night! I scrapbooked the same DAY the photos were taken! Wow, am I going to miss MDS!
Not only did I just love how these photos turned out, but I also thought they fit two scrapping challenges. The four shots almost perfectly fit the newest MDS Monday challenge, which must have been posted at midnight EST, because I saw it about 10pm! And for the Virtual Scrapbook Night at Splitcoaststampers there was a challenge issued to "Color Me Happy". Right now I am definitely liking soft, spring-y colors, and these pictures definitely make me happy, so I'm calling that a match! And I love how this page turned out!

Supplies:
MDS: Vintage Overlays, All Holidays, Million Dollar Moments (flowers), Everybody's Business DP, Punches, Satin Ribbon,
Colors: Pistachio Pudding, Certainly Celery, Pear Pizazz, Blush Blossom, Pool Party. recolor tool
Font: Book Antiqua (year)

What is retiring from today's project?

• MDS

Kindness

Happy Monday to you once again! I hope your weekend was relaxing! Ours ended up fairly low-key thanks to a whole lot of much-needed rain!

Today's card uses last week's Retro Sketch. I seriously love the look of stamping on wood DP! I was going to do some kind of flowers, but the Kinda Eclectic set really wanted to be used, and who am I to disagree? haha... Especially when the results are so pretty!! The banners are slightly askew because I didn't want the Eggplant "mat" to be the next size up, but I still wanted it to show. And the fun butterflies are all popped up on Dimensionals!

Supplies:
Stamps: Kinda Eclectic
Ink: Crushed Curry, Elegant Eggplant, Wild Wasabi
Paper: Crushed Curry, Smoky Slate, Elegant Eggplant, Very Vanilla card stock, Adventure Bound DP
Accessories: Big Shot, Banner Framelits, Itty Bitty Butterfly Punch, Dimensionals

Happy Mother's Day!

If you a reading this, and you are a woman who is a blessing in the life of someone, then I wish you a very Happy Mother's Day!

I don't know how often our mother's check this blog, but this is what I posted on facebook this morning and wanted to just share here too-
My husband and I have such wonderful mother's, they deserve their own personal shout-out to the world! I created this collage in MDS. I happened to find a picture of both of us with our mother's when we were 5, and then a much more recent shot too.

I can't forget these sweethearts who made ME a mother...we took these today after church. I've created a bit of a tradition to take pictures like the middle one on birthdays and mother's and father's day....but after searching for pics for the above collage, I'm going to start insisting on individual pics too! haha....

Well, I'm off enjoying the day, and I hope you are too!

When things are tough...

Mother's Day can be a tough time...some of us have lost our mothers, some of us have too many places to be on Mother's Day and want to spend it our own way, some of us ache to be mothers and cannot, for any number of reasons. If any of this applies to you, and you don't enjoy seeing all the Mother's Day cards this week, may I suggest an alternative?
Celebrate the women in your life and their impact on you.
They don't even have to be a mother! Your sister, your best friend, a neighbor...an aunt or grandmother, or co-worker..! Any woman who helps get you thru the day or you turn to for advice, that's who you can celebrate! .
And in that spirit, this card was born.

As soon as I saw the Occasions Mini I knew I wanted this set. I was holding off a bit, other things were a priority, but I finally got it!! And this phrase is perfect for a dear friend of mine, who definitely deserves all the recognition she can get for her role as a mother. Motherhood makes strong women of us all, but I often think she is much stronger than me, because of the trials she and her children have been given.
This week, I thought the Mojo Monday sketch would be a fun way to put it to use and get it sent out! So that's what I did! There is nothing "mother's day-ish" about this card. In fact, it would be great for a guy! (And I definitely have a thing about nautical Father's Day cards...) but not this time. I cut the "never made" out of a second stamped image and layered it with Dimensionals. I added one silver button, from the sold out Artisan Embellishment kit, mostly to follow the sketch, haha. But I am very happy with how this card turned out!

Supplies:
Stamps: Adventure Awaits
Ink: Night of Navy
Paper: Coastal Cabana & Whisper White card stocks, Maritime DP
Accessories: Big Shot, Banners Die, Dimensionals, Artisan Embellishment Kit (sold out)

Since I'm sure I piqued your interest, you can see a chapter of my friend's story HERE, when her local news station recently recognized her. We grew up together, and she was even my Maid of Honor. I always hope that cards in the mail brighten her days.

What is retiring from today's project?

• Coastal Cabana card stock
• Maritime DP
• Artisan Embellishment Kit
• Adventure Awaits is not in the new catalog... 

Mother's Day!

...is Sunday! Did you know that? I barely did...! I whipped up a couple specifically-Mother's-Day cards and then laid out allll the flowery, butterfly-y cards I have in my stash (there are a LOT) and had my kids choose which ones to send their grandmothers, and my husband chose one for his mother. I know my husband likes cards that say right on them what they're for, so I needed to add a few that say "happy Mother's Day" on the front. So even tho my stash is pretty large, adding two cards to it, but mailing out 6 seems a fair trade, haha! And that is why retiring products are on today's cards!

Sketches are my favorite go-to to get me started with cards. This card uses the current Freshly Made Sketch, and is really quite a simple card, but I really love how it turned out!

Supplies:
Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Soft Suede, Coastal Cabana
Paper: Soft Sky, Crumb Cake & Coastal Cabana card stocks
Accessories: Big Shot, Butterflies Framelits, Basic Pearls, Dimensionals

For this card, I used the May 1 sketch from the Viva La Verve blog. A few weeks ago I received a couple cards, thru the Cards In The Mail swap I participate in, using this stamp set on white panels, stuck on a white card. I thought it was a very striking look. (You can see them at the end of THIS post.) I chose Very Vanilla to achieve the same idea. What do you think? I really like it, and the touch of pearls!

Supplies:
Stamps: Butterfly Basics, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Memento Black, Pear Pizazz (marker), Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride (marker)
Paper: Very Vanilla & Blushing Bride card stocks
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Basic Pearls, Dimensionals

Hopefully these inspire you to create something pretty for the mothers in your life! And I need to get the Mother's Day cards out today!

What is retiring from today's projects?

• Coastal Cabana ink
• Coastal Cabana card stock
• Scallop Edge Punch

Scrapping with Paper!

Scrapbooking is my favorite, can I just say that? It just makes me happy! haha... Also, since the Retiring List cleaned off my card display board, I need to make, um...30 something cards with current product to fill it back up, so I have therefore decided to use my retiring product for pages. This one fits the bill!
I don't do a lot of pages with only one photo, because I tend to take dozens of pictures of everything. But I have pinned lots of layouts for one photo, and they usually have a bunch of embellishments and stuff around it. That's what I tried to do with this page.
Why do I only have one photo today? This picture was taken by someone at church...the kids were challenged to read the scriptures, and every week that they had read they got to write their names on a slip of paper, which was made into a chain. At the end of the year they all went out with the chain and held it up for this picture- which every kid got a copy of! It was a great motivator and the kids were proud they had read so much too!

Supplies:
Stamps: Skinny Mini ABC, Gorgeous Grunge
Ink: Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar, So Saffron, Tangerine Tango
Paper: Whisper White, Baked Brown Sugar & Tangerine Tango card stocks
Accessories: Retro Fresh Washi Tape, Retro Fresh stickers, Big Shot, On Film Framelits

Here's a close up of that sticker...

What is retiring from today's project?

• Skinny Mini ABC stamps
• Coastal Cabana ink
• Baked Brown Sugar ink
• Baked Brown Sugar card stock
• Retro Fresh Washi Tape 
• Retro Fresh stickers
• On Film Framelits

Sweet Dreams!

Hello again! Yesterday, among plenty of other things, I got quite a lot of crafting done, which means blog posts are ready to go for a few days now! Cards and pages! I love that!

Today I'm going to share this sweet page, which is what I made last, haha, while watching our show last night. I used the current MDS Monday sketch, and an old picture that I only had one of. I haven't downloaded any of the Project Life cards yet, so I made my own, using a kit that came with MDS. I also recolored the images to better match my photo. I used the Splatter Tool for the background, along with some tiny stars and sequins to add a little more character. And I really, really like it!

Supplies:
MDS: Splatter Tool, Sara's Sequins, Banner Blast (star), Rock-A-Bye DP, Rock-a-Bye elements, Recolor Tool
Font: Little Days

What is retiring from today's project?

• MDS.

Colors of Spring Page!

Happy Monday to you! I hope you had an enjoyable weekend! I definitely did! I am so ready for summer...I would really like to sleep in one of these mornings! haha! But that will have to wait...just a few more weeks!!

I've mentioned I'm trying to create a lot with MDS before June, and I'm not doing so hot with that goal, but again, I'll take what I can get! Today's page is celebrating Spring, (not Summer) so that works out just perfectly with my week. I wanted to play along with the Virtual Scrapbooking Night (or VSBN) at Splitcoaststampers.com, which is actually going all month to celebrate National Scrapbooking month! Today's page is for Challenge #4, which is to focus on the colors of spring. Not only that, but this page works as a companion page for THIS layout! Oh, and today's layout comes from one I found on Pinterest, that originally was shared on SCS...and one that I have used before on the Halloween page HERE, haha!

Usually the egg hunt includes all the grandkids, but only my kids were able to come this year. That meant I was able to make the egg hunt pretty tricky, since my kids are older. It was so funny watching them walk past their eggs, because they blended in so well with the various surroundings. In the big pic of my daughter, that was the last egg found, and she crawled right past it a few times before spotting it, hidden in that stump!

Supplies:
MDS: Days To Remember background paper (recolored), Sycamore Street Ribbons, Button Bouquet, Square punch
Font: Pea Ellie Bellie

What is retiring from today's project?

• MDS. All of it. *sniff....

Blog Hop: May Flowers

Already we're to the 1st of May?!?!?!
The good thing about that is that we have another blog hop for you! This time we're following up with our April Showers theme, bringing May Flowers! Flowery cards are also perfect for Mother's Day which falls in May, so read on!

First up, I chose the Freshly Made Sketch for this sweet Mother's Day card....The greeting doesn't look crooked in real life....weird....

Supplies:
Stamps: Summer Silhouettes, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Paper: Wisteria Wonder & Whisper White card stocks
Accessories: Neutral Buttons, Designer Label Punch, Glue Dot

Next up, I used the current Retro Sketch for this pretty tulip card, and you can see flowers work for pretty much any occasion! I used Watercolor paper for this card and was suprised the Memento black ink smudged into the pink petals. However, I also think that muddiness gives a realistic look to the flowers so that was a happy accident!

Supplies:
Stamps: Love Is Kindness
Ink: Memento Black, Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Crumb Cake
Paper: Pistachio Pudding card stock, Park Lane DP, Watercolor Paper
Accessories: Neutral Buttons, Linen Thread, Essentials Paper Piercing Pack, Glue Dots

Finally, I used the Nacho Average Challenge for this quick birthday card. It's not my favorite card but you can't win them all... haha! I do like the colors together tho...and it's hard to see but I stamped a different little flower on the white strip to look like leaves.

Supplies:
Stamps: Petite Petals, Itty Bitty Banners
Ink: Strawberry Slush, Wild Wasabi
Paper: Whisper White card stock, Maritime DP
Accessories: Petite Petals Punch, Regals Candy Dots, Dimensionals

Aren't flowers handy? haha! I know I own tons of flower stamps, current, retiring and long retired. They're so versatile and you can make them any color you can imagine, completely changing the feel of any card you could need. Awesome feature, haha!
Now hop on over to Cheryl and all the way thru to see how everyone else used May Flowers! And leave us some comments- we love to hear what you think!

What is retiring from today's projects?

• Itty Bitty Banners stamp set
• Pistachio Pudding card stock
• Park Lane DP 
• Maritime DP
• Essentials Paper Piercing Pack
• Strawberry Slush ink