TLC149-Split Negative Boho Blossoms

One of the bad things about not going to work is that my sleep cycles tend to get wacky. I end up staying up way tooooooooooo late. I know that next week is going to kill me! Dh naturally gets up super, super early--he goes to the gym before work a few times a week. Pre-kids, I used to do this and it was great. I always say I'm going to get up when he does so I can get some exercise done and I do it for a little bit before sleep calls me :-) Once again, I'm resolving to start getting up early so these late nights are going to end for me soon.

The good thing about being up late is that I got a head start on the Technique Lover's Challenge at SCS. TLC149 was to use the Split Negative Technique but not to use black and white. So, I decided to use red and vanilla. I stamped the heart from MFT's Boho Blossoms in Vanilla Craft on Real Red cardstock and embossed it with Crystal Clear embossing powder. Then I stamped it in Real Red Craft on Very Vanilla cardstock and embossed with Crystal Clear embossing powder. I cut them apart and lined them up and then matted it on Chocolate Chip cardstock. I love having a tiny mat and always use my Perfect Layers tool to get a 1/16 inch mat. I stamped the word "friendship" from the same stamp set with Chocolate Chip ink on Real Red cardstock and punched it out with the word window punch. I attached it to the heart with some gold cord and a gold brad. The card base is Kraft cardstock and is edged with Real Red craft ink. In hindsight, I probably should have used either Chocolate Chip or Real Red Cardstock instead since this went a different direction once I got started but I already had the cardstock cut and ready. I stamped the Fine Lace background stamp on Very Vanilla cardstock and then punched the corners with my Ticket Corner punch. I tied wide Chocolate Grosgrain around this and then attached it to the cardbase. Then, I attached the heart and small tag to the card with dimensionals. It still wasn't quite done so I added some Liquid Pearls to the corners of the card.

This was a fun technique but now I'm beat and about to hit the hay. The kids decided to "camp out" which means they're all sleeping downstairs. They stayed up late as well and the 5 yo is supposed to go to work with daddy tomorrow. Somehow, I don't see him waking up to do that :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Another FS47 Card

We took down the Christmas trees today and I had a little free time to stamp so I decided to do another Featured Stamper Challenge. I'm so glad that Danielle was the Featured Stamper because it definitely gave me a new gallery to look at. Her stuff is awesome.

Here's the card I CASED. I kept the layout but changed up the colors and image. I also didn't have room for ribbon and used eyelets instead of brads. My cardbase is River Rock and I cut 1/2 inch off the front of the card so you can see the inner edge. I wheeled the So Swirly wheel in River Rock on the inside edge of the card. I rounded the corners with the small corner rounder. I paper pierced and scalloped the edge of a piece of Loves Me Designer paper and attached that to a piece of Pixie Pink paper and then adhered it to the card front. I got the idea to use Pixie Pink with River Rock from the famous JanTink. The focal image is an American Art Stamp design called With Flower and designed by Karen Stolper. I stamped it on Whisper White with Versafine Onyx Black and then colored it in with a Blender Pen and Pixie Pink and Pink Passion inks. Then I went over a few areas with my Melon, Black, and Pink Copic Spica Glitter pens. This is matted on Pixie Pink and then River Rock. The River Rock layer is sponged with Close to Cocoa and pierced around the edges. The eyelets are from the old small flowers collection that is retired.

I'm so glad that I have one more week off so I'm sure that you'll see more stamping coming from me.

Here's a little update on the new dog. I think we've decided we're going to keep her. She's so little that she's really not in the way and the kids (and I) want to keep her around. Dh doesn't mind so now we have 3 dogs: Shango, Isis, and Josie aka Josephine Bruin :-) I do have to make some time this week to take her in and get her spayed and shots updated. I have no idea how old she is but hopefully the vet will have some idea.

Thanks for visiting!

Ain't they sweet?

Ok, my dh and I have been having a debate about our kids and who they look like. Ds is a much paler version of dh and at one point, ds and dd looked a lot alike. Right now, I don't think they look a lot alike but dh thinks they're almost identical. Tell me your thoughts. I think they look related but they're definitely not twins.

I'm on a roll

Here's my take on the Featured Stamper for Sunday. This card is totally up my alley and I love what what I did with this one. Here's the card I CASED. I changed up the colors and stamp sets but kept everything else the same.

Here are my details. The cardbase is Certainly Celery. I used a piece of Old Olive Prints paper and matted it on Old Olive. I didn't want to use Real Red Grosgrain so I colored a piece of Whisper White (?) Tafetta ribbon with one of my Copic markers to make it red.

The sentiment is from Wonderful Favorites and is stamped on Very Vanilla with Versafine Onyx Black because I wanted a really crisp and dark black ink. I matted this on Real Red and used my perfect layers and a craft knife to get a 1/16 inch border around it. This is my favorite matting border and mine is getting a little raggedy since I've let others use it and SU doesn't sell it anymore and I'm stressing about where I'll replace it when I can't use it anymore.

The flower is from PapertreyINK's Beautiful Blooms. I stamped this with Real Red on Very Vanilla. I don't know why some people say you can't use SU Classic inks with acrylic stamps since I've never had a problem with PapertreyINK and SU Classic ink. I guess that's why Nichole is a genius! I punched out another piece of Old Olive DSP and attached it to one of my Build a Brads to put in the center of the flower and then attached it with a glue dot.

I'm so gonna copy this layout again! Thanks for visiting!

Elegant Inspirations

I'm really enjoying my Winter Break and the chance to stamp!!!!! I did today's Inspiration Challenge over at SCS. This is my first inspiration challenge--I usually follow the challenges but don't get to do them because work gets in the way of stamping time :-) The inspiration for this piece is a gorgeous dress that I'd love to own when I lose a little more weight.

I don't normally do elegant cards but I really, really like how this one turned out. You can't see but the cardbase is River Rock. I embossed a piece of Brushed Gold cardstock in my Cuttlebug with the Textile Embossing folder. I stamped some flourishes from one of my Autumn Leaves clear dollar sets (I think) on Bravo Burgundy in Brilliance Galaxy Gold. Then, I attached these 2 pieces to the front of the card and cut a slit in the side for ribbon. I used a piece of wide organdy ribbon that is long retired and I'm not sure what color it was--maybe Cranberry?--and a tiny piece of narrow gold organdy . The sentiment is from All Holidays and I admit, I bought the set just for this one stamp and sadly, this is the first time I've inked it up. I first inked it up with Bravo Burgundy and stamped it on Very Vanilla but it wasn't quite what I wanted so without cleaning it off, I reinked with Brilliance Galaxy Gold and then stamped it on Very Vanilla and loved it! I punched this out with my Mega Circle punch and then matted it on Bravo Burgundy which was punched out with my Giga Scalloped Circle punch. I dotted each of the scallops with Gold Liquid Pearls and then mounted this to the card front with dimensionals. I love how elegant this turned out and think I'm going to go into my stamp room and play a little more.

Thanks for visiting!

Limited Supplies Challenge

Wow, I've had a really productive stamping day. I actually got 5 cards done today :-) We ran a few errands today and I picked up the Winter Take Ten and every time I look at it, I resolve to submit some entries. Today, I actually decided to put my money where my mouth is so to speak and got some cards done that I'm going to label and mail off for consideration. Wish me luck! One of my goals is to get published this year so we'll see what happens. I know I don't do the most intricate or detailed oriented work but I do think that I do a pretty darn good job some of the times.

I had a little time to try the Limited Supplies Challenge over at SCS today and this is what I came up with. The guidelines were as follows:

Stamps:
one stamped image that can be colored
optional: sentiment
optional: an image to ground the main image like an oval, grass, etc

Paper:
any shade of white
2-3 patterns of designer paper
NO other colored cardstock


Tools:
no specialty tools
any coloring tools
sponges ok

Embellishments:
One piece of ribbon

This was a piece of cake for this simple stamper :-)

I started out with a PapertreyINK white card and adhered a couple of piece of BasicGrey Infuse paper to that. The ribbon is from the Theater Ribbon Originals. I stamped Rubber Romance Bunny on Whisper White with Pallette Hybrid Noir and colored her in with Copic Markers and a black Copic Spica Glitter Pen. I also went over the coffee cup with a clear Sakura Glaze pen to make it shiny like a coffee cup. I sponged the edges of this piece and the card base with Creamy Caramel. I decided not to go with a sentiment for now but may add one at some point.

Thanks for visiting!

Whimsical Sketch Challenge

I don't do the Sketch Challenges at SCS that often even though I always intend to. I find that I generally stick to a few sketches that I use all the time so sometimes it's good for me to break out of a rut and try something different. Here's my take on SC156.

I love Garden Whimsy but have a difficult time getting it to work for me all the time. I will not let it conquer me so I think I'm going to have to play with it a little more :-) The card base is Black Textured cardstock and the patterned paper is Soft Sky Prints paper. I traced a dvd on Whisper White to get my circle and then stamped the butterflies in Soft Sky which was rock and rolled in Blue Bayou. The saying is stamped in Blue Bayou. The ladybugs are Purely Pomegranate and I went over the antenna with a Basic Black marker--I didn't reink between stampings since my Purely Pomegranate inkpad is super juicy and the third ladybug doesn't even look that pale to me :-). I used a sponge dauber to sponge on some Blue Bayou on the edges of the circle. It was still missing something so I added a few Fire and Ice Circle Rhinestone brads and then mounted the partial circle on dimensionals. This was a hard sketch for me but I guess that's why they call it a challenge.

I have to go pick up my oldest since he spent Christmas at his dad's but I think I'm going to try something else with this later on this evening.

Thanks for visiting!

Crazy Changito

This is one of the stamps that I got from Eclectic Paperie's Stampendous Coterie. I actually spent an afternoon stamping and coloring in the images with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol so I'd have some stuff ready to make into cards. I love this little monkey--he's so cute and sassy! This card did not end up like I thought it would initially. I actually pried the monkey off my original card base and then matted it on the Pretty in Pink layer. I rounded those edges and punched holes in the corners to tie some Black Gingham ribbon through. I attached this to the a Whisper White Textured cardbase with a Pretty in Pink brad and then popped up the image on dimensionals. I stamped the sentiment which also came in the Stampendous Coterie in Versafine Onyx Black on the bottom and tah-dah! I'm done!!!! This is my take on a clean and simple card and I actually like how it turned out much better than what I originally planned. I think I'm going to do something similar with some of the other images since they're all relatively small.

In other news, we still haven't found "Josie's" owners yet. I've had some people express interest in her if the owners don't turn up so I'll give it a few more days. She is cute and pretty sweet but she's definitely much more dominant than my other dogs--it's funny to watch her snap and snarl at my other dogs (a pit bull mix and rottweiler mix) since they just seem somewhat amused by her. They do back down when snaps and it's kind of funny to see.

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Do NOT open your presents early!!!!!

I saw this over at perezhilton.com and thought you could enjoy the laugh. This is funny in a twisted way!

Have a very Merry Christmas!!!!! We've still got the extra dog and if we can't find the owners, I've got a few takers.

Filed under: Headline of the Week > Wacky, Tacky & True

"Woman stabs husband over Xmas present"

True story! CLICK HERE to read the article accompanying this headline.

Woman stabs husband over Xmas present

An American woman has stabbed her husband with a kitchen knife in an argument that started when she accused him of opening a Christmas present early.

Misty Johnson, 34, of Rock Springs, Wyoming was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and battery, a felony, and misdemeanour domestic battery.

Her husband, Shawn Fay Johnson, 34, was treated at a hospital for a wound to the chest, police said.

Misty Johnson made an initial court appearance in which she requested a court-appointed lawyer, authorities said. She was released after posting bail, which was set at $US7,500 ($A8,760).

Authorities said Shawn Johnson called police to report that his wife had stabbed him. He told police that his wife started arguing with him over his opening a Christmas present, according to court records.

As the argument escalated, Misty Johnson accused her husband of having an affair, authorities said. Police found a marriage licence in the couple's apartment stating they were married in late September.

Police Detective David Thompson said he did not know what the present was, or if it was intended for the husband.

Posted: December 24, 2007 at 8:34 pm

Look what just ran in my house!!!!

OMG!!!! My doorbell rang and it was someone from the neighborhood wondering if this little guy was mine since he was shivering near my front door. Definitely not my dog but it bolted in the house and was so terrified. I've got him cornered away in a hallway right now but my dogs are going crazy right now. . .they're friendly but they're big and this little guy has been shaking every time they bark.

Dh and the boys went to the barbershop and grocery store. Dd is taking a nap. AND we've got people coming over in an hour and a half for the UCLA-BYU Las Vegas Bowl game. . . ACK!!!!!

I don't want to call Animal Control because what if nobody claims him and he gets put to sleep? But I can't keep him because I've already got 2 dogs. Guess it's time to make some signs and go around the neighborhood to see if he belongs to anyone.

Crap--what would you do? Call Animal Control or keep him for a couple days? I'd hate for the family that has him to have kids who might be distraught that their dog is gone at Christmas time.

ooopsie--just discovered that *he* is a she since she finally let me pick her up.

Playing with Grungeboard

So, I made this the other night while dh was at his basketball game. It's a little different for me but I like it.

The cardbase is PapertreyINK . I used Cut 'n Dry foam pads to sponge on a variety of Distress inks. I started out sponging on Antique Linen and Tattered Rose and then added some Fired Brick. I set it aside to dry since the Distress inks are really wet and juicy. I then took my Grungeboard skull and sponged on Black Soot. I popped the eyes out and then embossed the skull with Crystal Clear embossing powder. I attached it to the card front and then filled in the eyeholes with Crystal Effects. I put Crystal Effects on the eyes and set them aside. I took a piece of Kraft cardstock and crumpled it up and then sponged on Fired Brick Distress ink. I distressed the edges and edged them with Black Soot. I used my Cutter Bugz to pierce holes around this piece and in the top corner of the card and faux stitched it first with a Black Copic Spica glitter pen and then with a Black Glaze pen when I decided the glitter pen wasn't dark enough. I stamped the sentiment from MissyB Designs on this piece and added 3 clear Making Memories rhinestones brads. They were a little too sparkly so I sponged on some Black Soot to dirty them up a little. I took the sponged and randomly rubbed it on some parts of the card base as well to add some black highlights and then added the eyeballs as accents on the side.

I like the way this turned out and can't wait to play some more with my Grungeboard, especially since I picked up some Crackle paint and Distress embossing powder earlier today :-)

Thanks for visiting!

What a mess!

I was going to make this Grungeboard Part 3 but my desk is such a mess!!!!!!

You can see a little Grungeboard but I've got to clean up before I can get a decent pic and show you what's going on.

I guess I could clean up a little more but I'm engrossed in my SU Spring-Summer catalog which made its way into my mailbox today.

I think my most favorite new set is only a whopping $12.95 :-) Gotta love that. I see a lot of things I want and now I'm off to see what I really need :-)

I'm thinking that I will wait on the Grungeboard for a little bit since you know what Tuesday is :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Grungeboard, Part 2

Ok, I lucked out and got grungeboard at my LSS. I have the most amazing LSS that I go to in Berkeley and since I'm mobile during the day and visit a lot of school sites, it's easy to pop in occasionally.

There's also a thread at SCS that has some sites that have grungeboard. You can check it out here.

I did play with mine a little bit last night and it's pretty darn cool. I finished up late so I didn't take a pic and hopefully can get a decent one when I get home to show you. I got the Grungeboard elements in swirls and think I'm gonna have to get an alphabet as well. . . and some Distress Crackle Paint, Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabbers, more Distress inks, Distress Embossing Powder. . . .oh, and maybe some Alcohol inks, too :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Tim Holtz - Grungeboard

Ok, I had to go buy some Grungeboard after seeing what Tim did with it during his 12 days of tags. I found this video and hope it inspires you, too.

Ok, off to open my Grungeboard now!

Quick Pop In

I'm taking a quick break from assembling my Christmas cards to pop in and show you what they look like.

I'm feeling frazzled right now--my youngest is sick and I worked at home part of the day Thursday and Friday to be with her. Dh was able to come home early on Thursday so I could go to a meeting and then he went to the boys' school for the afterschool performances. DD and I have been attached at the hip since she just wants me. I love her but I need a little break. Dh took DS to the basketball game last night and he's at the football game with his buddy. I think I'm going to my LSS for the new Hero Arts catalog release and make and takes tomorrow!

Ok, here's the details on the cards. I did 3 different color schemes. You can see the original here. I used the Snowburst stamp set and the sentiment is from So Many Sayings. The sentiment is stamped in Versamark and embossed with Detail White EP. The various snowflakes were stamped all over a sheet of Paper Accents Pearlized White CS and then punched out with a scalloped rectangle punch (don't know for sure what size but it's the blue one). One card is Pretty in Pink, Wild Wasabi, and Real Red with Red Grosgrain ribbon and the other is Purely Pomegranate, Basic Grey, and Groovy Guava with White Taffeta Ribbon. I like how this one turned out and the most time consuming thing is punching out all the rectangle and putting them on dimensionals.

Thanks for visiting!

Tag Time!

Katie tagged me so I'm about to post 7 random things about myself. I love reading these tags and finding out a little more about the bloggers I browse :-)

1. I'm seriously addicted to my Blackberry! I have the Blackberry Curve and it's the most awesome thing ever--I love having instant access to email, the web, my phone, etc in such a light and cool looking package.

2. I have never taken an art class in my life. When I was in school, I was really serious and took extra science and stuff like that for electives.

3. I thought I was only gonna be in public education for 3-5 years before going back to school to get my PhD in History. . .well, I'm still in public education and no Doctorate right now.

4. Which leads to this--I do plan to get my PhD in Education. I'm just waiting to see if dh is going to go to Business School. We both can't be working and in school because who's gonna mind the kidlets?

5. Growing up, I never thought I'd have dogs but now I'm totally a dog person. We have 2 at home right now and I stay away from dog adoptions otherwise I'd be tempted to bring another home.

6. I'm currently working on my Christmas cards :-)

7. The very first concert I ever saw was Bruce Springsteen for his Born in the USA tour at the Los Angeles Coliseum. I was in high school and missed volleyball practice to go and got benched for missing practice.

Now, it's my turn to tag some others so how about:

Vicki
Melanie
Julie
Ema
Cassie

and YOU if you want to be tagged!

Thanks for visiting.

Holiday Bella Birthday

Believe it or not, I own no Bella stamps. I've had several in my cart for quite some time and went and updated the other day after the party Friday night and the new additions. I just can't quite hit submit at this time. I think they're really cute but do I *need* them? I swapped images with another stamper to get some Bellas and was also RAK'ed some from a blogging buddy. I think this will tide me over for now. I'm working on coloring some of them and we'll see if I really, truly *need* them or if I can hold out for a little longer.

This is a birthday card for my Secret Sis at SCS. She says that she doesn't normally use Bold Brights and since her birthday is in December, I went with Christmasy colors. The card base is Green Galore. I ran a piece of Real Red through my Cuttlebug with the Happy Birthday embossing folder. I really want to use it more but it seems like unless I use a tiny image, I can't get both Happy and Birthday to show at one time. This piece is popped up on dimensionals. The Bella is colored in with Copics and Copic Spica Glitter pens. She's also popped up on dimensionals. I tied some Pink (Pretty in Pink?) grosgrain around it and knotted it and then added Apple Green and White Grosgrain as well. I think it turned out cute :-)

Speaking of Copics, I buy mine individually at Dick Blick since there's one in Berkeley. I get a 10% discount which is nice. Well, I actually went and bought a duplicate the other day since I buy them individually and in no particular order :-) Oh well, guess I just had to go back to Dick Blick today to exchange it and pick up a couple others. I wrote down what I have in a little notebook I keep in my purse and think I'm gonna make a little sheet that I can email to myself so it's on my Blackberry and I can check it out when I go shopping again.

Thanks for visiting!

Sending you smiles

I got the chance to stamp and color in some of my Stampendous images that I got from Eclectic Paperie last weekend. I love these little Changito stamps :-) The little monkey is so darn cute! I think this is a really happy and cute card and it brings a smile to my face.

The card base is Summer Sun and the patterned paper is Old Olive Prints DSP. The image is stamped on Whisper White with Versafine Onyx Black and hit with a heat gun to help it dry. I colored in with Prismacolor Pencils and Gamsol and then highlighted the vine and flowers with Stickles. I matted it on Elegant Eggplant and tied Eggplant Grosgrain around the patterned paper. The saying is from Verve Visual's Thoughtful Phrases and is stamped on Whisper White with Versafine Onyx Black and punched out with my word window punch. It's up on dimensionals.

Thanks for visiting! I hope to get my Christmas cards done this weekend--I did start them in what, October? My plan was to have them done Thanksgiving weekend but my drive to do them just wasn't there.

Sisterhood of the Blogging Stampers

I recently joined another group and it seems like it will be fun. It will motivate me to update my blog regularly and help give me encouragement and hopefully some constructive criticism as well. I love the pats on the back I get from my visitors and I'm sure you've all had the "yeah, babe, that's nice" comment directed your way as dh barely glances at what you're trying to show him. So, I stumbled across this group and it seems like a nice way to get encouragement and offer encouragement to others as well. In addition to this, I'm trying to work on using what I have and not buying anything else that is stamping related at this time so I'm going to try to stop visiting the bloggers who are on a variety of different teams and who make me feel like I gotta have it all now for awhile. I'm also still not sure where I'm going with my SU demoship. I haven't made my minimum this quarter--I've got about $85 to spend before the end of the month or I go into pending and have to spend about $185 in January to remain an active demo. Yeah, the new catalog is coming out but I can guarantee you that I don't have that much in my stamping budget after Christmas. If I can scrape together a few orders before the end of the month, I have another quarter to hang in before I go into pending :-)

Anyway, some of you know bits and pieces about me but here's my introduction for my group. I'm Kathy and I live in the Northern California Bay Area. It's atrociously expensive here but it's such a great place to be because of the diversity and vibe to this area. I'm a military brat--my dad was in the Air Force and we travelled alot. The longest time I lived anywhere was LA and that was because I went to UCLA and then started teaching there so I was there for 10 years. I'm at 9 years here in the Bay Area now so I've almost caught up to my Southern California time.

Dh and I have been together for 7 years now. He and I met a couple months after my divorce was final and Mason was 15 month old--I left Mason's dad when I was about 20 weeks pregnant but the whole getting divorced took longer. He is the most amazing guy ever and I can truly say I've found my better half. It's so true that when you're just not looking, it will come to you. Ironically enough, we both went to UCLA and know many of the same people. He's 3 years younger than me and I never would have looked at him when I was 21 and he was 18--what a difference 10 years makes though. So, we've got Mason who is 8 and spends the weekends at his dad's house, and Miles who's 5, and Maya who's 3 so it's definitely busy around here. We've also got 2 dogs. My hands are full!

I started out teaching in LA. I taught middle school history and then went into Special Education because I started getting all the Special Ed kids mainstreamed into my classes and developed a soft spot for them. After 3 years in middle school, I graduated and moved to working at a high school. My ex and I left LA to move to Las Vegas because we weren't going to be able to afford a home in LA on our salaries. Las Vegas was the beginning of the end. I was miserable there--I didn't like my job, missed LA, and my ex and I just didn't get along. I decided to leave while pregnant after having a conversation with his mom and she was completely apologetic to me when I told her what was going on. I remember her saying "I'm sorry, I thought he'd be different but he's just like his dad" and just knowing that I was not going to have the same conversation with my daughter-in-law in 30 years. I wanted to raise my son differently so I left. It was hard but it was the best decision that I could have ever made.

I moved back to California to a suburb of the Bay Area where my parents were living. I found myself and grew up so much in a short time period. While pregnant with Mason, I got a great teaching job and still chuckle at the fact that I got hired 4 1/2 months pregnant by people who knew that I was gonna go out on maternity leave before the school year ended. After he was born, I taught for another year and a half when I got the opportunity to move into administration. I became a middle school Assistant Principal and then eventually left that district and moved closer to where dh and I settled down and currently work as a Special Education Administrator in Berkeley. I LOVE Berkeley!!!!!!! It's a challenging place to work but it's never a dull moment.

I had never stamped prior to November 2003. My friend and upline got me hooked one day while looking at Christmas cards. I thought, how hard can this be and decided to make my own Christmas cards that year. I learned alot from magazines :-) and the SU catalog. I decided to become a demo in May 2004 before Maya was born to save money. Snort, I'm sure you all can relate, right?

So, that's me in a nutshell! Thanks for visiting and I look forward to getting to know my other blogging sisters.

Me, cook?

I made this card for my dh the other night :-) He does 99% of the cooking in our house and when I saw this sentiment, I knew I had to get it. The image and sentiment are both by River City Rubberworks. I discovered the site through SCS one night while browsing a thread about "edgy" sayings. They definitely have some great sayings that match my sense of humor and I'll have to break them out more often.

The card base is Old Olive and the patterned paper is from the Phoebe collection by BasicGrey. I love the colors of this particular paper and it has a funky/retro vibe that I thught would match the stamp I used.I stamped the lady and saying on Whisper White with Pallette Hybrid Noir ink and then again on a piece of patterned paper. I paper pieced her dress and this is actually a really great way to get a lot of wow for not too much work. She's colored in with Copics. I also used my Sakura Black Glaze pen and Clear Stardust pen to highlight a few areas. The sentiment is punched out with my key tag punch. Both the sentiment and image are lightly sponged with Cool Caribbean ink. I punched out 3 small (not sure what size) circles from Cool Caribbean cardstock and attached black brads from the Vintage brad collect and then attached them to the card. The sentiment is popped up on dimensionals.

I don't normally do vintage type stuff but I just love this image!

Thanks for visiting!

Holiday Doves

Ok, I seriously {heart} all the Hero Arts birds and got the Holiday Doves set at my LSS the other day. I almost bought the smaller set of birds at a different stamp store a couple days later but held off. I love these little bird--I think they are so cute!!!!!!

This card took me forever this evening. My 5 yo was totally hanging on to me while I was making this and begging to help. . . finally, I let him and my 8 yo play with my Glaze and Souffle pens and eventually stamped him a bird of his own so I could finish. Then, in comes dd. . .I finally finished when I got them all in bed tonight.

I've had the SU Watercolor Pencils forever and never use them. I've tried to like them but got the Watercolor Wonder Crayons shortly after and decided that I just didn't like the pencils at all. Since we've rearranged things in our house, the stamping room has been renamed "the art room" by my 5 yo. The kids spend a lot of time in there because I've put most of their art stuff in there and they get to watch TV or play Xbox in there as well. They're being really good about not touching my stuff without permission and I'll let them use my stuff under my supervision. The other day, I stamped them a bunch of images and then let them use my Watercolor Pencils and Aquapainters and Blender Pens. They had a ball and I looked at my Watercolor Pencils in a much different way and realized that maybe, just maybe, they had a use for me.

So, I stamped the Holiday Doves on Whisper White with Pallete Hybrid Burnt Umber and then colored and blended with my Watercolor Pencils and a Blender Pen. I also stamped the birds on Old Olive Prints DSP and cut out just the wings and paper pieced them on the birds. I went over the birds with my Gold and Clear Spica Glitter Pens and then colored in the ornament and leaves with my Red and Melon Spica Glitter Pens. I cut the birds out and I do admit that I'm not the most patient person when it comes to cutting things out--3 birds and 6 wings was a bit much for me. Maybe if the previously mentioned 5 yo wasn't hanging onto my arm and talking up a storm, it would have gone a little more smoothly :-)

The card base is River Rock and I added a piece of Old Olive DSP along the center. I punched out a scallop circle from Real Red and a regular circle in Whisper White. I stamped the Linen Background stamp in River Rock on the WW circle and then stamped the saying from All Holidays in Real Red on top of this. I placed this on the card and then put the doves on it on top of dimensionals. It was still missing a little something so I punched 3 holes down the other side and added 3 red eyelets.

I like this card alot but it is a lot of work and I couldn't see myself making this in mass quantities. I think I'm gonna find some time to play with my little doves a little more in the next few days.

Thanks for visiting!

Heartfelt Thanks

I haven't used my Heartfelt Thanks set in awhile and needed to make a thank you card for a friend who did a favor for me the other day. I love this set and really need to make an effort to pull it out more often.

The card base is Pretty in Pink and I stamped the Linen background stamp on it in Pretty in Pink. The flower is stamped in Pretty in Pink and Wild Wasabi on Naturals White and is overstamped with the same colors and then matted on Wild Wasabi. I stamped the other flowers in Pretty in Pink (some are stamped off) and overstamped in Pretty in Pink and Real Red. The small thanks from Everyday Flexible Phrases and heartfelt are both stamped in Real Red. The smaller flowers are cut out and crumpled then mounted on dimensionals. All flowers are highlighted with Dazzling Diamonds glitter applied using my Sakura Quickie Glue Pen. Finally, I added some ribbon tabs to the side of the focal image--I don't remember the exact color of the top one but I think it's Pale Pink. The other ones are Wild Wasabi stitched ribbon and Real Red Grosgrain (even though the color looks a little off).

I love the way this turned out and since we've been having gorgeous weather here in the Bay Area, a springy colored card works out well. I'm sure our weather will turn before I know it and I'll be pulling out the fall colors then.

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Happy Black Friday

Ok, I'm probably one of the only people in America who doesn't look forward to going out and braving the crowds early on the Friday after Thanksgiving in search of great deals. While I love a good deal, I don't like huge crowds and crazed shoppers. I don't like having to fight with others to get something. I don't like standing in line for a long time. I don't like when stores are messy and unorganized. . . so, I sleep in the Friday after Thanksgiving and just chill.

Dh went golfing again this morning so it's just me and the kiddos. I made them chocolate chip pancakes but didn't have regular chocolate chips so we used white chocolate chips instead. The kids seemed to like it. I'm currently procrastinating on getting the kitchen cleaned up so I decided it would be a better use of my time to blurf and then come update my blog :-)

I played Donna's Pay It Forward RAK and got this stamped Hanna image. I love it and I loved coloring it in!!!!! I used Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol on this one. I just picked a bunch of colors that looked good and didn't think about trying to match cardstock. Thankfully, I lucked out. The card base is Almost Amethyst which is a color I rarely use. I matted the image on Green Galore and added Lovely Lilac eyelets in the corners. I added some Lovely Lilac cardstock to the bottom of the card and stamped the dots and saying from So Many Sayings on the bottom with Craft White. I punched a hole in the crease of the card and then tied some Apple Green Grosgrain around it. The focal image is up on dimensionals. So, I may just have to break down and buy this set from Hanna Stamps--it's so adorable and it was fun to color in. I think I need to check the lighting when I take my pics--this one seems much darker than it is in real life and I couldn't get the colors quite right when I was editing it.

By the way, if you are waiting on me to pay it forward to you, I'm almost done and the goodies should be going out on Monday.

Have a great day and thanks for visiting.

bibbidi-bobbidi-boo

So, my 3 yo is totally into princesses, Barbie, Bratz Kids, Strawberry Shortcake, and all those other girlie things. Her latest dvd obsession is Cinderella 3 and this has me thinking.

Now, I'm not one of these totally diehard feminists but I'm pretty self sufficient and dh used to get upset because in the beginning, I didn't make him feel extra special or needed. I frankly told him that I was happy with life and myself and that I didn't *need* him to be complete--he was the icing on the cake. Granted, now that I've got 3 kids, a mortgage, 2 dogs, and all that other stuff I do *need* him in my life--not only do I need him but I want him and he enriches my life immensely. So, not to be too sappy, I have found my prince and I'm pretty darn happy with him.

But, what are all these Disney Princess movies (oh, and Barbie as the Island Princess) teaching my dd? That she needs a prince to rescue her and make her complete? and not only that she needs a prince to rescue her but even if he does love her, if she's not a princess, she is not worthy of him? or maybe he's got some type of spell on him and actually believes that some other chick is his true love and can't recognize that she's the one because the shoe doesn't fit. . .

Sigh, I'm not gonna take the princesses away from her because I know it's a phase she's going through but where are the strong female role models for little girls?

Time Well Spent CASE

I had some time today to do a little stamping. I'm really, really liking the new Time Well Spent set from SU. For this card, I totally CASED Shannan's card which can be found here. She used a Fabriano watercolor card and hers is one layer but I'm still hoarding mine because I can't bear to waste them and I don't want to ruin one on accident :-)

I stamped the flower and the sentiment (from So Many Sayings) in Versafine Onyx Black on SU watercolor paper. I watercolored with reinkers in Groovy Guava and Purely Pomegranate and my aquapainters and then highlighted various areas with my Copic Spica Glitter pens. I stamped the row of dots from All in a Row with Groovy Guava and went over them with the aquapainter. This is matted on Chocolate Chip and the card base is Groovy Guava. I love this card and wish I had come up with the idea on my own but thankfully, there is so much inspiration out there that other stampers willingly share.

I stamped another card but can't get a good pic right now. I like it but don't love it--I think I'm gonna see what I need to do to change it up a little.

and lookie what I got today!!!!! I got my Stampendous stamps from the Stampendous Coterie at Eclectic Paperie!!!!!! They are so cute and I defintely want to get them inky immediately!!!!! Ok, gotta run and get the kids. Thanks for visiting!

Woohoo--I stamped again!!!!

I love new stamps and I especially love free new stamps!!!!! Stampin' Up! sent all demonstrators a brand new stamp set as a thank you for all of our hard work and a token of their appreciation. The set is called Time Well Spent and is an upcoming Hostess Level 3 set. I love the doodley style of this set! This is a very fun set to color in and I can't wait to play with it a little more. The card base is Old Olive and I stamped the images on Kraft cardstock with Versafine Onyx Black ink. This is matted on Real Red and then put on the card base. I colored them in with Real Red, Only Orange, Summer Sun, and Old Olive markers. I stamped the bigger flower on Summer Sun cardstock with Only Orange and punched out the center with a 1/2 inch circle punch and then used one of my Pewter Build-a-Brads to make the center of the flower. I also punched out three holes and inserted pewter brads in them on the bottom of the card. In hindsight, I should have used Antique Brass in this color scheme but I only have Pewter Build-A-Brads. I may have to rectify this in the not too far future :-)

I also got some more birthday RAKs.

I absolutely love all of them--in case you didn't know, I sorta have a weakness for Regal Rose and it's gorgeous with Certainly Celery. I love this image--it's so delicate and pretty! This one is from one of the SCS Birthday Babes and her user name is Sherrie.

The next one has the sparkliest cupcake ever! I love this card and will totally have to case this layout and idea since it's perfect for both boys and girls! Thanks Kris aka Stamping in Kansas!

Finally, I've got one of my favorite color combos--pink and orange!!! This one is from exfib at SCS and I swear, this is a card I could've made on my own. The color combo, layouts, and embellishments are sooooooooooo me!!!! Carol and I must be separated at stampin birth!

I'm gonna try to get more stampin in tomorrow but don't know how successful I'll be--we've got a cousin over for a sleepover and I have a much needed hair appt in the afternoon :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Be Gentle. . .

Because I am not a scrapper--I'm a card maker.Miles got to bring Mr Monkey home for a week. It's one of the kindergarten class projects where they bring a stuffed animal home and take pictures of what they do with him and then put together a scrapbook. Miles' kindergarten teacher was also Mason's teacher and is one of my very few SU customers so she sent him home with us first because she knew we were going out of town and I'm "so crafty" bwwwwaaaaahhaaaaahaaaa!

So, we took Mr Monkey to the game/tailgate party at the Rosebowl last weekend and this is what I came up with. First, we've got the cover to the Mr Monkey book that the teacher asked me to make and then our page. I'm also going to add a pic that Miles drew of Mr Monkey and have him write a little about how much he liked having Mr Monkey visit our family for a week.


I'm gonna skip the deets for now but I do eventually want to scrap our UCLA/Rosebowl tailgating times--I've got a priceless pic of me holding Miles in the Baby Bjorn when he was about 6 months old. It looks like he's drinking out of my Mike's Hard Lemonade that'll be one to remember. I also have all these ideas in my head about how to make the pages amazingly wonderful (unlike these that I did super quick and are not gonna be saved by me)

I apologize for the not great quality pics but it's late and Mr Monkey and the book have to return to school tomorrow.

Thanks for visiting!

Like the new look? and some RAK's

If so, you gotta visit Dina over at http://digisigis.blogspot.com/

Dina is totally amazing and so reasonably priced. Her watermarks are top notch and you're not paying out the nose for something that you can't do much with. I love my blog banner and what's not perfect is user error and not designer error--she's gone back and forth with me almost nonstop for the past few days to get my blog banner where I want it. I really felt I was too demanding but she was ever so patient with me and pointed my non-technologically based self in the right direction.

That said, I'm sooooooo late on posting these. Work is still kicking my butt and weekends are spent with the family and cleaning things up. I got a couple bday RAK's. The bella card is from Sumtoy and I totally love it!!!!! I feel really bad that I don't own any bellas and I think they're super cute. I saw a thread over at SCS at the Bella forum about how much some people have spent and if I bought all the Bellas I want, I'd be up there as well! Card #2 has one of my most favorite color combos--I love turquoise and red together and the saffron really makes it super cool! It helps subdue the brights a little. This card is from Kim over at Kim's Basement Stamping.

I love that I got these cards and I totally love the cards! I'm so glad that the stamping community has gifted me with friends who are gonna help me celebrate my 20th anniversary of my 18th birthday!

I'm back!

So, this was my view this Saturday. Unfortunately, my alma mater choked and we didn't win. I also realized that I've been tailgating at the Rose Bowl and watching UCLA football for 20 years now! Eeeks, I'm old :-)

Anyway, I have a few RAKs to post. I love the stamping community and the generosity of strangers. I got a couple birthday cards from people I've never met in real life and they definitely brought a smile to my face. I'm so not looking forward to my birthday because I'm turning 38 next week. 38 is almost 40. . .gasp! and that means I'll really have to act like an adult. I swear, I still feel like a 17 year old college freshman tailgating for her first UCLA game at times. How did 20 years go by so quickly?

I'm totally feeling the urge to stamp and will get a little bit done later. I'm making the cover for Miles's kindergarten class book--the teacher sends home a stuffed animal named Mr Monkey for a week and they take pics and do a couple pages to talk about what they did with Mr Monkey. She was running late and since she's like my only steady SU customer, she asked me to finish the cover for her and had Miles be the first person to take him home this year :-) We got some great pics of Mr Monkey tailgating and enjoying the game that I'll scrap for him for the Mr Monkey book.

I'm still waiting for work to slow down a little. . .unfortunately, I don't think it's happening. I know that we've got an emergency reorganization plan in the works and my department and I are meeting with the Superintendent Wednesday afternoon. Since she's retiring in February, she wants some stuff cleaned up and looking good on her way out.

Thanks for visiting!