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!

Want these stamps?

I love these little Stampendous stamps. I got one of the bee stamps recently and have wanted some of the Changito stamps for awhile so when I saw this offer at Eclectic Paperie, I just had to jump on it.

Anyway, they're having a Stampendous Coterie right now and there are free stamps included on top of this awesome deal if more people order. I just placed my order--I figure if they ship out mid-November, they should be here by my birthday and I got my own present for myself :-) Join the party and help those of us who ordered get some free stamps.

If you order, I suggest you get your friends to share the love!

Randomness

So, since I haven't been doing a lot of stamping lately, I thought I'd just share some random musings with you all.

I've seen the tag game of posting 7 random things about yourself and even though I haven't been tagged, I figure I'd go ahead and post some stuff anyway. I'm hoping to get some stamping done tonight. I actually colored some images in the other night that I was RAK'ed with so I can make a few cards but it's not exactly like stamping and making a card from beginning to end :-)

1. I was a military brat and spent most of elementary and middle school in Germany; however I do not speak German :-)

2. I wanted to be a singer when I was little but since I'm a horrible singer, I probably would've starved if I had tried to do it as a career.

3. I skipped 8th grade when we moved from Germany to California. In hindsight, I wish my parents would have pushed to have me skipped at an earlier age because it was a huge culture shock moving and going from 7th grade to high school.

4. I wasn't "allowed" to date until I was 16 and was with my first boy friend from when I was 15 to 21. We ended up being engaged but I broke it off horribly because I wasn't ready to continue that relationship and wanted to see what else was out there. I don't regret not marrying him but I wish I had ended it in a more mature manner.

5. I hate cleaning and I'm a horrible cleaner. I wish I could afford a maid but I'd be embarrassed to have someone have to clean up after me regularly.

6. I went to school and ate lunch with my kindergartner today. He was very surprised to see me and didn't want me to leave. While I was there, I managed to watch his cousin and my older one for awhile at lunch recess. Now, my older son knows that his school is one of the schools I serve but it never fails to amaze how oblivious he is to my presence on the campus and how I'll always catch him acting goofy.

7. I was a 4 sport athlete in high school and even lettered and still have my letterman's/lettergirl's jacket but I'm not a very good athlete. I think you'd want to give me an A for effort and hard work cuz it wasn't my natural talent that got me on the teams.

So, post some random things about yourself so that I and your other blog readers can get to know you better.

Thanks for visiting!

Pay it forward RAK

I've seen a few other bloggers doing this and decided to join Donna's Pay It Forward RAK game. Look at all the goodies I got from her!!!!! I love this card and haven't gotten this set yet but oh my goodness, it's sooooooooooooo darn cute and my resolve is slowly dwindling. I also got the coolest scissor/cell phone charm that she made. My dd tried to confiscate it for herself but I had to tell her that it was mommy's charm. I also got some stamped images which are definitely gonna come in handy. Work has been extremely busy and I've been beat when I've come home so after dinner, cleaning up, getting the kids bathed and in bed, and trying to sit and relax, stamping just isn't happening right now for me. So, since we've got an extra hour this weekend, I may spend some time coloring these images in so that I can make some cards when I get a few other spare moments.

Sooooooo, wanna join the Pay it forward game? If you are interested, I'll take the first three people who want to play and RAK them with something. I've got lots of goodies that I should share since I've been cleaning up and realized that I've got so much stuff I've been hoarding for the longest time. Plus, having a reason to stamp helps me get over the hump of not stamping for awhile.

Have a great day and can you believe it's November?