Amazingly Fast Shipping!!!!!!!

I just wanted to point you all to the Shimmerz Blog and Store. I've been looking at Shimmerz since they came out and was really hoping my LSS would start carrying them and I could look at them in person before I got some. Well, they haven't started carrying them and I decided I'd go ahead and place a small order since they're relatively inexpensive. I ordered 3 on Sunday, got a shipping notice that day, and they were on my doorstep on Wednesday!!!!!!! Unfortunately, I got home rather late last night and didn't get to play but plan on leaving work at a reasonable hour today and will play with them later. I can't wait and have a feeling I'm going to need more colors :-)

Thanks for visiting!

A Poochie SFYTT

You know that I love Jen's sketches and this one is pretty cool and I couldn't wait to give it a try of my own.  With 3 kids, I'm always needing a birthday card so I decided to go with some bright and kid friendly colors for this one.  I'm still on a Baja Breeze kick and paired it with Kiwi Kiss and Riding Hood Red for this card.  The colors are a great match with the patterned papers from BasicGrey's Offbeat Collection.  I'm so addicted to all the wonderful 6X6 paper pads from BasicGrey--they are so perfect for card makers! 

Poochie, the space ship, and the sentiment are from The Cat's Pajamas It's a Mod, Mod World clear set and are stamped on Confetti White with Versafine Onyx Black.  I added a teeny bit of red Spica Glitter pen to the top of the ship and went over the glass area with a Clear Sakura Glaze pen.  I used my Circle Nesties, SU's photo corner and scallop edge punches, some Kiwi Kiss striped ribbon, and a button from Making Memories.  I really like this card and almost don't want to give it away.  Then again, it does me no good to just keep it for myself now, does it?

Thanks for visiting!

FS103

I had a little time to play along in today's FS Challenge at SCS.  I was inspired by this card of Vicky's.  I changed the Cuttlebug folder, stamp, ribbon, and used dewdrops.  I also added some liquid pearls and stickles.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy--I have another card to add to my stash.

Here are the deets:  Card base is shimmery white and other cardstocks used were Chocolate Chip and Pink Pirouette. I used the Floral Fantasy embossing folder on the lower half of the Pink Pirouette piece and stamped the branch from Stem Silhouettes on the top in Chocolate Chip.  I sponged the edges and went over the embossed area with Tattered Rose Distress Ink.  I tied some Chocolate Taffeta around this and matted it on a piece of Chocolate Chip that is edged in Versamagic Pixie Dust.  After I attached this piece to the cardbase, I added some White Opal Liquid Pearls and Cotton Candy Stickles to the branches.  Finally, I added 3 dew drops underneath the ribbon.

Thanks for visiting!

Urban Floral Frenzy

How is everyone doing today? This card did not end up anywhere near what I was thinking of when I started to stamp. I went in a completely different direction than my original thoughts but like the end result so much better than what I originally planned to do. It's nice when I have some time to just play around and stamp for fun.

Cardstocks used are PTI's Pure Poppy and Aqua Mist, SU Whisper White and Basic Black, and BasicGrey Urban Prairie patterned paper. The flowers from PTI's Floral Frenzy are stamped onto the Whisper White with Pure Poppy, Aqua Mist, and Ripe Avocado Pallette Hybrid ink--these inks work so great with the PTI clear stamps!!!!! The sentiment from the same set is stamped with Pallette Hybrid Noir. All the squares are cute out with my Square and Scalloped Square Nestabilites and are mounted to the card front with dimensionals. The ribbon is PTI's Pure Poppy Satin ribbon. I struggled with it a bit since I was trying to tie a bow and just gave up and tied a knot. I'm seriously bow impaired right now but my plan is to keep trying and eventually I'll get it.

The inside is decorated to match as well but I didn't get a pic of it. Another heavy, multi-layer card!

Thanks for visiting!

Something Old, Something New

I got this Bella image RAK'ed to me awhile ago and colored it in the car on one of our trips to LA. While I was straightening things up, I found it and decided it needed to be made into a card instead of just being neglected :-) I apologize in advance for not letting you know which Copic colors are used but I can't remember since it was awhile ago and we were in the car which also explains why the coloring isn't *perfect*.

Cardstock used was Groovy Guava, Baja Breeze, Brushed Silver, and Whisper White. The patterned paper is from the Groovy Guava Prints collection. I grounded the Bellas with one of my amuse clear Essential Ovals with Memento London Fog--I'm so glad that I got this set since there are several ovals of various sizes!!!! The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Mixed Messages which is also stamped with Memento London Fog-black just seemed too dark with these soft colors. This is cut out with Circle and Scalloped CircleNestabilities and popped up on dimensionals. The rhinestones are Amuse Micro Twinkle stickers that I've had for awhile. Flower and button are Making Memories.

A pretty simple card which makes me happy! Ok, it's taken me awhile to get into this year's SU In Colors but now I'm finding that I cannot put Baja Breeze away. I adore this color and it goes so well with so many different colors. I'm going to be said to see it retire this summer so I think I need to get my use out of it before it's gone forever.

Thanks for visiting!

Yes, We Can!!!!!

Happy Inauguration Day to you all! I'm so excited about what the future holds for our country. Barack Obama has a long road ahead of him with the troubles that face our country currently but I'm confident that we'll pull through. I love that I can tell my children that they can indeed be whatever they want to be-even the President!!!!!

So, no matter what your political affiliation or whoever you voted for, please join me in celebrating the inauguration of our 44th President!

2 Challenges, 1 Card

I love 3 day weekends! It feels like Sunday to me. This is a very exciting week with the Martin Luther King Jr Holiday today and the Inauguration tomorrow. I'm crossing my fingers that our assembly will go well in the afternoon and the kids will be able to see the inauguration--it would be much better to be able to get a live feed at school but no local TV access and the stern warning to not stream it since if we all did Districtwide, it would crash the server, makes it hard to do.

Anyway, on to the card I made :-) When I saw that Lori Craig was this

week's Featured Stamper at SCS, I was determined to play along. Lori's work is awesome!!! I picked this card to CASE. Since I still had my BasicGrey Granola pad out, I also decided to do last Tuesday's Color Challenge as well. So, I kept the same layout that Lori did but swapped out the colors and stamps used. Instead of a little rope of hemp in the corner of the focal piece, I popped mine up on top of a few flowers. Cardstock used was Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, and Kraft. The image from Pocket Silhouettes is stamped in NQN on the Kraft and cut and embossed with my Labels Two Nestability. Buttons and flowers are from Making Memories Poolside Buttons and Blossoms box and the ribbon is Kraft Taffeta. I sprayed the whole card and the Kraft piece with Copper Glimmer Mist and dried it with a heat gun. Finally, I covered the Kraft piece with Ranger's Crackle Accents (Lori used the Cracked Glass technique on hers). This piece is attached to the card front with dimensionals. I also decorated the inside of the card as well. I love doing this to use up my little snippets of DP but dang, my cards are getting heavy since they have so many layers now :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Wise Granola Owls

Hi there!  Did you think I was going to disappear again?  Hah--have no fear, I'll still be here.  There's no way I'm stamping and posting everyday but since I've started getting my stamps inky again, I have no plans to go on hiatus again in the near future.

I made this card this morning and I really like how it turned out!!!!!!  This card is for one of my kidlet's friends--we had a birthday party to go to today and you know my mojo works best under pressure so I had to do it before we walked out the door.  Even though it doesn't look like a typical kid birthday card, the recipient isn't your typical kid so I think it will really be appreciated.

So, here are the details.  Cardstocks used were PTI Ocean Tides, SU Naturals Ivory,  and SU Basic Gray.  The patterned paper is from BasicGrey's Granola collection--another one that I love!  Who am I kidding, I love all the BasicGrey papers, especially in the 6X6 pads! Stamps are from Wise Owl by Papertrey Ink.

I stamped the owl onto Naturals Ivory with Memento Tuxedo Black, colored him in with Copics, covered his belly with some Doodlebug Designs Crushed Velvet flock, and then cut him out.  I'm ashamed to admit that I bought this set right when it released and this is the first time that I inked it up.  My 9 yo was with me when I made this card and I let him pick out the eyes and belly for the owl :-)  The owl is mounted on dimensionals to some ovals that are cut and embossed with my Petite Oval and Petite Scalloped Oval Nestabilities.    The sentiment is from the same set--I just went over the word hoot with a Copic marker for a little pop and then pierced a few holes under the word birthday.  This is popped up on dimensionals.  Buttons are from my Making Memories Poolside Blossom and Button Box.  I found out about this cool little jar of flowers and buttons from Kristina Werner and got the Poolside and Rouge collections at my LSS--I seriously want the other colors since the jars are so stinking cute but I'm doing the best I can to exercise restraint right now.  The last little bit to the card is the piercing on the side.  I'll admit, I had to do this since I screwed up when I was scoring my cardbase--I did it in the wrong place and almost grabbed another piece of cardstock to start over but decide to just go with it and use the score line.  It's right next to the patterned paper and then the piercing line is along the edge--genius!!!!!  It's true when they say that there are no mistakes in stamping since it's just a reason to find a way to fix it (or something like that).  Finally, I had to fancy up the inside since my  9yo also wanted me to use one of the small owls so to oblige him, I stamped it inside the card with PTI's Perfect Match Ocean Tides ink.

Whew, I just realized I've been blabbing up a storm!  Thanks for visiting and come back again soon.

SFYTT

I {heart} Jen's sketches and always plan to play along when she does her Sketch For You To Try but as you all know, I've had limited stamping time lately. Well, I feel like I'm back. I got to spend a lot of time stamping over the past few days and when I saw Jen's latest sketch, I knew that I just had to try it out. I love, love, love how this card turned out. I cannot tell you how many times I stamped, colored, and circular filed this image because I couldn't get it right--the color I wanted the skirt wasn't working so I ended up paper piecing it instead.

Here are the details. The card base is Pink Pirouette and other card stock used was Rose Red, Mellow Moss, and Neenah Solar White. The patterned paper is from BasicGrey's Bittersweet collection and the edge was punched with a Martha Stewart border punch. I also used matching BasicGrey Glazed Brads on the card. I stamped Mwahbella on Neenah Solar White with Memento Tuxedo Black, colored her in with Copics, and then paper pieced her skirt. The heart on her purse, trim on her shirt, and ribbon in her hair are highlighted with a Pink Spica Glitter pen.

I grounded her with an amuse oval from the Essential Ovals set that was inked in Pink Pirouette. She's matted on Rose Red and attached to the front of the card. I punched circles out of Mellow Moss and Rose Red, attached the BasicGrey brads, and then popped them up on dimensionals. I used my Large and Small Star punch to punch out some stars, stamped the sentiment from PTI's Mixed Messages with Memento Tuxedo Black on Neenah Solar White, punched this out, and attached them all together. This is also popped up on dimensionals.

Tah-dah!!!!!! All done. I'm sending this one off to Julie at Dallas Baptist University as my entry for Jen's Massive Blog Tart giveaway. If you don't know what it is, you must check out her blog entry here. All you've got to do is make a card to donate to Dallas Baptist University's International Student Services Department and let her know and you may be the lucky winner of over $450 worth of goodies.

Thanks for visiting!

Inspiration Challenges

Today's Inspiration Challenge at SCS was very inspiring :-) It was to use tenugui to inspire us. I found two different things to inspire me and made two very different cards. For the first card, I was inspired by this piece. It ended up going in a different direction but I'm glad that I stretched myself and did it. The card base is Pink Passion and the patterned paper is from the BasicGrey Euphoria collection. I started out by taking a piece of glossy white cardstock and brayering it with my retired SU Celebration Spectrum pad. Then I stamped the flowers from Upsy Daisy on it in Versamark and embossed it with Clear EP. After I did this, I brayered over it with Basic Black and then wiped the ink off of the embossed portion. My poor brayer is filthy!!!!!! Even Ultra Clean is not helping right now. I and embossed this with a rectangle Nestability and matted it on a piece of Lovely Lilac that is cut and embossed with a scalloped rectangle Nestability. I adhered this piece to the front of the card over a piece of purple grosgrain. I stamped the circle friend from PTI's Floral Frenzy on Whisper White with Versamagic Pretty Petunia and then attached it to the front of the card with some Stylized Silver Hodgepodge Hardware. I finished the card off with 3 circle Ice Brads. This card is very bright!!! Then again, it was a gorgeous and sunny day in the Bay Area.

The second card came together really quickly for me and was more up my alley and in my comfort zone than the first card. Here's what inspired it. I used Whisper White, River Rock, and Black for this one. I embossed a piece of Whisper White with my Distressed Stripes embossing folder and then rubbed Versamagic Wheat over the embossed portion. I distressed the edges then I adhered this to the card base with dimensionals. I stamped the grassy image from Inspired by Nature in Versamagic Wheat and then stamped the sentiment from All Holidays over it in Versamagic Midnight Black over it. This is cut and embossed with a circle Nestability and layed on Black and River Rock circles that are also cut and embossed with my Nesties. I attached this to the front with dimensionals. Finally, I stamped the bird from Always in Versamagic Wheat on Whisper White and cut it out. It's also on dimensionals. It seemed like it needed a little something else so I added 3 dewdrops to the bottom. I really, really, really like this card :-)

Thanks for visiting! I don't remember the last time I got the chance to play around with my stuff for as long as I did today and since I just noticed that the Featured Stamper Challenge is up at SCS and dh is playing his new Call of Duty game, I may go do a little more stamping.

The winner is. . . .

J's Place said...

I would love to be a check in buddy. I need to lose about 150 lbs and I will be 40 April 30, 2009. I will only be able to get about 25-30 lbs off by then but I am trying hard. I need to get 15 or so lbs off my son too. I think your blog is fabulous. I also intend to update my blog more and stamp more.

Hugs
Jaunice Minor
Utah

January 4, 2009 11:07 AM

Congrats Jaunice! Send me your snail mail addy and I'll get your goodies out to you in the mail.

Bittersweet Wedding

So, a couple of my teachers got engaged over the holiday break and I wanted to make them a card to congratulate them. They're both planning their weddings for later in the summer and I'm amazed at how they're going to pull it off so quickly!


This card gave me a chance to play with some new goodies. I got my PTI order and had to break open the new Raspberry Fizz cardstock--isn't it gorgeous? This is a color I think I'll be reaching for a lot! I also used SU Shimmery White and the patterned paper comes from my new BasicGrey 6x6 Bittersweet pad--yummy paper! The image is from amuse and is stamped on the Shimmery White with Versafine Onyx Black. I highlighted the bride's dress with a teeny bit of a Copic Marker and Doodlebug Sugar Coating Glitter--mine is the variety pack but I think the color is called Lily White. This image is cut out with my Labels One Nesties and mounted on a piece of patterned paper that was cut and embossed. The ribbon is from SU-I think it's the Theater Ribbon Originals pack and then I finished it off with three pink self-adhesive pearls. There you have it!

Speaking of amuse, anyone have any tips or pointers on using those teeny images? I love this image and think it's really sweet but just wonder if it gets a little lost on this card. When I look at this card, the image fits perfectly. Does this mean that I've got to start using my amuse images on notecards or cards that are sized smaller than an A2?

Finally, don't forget that I've still got blog candy up for grabs. Thanks for visiting!

A twofer challenge

I combined yesterday's color challenge and today's sketch challenge at SCS for this one. I don't think I would have put these colors together on their own but I guess that's why it's a challenge. However, with 3 kids, there's always a birthday party coming up and the colors screamed "boy" to me.

Here are the details. Cardstock used was Pumpkin Pie, Brilliant Blue, Garden Green, and Neenah Solar White. The patterned paper is from BasicGrey's Offbeat collection--I LOVE this paper!!!!!!! The little rocket from Pun Fun is stamped onto the Neenah Solar White with Memento Tuxedo Black, colored in with Copics,
and then accented with a Gold Spica pen. The sentiment was stamped onto the Neenah Solar White with Memento Danube Blue and has 3 Only Orange eyelets added underneath. Both of these pieces are popped up on dimensionals.

And there you have it--this was a pretty easy and quick one to make, especially since I had my colors and layout already picked out for me.

Thanks for visiting!

Where is the time going?

So, I just enrolled my littlest one in kindergarten and it's really hitting me that she's not a baby anymore and the days of having babies in the house are over. I know that she doesn't start school till the Fall and in so many ways it's such a great thing since she's so excited about school and can't wait to be here-plus, it's not like she's going out of my care when she comes to school since I'm the principal! Life will be so much easier next Fall when all 3 kids come here to work with me and I don't have to do the preschool dropoff and pickup. I just don't know how the time went by so quickly. How did my baby girl turn from a tiny helpless baby into my very independent and self-assured little girl?

I know that this is just another step in her journey and mine but in so many ways it's a bittersweet moment.

FS100 JulieHRR

Her Royal Rubberness, Julie Ebersole, was the Featured Stamper over at SCS today and you know I just had to play along. I absolutely adore Julie's work and she makes Clean and Simple look so easy--it's not and I feel like I suck at it! If I can nail it, I'll be happy as a clam. So, here's my CASE of Julie's card that can be found at SCS and on her blog. I changed the colors, stamp set, border punch, and didn't put my sentiment on a tag.

I started by stamping the little tree image from the Amuse Sushi set with Soft Sky on a Square Cabana Blue notecard. I stamped the sushi from the same set on Georgia Pacific White with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored it in with a few copics. I highlighted the sushi with some Stickles and went over the chopsticks with Ranger's Glossy Accents and then attached it to the cardbase. I used my new Martha Stewart Star Border punch on a piece of Pumpkin Pie and then attached that to the cardbase as well. I cut a small slit in the seam of the card and threaded through some striped Pumpkin Grosgrain and then tied it off in a knot. The sentiment from the same set is stamped on the bottom of the card in Brilliance Starlight Black so it would be a little shimmery as well as the sushi and tah dah--all done!

My 9yo really likes this card--gotta love him! I've had sushi on the brain since we went to Sushi yesterday and it was sooooooooooooooo good, plus I've wanted to ink up this set forever and since Julie is the Queen of Amuse and enabled me to buy this set, I'm glad that I got to use it to CASE her. I think I'm probably going to try another one out tomorrow depending on how I feel in the evening--it's my first day back to work after 2 weeks off.

Thanks for visiting and don't forget that I've got blog candy up for grabs!

Look Ma, No Stampin! and some blog candy for you

I finally got my stamping room cleaned up yesterday and had some time to put a card together. I've had these grungeboard letters that I sprayed with Glimmer Mist for several months and finally decided to use them on a card. Here's the deets on this card. The card base is Pink Pirouette and I also used Bravo Burgundy and Georgia Pacific White. The patterned paper is from the BasicGrey Eva collection. I also used a BasicGrey rubon from the Euphoria Olio collection on the white piece. I added a tiny bit of highlighting with a clear Spica glitter pen on the rubon to match the shimmer of the grungeboard letters. Since I glimmered the letters so long ago, I can't remember for sure which Glimmer Mist color I used. I'm not sure if it was Kiwi or Seafoam or both of them layered on each other. Finally, I finished it up with a few buttons from the Making Memories Rouge Paperie Blossom and Button Box that I was completely enabled to buy because of Kristina Werner's last MACM post on her blog. All supplies, other than SU were purchased at my LSS, Scrapbook Territory, but I added some online links for you. If you visit the Bay Area, you definitely need to check out my LSS--it rocks!!!!!

So, this was a super easy card and I really like it. My only bummer is that I cut the inside piece of DP slightly too small but was too lazy to do it over--the UCLA Pac-10 opener was starting and I wanted to watch it with dh :-)

But that's not all! Since I cleaned up my room, I found a few things that I've had for awhile that I haven't used that need to find a home that will show them some love. So, how about some blog candy for you? I'll leave this open until Friday, Jan 9, 2009 at 9 pm PST when I'll pick a random winner for these goodies. One thing I'd like to do is lose 30 pounds before I turn 40. If I lose more, that would be great but I figure if I can lose 30 pounds, I'll be in much better shape and I'm giving myself almost a whole year to do this!!!! Leave me a comment letting me know one of your goals for the year. If you want to be a virtual workout/check-in partner, let me know and I'll give you 2 chances to win. Here are the goodies you can win if your name is picked. A new and unmounted retired SU Hostess set Make it Count, a retired SU Accents and Elements Sweet Nothings set, 2 Mono refills, a few random buttons, Love Elsie mini ribbon, yellow Making Memories eyelets, Crystal & Copper Stickles, Wild Plum Alcohol ink, and a few random buttons. All items and new and unused by me and need a new home. Show me the love and good luck!

Thanks for visiting!