Happy Mother's Day!

I am a lucky lady. I'm sharing some pics of the beautiful flowers I got for Mother's day from my wonderful family who treats me so well. Being a mom is a really really hard job but worth all the worry and sleepless nights and potty breaks just as soon as you sit down for a hot meal. Today I got to go out to lunch with 4 generations of fabulous women: my mommom, my mom, my sister (and her boyfriend), and my little girl (Hubby and son stayed home because at 19 months, it is just too much to ask for son to behave for longer than, oh, 3 minutes). It was such a nice lunch and I was SO PROUD of my daughter. She's 3 and lunch took a looooong time and she did great. No meltdowns, only 2 potty breaks which were both legit, and enough sweetness and love to fill us all up.
I couldn't let the day go without at least one card. I originally made this for my mom and posted it on splitcoast, thinking that she wouldn't find it on there, but I would be wrong. So I had to make another card for her, which I'll post later this week. I'll have to save this card for next year. It's so pretty (IMO) that maybe I'll change the colors a bit and make it into a birthday card. Gotta go stick that in my idea book. Hope all you mothers had a wonderful day!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, DSP
Ink: Old Olive
Other Stuff: Beautiful wings embosslit, Word window and Modern label punches, Rhinestones

Almost summertime . . .

Today just felt like summertime. We are celebrating my stepdaughter's 16th birthday this weekend (it was a few weeks ago, but being a teenager, we are just seeing her now). Her favorite food is clams, so we steamed up about 7 pounds of littlenecks and ate them with butter and garlic bread. Well, actually, hubby and I probably got about a pound between the two of us and Mandi got the other 6 pounds! So hubby and I were still a bit hungry so we piled everyone in the car and went to the Dairy Queen. Nothing says summer more than littlenecks followed by an ice cream chaser!!! I don't even feel too guilty since I ended up walking around the DQ patio the whole time holding my very unruly and very loud toddler son. I think I got a few bites of my cone!!
And so now on to my card for today. It has nothing to do with summertime, unfortunately. It's another one using the SU hostess set Asian Artistry. I used the same layout sketch that I used yesterday (it works really well when you have a small focal image). I stamped it with Basic Black, and colored the bird with my Cameo Coral marker. Then I brayered Cameo coral from the top and bottom, leaving it pretty light in the middle. Then I sponged Ruby Red around the edges and corners. I sponged some Close to cocoa around the edges and corners too, not quite covering the ruby red. I stamped the flower image on my close to cocoa background card with the same color ink. I pulled out a DCWV paper pack called Far East for my background papers. I sponged the edges with some close to cocoa and added some bronze pearls. Hope you like it!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Asian Artistry
Cardstock:Close to cocoa, Whisper White, Far East (DCWV)
Ink: Close to cocoa, ruby red, cameo coral, basic black
Other Stuff: Bronze pearls

Another masculine birthday

So next week is my cousin Paulie's birthday. OMG by my calculations I think he might be turning 29?!?!?! Is that possible? I guess it is . . . wow. I think that my family is the only holdouts who still call him Paulie but the cool part is he doesn't try to change us. He's a big tall guy with some kind of scary tattoos but inside he's just a big sweetheart. It's hard to make cards for guys, especially young-ish guys like Paulie. So the card I posted today is my take at a 'cool, masculine card for a cool, masculine guy.' If you're following closely, you might notice that I used the same paper combination that I used a few days ago for the birthday card I made for Uncle Paul, who happens to be Paulie's dad. Hopefully they won't notice! But I say that when you have a good thing, stick with it.
Here are some card details, in case you're interested . . . I kinda sorta copied a Zindorf tutorial but I changed almost all the card details except the stamp. I stamped the guitar, colored it in with markers, and then colored over top of it with my versamark marker. I embossed the colored-over image with ultrafine clear embossing powder. Then I brayered Bashful blue over the whole card, letting it stay pretty light in the middle. Then I sponged some Not Quite Navy in the corners and around the edges. Next I sponged some Always Artichoke, not quite covering the Not Quite Navy. The background stamp on my card base is Canvas Background, stamped with Always Artichoke. The card layout is from a Splitcoast Challenge, SC279, which is a layout, or sketch, challenge. The patterned paper is from the BasicGrey Granola pack. I sponged some black ink around the edges of the patterned paper to give it a little more depth.

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps:Inkadinkado, Canvas Background
Cardstock: Whisper White, Always Artichoke, BasicGrey Granola
Ink: Stazon Black, Always Artichoke, Not Quite Navy, Bashful Blue, Basic Black
Other Stuff: Markers, Versamarker, Embossing powder, Brayer, Sponges, Silver dots (source unknown)

If you can't take the heat . . .

then you should get out of the bowling alley! Tonight was bowling (date) night and boy oh boy was it hot in there. It hit 90 today in Texas and it felt it inside. It must have worked for our team because we won all three games (woo hoo!).
Since I came home hot and somewhat sweaty, it made me think of this card that I made this week for a lady at work who is retiring. This card is kind of abstract, but I think you can get the feel of the beach and the ocean with it. The lady that is retiring is an avid boogie-boarder (I am not making this up). She goes to a wave pool somewhere and enters contests and apparently does very well and takes it all very seriously. She has a large carrying case for her boogie board and everything (she brought it to work one time and I had to ask). So of course she had to get a card with the beach, if not waves, on it. Come to think of it, I should try a card with waves sometime. I'll have to add that to my idea book. Stay cool my friends.


Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Gina K
Cardstock: Creamy Caramel, Tempting Turquoise, Pacific Point
Ink: Creamy Caramel, Tempting Turquoise, Pacific Point
Other Stuff: Markers, Brayer, White gel pen, Blue Rhinestones, Mat Pack

Upsy Daisy

Tonight I went up to my stamp/scrap room with an idea in my head. The color challenge on splitcoast today was to use Lovely Lilac, Cameo Coral, and Gable Green. I knew I had the purple and coral, so I wasn't too worried about the green - I'd make my 'vision' work. I wanted to use Upsy Daisy and make a gorgeous Clemson sunset. I went to Clemson for grad school, and their colors are Purple and Orange. That color combination sounds (and can look) totally obnoxious if you don't know the story. The school chose those colors because they are the color of the sunset - really. It is truly stunning and makes the hideous uniforms Clemson football sometimes wears bearable (although it doesn't help stomach the inevitable collapse they have every year). So I went up and brayered and had my sunset - except for this challenge I needed to add Gable Green, which is really light. And didn't go with my sunset. Hmmm . . . guess I'd better do a re-do. Guess what? I think I like it better. I love when that happens. If you haven't tried one of these challenges, you should try it sometime. It's amazing what you can come up with - you just might surprise yourself.

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Itty Bitty Backgrounds
Cardstock: Whisper White, Gable Green, Lovely Lilac
Ink: Lovely Lilac, Gable Green, Cameo Coral
Other Stuff: Markers, sponges, nesties, Frost white shimmer spritz, Ribbon (Michaels?)

Stamp Club Smile

Tonight was stamp club night - one of my most anticipated nights of the month. It came a day earlier than normal because of a scheduling conflict, which is fine by me. When I come home after club, my husband always looks at my projects and says that I come in the door with 'Stamp Club Smile.' I guess I really do. Just a fun bunch of ladies doing some of the things I like best - making new projects and using new products. What's better than that?
Today's project is something I whipped up last night after I posted here. My uncle turned 'double nickels' (55) today and I made him a birthday card that's going to be a little belated. I bought this stamp set with him specifically in mind. The saying is just something that I could hear coming out of his mouth with no hint of sarcasm. Sometimes cards just come together quickly and this was one of them. I busted open a pack of paper that I bought a long time ago that is totally masculine, which just makes everything come together so well. I wish there were more masculine products out there - half the cards I make are for men and most of the time I struggle with them. But luckily, not last night :-)

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Inkadinkado
Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Whisper white, BasicGrey Granola
Ink: Stazon Black, Chocolate chip
Other Stuff: Prismacolor pencils and OMS, Nesties, sponge dauber, eyelets (source unknown), Crop-a-dile, Mat pack

Sunday Sunset (2)

Writers block tonight, folks. I've stopped and started this post about a half dozen times already. Guess my mind is elsewhere tonight, although I'm not quite sure where. The Phillies are playing the Mets tonight on ESPN, hubby's asleep (and snoring!) on the couch, and the kiddos are tucked in bed. This is my prime time!! Guess I'll have to sneak upstairs for a few minutes and see what else I can put together. Today's card is one of several I have rolling around in my head with this awesome stamp set called 'Wanted.' When I took my brayering class with Michelle Zindorf, she suggested going to Google Images and looking up sunsets for inspiration. I think I'm addicted now. It's one of my favorite things to do, but I have to say that I have an internal temper tantrum when they don't come out on paper the way I want them to. But I put them aside and sometimes I come back to them later and, with fresh eyes, think that they don't look too bad. Moral of this story: don't throw away your 'ruined' creations until you can look at them again with a new perspective.


Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Wanted
Cardstock: Dusty Durango, Whisper white, DSP
Ink: Crushed Curry, Dusty Durango, Chocolate Chip
Other Stuff: Brad, dimensionals, Hemp twine (source unknown), Post-it notes for masking, sponges, brayer