One more . . .

This is it, for a while anyway. This is the last 'tropical' card I'll show. It's just so darned fun and easy to use this stamp set and DSP, I just can't help myself! I've got to try and get to bed a little earlier tonight though - tomorrow is a big day: hubby joins us on vacation AND it's the first day of the new catalog!!!!!!!!!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Tropical Party
Cardstock: Whisper white, old olive
Ink: Old olive, Tempting turquoise, Rose red

Bathing beauties & a card

Tonight you get an extra treat - a card AND a picture of my two little bathing beauties, son and daughter. I took this pic of the kiddos yesterday before we went to the beach. We all look so fresh and clean when we go to the beach; if I think about it I should do an 'after the beach' picture because it is most definitely a big change! I forgot how sandy one can get when you go to the beach with little kids! Sandy, but it's oh-so-fun!!!
Tonight's card is, once again, a tropical-themed birthday card. I really do love this pack of designer series paper. It's in the Stampin'Up! summer mini and I love all the patterns and think that they all really go together well. Sometimes I think that it's hard to put together some of the patterns, even within the same pack of paper, but I haven't had any issues with that in this case. It is quite possible that I'm going to use up this whole pack of paper, and coming from a hoarder like myself, that's a big statement. Luckily I have until the end of August to decide if I need to get another pack 'just in case.'

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Tropical Party
Cardstock: Whisper white, Tempting Turquoise, Island Oasis DSP
Ink: Tempting turquoise, Stazon black
Other Stuff: Markers (the coconut used the new Early Espresso color - LOVE IT!), Modern label and Word window punches, brads

Just another day in paradise

Well, another great day is in the books. We're getting a routine together, which is vitally important for two toddlers who are completely out of their element. Wake up, eat breakfast, get ready & go to beach, then pool, clean up, eat lunch, nap, play, dinner. Life is good. We all miss daddy/hubby, but he'll be here with us in a few days.
Tonight's card is another tropical theme. I also got to use one of the hostess sets from the new catalog, Occasional Quotes. It's got a really nice selection of quotes for all different occasions, and I see myself using it a lot in the future.

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Tropical Party, Occasional Quotes
Cardstock: Whisper white, Rose red, Island Oasis DSP
Ink: Old olive, Rose Red, So saffron, Tempting turquoise, Pumpkin pie
Other Stuff: Dimensionals

Trip to the tropics

Okay, so maybe the Space Coast of Florida isn't technically the tropics, but I only brought one bag of scrapbook supplies & stamps with me, and the Tropical Party Stamp set from the Summer Mini Catalog made the cut. I also brought the Island Oasis Designer series paper, so I think you're going to see quite a few combinations of these two things in the next few days.
So far our vacation is going great - kids are having a good time and I think my mom is too. Mom would like the house a bit neater and the kids get a little wild sometimes, but overall things are just great. We had fun splashing in the ocean today and the kids discovered wet sand. They think it's great, so all of us ended up covered in sand. My thought is that the kids are only this little once so what's a little sand, right? We're all washable. After all that playing, the kids are super-tired so I get to spend some quality time playing with my new stamps (although with limited supplies, but I'm looking at it as a challenge to myself).
Tonight's card uses - you guessed it - the Tropical Party Stamp set and Island Oasis DSP. I also used the new color, Early Espresso, for the palm tree trunk. The top part of the card is stamped on whisper white cardstock - that's not part of the DSP. I took the leftover strip I get from doing the scallop border punch and used it as a 'ribbon' between the two pieces of background paper since I didn't bring any ribbon that would match with me.

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Tropical Party
Cardstock: Whisper white, Old olive, Pumpkin Pie, Island Oasis DSP
Ink: Old olive, Rose red, Tempting turquoise
Other Stuff: Scallop border punch, dimensionals, markers, sponge dauber

At the beach . . .

We made it to the beach, finally. It's a long drive from Texas to Florida, but we're here and all in one piece. I brought a bunch of card/scrapbook stuff, so I'm hoping I'll have some stuff for you in the next few days. Bear with me, I'll have more projects soon . . .

Packing, packing, packing

Packing, packing, packing equals no stamping, stamping, stamping. I hate to say this, but there may be a few days with NO PROJECTS. Hopefully not, but it may come to that. Going on vacation takes a lot of effort, and in our family's case, a lot of looking around for stuff that we know we have but don't remember where we stuck it. Ugh. But I think we're in pretty good shape now, thank goodness!! And hubby's not coming on vacation right away, so he can always bring stray stuff down with him when he joins us.
Tonight's project is one of those things that I tried, because I bought the product that I HAD to have, and then I never used it. In this case it was the Cheep Talk chipboard set. HAD to buy it, never used it. So a while back I took it out of the packaging and tried a couple things. It didn't really work for me, so I never posted the card. But now all this stuff is about to retire and I won't be able to post it anymore, so I figured, what the heck, I'll just post it. I used Crystal Effects on the 'brads' to try something else different that I never do. They take a while to dry but I do think they're pretty cute and will work in a pinch if you don't have any brads that match a project.

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Sentiment from inky antics (shhhh!!!)
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, retired DSP from winter mini
Ink: Chocolate chip
Other Stuff: Oval punch, scallop oval punch, chocolate chip ribbon, crystal effects, circle punch, button brads (source unknown)

I {heart} hearts

Tonight's cards use one of the stamp sets I got in my demo kit - I {heart} hearts. This stamp set came out in the winter mini this past year and made it into the new catalog. It's obviously featured in the holidays section as a Valentine stamp set. Since we're nowhere close to Valentine's day, I tried to come up with a different way to use them. I pulled out my new color coach (have I mentioned how much I love that thing???) and found the most un-Valentine color combos I could. I've got a bunch of July birthdays coming up so I decided to go with a summer theme, and I think that, in its own way, it worked. So there you go, a little love in the summer.


Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: I {heart} hearts, Teeny tiny wishes, Vintage labels(?)
Cardstock: Tangerine Tango, Whisper White, Old Olive, So Saffron
Ink: Tangerine Tango-Old Olive-Tempting Turquoise or Tangerine Tango-So Saffron-Pacific Point
Other Stuff: Sponge Daubers, Cuttlebug folder, Turquoise or Pacific Point ribbon, Dimensionals

Because I Care

Busy busy week! Son had swimming lesson tonight (with Daddy) and I took little girl to buy a new pair of sneakers, but not just any sneakers. She got a pair of Skechers Twinkle Toes, which are the coolest little girl shoes in the universe!!! We had to go straight from the mall up to the gym where swim lessons are so that she could show Daddy her light up shoes right away (of course she wore them out of the store!). By the time we had all that excitement and got the shoes off long enough to bathe, Mommy was WORN OUT!!! I went up to my scrapbook room tonight, but put forth only a halfhearted effort and didn't like the results. I put that aside for another day (something may strike me with that card later) and luckily had a couple of things made from the weekend. Today's card is one of those. This is another sneak peek from the new catty, a level 1 hostess set called Because I Care. I colored the flower with the new Marina Mist marker, and then 'thumped' Perfect plum on it. I wasn't planning on cutting out the flower, but I got a new Tonic cutter and I'm still on the upward slope of the learning curve and I cut too close to the edge on one side. I didn't want to waste the whole thing, so I was kind of forced to fussy cut. I like it though - it doesn't automatically look cut out, but it gives the card some really nice dimension. Also new on this card is the Marina Mist 1/8" ribbon.

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Because I Care, Very vintage roller
Cardstock: Perfect plum, Marina Mist, Whisper White
Ink: Perfect plum
Other Stuff: Markers, 1/8" Marina Mist ribbon, Silver Pearls (Queen & Co)

Sneak Peek #2

I hope everyone had a terrific Father's Day. It was a busy day at our house because I'm getting ready to drive to Florida with the kiddos and my mom on Friday. Hubby gets 3 weeks of vacation, but it's 'frowned upon' to take more than a week at a time so he's going to fly down and meet us there a week later. So needless to say, I've got a lot to do this week!! I did get a couple cards made to share with you this week, and I'm taking some stuff with me to work on while I'm there, so the blog won't have a two week vacation, in case anyone was worried :-)
Today's sneak peek is one of my most favorite products that Stampin'Up! offers: the jumbo wheel. I love these wheels because they can totally jazz up a card and they are so fast and easy to use, especially when you buy the nifty ink cartridge that fits inside! I'm slowly building my collection of wheels and the cartridges and they really are one of the most fun things to add to a card. This one is a little different than most in that it's more of a focal image than a background image. There are even more little onesies that didn't make it onto the front of the card, and there are so many ways to color it up! I tried to do a very gender-neutral card this time, but you could really make cute boy or girl cards, as well as scrapbook pages and even shower or baby gifts!! My head is spinning with ideas for this roller!!


Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Baby Tees jumbo roller
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink
Ink: Basic black (roller cartridge), Bashful blue, Certainly celery
Other Stuff: Markers, word window and modern label punches, Pearls (Queen & Co), Sponge dauber

Sorry no card tonight . . . we had a barbeque tonight and it was so stinkin' hot it was hardly worth it. We did get to catch up with some friends and family but I'm just too tired to take pictures, edit and post tonight. I'll get some good new stuff out to you tomorrow, I promise. Happy Father's Day!!!!

Sneak Peek!!!

Today was a VERY exciting day!!!! Three big Stampin'Up! boxes were waiting for me when I got home - my very first demo order! It took me a while to get everything organized by new color families (I stocked up on a lot of cardstock, and got the new markers) so I ended up not having a ton of time to stamp tonight. Since I still have to go to work in the morning, I can't stay up all night and play like I want to :-( So tonight's card is unfortunately not that inspiring, IMO, but it does show off a bunch of new products available starting July 1: DSP (Greenhouse Gala), a new stamp set (Friends Never Fade), and two of the new colors (Daffodil Delight and Pear Pizzazz). I love all of it. I especially love that markers are available in ALL the colors, including some of the old in-colors that have become un-retired (mainly Baja Breeze). LOVE IT!!!!!! In my order, I also got one very precious thing: the new 2010-2011 Catalog!!!!!!!! I will tell you this: it is pretty awesome. I have gone through it twice so far and there are a lot of new things that make me super excited and REALLY glad that I became a demo so I can get a lot of this stuff over the next year. I have made my preliminary wish list and it has 28 things on it already (some things are single stamps and paper and ribbon and stuff, but like I said, I only went through it twice.)
Well, I could go on and on about the new catalog but a) I'm not really allowed to give you lots of details yet online and b) it is getting pretty late and I need get my beauty sleep, you know:-) So I will leave you tonight with this promise: I will get up in my scrapbook room at least a little bit before I leave for vacation in a week and make some more sneak peek samples to share with you.
Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps:Friends Never Fade
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pear Pizzazz
Ink: Baja Breeze
Other Stuff: Markers (Real red, Daffodil Delight, Baja Breeze, Chocolate chip), DSP (Greenhouse Gala), Dimensionals

Party dress

I'm having one of those inner struggles tonight with this post. A few days ago, I was flipping through my huge idea binders, trying to find something, anything to do with what I've currently got on hand (I'm stalking UPS waiting for my big sneak peek demo order to come in). I found this template for a dress card and I went to town. I decided to use the funky swirl from Trendy Trees as the pattern on the dress and I was pretty proud of myself for thinking of that. I put the ribbons on and then I let them sit on my desk for a few days. I was worried about posting this card because I have NO IDEA where this card concept came from, so I don't know who to give credit to. And I hate that. Well then tonight I was up in my scrapbook room, playing with a bunch of different ideas, and NOTHING was working for me. So all the stamps got cleaned up and put away, and I was ready to just pack it in for the night. Then I saw these dresses sitting on my desk, and decided what the heck, I'll just post one and let people know it's not my original idea and if it happens to be yours, a) you're awesome and b) let me know and I'll give you credit. So there you have it. A cute little dress for the beginning of summer.

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Trendy trees
Cardstock: Whisper white (doubled up on front of card to give it some heft)
Ink: Tempting turquoise, Pretty in Pink, Sahara Sand
Other Stuff: Tempting turquoise 1/4" ribbon, Pretty in Pink satin ribbon, Gemstones (The Paper Studio), Dress template (unknown source)

Wedding fun

Tonight was a fun night. Well, it didn't start out very fun. Son had his second swimming lesson and since he is so little (20 months), Mommy got to go in the pool with him. Son SCREAMED and clung to me for dear life the entire half hour lesson. But I kept going - letting him out would send the message that screaming will get you out of things you don't want to do. He wasn't terrified, he just wasn't in the right frame of mind tonight. Toddlers are tricky little people.
So anyway, on to the fun part of the night. Wednesday nights my mom and my sister come over to see the kids (during the 'school year' it's bowling night for hubby and I). Tonight my sister invited her friend Diane over too. Diane has a friend who is getting married and everyone in the bridal party is making a scrapbook page for the bride, and Diane needed some help with hers. Actually, she really didn't have any idea where to start, so I helped her make 2 scrapbook pages that turned out really cute, and she was so happy about it! I did take pictures of them to show you, but of course they didn't turn out that well (stupid flash - I need to figure out how to work that better). After she left and I cleaned up all the stuff we had managed to bring downstairs (I swear that stuff multiplies when you spread it out!), I decided to try my hand at the Splitcoast Sketch Challenge for today. Since we had just done scrapbook pages for a future bride, I decided to make a wedding card. The card dimensions are a bit wacky for me (I hardly ever venture out of my 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 safe zone), but I followed the sketch to the letter so it is what it is.
I did get to use some of the 'Sneak Peek' 1/8" ribbon from Stampin'Up. I wasn't so sure how much I would use that teeny thin ribbon but I'm loving it!!!! One other little tidbit tip that might help you out someday: when I stamped the little flowers on the side, I had a hard time keeping the tiny square of paper straight while I used my stamp-a-ma-jig. What I ended up doing is putting a bit of repositionable adhesive on the back to hold it steady while I stamped - worked like a charm!!!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps:Baroque Motifs, Teeny tiny wishes
Cardstock: Melon mambo, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Old olive
Ink: Basic Gray, Melon Mambo
Other Stuff: 1/8" black ribbon, stamp-a-ma-jig, tiny silver balls (Hobby Lobby)
Finished card size is 4 1/4" square

More watercoloring

Somehow tonight just got away from me. My once-a-month cleaning crew came today and it took everything I had to not let the house get messed up the first day!! Not sure exactly how it happened, but things were quite the mess by the time I got the kiddos up to bed. So I had to spend some precious time cleaning up (I hate that!!)and of course watch 'Deadliest Catch' with my hubby like we do every Tuesday night (I love that!!) and never made it up to my scrapbook room tonight. Oh well. Luckily I've been spending bunches of time up there lately and I have a few cards in 'reserve' and not just because I don't think they're first-run 'blog-worthy.'
Lots of times I make cards and don't have a specific purpose in mind for them. When that happens, unless it's obvious what kind of card it's supposed to be, I'll leave the sentiment off so I can put one on to suit the occasion, when such an occasion arises. Today's card is one of those cards. I used the Watercolor Trio set again, this time with a pastel palette. You can't go wrong with Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, and Certainly Celery. Throw the Top Note die and some satin ribbon in there and you've really got something going!!!!


Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps:Watercolor trio, I {Love} love jumbo roller
Cardstock: Whisper white, Certainly celery, Pretty in Pink
Ink:Certainly celery, Pretty in Pink, Bashful blue, Versamark
Other Stuff: Bashful blue satin ribbon, bow easy, glue dot, top note die, aquapainter

Short & sweet

Tonight's card took me 3x as long to try and photograph than it took for me to make it. A while ago I decided that I HAD to have the Clearly Thanks Window sheets, and then they sat and sat and sat on my desk and mocked me. Now they are retiring so I decided to pull them out and make a card out of them so I can say I used them before they are gone for good. I have to say, they really are as easy as I thought they would be. Almost feels like cheating, making a card that simple. Almost. It got me back when I had to try and photograph that window sheet without making a big huge flash splotch on the card, completely obliterating the actual card front. So this is about the 15th take and I have to just say you'll have to believe me that it's a) pink, not peach, b)pretty cute in person, and c)super-simple when you need a quick birthday card or just have no creative mojo one night (guilty).

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps:Sincere salutations
Cardstock: Pretty in Pink, DSP
Ink: Black stazon
Other Stuff: Clearly thanks window sheets, Scalloped border punch, rhinestone brads (SEI)

Sleepy Sunday

Hi all! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was good in that I got to spend a nice chunk of time up in my scrapbook room during nap times. I feel like I'm still in need of some new rubber stamps, so I have graduated from anxiously awaiting my starter kit to anxiously awaiting my first (gigantic!) order that not only has more new rubber stamps and cardstock in it, but should bring me my advance copy of the new 2010-2011 Stampin'Up! catalog!!!!! Of course all that is going to do is make me salivate and come up with a looooong wish list that will make my hubby break into a cold sweat, but it will give me and my mom something to look at while we drive to Florida at the end of the month. But that's another story for another day . . .
On to today's card. One of my favorite tools in my arsenal now that I know how to brayer is the sponge daubers. They work so well to put colors where you want them, and they have the advantage over regular sponges in that you don't get quite as messy using them. I'm sure that the way I used them today is not new, but it is new to me and something I've been wanting to try for a while now but I had to think of the right way to use them. It's not every card that needs big polka dots!! I have a friend whose baby boy is due sometime in July, so I figured I'd get ahead of the game and make her baby card now, partially so that I could put big old polka dots on the front of the card and check that idea off my list!!! I think it's a great way to use these daubers that at least I didn't think of right away. And who doesn't love polka dots????

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps:Animal stories, Teeny tiny wishes
Cardstock: Whisper white, Bashful blue, Not Quite Navy
Ink: Bashful blue
Other Stuff:Sponge daubers, Modern label and Spiral punches

I hardly knew thee . . .

Today I'm posting EARLY - can you believe it???? It is our 6th wedding anniversary today so we're going out WITHOUT THE KIDDOS to fancy dinner. I can hardly believe it myself. It's hard to believe how different this day is than it was 6 years ago, but that's okay. We went to the place where it all started this morning - the Dallas World Aquarium, site of my last first date. This time we got a family membership so we can take the kiddos whenever we want. Apparently walking around the aquarium wore out the whole family except me (and my energizer bunny daughter) so this afternoon has been 'quiet time.' Boys are asleep and girls have to be quiet and find things to (quietly!) amuse ourselves. I'm sure you know where I spent my afternoon!!!! I went through all of my Stampin'Up! cardstock and moved things around to reflect the imminent color change. As I was pulling out all of the soon-to-retire paper, I started feeling kind of bad. There were some colors in my assortment packs that I have NEVER USED. How terrible is that?!?!? And it's not like the colors are bad or anything, but I guess you just get used to reaching for the same types of colors over and over. Poor crushed curry. Six sheets were in the original paper pack, and I had 6 full sheets to put into my 'retired' stack. Well, I just couldn't let that happen, so that's how I got the first card today. I got REALLY crafty and used 3 soon-to-retire colors on it: Crushed curry, Bermuda bay, and Taken with teal. The second card is another color that had 3 full sheets left in the sampler pack - lavendar lace. I had a hard time putting other retiring colors with it, so I had to resort to my tried-and-true old olive and chocolate chip. Okay, now that that's done I don't feel so bad moving that paper over to the retired stack :-)

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Top card
Stamps: 5th Avenue floral
Cardstock: Whisper white, crushed curry, bermuda bay, taken with teal
Ink: Black stazon, crushed curry, bermuda bay
Other Stuff: Aquapainter, dazzling diamonds, crushed curry ribbon, scallop border punch, dimensionals
Bottom card
Stamps: Inspired by nature, En francais
Cardstock: Whisper white, old olive, lavendar lace
Ink: Old olive, chocolate chip, lavendar lace
Other Stuff: Markers, ticket corner punch, vanilla shimmer smooch spritz, brads (The paper studio)

It's here!!!

My demo starter kit came today!!! Woo hoo! I got three new stamp sets in it, thankfully, because I've been craving some new stuff lately. I could hardly stand to wait until all was quiet on the home front to go upstairs and rip into that big, heavy beautiful Stampin'Up! box with my name on it. My most favorite new thing? It is, hands down, the new color coach. I have the wheel color coach, which I do use quite often, and I gotta tell ya, the new color coach is not even in the same league! I used it tonight for both cards. As part of my starter kit, I got to pick 4 new stamp pads, but I couldn't pick the new colors that I don't have yet or the old colors that are coming back. So I (luckily!) had 4 more colors of the remaining core colors that I didn't have yet. I decided to use 2 of those ink pads tonight as a challenge to myself. I have never used Elegant Eggplant or Bravo Burgandy in any form (ink, paper, markers, etc) on my own before. But with the help of my new color coach, I used them both and think I love the results. First I decided to use the Eggplant, because the color coach paired it with two beautiful colors - Old Olive and Melon Mambo. Then I thought I was done for the night and flipped through the card set one more time and came upon the color combo of Pink Pirouette, Sahara Sand, and Bravo Burgandy. So I did the same card using those colors and wouldn't you know I love it too?!?!? This is a very simple card that took a little figuring out on my part. I ended up stamping the images on watercolor paper (stamping off once with the eggplant) and then going back over the stamped images with my Aquapainters. Seems like a small thing, but I think it made a huge difference on these cards.

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Watercolor trio
Cardstock: Watercolor paper, Old Olive & Elegant Eggplant or Sahara Sand & Pink Pirouette
Ink:Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant, Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry or Sahara Sand, Pink Pirouette, Bravo Burgandy, More mustard
Other Stuff: Large oval and scalloped oval punches, dimensionals, aquapainter

All cleaned up

Short post tonight, folks. I worked on finally clearing a space on my desk so that I can once again work. It had gotten to the point that I was pushing things aside to make just enough room for my card to lay on the workspace - not good! I am anxiously awaiting my last stamp club order as well as my new demo kit (hopefully both will be arriving tomorrow) so I know that I needed to get that area cleaned up pronto! So tonight's card is somthing that I whipped up a few days ago using another of my most favorite stamp sets, Upsy Daisy, and lots of dazzling diamonds (so sparkly!!) My computer is also running annoyingly slow again tonight so that's another reason for short and sweet tonight. Without further ado, the details of the card . . . I am trying to use some of the retiring cardstock that I never gave much love to in the past, as well as the soon-to-be obsolete color wheel (new color combo set arriving soon!). That's where I got the color combination of almost amethyst, regal rose, blush blossom, and certainly celery. Pretty, huh? And after the scrapbook convention this weekend, I am inspired once again to use glitter on everything and anything, so that's what I did. One word of caution (from one who knows!): Be careful who you sent glittery cards to. Some people REALLY don't like it. These are the same people whose houses are usually spotless and they always empty the dishwasher as soon as its run and their clothes always make it into the clothes hamper without ever hitting the floor. Luckily I don't know many of those people but for the rare ones who actually tolerate me, I send them glitter-free cards.

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps:Upsy Daisy, Oval All
Cardstock: Almost amethyst, Regal rose, Blush blossom, Certainly Celery
Ink: Almost amethyst, Certainly celery
Other Stuff: markers, 2 way glue pen, dazzling diamonds, large oval, scalloped oval, scallop edge punches, certainly celery ribbon, bow easy, dimensionals,

The card that never ends

Whew! Where did the night go???? I came home super-crabby today for a multitude of reasons and I don't feel like I even got rolling tonight until around 8:45. I managed to get nothing done (other than the above card) and of course now it's almost 10:30 and I'm scrambling. Oh well, it's really the story of my life. Looking at the card I made tonight does make me feel an eensy bit more calm. When I looked at the color challenge colors on splitcoast today at lunchtime, I got a big smile on my face. Something in my head clicked and after a few weeks of the color challenges just not working for me, they threw out a color combination that I could sink my teeth into. There's something about that coral color that just strikes a nerve with me. I think it's because my mom and I look good in coral so it makes me feel good. I'm gonna miss that color :-(
Anyway, I started in on this card with some sort of loose vision in my head, and I kept doing more and more things to the card to get it to look 'finished.' I'm still not certain that it's really as finished as I'd like it to be, but I'm at a point in the night where it's just time to be done. A few highlights . . . I stamped the plant image twice, but the second time I used a marker just to color a few of the leaves so it doesn't look like the exact same plant stamped twice . . . I sponged the edges of both pieces of cardstock to give it a little more depth - it was looking kind of flat otherwise . . . I used the stamp-a-ma-jig all over the place on this card to try and figure out what, and where, I wanted to put stuff. No time to have to re-brayer because I put something on and then hated where or what I put on.

I'm starting to lose my desk to clutter (okay, I think right now it's actually lost), so I may have to use another reserve card tomorrow and focus on cleaning up my workspace before my SU! demo kit comes in on Thursday!!!! I'm off to pack the kids bags for splash day at preschool and gymnastics after that . . . .

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps:Asian Artistry, Kind & Caring Thoughts
Cardstock: Whisper white, Cameo Coral, Tempting turquoise
Ink:Cameo Coral, Tempting turquoise, ruby red, basic black
Other Stuff: Stamp-a-ma-jig, white gel pen, brayer, sponges, black marker, Pebbles Impressabilities die

Lab coat

As promised, here's my adaptation of the card I posted a few days ago, courtesy of my new upline Pam. Everything is exactly the same except I made the coat a (whisper)white lab coat instead of a sportcoat, and I put the doctor's name in place of the pocket with the handkerchief. I also cheated a little bit and used some button brads that I had in my stash from Hobby Lobby. I absolutely love this card!!!
Thanks to all my Facebook friends who stopped by and had a look at my blog - once I let my secret out about this little card site I had more hits in one day than I ever had before!!! Thanks so much to everyone who stops by, whether it's just once to check out a particular card or if you stop by regularly to see what I've created. It's nice to know that I'm doing this and there are people out there who take the time out of their day to see what I'm up to! It is much appreciated!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: none
Cardstock: Whisper white, Basic Gray, Basic Gray DSP (hostess paper pack)
Ink: Black marker
Other Stuff: Basic gray satin ribbon, button brads (Hobby lobby)

With sympathy

Today's post is not one of my most happy ones. Tonight I made sympathy cards, which is never a fun undertaking. The past week has not been good for several of my family members, so I had to take out my go-to sympathy stamp set, Thoughts & Prayers. This set is so beautiful and I love the images, but I hate to have to use it. Since I'm usually pretty sad when I have to use this set (I don't like to pre-make sympathy cards, there's something just not right about that to me), I have a formula that I use for almost every sympathy card I've ever made: stamped image on paper cut out with top note die, coordinating color under top note die, some sort of background. If I use the branch image, I try to put pearls on the flowers, if I have them. I decided to use up some of my paper that's going to be retiring soon - the soft subtles work well for this type of card. Simple, elegant, and not too much for me to have to think about.
Sorry for the bummer post tonight, I promise I'll have more exciting and happy things later in the week. My new demo kit should be arriving soon!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers, Friends 24-7, Itty bitty backgrounds
Cardstock: Top card: Sage Shadow, Brocade Blue, Whisper White Bottom card:Mellow moss, So Saffron, Whisper white
Ink: Sage shadow or Mellow Moss
Other Stuff: Top note die, markers, pearls

50 already???

This is my 50th blog post!?!?!? Can you believe it? I can't believe I've actually managed to keep up with it to make it this far. Not too shabby for someone who works full time and has two active toddlers at home, if I do say so myself.
Today was day 2 of the Great American Scrapbook convention. I took 2 classes and got a few ideas from them, I guess. Hopefully someone out there will come up with something new because it doesn't seem like there's a lot of really different things out there like there used to be. I think that the ideas on splitcoast.com are better but it is nice to see things in person. We're still without air conditioning upstairs (hopefully that will get fixed Saturday!), and I still can't really go up there and play like I'm used to, so I'm pulling another card out of my 'reserves.' This is a birthday card that I made for someone at work who loves purple. Her birthday was this week but of course I forgot to give her the card, what with all my excitement of the scrapbook convention. Guess I'll have to make it a 'belated' card and give it to her next week. I think that I originally made this for a color challenge, since I have that tiny bit of yellow in there, but it's been so long that I just can't be sure.

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Vintage Vogue, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Cardstock: Lovely lilac, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, So Saffron
Ink: Lovely lilac, Versamark, White craft
Other Stuff: Scallop border punch, Embossing powder, pearls, tiny rhinestones

Just playing

As I eagerly await my new SU! demo kit, I went to the Great American Scrapbook convention today in Arlington, TX. Actually, I went today, will be going tomorrow, and once again on Saturday. It's a really great venue and I think that you can get a lot of inspiration from conventions like that, even if everything is not exclusively SU! (which of course offers superior products).
One of the things that I came away with were some embossing glitters that I had to try out with some of my most favorite Stampin Up stamps. Here's one card that I just threw together using Autumn Days. It's soooo glittery and pretty in real life. Gorgeous!!! I love glitter of all kinds, but I've got to keep this post short and sweet tonight because I've got some serious cleaning up to do!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Autumn Days
Cardstock: Dusty durango, DSP, shimmery cream (source unknown)
Ink: Versamark
Other Stuff: Log cabin smooch spritz, PK Glitz embossing glitter

Big News!

Well tonight I took the plunge! After a lot of thought and months of thinking about it, I finally signed up to be a StampinUp! Demonstrator!!!! I have to say, I'm pretty excited about it. I love the products and we'll just see how things go.
My card today is one of those cards that I made and then had laying around for a while. I have a pile of cards that just don't click for me and probably wouldn't have made it onto my blog if it weren't for my AC going out. I'm stuck and totally unable to do anything crafty until it's fixed. So I have to rely on some 'standby' cards and this is what I chose to share today. At least it's bright and cheery and shares my mood. But that's about all that I have good to say about it. Oh well. Sometimes things work and sometimes they don't, but the blog must go on - air conditioning or not!!!
The next few days I'll be attending the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington, Texas. Probably not the best timing, as I just committed myself to Stampin Up, but it's a great convention and should give me some serious new motivation. Looking soooo forward to it!

Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps:The More the Merrier, Whimsy Jumbo Wheel
Cardstock:Pink Passion, Tempting Turquoise, Summer Sun DSP
Ink: Black Stazon, Tempting Turquoise
Other Stuff: Markers, Silver foil smooch spritz, dimensionals, rhinestones (source unknown), mat pack

Guest Designer

Tonight I am having some computer troubles: for some reason my computer is running unnaturally slow. Good thing that I have a 'Guest Designer' for the card I'm posting tonight! I got permission to post this card from my Stampin'Up demo Pam Lewis. Isn't it just the cutest thing ever? This could be a Father's Day card, or if your dad is like my dad and only wears suits to weddings and funerals, then it could be a Happy Retirement card or a Congratulations on your Promotion card, or any kind of manly card, really. I'm not going to lie to you though: this card is not for beginners. And I probably wouldn't try to mass-produce it. But once it's done it is definately eye-catching and pretty awesome. I may actually have to try this one and modify it a bit to put on a white doctor's coat and give it to our graduating fellows. Oooohhh, I'm liking that idea!!!! If I can stand to be up in my stamp room for long enough to get the supplies, I might have to try that later this week (still no AC upstairs and we're close to 100 all week)
Stay tuned for some exciting news I'll hopefully be able to share with you soon!
PS. Please leave me a comment if you'd like the directions for this card. I didn't ask Pam if I could do that so I need to check with her before posting that kind of thing out in the open.
Card Supplies: (All supplies from Stampin' Up unless otherwise noted)
Stamps:Sanded
Cardstock:Chocolate chip, Real Rust, Real Rust DSP
Ink: Chocolate chip
Other Stuff: Marker, Old Olive satin ribbon, chocolate chip brads, mat pack, paper trimmer, bone folder, ruler, exacto knife