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,