Ugh... where have I been?

Well, I've been home. I've been helping my bff, Deb to make some scrapbooks as gifts (she's new to this whole thing ya know). I've been working on my Disney scrapbook, using my new Disney Cricut cartridges (yes!) but have been taking a lot of time doing it.

I just finished this card today for a gal at my church. She has hair like this, so I just had to use my fave Bella once again. Sorry for the crooked pic, but since I'm a little crooked, what do you expect??? The cardstock is SU!, the patterned paper and flower brad are from Hobby Lobby, the ribbon is SU! and May Arts. I used Copics to color her and I glittered her in with pens and stickles. The embossing is Cuttlebug of course. And I think that's it. Gotta go get ready for Benihana's tonight, yum! See ya!

It's been forever....

Wow... Don't ask me what I've been doing, but it's not stamping! Actually, I did finish some scrapbook pages and just made a sympathy card, my least favorite to make. I'll post those below. Unfortunately, I took photos of the scrapbook pages while in the protectors because I was too lazy to take them out, sorry ;-) Nothing too exciting has been going on here. I've decorated for fall and have been working on putting together a Christmas wreath and garland. The wreath is for our first fireplace, woo-hoo! I'll post a pic when it's all decorated. I've been debating on whether or not to go on that stamping cruise next October. My favorite stampers are all going to be there and I will feel SO left out if I don't go. I certainly wouldn't want to leave Jake at home though and my husband doesn't want to go. My best friend said she might be interested in going. Perhaps my mom will be interested after we take this Disney cruise in Nov (her first cruise). We'll have to see. ANYWAY, here are some pics. Gotta get Jake up from his nap or he'll NEVER sleep tonight!

I'd rather be stamping

Wouldn't we all? I had this stamp shop stamp from A Muse and just got the two sentiments to go with it, along with some extras at my LSS and at Archiver's while shopping with mom, my favorite stamp buddy. Anyway, I came up with this yesterday while Daddy was hogging my computer and everyone else was sleeping. LOVE this patterned paper I picked up at Archiver's, along with the rhinestones. The ribbon is SU's taffeta (so nice!) and the ric-rac is from Hobby Lobby. The cardstock is all SU! and the embossing is a Cuttlebug folder, of course. I glittered the shop all up, but you can't see in the pic :-(

I got my swaps out today (yes!) and immediately signed up for two more, two of each. One is a floral ATC swap and the other is a Cuttlebug swap. Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. I'll be posting mine!

Pixie Dust

Well, it's about time I got this Disney ATC done! I was having such problems, coming up with one that I liked. I think I went through 4 mock-ups until deciding on this one (sorry for the not-so-good photo). I had a little help though, I have to admit. My dear friend Deb (non-stamper) came over and helped me come up with this. The patterned paper is DCWV (I think), the cardstock is SU!, along with the brads and ribbon, the sentiment is Papertrey Ink, the oval is A Muse and Tink is All Night Media. I was so excited when I remembered that I had the tiny mosaic embossing folder for my cuttlebug, since it complements the patterned paper quite nicely, no? Anywho... I'm done with swaps for awhile. Now to get my focus back on the cruise scrapbook. Mom and Dad are coming Saturday, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get done. Wish me luck!

Ugh, MIA!

So I can't really explain why I haven't completed anything lately. Maybe it's because I'm having serious issues trying to come up with my 2nd Disney ATC. I thought I had it and started to pre-cut, but decided I was disappointed with it and it wasn't good enough. Then, we painted my office this weekend. I use "we" loosely because my husband did most of the work. My parents are coming to visit Saturday, so hopefully I'll find time to get in here, complete the ATCs and get some stuff posted. Wish me luck!

Just as I promised myself...

... I got going on the Disney Cruise scrapbook today, woo-hoo! Here's the first page. I loosely adapted one of Valerie's Sketches, which are just so great. I'm not too pleased with the second page, but I'll leave it. I'm exhausted and going to take a nap for now ;-) Oh, in case you can't read the journaling and are curious... here's what it says: "Minnie was the first character we encountered during our trip. I don't think Jake expected to see her there at the terminal. He ran right up to her, gave her a big hug and didn't let go for quite awhile. The photographer commented that Minnie was "having a moment" as she rocked Jake back and forth in her arms. After posing for a few photos, he ran over and gave the photographer a hug. She exclaimed, "Now I'm having a moment!" She was practically in tears. Jake's so cute and loveable!"

Done!

Okay, first of all, thanks Liz S. for leaving a comment for me. I tried to email you, but there was no contact info :-(

I'm finally finished with my little ribbon challenge! I used my new Fancy Pants stamps for the final two cards. I really like the simplicity (and ease) of the first one. Brilliance graphite black ink does wonders, doesn't it? It is the BEST black ink if you want your images to be B-L-A-C-K! The cardstock, brads and punch are SU! and the sentiment is good ol' Papertrey Ink (big surprise).





As for the last card... yipes! I'm not really crazy about it at all... actually I don't like it, blech! It's way different for me. It was very difficult for me to put these colors together, but the ribbon had spoken! I was tempted to rip it up and start from scratch, but I wanted this challenge to be overwith! The cardstock, black ribbon and pink ink are SU! The stamps are Fancy Pants, flowers are prima, centers are stickles and ink is Brilliance. And the sentiment... yup... Papertrey.

Now... I have one more Disney ATC to do and I have to, have to, HAVE to get going on my Disney Cruise scrapbook! Our next cruise is in November and I need to get it done before then!

2nd Bella ATC

Here is the 2nd ATC for the Bella swap I am in. I decided to use my original idea and save my new Bellas for lots of playing. Unfortunately, it's hard to see the glitter in this pic... you know how I love to glitter-glam up these gals! I colored this one with Copics and gave her glittery hair, eyeshadow and slip with a gelly pen. I used stickles for the flower centers. The cardstock is SU! and the paper is DCWV. I punched her out with a Marvy Giga circle & scallop and pierced the scallops. The flower is prima and the ribbon is el cheapo from Hobby Lobby. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink... they really have the best, most simplistic sentiments.

Don't worry... I haven't forgotten about my ribbon challenge. I have two cards left, but have been so captivated by my new stamps and having lotsa fun with these swaps! Only one more Disney one to do and I'm done with my commitments!

Spooky!

As I've said before, I am having SO much fun using Papertrey Ink's newest sets! I finally busted out Spooky Sweets and here's what I came up with. The first is a shaker card filled with black microbeads and "polyshrunk" spiders, stamped in black on white and white on black. The cardstock is all SU! and the striped paper is from Hobby Lobby (not sure of brand). I embossed the facial features and used an exacto knife to cut out the centers. I used foam board with a hole cut in the center for filling space and covered with with acetate and the pumpkin. I added some googley eyes, sponging on the face, faux stitching, the sentiment and lotsa ribbon and some raffia. It was quite time consuming, but lotsa fun!


Here's another card, using the same set. This one was much quicker. I finally got to use my fall-colored prima leaves and that trick or treat ribbon and paper I got from Hobby Lobby! The carstock, ink and eyelets are all SU!, except for the bats which were stamped in Brilliance Graphite Black. I added pupils and lashes to the "o's" in the sentiment, see???

I submitted these cards to Papertrey, hoping perhaps one day I'll be selected as their Guest Star Stamper. I can dream, can't I??? I'd be pleased as punch just to be honorably mentioned! Wish me luck! There are so many great stampers out there, using these awesome sets!

Here's an old example of a technique that I've been dying to try with some of MFTs and Papertrey Ink's stamps. I embossed in black on black paper and then painted the inside of the image with bleach. Then, I used prismacolor pencils to color the image. Neato effect, no? It works best with cheap bleach though, so I'll have to remember to put it on my grocery list!

Love this set!

Okay, the Beautiful Blooms set from Papertrey Ink is the best! It's like the definitive floral set, *LOVE IT*! Here's the first card I made, after lots of playing with this set. It's hard to tell, but I used baubels from Stamping Bella for the center of three of the flowers. The cardstock is all SU! along with the ink and punches. The colors are Ruby Red, Cameo Coral, Wild Wasabi and Garden Green. The ribbon is from Fancy Pants and the stamps are all from the "Blooms" set. I can't wait to make more cards with it and bust out the "Spooky" set!

We have a little less than 2 months before our second Disney Cruise, AHHHGGHH! We took our first one in February and I have YET to start scrapbooking it! I purchased an album not long ago that seems just perfect! It has the Disney Cruise Line's signature colors in it (I think anyway). Isn't it adorable? It's in the packaging and I used a flash, so it doesn't look as vibrant as it really is. Soon I'll be posting layouts, wish me luck! ;-)

Bella ATC #1

Here's the first of my 2 Bella ATCs that I'm doing for a swap. This is mamabella, isn't she just the cutest? I colored her with Copics and added glitter with the gelly roll and stickles. I just can't get away without glittering these girls up! The background stamp is from SU!, along with the cardstock (pretty in pink and chocolate chip), eyelet and punch. The flower is prima and I'm not sure where the ribbon is from. The "blessed" sentiment is from Papertrey Ink.

Speaking of Bellas, I just received a bunch of them in the mail today, *yay*! I've already come up with an idea for my next ATC, but I might have to forgo it and try out some of these new ones ;-) I also received my new Papertrey Ink sets today... Spooky Sweets, Beautiful Blossoms and I finally broke down and got the faux ribbon. Can't wait to get all those dirty too!

I had a thyroid scan today and according to the tech, whose not really allowed to say, the nodule looks "hot" and that means that it's like 99% odds that I *don't* have cancer, whew! Of course, I still feel this nodule and feel like I'm choking a lot so I don't know what the future will hold. I'm visiting an ENT next week to see if there's anything they can figure out since I've had a lot of drainage and some of the sensation could be sinus related. If it's not one thing, it's another, I tell ya! ;-)

How do you delete posts?

Tried to delete this one and add it at another time... not working for me, oops! ;-)

I'm back!

Things have been nuts around here as usual, but I'm trying to get back in the groove now. The boys were all here and one of them was sleeping in my craft room and using my computer a lot. We had a great visit though, loads of laughs! Here's a card I made for my personal ribbon challenge. I've enjoyed using the colors from each of these ribbons, but the cards have been pretty bland. I'll try to step it up on the last two. Anyway, here's TinkerBella in all her sparkly glory. The cardstock is SU!'s pale plum, perfect plum and pretty in pink and the sentiment is theirs as well. The sparklies are Stickles and a glitter pen. The flower is goold ol' Prima and the brads were purchased yesterday at Hobby Lobby. Are you fortunate enough to have one of those in your neighborhood?!? I love living in Georgia for so many reasons but OMG... we didn't have Hobby Lobby near me in South Florida. We also have Archeivers... wow, have you been there yet? I don't even think there are any of those in Florida! Anyway, here's what I came up with. I've also been working on those swaps I signed up for. I'll post the rest soon. Here's a pic of "the boys" from Six Flags White Water. It's not the best, but it's the only one of all of them ;-)

My New Hobby

Hummingbirds! OMG... I *love* watching them! I bought a hummingbird feeder yesterday at Bird Watcher (ever been to one of those?) and stuck it to my dining room window. Wouldn't ya know that it works like a charm? These bold little buggers come RIGHT up to our window about every 10 minutes or so. What a joy! The feeder is so simple to use and easy to clean. You fill it with a sugar water solution and they just go to town! Here are some pics.

It's just Goofy!

... goofy that I went to meet with the surgeon today and he had to run away to do an emergency surgery! I met with him for a minute or so. He said we need to talk and that I might not need surgery at all. This whole thing has been so crazy... silly... GOOFY!

Here's an ATC I did for a Disney swap that I'm participating in. I took up two slots so I have to come up with another. I'm also signed up for two slots of a Bella swap, yay! I'll be working on those and finishing up my ribbon challenge over the next few weeks.

My boys are all coming to visit Saturday, YES!!! The boys being my Dad, brother Mike and brother Bob, just out of National Guard training! Bob hasn't seen Jake, my darling 2 1/2 year old son since Christmas! He's going to get SUCH a kick out of the terrible twos! So... I will be on stamping hiatus while they're here.

Here's a recent pic of my boy... since I don't think I've shared his precious little face on this blog yet. This is Jake climbing the rockwall on his Mac Daddy playset... actually called the "King Kong" model, lol. Well, they say to buy the thing as if he were 9. My kid will probably be over 6' tall by then, no?!? For those of you who don't know... my husband is 6'3" and I'm 6'2" myself!!!

Adorable!

One of my closest friends, Nicole just gave birth to her second baby boy, Seth. He is indeed ADORABLE! Not pruney or wrinkly or funny or coney looking... just beautiful! This card is for her newly expanded family. The images, cardstock and embellishments are all SU!, except for the "blessed" which is Papertrey Ink. I pulled the colors from the ribbon, which is American Crafts, I believe. Now I just need to get this in the mail with the gifts for Seth and her 2-year-old, Jayden.

We've had a lot going on here lately. My biopsy came back inconclusive, if you could believe that and now I have to have an open biopsy (surgery) next week. UGH! Between this saga, my husband's new job, the land we just bought next door, the new commuter car that we bought today and the family I have coming to visit, things have just been NUTS!!! Praise the Lord for distractions and stamping to help keep me sane!

2nd Ribbon Challenge Card

I hope someone checks out my blog soon... I know, whoa is me. At least it's held me accountable to stamp, journal and challenge myself!

Here's the 2nd card I made with the MOD ribbon. The flower and background stamp are Hero Arts (too bad you can't really tell that the flower is popped). The circle outline and "hello" are Papertrey Ink. The cardstock is all SU! I like the way this came out, just because it's pretty different for me. I *never* would've put black and bashful blue together, no way!

A Challenge to Self

Alright, so I've come up with a challenge for myself. I haven't used a lot of my fancy shmancy ribbon lately, so I chose a ribbon card as a challenge. I decided that I need to use each of the ribbons my next few cards, one ribbon per card. I had tons to chose from, but I chose these blackbird ribbons from MOD because they're very different from the type I'm used to using (making it more of a challenge). It's pretty different, no?



Here's the first card. I LOVE this stamp from Impression Obsession. I bought it on addictedtorubberstamps.com. This stamp is BIG and the lines are bold, so it's the easiest image to color. It's kinda hard to tell in the pic, but I popped out their butts and hats. I colored these gals with Copics, used SU! cardstock and of course, the MOD ribbon. This card looks SO much better in person, if I do say so myself. It was SO fun to make. I kept the layout relatively simple so it doesn't take away from the image. I used the reverse scallop to give it a more 'watery' feel :-)

Once again...

...tried to delete post and having issues.... :-)

Phew!

It's been a crazy week! Thursday I had my biopsy AND Scotty received TWO job offers! Talk about a bitter-sweet day. The biospy was very icky, but it's over now and I'm thankful. We should have results by Wednesday. Scotty accepted an offer on Friday and can't wait to give his two weeks on Monday. We went out last night to celebrate, just the two of us. My dear mother-in-law was here and offered to watch Jake so we went to the Melting Pot, one of our favorites. Anyway, right there behind the restaurant is a Joann etc. I'd never been to one and Scotty was in a particularly good mood so we went to check it out. LOVED IT! I only bought one thing though... (pausing while you get over the shock and awe of it).... It's a Glitter Mat Stack from DCWV. Just the right size for cards and WAY cute! I used one of the sheets to create this card. The stamps are A Muse, the cardstock and brad are SU!, the flower is prima and I colored the dress with Copics. The ribbon is from SU! and Starlit Studios. I'm such a sucker for pink and brown, aren't you???

Tomorrow is the day...

So, tomorrow I have the biopsy. I'm actually pretty cool about it because it's God's problem now :-) I'll be happy when it's over, but of course then I'll have to wait for results, ugh. Hope it doesn't take too long.

I made a card with some new MFT stamps, but have no energy to take pics and upload it right now. Especially because I always seem to run into "technical difficulties" and it takes a lot longer than anticipated.

Here's a Bella card I did awhile back. I watercolored it with some SU! classic pads. The sentiment is from Inky Antics, the patterned paper is mystery paper from Archeiver's and the rest is all SU!

Ugh!

Get this... I have the WORST pain in my neck and head (from stamping too long, does anyone else have this problem?) AND... I can't take anything for it! You see, I had an ultrasound of my thyroid last week and they found a nodule that needs a biopsy. Guess how they do it. They stick a needle in my neck and into my thyroid, while I'm AWAKE! Doesn't that sound like fun? So here's the predicament right now... because I'm having this procedure, I can't take any Motrin (my drug of choice) or aspirin or Tylenol because it will thin my blood and make me more likely to bleed. So, I was in agony all night and hardly got any sleep. The neck wrap and ice pack didn't help much and I'm miserable.
At least I enjoyed my late-night stamp fest last night. I used my Copic markers for the first time to color this mouse and cow from My Favorite Things. I love how vibrant these markers are and love how they blend. I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I did try a little blending and like the way these came out, considering they're my first attempt at it. The mouse card uses SU! cardstock in regal rose, lovely lilac and yo yo yellow. The eyelets are SU! and the ribbon is from Prima.




The Cow card uses SU!'s cameo coral, yo yo yellow and gable green. The eyelet is SU!, the flowers are Prima, the ribbon is DCWV and I used my Cuttlebug for the embossed flowers. I'm still getting the hang of taking photos of my cards. They are so much more vibrant in person than they appear here, but you get the idea. Oh, the ink is the Adirondack Pitch Black which I LOVE! It's my new favorite ink. I colored these images immediately and it didn't bleed or turn my markers black! I highly recommend it. And Copics? Oh, I love them! I thought I'd be happy with just the one set, but I see more in my future. I better sell some stuff on ebay or something!

Blah Day

It's dreary here today and once again... no rain. Jake and I did make it to Michael's today though. He wound up getting more than me which is highly unusual! Color Wonder stuff was on sale along with some foam stamps and Scooby Doo stickers. He got his own stamp pads which really aren't as washable as you would think.

Anyway, here's a pic of the journal I made for my Bible notes. The "K" is chipboard from Prima, along with the flowers, of course. The paper, ribbon and brads are all SU! The button is from the old reliable Bag-o-Buttons, you guessed it. I love the way the pink stretchy ribbon feels, but sometimes it fights with ya, huh?






This card was pretty fun to make. I had trouble lining up the tree, the sun and the oval where I wanted them and settled for this attempt. The stamps are A Muse, the flowers are Prima and everything else is SU! The image is colored with SU! markers. Oh, and I used the scallop scissors to create a water effect. I was pretty impressed with myself for coming up with it, but I had probably seen it before and pulled it from the back of my brain or something. Don't worry, when I come up with something truly unique, I'll make sure I give myself credit for it ;-)

Yay, new stuff!

I'm so excited about Papertrey Ink's 5 new sets that came out today! They are made to coordinate with marvy scallop punches. I ordered the squares, circles and ovals and then, of course, I HAD to order a few more punches as well! (you know how it goes). Can't wait 'til it all gets here so I can play!

I have plenty to keep me busy though, because my Copic Ciao markers showed up yesterday! These are going to take some practice, but I can't wait to get the hang of it. I've seen the most beautiful, vibrant images colored with these babies, woo-hoo!

Here's a card I made for my best friend, Deb. We love to do tea, so this was perfect for her. That sassy li'l chickie there is from Inky Antics. The sentiment and the little teabags stamped in the background (see that?) are Inky Antics as well. I used prismacolors and gamsol to color the image. The cardstock is Really Rust, Always Artichoke, Taken w/ Teal and Chocolate Chip, all SU! The colors all match this funky ribbon, which I believe is from We R Memory Makers. The brads are from SU! I like this card, but so many of my cards have a similar layout and style. I really need to get outside my box. For now, I'm going to skip stamping and take a nap. I'm just exhausted today!

Okay, here it is...

...my first upload! I really enjoyed playing with the stamps from PaperTrey Ink's Green Thumb set. The ink and cardstock used are Stampin' Up! (Whisper White, Green Galore, Pixie Pink and Barely Banana). The ribbon is from Stampin' Up! and Starlit Studio. The button is from a Bag-O-Buttons from foof-a-la... I LOVE these! The oval punch and brads are from Stampin' Up!, as well as the heat n stick and Dazzling Diamonds glitter. I used a fiskars set of scallop edgers to create the border. I'm really pleased with the way this card came out. I need to find a way to take better pics though.



Okay, this is one of those cards that I was going to give up on have way through. C'mon... all you A-Types out there, you know you've been there too! Nothing seemed right, but now that it's completed, I kinda like it! It features FlowahBella from Stamping Bella. I can't get enough of these Bellas! They are SO adorable and fun to color! The cardstock is Buckaroo Blue, Summer Sun and Really Rust from Stampin' Up! I used Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol to color the image and sponged Buckaroo Blue on the sentiment, from Papertrey Ink. The rick rack (is that how you spell it? rik rak? whatever, you get the idea) is from Fancy Pants Designs and the button... you guessed it, foof-a-la! The paper... jeez... umm... I have no idea, but I know I bought it at Hobby Lobby.


Here's a pic of one of my Bag-o-Buttons! See how great they are? And very reasonably priced. I can't remember where I purchased mine, but I snagged them online for $5.99 a piece. They have come in so handy and I love digging through them to find just the right accent for my cards!

FINALLY!

I've been planning on blogging FOREVER but life has been crazy. We just moved to Canton, GA in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We LOVE it here! I have the craft room of my dreams (I'll have to post pics when I get some of this ebay stuff out of here) so no excuses for not stamping! ANYWAY, I don't know why I need a blog... perhaps to organize creative thoughts in my head? Maybe to fit in more with all the bloggers that I adore so? Maybe to be held responsible for coming up with new, original stuff. Whatever the case may be, here I am and I'm excited to get started!