Sketch Challenge

Hi again! Here is my card for the splitcoast sketch challenge today. This card is a five minute card and I made it before I went to work this morning. I used a scrap of Brilliant Blue DP from SU and a Wild Wasabi card base.

That's it for today. DH needs some office space here at the house, so I'm clearing the desk for him. We'll be sharing an office for a while. So, I promised him that I'd keep the stamp stuff off the desk for him!

Supplies:
Stamps: Simple Stripe, Season of Joy and non SU sentiment
Paper: Brilliant blue DP, wild wasabi, real red and white
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Black
Accessories: non SU ribbon, Marvy punch

Party Favors

Here are the completed party favors. I really enjoyed making these. My favorite part is the felt flowers. I had a lot of fun picking out felt colors and running them through my Big Shot die cutter.

At the top, you'll see the pink notebook in the cello bag. I used a gussetted cello bag with shredded paper, a bit of candy and the notebook. I'll bag all of the notebooks and put them in a basket.

Gotta go finish prepping for the party. We're going to Dish it Out, a paint-your-own-pottery place for the party. I'm bringing the favors, food, and a cookie cake. They do the rest!

Have a great Sunday!

The Elusive Family Photo

Yesterday, we took a day trip into Blowing Rock, NC. The weather was beautiful, and we saw amazing Fall color on the trees. I thought I'd take the opportunity to get the Perfect Family Photo. Maybe I'd get lucky and get my photo Christmas cards done early!

Every year, I get everyone dressed up for the dreaded Family Photo. Lots of weeping and gnashing of teeth. DH has no patience, my children make funny faces to antagonize me, and I resort to threatening and bribing everyone to participate!

This photo was taken by my mom, and it's ok. I'm hoping that her camera has some good shots too. I didn't realize that the sun was in my face, but otherwise, the colors are really pretty.

I guess I'll dress up the kids later this month in their holiday attire and try again. Not sure if DH will go for it, but I'll keep trying to get the Perfect Family Photo!

Party Prototype

Ok, as I posted earlier, I did indeed go back to Target to find more notebooks. I prefer the type without the snap, but, alas, they have discontinued it.

On this notebook, I used Terrifically Tacky Tape to adhere the patterned paper to the notebook. This patterned paper is from Target as well. I don't think they carry it any more. I ran a strip of Tempting Turquoise grosgrain by SU along the left edge. Then, I used a craft glue dot to adhere the felt flowers and brad to the notebook. I used my Big Shot to cut out the felt flowers. I have some cute Sizzix Bigz dies that can cut chipboard, felt, fabric, etc. Lots of fun!

I'll package these up in cello bags with a little candy and a pen for the party on Sunday.

Now, I'm off to work and then we're going to the mountains with my parents for a day in the mountains. See you back on Sunday!

What to do, what to do...

Ok, so we all have a drawer, closet, garage FULL of 'alterable items'. You know exactly what I'm talking about. The endless array of dollar items that you bought thinking, 'that would be so cute covered in cute paper...'

So, here I am ready to alter some notebooks for party favors and I don't have enough of any one style of notebook. My dilema: do I go buy more or do I make a bunch that are all different. These are for children, so I really need for them to all be the same.

Sigh, you know I'm going to end up at Target again to buy more of these little notebooks. Why do I do this to myself!!!!

Tune in later to see what I end up with. I'll be altering 10+ little notebooks with matching pens for my daughter's friends. Most likely at midnight tonight. Nothing like a little last-minute pressure to get me stamping again!

Challenged Again

I was stamping with my friend, Liz, last weekend, and she mentioned that she didn't care for Taken with Teal. Liz, this card's for you!

I made this card for this week's splitcoast sketch challenge. I put the image off center and added the scalloped sentiment, but other than that, the sketch is basically the same.

I'm totally rusty with my stamping, and I still am not feeling inspired, but I did enjoy making the card. I think right now, I'm more interested in scrapbooking and making gifts for various friends, teachers, etc. I haven't given up on cards yet, though. I'll find my mojo sometime!

Supplies:
Stamps: True Friend, Circle of Friendship, Polka Dot BG
Inks: Regal Rose, Choc Chip, Taken with Teal
Accessories: SU punches, SU button, Misc ribbons, SU rhinestone brad

Back in the Saddle

Yes, at long last, the wayward stamper is back. I sort of ignored my blog in August when we all were getting a little antsy for school to start back up, and I lost my stampin' mojo. Plus, my DH had lost his job after they held his position the whole year he was in Iraq due to company restructuring, so he's been home THE WHOLE SUMMER! Those of you who are SAHM's understand how having DH around all the time can just plain throw off your schedule a bit. I felt guilty stamping while he was trying to find a job. So, except for my Stampin' Up classes, I quit stamping.

So, fast forward to now, DH has an AMAZING job! He was in medical sales for years, and he managed to land a job with a new company Valor Healthcare which builds health care clinics for veterans!!!! This is one of those "God led us to this" jobs for my DH. He's a wounded veteran who needed a job and this is perfect for him! He's now able to talk to veterans and help them find good health care.

The other reason that I'm blogging again is simply because two stampin' buddies of mine, Liz and Michelle told me, "post some cards will ya!" I also went to Liz's house last weekend and case'd some of her cards that she had lying around and that did the trick. Now, I'm itchin' to stamp again, and it feels great!

This card was for this week's color challenge at http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ and we were challenged to use pink. I still have some of this SU retired patterned paper lying around, so I went with it. This is a 4" square card that I made from some Creamy Caramel scrap cardstock.

Thanks for visiting again. I've got another card to post later, and lots of new things to share!

Another Dirty Challenge

Good morning everyone! I mounted some of my new stamps, and I love this sentiment stamp from the new SU set called All Holidays. The butterfly is from Garden Whimsy, and the paper is Brilliant Blue Prints DP. I rarely use Bold Brights colors, but yesterday I used Real Red, and today, Brilliant Blue. It's fun to break out of my normal color schemes!

This card is for Genie1314's sketch challenge on Splitcoast's Fan Club challenges! Go check them out, and if you're not a Fan Club member, you ought to consider subscribing. Go check it out on www.splitcoaststampers.com.

Have a great day!

Dare to Get Dirty 1

I'm finally getting around to trying some Dirty Dozen Challenges over at Splitcoast. I really like the challenges that have been posted, so now that my new catalog order has finally come in, I'm hoping to trim the stamps and dive right in!

On these cards, I used Real Red as my card base and I ran some Whisper White through my Big Shot with a Cuttlebug A2 embossing folder. The card on the right is the simpler of the two, but on the card on the left, I brayered Real Red over the embossing to bring out the pattern. I also added a red Prima flower with a flat-backed pearl that I got at my local scrapbook store. I can't remember the brand. Also on both cards is red velvet ribbon and my new Justrite monogram stamp punched out with a non SU circle punch and a marvy scallop punch.

Thanks for looking!

Quick Card for the Hubby

I made this card for my hubby and this card was also for my crop night at my house. The card we made at my crop night, was a little different, but pretty much the same.

I'm slowly falling in love with this paper from Stampin' Up!. Initially, it can be intimidating to work with. These colors are a little dark and muddy for me, but when I pull in some solid paper to balance it out, it really is pretty! I found the olive satin picot-edge ribbon at Michael's, and I'm seriously considering going back and getting another spool of it. I love it! The center medallion is from Brocade Motifs and the brad is from Making Memories.

I'd like to try out a scrapbook page with this paper, but I'm not sure what pictures I'd use for it. I might try a nice black and white family portrait, or maybe a cool heritage photo.

Speaking of scrapbooking, I'm working on my albums this summer and I'll be posting some random tips I've learned along the way that might be helpful to some of you.

Playing Catch Up!

Hi everyone! I had another sleepy weekend, and I chose sleep instead of blogging, so I'm here to play catch up and fill you all in on what's going on in my world.

First, here's a card I made at my downline's house several days ago. I wanted to try out her Priceless set, and I love it! My dilema now is which set do I like better, Garden Whimsy, or Priceless? Ahh, decisions, decisions.

I also wanted to try out the new Basic Grey cardstock by Stampin' Up!. I thought it would be nice, and I really didn't think it was a must-have color, but now, Basic Grey is officially a Southern Style Stamping Must Have! I love it simply because black can be too dark on a card sentiment sometimes. Basic Grey is just right!

On this card, I started with a Wild Wasabi card base, and a strip of Almost Amethyst DP with a Basic Grey mat. I stamped the butterfly and flourish from Pricelss in Basic Grey, Almost Amethyst, and a bit of black marker for the antenna and butterfly body. I punched out a Wasabi tab with the SU round tab punch and stamped the sentiment from All Holidays in Basic Grey. I finished off the card with a bit of ticket corner punching, and a bit of Wasabi stitched ribbon and made myself stop embellishing before I ruined the card.

Next on today's agenda is to say a big THANK YOU to the awesome bloggers who nominated me for Rockin' blogger!

Kathy, at http://kathatstamps.blogspot.com/ nominated me. Thanks Kathy! Go check out her fun blog! She has some cute cards posted, and some other really funny stuff too!

I was also nominated over here: http://www.myinkyescape.blogspot.com/. She has some really cute cards posted there! Thanks for nominating me!!!

Finally, Samantha over at http://www.ascrapaddictsblog.blogspot.com/ nominated me as well. She's super sweet and she has lots of great cards posted on her blog as well. Thanks Samantha!

Whom should I nominate? I can't pick anyone over another, so check out my list of blogs on the sidebar. I'll be adding more as well, so keep clickin' on the links for more great bloggers!

That's it for now. I've got another card to post later, so stay tuned!

Super Simple, Super Cute!

I love this new Garden Whimsy set from Stampin' Up! While I was on vacation, I drove down to Savannah to see my upline, Michelle to visit with her and of course, stamp! She had just gotten in some new stuff and I was more than happy to help her stamp some samples!

This is an extremely simple card and it came together very quickly. We just started with a So Saffron card base, added a strip of Rose Red Palette O' Prints DP and a black mat and tied a bit of black gingham ribbon. In my opinion, you can make any project pop with a bit of black.

The ladybug is actually inked up with the new pomegranate color and I went over the head and body with a black marker. The pomegranate is similar enough to the Rose Red to coordinate just fine.

If you're a demo, this would be a great card for beginners or for a workshop.

Thanks for stopping by!

Didn't wanna come home

I just got back from the beach, and I didn't wanna come home!!! On the recommendation of some stampin' friends, my family visited Fripp Island for the first time. I grew up visiting North Myrtle Beach back when it was quiet and and quaint. My dad grew up vacationing in N Myrtle as well and still goes there, but I just don't like it there much anymore. Too busy, terrible traffic, a little dirty, etc.

So, we drove out to Fripp not knowing anything at all about it. It took what seemed like forever to get there because we kept driving past a whole lot of nothing. All you see is marsh and lots of bridges going over rivers. I loved the scenery! So serene and untouched! You can't build huge condominiums on marshland!

We finally got to Fripp Island and it's beautiful. It's a resort island and everything is lush, tropical, and meticulously maintained. We rented a house on the back of the island overlooking an unspoiled view of the marsh and intracoastal waterway. Fabulous!
We'll be going back next summer and we're considering staying for two weeks next year!

We didn't have computer access for a whole week (detox!) so I'll be catching up on my fav blogs, SCS, etc today then I'll post some stamped stuff later!

Have a great day everyone!

Ladybug Petals

Here's a card we're making for my July Stampers club meeting. On this card, we used the SU large oval punch to make the flower in white and So Saffron. We stamped Pick a Petal in Pomegranate onto white cardstock and cut the petals out. Using two circle punches, we made the petals into a ladybug. Black wire from Michael's make the antenna. I used some of my non SU green stitched ribbon and sticky strip tape to make the flower stem and a black SU marker makes the ladybug trail.

I finished it off with an SU sentiment and the card measures 5 1/4" square.

Today, I'm continuing my efforts to catch up on my 'puter stuff and then I'm hoping to do some fun stampin' this week! See you later!

Tagged!

While I was out I was tagged by the super-talented stamper MJ Albright. Check out her blog! http://mjalbright.wordpress.com/

This tag is about posting little-known facts about yourself. I think I'm supposed to post seven facts, so here goes:

1. I go back and forth between really neat and very sloppy. Some days I'm too pooped to clean, then all of a sudden I'll just clean the heck out the house. It drives my husband crazy. He's more regimented and cleans a little at a time.
2. If my husband had been full-time military, I probably would not have married him. I couldn't imagine moving all around! I never anticipated him being deployed. It all worked out in the end and I'm very proud to be married to a soldier!
3. I spend waaaaay too much $ on my wardrobe. My fav store is a bit pricey, but I love it! That's another fact that drives my husband nuts.
4. Every six months, I cut my hair drastically. I let it grow for six months, then cut it out of frustration. I'm about to get it cut. It's that time again.
5. I drove almost four hours to adopt my Saint Bernard, Pickles. I hadn't even met her before, but had just seen a picture online. Something in me just had to have her. She was drastically underweight, and needed a home that loves drooly, messy, loving dogs!
6. I love Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch!
7. I absolutely hate doing laundry. I hate folding it even more. It's yet another thing that drives my husband nuts. He once suggested that I do a load of laundry each day to keep up with it. I told him no way, and went out and bought everyone in the family enough underwear to last two weeks.
8. I can be a bit excessive and dramatic sometimes. See #7.

Ooops, I wrote 8 things. Told you I was excessive!

I'm not sure who to tag who has not already been tagged. I'm usually last on the tag chain, so I'll leave at that. Have a great day everyone!

http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/184314.html

Well, I'll be... My husband made the front page in our newspaper yesterday on the Fourth of July!!! This is the picture they used! It's a photo of my husband holding the photo of our children that he carried in his front pocked the whole year he was in Iraq.

We're honored! But, I must admit, I speak for my husband when we say that we're a little embarrassed by all of the attention. My husband did a great job over in Iraq, but there are hundreds, thousands of soldiers who were killed or horribly injured over there.

We're so blessed. My husband made it home will all ten fingers and toes.

Go thank a soldier today and God Bless America!!!

Finally! I got some scrapbooking done! Now that I've completed a page, I'm hungry to do more! The feeling of accomplishment and completion is intoxicating! So, now I've got my albums out and I'm looking for my next layout!

This layout highlights pics of my kids playing in our backyard when we first moved into our house. I love to look at these pics and see how much our home has changed. New drywall, new floors, etc. One of fun things about scrapbooks is looking back and seeing how much has changed! (like the new wrinkles on my face.... but I digress)

I still need to figure out how to take better pics of double layouts like this. I used my Canon Digital Rebel and the shot without the flash was the best, but it's still hard to stage a double layout compared to a card. If you have any tips on how to prop up layouts and take pics let me know!

Thanks for looking and I'll get some more pics up soon!

I'm So Proud!

My husband Chris is quite the stud if I do say so myself.

Some of you might remember that he was in Iraq until March. That pic is of us the night he got home. The neighbors had an impromptu welcome party for us in the cul de sac. Recently he was asked to be on a panel selected to be a part of some media relations interviews for the Army Reserves. That included interviews with NPR and CNN.

He was on CNN last Friday on the Lou Dobbs show and here's the story. Let me know if you can see this!

http://mms.tveyes.com/playlist.asp?stationid=100&clipdatetime=06%2F29%2F2007+18%3A55%3A04&mediapreload=14

Where have I been?

Hi everyone! You might have been a little disappointed if you've checked in and haven't seen anything new in a while. Sorry about that!

I've been teaching at the preschool for a little summer camp for four weeks, and with the kids at home all of the time, that has not left much uninterrupted stamping time! And, the stress of stalking the mailman and the UPS man for my new Stampin' Up catalog has not helped! Now that I've seen the new catalog, I'd rather look at it than stamp! That's just sad!

I have to say that I have been overwhelmed by the new catalog. It's sleek, fresh, updated, fashionable... well, you get the point. I LOVE IT!

So, I've made list after list trying to figure out what to order first. I've settled on lots of new ribbon, punches, and accessories. Then, I'll pick out a stamp or two to go with the new stuff!

Finally, thanks to you all, my little blog has had over 10,000 hits! Thanks for checking in on me and leaving such sweet, encouraging comments on my cards! It really makes my day!

To thank you, I'll start stamping some projects for you and put together some awesome Southern Style Sweets! (aka Blog Candy)

Check in later to see what I come up with!

WOW!!!!

Hi everyone! I just noticed that we've passed 10,000 hits!



So, you know what that means! Blog Candy aka Southern Style Sweets!!!



Stayed tuned for a pic and an opportunity to win some goodies!