STAMPIN' CONNECTION SKETCH CHALLENGE - TIMELESS LOVE

Happy Monday all!!! WOW!! VERY busy weekend, but fun!! I had a class Thursday and Friday, my anniversary was Saturday, and I had a workshop on Sunday, LOL!! Lots of stamping with friends, both new and old - and I got to spend a wonderful night with my husband on Saturday night to celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary!!! Actually, the card I am sharing today is based on the sketch card challenge posted today at Stampin' Connection - it is my week to make the sketch so I will also share it here if you want to play along :-)  I gave this card to my husband for our anniversary, and he told me he was sure it was the best one I have ever made....he knows just what to say, lol!  I am glad he liked it though! I used the set called Sense of Time - I find it very fitting when talking about a lifetime of memories shared between two people in love!  We aren't quite at a lifetime but hey, we DO plan on making it there *wink*  I also did this card is grays and blacks because I like the elegant feel these colors have together.  The background patterned paper is from the Nouveau Chic collection, one of my ultimate faves!  I also did lots of embossing and smooching on this card (appropriate for an anniversary card, heehee!) although it is a little hard to see in the pic.  I stamped little hearts from the Sprinkles background stamp set and used my pinking hearts border punch (carried over from the Occasions Mini and still available to order) as well.  The sentiment is from the Summer Mini stamp set called In a Word - I just love it!  It is stamped in going gray and punched out using the Modern Label punch.   I love how it turned out, it was exactly what I wanted for my honey!!

Here is the sketch this card is based on (yeah, I know, I changed up my own sketch, lol) and if you are a demo, please upload your take on this card to the gallery at SC with the keyword SCCSC18 - I want to see them!! And, if you are not a demo, but still want to play along (I hope you do!) leave a link for me so I can stop by and see what you did!
And, I thought I would share a couple of pics from our fun night out - we went to a Mystery dinner with some friends of ours and we had a great time! We all had parts to play since I know all the fun ladies at the Monday Club and they wanted us to be major players! Tony was gambling Jack and I was Annabelle, the rich Southern Belle he married for her money, LOL!! We had fun dressing up in costume and laughed all night as we played our roles!! We went with two other couples and just had a wonderful time!!

Here are a few of the pics from the evening!  Here we are all dressd up and out in the front of the house before we left - I had to laugh, I told Tony he looked more like Garth Brooks than a Wild West gambler :-)  And, here is another pic of the two of us together because I wanted a chance to try out my parasol!!! Really fun, I had such a great time, it was like grown-up dressup day, heehee!! 

And, here are a few of us by ourselves - I have to say, I think my husband looks very handsome (I might be biased, but hey, I am sticking to my story, lol!)  Too fun, so glad we went!  And, if you are still with me, you deserve big hugs and a smooch - thanks for stopping by to see me today!!! I will leave you with the recipe - now I am off to start prepping in a big way for my First Annual Scrap and Stamp Fest right here in Oroville next Saturday!  It will run all day from 10am to 8pm with all kinds of fun projects, good food, fun goody bags - what could be better?!! So, off to prep - be back tomorrow!!

Card Recipe:

Paper - Going Gray, Basic Gray, Black, Naturals White card stock, Nouveau Chic Designer Series Paper

Inks - Going Gray, Basic Gray, Basic Black, Versamark

Stamps - Sense of Time, Sprinkles, In a Word

Accessories - Black embossing powder, Pinking Hearts Punch, Square Lattice and Swiss Dots embossing folders, Vannilla Smooch, Modern Label Punch, Silver Brads, dimensionals

A LITTLE BARBECUE ANYONE?

HAH!! Good morning all! This new stamp set from the Summer Mini cracks me up! It's called King of the Grill and is just such a fun image!!  This card I am sharing today is based on this week's sketch challenge at Stampin' Connection where my fellow team member Liz knocked our socks off with a fab sketch! If you are a demonstratror, get on over there and check it out and let's see what you can do with it!  I thought this might make a great Father's Day card, but well, I have not really decided yet, LOL! So, I left off the ribbon although it about killed me to do so, heehee!! I used the Nouveau Chic Designer Series Paper, and my new Square Lattice embossing folder - love how it looks and it actually changes the texture of the card stock!  And, although it may be hard for you to tell, I used my Frost White Shimmerz paint on both the embossed card stock and the main image (click image for closer look).  Fun card to make and I am happy with how it turned out!  So, quick post today, I am getting ready for my Canvas class tonight and have a million things to do before the ladies arrive!  Thanks for stopping by, your comments ROCK!
Card Recipe:
Paper - Ruby Red, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Sage Shadow card stock, Nouveau Chic Designer Series Paper
Inks - Black Stazon, Ruby Red, Sage Shadow, Basic Gray, Going Gray, Blush Blossom Stampin' Write markers
Stamps - King of the Grill
Accessories - Sage Shadow buttons, Modern Label Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Scallop Border punch, Circle Die for Big Shot, twine, sponge, Shimmerz mixed with alcohol

WATERCOLOR TRIO SUMMER MINI SWAP

Happy Hump Day!! I have been stamping away getting ready for two workshops this weekend, my canvas class on Thursday and my downline meeting, which was last night!!! So much fun, but not a lot of blog time, LOL!  We had a great time at our meeting last night! I had asked all the gals to make a card that featured products from the Summer Mini for a Shoebox Swap and I was blown away by the talent!! I have a couple more gals that could not make it last night, but  are sending their cards so once I have them all, I will put a slideshow up so you can see how beautiful their cards are!! I thought I would share the card I made for the swap featuring the Watercolor Trio Set and the All A Flutter single butterfly stamp - ooh, I just love this stamp, such a pretty butterfly! I also used my Frost White Shimmerz on the Chocolate Chip Scalloped Square (cut it on my Big Shot) and the butterfly and I just love the sparkle!  I stamped on Naturals White and distressed the edges with my distressing tool, then sponged the edges using Sage Shadow, which I will greatly miss since it is being retired *sniff* - I just love how soft and pretty this color is!  I stamped the leaves in the same color, then added some flowers stamped in Soft Suede . The designer series paper is from the set called To the Nines and I love how thick and textured this paper is!! I added some Very Vanilla ribbon, stamped and sponged my sentiment with Soft Suede after punching it out using the Scalloped Oval Punch. The butterfly is stamped in Soft Suede as well, then colored in with my Stampin' Write markers, and spritzed with the Frost White Shimmerz - soooooo pretty and sparkly!! I am happy with how this card turned out and the girls loved it, which brought a smile to my face!!! It was fun to see all the different styles we have for stamping - so many gorgeous but totally different cards.  So, now I am off to finish prepping for my class tomorrow but first I am going to go and check out some of my fave blogs - yep, YOURS, LOL!!!! Thanks so much for stopping by, your comments are fabulous and I read them all!! I will be back tomorrow to share another card I made for the meeting last night - it is a fun one, so make sure you check back!!! Toodles!!
Card Recipe:
Paper - Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Naturals White card stock, To the Nines Specialty Designer Series Paper
Inks - Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede classic inks and Stampin' Write markers
Stamps - All a Flutter, Watercolor Trio
Accessories - Small Circle hole punch (for scallops), Very Vanilla narrow grosgrain ribbon, distressing tool, sponge, Frost White Shimmerz spray(alcohol mix)

MY BOY

Hey all!!! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend - I tell ya, it flew by! Yesterday was my son's 16th birthday - I can't believe it!!! So, we had a whole weekend of birthday festitivites! On Friday night all his buddies spent the night so that they could leave early Saturday for a day at Six Flags!! They had a wonderful time, but they came home exhausted, lol!! Tony went with them as I had Club that day and well, I don't ride anything anyway so it was a nice day for the boys.  Yesterday we did family things together - I baked him a double decker chocolate cake, and we took him to dinner at Olive Garden (his choice).  Then, we came home and he opened his family gifts which he loved and then we watched movies.  It was a nice day with just us although I wish my oldest son could have been home!!! I think he had a really nice birthday - he seemed pretty happy anyway, lol!!! So, I wanted to share the card I made for Tyler - he is an avid snowboarder so I made him a card with the Extreme Snowboarding stamp, which I think is cool because it is a shadow stamp! I also used the Extreme Elements stamp set - I just think they go together really well!  I used lots of different inks on this card, and I like how the combination turned out!  I popped the snowboarder up on dimensionals after I versamarked it, then covered it in clear powder and heat set it to give it a nice shine!  Since this card was going to my son, I did the inside as well! 

Here is a picture of what it looks like: I used the same stamps sets and sponged the edges of the naturals white card stock with Soft Suede, then stamped off the snowboarder image so that it looked like he was in motion! Tyler loved this card, he thought is was cool that he had a personalized card for snowboarding....score points for mom *wink*  He actually took the card into his room and put it up on his bulletin board, so that is pretty high praise and hey, I will take it, LOL!  It was a fun card to make and I love that my kids really appreciate that I make them for them - they are full of love so I think that makes them special, don't you So, that is my card to share today! I thought before I left ya and went to prep kits for class, I would share some of the fun pictures we took of Tyler during all his birthday festivities- he is such a ham sometimes and he loves to joke and play around and I think we caught some of that in these pictures. 

This first picture is of the boys at Six Flags - I have to say, I really like the friends Tyler hangs around with, they all play sports, we know all their parents, and they were raised with the same values my son was so it is nice to have them all around! And, as you can see in the pictures, they all share a sense of humor! This second picture is of the same group but still goofing around - I think they enjoyed hamming it up for the camera since they knew Tony had strict instructions to come home with pictures of them from the park, LOL!

Just look at that group mugging for the camera! I have to say, these pictures totallly made me giggle when Tony showed them to me - it is soooo obvious that they are having a good time and that they are friends who enjoy being around each other!! Nothing better than spending good times with friends that you can count on!!!  These last couple of pics are of Tyler playing around while I took pictures of him opening his gifts from us.  I usually wrap them all separately and then put them in a really big birthday bag - I have been doing it for years, and the kids seems to get a really big kick out of the "bottomless bag".  Tony thinks I spoil them and I do - but hey, they ARE mine to spoil, and they grow up and go out on their own, so for the short time they are in my home, I am going to ensure that they have fond memories to look back upon when they have kids of their own!!! So, here he is, my big ham!

I hope I did not bore you too much but I wanted to share some fun pictures of a milestone in his and MY life - sixteen, I still can't believe it!! So, if you stuck with me through this whole post, BIG HUGS AND SMOOCHES to you!!!!!  Now, I will leave you with the recipe for the card and off I go to my stamp room to finish up things for my downline meeting tomorrow and to cut some kits for classes later on in the week! Thanks so much for stopping by, I love ya for it!

Card Recipe:

Paper - Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip, Naturals White, To the Nines Specialty Designer Series paper

Inks - Not Quite Navy, Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede, Creamy Caramel stampin' inks

Stamps - Extreme Snowboard, Extreme Elements, Voila (sentiment)

Accessories - Scallop Circle Bigz Die, Clear Circle Bigz Die, Ticket Corner Punch, Curly Label Punch

A LITTLE BIT OF MAGIC.....

Happy Friday all!!!  Whew!! Another week down, but this weekend is going to be soooo busy! I have my youngest son turning 16 on Sunday so all his buddies are staying the night tonight and then heading to Six Flags for the day tomorrow!  I am taking care of the festivities tonight - making cookies, cake, pizza, and surrendering the family room to the world of X-box and then Tony will take them to the park - I don't do rides at all, and Tyler said "mom, you probably won't see us all day, so you don't have to go", LOL!  I think that is teen speak for "we will have a great time without you" - heehee! Which worked out well because  have Club on Saturday and he did not decide on what he wanted to do until this week, LOL!!  Sunday we will have a family celebration and take him out to dinner! I can't believe my baby boy is turning 16.......but, I know you are here about the card, so onward! I used a new set from the Summer Mini on this card called A Little Bit of Magic - I just love how super cute these fairies are! They remind me of the old-fashioned woodland fairies in storybooks that spread happiness everywhere....so that is how I think of them!!!  I decided to do a square card as I have not made one in awhile and this is actually the size I prefer to make.  I stamped my image in black stazon and watercolored with my ink pads and blender pens...I find this very relaxing, lol!  Then, I broke out the Gold Smooch spray and sprayed the  panel (embossed with the new Square Lattice folder) with it, and sprayed Vanilla Smooch on the image and oooh, mycard is all sparkly and pretty!!! Want to see?

 Here is a closeup that shows it a bit better and you can click on the image to make it even bigger!  She is all shimmery IRL just like an actual fairy!! I had so much fun making this card - I originally was going to use this as a Club card but decided on something else instead so I thought I would share!! I hope you like her - I am really happy with how this one turned out!! So, now - off to shop for Tyler's bday festivities, weigh in (so much fun!), and bake cookies and a cake!! All in a mom's day of work, lol!! I will be hiding in my stamp room tonight while they battle it out on the Xbox so I will get some stamping time in tonight!! I hope you all have a fabulous Friday and enjoy your weekend!!! Thanks so much for stopping by, I really love reading all your comments!!
Card Recipe:
Paper - Always Artichoke, Rich Razzleberry, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White card stock, Island Oasis Designer series paper
Inks - black stazon, Rich Razzleberry, Pale Plum, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Blush Blossom, Close to Cocoa classic ink pads
Stamps - A Little Bit of Magic
Accessories - Scallop Circle and Clear Circle Big Shot Dies, Ticket Corner Punch, Modern Label Punch, Square Lattice embossing folder, Whisper White Taffeta ribbon, stampin' dimensionals,blender pen

RED, WHITE, AND BLUE STAMPIN CONNECTION SKETCH CARD

Howdy all!!!  There was a little snafu with the sketch challenge yesterday and it did not get posted until later in the day so I am sharing it today! This week's sketch is by Diane Noble - fabulously talented stamper!!  She posted a fun challenge and added a little twist - do the sketch AND do a double-fold card!! Well, I have not done one of these in awhile and so I thought it would be fun to "kick it up a notch" and do both of Diane's challenges, lol!! I decided to use my new July Fourth set from the Summer Mini - I love this set, it is quickly becoming a fave!  I can see lots of use for me with this one!  I decided on no patterned paper for this one, but rather relied on the images to form the background.  I used my jumbo wheel called Red, White, and Blue (also from the Summer Mini) for the inside main panel and I love it! Very fun wheel!  I added some white stitching to the front panel to break up the blue on blue and I stamped and punched out one of the fireworks stamps, added a brad, and popped them up on dimensionals to act as the clasp for the front panel.  With this type of card, it really is necessary to the inside of the card, so I did!!

Here is what it looks like when the card is fully opened.  I added some more stitching on the inside panel, stamped, cut out, added versamark, then heat set the stars with clear embossing powder and they really shine IRL! This was a really fun card to make and I enjoyed just having some stamping fun without feeling like I was under the gun to get something done, LOL!! Although, the rest of today will be like that as I prep for my scrapbook club tomorrow night, and my stamp club on Saturday! Also, I am hosting an event on Friday called Cards for the Troops where I ask community members to come by and stamp cards that are precut and ready to go so that I may send them overseas so more to follow on that!! Now, I am off to cut paper!  Thanks for stopping by, I will be back tomorrow to share some of my Cards for the Troops cards and give you the deets on this event!
Card Recipe:
Paper - Brilliant Blue, Real Red, Whisper White card stock
Inks - Brilliant Blue, Real Red classic inks and stampin' write markers, white gel pen
Stamps - July Fourth, Red, White, and Blue
Accessories - mat pack and paper piercer, stampin' dimensionals, Brilliant Blue brads

CUTE LITTLE MINI BOOK

Hi all!!! WOW!!! What a week I had last week - soooo busy!!! I am still tired but my schedule is a LITTLE (not much) slower this week so I am hopeful I can get some rest, LOL!  I had the big craft fair on Saturday and I think it went really well....got lots of contacts and was pretty busy all day so definitely worth going to! And, I had fun meeting new peeps and hanging out with my downline and good friend Wendy -  we had a good day together!  I thought I would share a little mini scrapbook tin that I made for the fair - I had such fun making this and I think it turned out pretty cute if I say so myself *wink*  I used one of the Simply Scrappin' Kits since everything inside all coordinates together and I needed enough to complete it - this is why I love the SS kits, they are soooo easy when needing a project that has all coordinating items!  This one is called Happy Bday and can be used for either a boy or a girl - I made one of each, and this is the one for a girl!  The ribbon is threaded behind the scalloped square and tied in a bow on the side and is not really needed but I think it gives the in a finished look. 

Here is what you see when you open the tin. The left side has some journaling room and the right side is the first page of the actual pages for the book!  Just love how cute that dsp is! 

This next pic shows what the pages look like when you extend them out - I made accordian pages that just fold onto one another and fit neatly back into the tin so you can either keep it closed or display it open. As you can see, there are four pages that pictures can be added to, memoriabilia put into the little pockets, and of course, plenty of room for journaling either on the back of the tag or the back of the actual page.  And, look how pretty those colors are together!!

All in all, there are seven pages that can be used -  here is a shot of what the back pages look like! Again, each pocket has a removable tag that can be used for whatever you want - pictures, notes, decor from the party, or just a place to jot down some thoughts of the occasion.  Here is a picture of the actual tag - each one is exactly the same!  I just

used my two tags die for my Big Shot, then added some of the matching designer paper to the bottom to pull them all together!  I am so happy with this little mini, and have others that I would love to share with you as well so I will probably be doing so over the next few weeks, LOL!!  I will share the recipe for this project below and if you have any questions please feel free to ask me, I am always happy to answer them!  Now, I am off to run some errands and then back home to get ready for a few classes I have this week!! Yep, that means stamping, whooohooo!! Thanks so much for dropping by, I am so glad you did!! Enjoy your Monday!!

Tin Recipe:

Paper - Simply Scrappin' Kit B-day

Inks - none

Stamps - none

Accessories - Two Tags die for the Big Shot, Scalloped Square die for the Big Shot, Eyelet Border Punch, Scalloped Circle Punch, 1 3/8 inch and 1 1/4 inch Circle punches, Real Red narrow grosgrain ribbon, red sticky tape, dimensionals, Certainly Celery 5/8 inch grosgrain ribbon, 1/16 inch circle punch