HAPPY HEART DAY

Good morning all! I decided that I wanted to try my hand at another little bag and card using solids and stamps. I decided to try out differing shades of yellow (hence why the card and bag are different colors) to see which one I like the best. So, here they are together! The bag is made with Yoyo Yellow and Pixie Pink cardstock and the card is made with So Saffron and Pixie Pink cardstock. I decided I like the card colors better because it seems softer to me. What do you think? Here are some closeups of both! As I said, the bag is definitely the brighter of the two with the Yoyo Yellow. It is the same basic design of the one I posted yesterday with a few small changes. One, I stamped the background of the cardstock with the small flower from the Happy Heart stampset in Pixie Pink Classic Ink. I stamped this before I actually made the cuts and folds. The mouse image is also from Happy Heart and is stamped on whisper white cardstock in Pixie Pink Classic Ink and then mounted on cardstock of the same color. Then, I added some Pixie Pink Ribbon and it was done. The card is basically the same layout as yesterday's with a few subtle changes. The card base is Pixie Pink with So Saffron layered on it which I stamped with the same little flower as the bag. I then added a strip of Pixie Pink to which I added a Scalloped edge using my Corner Rounder (just remove the bottom piece to do this). I added punched holes in the scallops to give it a little bit of pop. The image is the little butterfly from Happy Heart (I love it!) stamped in Pixie Pink ink on Whisper White which is layered on both Pixie Pink and So Saffron cardstock. I used my ticket corner punch on the edges of all my cardstock as well. The tag was made using my Large and Small Tag Punch and the image is from the same set. I then added a small piece of So Saffron ribbon and I was done. I like the softness of this card although the bag is bright and cheery! So, tell me, which color combination do you like best? Enjoy your weekend!

HAPPY FRIDAY - WORKSHOP SAMPLES

Happy Friday everyone! Ya know, I figured once I stopped working, Friday would lose its meaning BUT since I still get up to get the kids to school, I still look forward to the weekends and no alarm - LOL! And, DH comes home from his business trip tomorrow - yippee!! I am one of those crazy women who actually LOVES having her husband around *smiles*. Anyway, today I want to share with you some projects that I will be doing at an upcoming workshop. I am VERY excited since this will be my first workshop since I moved from Florida and I am hoping that it will lead to more. It will give me a chance to meet some other ladies and have some fun stampin'! So, please tell me what you think about these for the workshop! First, the 2,5,7,10 bag: I really love this cute pattern and plan on making several of these for treat bags for my daughter's class. This one is made using Berry Bliss DP - I can't help it, I love this paper! It did not require any background stamping because the pattern is already there so it went together quickly! The image is from the stamp set Happy Heart (they all are) and is backed with chocolate chip cardstock and stamped on whisper white in chocolate chip ink. I colored in parts of the image with rose red and pretty in pink stampin write markers. If you look at the flap, you will see that I scalloped the edges using my corner rounder (I just take the bottom piece off and it works great!) I then punched two holes for the chocolate chip ribbon and it was done! I really like it, it reminds me very much of Valentines Day. Okay, next is the card. The base is chocolate chip which I then layered with pretty in pink. If you look closely at this layer, you will see that I background stamped with the little butterfly from the Happy Heart Stamp Set. I then added a strip of chocolate chip cardstock. The image is backed with Rose Red, Pretty in Pink and then stamped on Whisper White. I stamped the cute little elephant in brown stazon and then watercolored him using my stampin' pastel chalks. The sentiment is backed with rose red cardstock that I punched using my large Tag Punch and the image itself is another stamp from Happy Heart that fits perfectly in the small Tag Punch. I added both Chocolate Chip and Pretty in Pink Grosgrain Ribbon and it was done. I think it turned out cute and matches the bag well. Okay, now tell me what you think! Oh yeah, all products used for these projects are Stampin' Up!

A NEW SET - AND YES, NEW DP!

Mornin' all! Well, I am so glad I could hit your humor meters with my answers in my tag - LOL! And yes, I do use a microphone when I karaoke *wink* Okay, so on to my card. I have to say, making cards is still not getting any easier for me but I keep pluggin' on. This one is pretty simple but I love the new Ginger Blossom DP and figured it was time to cut into it! For the base of this card, I used Certainly Celery and layered it with Regal Rose, which is the same paper I used to mount my image on. You probably cannot see it, but the Regal Rose is stamped with the new background stamp Stitched in the same color - IRL it looks really nice! I used my corner rounder on all the paper on this card to give it a softer look. The DP I used was of course Ginger Blossom - I used one side for the bottom layer, and the coordinating side for the top. I love this paper, it is soooo pretty! The image is a flower from the stamp set Stitched Exotics, which I stamped on Whisper White in Certainly Celery and then punched out using my Scallop Circle Punch. I put a green Circle Rhinestone in the middle and popped the whole thing up on Dimensionals. The sentiment I colored with my Certainly Celery Stampin' Write Marker so that I could split it up and mount in on Certainly Celery using my Word Window Punch. Lastly, I added some Wild Wasabi Double Stitched ribbon, pierced my image and the corners of the paper, and I was done! A nice, simple card!

JUST A QUICK POST - I HAVE BEEN TAGGED!

Okay everyone, here it is 10pm and I should be thinking of other things, but no, I am blog browsing. And, I find out I have been tagged by Heather from Witty Title Here - if you have not seen her blog, you better because the woman has GOT TALENT!! Anyway, I thought the tag looked like fun, and so I decided to do it! Here goes:

Five things I was doing 10 years
1. Stationed in Hawaii
2. Leaving my family for seven months to fight the war in Kosovo (hey, you asked!)
3. Getting a new retriever puppy (we still have him but now he is 100lbs of pure love)
4. Meeting my current best friend
5. Teaching Step Aerobics for five, yes five different gyms

Five things on my to do list today
1. Finish my scrap room!
2. Work on my husband's office
3. Call the builder and threaten him with bodily harm
4. Prepare for my upcoming workshop
5. Spend time with my children when they get home

Five things I will do when I'm a millionaire
1. Share
2. Pay off everything
3. Set aside for the kids
4. Travel
5. Enjoy life without financial stressors

Five things I'll never wear again
1. Spandex ( I am sooo with Heather on this one!!)
2. A bathing suit (and this one!!)
3. Tight jeans (give me comfy pants any day!)
4. Thong underwear (what was I thinking???!!!)
5. Uncomfortable shoes (thank goodness flats are in!)

Five of my favorite toys
1. My camera
2. My computer
3. My cricut
4. My karaoke machine (no laughing, I mean it!)
5. My ipod

Five banes of my existence
1. Slow people driving in the fast lane
2. Rude and nasty people
3.Contractors, builders, you get my point??
4. Household chores
5. Did I already say contractors??

Okay, so there you have it! So, now I have to pick five people who I hope play along. Here they are:

1. Charmaine aka Oodabug Alley (this gal has skills, let me tell ya!)
2. Kathleen aka My Happy Place (ditto for her talent!)
3. Nikki aka Military Wife Stampin Spot (do I need to say it again??!!)
4. Angel aka Angelosity (talented... well of course!)
5. Roxy aka Stamping with Roxy (holy moly, the skills!)

Now, I picked these five out of TONS that I visit - I visit these five truly talented ladies everyday and I love, love, love their creations and have drawn inspiration from all of them. So, if you got nothing else out of this post, get on over and visit these blogs (if you haven't already!) Well, nuff said - 'night!

A VALENTINES SKETCH CARD

Good morning! Well, it is FREEZING and RAINING here again today so it is a good day to be lazy and hang around in my scrap room (of course, I could clean and do laundry - naaah!). Today I want to share a card I made for a sketch challenge over at Angel's blog Angelosity. If you have never been to her blog, go over and check it out, she does some cute things. The challenge was to make a Valentines Day card so I decided to make one for a really good friend of mine who I miss very much now that I have moved to California. She is a sweetheart! So, here it is! Whattya think?? I like the way it turned out! I used some more of the Berry Bliss DP because all of it is just sooo pretty! I also used two stamp sets - one is called Stitched Exotics and the other one is a Hostess Set called For a Friend which I thought was perfect for this card and gave me the sentiment I needed. I hope you like it!
Card Recipe:
Paper - Kraft, Regal Rose, Close to Cocoa, Whisper White, Berry Bliss Dp
Stamp Sets - Stitched Exotics, For a Friend
Inks - Brown Stazon, Rose Red
Accessories - Cropadile, Fire Circle Rhinestones, Regal Rose Brads, Purely
Pomegranate Double Stitched Ribbon, Dimensionals, Mini Glue Dots,
Jumbo Pewter Eyelets, Ticket Corner Punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Paper
Piercer, Snail Adhesive

VALENTINES DAY GIFTS

Good morning all! I hope you had a fabulous long weekend (for those of you who had yesterday off!). I spent the day yesterday piddling in my stamp room and decided to do a fun gift project for my daughter's teacher for Valentine's Day (Tyler has nine teachers and would DIE if I gave them gifts - LOL!) So, here is what I did! I altered a cute little mailbox that I found in the $1 bin at Target (don't you just LOVE that spot??!!) with my new favorite Berry Bliss DP - I can't seem to get enough of this paper! I also made a matching card to go along with it. Here are some close up pics so you can see what I did: This is the side view of the mailbox. I stamped the flower from the stamp set Stitched Exotics onto Rose Red cardstock then punched it out using my circle scallop punch. I then put a pink fire rhinestone in the center of each flower and put one on either side of the mailbox arm with glue dots. I also stamped on of the other flowers from the same set on Purely Pomegranate cardstock, punched this one out using my 5-petal flower punch and added some white gel pen accents. This, I mounted with dimensionals. I then added some yummy Purely Pomegranate stitched ribbon to both the arm and the ends of the mailbox. This next picture shows a shot of the front which you can see I used contrasting paper from Berry Bliss and added yet another punched out flower with my 5-petal punch. The next one shows a shot of the other side of the box to which I added some more punched out flowers. Lastly is a picture of the card I made to go with it. The base of the card is Kraft paper to which I then added a layer of Purely Pomegranate. I used my ticket punch on the corners and added some faux stitching with my mat stack and paper piercer. This I outlined in chocolate chip stampin write marker. Next, I cut out two separate pieces of coordinating Berry Bliss DP (it matches the mailbox), used the corner ticket punch, and layered it on the card. The stamped image is mounted on Rose Red Cardstock and actually stamped on Whisper White using black stazon. This cute little image is from the stamp set Happy Heart Day (love it!). I used my ink pads and blender pen to color this cute little guy in. I then added rose red brads and some purely pomegranate ribbon and voila! I hope you enjoy looking at this project as much as I have enjoyed putting it together!

HAPPY MONDAY - AND A NEW CARD!

Hi all! Well, I am soooo glad you all enjoyed my sneak peek of my stamp room! I am going to be working on it some more today and hopefully will have some more pics to share with you tomorrow! I truly do love my new space - it makes me feel good! And, for those of you who asked, the puppies names are Bonnie and Clyde, they are brother and sister, four years old, and I love them to death! They have an older brother Cisco, who is a 10 year old golden retriever who puts up with a lot from the two little criminals! So, on to the card. I used the same color scheme and paper as the one from yesterday because (1) I still had it out, and (2) I am in love with the new DP and can't get enough of it! I also used the same stamp set but a different image - this is by far my favorite stamp set yet from SU!, I just love it! Of course, I have several others I am getting ready to ink up, so I will let you know *wink* Have a super Monday!
Card Details(all supplies are SU!)
Paper - Kraft, Rose Red, and Whisper White Cardstock, Berry Bliss DP
Stamp Set - Pun Fun
Accessories - Corner Rounder, Purely Pomegranate ribbon and ink,
Mat Stack with Paper Piercer, Soft Subtles and Fresh Favorites Buttons,
Brown Stazon, Stampin Write Markers, Snail Adhesive

BEATE'S SKETCH CHALLENGE AND A SNEAK PEEK!

Hi all! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! I have been VERY busy putting my scrap/stamp room together and I have to say it is coming along beautifully! So, this will be a long post, but worth it I think! But, before I give you a sneak peek (I will, I promise!) I want to share the card I did for Beate's sketch challenge. I have not been able to do to many of these lately as most of you know, so I was thrilled to sit in my new room this morning and put this one together. I have to say, maybe my stamp room gives me great mojo because I am really excited with how this card came out and that does not happen very often! I am not much of a card maker, I am more of a scrapbooker, BUT I am getting better *wink* So, you all need to tell me what you think! I really liked this sketch although I changed it slightly - since my stamp already had a sentiment, I did leave that extra embellishment off but the basic sketch is intact. The base of the card is Kraft (for Kimberly!) which I have never liked but is growing on my thanks to my enabling upline who is awesome! Then, I used some of the new Berry Bliss DP, which is totally yummy! I then layered Regal Rose, Close to Cocoa, and on the main image, Whisper White cardstock. I used my Corner Ticket Punch on all the layers as well. The main image is the cute little skunk from the new stamp set Pun Fun, which I see myself using alot! I colored the image using my Stampin Write Markers and my blender pen. For the little sidebar, I used my 3/4 inch circle punch to make circles out of Regal Rose, then used pewter jumbo eyelets to make it pop. I put these in using my Crop-A-Dile which I love! Around the main image I used Pretty in Pink brads and then added some Purely Pomegranate ribbon to draw out the colors in the DP. And, there you have it! Now, on to my scrap room. I am still working on it, but it is about 90% done so I will share a few of the pics today and maybe some more tomorrow -can't give it all to you at once *wink*. This first one is of my actual work space, which I totally love because there is sooo much room! I have a shelf underneath the work area where I have storage bins full of different embellishments, paper, paints, etc. All of my SU! stuff is located within arms reach so that I can easily and quickly take care of business. It may be hard to tell from this picture but my workspace table is ten feet long!!! So, there is plenty of room for my inkpads, and such. This next shot shows all my SU! punches - Tony is building me a storage for these but right now this works just fine because I can easily see what each is and pull it out for use! Underneath is my storage containers for my glitters (all the new SU! yummy ones), snail refills, and my sponges. To the side you can see a stackable storage container, well, each drawer contains my different SU! adhesives, dimensionals, and such. Very handy! And, the brackets Tony chose have little storage areas so I was able to hang all my scissors, hand punches, and my crop-a-dile for easy reach as well! This next one shows my carousel for my brads as well as some ribbon. But, the main thing here is my paper storage for some (yep, I said some) of my non-SU! DP. I do a TON of scrapbooking and have so much paper that I don't want to part with it just because I am SU! demo. This storage unit is awesome and still has lots of room for more (oh, no!) This next pic is a quick view of how I store my stamp pads and

such so I can reach them easily while creating. And, above them is where I store my SU! DP and cardstock which I use ALOT and has easily become my favorite paper because it is such great quality.

And, of course, my room would not be complete without having a spot for my two little weiner dogs to keep my company. Aren't they so cute!!! So, now you have had a sneak peek at one corner of my room - I still have several things to show you but that will have to wait. Until then!