AND THE WINNER IS....

oh, not yet - LOL! This was so much fun seeing how everyone tried to remember to do the two posts each day!! I have to say out of everyone who posted, only nine people did the two posts each day so odds were good for them!! I am sorry to those of you who wrote and said you did not like this, but I wanted to try something different AND I wanted to give those who visit everyday a fair chance against those who just blog candy search. And, hey, it's my blog, right?? *wink* It seemed like most of you had a blast doing this and I am glad! So, without further ado, here is the winner drawn by my husband from little pieces of paper in a big bowl - hey, random.org would not have worked for this one, LOL! Drum roll please......the winner is.......Denise !!!! Whoohoo girl, congratulations !!! Denise is a regular poster on my blog, has a fabulous blog of her own, is very talented, and super sweet!! Send me your snail mail addy and I will get your goodies right out to you!! Thanks again to everyone who played, I enjoyed it too :-) I know some of you wanted to know how I kept track - I set up a spreadsheet the first day and added the names and a check mark for each day for each post....anal, huh?!! It's the military officer coming out in me, LOL! So, by last night, it was easy to see who qualified for the drawing!

So, today I want to share a card I made using the Time for You stamp set from the Occasions Mini. I was really excited about this set, but once I got it, I was kind of stumped on how to use it!! So, I decided to pair the image with my Lots of Thoughts SAB stamp set and went to work! The base of the card is Bashful Blue card stock. The next layer is So Saffron card stock which I stamped in the same color ink using my Jumbo Stampin' Wheel Basics Outline - I just love the flowers on this wheel!! The two smaller squares are made using the Summer Picnic Designer Series paper also from the Occasions Mini. If you like these items and haven't ordered them yet, hurry because they are only good until the end of May!! The image is stamped on Whisper White card stock in black stazon and colored in using my Stampin' Write Markers, then adhered to Old Olive card stock. I sponged the edges of these two pieces with Old Olive Classic Stampin' Ink. I used my Photo Corners Punch with Old Olive and Bashful Blue card stock, layered them, added a So Saffron brad, and added some Ruby Red dots using my Stampin' Write marker. The small strip of dp in the top right corner is punched out of Cutie Pie Designer Series Paper using my Word Window Punch. I added a vintage silver brad to this. All the main pieces of card stock were punched using my Ticket Corner Punch with the exception of the sentiment which is stamped in Ruby Red Classic Stampin' Ink on Bashful Blue card stock, punched out using my 1 1/4 inch Square Punch, and popped up on dimensionals. I added a small piece of So Saffron Grosgrain ribbon to this as well. Lastly, I added some accent color to the So Saffron layer with my white gel pen and I was done!! I made 20 of these for a swap I am in so needless to say by the last one, I was ready to be finished with this card - LOL! I love swaps but I don't like the repetitiveness of them - I think we should just make all different cards that have a similar theme and color scheme....hmmmm....what do you all think?? Anyway, thanks again for playing along with my blog candy, and have a fabulous Saturday!!!!

BLOG CANDY - WHOOHOO!!!

**ETA - SINCE I POSTED THIS A LITTLE LATE YESTERDAY, I HAVE DECIDED THAT IF YOU MISSED POSTING, BUT POST THE REST OF THE WEEK, I WILL ENTER YOU IN THE DRAWING - I AM TRYING TO BE FAIR***

****THIS POST WILL REMAIN AT THE TOP OF MY BLOG THROUGH SATURDAY 19 APRIL 2008. PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR NEWER POSTS****
Well, as promised, here is the post for Blog Candy! This is a pack of 14 Clear Stamps called Special Occasions. This Blog Candy is in celebration of my 20,000 hits - thanks so much to you all!!!!!!!!! So, you are probably wondering - wow!! this is not the usual blog candy from Alex...well, you are right!!! This is why: every day for five days I will ADD one item to this one, until Friday when there will be five...so what do YOU have to do??? Well, here it is: you MUST leave a comment for blog candy EVERYDAY. AND, you must leave a comment on the daily post EVERYDAY. So, two posts everyday for five days.....that is all you have to do! For some of you, this will be easy peasy because you are wonderful enough to stop in everyday and leave me a comment anyway. But, for some, this will be harder - so you up for it??!!! I will keep track of the posts and at the end of the week, I will gather the names of those who have ten posts (one on each post for five days) and they will be entered in the drawing for the five prizes!! So, this post will stay at the top, only the picture will change everyday. Good luck!!!! For those of you who left a comment already today, you will be entered for today!

DOGGONE IT - IT'S FRIDAY!!!

Happy Friday everyone!! Today is the last day of entries for blog candy, I will revealing the winner tomorrow morning. I hope you all had fun playing this a different way - I just thought it would be a nice way to reward my regulars who visit no matter what!!! So, you guys ready for today's reveal....check out the picture above and you will see what I added! Yep, beautiful ribbon, yummy ribbon, oooh how I love ribbon - LOL! So, today I have a scrapbook page that I did of Dexter as he was chewing on Kayla's shoe. She gave me a hard time about taking pictures instead of taking the shoe away and my response was, "but honey, your mom's a scrapbooker". Someday she will understand and her shoe DID survive...So, on to the page! Nothing except the White Grosgrain Ribbon, Taken with Teal, and Chocolate Chip card stock is Stampin' Up! but all came from my stash. There are puppy paw brads, square pewter eyelets, and yes, actual shoelaces that I cut from an old pair of my own shoes!! The title is handwritten on a tag shaped like a bone that I had in my stash as well. I did the layout using one of Lesli's sketches and I really like it. I thought this page was really fun and I enjoyed doing it! He is such a trouble maker, but so cute that it is hard to get mad at him! I hope you like it!!! Have a wonderful Friday and a great weekend - blog candy winner tomorrow!!!

I AM SUCH A LUCKY GAL!!

Good morning all!! Let me say right up front that this is a longish post, so please bear with me!! As you can see, I have added to the blog candy everyday - you have the stamps, the rub-ons, the stickles, and today you have four cards with matching envelopes to decorate as you want!! Tomorrow I will add the final item and Saturday I will announce the winner - whoohoo! So, today I want to share with you why I feel I am so very lucky. I have received some wonderful mail over the last few days and want to share with you what I got. First, I got this wonderful Riley card from Tracy at Tracy's Happy Place - isn't it just so stinkin' cute???!!! AND she sent me these images and some of those cool dewdrops I have seeing but have never gotten to have! Thank Tracy - I love them!! Then, I received this beautiful monogrammed card from Angie at Chic n' Scratch, I totally love this!!! The picture does not do it justice, it is very classy-looking and I can't wait to use it!! Big hugs to you girl, thanks for thinking of me!! Then, I received this absolutely gorgeous card from my good friend Melissa at Simply Pink. Look at those beautiful browns, and the yummy ribbon, this card is sooo very rich and warm, it put a smile on my face the second I opened the envelope! Melissa is a sweetheart and she and I have become really good bloggin' buddies. I really hope to meet her in person sometime in the very near future....your card is beautiful, girl, I totally love it!!! Last, but by no means least are some die cuts my BFF Vicki made for me using her new toy - I think it's a Silhouette, but I won't swear to it, I only know it is not a Cricut! She is so very thoughtful and generous, she is always thinking of me!! She knew I was looking to do some pages for my oldest son and the new puppy and so she made some die cuts to help me along!! I love ya Vicki!! She doesn't have a blog (yet) but she needs to as she is phenomenally talented and she needs to share her talent with all of us!! So, don't you agree that I am a very lucky gal??!! All of these women are hugely talented, very sweet, and do awesome work so check them out!!! Smooches to all of you gals, you totally made my day!!

So, now I would like to share something else with you that totally made my day...I made this scrapbook page using the new Teresa Collins' line and I have fallen in love with her stuff!! Anyway, my husband just thought it was great and told me I should send it to her so I did - AND SHE POSTED IT ON HER WEBPAGE!!!!! She also sent me the sweetest email about how much she loved the tribute to my husband and that she loved that he was so supportive and "got it"! What do you all think?? I used a sketch courtesy of Lesli at Dragonfly Time(yep, I told Teresa too!) and made the page totally about my man!! Isn't he a hottie - *wink*? I did do some stamping down the sides of the page with my Baroque Motifs stamp set as well as used a flower (which I stamped on) and Rhinestone Brad from my Pretties Kit, but the rest is all from Teresa Collins. I got all of this wonderful product in the April Kit from Coconut Scrapshop so if you want one, get on over there and get one!! Jen has fabulous scrapooking kits, I totally love them!! Okay, now I am done with today's post and if you are still with me, then you are a good friend indeed - LOL! See ya tomorrow with a special addition to the blog candy and another page I did!! Smooches to all of you!!

BLOOMING WITH LOVE

Here it is Wednesday again - my, time is just flyin' by!!! This is another 6x6 card I made. I actually entered this one for a DT call, but I did not get picked. Oh well...Here are the details of this one. The base of the card is Soft Sky card stock which is then layered with Afternoon Tea Designer Series paper. I used my Ticket Corner Punch on the corners, then added faux stitching - and yes, for those of you who asked, I do this by hand, it is not a stamp. I have the All in a Row stamp set which you can use for this, but I don't like it! The three strips down the one side are Sage Shadow card stock which have also been punched with my Ticket Corner Punch. I added some Vintage silver brads and stitched around them as well. On the right side of the card, I added a piece of Sage Shadow card stock which is layered with a coordinating piece of Afternoon Tea dp, punched, and faux stitched. The image itself is from the stamp set Blooming with Love and is stamped on Naturals White card stock in Black stazon, then stamped again on Afternoon Tea dp and paper pieced. The flowers are also stamped in black stazon and colored in using my Stampin' Write markers, with a few of the flowers cut out and popped up on dimensionals (or pieces thereof). I also used my Ticket Corner Punch here. The sentiment is stamped on Sage Shadow card stock in the same color ink, and punched out using my Designer Label Punch. I added a piece of Stylin' Silver Hodgepodge Hardware - how cool is it that is fits this punch PERFECTLY???!!! Lastly, I added a piece of Mellow Moss grosgrain ribbon and I was done! I love these colors, they are very me!!! I hope you all like it better than the judges did - LOL!

MY NEW FAVORITE!!!

Hi all!! Thanks so much for playing along with my blog game - I will be updating the picture soon with the prize for the day! So, here it today's card - it is bigger than my normal cards at 6x6 because I am using it for a special occasion coming up. The stamps are from the Always stamp set which is one of my favorites that I use a lot! The base of the card is Soft Sky card stock - I will be so sad when this color retires this year!! The background is stamped with my Jumbo Wheel called Basics Outline - isn't it totally yummy!!! I really, really love all the flowers on it! The two smaller squares are Sage Shadow card stock and Afternoon Tea Designer Series Paper from the Occasions Mini. I used my Ticket Corner Punch on these and did some faux stitching on both. The image is stamped in Sage Shadow on Naturals White card stock, then stamped again and cut out. I then popped the second image up on dimensionals. I used my Ticket Corner Punch on this as well, added some faux stitching, and used four of my vintage silver brads in the corners. I sponged the edges of the card stock with Sage Shadow Classic Stampin' ink as well. I used my White Gel pen to add some highlights to the background stamps. The ribbon is White Grosgrain to which I added two small pieces of the Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware, also from the Occasions Mini. The sentiment is stamped on Naturals White card stock in Sage Shadow ink, punched out with my 1 1/4 inch Circle punch, then adhered to Sage Shadow card stock, which is punched out with my 1 3/8 inch Circle punch. I added a piece of White Grosgrain Ribbon and popped it up on dimensionals as well. The flower above is done the same way, with a Circle Rhinestone brad added in the center of the flower. I really enjoyed making this card because it combined my favorite papers and stamps and came together just like I wanted - don't you love when that happens!! Don't forget to leave your comment for a chance at some yummy blog candy!

SHEETLOAD SKETCH

Happy Monday everyone!!! Well, maybe not for those of you who have to get up and go to work....how well, I remember those days!!! First, I need to let you know that I will be posting blog candy...just not in this post :-). Check back later though....So, here is the card I want to share today. I used the sketch from the Sheetload of Cards ezine this month because I loved it!! I decided on my In the Stars stamp set - I really love this set because it is so fun. I didn't mean for it to look patriotic, but well, it does - LOL! I was shooting for a birthday card and still think I can get away with it, what do you think? Lots of layers on this one, and the ribbon is actually white grosgrain that I stamped with the small star, pretty cool, huh?! I have a scrapbook club date today so this will be a quick post -here is the recipe for this one. I will be back later for the blog candy post!!
Card Recipe:
Paper - Ruby Red Card Stock, Brocade Blue Card stock, Whisper White card stock, Jersey Shore Designer Series paper, Cutie Pie Designer Series paper
Stamps - In the Stars (Occasions Mini)
Inks - Brocade Blue Classic Stampin' ink, Ruby Red Classic Stampin' Ink, Brocade Blue Stampin' Write marker
Accessories - Ticket Corner Punch, Mat Stack and paper piercer, White Grosgrain ribbon, Brocade Blue brads, Stampin' Sponge