FINALLY! SOMETHING CRAFTY TO SHARE :-)

Hi all!!! I thought I should share something crafty today before everyone stops visiting me, lol!!! I thought I would share one of my swaps and then the invite I made for our Housewarming now that the house is almost done!! YAY!! I will be sooooo happy when there are no construction workers outside my bedroom window at the crack of dawn - I wake up to hammering and sawing every morning at 6am, uggghhh......don't they know I stamp until 1am, lol!!!  So anyway, this first card is one of the three swaps I made for Convention - I thought I had kept one of each but this is the only one I have so I cannot even share the other two with you!  I hate when I forget to take pictures *sigh*  This card uses the Out West set and something about this set spoke to me so I had to have it! I decided I wanted to make a retirement card and play around with it a little and this is what I came up with :-)  I was quite surprised, this turned out to be a favorite at Convention which made me grin!  I used Espresso for the base and embossed it with the Big Shot and then added some of the Elegant Soiree' Designer Series Paper.  I spritzed the main image with my marker spritzer and then popped up the hat and made a lasso out of twine. I thought it was a fun card, and I was happy that I made a male swap card as they were few and far between at Convention it seemed.  Here is the recipe for this one:
Card Recipe:
Paper - Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Marina Mist, Naturals Ivory card stock, Elegant Soiree' Designer Series Paper
Inks - Early Espresso, Going Gray classic stampin' pads
Stamps - Out West, Teeny Tiny Wishes (sentiment)
Accessories - Twine, Color Spritzer, Scalloped Edge border punch, Modern Label punch, Square Lattice Big shot embossing folder

This next card is the invitation that I made for my friends and family for my upcoming Housewarming party. Although we have lived in our house more than three years, it was not until about six months ago that we settled the law suit with the builder and were able to finish the house and yard.  So, now that we are almost done, we are going to celebrate by having a big barbeque around the pool!  Don't shoot me - this card DOES use a ton of retired product BUT my family and friends don't care and it gave me one last chance to use some of my favorites that have now gone away.  I will not list the recipe for this one, but the stamp set is current and will be available in the Summer Mini catalog until the end of August. It is called King of the Grill and I love it - such a fun image to color and the chef makes me giggle! Also, the Eyelet Border Punch and the Corner Rounder Punch were both used on this card and are also still available.  They can be found in the main catalog.  All catalogs are linked on the right side of my blog so if you want to take a peek, they are there to do so! 

Here is a quick shot of what the pullout looks like - it lists all the details for the upcoming event! I love this style because it mails flat and they don't cost a ton of money to mail, LOL!  So, today is another busy day of prepping for class tomorrow night and my Open House on Saturday, but first I have to take my son to physical therapy and then off to the DMV to get his permit - ack!! Why do they grow up so fast??!!  I am really hoping to take some time this afternoon and do some blurfing as I am woefully behind and just know I am missing out on some fabulous things!!! Thanks so much for stopping by, please leave me a comment to let me know that you did!!! I will be back tomorrow with some sneak peeks of projects for my Open House  so 'till then, Happy Stampin'!